Chapter - 67 - Contribute to the village

After Rofta's grandfather stopped the fight between Marc and Esdea, he told them to follow him to his house and have a talk.

Currently, Marc, Rofta, Gina, and Esdea are sitting inside at a table. Esdea was sitting opposite Marc and kept looking extremely intently at him that she might burn a hole in him.

Rofta wasn't comfortable with his elder sister's presence as he had trauma from when they were kids.

Gina was sitting beside Rofta. She saw the weird situation between Marc and Esdea, and couldn't help ask Rofta with a whisper. "Is this what's called love at first sight?"

Hearing the question, Rofta couldn't help holding his breath, as Esdea glared at her. It instantly scared the shit out of Gina as the bloodlust being released was overwhelming.

"Why are you using me as a shield? Please, go somewhere else. She's too scary." Complained Rofta inside his mind when Esdea shifted his attention on him.

Rofta's grandfather was looking at their interaction while stroking his mustache until he decided to present himself to his guests. "Welcome to my home. My name is Ihwach and I'm the grandfather of Esdea and Rofta."

"What's up? I'm Marc." Greeted Marc rudely with a friendly hand in the air.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Gina." While Gina did a polite greeting. She isn't wearing her veil anymore.

"So gramps, are you strong? What's your magic? You look young. Are you really Rofta's grandfather? Do you have any food we can-" Marc was very curious and didn't hold his questions back, but someone interrupted his questioning.

"I'm Esdea. And I'm going to be the strongest!" Esdea froze her chair and part of the table while saying her aspiration. Her eyes were looking at Marc mostly and eyeing her grandfather a little.

Marc glanced at her and nodded while saying "Sure thing. Good luck." In a nonchalant way before asking Ihwach again. "So do you have any food? I'm staving. Oh, and do you have a new pair of sandals? My old ones got blasted away somewhere."

Esdea decided to interrupted Marc earlier as she had an unknown feeling of wanting his attention. But she has never seen anyone disregard her like this. She really wanted to teach Marc a lesson he would never forget and she nearly unconsciously froze the whole table. But her grandfather touched it and suddenly all the ice was scratched off by a blue light before it could freeze the table completely.

"I have food. Let's eat while you tell me what you have experienced together." Said Ihwach and Rofta volunteered to go get it as he would be happy to get away from his sister for a while.

Without Rofta they continued talking. Though Esdea didn't join in and instead she tried to bust Marc's balls under the table with her heels to which he just stopped with a kick of his own. Over the table, he was talking with Ihwach while having a war under it with Esdea.

Later Rofta came back and they ate the seal meat he came with.

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After dinner, a new commotion started outside after Marc and Esdeath destroyed many houses.

People were gathering and yelling with happy expressions. Both men and women were gathering to welcome someone.

"Oho. They must be back." Said Ihwach making Marc and Gina confused.

"Who?" x2

"Rofta and Esdea's father that went out with some young men and woman to contribute to the village." Told Ihwach making Rofta frown which Esdea saw.

She scoffed at him "What are you dissatisfied about? The weak are destined to lie beneath the boots of the strong."

"Uhm, how do you contribute to the village?" Looking at Rofta and Esdea, Gina knew there was something wrong here, so she asked.

"With talented blood of course." Said Ihwach.

"How does killing talented people contribute to this village?" Asked Marc confused.

"You misunderstood. You give birth to talented swordsmen." Ihwach clarified.

"!?" Marc and Gina looked at Rofta and Esdea weirdly, Marc even decided to ask Esdea an important question. "So how many kids do you have?"

Esdea showed an ugly expression to Marc and asked a question that wasn't meant to be answered "…Do you think I'm a pig or something?"

Marc looked at Esdea's breasts and decided to make her angry "Maybe a cow instead?"

When Marc uttered those words Esdea had kicked hard with both her heels under the table at the same time and Marc did the same to stop his castration.

"You bastard!! I have none." Yelled Esdea. She's the best talent in the village and it would just ruin her potential to grow if she got a kid. That's why no one is pressuring her to 'contribute' to the village.

"Well, that's how it is. Let's stop here and go greet them." Said Ihwach and they walked out to the crowd that was gathering around fourteen people.

Though the weird thing was that in-between those fourteen people, four of them were cuffed. One woman and three men.

The leader leading the group looked very menacing as he was covered in bandages all over his body. Some hair was sticking out of his head bandages in tufts. He was only wearing a thin rope over half his body, leaving the right side of his body and arm free. It showed his whole body was bandaged.

(A/N: Reference is Shishio Makoto.)

When Rofta saw this man he frowned deeply. Seemingly like he could feel Rofta was there, the man turned his head and looked at Rofta with his menacing red eyes before smiling and walking in his direction. The crowd that was in his way quickly dispersed when they saw where he was heading.

Coming up to Rofta while smiling the man said "Welcome back Rofta. I have missed you while you were gone. But you actually came back at just the right time. As you father, I have a welcome-back gift for you." The man revealed to be Rofta's father then turned around to order someone to bring the gift.

Shortly after somebody dragged the cuffed woman over that couldn't walk herself. "This will be your wife. She's strong and really talented. She has mastered Reinforcement Magic to a terrifying degree. The children between you and her will be a great contribution to the village."

Hearing Rofta's father's words, Marc and Gina suddenly realized that things work really differently here. They were pretty shocked and looked at Rofta's 'wife'.

A woman with a tough demeanor. She is a fairly tall woman of slender- yet voluptuous frame, and at the same time, she is well-built and has very muscled arms and legs. Her hair is dark and straight, kept shoulder-length with the exception of a clump of short bangs hanging above her forehead, and is styled in a half-up-half-down bun. Though they could she would be very beautiful, but at the moment she is very beaten up with deep cuts at her tendons in her arms and legs that made her unable to move.

(A/N: Reference is Nana Shimura from MHA.)

Hearing his father's words and looking at the woman his father wanted him to practically impregnate, Rofta had a very ugly expression while defying his father. "I refuse!!"

Rofta's father nodded and still kept on smiling like he knew his son would say that. "Then there's nothing I can do." He said, giving up before turning around asking the crowd. "So my stupid son doesn't want her. So which one of you wants her? You can even share her if you want."

At this point, Gina was terrified of the completely bandaged man in front of her. He was fitting perfectly to her image of a devil at this moment.

Marc's situation was very bizarre compared to Gina's. He was smiling ear to ear and looked very peaceful. But his inner thoughts weren't at all. "This man is something else... I want to kill him so bad!!"

The woman shuddered when she heard the men getting permission to take turns with her. She looked at Rofta for help. She knew how dire her situation was and would rather be with Rofta than multiple other men.

Rofta's anger took over him, and he announced "I challenge you to a duel."

In response to his challenge, Rofta's father looked amused at his son and said "And what are the odds?"

Rofta grinned his teeth in anger looking at his father's disgusting expression. "I want you to free the woman and I want you to hand over your sword when I win."

As soon as those words were said, the others around held their breaths. Asking for someone's sword, especially a senior's is very disrespectful and is like a slap in the face. Their swords were their everything. Wives or husbands? They have no worth compared to their swords.

Rofta's father's amusing expression turned fierce in an instant and the bloodlust that he released for only a second shocked Rofta to the core before it seemingly disappeared like an illusion.

Marc who stood near Rofta felt his hands very giddy. In that split second, Marc could swear that he saw a big blood-red skull over Rofta's father that spelled "Death".

Getting his killing intent under control in no time, Rofta's father once again smiled in amusement and said "Very well. Then if I win, you will have her knocked up in six weeks, or I will kill your friends beside you. They are you friends right?"

"As if you even can. They are stronger than you think." Replied Rofta, making his father take a further look at Marc and Gina. Then he nodded and looked at Marc and Gina. "You are right. They could make great contributions to this village. How about it you two? Do you want to marry someone from this village?"

This time Esdea showed a barely noticeable change of expression, that only Ihwach managed to spot. "Hohoo. Interesting," he thought about the events unfolding.

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(A/N: I know it's pretty dark, but I wanted to give it a try to show how a person like Esdea(th) can be developed.)

(Words: 1697)