Hakuto sighed when someone stopped him from carrying something for the umpteenth time. With his injuries, everyone was treating him like glass. Whenever he does anything even remotely dangerous, someone was there to stop him. It could be Ja'far, Masrur, Mystras, or Serendine, it seemed no one wanted him to so much as move.

This time, Vittel had caught him trying to move a crate of scrolls from the ship to land, immediately racing towards the Kou ambassador and insisting he handled it. Shaking his head, Hakuto slumped further when he saw Masrur—his newly adopted son— carrying large amounts of wooden boards to the new building.

To do even less work than my own child... Hakuto dramatically wiped a tear, what a disgrace! Hakuren would be having a field day!

Finally done with the stuffy feel of being kept indoors ever since they'd landed in Balbadd, Hakuto grabbed his Guandao and turned to tell Ja'far that he would be leaving for a walk.

"No."

The young assistant was quite ruthless as he shot down Hakuto's request.

"E-Eh? Why not, Ja'far?"

Ja'far sighed, "First of all, you are not lugging that thing around when you're injured." He pointed at his Guandao, "Your not bringing your bow either." He added when Hakuto opened his mouth.

"Then I will go with nothing, it is just a walk, I will return when I've had a significant amount of fresh air." He promised, dropping his pole-arm before somehow spotted him carrying it and begin fussing.

Ja'far denied him firmly, "Absolutely not! You've already been targeted, you will not leave this building without some kind of protection!"

"Protection? Then..." Hakuto stopped a worker and grabbed the knife he had been using to cut some security ropes, "I'll bring this knife with me, surely a knife is not too heavy for me?"

"No, but—!" Ja'far was cut off when he was about to protest, Hakuto had grabbed Sinbad and bodily threw him at Ja'far, hastily thanking the president as he vanished from the entrance.

Hakuto sighed in relief when the would-be Comapny Headquarter's building was out of sight, everyone was so busy trying to fix up the building that him slipping out shouldn't have been noticed—if he hadn't been injured that is.

Seriously, you break a shoulder and suddenly everyone's treating you like a Kou-ian doll!

Shaking his head in exasperation, Hakuto was quite surprised to find himself in a section of Balbadd he's never seen before, not that I've seen much with how much they forced me to stay in the Headquarters.

The buildings here look much shabbier than the ones near the port, the people seemed to be wearing clothes that barely keeps them warm, a man walked by, sweating so heavily that he looked like he had drenched himself in oil. Looking at the area, Hakuto knew instantly where he was.

The slums. Kou does not have slums, everyone in Kou have equal opportunities, but Gou did have slums, during a battle in Jishao, Hakuto remembered crashing into a raggy tent filled with holes, the people who had been living in it were pale and skinny, their malnourishment rather clear to see.

As he continued to walk forward, Hakuto was stopped by a woman. She had on clothes that were not Balbaddian, it wasn't even clothes that belonged to someone in the slums. Her brown hair was too healthy and her eyes too bright to have belonged in the slum's poor condition.

"Beautiful isn't it?" She said to him, looking Hakuto straight in the eye. Hakuto noticed that the almond color was tinted with an odd look, like nostalgia. "The life of a commoner is so beautiful..."

She gazed at the yellowed buildings lovingly, "Of course, I wouldn't expect royalty to know." Her gentle expression morphed into a sneer, "Commoners live a life better than any nobles. I truly pity you, to not understand what a great life it was."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Hakuto asked her, the brunette laughed, her tanned arms clutched her stomach as her shoulders shook.

"I suppose you won't know me... don't worry, it would be quite a surprise is if you do, Prince Ren Hakuto." She said as she finished quieted her laughter. Her graceful face darkened, "This won't be the last time we meet, Prince Hakuto."

Her sing-song voice faded as the woman disappeared when a man ran pass, his entire back scorched with blazing flames. The man was screaming as the fire ate into his skin, burning him alive.

Many people attempted to pour water on the man but it simply caused the fire to burn brighter, consuming the nearby people as the man's screams abruptly quieted. The large fire slowly burnt out and the remains of the man was but a charred lump of flesh and ash.

"Hey, you!" A young voice called out, it was high pitched and loud. Obviously a child's.

Still slightly shakened by the strange occurrence only minutes ago, Hakuto turned around to see a young boy with dreadlocks. He was wearing white rags that could barely be considered clothes, holes opened all over the rough material. The boy couldn't be more than 5.

"Yes?" Hakuto asked, hand automatically extending to the knife in his sash, cautious after the previous event.

"That's a damn good knife you've got their!" The boy sneered, stepping forward, "Give it here."

"This?" Hakuto waved the blade around, looking curiously at it, "This is just a simple knife, kid, it's nothing special."

The knife was short, around the length of his wrist to his elbow, the grip was poorly made and although the blade was sharp enough to pierce skin, it was made primarily to cut tape and ropes, not for combat.

"Still," the boy stretched his arm out and straightened his back, attempting to look intimidating, "give it here."

"Oh?" Hakuto smirked, he didn't have anything to do anyways. He dangled the knife just above the boy's height, "Come get it, kid."

"Alibaba, now!" The boy shouted as a flash of yellow temporarily blinded Hakuto, who felt a small weight smash into him, nearly causing him to lose balance. He winced when a sharp pang from his side shot into him, the tackle had irritated his wound.

Getting a clear look, Hakuto saw that his assailant was a young boy whose hair was as golden as the Balbaddian King that he had met weeks before.

"What is this?" He asked as he stared at the wide, fear filled, golden eyes of the child who was still clinging onto his head.

"Alibaba!" The dreadlock boy yelled, rushing to tackle Hakuto. "Get away from him!"

"Hey!" Hakuto leapt to the side and the blonde boy, Alibaba, fell unceremoniously onto the ground with a yelp. "Calm down, I'm not even doing anything!"

The boy turned around and managed to throw a punch at Hakuto's injured arm, causing him to curse loudly as he used his good arm to grab the young boy by the collar and hold him at arms length away from him.

"Kassim!" Alibaba cried loudly, getting up to attempt to attack Hakuto. The teenager holding his arm up in order to prevent the kid from grabbing his knife.

"Hey, calm down, kid!" Hakuto managed to hook his sling around the young boy's abdomen, holding it with his right, unbroken arm as his left arm hung uselessly to his side.

"Ow. Yeah, I see why they don't want me to work anymore, this hurts!" Hakuto said as he tilted his head down, eyeing the two captured kids. "How come you guys want the knife?"

The boy with the dreadlocks, Kassim, muttered something.

"What?" Hakuto lifted the boy up.

"I said." The boy snarled at his face, "that having a knife will protect you, dipshit."

"Whoa, don't say things like that, kid." Hakuto squinted as he took in his face, "You're what, five?"

"Six." Kassim corrected him, pointing at the blonde hanging next to him, "He's five."

Alibaba pouted, "I'm almost six."

"Shut up, Alibaba!" Kassim snarked, before he suddenly jerked forward when Hakuto shook the both of them. "What the hell?"

"Calm down. Both of you." Hakuto demanded, his princely aura overflowing as he looked at the two pre-prebuscent boys. "You attacked a grown man—with a knife—for a knife?"

"Hmph! Your not a grown man, you look like you're not even twenty!"

"That... is true." Hakuto admited, "But!" He added quickly, "You become an adult when you can drink!"

"Drink?" Alibaba asked him with eyes filled with wonder and Hakuto inwardly cursed himself for blurting our what Hakuren had told him years ago.

"Actually, don't drink, that's a bad idea."

"Why?" Kassim challenged him, "afraid that we'll become adults?"

"What? Why would I be afraid that?" Hakuto asked him, genuinely confused.

"Sh-Shut up!" Kassim sputtered, "And your getting off topic, give us the knife!"

Any other scenario and Hakuto would've handed the knife gladly to the kid, He needs it to survive afterall. But...

Hakuto inwardly winced as he thought of Ja'far's reaction if he returned to the headquarters without the "protection" he promised to keep on him.

"Sorry kid, I might die if I don't keep it."

"What do you need it for? You told us it was just a knife!" Kassim demanded, stomping his feet for a honest-to-god, cute effect.

"It's just — I don't want to die yet, okay?"

"Why'd you die, big brother?" Alibaba asked quite innocently. Kassim nodded to the blonde child's question.

"Yeah, why'd you die, old man?"

"First you call me a kid and then you call me old? Make up your mind, kid!" Hakuto exclaimed before he shook his head and messed up his hair.

"Well — I got in a... fight. So now everyone's worried that I'll be in danger if I don't bring some kind of 'protection' with me."

"Protection? We can protect you, big brother!"

"Don't volunteer me along with you, Alibaba!"

Hakuto chuckled at the two's antics, it reminded him a bit of Hakuyuu and Hakuren's arguments when they were younger, the second prince would always get in trouble and either him or Hakuyuu would scold him when they get him out of trouble.

"Alright, how about this, boys." Hakuto called out, catching their attention. "You get me back home, and I'll give you the knife and some pocket money, how about it?"

Normally he wouldn't have bothered but... these kids grew on him.

"What!? Why would we do that?"

"Don't you want the knife?"

Alibaba shook Kassim a little, "Come on, Kassim, we get payed too!"

"Yeah, Kassim!" Hakuto added, grinning as he dangled the knife in front of Kassim's face. "I thought you wanted the knife!"

"Fine! We'll go with you, old man!" The child spatted out as Hakuto smiled.

"Where'd the kids come from, Hakuto?"

Vittel asked as he saw Hakuto by the doorway, two children trailing after him. "Don't tell me you're going to adopt more."

"Don't get the wrong idea, Vittel." Hakuto sighed as he stepped into the building cautiously, glancing around to see if Ja'far was anywhere around. "I just promised them something."

"If you're looking for him, Ja'far went to meet King Rashid with Sinbad and Hinahoho, they brought the gifts too." Vittel informed him as Hakuto released a sigh of relief.

"That's good, I don't think he would approve of me being out of my cast."

"You what?!" Mystras screeched loudly as he dropped the crates he was carrying. "Put it back on, Hakuto! Ja'far's going to kill me if he finds out you did."

"Yes, yes, he'll kill you after he kills me so I find no reason to worry." Hakuto said decisively, waving off the panicking Sasanian who had all but shook him to oblivion. "Anyways, the two boys here just accompanied me back."

Turning to the scowling Kassim and the wide-eyes Alibaba, Hakuto bent down and handed the knife to Kassim, grabbing the pouch of silver on his sash and tossing it to Alibaba.

"Thanks for your service, boys."

"Whatever old man!" Kassim grumbled as turned away, face slightly red as Alibaba beamed, holding up the money he received.

"Thank you Big Brother!"

"We're those my new brothers?"

Hakuto choked on the water he had been drinking, wiping his face, the Kou ambassador laughed nervously. "No! No, of course not!"

Masrur nodded emotionlessly, "They left..."

"They did," Hakuto confirmed, rubbing his shoulder as he stretched slightly, "We'll be leaving soon too, to the Dark Continent."

"I thought you're injured."

"I am." Hakuto smiled, "But I volunteered, especially since no one else in the company knows the Torran language."

"Torran language?"

"Yeah," Hakuto grabbed his spear and swung it experimentedly with his good arm, "it's the only other language other than the common one... pretty mysterious how only a single race in the world speaks it as its home language."

"Only one?"

"That's right." Hakuto squated down and inspected the dulled blade of his Guandao. "Only the tribes of Torran speak it, but Kouen was quite adamant about learning the language so I tagged along as the great friend I am and learned it as well."

"You know someone who spoke the language?"

"Teacher Wu is quite the language teacher," Hakuto grimaced at the Torran-Kouian man's ruthless lessons. He patted Masrur's head, "Maybe I can introduce you? Would you like to learn Torran?"

Masrur shook his head, "No." he denied.

Hakuto laughed, "Yeah, it doesn't seem like the sort of thing to interest you."

"No it doesn't." Masrur said, face impassive.

"Well," Hakuto stood up, "I'll need to sharpen this blade if I'm going to the Dark Continent. That place has quite some dangers."