Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 255

“This place is huge,” Mane marveled at the simple yet gorgeous structures that filled the village! Since he had never left Dan’s place, he didn’t know much about the village. But this little sightseeing session with the twins allowed him to see a lot of things. Although the houses in the village were simple, they were exquisitely made. The streets were narrow, but were beautifully decorated with gorgeous flowers that brightened up the place. The villagers sure took their time to make this place elegant.

“What,” Mane turned to face Lam who was looking at him with a strange expression?

“Why are you acting as though nothing happened,” Lam asked? He was staring at Mane like the boy was a rare specimen. His expression as he questioned Mane was reminiscent of a man who had just seen something unbelievable, but didn’t have the time to appreciate it. He wondered how Mane was able to continue sightseeing with such a natural expression after he almost beat the life out of the Village Head’s son.

“Wait. Did something happen?” Mane was wide-eyed as he asked Lam. His expression truly made it seem like he didn’t know what Lam was talking about, and would have convinced anyone that he was suffering from short-term memory loss.

“Hehe,” Hildegarde snickered from atop Mane’s shoulders. “Don’t tease him. He already looks like he would explode into several tiny fragments” Hildegarde grinned.

She was right. Lam’s twitching eyebrows and reddening ears were a sign that he was reaching his limits. It wasn’t that he was mad. Rather, he was so frustrated that he didn’t know what to do.

“Hehe,” Lily laughed softly from beside her brother. After they left the defeated boys behind, Lam pulled Lily to his side, his eyes filled with caution. It was almost as if he was scared that Mane’s violence would rub off Lily if she stood too close to him.

“Elder Brother is referring to what you did to the boys back there,” Lily decided to speak up. Her pleasant voice was shy sounding like it was before. It seemed that seeing Mane beat up the boys who had been terrorizing her didn’t scare her; instead, she grew a bit bolder in front of him.

“Which boys,” Mane continued to feign ignorance as he placed his finger on his lips and replied? He looked like a man deeply in thought, seemingly trying to recall an event that happened several decades ago.

“Hehe. You’re funny Mane” Lily giggled softly and said. Her lovely demeanor caused a few young men who were in the vicinity to blush faintly. Some of them who couldn’t stand her charm tried to look away, but failed. Some also looked like they would have liked to approach her, but they held themselves back. There was no doubt that they knew who she was. And it was also highly likely that they knew about the Village Head’s son’s obsession with her, since they held themselves back and didn’t approach Lily.

Feeling the countless gazes on her, Lily tried to find comfort by hiding behind her reliable brother. But the back which usually felt so comforting, felt smaller this time. She couldn’t help but compare the slender frame of her brother to Mane’s robust figure.

“Mane’s back is a little bigger,” she mumbled unconsciously. Lam’s ears twitched, for he heard her softly spoken words. And Mane turned his head to the side like he didn’t hear anything. Lily’s head was bowed down, so she didn’t see their reactions. If she did, she would have known that she sold herself out, and her embarrassment would have been endless.

“What a naïve young girl. And you, instead of focusing on the issue at hand, you are seducing young girls” Hildegarde condemned Mane.

Mane tilted his head with a puzzled expression. If he could speak, he would have asked, “Seduce? When did I seduce anyone?”

Hildegarde sighed as she looked at his confused expression. This expression was actually genuine, meaning that he really had no clue what she was talking about. It was now that Hildegarde remembered that although Mane was in the body of a 15 year old, he still had the mind of an 11 year old. True, Mane thought Lily was beautiful, but it was said in the context of someone admiring something beautiful. He didn’t mean it in a romantic way.

“You really are just a kid,” Hildegarde mumbled and flew next to Lily. She landed on Lily’s head and made herself comfortable. Mane could only sigh internally at her actions. Lily didn’t feel anything strange, and still had her head bowed.

“Don’t turn your head away Mane. I’m talking about you beating up Tito and his friends” Lam moved closer to Mane and whispered in his ear.

“Oh that,” Mane finally admitted that he knew what was going on.

“What’s wrong with putting a few mongrels in their place,” Mane asked with an innocent expression?

Lam’s lips twitched at his words and facial expression. If Lam didn’t personally witness him dealing with four boys of the same age group as them like it was nothing, he would have believed that Mane was a naïve young boy like his sister.

Looking at Mane who just called Tito and his friends dogs, Lam kindly advised, “I know they were in the wrong. But beating them up is not the solution. It only makes things worse since they would keep coming after you.”

Lam explained the reason for his worry. Mane smiled at his words and said, “Who knew that behind that stern expression was a big softie.” It was clear that Lam was only worried about Mane, and not himself.

“What are you saying,” Lam refuted with slightly reddened ears.

“Elder Brother is really a softie. He just pretends to be tough” Unfortunately, the sly Lily dealt a knockout blow with her words.

“Lily,” Lam turned and exclaimed! However, what greeted him was Lily’s happy giggle. Her laughter which sounded like jingle bells forced the few passing villagers to stop their trek and turn to her. The younger ones – especially the men – looked at her with dazed expressions, whilst the older ones looked upon her with love and affection. But within those gazes, one could find a hint of pity directed at Lily.

“There’s no need to hide who you are,” Mane smiled and tried to dig Lam out of the embarrassing pit he initially dug for him.

“I’m not hiding my nature,” Lam argued red-faced!

“I’m not talking about your kind heart. I’m referring to your ruthless spirit” Mane’s expression switched from a smile to an expressionless look.

“What are you talking about? Elder Brother is not ruthless!” Lily huffed at Mane as she refuted Mane’s observation of her brother.

“Oh? Are you not?” Mane ignored Lily and asked Lam.

“Elder Brother,” Lily looked at her brother in doubt since he was still silent.

“As I said earlier, you don’t merely dislike Tito – you hate him. The coldness that filled your body when you saw them wasn’t due to fear, but anger and hatred. When I was thrashing them up like the trash they are, you felt no pity for them. Actually, you were a little joyful to see them meet such a malevolent star like myself.”

“Which means: all this while you have restrained yourself around them. This could only mean that you realized that you were weaker and could do nothing to them” Mane slowly stated.

“Isn’t that right,” Mane stopped walking and asked Lam?

“Elder Brother,” Lily looked at her brother in worry. Lam was biting his lips so hard that they were bleeding. He clenched his fists as his body shook slightly and finally spoke,

“They hurt my friends, and caused Lily so much pain for the past two years. They were unbridled in their actions and brought a dark cloud over this formerly vibrant village. Yet, as the future Village Head, not only did I lack the power to protect the village, I also couldn’t protect the person who is dearest to me”

Saying the last words, he grasped Lily’s hands so tight that they became red.

“Elder Brother,” Lily returned his grasp as if to reassure him. It wasn’t like she didn’t notice her brother’s gloominess, but she danced around the topic since she knew how helpless he felt.

“Hey! Stop holding her hand so tight. Don’t you know that you would hurt her?” Hildegarde shouted as she flew in front of Lam to rebuke him. Luckily they weren’t able to see or hear her, or else she would have ruined the delicate atmosphere.

Mane naturally ignored the fairy who failed to read the mood and said, “I see. It must certainly feel bad to watch a loved one harassed constantly without being able to do nothing.”

“But we can easily change that. You only need to grow stronger” Mane smiled and said.

“What do you mean,” Lam lifted his head to face Mane and stared into his blue eyes? Gazing at the eyes that shared the same color as the deep ocean and radiated calm and fearlessness, Lam grew calm. His agitation was washed away quickly as he realized that Mane had a solution.

“Simple: you just need to be trained,” Mane stated and continued walking.

“If it were that simple I would have done it already. But no one wants to train me. And Sir Dan said his training would be too brutal for me to handle” Lam stated bitterly.

Mane’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance when he heard what Lam said. He knew Dan well enough to know the man was lying.

“That big softie said his training would be too merciless? What utter nonsense!” It wasn’t only Mane who was unconvinced by Dan’s announcement. Hildegarde shared his belief. After all, the same Dan was reluctant to force Mane into truly brutal situations. How could a big softie like him claim that his training was brutal?

“Then I would train you. I wasn’t kidding when I said you are stronger than that pest. But your stamina is poor. We’d work on that, and then I would teach you a few moves to defend yourself” Mane stated coolly.

“Plus that Tito boy wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for a long time, so there should be more than enough time to train you,” Mane thought to himself, but didn’t say it out loud.

“Thank you Mane,” Lily excitedly said and run to grab Mane’s hand in thanks. Lam smiled happily and expressed his thanks as well, as he pulled Lily away from Mane.

“Sure, it’s no big deal. Now let’s finish the tour. You did promise to show me the marketplace” Mane smiled at Lily and said.

“Yes,” Lily energetically exclaimed! She was so happy that she didn’t notice the gazes of those around them.

So, led by the happy girl, the trio walked towards the marketplace.