CHAPTER 199: ELLIE

The elderly woman thanked Leonard when she was able to receive a second scoop on behalf of her kids.

She wanted to bow, but Leonard flatly refused her gesture.

"I’m just an ordinary person. There’s no need for such gratitude." Leonard calmly said and signaled for the young girl to follow him.

Having eaten her fill, the young girl didn’t hesitate to follow him.

As for the crowd, they lost interest in their affairs and wished to request a second scoop from the person in charge of distributing the porridge.

Unfortunately, they were all denied.

"Each person could only have one scoop per day." The person in charge announced and unleashed their aura partially.

The rice was limited, so he couldn’t possibly afford to exhaust all the porridge before a set number of people had received it.

The crowd could only swallow their words back into their mouths. They were uneducated, but they certainly weren’t ignorant enough to understand that the young man from earlier must have been someone special.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been allowed to have multiple scoopings.

What made them become certain was that Leonard didn’t even bother to have some porridge for himself before leaving.

"Looks like we missed an extraordinary figure."

"The elderly woman struck it big to have some ties with the young man."

"What a pity. I would have offered my bowl to him if I knew that was the case."

As the crowd lamented their inactions, elsewhere, Leonard had already moved on from the porridge stall event.

"What is your name, little girl?" Leonard glanced at his new follower and asked. He couldn’t possibly keep addressing her as a young girl or little girl.

"What is a name?" The young girl tilted their head and questioned.

"A name is what people used to refer to you," Leonard explained patiently.

"Just like how my name is Leonard, but you must address me as Young Master from now on. After all, you’re my follower, so I am your Master."

"My name is Little Girl then." The young girl answered when she recalled being addressed by that name by Leonard.

"..."

He was rendered speechless by her quick-witted mindset. It sounded wrong and correct at the same time.

"Since you don’t have a proper name, then I’ll grant you one. Ellie will be your name from now on." Leonard said.

Ellie was a name that meant bright shining one. He hoped this name could symbolize the young girl’s new life as his follower. Moreover, it was a simple name that was easy to pronounce.

"E-Ellie?" The young girl muttered the name before flashing a delightful smile.

"My name is Ellie." She said cheerfully.

"That’s right." Leonard nodded and asked, "Where do you usually reside, Ellie?"

Ellie scratched her head in confusion.

"I don’t know how to answer that." She said in a timid tone. "I go wherever there’s food available and sleep whenever there’s an empty spot to lie down."

"Then what about the scars you have in your body?"

"I join fights. As long as I participate and endure for 3 minutes, I’ll get free food."

"Fights?" Leonard narrowed his eyes. "Do you mind explaining in detail what sort of fights you participated in?"

Ellie nodded her head and explained everything in detail.

Apparently, the fights were hailed underground within the slum. People who reside in the slum were free to participate in exchange for food and other commodities.

However, the prices of participation were often dead.

Those who win would receive a large amount of benefit, whereas those who lost would either die or succumb to heavy injuries.

"So basically an underground arena..." Leonard’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Based on the explanation and details provided by Ellie, he already had a clear insight into the situation.

Since the slums were filled with filth and lowly people in the eyes of those above, they used them to their maximum desire.

One could say it was a similar situation to slaves who were brought forth to fight to the death, but the slum gave them a sense of refreshment.

It was the equivalent of finding a new toy similar to the previous ones you enjoyed, and wanted to experience the new toy.

Despite having the gist of the situation, Leonard was more astonished that Ellie was about to come out alive.

"What type of people did they arrange for you to fight?" He asked softly.

"People?" Confused, Ellie tilted her head and replied, "I didn’t fight any people. I fought with animals that have big claws and teeth."

"Animals??!" He exclaimed in bewilderment. So it wasn’t a human versus human, but a human versus monster type of fight.

’Wait, no, it can be different races.’ Leonard hurriedly remembered that this world had many types of races. The injuries Ellie sustained couldn’t be inflicted by mere monsters.

"Does big brother also want to participate in the fight?" Ellie suddenly asked curiously.

"With big brother’s unstable mana, Ellie doesn’t suggest you participate. You will cough up lots of blood and be carried away with some stretchers." She kindly advised him not to participate.

"Are you worried about my safety or just concerned that you won’t have good food anymore?" He asked in amusement.

"The latter part." Ellie smiled sheepishly, her stomach grumbling a few seconds later.

To lose to food in terms of favor, Leonard wasn’t disappointed by the result.

In the slum, food was the king.

Money wasn’t even considered a fart here if it couldn’t be used to fill their empty belly.

"Rest assured, Ellie. I just wanted to know if you have anyone in mind who could become my follower." Leonard patted her head gently and explained.

"Nobody in my mind except Ellie." Ellie flatly replied, clearly refusing to assist Leonard in recruiting more followers who could potentially steal her portion of food.

Leonard chuckled heartily at her straightforward personality. It was certainly a good change of pace to interact with people whom he didn’t need to be wary of constantly.

Unfortunately, his enjoyment was short-lived when he spotted a few people from afar.

’What a pity...’ His expression darkened when he realized his cover was exposed already.