"Alright. Not counting weak and tender me plus these two wise and astute elders, there's 11 of you here which I know for sure what they're capable of or have somewhat of a vague idea of what they're at in fighting standards." Aaron used his personal key to unlock the basement gates and let the muscular Roger do the honor of pushing them open.

"The rest of the people following you may also join the fun but I'm not going to be held responsible if something happens to them down there.

"I'll let you guys decide who to bring with you and do notice that our objective isn't going to kill the Mice as our priority but to capture however many as we can instead." The kid finished saying what he wanted to say and waited for the 3 Bandit-Leaders to decide who to include among their people.

Marshal Cesar didn't really mind if he gets included in the action since he's battle-tested and stronger than some of these youngsters despite his advanced age but he still frowned because all of them weren't expecting that instead of killing the Fuzzy Phosphorus Mice they're supposed to capture them alive now with is much, much harder than just killing them.

Especially when there's a lot of them all at once!

"But I wa-" Roger attempted to voice his complaint but Manji pulled him back because it's not up them to decide what happens next.

She still gave Phyllia, Tess, and the ones from the Axe-Gang a side-glance and a sneer afterwards as if to say : "What? You've got something to say to me bitches?"

*Cough*

"Young master Ron." Strategist Dalair cleared his throat.

Aaron looked at him and smiled before asking : "Wanna join the fun?"

*Hiss*

The hunchbacked man took a sharp breath in and shrunk inwards in himself while shaking his head repeatedly, "No, no, no! Nothing like that."

The kid snickered before calming Dalair with a gesture of his hand before saying : "Relax. I know why you're all getting jumpy but I'm not planning to make things difficult for any of your groups, actually I'm looking for all of our futures."

"Please elaborate young master Ron, we're all left in the dark here and can't help but worry for our kin." The Strategist wisely included the rest of the group and didn't speak only about the Marshal's Army.

"Kin, Skin... Let's just be honest with ourselves here and openly admit that the reason why people from 4 different Villages are willing to join hands is because we're all choosing to look for our own benefits and ignore the differences we have with one another!" Aaron said before adding : "But that's alright, and my point is if we can ignore our differences for the sake of seeking our benefit to provide for the ones we care about.

"Then we can join hands and show a little bit of patience and achieve something much greater than just selling Mice meat, fur, and bones.

"So let me ask you this, how many Mice do you think there's in that cave where I discovered them?" He asked and looked at the brains of this gathering.

Phyllia squinted her eyes and looked towards Manji which she knows is one of the few who knows at least close estimation of that number but she was met with a teasing smile from the woman who held into Roger's muscular arm after hugging it closely towards her chest.

Chadrion looked towards Lucas whom he had some sort of lukewarm relationship after this fellow debuted into Banditry but he was ignored completely by the man who wouldn't dare do something as stupid as speaking in this situation without receiving permission from his young master Ron.

Cesar and Dalair didn't even attempt to try and extract any information from the kid's maid or the younger man who was more interested in checking the sharpness of his Maku Knives.

Aaron looked around and said : "Come on guys! There's no right or wrong answers here, just make a guess whatever it's that you think it should be around more or less doesn't matter."

"Fine," The tall woman said before adding : "Ten thousand, these Mice are famous for breeding quickly and living in great numbers anyway."

The topless man, the old man in Silver Armor, and the hunchbacked man all nodded to show their agreement.

"How long would it take for our 4 Villages and whatever markets around us to soak this amount of Mice meat then? Let's say all of us were wise enough to save the fur and bones to satisfy our own needs!" The kid nodded before revealing his point.

Dalair's murky eyes sharpened when he gazed at the kid before asking : "Your plan is to capture and actually domesticate them?"

Aaron nodded while saying : "Why not?"

The Strategist sank into deep thoughts for a short while before saying : "I mean it should be doable but we'll have to provide them with the appropriate environment, the right type of fodder, control the numbers we have otherwise they'll keep breeding and we'll end up making a loss instead of profits! And that's just the ideas I have from the top of my head here."

"I have a team of experts who can both design and build us whatever we need according to these preferences," The kid said while thinking of the three who're absent from his house today and taking care of the work at the Western-Walls.

"The hard work of digging the locations can be completed in a matter of minutes with the help of the Sisters' Poisonous Stone-Centipedes and the team can start directly afterwards.

"Since these Mice likes to live in the dark then we can make it happen with just a roof really!

"As for their food we can take our time looking within the cave for anything of use once we clear the Mice infestation there.

"Meanwhile controlling their numbers should be easy really, separate the males from females all the time and only join them in a third area once there's a need to add more to what we already have."

The group were shocked once they heard the boy talking about using the Centipedes to dig some land but all of them thought : 'That work can actually be done using them indeed.'

Seeing that his vision was somewhat clear to the 3 Bandit-Leaders Aaron retrieved a few bottles and some empty bowls from his Inventory Space before saying : "Now whoever is going to participate in capturing the Mice should come here and smear the edges of your Weapon in this, all you need to do is give the bastards some skin wounds or barely scratch them afterwards and you'll find them long asleep seconds later."

Ginger Ale Effect Numbs the body and relaxes the mind in a matter of seconds Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description Strong brewed Ginger Ale. Notes Drinking it is fine but beware getting any of it directly in your bloodstream, the effect multiplies a hundred-fold.

*Sniff*

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"It smells a lot like liquor! Why is that?" Chadrion's sensitive nose picked up the scent once the kid started to pour some of the murky white liquid into the empty bowels.

"That's because it is, just don't drink any of it right now and make sure none of that Ale gets into an open wound or you'll get knocked out almost immediately!" Aaron warned.

The topless man frowned before raising a bowel while asking : "Really?"

After seeing the kid nod seriously Chadrion pulled one of his followers and forced the man to drink some of this delicious-smelling Ginger Ale!

*Glug* *Cough*

The poor person choked and started coughing badly but everyone noticed his face redden and his eyes glaze-over like a drunkard before falling backwards head first.

"Damn! How strong is that Ale?" Kanderion asked while looking at his father's victim.

Aaron rolled his eyes at this big, hairy, distrusting, muscular, and topless fellow before answering his son : "If that amount he was forced to drink was forced into an open wound instead then... He'd be 100 times more drunk than he already is, now get him the fuck out of my basement and smear your weapons before we begin."

Everyone did as they were told this time and nobody dared to waste anymore time once they noticed how the kid started to become impatient!

The 3 Bandit-Leaders on the other hand exchanged looks before smiling widely because what they're about to do something which was never done before, once it works means that all of them are certainly going to be assured of a steady income in the future.

Simply because people does have a few things which they can never stop doing in life.

One of them is eating to satisfy their hunger while second is mating to satisfy their lust.

Whenever there's a chance available for them to satisfy both at the same time they'd jump on the opportunity with no questions asked.

Not to mention when there's the option of having a few of their "Shortcomings" and certain "Weaknesses" scratched out from the equation!

Less said about the actual benefits they get once everything is dealt with with their partners during the night, meat from the Fuzzy Phosphorus Mice actually helps them a lot to increase their reproductivity which means a solid chance of survival especially around the areas like the ones they're living in where danger might strike from everywhere and out of nowhere.

Once Aaron activated the Mystique-Door he Teleported next to the General and the Strategist and watched with them as 40 people dropped Mice left and right for 3 minutes.

Rare were the times when some of these Mice actually died and a few of them were because Roger couldn't control his power and smashed some skulls.

The ones who achieved the most were the ranged ones especially Manji and Rhinne who ended up having somewhat of a hidden competition between themselves!

"Your aim is so good, teach me how to become accurate like you." Manji came running to greet the Bow-woman once the diagram disappeared and things calmed down.

"You're not so bad yourself, these throwing weapons of yours travel quite fast! I couldn't see your hands at all." Rhinne shook the woman's hand and could tell how strong her grip was once the Wrist Guards covered her hand.

Sherry pouted slightly since she had to spend most of the time running around like most of the melee ones but thankfully her reach is a bit better than the rest of Sword or Blade users.

Once the total of hers and her pet's victims are combines she isn't too far from the top achievers.

"Alright everyone, while you handle tying these suckers, bringing them outside, and cleaning my basement. I'll be handling a few things back in the Village." Aaron said before Teleporting away.

He was feeling a bit sleepy but he still hasn't met with Mr Smith yet and unfortunately today he didn't undergo his morning exercise or even sparred with Sherry but the circumstances are forcing him to take the day off which isn't too bad.

After blasting the improved furnace with a couple of Flame Orbs he decided to walk back home and say hi to old man Sid since they're certainly going to take a bit of time to handle things back in the basement.

'Man! The sight of this old fellow always warms my heart, he's not the wealthiest or the most ambitious in this Village but he's most definitely the happiest of us all. It's just like as if he's living the rest of his life without a care for the whole world, good for him... Good for him indeed.'

"Umm." While Aaron was having his own thoughts about the sight he witnessed of an old man flirting with a much younger woman and whispering sweet nothingness in her ear and making her laugh then blush before reprimanding him coyly, some woman was coming out of her house and closing the door then noticed him and hesitated for a second before stopping him.

"Can I help you?" The kid asked while looking at her, but the apparent feature on her were her hands.

Countless wounds on top of wounds were on the tips of her fingers and the woman hid her hands behind her back shyly once she noticed the boy looking at her before looking at her toes to hide her expression of shame while asking : "Are you young master Ron?"

Aaron nodded, "I am. Don't be shy and tell me if someone is bullying you, I have free time on my hands right now. Lucky you." Even he doesn't know why he teased her at the end, maybe it's because he found the attitude of this woman's somewhat cute with an addictive touch of vulnerability added with another attractive touch of shyness.

"No, no, no! I was just about to visit your place to deliver your item back to you, I always keep to myself and mind my own business and never did anything to provoke anybody I swear!" The woman started to panic and pointed at something which was wrapped by a piece of green fabric.

'Poor gal is so timid it's so adorable! Look at her go pale! I'm afraid if I keep teasing her she might just fall backwards and faint!' The kid thought while seeing this woman flail her arms in the air.

"Item? What's that?" Aaron asked while looking at the bundle in her hand.

The woman tilted her head slightly to the side while asking : "Did you forget about the Spider-Silk Vest which you ordered brother Pio to give me and requested for me to modify it?"

'I completely forgot about that with everything that's been going on!' Aaron thought before nodding and gesturing for her to give him.

"T-this..." The woman hesitated slightly and looked at her fingers which were covered in needle wounds and seemed like she was about to cry but she still soldiered on and handed the kid his item.

She watched the boy unwrap the green fabric and spread the long-sleeved top which is quite big for his current size but he didn't seem to mind it at all then asked probingly : "I know that brother Pio asked me to make a robe with the Vest but there just wasn't enough of that Spider-Silk to make one and I took it upon myself to make you a top with it instead, I... I hope you don't mind. What do you think? Should I unthread it and make something else for you?"

Aaron saw able to sense her nervousness and noticed how her hands started to bleed once she clenched them into a fist! She was too deep in her own worries the poor woman didn't even notice that she was harming herself.

"No." He said before adding : "It's perfect! How much do I owe you Sophia?"

"Ah!" The woman was startled because she didn't even think someone so popular around this Village and probably everywhere around it would actually know her name.

"Did you think that I'd make you work for a whole week without paying you? Now I'm offended!" The kid raised an eyebrow.

"No, no, no! I never meant to! You misunderstood me I... I was just surprised that you... Know my name that's all." Sophia went pale and started to panic once again while flailing her hands in the air.

But after she explained herself she blushed shyly and stared at her toes once again, but she kept stealing glances upwards then panicking once she discovers that Aaron is staring at her like a Hawk with a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Hahaha... Relax! I was just messing with you, come with me and let Betty feed you something. It must've been hard on you since your hands are so mangled after getting pricked over and over by needles, here let me help you with the wounds." Aaron put the Spider-Silk Top under his arm and retrieved the wooden-flask of Reindeer Milk and poured a drop on her palm after holding her hand.

Once he started massaging this liquid on her wounds Sophia could feel the pain leaving her fingers and the traces of all these wounds disappearing.

"Now the other hand." The kid said which sounded a bit commanding and the woman blushed deeply before slowly offering her hand.

Aaron nodded once he saw the long and slender fingers clear and free of all injuries and smiled since his experiment worked before saying : "Alright. Let's go eat something tasty."

Sophia followed after him as if hypnotized while thinking to herself : 'What's this? What's wrong with me? What's happening here? Why am I following him so obediently? He didn't even pay me anything yet!'