Rise of the Eromancer

"We don't want any trouble, we will just pay you the toll and leave."

There really was no use pretending to be a tourist as they already heard him talk, but Rhys was still trying his best to cover his face with a cap. Soon, however, Rhys's eyes wandered toward one of the gang members who was wearing a mask that one would see in hospitals, and he wasn't alone.

One of the other people in the store was also wearing the same mask — perhaps he should probably ask the clerk if they were selling one of those.

"Oi, where are you even looking at? And why are you so tall? Are you an import or something?"

"...An import?"

"A basketball player. You—oi, look at us when we're talking to you."

"W… wait, we'll just pay the toll!"

But of course, perhaps the most affected of all by the entire situation was still Ippo. He truly just wanted to go home to his family, and now he was being involved with a couple of gangsters — he initially thought this was his chance to escape.

If the gangsters started putting their attention solely on Rhys, then he might actually find himself free — he could even point the gangsters to the cosplayers in his van.

But for some reason, call it instinct or whatever, but Ippo felt like that would be a very wrong decision and he would end up regretting it very badly.

"How… how much is it?"

"300,000 yen."

"W… what?" Ippo could really only blink a couple of times as he heard the number that escaped the gangster's lips, "That… that can't be right. That's 2 months of my pay."

"Well, if you can't—"

"We'll make it just 100,000 yen if the foreigner shows us his face." And before the leader of the gangsters could finish his words, one of the women smirked while looking at Rhys from head to toe; the tone of her voice, highly suggestive and she wasn't even being subtle about it, "You know… I haven't sucked a foreigner's cock yet, especially someone as big as you — I wonder how big it is."

"Kurosawa!"

It was a good thing that Rhys was able to at least borrow some of Ippo's clothes, and fortunately, he wore a couple of sizes up. It was still a little tight, but it was better than nothing.

"Relax, relax," The woman just let out a small giggle while raising her palms, "I'm just saying… I'm tired of sucking small little—Kh!"

And before the woman could continue her words, the leader of the gang suddenly slapped her on the face, and without any reservation at that.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"What the fuck!? I was just joking, you fucking bitch!" The woman's face turned red, but not because she was embarrassed or hurt, but because flames started flickering across the surface of her skin.

"Don't even try it," the leader of the gang glared at the woman, causing the other members of the gang to just look at each other weirdly.

"It's… it's the police!" Fortunately, before anything could happen inside the store, the sirens of police cars very slowly whispered in the air; getting louder and louder by the second, "Fuck, someone must have called them!"

"Shit… Who did that!?" The leader of the gang kicked one of the shelves, completely breaking it and causing all the items to just shower on the floor, "Fuck! Don't think this is over! Let's go!"

And with that, the gangsters all left one by one. Not before, of course, the woman who was trying to flirt with Rhys gave him a coquettish look while sticking out her tongue and being creative with it — of course, not as creative as Agatha or Lina.

"We should go too before the cops arrive."

"R… right!"

Both Rhys and Ippo also rushed out of the store, quickly getting back to the van and driving away. Of course, not before Rhys picked up one of the face masks from the store and then throwing a dollar he had in his trusty utility belt toward the clerk.

"Rhys, did something happen? I saw another one of those things with two wheels — were they creating problems for you again?" Malenia quickly asked as soon as Rhys and Ippo returned to the van.

"They're… a different group," Rhys shook his head, "And we're fine, they were just a couple of gangsters."

"...The majority of your kind almost all look alike, but there's also so much variety," Malenia breathed out as she looked at all the people as they drove away, "I even saw another one like this but a whole lot bigger, Rhys. I think I can fit the entire city there."

"That was a truck," Rhys smiled, "I promise to teach you all about it once everything starts to calm down."

"Hm. You do not need to worry about me, Rhys," Malenia shook her head, "I am already happy just breathing the same air as you… and I hope whatever it is you are going through right now, it will be alright all so soon."

"...Thank you, Malenia."

"That… that was close!" And as they were finally quite a short distance away from the petrol stations, Ippo was able to let out a long and very deep sigh of relief. He looked back and forth between Rhys and the rearview mirror; a sort of excitement slowly growing inside him, "Do you… do you know that I was an Explorer once?"

"Really…?" Rhys glanced at Ippo due to the sudden shift of his tone, "What happened?"

"I… took a stinger to the knee," Ippo breathed out while shaking his head, "It was a giant wasp. It just blew out my knee out of nowhere and that was that."

"Hm…" Rhys blinked a couple of times as he looked at his own wooden arm and leg. If the circumstances were different, Rhys would have probably also been doing something completely different now.

"I could still work as an Explorer, but my wife, well…" Ippo looked at the photo hanging on the windshield, "...When he told me that my child might grow up without a father, I just stopped doing anything dangerous. It doesn't pay as well, sure — but at least I get to go home to my family. What about you, Mr. Rhys…

…do you have any children?"

"Too young to have one," Rhys smiled and shook his head.

"Really? Good looking guy like you?" Ippo scoffed and chuckled, "I bet you have children you don't even know of. If I was you, I would—Oh no…"

"Rhys!"

"...Just keep driving."

Ippo and Malenia reacted at the same time as they saw a group of bikers on the side of the road — the very same gangsters who were creating trouble inside the store. Ippo was truly hoping that they were just hanging out on the side of the road, but of course, reality was not as convenient.

Because as soon as they passed them by, they all revved their motorcycles and started following behind the van.

"What… what do we do, Mr. Rhys!?" And as one of the gangsters started riding very close to Ippo's side of the car, the only thing he could really do was slowly step on the brakes.

"Don't brake," Rhys, however, quickly gestured to him to just step on the gas instead, "They'll just get tired soon. They're just a bunch of ga—"

"Aah!"

And before Rhys could finish his words, one of the windows on the back blew out as the gangsters threw a stone at the van. The gorgons quickly curled and covered themselves to hide, but the bikers only needed to ride near the van to be able to see them.

"..." Rhys closed his eyes and sighed. He was ordered by Ayesha not to reveal himself, and yet it would seem that life was just not making it easy for him at all.

"Should… should we stop?"

"No," Rhys then opened his eyes while shaking his head, "There's no need — this actually makes it easier for us. Can I borrow a coin?"

"S…Sure?" Ippo looked at the coins he had on his dashboard, "But what are you…"

"Open your window," Rhys said as he grabbed a few coins from the dashboard.

"But—"

"Just do it."

"O…okay," Ippo did not really have a choice as he rolled down his windows. And as soon as he did so, the laughter of the gangster riding beside him could be heard even with the loud rumble of the exhaust, "What are you—!!!"

Ippo's eyes just suddenly widened as he felt a sharp breeze slightly touching upon the tip of his nose; he also heard a certain thunder, almost like a gunshot. What followed next, however, was the violent tumble of the gangster riding beside him.

His motorcycle practically flipped over, throwing the gangster straight onto the windshield of his van — fortunately, the motorcycle did not hit the van at all… but the gangster was going to leave a dent somewhere.

"Just a little accident," Rhys whispered out as he opened his window and then just grabbed the gangster from there — and without even a slight hesitation, he pulled him by the arm before catching him by the neck.

And there, Ippo watched as Rhys just casually crushed the gangster's neck before leaning out from the window… and then throwing the body straight toward one of the other motorcycles, causing another crash.

And as a matter of course, the other gangsters finally stopped following them. And almost as if he didn't just do what he did, Rhys just calmly rolled his window up before letting out a small sigh and relaxing back on his seat.

"Just… how many of you do I have to kill today?" Rhys blurted out.

"W… what was that?"