"Hmph, telling me that this pain I am feeling would simply fade away if I serve him as his disciple or student or whatever he wants me to be!" feeling enraged at the shadowy figure"s words, Tommy couldn"t help but to throw a punch in the air before continuing to walk towards his destination.Feeling completely miserable, Tommy was indeed vulnerable, but he still had enough training under his belt for several years and was not easily swayed simply by some words of a stranger.
"It does not matter if he was the emperor himself! This path that I am now on is one where I could only rely on myself to push forward!" Tommy thought to himself as the sun in the distance started to rise up once again.
-Outside of the village walls-
"What do you mean no one can enter without paying a fee?" a small line of people was formed right outside of the village walls.
For some reason, even though villages allowed all individuals in without any payment, in this moment the village seemed to be charging outsiders for entry which would make even the commoners surprised.
Some of these individuals looked to be experts, while others were small time merchants and one individual who was influential enough to have a small group of over a dozen guards around her.
"I am sorry everyone, but this is our Chieftain"s orders. There will be a special event coming up in three days and because of this, there is an entry cost, but entrance to attend the event itself is now open to everyone within the village." one of the guards tried to explain.
"Fine, we will agree to pay this d.a.m.nable fee to enter but you had better give me the VIP treatment that I deserve!" the young woman shouted out in a very domineering way before throwing a small bag of gold to another guard while her guards opened up a clear path for her.
"Huh?" not sure how to react, the guards speechless from this young woman"s demeanor, started to take a closer look at the symbol on her back as she started skipping past everyone with a big smile on her face like she could simply buy or destroy the whole village simply from raising a finger.
Seeing this scene unfolding, Tommy quickly rushed forward to gather some more information on the whole situation which had just happened in front of him.
"If I am not mistaken, that symbol on that young girl"s back is that of the Red Dust clan!" one of the guards said out loud for everyone to hear once the young girl and her guards were far enough away to not hear his words.
"The Red Dust clan that is renowned in this area to have somewhat of a foothold in not just every village, but also THAT place!?" another guard chimed in unaware that the people around him could hear his reaction clearly.
In but a single moment, everyone who remained outside of the village started to talk among themselves. This was simply because of how infamous the Red Dust clan truly was!
It could be said that although the Red Dust clan was not the strongest clan when it came to sheer strength, their network ran extremely deep and could be said to be very influential in the black market.
Though it would not be difficult for each village Chieftain and the mayor of every city to try to uproot the Red Dust clan, their network ran so deep into every part of what ran each village and city, that it would be too risky to even make such an attempt unless every single village and city were willing to do this.
In the past, a village tried to uproot the Red Dust clan and were successful, but within three months of time after they had done this, no other village or city in the region were willing to help them until poverty struck soon after and the village crumbled soon after that.