Beauty is Dangerous

"So what will you do now?" The young boy glanced over at Erin before nodding at the soldiers nearby.

As if receiving a mental order, the small truck slowly drove away with the slime on it. Some soldiers split up from the original group and escorted both the truck and slime.

The remaining soldiers walked up to the young boy and girl and respectfully stood by.

Just as Erin was about to respond, the sound of an approaching vehicle reverberated around the group.

The sound got louder as a luxurious vehicle eventually stopped right next to the younglings and Erin. The door on the driver's side opened and a well-dressed elderly man got out and walked up to the group.

"Oh! It's Ron!" The boy and girl spoke at the same time when they saw the grey-haired man exit the vehicle.

"This is my family's butler!" The young boy proudly mentioned as he glanced at Erin.

"..Greetings" Erin bowed his head slightly as he really did not know what else to say. Everything that was happening so far was completing throwing him off-guard.

When he first met these two younglings, he honestly thought they were just children of some local farmer.

On the inside, he believed that his conclusion was correct when they mentioned that they were helping their grandmother with her farm.

Yet when they opened the water gates of this city and had plasma-gun wielding soldiers stand down, Erin finally realized that he was complete and utterly wrong!

With this 'family butler' standing in front of him too, Erin would believe it if these two said they were from a noble household.

"Young Master and Young Miss." Ron greeted both of them as he bowed slightly.

"Your father requests to see the young man who escorted the both of you back home." Ron spoke very clearly.

It was also at this moment that Erin realized the two of them were siblings. Otherwise the butler wouldn't have addressed them both when mentioning their father.

Furthermore, Erin was also scared out of his wits right now.

'I don't think declining is much of an option.' Erin thought as he took quick and unnoticed glances at the armed soldiers surrounding him and the group.

Just as Erin was carefully glancing at the soldiers around him, Ron took a short glance at the boat that the trio arrived in. There was a small glint in his eyes.

"Would you please grant me the honor of knowing this young sire's name?" Ron interrupted Erin's panic-filled internal monologue.

Before Erin could respond, the young girl interrupted the conversation.

"Oh! It looks like we forgot our manners!" The young girl looked at the young boy and nodded before looking back at Erin.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is Olivia Redstone." Olivia tried to curtsy despite her attire.

"I'm glad to have met you. My name is Edward Redstone." Edward gave a gentleman's bow.

"It's nice to officially meet the two of you. My name is Erin Dawn." Erin didn't find the need to hide his real name.

Since it's been several thousand years, he found it doubtful that they could look up any information about him. Besides, where he was from, Dawn was a fairly common surname.

Seeing this, Ron let out a heartfelt smile. It's very rare to see the two of them use their etiquette. The only bittersweet thing about this sight was that the both of them were still in their muddy overalls.

"Then, shall we get going?" Ron motioned the trio to enter the luxurious vehicle next to them.

"Ah, just a moment please." Erin realized that he left his large raft at the dock.

Ron watched Erin run up to his boat with an intrigued look. Whereas, Olivia and Edward looked slightly confused.

After thinking for a moment, Edward came to his own conclusion and ran up to Erin.

"Hey, you don't have to worry! Nobody will steal your boat here! I can even leave a few soldier's to gaur-"

Before Edward could finish his words, his mouth dropped.

Olivia looked stunned.

Ron's eyes shimmered with a knowing light.

Whereas, all of the soldiers nearby lost their composure for a moment.

Erin casually stuck his palm out and the large motorized raft shrunk into a tiny dice-shaped object before landing on the center of his palm.

"I see! No wonder it wasn't eaten by any water monsters! It's an artifact!" Olivia's barely audible whisper caught the ears of their butler, Ron, since he was standing next to her. Both Edward and Olivia looked at the small dice in Erin's hand with envy.

Ron had a slight smile etched across his face.

'It seems the Master was correct.' Ron thought to himself as he looked at Erin.

Tossing the small dice back into his bag, Erin ran back to the group.

"Okay, I'm ready now." Erin spoke like his actions were something incredibly minor.

"Great! Let's go then." Before giving Olivia and Edward a chance to speak, Ron motioned them all into the vehicle and pretended that Erin's actions were completely normal.

At the same time, Ron looked at Olivia and Edward and gave them both a very knowing glance. With how well the two children knew Ron, both of them quickly understood that he did not want them to say anything.

Slightly pouting, Olivia sat down in the vehicle first before Edward. Erin was third and Ron closed the doors before entering the driver's seat.

"So where are we meeting your father?" Erin asked as he looked over his left shoulder.

"Probably at our home." Edward responded like it was a given.

Olivia was still pouting on the sidelines.

It looked like she really wanted to ask Erin some questions to satisfy her curiosity.

Unfortunately, the moment Ron interceded, she was smart enough to understand that she would have to wait until after Erin talked with their father.

For a wheeled vehicle, Erin was quite surprised by how fast it was going. Maybe because the roads were well-maintained too, the ride felt very smooth.

Still, as time passed, the silence felt kind of awkward. As to break this draining mood, Erin realized he still had a question for the two siblings.

"Oh right, when we first met, there was literally nothing around. What were the two of you doing there?" Erin asked.

If there were buildings or farmland nearby, he would find it understandable. However, there was literally nothing but the green plains and the river in the middle of it.

Erin was confused why two younglings and a slime were traveling in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, Bobo led us to you!" Edward answered like it was simply a matter of fact.

"Actually, at first we thought Bobo found a treasure. He suddenly jumped into the river and literally disappeared on us while we were playing outside the city. Usually this doesn't happen unless Bobo finds something interesting."

Interested in the conversation, Olivia abruptly interjected too.

"But then we realized something was off when we sensed Bobo was getting farther and farther away. It was odd because the direction he was going was upstream." Olivia added.

"So before he got too far, both me and my brother snuck outside the city boundaries and started chasing in Bobo's direction. By the time we finally reached Bobo, we saw him sleeping on your boat next to you."

"I think Bobo thought your boat was drifting aimlessly since you were asleep. So he probably pushed your boat to the bank of the river on purpose." Edward continued.

"Oh I see. I have to thank Bobo for his good intentions." Erin said with an undetectable hint of sarcasm in his voice.

He finally understood what happened earlier. The alarms on the raft probably didn't go off because they didn't detect any ill intent from Bobo. That's just how advanced the technology is.

A short while later, the vehicle paused for a moment before entering some very heavily guarded gates.

The originally flat road changed into a fairly steep incline as the vehicle continued forward.

When it finally reached flat ground again, it stopped before an enormous five story mansion.

As the group exited the vehicle, Erin saw the small truck from earlier parked nearby. On it was a sleeping slime that had precious energy stones floating inside of it.

The sight of this made Erin's eyes tear up a little bit. In the past, while growing up, he made due with grade one energy dust just to get by. To think that his living conditions were far worse than a slime made him feel a little bit sad.

After bidding Olivia and Edward a temporary farewell, Ron led Erin into the mansion. Right before he walked in, he saw the two younglings walking up to their slime, Bobo.

While Ron guided Erin through the mansion, Erin was surprised to see how simple a lot of the decorations were. Even though there were hints of luxury, it was a lot more modest.

Needless to say, Erin was still judging the décor by the standards of his era. To any other person, the decorations would actually look extravagant.

Erin's silent tour through the mansion came to an end after the duo reached the top floor and approached a large double-sided door guarded by two soldiers.

The soldiers were emitting a very dangerous aura that made Erin's skin crawl.

Even though Erin was kind of scared, it didn't show on his face or body at all. After the dragon and giant turtle episodes, his subconscious somehow concluded that being calm and standing still was his safest option.

Ron looked at him and misinterpreted Erin's relaxed face and silence completely.

With a single glance from Ron, the soldiers quickly bowed their heads to pay their respects.

'Looks like he is used to the sight of soldiers.' Ron nodded appreciatively before taking out a small communication device. The device had a small text-based screen and three buttons. Ron did not hesitate and pressed the third one.

In just a few seconds, a response was sent back to the device. Ron read the short message and accidentally let out a short chuckle.

Hearing this laugh, Erin glanced at Ron and furrowed his eyebrows. Before he could ask what was funny, the soldiers started opening the doors.

"Go ahead, the Master is waiting for you inside." Ron slightly bowed and gestured for Erin to walk through the doors.

Twitching his eyes a little, Erin reluctantly walked through the open doors. The moment he stepped inside, the doors abruptly shut.

In front of him was an unexpectedly simple yet large office with giant, reinforced glass walls at the far back of the room.

Looking through these giant glass walls, Erin saw cloudless skies above and a majestic ocean below.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

The voice came from the far center of the room. There was a man sitting on a large chair behind a decorated desk. It's just that the front of the chair was facing the glass windows.

"It's a pity that such beauty is full of danger."

The man sighed as his chair slowly turned around and faced Erin's direction.