The old leader and the elders of the Peach Baboon tribes had their jaws touching the ground, their eyes bulging out of their sockets. Meanwhile, the nearby baboons had lost their minds.
Some were excited, while others were shocked, unable to come to terms with what they were seeing.
In front of the old baboon leader stood Adam with his arms crossed and a bored expression on his face. "How about it?"
The baboon didn't reply to him. They continued to stare at the decapitated head of the Dark Leopard at their feet. They were too shocked to even speak.
"Hello! Can you hear me?" Adam called out once again, this time a little louder.
The old baboon leader came back to his senses and glanced at the youth. He couldn't help but involuntarily gulp and ask mentally, 'Young warrior… did you really kill it?'
"Huh?" Adam asked with a straight face, "Have you gone senile already? Do you not see the head in front of you?"
'No, what I mean to say is, did you kill it?' The leader asked with an awkward face.
Adam's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? Did you send me there knowing that I wouldn't be able to kill the leopard?"
'No, no, no!' The old baboon leader hurriedly waved his hands in a slight panic.
He looked around Adam to see if the young dragon was present, but after not finding it, he secretly sighed a breath of relief. But still, he gave the youth a proper explanation, wanting to immediately clear the misunderstanding.
'Esteemed warrior, you are strong. Before sending you to the dark woods, I estimated that you had the capital to escape from the leopard, but I didn't think you'd be able to kill it!'
Adam finally understood what the old leader was thinking. But he pretended to be dumb about it and decided to embarrass him anyway. "What do you mean? Then why did you send me there?"
'You see…' the old baboon started to fidget with his long beard, avoiding eye contact with the youth. 'I thought if you went there and returned after failing, you would stop asking us for the treasure.'
"Hmph!" Adam scoffed, trying his best to maintain a straight face. "That's wishful thinking! I would have asked for the money regardless. Now, I'll take double what you've offered no thanks to you for trying to fool me."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})However much to Adam's surprise, the old baboon agreed without even haggling. 'Esteemed warrior, for what you've done, I will regard you greatly!'
He then got on his knees and kowtowed. 'On behalf of my tribe, thank you… thank you very much!'
The rest of the baboons present on this branch also followed suit and sincerely bowed toward the youth.
Adam was taken aback by this sudden turn of events. He just wanted to tease the baboons a little and dupe them into giving him more gold. However, he didn't think he would receive such an earnest response.
But in hindsight, it made sense.
After all, he had avenged so many young baboons by killing the leopard. So upon realizing this, he placed his right hand on his chest and nodded with a faint smile.
"You're welcome."
…
A couple of days later, Adam found himself staring at two large chests in front of him, his face riddled with complicated emotions.
Currently, he was inside a cave on one of the many branches of the colossal banyan tree. Valerian was sitting beside him, gracefully licking his paw.
He then looked at Adam and asked in puzzlement, 'What's wrong, brother? Your face looks… weird.'
"Ughh!" Adam rubbed his hair and grunted in annoyance, "That cheap baboon!"
A few days ago, the old baboon leader had taken him to the tribe's treasury that was situated underneath the great banyan tree.
Adam had never seen so much treasure in his life, to say the least. So much so, that the two chests filled with gold and platinum coins in front of him could only be considered a drop in the ocean!
Even though the value of the two chests was approximately fifty thousand gold coins!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Despite that, Adam couldn't help but feel salty knowing that the old baboon had only given him so little considering the vast treasure trove that he had seen.
He bit his lower lip and clenched his fists in irritation. "Damn it! Only if he could give me a little more! Raaahhh! That stingy baboon!"
This amount was definitely the most amount he had ever made in his life. But despite making so much money, he still felt that he should have gotten a little more.
Greed truly knew no bounds.
Suddenly, Valerian's topaz eyes gleamed with a brilliant light and he gazed at Adam through narrowed eyes.
'Brother, don't forget about our deal!'
"Ugh, not this again." Adam made an ugly face as he stared daggers at the young dragon.
However, Valerian didn't back down. He continued to have a staring contest with Adam.
"Fine!" The youth finally gave in. "I won't go back on my word. You'll get your thirty percent."
"Myu~" Valerian jumped into Adam's arms and started licking his face with love and affection.
'Brother, you are the best!'
'Sure, sure, whatever you say, hmph."
Adam put away the chests and packed up his things. The duo then exited the cave and went down the tree. Today they would finally depart from this place.
As they arrived at the base of the tree, they noticed a large number of baboons, old and young, had gathered. They had all come here to send them off.
Seeing the two arrive, all the baboons screamed in joy and excitement. Adam couldn't help but break into a warm smile seeing this.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The nearby young baboons agilely climbed his shoulders and started pulling his hair and cheek. But Adam let them. This was them playing with him, after all.
In the far distance, the old baboon was waiting for him with a few other elders of the tribe.
'I hope you liked the reward, esteemed warrior.' The baboon leader sent a mental message.
"Y-Yeah, sure!" The youth replied while holding in the urge to beat this stingy old thing.
Suddenly, another baboon approached them, carrying a folded black garment. When Adam laid eyes on this garment, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Oh, did you finally finish sewing it?"
"Ki-kiee! Ki-kiee!" The baboon nodded smugly, handing over the garment to the youth.
This piece of garment was a hooded cloak made from the hide of the Dark Leopard Adam had killed. Although it appeared crude, it could still pass off as a Rank 1 artifact with how tough its defense capabilities were.
Adam excitedly put the cloak over his robe. Seeing that it fit him perfectly, he nodded in approval. "Nice!"
He then glanced at the baboon who had made it and gave a thumbs up. "You did an amazing job. Thanks!"
"Ki-kiee!"
Adam then bade farewell to everyone that had gathered here. He also gave the young kids a warm hug before departing. Finally, he approached the old baboon leader and smiled.
"Thank you for your hospitality."
The old baboon sincerely bowed toward him. 'Thank you, esteemed warrior, for what you've done for us. We will forever remember it.'
Adam simply nodded. He then cast one final glance at everyone around him and said his final goodbyes. "Well, then."
He turned his head and looked in the direction of the center of the secret plane, his eyes flashing with anticipation.
"Time to leave."
