"Hey! Easy now, we're just talking in here. Why are you resorting to violence? You're not trying to force this deal, are you?" Aaron was retreating step by step while doing his best to calm this beauty.
"Of course I'm not! Stop spouting nonsense about this lady." Sera immediately denied these accusations while giving him a cute yet angry expression.
Aaron released a sigh inwardly before saying : "Then you can pay me later," Afterwards he waved his hand carelessly before gesturing towards the Emerald Ghost-Anaconda's carcass with his chin and continued to say : "Take it. Just remember that you owe me a favor, that's all."
She gawked when he turned and left, clearly surprised by how quick the boy relented and let go of his prize.
Meanwhile Aaron went towards his house instead of the smithy since he no longer have anything to give Arturo.
'Damn it! I should've really asked her for these three Gold Coins, at least I could use them to restock some of the consumables that I've wasted today. So far I only have 1 Apple, 6 Oranges, 7 Eggs, 1 Lemon, 1 Peach, 1 Mini-Cake, 2 Squeezed-Juice, 2 Fried-Chickens, and 2 Salads. I've used all my stock of Meat, half my stock of Lemons, and almost all of my Apples! At least I could've bought 1 Meat and Two Apples with these 3 Gold Coins, or 1 Lemon.' He thought while feeling mad at himself for allowing his ego to stop him from asking the beauty to hand him that little amount of money.
"Young master Ron. You're back!" Pio immediately got up from his seat and gestured for Aaron to take a seat, "I've talked with your neighbors and negotiated the price of their land, four of them already agreed to sell and received their Coins. Two of them already vacated their homes and left with their families, the other two are getting helped by the men and are about to finish moving all their belongings, three more of your neighbors are willing to move but I've already run out of money." He seemed worried after not being able to finish his task.
"Go talk to them again and see if they're willing to move-out today, tell them that I'm going to make absolutely sure that they're going to receive their payment as soon as possible. Remember to raise the price slightly, these people deserve at least this much for their trouble." Aaron said.
Pio nodded, "As you command." Before running towards the houses behind Aaron's home to deliver this message to his neighbors.
After Pio left he saw old man Vogen ordering some of the workers to mix some of the red sand with other building materials to the side and Tylus ordering the rest of the workers who're currently dismantling the houses of Aaron's neighbors to the left and right of his house which was already dismantled before he arrived, right now he's sitting in an empty plot of land with some pieces of wood from his house stacked to the side.
'Where am I going to spend the night tonight?' Aaron scratched his cheek while activating both of his Defensive-Skills and began his grind of Proficiency Points for tonight.
He kept watching the workers at the construction site and activating his Skills until it was dusk, nobody of these workers dared interrupt him but almost all of the ladies seemed to enjoy the sound of the Singing Fairy very much. Whenever it appeared, almost everyone at the construction site would stop working and turn to look at this fantastic creature!
Pio returned and seemed extremely excited because he managed to close the deal for his young master Ron, now the size of the land this kid own is quite huge.
But his bodyguard is certain that Aaron would've bought twice as much of his neighbor's houses if he had money, because his young master Ron is the kind of person to either do nothing at all or do all sorts of crazy and fantastic things.
Thirty minutes or so later after Pio returned, Lucas arrived with Betty and Sera.
Old man Sid, old geezer Todd, Camila and her eternal-slave Rodd were a step behind these three.
Behind them was Arturo, Mr Smith, Chief Peter, Roger, Sen, and Manji.
Following after them was a team of about twenty people carrying massive trays, on top of them is a wide variety of plates and beverages.
Sera clapped her hands to pull everyone's attention towards her before saying : "Everyone. Take a break from work and come join our feast, today we celebrate young master Ron's Fifth birthday!"
"Congratulations my friend, keep growing strong." Mr Smith patted Aaron's shoulder as gently as possible, clearly having learned the lesson from today's experience.
"I'm lacking a proper gift for your birthday but I'll make sure to buy something worthy from Meteor-City, Congratulations partner." Arturo was extremely happy.
"It makes me proud to have such a promising junior living in my humble village, Congratulations Ron." Chief Peter said before leaning towards Aaron's ear to whisper : "Please stop destroying everything everywhere you go or we'd really have to run east before the Beast-Wave arrives."
"Congratulations little Ron, I'm glad to see you unharmed for a change." Old man Sid said while hugging Aaron tightly.
Afterwards Sen, Roger, and Manji also congratulated the kid.
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Aaron was immediately swarmed by everyone in the construction site and felt like his ears might really fall from all the congratulations, "Just... sit and eat!" He was so embarrassed after all the attention he was getting which isn't something that he's used to experience.
Aaron blushed when he received a few teasing smiles from these people and decided to vent his frustration by stuffing his mouth with food.
'Sigh. What's a birthday without a Cake, right!' He thought while retrieving the Mini-Cake from his Inventory Space.
"Whoa!" Others were surprised and gawked when it appeared but Aaron was shocked because this wasn't what he expected.
'Is that supposed to be a smaller version of a Wedding-Cake?' Aaron wondered while looking at the square Cake that appeared on the table in front of him before muttering absentmindedly : "No wonder it costs four Gold Coins! Thankfully I discovered this detail early on, this doesn't seem like a reliable consumable in a situation where I'm in a hurry for results because things could really get dangerous."
"Young master Ron. What is that?" Pio asked.
"It looks so beautiful!" Betty said while studying every detail of the delicate looking Cake.
"I feel like eating it." Camila said while licking her libs.
"That's just because you're pregnant, I believe we could eat almost anything when we're with a baby." Manji smiled before taking another swig from her cup.
Camila frowned before retorting : "Humph. I only said that because there's what looks like fruits on top over there at that corner."
"These dark brown parts at that corner looks solid like pieces of stones." Lucas was interested at chocolate.
"These white wavy decorations at this corner look like cream, but I've never extracted cream that pure from milk before." Todd sniffed before adding : "Smells fantastic! What is that rich aroma? It's sharp then mellow and it tickles my senses."
'No wonder he's the best Chef around in this village, he was the first to notice Vanilla.' Aaron thought while giving old geezer Todd a side-glance before looking towards Sera who seemed interested in the corner where the topping on the Mini-Cake have caramel and crunched biscuits.
Finally he decided to put an end to this and satisfy their curiosity, "Pio. Hand me your hunting Blade, make sure to clean and dry it before you do."
"You can use mine." Manji unsheathed hers when she saw Pio about to waste time cleaning and drying his knife, "Don't worry, I keep it clean all the time." After saying that she handed it to Aaron.
He took it from her hand and counted fifteen people including himself on his table alone while thinking : 'With a Cake this big I can feed my workers and everyone in here if I want, but I better feed only the people on this table and satisfy them this time.' Then he decided to give each person four different pieces of the Cake to allow them to taste all four flavors, of course he didn't want to give Rodd any at all but remembered how he caused their family's restaurant to fall in utter destruction earlier today in the morning!
'Sigh. I guess we can call it even with this plate.' Aaron thought while giving the young man his plate.
"Amazing!" Roger uttered this word once he tasted chocolate for the first time then closed his eyes to enjoy the taste.
The rest of the people on the table were in a similar state of being immersed too deeply within the rich and incredible flavors.
'Each and everyone of us should receive the equivalent of about six points of Mana and Health-' Aaron suddenly felt like his vision is playing tricks on him once he checked the HP and MP bars because for a second there he really believed that he's seeing things because this dose of sugar is affecting his blood pressure or something like that, 'When did my Mana recover these 52 points? Judging by how fast it usually recovers thanks to the +7.2 to my "Average" Mana Regeneration I should've recovered only two or three points maximum plus six points from the Mini-Cake and that should've been about it! Is this consumable somehow different from the rest because of its obvious flaw of being an inconvenience to eat this big-ass Cake on my own in the first place without getting myself killed by the enemy first.'
While Aaron sank into his own deep thoughts, the group of nine sharing his table were experiencing a surge of vitality coursing through their veins and healing their bodies, there's also the cooling wave of clarity that washed over their minds and calmed their thoughts.
Sera could feel a boost to her Soul power that's similar to the one she felt when Aaron gave her the Orange, the boost to her Vital aura was a bit higher than the one she felt when she ate the Apple.
'Just how many more secrets is he keeping from me? Whenever I believe that I've got this boy all figured out he still manages to surprise me somehow, but this "thing" is really perfect! I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy any sweets in the future.' She thought while doing her best to stop herself from practically licking the plate after eating her portion of the Cake!
Looking around her at the faces of every man and woman sharing the same table with the kid, she saw the same expression of people feeling down after eating it too fast and finishing it too soon.
"Young master-"
"No." Aaron immediately interrupted Pio who attempted to inquire for more while smiling bashfully like a little child.
"Hahaha..." Old man Sid laughed and slapped his thigh while feeling amusement after seeing this scene.
The rest joined him and Pio blushed hard while feeling embarrassment, Betty felt sorry for her man and hugged his head towards her chest while glaring at everyone sitting at this table.
It only made them laugh even harder though and Manji stood up and leaned towards Pio while making a crying gesture!
Soon there was chatter and laughter at their table and it spread towards the other tables where the workers and guards sat, people joined them and quickly the news of the feast spread everywhere in the village.
Aaron's neighbors, at least the ones still living in the same street with him, were the ones providing the banquet with fresh plates of food and drinks.
Peter ordered some of his men to supply the kitchens of these people with raw food from his own storage, Aaron thanked him for his generosity and promised to return the favor later.
He planned to gift the Village Chief with some meat from the Emerald Ghost-Anaconda once he cooks it with Todd and Betty later, maybe he'd also gift the old guy one or two Leather Armors made from its leather but that would depend on his attitude.
After all Aaron still haven't forgotten about what happened when Scadur visited him earlier today!
At the peak of celebrations, Aaron excused himself from the party and left with Lucas.
Pio was already drunk and Betty was helping him walk back home with her.
Arturo had already left with Sen and Peter early on.
Manji, Roger, and Mr Smith were having their own drinking competition!
Todd and old man Sid were arguing about events of the past while drinking together.
Camila was hugged from behind and dancing with Rodd next to the campfire and staring at the flame while enjoying his hand on her belly.
Sera was enjoying this moment of peace while watching the people of this village having fun and being merry without a care for the uncertain future, completely unaware of the danger heading their way.