Chapter 8 - Fear

Ayumi was dumbfounded for a second after hearing the boy's denial. "You said it won't be enough?" She questioned as she straightened her spine in her chair.

"A thousand silver coins is enough for me; I don't need ten gold coins. That would be disrespectful to Oliver."

Although he didn't understand economics as well as Meredith, Luke knew that each gold coin was worth the equivalent of five hundred silver coins, so they had high value.

"So, what will the service be?" The half-wolf questioned the Matriarch, who gave a flat smile after hearing that.

***

Three days passed after the day of the test.

"Did you learn that the Champion of the Tournament of Champions was hired by the Strogueher family?"

"Ah, man! This life is so unfair! I wish I had been born as rich and talented as her."

In Oukiwa's shopping center, two street vendors were chatting during a rest break.

"Excuse me, sorry to disturb your rest. Are you still selling that communication necklace?" Matthew asked the dwarf, whose eyes sparkled, as that would be his first sale of the day.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"I want to buy si-"

"What are you doing?" Meredith questioned, after pulling

Matthew.

"Uff! I'm just buying."

"We can't afford to buy six communication necklaces, you know that." She said, trying to remain calm in public so as not to draw attention to herself. "Other than that, they're too flashy, let's go."

The dwarf watched his first customer of the day leave, and as he looked over, he saw his brother eating the rest of his snack. "Waaah! Why did you do that, idiot?!"

Meredith dragged herself to a little busy alley and inquired to Matthew: "Why are you wanting to invest so much in all this?"

The man, who already had several gray strands in his beard and hair, looked both ways before answering. "For the same reason that everyone accepted the risk of the plan. Alexia is finally wanting to start something serious, and she asked me to get out of that life. But I'm not leaving, after all these years, with nothing."

"Psst. What are you two doing arguing in public?" John asked, moving closer.

"Matthew was looking to buy six communication necklaces." The half-breed explained the situation.

"But that would cost about eighty percent of what's in our safe. You can't risk that much. Forget about it, let's go home. Luke is waiting for us to say goodbye."

When they arrived at the shed, everyone heard Zack's loud laugh echo through the house. "Hahaha! Wasn't that a good one, Luke?" His voice came from the kitchen.

Meredith, Matthew, and John went over to see what was going on, and for the first time in their lives, they saw something they never expected to see.

"Hehe! Worse, it was really good." Luke said with a smile on his face.

The half-wolf most of the time was the quiet and grumpy type, he worried easily and rarely topped to go out. The day at the bar was the first time he agreed to go out after a robbery.

Everyone in the group thought he was too serious, yet they always insisted on inviting him, because he gave the gang an air of security, as if any problem could be solved as long as he was present.

For a long time, the gang had leaned on Luke's back, and this time was no different and everyone knew it.

"Luke, are you really going?" John asked as he entered the kitchen.

"It's been three days and I couldn't convince you guys that everything is okay?" The half-wolf asked. "I'm just going to the neighboring town, it's not like I'm leaving the mainland."

"Yes, but you will be living under the same roof as the Strogueher, who is our target."

"You know that if they suspect anything, you die."

"I know." Luke said and started looking at the wood fire. "But do we have any other choice? You all can't take this life anymore, and there's never been a greater opportunity than this to get rich."

The silence stopped for a few seconds, and just as Meredith was ready to rebut again, the shed door opened. "I'm home!" shouted Ynosuke from the doorway.

"We're in the kitchen!" warned Zack.

When Ynosuke appeared over the kitchen doorway, he was holding a thin, long package covered with cardboard. The hairy man looked at Luke and said nothing, just held out the package with both arms.

"What's that?" Luke inquired.

"Open it and you will find out." Ynosuke replied with a smile.

Everyone stood still and waited eagerly for the half-wolf to open the gift. Well, Luke did.

When placed on the wooden kitchen table, to the others it seemed much heavier than it looked while Ynosuke and Luke held it.

The table shook with the delicate letting go of the half-wolf.

He slowly unwrapped the gift. When opened, everyone could see a sword whose handle looked like the head of a dragon, and out of the head of this golden dragon came a medium-thin blade, a little larger than a dagger could be.

"I've never seen you using a weapon, so I assumed this one would suit you." Ynosuke said, looking shy for the first time since joining the gang. "Sorry, I don't have a belt to carry it."

"Thank you very much, Ynosuke. She's very pretty." Luke thanked her, among thieves refusing a gift was not allowed.

"Come on, open it soon." Zack asked, eager to see the blade of the sword.

Without delay, Luke rose from his chair, raised the sword high, and drew it. The slightly curved blade of the sword, and very sharp, gleamed in the dim flame of the woodstove.

At that moment, Luke knew that he would have to make some modifications to make the weapon suit his fighting style, but he decided that he would definitely use it.

"Thanks again so much, it will be very useful inside the Dungeons."

"Ah, man... I can hardly believe she hired you to enter the newly discovered Dungeons in Vasconcelos." John said upset. He had always wanted to enter a Dungeon, however, he was too weak to enter an even F-Class one.

"I will go in to observe only, I will not fight the monsters." spoke Luke, trying to appease John.

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