The old man who had been lifting weights suddenly noticed Kai's presence. He set the ores he was using for training back onto their stand, then rose from his seat. As he stood up, Kai could clearly see the man's well-built muscles.
"Hello there. You must be new around here, aren't you?"
The old man said as he walked toward him, extending a hand drenched in sweat. Kai hesitated to take it, but in the end, he reluctantly reached out.
A look of disgust spread across Kai's face the moment he felt the man's sweat against his palm. Yet the old man didn't seem to notice in the slightest.
"My name is Rock. I'm a miner here."
"My name is Kai, nice to meet you."
Kai wanted to pull his hand away, but unfortunately, he couldn't. The old man's grip was so strong that Kai couldn't break free.
"Um, excuse me... could you please let go of my hand?"
Kai asked nervously. A very bad feeling welled up inside him when Rock refused to release his grip. Could this old man be just as dangerous as the first old man he encountered?
"Hmm! Your body's not in great shape... you need training! So, how about joining me for a workout?"
"No, I don't want to! Thank you! So could you please let go of my hand already?!"
Kai struggled, fear written all over his face. His bad intuition seemed to be turning into reality.
"Come on! You won't regret it! I promise!"
"No! I have absolutely no intention at all!"
Kai pulled harder, but his hand still wouldn't come free from the old man's iron grip.
"Come on! I guarantee your body will never forget the experience we'll have here!"
"There's no need! I just want to forget everything here as soon as possible!"
"Don't be so shy!"
"I'm not being shy—I'm terrified right now!"
Kai was already starting to regret coming to this place. He had originally come here to learn about mining, yet somehow he ended up facing a dangerous old man instead.
"Are you sure you don't want muscles like mine?"
Kai glanced at Rock's body. His muscles were perfectly sculpted—neither too big nor too small, an ideal build. Kai would be lying if he said he didn't want a body like that. But there was something far more important than gaining muscles— namely protecting his purity.
"Sorry, old man... but I'm not interested in doing anything with a shady geezer in a dark place like this."
The only source of light in the cave came from the torches fixed on the walls. Kai didn't even want to imagine what might happen if that light were to disappear.
"Relax. Once you have a body like mine, you'll be able to do all kinds of things with the ladies… I guarantee it. After all, I've experienced it myself in my younger days."
Kai froze at those words. He glanced down at his hand still trapped in Rock's grip, then up at Rock's muscles, then back at their hands. After repeating that cycle a few times, Kai finally made up his mind.
"Please… teach me how I can attract the attention of all the beautiful girls!"
Kai spoke with an expression dead serious.
"Kai! Aren't you supposed to be running away right now?!"
The Fairy Goddess, who had been watching their exchange this whole time, was convinced Kai was in danger and worried that he might actually accept the old man's offer.
"All beautiful girls waiting for my future muscular body are far more important than my purity!"
Kai's reply carried a resolute tone.
"Kai, it seems you've completely forgotten what's truly important here..." the Fairy Goddess muttered, sounding deeply disappointed with his choice.
"Yes, that's right! Having a well-built body is the dream of every man and woman alike!"
Rock, delighted with Kai's answer, finally released his hand. But Kai wasted no time taking advantage of that moment—he immediately bolted from the scene.
"Like hell! My purity is more important than anything else in this world!"
Kai shouted as he sprinted with all his might.
"Oh, I see... so you want to start your training with running, huh? Not a bad choice."
Rock immediately gave chase, his speed far surpassing Kai's.
The Fairy Goddess was left behind, stunned by Kai's reckless behavior. But a moment later, she smiled softly.
"Thank goodness, Kai... you're still normal."
With that, she flapped her wings and flew after him.
Outside the cave, Kai and Rock were still running—well, more precisely, Kai was desperately trying to escape while Rock refused to let him go.
"Why are you chasing me!?"
"Of course! I want to train together with you!"
"Leave me alone!"
"No way! It's dangerous to let a beginner train by himself!"
"I already told you—I don't want to train!"
After several minutes of running, Kai's strength finally gave out. His legs collapsed beneath him, and he fell to the ground. He couldn't feel them anymore after running that long. In fact, he was astonished that he'd managed to keep running that far at all.
"Hah... hah..."
His breathing was ragged as he lay sprawled on the dirt.
On the other hand, Rock doesn't seem to be out of breath.—just sweating a little as he happily stretched with a bright grin on his face. Kai couldn't comprehend the mindset of this bizarre old man.
"Kai, are you all right?"
The Fairy Goddess landed beside him, her tone full of worry.
"Hah... hah... I still... can't feel my legs..."
Kai gasped, breathing heavily.
"Don't worry," she reassured him gently. "This world is different from the one you came from. All your fatigue will vanish the moment you fall asleep."
"Are you telling me to sleep while there's a dangerous man right next to me?"
"Sorry, that's not what I meant."
Kai and the Fairy Goddess glanced toward Rock, who seemed to have finished his stretches.
"I'm curious… just what were you muttering about earlier?"
Rock looked at Kai with a puzzled expression.
"Nothing… just stay away from me!"
Kai said as he pushed himself up and tried to put some distance between them.
"In that case, let me ask you one more thing."
Rock ignored Kai's demand to keep his distance and slowly stepped closer. Kai, unable to move his legs properly, forced himself to push away only with his hands.
"Stay away from me! I don't want to be near a man!"
"Hm? Relax! I just want to ask one thing!"
"I'll answer your question if you stay away from me!"
"Very well."
Rock stopped advancing, though his eyes never left Kai.
Even though Kai was still unsettled by the old man's gaze, Kai stopped crawling away.
"S-so, what do you want to ask?"
Kai asked hesitantly, clutching his aching arms, sore from pushing himself along the ground.
"I'm just curious… you don't seem interested in training your body. So why did you come to me in the first place?"
"Are you seriously only realizing that now?"
Kai felt the urge to punch the old man in the face, but quickly suppressed it—just the thought of touching him again made his skin crawl.
"I only wanted to learn about mining… who knows, it might come in handy someday."
Kai replied as he staggered to his feet, finally regaining some feeling in his legs.
"Do you intend to become a miner?"
"No, I just wanted to look around a little and see if there was anything in the mine that could be of use to me."
Honestly, if he had known a man like this old guy was here, Kai would never have come in the first place. Even now, his skin still crawled just being near him.
"Why do you look so frightened? I'm not going to force you to build muscles if you don't want to."
"Forget about that… I actually want to ask you something. Why are you training inside a cave with your upper body bare?"
"What, is there something wrong with my muscles?"
Rock struck a few poses, making his muscles stand out even more.
"N-nothing wrong… you're just scaring me."
"Oh, I see… Sorry about that. I guess my large muscles must be intimidating you."
'That's not what's scaring me!' Kai only dared to shout back in his heart.
"Aren't you going back to work? From what I saw, you've already mined quite a few stones… don't you plan on selling them?"
"Oh, that… just so you know, the only one willing to buy the ore I dig up is that brat Kurt. You probably don't know this yet, but that kid has a hobby of making things that explode. So rather than selling my ore for something dangerous, I'd rather use it for my training… though, I still sell it if I'm really short on money."
"I see." Kai understood a little bit of his feelings of not wanting to sell raw materials to Kurt. But if Kai were in the old man's shoes, he'd probably drain Kurt's wallet dry if the boy wanted to buy his raw materials.
"If that's the case, why don't you just quit mining altogether and start another job?"
"Are you suggesting I part ways with my beloved mine?!"
Rock's face twisted in anger the moment Kai said that. His eyes glowed with a dangerous light, forcing Kai to take a step back to put more distance between them.
"I-I see… if that's how it is, then go ahead and return to your cave. Don't worry, I won't bother you again!"
Without wasting another moment, Kai tried to make his escape. Just as he suspected, this old man really was dangerous. Luckily, this time, the old man didn't chase after him.
After running a good distance away from Rock, Kai finally stopped and let out a sigh of relief. He glanced around to make sure the old man wasn't following him.
"Oi, Fairy Goddess… you should've warned me if I was about to meet someone dangerous!"
Kai pouted as he scolded the Fairy Goddess.
"Sorry, I didn't expect him to be so obsessed with training your body the very first time you met."
"Hm?"
Kai frowned, finding something odd in her words.
"Wait, training my body?"
"Yes. For a moment, I thought you might stray off and become a bodybuilder. Thankfully, you're still normal and decided to remain a farmer."
The Fairy Goddess was seen smiling broadly as she said that.
"So… that means he wasn't planning to do weird things to my body?"
"Weird things? What are you talking about?"
The Fairy Goddess tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what Kai meant.
Kai realized it had all been a misunderstanding.
'No! I wasn't mistaken! He really is dangerous!'
His thoughts quickly circled back. He had to stay away from that old man—there was no denying the old man radiated a threatening aura.
Kai pressed on with his journey. But before long, he felt a suspicious gaze coming from the forest. He turned his head toward it, yet saw nothing.
Uneasy and worried the old man might be tailing him, Kai quickened his pace. Soon enough, he reached the lakeside he had passed earlier. From there, he could already see Pete's diner.
As his eyes wandered to the lake, he spotted a man whose age seemed not much different from the old man he had met before. Alarmed, Kai immediately tried to keep his distance, afraid he might run into another weirdos.
"Young man over there! Wait a moment!"
Kai could hear the old man's voice. The man wasn't even facing him, so he shouldn't have noticed Kai's presence. With that in mind, Kai decided to keep walking.
"I told you to stop, or you'll regret it!"
At those words, Kai froze in fear. Slowly, he turned his head toward the old man—only to realize that, at some point, the man had already gotten close. Kai could feel the weight of his piercing gaze.
"I've already heard about you from Kurt,"
said the man, dressed like a fisherman with a headband wrapped around his forehead.
'What on earth did that bastard Kurt tell this weirdo about me?'
Kai grew anxious, worried that the man had gotten the wrong impression and would drag him into trouble.
"Um… who are you?"
Kai asked hesitantly.
"Oh, forgive my rudeness. My name is Sully. I'm Kurt's father."
The moment Kai learned that the man standing before him was Kurt's father, he was certain of one thing—this was yet another weirdo. Just what kind of trouble was waiting for him today?