293 The Little Bandits, Going a Bit Overboard in Dealing with Them (1/2)

Day 44 – 9:02 AM – San Jose, Antipolo, Rizal

While the sudden assailants pointed their spears at Karlene, Mark just sat in place without moving. He stopped Amihan and Miracle from making a move while he also made Chaflar who was disturbed by the commotion to stay put. There was really no need for any of them to make any move of retaliation. After all, it would be overkill to do so.

On the other hand, Karlene was troubled. She looked at Mark with the expression asking ”What should I do?”

”You should be able to deal with them right?”

Mark said knowing what Karlene wanted to say.

”Deal with them?! You want me to kill them?”

Karlene was flustered with Mark's words but hearing her ask that question, the children around her flinched.

These children were not bandits or anything of sort. Mark knew that. The way the children tried to threaten them was too amateur. The way the leading child stutter as he spoke made it obvious that they were doing this for the first time. Even the way they surrounded Karlene was not organized. Some went out and charged first while others did lag behind.

The seven children surrounding Karlene started to hesitate when they heard her words. They were all very nervous and would surely try to run away in the slightest scare. After all, they just heard that they would be killed.

Among the seven children surrounding Karlene, six were boys and one was a tomboy. However, these seven were not all the children here. Behind the bushes there was still four more and they were all girls.

These children were surely naïve. Although it was a smart move that they aimed for Karlene first in attempt to take her as hostage since she looked weaker, it was not a smart move to target the place with more people. They might have more percentage of succeeding of they tried to target Edzel first but it seemed that they perceived him as dangerous since he was holding a weapon and had a gun when he went away. They did not even try to observe further as it seemed that they did not witness the time Chaflar Landed. They were totally oblivious that there was a dragon keeping silent near them.

Mark did not say anything about killing the children and Karlene just misunderstood it. These children were not enemies that would try to take their lives. They just wanted food and water and seemed desperate about it. However, since they pointed their weapons at Mark's group, there was no need to bother with them too much.

Since Karlene did not want to make a move, Mark sent a mental signal to Chaflar.

”ROAR!”

Chaflar slowly stood up and roared in a menacing manner. It was really an overkill.

”UWAAAHHH!!”

”Mo-monster!”

”RUN!”

”MAMA!”

The children's formation immediately collapsed. While some immediately tried to run away, there were those that were not able to. Two fell on their butts as they stared at Chaflar wide-eyed and shivering in fear.  One boy stood frozen as warm liquid flowed down his legs. The youngest that was five years old tried to run but ended up tripping on a rock and started crying while holding his knee.

Behind the bushes, three of the girls plopped down on the grass and started crying while one tried her best to not succumb to fear and started helping the others up to run away.

It became a disaster.

Only one boy who was the oldest stared at the dragon facing it with all the courage he had. His legs and arms were shivering but he positioned himself between the dragon and his friends.

”MARK!”

Karlene yelled in a fluster. She immediately ran towards the five-year old boy that tripped to help.

”I did nothing though? It's Chaflar's fault.”

Mark feigned ignorance. Of course, Karlene would not believe him.

”I'm sure you made it scare them!”

”What? You're not making a move so it thought, you're scared stiff.”

”You! I thought you want me to kill them!”

”I said nothing of sorts though.”

”Hmpf!”

Karlene started to ignore Mark and focused on helping the crying children around her.

”It's Chaflar who scared them though.”

Mark shrugged his shoulders. It seemed that he was enjoying the scene.

”Uhm, My Lord, you're behaving badly, you know?”

Even Amihan could not help but admonish Mark. Even though she was still afraid of humans, the scene in front of them right now was just too much.

”Geeze, alright.” Mark then shouted at his pet. ”Chaflar, you can stop it already.”

Finally, Chaflar who was staring at the shivering boy in front of him went back to resting. The way it looked at the children was really smug. If Mark did not make it stop, it would probably push the children into fright even more.

Seeing that Dragon did not attack and actually obeying the man in black clothes, he plopped onto the ground. Although he did not cry out loud, the corner of his eyes had tears.

”Boss! Is something wrong?”

Edzel finally appeared. The roar Chaflar made alerted him. He thought that that there was danger and hurriedly returned. However, seeing the scene in front of him, he was not able to process it. He left with only their team in this place but now, almost a dozen children were scattered creating a huge ruckus with their wails of fear.

”Just… what? Boss?”

He could only turn to Mark but the latter only signaled to ask Karlene about it.

***

It took several minutes and Karlene managed to pacify the children. All of them already gave up on robbing the unfamiliar people in front of them. Not only that they failed but the other party even helped them calm down. Although they pointed their weapons on Karlene but she still took their sides.

Now, they hung their heads in shame. Not only they tried to rob people for the first time and failed but their supposed victims ended up helping them. They really thought that they would die just earlier and could not help but succumb to fear. When Chaflar suddenly roared, they thought that they were being attacked again.

Eleven children now lined up in front of Karlene. Unexpectedly, even though the one who wet himself was rather embarrassed, he did not go to the river to wash even though the river was just a few feet away.

”Why don't you wash yourself first?”

Karlene also noticed and asked. However, an unexpected answer came.

”He can't. It's dangerous.”

The eldest child spoke.

”Why?”

Karlene could not help but ask.

”The river water is harmful in this area. If we want to wash, we should go downstream. We still can't use the water for drinking or cooking though.”