Chapter 416 - Into the Forest (1/2)

”Hey! Don't you turn your back on me!” Luke called indignantly.

Ren sighed grandly and continued to ignore him and walk away.

'Idiot hasn't changed even after so long...'

Ren shook his head and decided to filter out Luke's incessant yelling. To Ren, Luke had always been the difficult kid that he couldn't handle.

The kid was just so annoying and would always appear to pester him whenever he got a chance. Ren's only way of coping with it all was to just completely ignore him or run away.

He was doing the exact same thing here, but he forgot that they were no longer in the Empire but inside some unknown place. One of the people that was following Luke stepped forward to chase after him and just as he was about to forcefully grab onto him and turn him around, Ren reacted first and brushed off the hand that was about to grab him.

He tripped the guy and pulled out a gun from under his cloak and aimed it at the guy's face.

”...I almost forgot that this isn't the place where I should turn my back to anyone...” Ren silently scolded himself. He looked up at Luke and his entourage and said, ”You better not do anything stupid. If you want to start a fight with me, you better think twice. The trial is still only at its first stage. You don't want to suddenly fail here now do you?”

”...Hmph, arrogant! You don't even know who you're speaking to!”

”I don't know and I don't care. Just leave me alone.”

”Hah?!”

Ren backed up and quickly returned to his group who was already on their way over after seeing him suddenly get into a scuffle.

”Re—”

”It's alright, let's go back!” Ren immediately interrupted Robin from saying anything.

He knew that his friend was just about to call out his name and he wanted to prevent Luke from hearing it so that he wouldn't recognize him. It was better if his so-called rival remained unaware that he was here with him or else things would just get annoying.

Many in the Empire knew about the deal struck between the artificer guild's master and the enigmatic youngster who was traveling around the world. Ren didn't want anyone from the Empire to recognize him because he didn't want them to pull him away from his group using the excuse that he should originally be a part of their group and whatnot.

Of course, it wasn't like they could just forcefully take him away but it was better not to look for any source of trouble, especially in their current situation. From the point of view of the Empire, Ren was still a part of them and any magi-tech he held was of the Empire's possession.

The Empire naturally held no rights to the weapons that he had distributed but it was better to avoid the possibility that they'd act imperiously and try to forcibly take them away from his companions. It was just like how Luke was acting imperiously towards an unknown stranger and asking them to show him their weapon just because he wanted to take a look at it.

The Empire always acted in a high-handed manner and it was because of this that they had a falling out with his Master which led to the near destruction of one of their flying fortresses.

Once Ren led everyone back to their resting area near Cecilia and Karen's group, his friends naturally questioned him.

”Who was that Ren?” Xin asked.

”It was just some idiot who wanted to take a look at my weapon.”

”That's rude.”

”It is rude but that's just how the people of the Machina Reggio Empire act like,” Ren responded.

”Hmph, it's dumb and impolite!”

”Tell me about it. That's why I wanted to get away as soon as possible. Dealing with people of their nature is really exhausting and fruitless.”

”Hahaha, by the way, how did you know they were from the Empire?” Robin laughed before immediately asking.

”Remember that I was traveling with my Master before settling down in the kingdom? We naturally traveled to the Empire before and we got a taste of what the place was like.”

'And I was originally from the Empire.' Ren inwardly added.

”Is that so? Well, it's better to stay away from those kinds of people. Why did he approach you in the first place? Was it really only about the rifle?”

”They were probably intrigued by our unique magi-tech guns. The Empire is similar to our kingdom in which we rely on technological advances to make our lives more convenient.”

”So it's only because our technology was new and interesting?”