When Thirteen, Harry, and Brutus, arrived back at the cave, they noticed that a commotion was brewing.
"What is going on here?" Harry asked after seeing that the teenagers seemed to be listening to the teenage boy, who went by the name Colbert.
"Sir Harry, you're finally here," Colbert greeted. "We were just talking about the fact that it should be you who is supposed to be our leader, and not some upstarts."
The teenage boy with dark-brown hair and gray eyes had no intention of following the seven-year-old's orders as if he was their leader. Even though Thirteen had saved them, the dislike he felt towards the younger boy only grew.
Because of this, he decided to rally the other teenagers to choose Harry as their temporary leader until they were able to complete their quest of lighting the Beacon of Hope.
Thirteen, who heard Colbert's words, didn't say anything and just walked towards Cristopher.
He had already anticipated that, because of his age, none of the children would follow his orders, but he was fine with that.
The only people he wanted to save from the Barbarians were Cristopher and Harry anyway. So, as for the rest, they could do whatever they wanted for all he cared.
Of course, he also thought of the possibility that Harry wouldn't come with him, but that was fine.
Whether the teenage boy from the Remington Clan would be able to survive his First Wandering or not would depend on his own abilities.
"After three hours we're going to leave," Thirteen said to Cristopher. "We'll just let Brutus rest for a bit."
The Troll had fought a few creatures along the way, since they had tried to attack Thirteen and Harry while they were covering their tracks.
He had let Harry deal the last hit to these creatures, hoping that they would get something good from them.
Unfortunately, none of the Monsters dropped any items.
Brutus received some minor injuries, but he would recover a bit after resting inside Cristopher's Spatial Storage.
Colbert, who was observing the younger boy, frowned when the latter didn't show any reaction to his proposal.
He clearly felt that Thirteen had completely ignored him as if he was just a piece of rock on the side of the road, which had no importance whatsoever.
Harry, who was now surrounded by the majority of the teenagers, was having a dilemma. As one of the scions of the Remington Clan, he knew that his family name alone was enough to command respect and loyalty from the teenagers around him.
He was doing fairly well surviving the wild with the timid-looking-girl, Rianna, who had appeared in the same location as him.
Together they were able to overcome most challenges, and even managed to kill a few Rank 1 monsters together.
Unfortunately, they came across an Orc Hunting Party that had managed to surround them.
The leader of the Orc Party spoke the language of Free Humans and told them to surrender, or they would cripple them before bringing them back to their stronghold.
In the end, Harry surrendered because he believed that as long as he was alive, an opportunity would appear to regain his freedom.
And that opportunity did come.
Seeing the solemn gazes of the teenagers around him, Harry glanced in Thirteen's direction.
The seven-year-old was eating some smoked meat alongside Cristopher, which made the other teenagers look at them with envy.
If not for the fact that Bruno was sitting beside the two of them, they might have already forced themselves into the resources that were placed inside the two wooden carts that belonged to the two teenagers.
Rianna then walked towards Thirteen and asked him if she could have something to eat and drink.
She and the other teenagers hadn't eaten anything for a day because the Orcs, and the Barbarians didn't want them to have the strength to oppose them during their trip back to the Barbarian Kingdom.
"Go ahead," Thirteen replied. "Eat and drink as much as you want."
Rianna thanked Thirteen and helped herself to a few pieces of smoked meat. She also drank sparingly from a water skin, quenching her immediate thirst.
"Hey, give us some food and water as well," Colbert demanded. "We are also hungry and thirsty. Sir Harry is a member of the Remington Clan, and you should know better than to offend them."
The other teenagers weren't as vocal as Colbert, and simply watched from the side. Unlike him, they were very thankful to Thirteen for saving them from the Barbarians, and didn't want him to offend him.
"Shut up, Villager A," Thirteen replied. "Side characters like you should know their place."
"V-Villager A?" Colbert wasn't ignorant of such terms because he liked reading books during his spare time.
Being treated as a side character didn't sit well with him, so he made his way towards Thirteen with the intention of giving the boy a piece of his mind.
But, before he could even come close, Bruno stood up and grabbed the annoying boy with his right hand.
He then lifted Colbert up and roared, sending spittle flying on the boy's face.
Perhaps out of fear, the boy lost control over his bladder and started leaking, making the Ogre look at him in disdain.
"You better behave," Cristopher said in a cold tone. "The Young Master is a very merciful and benevolent person. But, I am not. One more word from you and you'll be Bruno's lunch."
After his Master finished saying his threat, the Ogre tossed the boy in his hand to where the other teenagers were gathering.
Thirteen gave Cristopher a thumbs up in his heart because the chubby boy was showing his loyalty to him.
'Good, saving you wasn't in vain,' Thirteen thought as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Harry, who saw this frowned because he also didn't like how Colbert was pushing his weight around using his family name.
Still, unlike the arrogant boy, he wasn't an ingrate and knew that he owed Thirteen a favor by helping him escape from the possibility of becoming a slave by the Barbarians.
"Zion, can you please spare us some food and water," Harry said. "We are very grateful that you saved us from the Barbarians, and hope that you can extend your generosity to us once more."
"Okay," Thirteen replied. "You can take half of the resources in this cart, and also have the wagon if you like."
"Thank you, I will remember this and repay you back in Aldebaran."
"You should. Also, can you ask Uncle Elijah to give our family an attack helicopter as compensation for saving you?"
"… I'll tell him about your request, but there is no guarantee that he will agree to it."
"Okay."
Harry did everything in his power to stop his lips from twitching after hearing Thirteen's request.
Although he didn't know if his life was worth an Attack Helicopter built by the best engineers of the Remington Clan, he had a feeling that his father would do his best to make it happen.
He was lucky to have a loving family, but for Zion to use this incident to extort a helicopter from them made him feel conflicted.
Three hours later, the seven-year-old boy who had taken a nap slowly opened his eyes.
It was time for him and Cristopher to continue their adventure, and find more information about the Beacon of Hope.
