“Let’s not do anything hasty,” The oldest man here encouraged.

And Steve decided to remind the other, “You're the one who sells children, I was anything but hasty.”

It was a surprise how Andonil's tone remained idle. Apart from having a dagger close to his throat, he had a couple of daggers through his shoulders as well!

Obviously it would be difficult to keep howls at bay under such circumstances, but yet this geezer didn’t even pant.

On the contrary he peeked at his long, white beard which was coated with a bit of blood now, and felt that it was the best time to make a comment about that.

And at the same time he ignored the main conversation.

With such a thought process he recited, “You made my beard dirty, that hurts an old man’s pride more than a dagger you know?”

Steve decided to take a peek at the overall situation after that point, specifically since he noticed that the geezer didn't prove so useful.

He was quick to realise that the circumstances had developed into a dire state.

Sure he had taken this old fart hostage, but in this situation he and Altima simply were outnumbered!

The capable young lady had knocked out three of these opposing guards, but that wasn’t enough to tame the tides.

There used to be over twenty guards in this room alone, and the commotion attracted another ten to barge in here.

So ultimately Steve and his bodyguard had to figure out a way out of here. As it simply was impossible to fend off nearly thirty enemies, who all carried sharpened swords!

Necessarily he had to bring the old man’s attention back towards a deal that would benefit them all.

That was why he recited, “We need to make a deal you maniac. Let us go and you can keep your neck.”

Andonil broke into quite a laugh afterwards, and such a giggle was almost suicidal. Because he shook enough through the process, to slightly cut his neck a few times.

It was difficult to understand if this white-haired frog had gone crazy, but Steve reminded himself that this whole country was barbaric, so of course he could only work around such odd behaviour.

That same giggling maniac finally decided to speak out, “What value does my little life have now? You shamed me in front of my dogs here, so we can't treat gold like our lusty maids any longer.”

“Then what on earth do you want?” Steve instantly pressured.

"Earth?" A few guards mumbled, and gave the young man an awkward eye.

Steve felt that he would need to make up a bunch of lies right on the spot, again ~ but thankfully such a topic was swiftly shunned.

Simply since the geezer cooperated, “I want honor, you young dandelion petal. And this honor demands that you either kill me now, or do something to aid the revolutionaries.”

Afterwards this same crazed man taunted, “And judging from your shaky hand, you aren’t ready to kill anyone you smelly little bastard.”

As much as the younger hated to admit it, this darned hostage was absolutely right. Steve simply couldn’t bring himself to kill anyone!

So of course he had to work around such a weakness, “You don't even want gold, how am I supposed to pay you back?”

“Simple really, you will take care of some business for us. This will clear all of your debts, and my soul would be worthy again since my command alone, has led you to help us revolutionaries.” Andonil explained quite casually.

“Oh you frogs and that darn honour of yours,” Steve harassed after a rough sigh.

But he also understood that this was the best opportunity he could get.

So he decided to cooperate, “What am I supposed to do?”

“You and six men of mine will go explore an abandoned dungeon,” The white-haired geezer pitched.

After Steve's face curled thanks to perplexedness, he decided to point out. “That’s a very random deal.”

“Isn’t it? My men wouldn’t bother with spoils of this liking, but rumour has it that some big treasure hides within some nasty old dungeon.” The latter followed along.

Since the opportunity was given, Steve decided to strike a proper deal here right away.

So he put that dagger away and pressured, “If I help you get that treasure, we will be all even, right?”

“As even as a new bookshelf,” The geezer assured with half a shout, but his tone cracked in the process.

And afterwards he continued to explain, “Treasures can make us revolutionaries rich, and my soul would be worth more after you succeed. So yes, we will be even.”

Oddly enough, old man Andonil also briefly recommended. “Either that or you can try your luck against all of my men. See, they don’t respect me now so I can’t command them to the slightest.”

This bizarrity continued as he explained, “The only reason they’re holding back, is because this deal of ours can make all of them richer.”

After that point, a chill ran down the young man’s spine. Apart from being honor led, this massive group of frogs were simply gold-oriented.

These couple of aspects were contradictory to each other, but that fact made it all the more spooky.

Such a paradox-oriented lifestyle made these enemies all the more confusing, and uncertainty often brought danger.

So with these thoughts swiftly considered, the young man thought that the best idea was to be cooperative.

For that matter, Steve first cleared his throat and then agreed. “As much as I hate to stay close to any of you, I will help you darned revolutionaries.”

“You heard him fellas, now come get these daggers out of your old master’s shoulders.” The geezer requested quite casually.

This massive group proved themselves perplexing once more. As they all simply sheathed their weaponry in the same handful of seconds, right after that request.

The scene became even more confusing, after a couple of them boldly approached their master.

There wasn’t a hint of fear hidden beneath their glance, and they worked quite ruthlessly as well.

They swiftly pulled the daggers out of their master’s shoulders, and were completely oblivious of how painful such a procedure was.

And then these men went far enough, to hand those same bloody daggers to Steve, in the most casual manner that the young man had ever seen.

One of them even taunted him with a firm, almost reactionless face. “Don’t start a ruckus if you won’t get your hands bloody, kid.”

Afterwards these same men dragged the geezer towards a room nearby, and were likely treating his deep wounds. A rag would likely be enough to halt all of that blood flow.

After that point, a taller frog waved for the young man's attention a few times, and then gestured. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” He swiftly questioned.

And then finally stepped away from the spot that he had been frozen at.

Another frog answered quite casually, “The dungeon.”

“Now?” Steve weighed in, as he tried to catch up with everything that just happened.

“That treasure has waited for two-hudred years, no need to let it wait any longer.” The tallest of these men, taunted.

Those same frogs left the building after that point, and Steve felt pressured to follow them.

So he headed towards his sister first, grabbed the tiny lady around the arm and headed towards this room's exit.

Altima followed them along of course, as she was already paid to be the good man’s body-guard.

In that manner, they all walked outside and simply set their path towards the city walls.

This overall behaviour was wildly confusing, so naturally the young man had a bunch of questions to ask; it was almost impossible to pick out what to ask about first.

Thankfully, the system lady decided to shed light on these rays of confusion; there were quite some characteristics that coated her tone.

Firstly she pointed out, [Don’t worry, acts like this are quite common in a barbaric land]

[The deal you made is fantastic and will only benefit you, so don't worry about the scaling perspectives of it]

“Wouldn't be a great deal if I died in some damned dungeon,” The other pointed out with a hint of sass.

[Well try to avoid unnecessary death,] The system returned it with a sizable amount of sass.

And then continued, [But even if all of these men die in that dungeon, you’d still be debt-free as the deal you just made specified so]

Steve almost dwelled in quite some questions after that point, but the tiny frog around his arm demanded some attention.

“Where are we going Stevey?” The four-foot tall girl questioned, as she pinched the taller one’s skin.

“Into some dungeon apparently… sister?” He followed along, and tried to remember the other’s face.

With another pinch the shorter demanded, “That name sounds stupid. Call me Trina like you used too!”

And as that name had been boldy interjected, a bunch of memories bashed against the man’s head!

He could remember that this young woman’s name was Trinia, but that name sounded too old-fashioned for this timeline, so a nickname was necessary.

Steve could remember some cases of extreme poverty that the past body-owner went through with this little lady. But those memories were rather limited and cloudy, so he couldn’t see to this deeply.

Instead he shook his head a couple of times and played along, “Okay Trina. We’re going to some dungeons, do you like places like that?”

“Dunno what they are,” She answered casually.

This young girl had quite a childish face so her reactions showed a lot. Her face was dirty but still shone with youth.

And her shoulder-length, green hair unleashed a life-full aura. This energy was almost too much for a child who had been literally starved, through most of her life.

She simply seemed almost too healthy!

Steve didn’t feel any connections with this little girl, but he was still sympathetic enough to play along.

“I don’t know what they are either,” He revealed.

And then requested, “But you will be a tough girl right? Can’t let that dungeon scare us both now can we?”

“I will slap anyone who’s mean to us!” The tiny girl assured loudly.

A reaction like that didn’t fail to make the small team smile. But Steve's attention had been captured by something else, so he didn’t reply.

The system in his head had captured all of his concentration, as it briefly informed.

[Your journey to this dungeon will be your first true challenge in this new world. So I suggest you perform as flawlessly as you can]

[If you manage to find a big treasure down there, you will be rewarded with four-hundred system ponts]

[To clarify, you will be rewarded regardless if you got a share of that treasure or not]

“That’s a good deal actually,” He complimented with a single thought.

[It’s barely anything to be honest,] The system followed along with quite a bit of honesty.

And then specified, [But dungeons usually carry forgotten history, that's why I specifically reward you to explore it thoroughly]

[So keep an eye out for books down there as well, the opportunities could be plentiful]

[If you run into a book that contains new information surrounding the flaming crown, you will be rewarded with one-hundred system points]