Belic came and informed Arthur that he, Robin and the rest of the nobles would be staying at the Inn to wait for the other ships, then they'll head to the elven city as the Head Quarters of the E-clips company is near the city.
The days passed very quickly and all Arthur and the rest had done is stay at the inn room except going to take a few meals downstairs at the restaurant, they also went out shopping and bought some cute clothes for Saly as she was wearing Lucy's clothes and they were bigger, so Lucy bought all the clothes she could find for Saly even though the little girl insisted that a single piece of cloth was enough.
As for the baths, usually, Arthur and Lucy would use big wooden tub, Arthur would fill it with water then use a bit of fire to make warm, he did the same for Saly but he didn't join her and Lucy as he felt it may be uncomfortable for the little girl, but surprisingly, it was Saly herself who invited him to join.
It's not like he had strange thoughts about the little girl but he just didn't want to make her feel disgusted or anything of the sort, however, when she invited her, he couldn't refuse so he joined the 2 girls in the big tub.
Lucy and Arthur didn't do anything obscene, they just relaxed in the bath tub with Saly who seemed to really like it as it was the first time she used it.
In reality, it was not the first time she had a bath, when they were on the ship, Lucy and Saly would always have a bath together and it's at that time when Saly wanted Arthur to come bath with her, she seemed so innocent when she said that, thank god Arthur wasn't a person with an ulterior motive.
.....
In the blink of an eye, almost 3 weeks had passed since they arrived at Lopel, Arthur managed to sneak out from the town and test [Ace], however, he was greatly surprised when he saw the fire power of the weapon, it was insane.
But it's very slow, 1 bullet every 3 seconds is considered slow to Arthur as every second can change the outcome of the battle, so he decided not to use it right now, perhaps against big targets such as dragon it may work, but against moving enemies it's almost impossible.
He also created some guns but unexpectedly, they were plain and simple, they were exactly the same as the ones from his previous world and against magic, he guessed it would be totally useless, a simple earth barrier can block those bullets, but for some reason [Ace] was a bit special as it's his power is considered decent, for example, a shot from it may injure a dragon such as Yamak, which can be considered reasonable.
Arthur tried to create things from his previous world but to no avail, he couldn't create anything but weapons which frustrated him, after all, there were so many useful things, like the flash grenade which can help in battles.
After a lot of thought, he knew it was because of the insufficient mental power which he had no idea how to increase, so he could only give up and think of it when an opportunity arises.
In these 2 weeks or so, Belic never came to visit Arthur, neither did Robin, however, Arthur didn't mind and knew they feared him a little, after all, who wouldn't?
After what they witnessed, there is literally no one who would not feel afraid except if they saw something more dreading than that arrow.
..
The ships finally arrived, there were several less but that may be due to another Kraken attack or pirates, anything can happen in the sea, and it's not like Arthur cared, he only needed Mary, that's all.
Arthur, Lucy, Saly, and Astrith were in the port along with Belic and the others, the ships already came and the guards began unloading the items and such.
Saly was riding on the big black wolf's back, even Belic was curious about this beast's sudden appearance, however, he didn't dare question Arthur, he just threw a couple of glances at Astrith now and then, as for Robin, she was unusually silent, too silent, as if she became a mute, maybe she became traumatized by what happened? Or her grandfather warned her to suppress her hot-temper?
Arthur glanced among the ships in search for Mary and in no time, he located her, she was as usual with the 7 little kids, first, she was looking around in worry but when her eyes landed on the familiar figures of Arthur and Lucy, she smiled and hurried toward them.
She nodded at Arthur then gave Lucy a bear hug, she failed to notice the big wolf at first as she was more focused on Lucy and Arthur but when she was so close to him, she couldn't ignore him anymore, however, she didn't think much about it right now and hurriedly spoke to Lucy
"W-what happened...your ship suddenly disappeared.."
Lucy giggled as she heard the anxious Mary and replied with a nonchalant tone
"Nothing much...we just took a shorter route, no need to be worried"
Belic who was close enough to hear that could only sigh and curse in his heard 'Nothing much? Shorter route? my fucking ass! we were ambushed by 'Medusa' and you call that nothing...'
Of course, he kept all his thoughts to himself or else no one can tell what Arthur would do to him...
As Mary and Lucy were chatting about what happened, a commotion broke out not too far away from them.
"Where do you think you're going? You are our slaves!"
A person was yelling at some slaves which were heading into the town, they were the slaves Arthur helped, furthermore, he said they were now free and no longer are slaves, the female beastman which was with Robert was also amongst them.
And unsurprisingly, the person who was shouting was that damn Koez, the very person who abandoned them, guess he is really that shameless after all.
One of the slaves, a muscular male beast clenched his fists and replied at Koez
"You already abandoned us when the Kraken attacked! You really are too thick-headed, even our benefactor said we are free, you were just not there to witness it"
Koez obviously knew about that, and whenever he thought about the actions he made, his would feel a shiver down to his spines, he abandoned Arthur, who could summon a bone dragon, he saw how monstrous that dragon was, so how could not feel afraid of Arthur, however, he saw the ship disappear and so even if he is alive and well, he was not here to save those slaves, so his arrogance and confidence came back to him.
"Benefactor? So what? By the law, you are OUR slaves, so if you try to run away we will either execute you or forcefully drag you here, guards!"
As he finished talking, several armed guards charged at the slaves with their weapons already unsheathed.
The faces of the slaves paled and some of them raised their fists to fight, they no longer wanted to be enslaved by nobles or rich people, they wanted to be free.
fortunately for them, Arthur saw the whole process and was infuriated by Koez, this man really crossed his boundaries.
In a split second, Arthur arrived between the charging guards and the slaves and mockingly said
"Oh?? I wonder what is intending on doing....raising your weapons like that...it's like you are going for the instakill right...isn't that quite heartless"
The sudden appearance of Arthur startled the soldiers and the slaves, however, one was relieved while the other was confused, even though the guards were wondering how Arthur suddenly appeared, they didn't intend to pause and charged straight at him, even though he was a bystander, they were still going to attack him.
Firstly, Arthur was just going to stop these guards with his threads, however, when he saw their attitude and their aggressiveness, a few broken bones would help them realize not to mess with someone you don't know, just like the guards in the emperor's castle.
Even without using his lightning form Arthur still sees they moving in slow-motion, their speed was so pathetic to the extent that they were basically non-moving targets, in a split second he dashed at them and one by one he punched them at the same place, he didn't exert too much strength, just enough to break a bone or two.
Then he just returned where he was before, as if nothing happened, as for the bystanders like Koez and Belic, all they saw was the guards being sent flying in several directions, when they fell on the ground, not even one of them could stand up, they were unconscious.
Arthur turned to look at Koez who was standing there agape, still not knowing what just happened, he was looking at Arthur as if he was facing a grim reaper.
"So Koez...you still want to capture those slaves?"
Koez stood there, neither talking nor moving, he was depressed by this turn of events, however, in the middle of his panicking he coincidentally saw Belic, and at that moment, his hopes rose and his fear almost vanished, since he saw Belic, who is known to be very powerful then what's the point of being afraid of Arthur.
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"I do, they are our company's, whether I abandoned them or not doesn't matter, furthermore, they are our belongings, whether I abandon them or kill them, that's my problem, you were just a guest on our ship"
Hearing this, Arthur frowned for a second before a bright evil smile was formed on his face, slowly, he began to walk toward Koez, since this double-faced bastard doesn't understand what's best for him then Arthur wouldn't mind teaching him some manners, it's not like Belic or anyone can stop him.
"Ohhhh? Is that so?...."
Koez, who was acting confident a second ago, began sweating when he saw Arthur coming to his direction, so he unconsciously glanced at Belic with a helpless look.
The old man saw what just happened and also saw Koez gaze, deep inside himself, he was struggling whether to interfere or not, after all, an individual like Arthur should not be messed with, however, Koez was his subordinate, he can't just stand there and watch him get killed, injured or whatever Arthur was going to do.
"Sir Arthur, can't you forgive my foolish subordinate.......It was indeed his fault and he will be properly punished, so have mercy.."
Belic mustered what was left of his tiny courage and spoke, it was the only thing he could say as he can't forcefully stop him, it would literally be him going straight to his death.
Arthur stopped walking and changed his gaze to Belic, who was standing a dozen of meters away from him, the smile was still hanging face, however, it looked terrifying rather than charming.
"Well...since Sir Belic said so then I will stop."
He then turned to look at the petrified Koez and spoke yet again
"You should thank the old man for saving your life."
Arthur wasn't going to kill him in reality, but he wanted to scare him a little more, plus, a sentence from Belic is not going to stop him from teaching this shameless man a lesson.
In the course of these 2 weeks, Arthur accomplished quite a few things, and one of them is lightning threads, or that's how he named it, basically, while using his threads, he added the natural lightning to it, so it becomes more effective, it will be visible, but it's not like anyone can stop it if they saw it, it's speed is beyond them.
The lightning threads came out from Arthur's hand and in a split second it enveloped Koez's right arm, however, it didn't tear it off or cut it, the lightning invaded the interior of Koez's arm and broke its bones, as Arthur's control with the natural lighting is flawless, something like this can be done even with his eyes closed.
As his left arm's bones were broken, the pain abruptly came and Koez face paled, he began wailing and screaming which surprised Belic and the others.
"Consider this a small punishment, those slaves are all free the moment you abandoned them, say that again and believe me when I say this, not even the old man can save you..."
As he said that, Arthur nodded at the slaves, who in return bowed toward him, there were even some who personally came and thanked him.
Arthur wasn't going to help them, they are now free and independent, he was not as merciful as to give them gold or food, they can take care of themselves.
..
Belic, who saw how Koez started holding his and screaming, was a bit angered but didn't dare do anything, it was fortunate enough that he didn't kill him, or else nothing would be left without any honor for someone with his status.
When Arthur finished speaking with the slaves, he walked next to Belic and softly said
"So, are we departing now?"
Belic snapped out of his daze and shook his head while replying
"We can't, we will head out tomorrow morning, it's better that way.."
Hearing this, Arthur merely nodded and left with Lucy and the others.
Mary reserved rooms for her and the kids and Arthur went back to his room along with Lucy and the little girl.
......
NEXT DAY
Time quickly passed and it was already early morning, Arthur was waiting for Belic, Robin and the rest of the people as it was going to be peaceful yet long trip, there were many guards and shipments to move so when they finally came, there were about fifty to sixty carriages full of goods, excluding the slaves of course.
There were a lot of people, hundreds, even if it was a strong beast, it would probably be cautious and not attack a big number of people like this, but fortunately, the forest was peaceful in this area and there should be no danger whatsoever.
Saly was playing with Astrith fur, Lucy was also on the beast, chatting with Saly, as for Arthur, he was on foot.
The trip soon began, however, their traveling speed was slow, too slow, they were literally walking as there were many people and it doesn't make sense if they start running.
Just as Arthur was cursing this damn lucky he got, a notification suddenly popped up.
'ting'
...
New System installation complete! Reboot.............
System Loli is now functioning!
'Loli?' Arthur was surprised by this sudden strange notifications, even the name was bizarre, what kind of system was named Loli?
He remembered that when the message of Zodiak came, not long after that, there was a notification telling him of the system installation, however, he didn't pay it too much attention.
Since this 'installation' was complete, then maybe his stats can be shown now? Arthur tried to open his status window right away to check if he was right or not
'Alright Loli or whatever, status window!'
Hmpf!
'...!'
'Status window'
'STATUS WINDOW'
No matter how much he tried, he couldn't open it, it was worse than the last system, plus he could've sworn he heard a snort, and why was this window pink?
'Stop messing with me! this is worse than the last system, this is shit!'
Who are you calling 'Shitty little girl', YOU ARE SHIT, YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS SHIT!
'...'
Arthur was flabbergasted, he truly didn't know how to react to this, it's as if he was speaking to a little girl on the phone, furthermore, her screaming almost made him deaf.
'S-system reboot?'
He thought perhaps it's a bug so maybe if he rebooted it if possible, then it would be fixed, because this is not a system anymore, it's an annoying little girl.
Hehehe, you can't reboot it, you meanie, only I can do it!
This sudden turn of events made Arthur confused, he began pondering on this matter and took some time to think through thoroughly because right now, he doesn't know what the fuck is actually happening.
After taking some minutes to ponder, he called again
'So...you are the new system?'
Yes! Loli at your service
'My service? Better say you are here to annoy my ass..'
What did you say?!
'I said you are a good girl! Good girl!..'
'So, first, can you change the color back?'
.......But pink is my favorite color...
'Didn't you say you are at my service? Yet you refuse to do this'
Ok...It's done *hik* *hik*
'She's crying over this? Why must they give me this brat...'
'Alright...stop crying....tell me what happened to the other system....'
It was deleted....it got decoded by some stranger so it was forcefully deleted and replaced by ME! I'm much more advanced than the last system
'I really doubt that..but let's move on..why are you a little brat..and why can you see speak like this..unlike the other system'
I don't know! I was created just now, I'm the AI of this system..that's all I know..
'AI? well never mind that....show me my status window then..AND DON'T make it in pink colour..don't you dare'
Hmpf! FINE!
Spoiler: Spoiler
TITLE : MEAT GRINDER / SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE / ONE WITH THE SWORD / Level: 489 Class: Humanoid parasite - Strength 683751(+309517) Intelligence 546311(+267053) Agility 525129(+250134) Wisdom 508135(+249631) Vitality 441796(+203914) Dexterity 448471(+196371) - Health 456296(+199824) Health Regen 893.4/s Mana 486438(+202371) Mana Regen 1012.1/s Stamina infinite Stamina Regen ???? - Creation : 10 Attack: 500373(+238072) Defense: 469368(+219368) Magic defense : 24196 Elemental resistances Enigma abilities : Telekinesis / Ancient Threads / Sixth sense Fire: 100% Water: 60%(+17%) Wind: 35% Earth: 65% Light/holy: 20% Shadow 30% Lightning 100% Ice 30%(+20%)
'You Fucking......!'