The old man shot Klaus with a guarded look, suspicion flickering in his gaze, before saying, "If you really are interested, young man, I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Grandold." Grandold extended his hand to shake Klaus's hand.

However, he remained still. "What is up with these weird names?" thought Klaus. He shook off his thoughts, though, and met Grandold's hand.

"So, Grandold. Judging by your name, shouldn't you be relat-"

"Nope, not at all." Grandold grinned at Klaus.

"I don't deserve to be related to such a goddess." As he says that, a bright light shines over Grandold's head, and no one around expresses shock at the sight.

Klaus stared blankly at the old man and asked, "How old are you again?"

Both men had forgot why they were talking to each other.

Regardless, Grandold was taken aback by such a question and feigned being hit and fell to the ground. "How dare you ask me such a question?!!" He then stood up and calmly said, "For I am only 120 years old." The light appeared again.

"120? Eh, I guess you're right. My sincerest apologies, eldest one." Klaus said while bowing down.

It seemed neither Klaus nor Grandold was taking this conversation even remotely seriously and conversing more to see if either was a threat.

"What's that bracelet?" Klaus asked, looking at Grandold and pointing at his wrist.

"Nothing..." Grandold muttered and turned his head down, reaching for his pocket.

Doom...

Suddenly, Grandold's expression darkened with a profound seriousness. Poised in a fighting stance, he rapidly drew a small dagger in his chest pocket and shot at Klaus' head. Klaus barely avoided the attack by shooting his head to the side and dashing back.

Dash!

Nearly instantly, Grandold darted at Klaus and released another strike of his dagger.

"Ack!" Klaus screamed in pain as Grandold stabbed him in the shoulder. Blood shot out from the sides of the dagger instantly, and Klaus stumbled.

"Gotta be better than that boy."

Grandold wasn't finished, but Klaus was just getting started. Due to being staggered by Grandold's assault, he moved rather slowly; however, Klaus was no stranger to combat. Forced to live off of wild animals and constantly moving places, he had faced his fair share of bandits among other beasts.

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These experiences invited him to focus on improving his combat prowess, and as a result, he was skilled and sure as hell would not let an old grandpa beat him one-on-one.

After a few seconds, Grandold ripped the dagger out and struck again, but this time, Klaus parried the attack using his forearm and landed a solid punch on Grandold's face. As soon as Klaus hit the punch, Grandold attempted to relocate the arm that held the dagger back into position, but Klaus negated this action by rotating his left arm. Klaus grabbed Grandold's right arm with his and applied immense pressure to Grandold's forearm.

"Arghh!" Grandold wailed and stumbled in pain as Klaus's grip hardened. Despite being a fast old man, Grandold was still an old man, and his bones were long out of shape and brittle. The dagger bounced on the ground after Grandold painfully released it from his grip.

"Aghh! Stop, stop please! I'm sorry!" The light appeared again as Grandold pleaded with Klaus to release him. Klaus coldly looked at Grandold.

"What's that mark on your neck?"

"Huh? Does that matter right now?! Let me go!"

Klaus's grip hardened, on the brink of shattering Grandold's bones.

"Answer me."

"Ok, ok! Fine! This is my Binding Order!" Klaus released his grip.

"Are you happy?! You demented piece of crap!" Grandold shouted.

The light was brighter than ever. Villagers rushed to his side with medical care, consisting of mints and cloths.

The villagers glared harshly at Klaus, but he remained emotionless and more interested in this "Binding Order" the old man mentioned.

"Mmm, Binding Order you say, eh Grandold? How about you tell me more about this in your home? My treat of course." Klaus sneered and looked at Grandold with eyes that denied him any form of "no."

"What makes you think you can demand him like that?!"

"Hah?" Klaus looked around.

"Who said that?" he thought.

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

This time, Klaus heard the high-pitched voice more clearly.

"What, what…how..." Klaus said as he looked down and saw a talking squirrel. His emotion at this moment could not be described in one word, but if it were, it would be despair.

"Why the hell can a squirrel talk?!" Klaus's shock finally kicked in, and he slipped backward and landed on his bottom. He desperately pointed his finger at the squirrel, his whole body shaking in fear.

Klaus… was deathly afraid of squirrels, and hearing one talk didn't make it any better. For Klaus, it made it much, much worse.

"Hmph! You hurt Grandold, and now you're demanding that you talk to him about his most prized possession! You selfish bastard!" the squirrel exclaimed.

"Where… where wh-m- who taught a squirrel such vulgar words?" Klaus barely managed to speak a phrase before falling back into his fear.

"Hey Annie! Don't be so mean to Klaus!" A familiar face rushed to the crowd and waved her hand. It was Emma.

"Klaus is so important to me, and you're talking to him like this?" Emma's energy instilled immense fear inside Annie.

"Ah, but he…he hurt Grandold!" Annie exclaimed.

Emma shrugged and said, "Eh, I imagine 'Grandold' did something to deserve it. Klaus isn't so mean to go around hurting old men!" Emma smacked the squirrel on the head and pulled Klaus up.

"Anyway, let's go inside now! Hm?" Emma slowed down her walk and looked at the mark on Grandold's neck as the villagers pulled him up.

"I can stand up myself," Grandold whispered while coughing.

"Say, 'Grandold,' let's talk about that mark inside." Emma gave Grandold a look similar to Klaus's but with more sincerity and kindness. "Ack." Grandold groaned as he walked. Emma turned her head and grinned at him. Then, she kept on walking beside Klaus.

"Was that stick just a front too?" thought Klaus as he watched Grandold walk perfectly fine without his walking stick.

He then looked to Emma and thought, "Emma, I'm so glad you exist."