CHAPTER 53: CH 53: PAY UP

The time to depart from the village came soon. Cane needed to restock his supplies, so he needed to head to the main town, and that meant running into other people.

"Take care on your journey ahead, hero. And remember, if you need anything, then we are here for you. You do not have to bear this burden alone."

The chief reminded Cane, and Cane nodded. He quickly left the village and headed toward his destination.

He had not gone too far when he started to stream suddenly. He hardly had any people watching, so he was able to appreciate the messages he did get.

[Roll_No_2: Are you heading toward the main village? Be careful. People say they saw Canari around.]

[TheOneTruePanda: Good luck. I heard that Canari has been preparing a lot for this. She even changed her race in-game to get more powerful.]

The words sounded a little concerning, but Cane did not feel as worried as he would have before.

As one progressed more and more in the game, the harder it became to level up. Canari had been level 106 last time he met her, so he doubted she would have had a chance to gain even more levels.

In fact, he was sure that he had more of an advantage.

"Don’t worry about Canari. I survived her once. I am sure I can survive her once more."

Cane assured his chat, and a lot of people started typing "!" in the chat. Why they did not believe Cane despite seeing him do it before was beyond him.

The only option he had was to show them that he was capable enough to survive Canari once more.

[HaremKingXXX:

You are finally here. I can see the town now.]

Cane could see it as well. Beyond the forest, he could make out the walls of the main town.

"Wow-! Is that the town we are heading toward? The walls are very... tall. It all seems very... backward."

Ai sounded confused and amazed as well. But not in a good way. She was trying to understand why anyone would want to build these walls when they had magic.

"It’s for the immersion. No matter how advanced a world is in magic, people crave simplicity. And also, no fantasy story is complete without a wall to surround the city."

[Shura: That’s so true.]

[KingKitten: That’s because historically, walls were used to protect forts from enemies, and the fantasy setting borrows a lot from history.]

"I see. So it’s a design choice, not a practical one. Do you think I should test my power against that wall? Will I try blasting it to see if it would hold or not?"

Ai asked, and Cane immediately shook his head.

"You better not. Outside of emergencies and some... commissions, it is forbidden to attack these walls in any way. We might get banned from the village if we do that."

Cane told Ai, but his chat kept daring him to do it anyway. He ignored his chat, but Ai’s words had already caused the cart driver to look their way with an angry frown on his face.

[WinWinWin: Well, that’s truly our streamer. He somehow managed to make the cart-driver NPC his enemy. There is truly no in-between for him, right?]

[LazyWrite: Of course, there isn’t. Anyway, do be careful. Maybe also consider entering from the other side of the town? Canari has been spotted near this side.]

The chat tried to warn Cane, but it was too late for him to change his entry course. The carriage had already entered the city walls.

"How about you all warn me about this earlier next time? Well, I guess if I run into Canari, then I run into her."

What else could Cane even do at this point?

They quickly got off the carriage, and Cane paid the man the one gold coin. But the driver did not allow him to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute. I need you to pay me one more gold coin."

The NPC told Cane as he kept clutching at him. Cane felt surprised by this grip and turned around to face the driver NPC.

"Why have you stopped me? I paid your money already. There is nothing else for us to discuss."

He reminded the NPC, but the driver still looked unhappy with Cane.

"One gold coin is not good enough. I agreed to one gold coin before I knew you were a criminal. Now you need to pay me twice as much... unless you want me to call the police."

The man told Cane, and Cane gritted his teeth at the unfairness.

[KuraKura: RIP. Your Kill-on-Sight modifier has finally started to work. I was beginning to wonder if it was broken or something.]

That... did make sense in a lot of ways, and Cane felt a little stupid for not having realized that this could happen beforehand.

But in his defense, he had only ever interacted with the quest or important NPCs until now. So how was he supposed to know that this would happen?

"Hurry up and pay now."

The man told Cane, and Cane forked out the extra gold coin. He decided to pay it before people started to pay attention to him.

"No, wait. This is not right. You agreed to ferry us here for one gold coin. How dare you try and scam us out of another one?"

Ai took her stance as well, and the driver looked startled. He looked at Ai with annoyance in his eyes.

"Look here, miss. You are traveling with a dangerous man. Do you know what can happen if I report you—"

"And do you know what can happen if I cause a scene about you touching me? We both have a way to bury the other person. So let’s not start, shall we?"

The driver suddenly looked pressed before he sighed and backed off.

"Fine-! You win this time. I will just take the promised price and nothing else."

Cane watched as Ai set the driver straight. Then, she turned to look at him and winked before finishing her conversation with the man in front of her.