“Nah. You are looking for someone who savagely attacked one of your fellow sect members. I merely acted in self-defense after being jumped at while asking for directions.”

The black-haired man shamelessly dismissed the claim by literally admitting to the deed as if it was the most normal thing to do.

“Bull**! I bet you are somehow involved in the disappearance of the monsters from the area!”

*WHAM*

The pompadour-rocking marital artist scoffed, stepping towards the table where the trio was seated and slamming his fist against it while adding some new accusations to the list to make it sound more valid.

He did not activate any laws because otherwise, the furniture would end up in splinters, so even though he was trying to scare the others, he didn’t seem to actively seek a fight.

“Besides, Emilia would have not done such a thing, not without a reason! And even if she did, how could you do something like that to a girl?!”

The martial artist raised his voice in anger returning to his main point of interest, to which both Alan and Aaron looked over at the black-haired man curious about his response this time.

“I come from a different land. Back there, we, the knights, do not differentiate opponents by gender. An attacker is an attacker, and they will receive as much respect as they give.”

Zoemi took a deep breath and repeated almost word-by-word the answer that one of the instructors of the knight training gave to the certain gold-haired prince a couple of years back.

Honestly, it was quite rude for Zoemi to say that. In the end, objectively speaking he was the one in the wrong in that situation.

“…!”

Nonetheless, the answer given seemed to shake up the pompadour-rocking martial artist…

“…?”

So much that he took a step back… and noticed the whole get-up that the black-haired man was sporting.

“…what’s with the collar and all…?”

The martial artist asked in confusion before looking at the young man to whom the leashes of both Aaron and Zoemi lead.

“Am… am I supposed to talk to you about this whole thing…?”

The martial artist asked in a hesitant voice, clearly feeling very awkward about the scene he stepped into.

“Would be nice if it was true. Despite looking like a herbivore, this pet of mine is quite bloodthirsty and free-spirited. I wish that I could discipline him, but his talent in the law of Aries is terrifying, honestly. I can make him say that he is sorry if that will help. I will not do anything more though, or I might end up as his next prey.”

Although he flinched at first, Alan took a page from Zoemi’s book and leaned back, speaking in a proud, confident voice that was quite convincing – all while playing with the leash attached to Zoemi’s collar.

“It could have been the case if you had won the bet, master, ~”

“!!!”

The black-haired man’s face lighted up with a devilish smirk as he faced the young man, which caused the pompadour-rocking marital artist to back off wide-eyed.

Aaron was left alone for the spectacle for obvious reasons, but the aura surrounding the two became extremely dangerous – in more ways than one…

“Any other questions? If not, you are free to leave. Wish that Emilia of yours a fast recovery on my behalf and have a nice day.”

Zoemi turned back to the martial artist and waved his hand at him dismissively as if every single problem he had been graciously solved.

“What?! Did you even listen to…? Argh! Who cares! Everyone! He is hostile! Law of Taurus!”

The pompadour-rocking man was so taken aback that he ended up calling out outside to whatever companions he came to the tavern with and activated his own star power…

———

“No one wanting to recruit us into a dark sect has ever shown up, huh…? Should we spend the night here and then go to the next location the next day?”

As the shadows of nine bodies embedded into the wall of the tavern by their heads were becoming longer, Zoemi yawned with a bored expression and motioned at Aaron and Alan with his chin.

“…did you arrange them into a Taurus constellation on purpose or…?”

The young reddish-brown-haired man who did not pay attention to Zoemi’s words at all and instead was staring at the result of the completely one-sided battle asked gulping down his saliva.

“They had the perfect numbers, I just used the chance to be a little bit cheeky.”

The black-haired man smirked, patting Alan’s back reassuringly.

“Then are we staying the night here or not?”

“Wait, what?! Here?!”

Zoemi breathed out and asked again, having Alan looking at him now and all, but as it turns out the young man seemed to have a problem with reentering the establishment the outside wall was adorned with human ornaments.

“Yes, is that a problem? Aaron, what do you think?”

The black-haired man shrugged his shoulders, failing to see the problem with the course that he set on.

“Zoemi, Alan, let’s go.”

Aaron also didn’t really seem to pay attention, at least judging by the fact that he was facing the other way, then he suddenly completely turned and started walking down the street, waving his hand at the other two to follow him.

“Hngh…!”

“Whoa?!”

…at least he tried, because the leash firmly attached to his collar stopped him right on the track, as he forgot about its existence and unintentionally choked himself a bit while surprising Alan.

𝒐𝓥𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

“Are you alright? What it is about?”

The young man approached him and asked in a worried voice while the embarrassed boy was rubbing the sore spot on his neck.

“Ghe…! Ghe…! I saw someone from… Ghe…! From the dark sect. We should follow him.”

Aaron coughed a few times, all teary-eyed, before discretely motioning his hand towards one of the small alleys in between the otherwise connected buildings.

,m “Huh? You saw someone from the… but how do you know it’s…?”

“Master, it’s no time to sweat the small stuff. Our target might get away.”

Alan furrowed his brows, indiscreetly looking in the pointed direction, but the doubts that he was about to voice were cut short by Zoemi approaching them and urging forward by pushing on the backs of both the young man and boy.

Alan sent him a scowl but the black-haired man closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head.

Zoemi didn’t trust Aaron, but something in the boy’s behavior changed. The previous impatience and jumpiness were no more, replaced by tenseness and surprise.

Just as if something that the beloved child of Sagittarius did not anticipate happened, making him change whatever plan he had.

Aaron glanced at them and nodded, before moving forward again, and this time Zoemi and Alan both followed without any mishaps.

The townspeople were separated into two groups – the ones that saw or heard what happened and stayed away from the trio as far as possible, and the ones who were simply not aware of their strength but who were bothered by their looks enough to get out of their way just in case.

The small alley was even tighter than anticipated, and although Aaron and Alan had little problems with moving through, Zoemi had to walk sideways unless he wanted to start breaking the buildings with his ridiculously sturdy body.

“Are you sure we are not walking into a trap…?”

Alan breathed out, asking the boy at the front.

“I am not. Activate the defensive star power just in case. That person should not be here and I don’t know what is going on. Law of Aries. Law of Sagittarius”

Aaron shook his head and responded without looking back, focused on the pathway, doing his best to catch even a glimpse of the target that had to pass through the same place they were at right then. He even activated his strongest star power to get access to the boost in abilities that it provided.

“…law of Aries, law of Virgo…”

Alan exchanged glances full of suspicion with Zoemi and murmured the names of the defensive laws.

As for the black-haired man – he already had star powers active after dealing with the pompadour-rocking martial artist and his friends, so the only thing left to do was to follow the other two.

“!!! Law of Capricorn!”

*WHOOOSH*

“AH! No! Aaron!”

Then, a human figure passed by the other side of the alley, and Aaronflinched before running off so suddenly that Alan dropped his leash and caused him to cry out.

But the boy did not listen at all, charging after the figure.

“Zoemi…!”

Alan looked back at the black-haired man helplessly, about to tell him it would be best to retreat because it MUST have been a trap…

“Now then.”

“…huh…?”

*RUMBLE*

But the black-haired man had another idea and with a devilish smirk on his face, he went ahead grabbing the young man’s waist, and charged forward, bulldozing through the bricks of the buildings on both sides so easily as if they were made out of foam.

“!!!”

Alan clenched his teeth, trying to hold back the panic, and just put his arms in front of his face to protect his head just in case.

The two of them burst onto an empty square of a courtyard-like passage that was very clearly an oversight on the architect’s part as there were no doors or even windows in the surrounding buildings to access it…

Surprisingly, Aaron was there too, looking between two passages where the person he was following could have gone to.

“DAD! WAIT!”

“!!!”

Shocking them even more, the boy teared up, clenching his fists nervously, and cried out like a lost child.