Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

Chapter 129: Of Coppers, Knives and Skewers

Whether by fortune or luck, a windfall came upon Han's hands. Perhaps something that proved that this world was truly different from his as he walked away from the duo. He picked a place away from the eyes of several people to stare at his inventory menu with no problem:

[ Inventory ]

A bag of gold coins

Timothy's Memento

"Open bag of coins," The number of coins he received would amount to a glittering twenty gold coins. That was more than enough for a month's duration at the Kraelonia Academy, not that he needed to pay for the tuition but it was something that would be put to good use for his studies.

He could remember that Timothy had probably received a certain sum of money as well from Grandma Moeafter all, they both assumed that Timothy had to pay for it. But he wasn't sure how much money he had.

Well that didn't matter to him right now. He was essentially rich at the moment and Han had a lot of things that he would need to buy. And if plausible, he might end up buying something for his friend as well, "I mean how expensive could a wand be?" He muttered to himself as he began to walk out.

Until he was met with the sight of figures coming his way. They soon blocked his path. Han paused for a moment and felt his fists tighten for a moment. Was this where generic thugs would come and beat him montage?

No, he would have to get past them. Any minute now he'd get a special sub-mission or something and he'd get free experience points

Or not.

"C-Can you please spare us some money, Mister?" 

It wasn't that kind of scene. It was a bunch of young kids, they were all a little grubby and it kind of reminded Han of Tom back in Rockfall Village. Well the kid was more well groomed than these ones so that was something. They were a lucky one if all they had to worry about was painting picket fences compared to these ones.

He felt a wave of sympathy but also a healthy dosage of skepticism as well. Han Jing did grow up in a tier-one city, "Where are your parents?"

"...they're gone." One of them muttered.

Another gave him a look, "Mister, can't you spare us money?"

Kids could always spin around their words.

Han scratched the back of his head, "I don't know what are you going to use it for?" Man, it felt like he was similar to the one who blasted him questions just earlier though. There were about four of them and only one of him and he was much taller than any of them.

Surely height gave him some advantage didn't it?

"For food"

"Please, we're very hungry."

"My mother is sick."

Was it him or did they sound shady as hell? Han Jing was never good with kids as he eyed them. They were indeed kind of thin but they also looked strong enough to maybe do some work? And didn't one of them just say that their parents were gone?

He considered his options.

He could buy them food or give them a gold coin. But they'd probably fight over it and he wasn't sure how much a gold one was compared in the marketwould they be able to feed themselves for a month? Han arrived here with three freaking copper coins.

He could just toss them a coin and be done with it.

Did he even have time for this? It seemed like the Creators didn't even have the chance to make this world be a little more Utopia. They could have done something like that, couldn't they? He inwardly sighed as he began to walk past them.

Thankfully they gave him some berth.

Maybe he could just be a jerk and ignore them, it wasn't his responsibility to take care of children and the poor. Han started to walk, but paused. If he couldn't even help these kids, who was to say he couldn't help others? He sighed as he glanced back at them, "Alright, why don't" 

He felt a cold draft blow over him. Han glanced down at his trousers. There was a very nice cut on them that exposed his thigh to the world. Not that anyone was looking.

"He didn't have anything on him!" One of the kid's yelled at his friend, they were holding on to the crime weapon. It was just a thin blade in his hands.

"Run you idiot!" A girl slapped the back of the head of her companion and began to run. She darted as fast as she could and got lost in the crowd and so did the rest of the kids.

So they were little thieves.

It didn't take too long for them to scramexcept for one of them. Somehow the girl hit the boy too hard as he wavered for a moment and clutched his head.

"Stay back!" They swung their blade at him wildly.

It didn't look like they knew what they were doing, they weren't quite experienced in situations like this one. Han waited for the little guy to recover and crossed his arms over his chest, "I'll be needing to buy myself a new pair of pants as well," He muttered to himself, or the kid, he didn't know. His mother would have told him to buy a needle and thread.

He wasn't sure why his Skill of [ Instinctual Dodge ] or [ Basic Dodge ] didn't work earlier but it was probably because his guard was down and he didn't feel endangered. Or maybe the boy had better Thieving Skills? Still, he eyed the kid, "Are you still hungry or something, little guy?"

"W-What?" The young boy finally recovered. Their stance was a little unsteady as they looked at him.

Han should have probably gone out or tried to kick this guy's butt or at least take them to the Guards or something. Instead he scratched his head, "Well, your friends ran away but you guys were asking money for food right? If you hide that blade of yours, let's go grab something to eat real quick. I think I saw one of those food stalls before coming here."

.

.

.

And that was how Han managed to find himself at one of the food districts in the City of Gloria with a little guy. The two of them were holding two skewers of some meat in their hand.

Han was chewing thoughtfully.

His inventory skill was really useful in that he couldn't get mugged. The food vendor was eyeing his pants but nobody really said a word. He paid the guy in gold after all and promptly received his change after the guy went to some money changer. The sticks were around a copper and half a piece? He and the little guy sat on one of the available benches.

It didn't seem like the boy was going to say anything, they didn't even say thank youbut they were devouring the meat skewer fast. A bit ravenous. Han stifled a chuckle, he still needed to buy his items though.

When they were finally done, the young boy gave him a disturbed look, "Why'd you buy me food?"

Han shrugged and placed his hands into his pockets, well, one of them. "You were hungry? Did I need any other reason?"

"You're pretty stupid," The kid muttered. "We were trying to lower your guard to mug you."

He rolled his eyes, "And you don't have manners," Han found one of the trash bins in the distance and threw his pair of sticks towards the bin.

[ Unerring Throw ]

It was a perfect shoot. He still appreciated that skill and fought back a grin. Any basketball player or a hitman would drool for this. That meat skewer was kind of satiating, he glanced at the kid who was still giving him a frown.

"What?"

The young boy threw his own sticksand it also landed in the trash bin. "Having manners doesn't let you survive in the streets."

"And having that blade does?"

The young boy's eyes darted around them, "You shut your mouth! Just because you bought me food doesn't mean you can lecture me."

There were a lot more people here but with the noise of their surroundings, Han doubted anybody could hear him except for the boy who was in earshot. He cleared his throat, "I wasn't actually trying to question you though, where'd you get it?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at him, "If you want to buy a knife or something, there's a lot of weapon shops around here, Mister. Mine was in bad quality."

Han motioned to his pants, "You don't really have a good stance while you were holding it but you were able to cut cleanly and silently with no problem."

"I'm pretty good!" The boy raised his complaint and threw him a glare,"I have a Class in Thief. Not a lot but I'm better than my friends."

That sounded like a rookie mistake. Or they were bluffing.

Han scratched the back of his head, "Hmmm didn't look that way to me. But those weapon shops, it's not like that they sell to little kids like you." Or did they? That didn't sit well with him but he continued,"So did you buy it from someone or got it from a neat place?"

Now Han was just speculating, he didn't exactly have concrete evidence. All he had was a hunch but if he was rightwell, who knows where this kid might lead him.