“It's nice to meet you, the village chief. My name is Kuro, Kuro bloodsmite”

From just a single glance, Kalo had realized these people were dangerous and not to be trusted. Luck stepped forward. In front of Kuro’s enormous body, he was like a pebble.

“You have the documents, right?”

“But of course.”

He pulled out a tablet which contained spreadsheets filled with notes regarding the mines. Luck observed the sheet thoroughly as they all stood by. Making sure not to miss any details. From the window room of the chief’s home, Lola was staring at the meeting.

“Woah brother, look at those guys. Have you seen anything like that?”

“Like I care”

Liam said, scribbling in his notebook. Lola tried to peek higher, seeing all the wolves behind the village.

“So many people…” she murmured to herself.

“Lola, enough for that. Let’s read the book dad was showing us”

“Coming!”

She left the window as her attention diverted. In the meantime, Luck had finished reading the documents.

“Have you fully checked it, sir?” Kuro said.

“Yes,”

“Then-” before Kuro could finish, Luck interrupted by saying,

“But I want a government witness.”

“Why bother?”

“I’m sorry, but the galactic government needs notice. I can’t just agree to the terms like that.”

Kuro gritted his teeth, trying to hold his anger. He was losing patience.

“Bring him here,” Kuro shouted towards the wolves. A man dressed in a white and black clothing which had a government symbol on top walked out of the ship.

“We're businessmen, right, mister Luck? Did you think what we are doing something illegal?”

“Not at all. But it's better to be safe than sorry.”

The government official let out a cough, getting his throat ready for a speech.

“By the guidance of the Galactic Government, I Friedrich Kayser, Chief officer of the military guild of Velmor galaxy, have read through the terms and agreements presented by both parties and consider it legal to do so. You may now proceed with your business as necessary. May the requiem guide us all.”

As the message was added with a sign of the government official, Luck placed his thumb on the tablet as a small red color formed across the thumb.. As if his blood leaked out and merged with the document.

” Kuro took the document from his hands and replied with a smile,

“Then we will start our work.”

“Already?” Luck asked.

“But of course. As per the contract, we can do what we want with the mine for the next 3 months. You people just have to work under us”

Kalo’s eyes widened at hearing that. No one knew about this. The wolves slowly headed towards the mining area as they left the food close to the village. The villagers surrounded Luck, trying to find an answer to what he had done.

“What did you do?” Halo asked.

Luck sat down beside the well in the middle of the village. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Well everyone. Looks like we have food for next year. If we preserve it, we can extend that to two years-”

“Oi. You little brat. Didn't you hear what I said? What the hell did you do, boy?”

Luck said with a smile,

“What does it look like? I rented the mine to them for three months and made ourselves their workers”

“What… why would you-”

“It's fine. It's not like we had the money to fix it.”

“Just because of that? You know how many generations our people worked on out to-”

“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE?” Luck shouted.

Everyone froze, hearing him shout like that.

“What do you expect me to do? Let the young ones die as we try to salvage a lost cause, hoping it will get better overtime. No, it never gets better overtime! It will only get worse! I… I”

his mouth suddenly stuttered as his voice went down.

“I shouldn't have been the chief…” tears were flowing from his eyes.

“Dad…” Luck's body went into shock as he noticed Lola and Liam looking at them as they heard all that Luck said. Liam felt pissed.

“Why would you say that? You’re… you’re not cool at all!” Liam dashed out of the place. Lola ran towards him.

“Wait brother.”

Luck tried to get up to chase after them when Halo patted him on the back and said,

“I got them.” Without a moment to waste, Halo ran towards them.

Kalo let out a sigh and replied,

“Well, it's only three months. So I guess everything will go back to normal after that.,”

The other villagers didn't know what to say. They went to their own homes, taking the rations given to them. Kalo sat down beside Luck. Luck staring at the necklace once again.

“You did the right thing,” he uttered. Days passed by. The wolves kept a friendly term with them despite making them work. With the money Kuro invested in the village, the mine operated once again. Luck himself worked under the wolves. It was looking smooth. As months went by, the last day of the contract emerged. Everyone in the village that night was in a joyous mood. Not only that, they didn't have to work under someone, they also had enough food to last another few months without worries. Even with food and music everywhere, the chief family had a tense atmosphere. Liam and Luck hadn’t patched up as Liam stayed in his room reading the book “phantom reapers”

Halo and Lola were trying to cheer up Liam any way they could.

“Don’t be so sad. He was only joking, you know,” Halo said.

“Right Lola”

“Huh... yeah, right? Dad was only joking, brother.”

Liam pretended to not pay any heed to it.

Kalo was strolling across the house. It was the last day of the contract, after all. He opened Luck’s office room. It seemed he was still not back. With time in hand and the others occupied, Kalo had the urge to observe the room and see what luck was up to these past few days. He looked at the top shelf and noticed another copy of the book “Phantom Reapers.”

“He sure loves this book, huh?”

As Kalo pulled out the book, he noticed something strange attached to the back of the cover. Slowly, using his sharp finger, he pulled it out. It was a folded map of some sort. He opened and saw a direction. It was a map of the newly made mines.

“What's all this about”

An X mark on the lowest corner of the map.

“If we look at the distance… then it's directly below the-”

Suddenly Luck entered the room.

“What are you doing, dad?”

“Oh, just going through your stuff and found-”

Luck snatched the map from his hands. It felt like he was in a rush. A worried and distant face.

“What's going on?”

“Something bad. very very bad.”

A sudden noise erupted from the village. Hearing that, Luck and Kalo dashed outside of the house. Vigle with a pack of wolves.

“What are you doing here? Our contract is over.” a villager said.

“What do you mean, it's over?”

“Luck told us the document was only valid for 3 months. We won't work under you anymore.”

Vigil pulling out his long wings grabbed the tablet from a nearby wolf and said,

“What are you saying? It's clearly stated here that you have given us your eternal loyalty.”

“What?”

“Yes, it's written all here. Don’t tell me you guys didn’t read the document or something?”

“That can’t be…”

Luck and Kalo rushed towards the site. The villagers noticed them.

“Lucky what is this guy saying? You wouldn't sell all of us like this for these guys, right?”

Luck didn't know what to say.

“What's going on? The document said 3 months.” Luck replied.

“Oh, you're saying official government documents were tampered? Are you going against the government or something?” Vigil said with his calm voice.

“If you’re gonna blame someone, blame your chief for accepting such terms, only for a couple of months' food.”

“No… the chief sold our freedom…”