Chapter 262: Crafter Pride

"Battle Arena?!! Don't tell me.." said Vigo.

"Yes, in case two sides reach an unsolvable conflict, the Porros's guard will use Battle Arena to settle down the conflict. Whoever wins inside the Battle Arena will get their demand." said Obo.

"Y-You despicable!! The guard will never accept this. Our contract is done, I already paid all my debt." said Vigo.

"Kukuku… Hahahaha.. Vigo, Ohh.. Poor Vigo. That's what you got wrong. Our contract, still in progress." said Obo as he showed the contract.

"T-This…" said Vigo as he saw one of the clauses in the contract.

"Yes, as you can see here, the interest may change due to some circumstances. So, unless you pay us 1 thousand grade 4 core as the interest, we will not pursue you anymore. Otherwise, see you in Battle Arena." said Obo.

"O-One thousand grade four cores!!" exclaimed Vigo.

For a person like Vigo, this amount of money is tremendous and undoubtedly beyond his means. 

Unless he asks for help from Draught or others, he will never get this amount of money even if he works his entire life, especially under the harassment he receives from Obo and his gang.

Actually, there is another way for Vigo not to pay this sum of money. It is by breaching the contract and running away.

The contract he used is only a normal contract without any restriction and magical power. This is the lowest grade of the contract without any ability to bind. Some people even said it is the same as a verbal promise without any weight.

A strong group like Obo usually uses this contract to deal with weak combatants or others like Vigo. 

Since it does not have a binding or restriction effect, Obo and his gang often use the city rules to force the other party to fight in the Battle Arena and get the more binding contract under the Battle Arena for a lower price.

Obo knows how precious Vigo is, so he wants to enslave Vigo using the battle arena contract.

"Well, I am a heartless person. So, I will give you three days to gather the money, otherwise let's meet in the battle arena." said Obo while leaving Vigo alone.

At this moment, Vigo could only grit his teeth and tighten his fist at Obo's despicable plan. Vigo is not stupid and also realizes Obo's plan. This is also one of the reasons why he threw his pride and begged Draught despite refusing him after many years.

Over the years, Obo and his gang always mess with his stuff and harass his business. Moreover, Vigo is only a first-grade combatant, so he also could never get away from Porros. It means he could never get away from Obo without others' help.

However, Obo's gang is also not an easy opponent to deal with. Rumor said they have a hidden master that supports them. Because of this, a lower-grade person like Vigo could easily be suppressed by them.

As Obo and his gang go away, they pass Angus' current location.

"You should not bite more than you can chew." said Angus in a low voice but could be heard by Obo.

Hearing this, Obo immediately looks at Angus' spot but finds no one is there.

"Sir, why do you stop?" asked one of Obo's subordinates.

"Did you see someone standing there before? Or hear anything?" asked Obo.

"Huh?? There is nobody there. We also did not hear anything." said another subordinate in a confused look.

Then, Obo decided to go back to his base immediately. Although his subordinate does not notice Angus's presence and voice, he clearly knows that his feelings back then are not a hallucination.

'That's definitely an expert. Is the rumor true that Vigo got hired by an expert? No, I can't let Vigo away. His talent is too precious. It seems I need to contact that old master.' thought Obo.

In the meantime, Vigo already enters his own rundown house with a down expression. After getting some resources from the Draught, Vigo managed to rebuild his house a little bit. But it is only for him to have a shelter and place to work.

Entering the house, "Why don't you come out? As you can see, I am just a poor inventor who will get enslaved away." said Vigo.

Hearing this, Angus gets out from the nearby shadow corner.

"For a first-grade combatant, you are quite perceptive." said Angus.

"You.. Master Angus. Why are you here?" said Vigo after looking at Angus's face while bowing his head.

Although Angus still looks young, Vigo knows that the person in front of him is a strong expert from the battle he saw a few days ago.

"Just call me Angus. I happen to see you get into trouble. So, I might as well look around." replied Angus while looking at the surrounding house.

"I-I see… I am sorry you need to see that kind of.." said Vigo.

"Vigo, Do you know how valuable you are?" asked Angus while cutting Vigo's sentence.

"Valuable?? Me?" asked Vigo back.

"Yeah, you are the person who will become a disciple of the greatest sentient weapon crafter in the world. Did you think your value is still low?" asked Angus again.

"I-I am not. But…" said Vigo.

"Vigo, if everyone in this world knows about you, they will immediately try to pouch you for your talent. The question is not who you are working for but who you are willing to work with and what things you could give them." said Angus.

After saying that, Angus immediately leaves Vigo alone. As someone who will become Draught's disciple, Angus feels Vigo needs to overcome this problem on his own. Otherwise, Vigo will never have pride as a true crafter.

As someone who has contact with the world of crafting, he knows precisely what kind of mentality a crafter needs. They need a strong pride and boldness to be able to craft something extraordinary.

'Come to think of it, old man Balrug is also very stubborn and quite eccentric. Maybe this is the reason why those dwarfs are as stubborn as a rock.'

'Talking about dwarf races, why don't I see a single dwarf in this place? This place should be famous for their crafters, yet I could not find any single dwarf who is hailed as one of the best crafting races.' thought Angus while looking around the merchant stall.

During this time, "Welcome, please take a look. These are relics found in the destroyed Lizardmen community in the Dark Swamp." said the merchant.

'Lizardmen?! If I am not, they are also a kind of beastkin race that likes to group together and create a tribe or small village.'

'Wait.. community? village? I should ask uncle Jade more about this matter.' thought Angus before he decided to go back to the inn as no other things interest him.

While Angus is going to the inn, he feels someone coming at him at incredible speed. However, noticing the mana signature, Angus decided not to avoid her.

"Angus!!" yelled Anna while hugging Angus.

"Huaa… The big sisters are meanie!! They are lying about the bubbles, there are not many bubbles, only warm water in the pond. Meanie.. Meanie…" said Anna while tearing up.

Hearing this, Angus could only sigh while rubbing Anna's small head to calm her down. Not long after that, the girls finally show up.

"Anna, you should not wander off like that. What if some bad guys decide to kidnap you?" rebuked Jayna.

'Err.. As if someone could kidnap her. Even a high-grade combatant will have a hard time to kidnap her, especially in her transformed form.' thought Angus inwardly, but he didn't say anything.

After that, everyone decided to go back to the inn together while talking about various things. Late in the evening, Angus and everyone choose to have dinner together in the tavern. During this time, Angus decides to tell everyone about Vigo's problem.

Hearing about Vigo's problem, "Vigo is working hard to make our weapon. We should at least help him." said Millie.

"I actually don't have a problem helping him. However,  this is his business. We don't have any right to meddle with it." said Angus.

"Ehh.. But…" replied Millie.

"Millie, Angus is right. Although Vigo is making our weapon, he is still a stranger to us." said Mia, cutting Millie's sentence.

"I agree with Angus. There is no free meal in this world, especially in this treacherous land. We should not offer help to anyone we see without getting a return." said Jade.

Hearing this, Millie could only lower her head and accept the decision.

'It seems despite staying in this dimension for more than a year, Millie is still not completely changed. This treacherous land is really not suitable for kind people like Millie.' thought Angus.

Then, Angus begins to remember something.

"Uncle, did you know any community race living in this dimension?"  asked Angus.

"Community race?! As far as I know, there are none of them. Even if there is only a small number of them and most of them come from the Firuman like you." replied Jade.

"I see. Is this also the reason why you decide to migrate to Firuman despite the odds?" asked Angus.

"As expected, you also notice this. Yes, this is one of the majority of reasons. I don't know how but this dimension is actually quite weird." said Jade.