257 Dealing (1/2)

Day 41 – 12:10 PM – Hamlin's House, Northeast Side, Outer District, East Port Settlement, Barangay Dinahican, Real, Quezon

The family of three had already settled down from their fear and cautiousness before and was already able to lower their guard as they properly talked with Mark. Unfortunately, the already lightened atmosphere inside the humble home turned heavy once more.

Mark already noticed that there were people approaching outside. That was why he suddenly asked Layan to give Salacia and made the [BloodChild] absorb his blood.

As Hamlin said, the men from the Cristobal Family always came at a very uncanny time. It would still be reasonable if they came during the day but a frequent visit in the middle of the night when the people in the house were supposed to be sleeping was totally outrageous.

The faces of the old man and his grandchildren in front of Mark reflected the distress they felt because of the harassment they had been going through. In any case, this family took good care of Salacia so he would not mind helping them this time.

Ignoring the loud knocking and the shouting outside the door, Mark took out a wristwatch he was keeping on the pocket of his jacket to check the time. Seeing that it was already past midnight, he decided to depart already.

”It's already late, I need to go.”

Hearing Mark, the three was surprised but considering that it was true, they could only make bitter faces. Furthermore, Mark had nothing to do with the current trouble and they could not bother him.

Then, the three were surprised once more as Mark took out three small cans of corned beef and a flat rectangular clear container that obviously contained several pieces of perfectly dried meat. Since what the three ate all this time was river fish, sea food and rarely, fruits from the forest, they had not eaten any kind of meat of quite a while. The mouth of the two children looked like they were about to drool and they even forgot their anxiety about the shouting outside.

”I leave these for you three. It's for taking good care of Salacia. I'll also take care of the trouble outside. Hopefully, they will leave you three alone after this but don't count on it too much. I will come back here tomorrow afternoon for the decision of you three. If you three decide to move to my base, then pack up your things before I return.”

Mark stood up without waiting for the three to respond. But then, he turned around making Salacia face the three. Under the grandfather and the two grand children's dumbfounded eyes, a short tentacle stretched out of Salacia's body and waved as if saying goodbye. In return, Layan and Alois also waved at it.

Outside the door, the shouting started to get louder and the knocking became faster and stronger. After all, even though Mark toned down his voice to speak, the thin walls of the house still made his voice audible outside though it would be hard to understand what exactly he was saying.

There were three men outside they were already getting impatient. Normally, the old man had already opened the door after several knocks and shouts. This time however, even though it was obvious that they were awake inside the house and a light source could be seen from the small holes of the walls, no one was opening the door for them.

The man by the door was about to knock on the door once more with a stronger force. His posture was not even knocking but looked more like punching. It seemed that the man would not care even if the door would break. However, the door opened the moment he released his fist causing him to almost loose his balance. When the door opened, he was in a very awkward pose since he tried very hard to maintain his balance. The two other men behind him even let out muffled snickers.

He wanted to vent out his embarrassing moment and shouted.

”Hamlin! Why didn't you…”

The man was not able to finish his sentence at all. When he looked at the person that opened that door, it was not Hamlin but Mark. However, what the man noticed first was not Mark's face but Salacia who was on his hand. After all, Salacia was the reason these people were here.

With a stern stare, Mark spoke.

”Can you cut it out? Knocking like a mental patient on someone's door in the middle of the night, just how did your parents raise you? Are you a person without proper breeding?”

The man stared at Mark wide eyed due to his barrage of insults.

”F*ck, who are you to insult me, huh?!”

”Don't turn it around will you? I'm a guest here and you're just someone who seems to be an intruder.  Just where did you find the right to ask who am I?”

Mark spoke with a tone full of scorn.

The man wanted to retort but Mark continued as he gently closed the door behind him.

”Also, can you get out of the way? Only someone retarded would block someone else's doorway.”

He then pushed the man backward making him step back.

Ignoring the three, Mark turned around and started to leave.

”Please, wait.” One of the two men behind the one that knocked on the door spoke politely. ”We came here for that creature on your hand. Why is it with you?”

”Oh this?” Mark pointed at Salacia. ”It's mine so why can't I bring it with me?”

The three men were dumbfounded.

”Wait. Sir, Hamlin did not want to trade it with our Young Master. How did you get it?”