The Price

Led by the purple-haired boy.

Before long.

Ian arrived at their residence with his eight vicious dogs, which stood guard outside.

The residence looked extremely shabby.

The purple-haired boy was thin and bony, reminding Ian of the stray dogs at his side.

He pushed open the door.

Soon, Ian saw two boys lying inside the house, both looking just as gaunt.

The only difference was that one of them had a slightly larger frame.

The other two looked as though a gust of wind could knock them over...

When they returned.

Both boys woke with a start, but relaxed a little when they saw the purple-haired boy.

"Machi, who is he?"

Both had piercing gazes. They stared at Ian with wolf-like eyes, making him somewhat uncomfortable, though he paid it no mind.

But when he heard them call the purple-haired boy Machi, Ian was taken aback.

That name... sounds familiar...

"Uvogin, Nobunaga, relax. He saved me. Wait a moment, I found some food..."

Only then.

Did Ian realize something was wrong.

"Uvogin?"

"Nobunaga?"

Ian's eyes widened slightly. He glanced at the two boys slowly getting to their feet, then at the purple-haired boy's back as she heated water, and his pupils contracted!

"You're a girl?"

Ian cried in surprise.

Machi froze at his words, then turned around in surprise, wondering how he had seen through her disguise.

The other two boys stared at Ian with hostile expressions.

"Hey, brat, are you looking for death?"

"What are you trying to do?"

The two shouted in unison.

Hearing their threats and looking at their gaunt faces again, Ian couldn't help matching the two of them to the two guys in his memories.

Ian shook his head.

"Your personalities are much the same, but I didn't expect... it to be this point in time..."

He had never imagined that he had transmigrated to the time when the Phantom Troupe were children.

"Hey, I'd advise you to watch your mouths. You're sick right now, after all. If you really want to fight, I'm not afraid. Little Turtle, come in!"

As soon as Ian's calm words fell.

The next moment.

Eight vicious stray dogs slowly squeezed through the doorway from outside. With several stray dogs at his side, Ian was full of confidence and utterly bold!

Even if they would become strong in the future.

Right now, as far as he was concerned, they were just lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Sure enough, after seeing the eight vicious dogs, both Uvogin and Nobunaga became considerably less aggressive, though both gritted their teeth.

Normally, they wouldn't have submitted even in death.

But now, their bodies were too weak...

Machi, standing to the side, had understood from the beginning that Ian wouldn't attack them.

So even when Ian frightened Uvogin and Nobunaga, she wasn't surprised.

"Honestly, you really had me fooled..."

Ian looked at Machi and chuckled softly, though she also understood what Machi was thinking.

In this chaotic place, revealing that you were a girl often brought no good.

"What happened to them?"

Ian pointed at Uvogin and the others and asked curiously.

As she boiled the sweet potatoes, Machi calmly explained.

"The people at the supply exchange beat them up!"

Ian listened quietly.

As it turned out, surviving here wasn't all that difficult, but the one obstacle they couldn't get around was the person in charge of exchanging supplies.

His name was Angsa, a potbellied, arrogant fat man.

"That fat man is called Angsa. Everyone says he's black-hearted and extremely stingy!"

Machi explained calmly.

"That damn fatty must have been skimming off our food!"

Just then, Nobunaga shouted indignantly from the side.

As it turned out, there had been a problem when they exchanged supplies.

A conflict arose between the two sides.

Naturally, Uvogin and Nobunaga got into a fight with them. But the other side had a group of thugs, and the two boys were no match for them, ending up beaten into this miserable state.

"When we work hard and still can't get enough to eat, it's only natural that someone has stolen the food that should have been ours."

After hearing what had happened to them, Ian sighed softly.

Hearing the words of the unfamiliar boy before him.

Uvogin clenched his fists, glanced at him, and said coldly.

"That damn fatty, I'll kill him someday!"

Hearing that, Ian frowned slightly.

What powerful killing intent!

Ian thought for a moment, then offered some advice.

"Before you have enough strength, keeping a low profile isn't a bad choice."

"And..."

At this point, he couldn't help glancing at Machi. Thinking of what had happened today, he said it in the end.

"Because you were injured, your companion was nearly killed while she was out looking for food today..."

"She only survived because she happened to run into me..."

"If it hadn't been for me, I think you would have learned... just how high a price you could pay for losing your temper for a moment..."