"Excuse me?" The Matriarch, Grace, stared at the half elf, hiding the confusion upon her face with practised expertise, though her eyes glistened slightly. "Are you a member of this business too?"

"That is correct. I am Executive Adam, of the United Kindom, quite a high position too, though, I thought Lady Sara would have told you about me."

'Did she?' Grace thought, but she was certain she would have remembered something about a half elf. "She did not."

"Oh?" Adam paused. He turned towards Dunes. "I mean, she definitely told the Malawi about me. Does this mean I'm less troublesome than I thought?"

"No," Dunes stated with all the confidence in the world, though his thoughts fell back to Adam's offer. It was quite the offer, far too grand of an offer. A thousand gold upfront was always nice, and would have been quite the sum for so many guards, unless they were all Experts, which would make it more of an appropriate price, but in some ways still too expensive.

"Although, as much as I am sure your guards are decent, if anything does happen to the barbershop, we will pay you out a sum of two hundred gold monthly up until that point and we will find alternative arrangements." Adam noted the tray of pastries being brought over by a young woman, who stopped upon hearing his audacity.

"Do you think our guards are so weak?" Grace asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I just want you to understand how important it is to our business that the barbershop is well protected, and the neighbourhood in general, since if the fellow doesn't learn his lesson, I'm going to be rather annoyed," Adam stated.

'Adam?' Dunes thought, confused as to why the half elf was behaving so aggressively to the woman.

"Do you dare to disrespect me in my own home?" Grace sat up a little taller, her eyes narrowed.

"You must apologise," Dunes said, reaching out a hand towards the half elf's shoulder.

Adam let out a soft sigh, before wondering himself as to why he was behaving so…

Ah, right.

It was because of that.

"Excuse me, Lady Grace, I apologise," the half elf said, bowing his head gently. "Then, out of respect, I will request that each of the guards be Experts, since that is more appropriate for what we have offered."

Dunes blinked, turning his head towards the half elf once more. 'Adam!'

'Nine Experts?' Grace thought, holding the half elf's gaze, noting how he had shifted from annoyance to playfulness, the gentle smirk upon his face. That offended her even greater. It wasn't as good of an idea, but at the same time, they also couldn't spare nine Experts. "We will offer the Experts for Greater weapons."

"Then I want them for three years," Adam replied. "Nine Experts for three years, one thousand gold upfront, plus ten Greater weapons."

The woman blinked once more, having not expected him to agree. She had just offered it to save face, with the thought he wouldn't be willing to pay such a great price, but to see him so easily agree, even with the push back of increasing the time…

Dunes nodded towards Grace, whose eyes were full of disbelief, before she turned back to the half elf, who was eating the biscuits, some covered in shredded coconut flakes.

'Who in the Hel is this young man?'

"You need to speak more respectfully," Dunes stated, since the woman was thrown off. After all, she wasn't just the Matriarch of her family, her family was deeply embedded within this town, and perhaps most importantly, Sara was from this family.

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"Shouldn't I speak arrogantly if I'm strong?" Adam asked, biting into the biscuit once more, his eyes still full of annoyance.

'Adam…' Dunes thought about the situation back in the barbershop. 'Is it still troubling you?'

Adam winked, smiling slightly at Dunes, the half elf calming himself slightly, but returning back to his playfulness. "Do you think we would offer this kind of deal to just anyone? No. This is Lady Sara's family, and she has been helping us forever. She is a friend to us, and so her family is a friend to us, so we have to show some favour to her family, no? "

"Then why are you speaking so rudely?"

"I'm just being a little cheeky," the half elf responded, having calmed his heart. "Also, I would like a little bit of respect in return, you know? A Matriarch is a high position, but when it comes to the business, I'm pretty high up there. Executive is my general title, but I hold two great positions in the business, and I want to be treated like that."

Dunes sighed, reaching up to rub his forehead. "It is difficult to ask a noble family for so many Experts. Three Experts, six typical warriors, three years, for four Greater weapons, six Basic, and a thousand gold upfront is a more acceptable offer."

"Of course, Manager Dunes, I will defer to you in this matter, I just wanted to make sure we spent an appropriate sum to make sure I could be petty," Adam said, smiling playfully, now much more relaxed.

"Adam…"

"Don't," Adam replied, for the first time threatening Dunes with his brows. "I get to behave a little bit this way because I was being nice and they spat on my face, so I'm allowed to misbehave just a little bit."

Dunes rubbed the sides of his eyes, but returned to his attention to the Lady, who was still trying to understand who Adam was. "Does that sound agreeable, Lady Grace?"

"It does," the woman said, her eyes falling upon the half elf once more, who smiled.

"Wonderful. We will probably return some time next year or so to pay some of what is required."

"We will," Dunes stated. "I will personally lead it."

Adam held up his hands, relenting towards Dunes, who was trying to stress how important this was to him. "Of course."

'Is there some distance between the pair?' Grace thought, noting how the half elf was causing the Mo to berate him so often, though the half elf seemed playful about it.

'I was going to mention Korin, but I'm not sure how she feels about him' Adam thought. 'I'm learning, aren't I?'

Dunes continued to rub his forehead. He hadn't expected the half elf to behave so…

No.

It was his own fault to think like that.

"Ah! I thought I had the gem with me, but I realised I left it with Kitool. I will send someone along before the end of the night to pay the thousand gold, and hopefully there are some guards ready, otherwise my brother and I will have to stay the night there, I suppose."

"I will assign guards once you have delivered the gem," the woman replied, noting how the half elf handled wealth like a noble. 'Is he a distant princeling? A Sansant? Another?'

"We apologise about such a heavy request, especially during this time," the half elf said, daring to speak further. "If our warriors spoke Aswadic, we would have left quite a few ourselves, but unfortunately, very few do so, and those who do are required elsewhere. Plus, with how many individuals we have to protect on the way back to Aldland, it is rather awkward to assign so many Experts ourselves."

"You mentioned you held great strength, Mo Adam," the woman said, eyeing up the amulet for a moment, reminding herself just which Lord of Death he prayed to. "How strong are you?"

"Officially, I am a Master."

"Officially?"

"Well, it's rather awkward to suggest I am a Master considering the feats under my belt, though I'm not allowed to speak of them so freely since they involve some great warriors from across the lands, and I don't want anyone to trouble my children again."

"You may have heard the meeting where King Merryweather gathered many of the Aldish and Florian Orders," Dunes said. "At that time, there was situation."

"I recall it," the woman said, vaguely recalling the situation, though there was so much business she had to attend to during the time.

"One might suggest it was Adam who caused such trouble," Dunes said.

Grace eyed up the half elf, who smiled awkwardly, but for a moment, she could see it.

"Ah, well, some might say it was me, some might say it was the one who hurt my children," Adam replied.

"I would not blame you," Dunes assured.

'He caused trouble for King Merryweather?' Grace couldn't help but admire the young man's guts. "Are you close with the Iyr?"

"Ahaha! I am! I was adopted into the Rot family."

"His ancestor is Giahroh."

The woman sat up even taller, so did the guards, and she bowed her head slightly towards the half elf. "You are truly a member of the Roh family?"

"Well, that depends. I think my grandmother, Flame Brand Gangak, might want me to say I'm a member of the Gak family, but my children all hold the name of Rot, so unfortunately for her, it seems I am a…" Adam smiled awkwardly. "At the very least, the Rot family, and many other families within the Iyr, treat me as though I am a member of the Rot family."

It was then the woman understood this half elf was even greater than she had expected.

'This child…' The male guard thought.

'If I did not see him, I would never believe it,' the woman thought.