"Wow...what a gathering of beauties..." Dong Zhu murmured, immediately turning his attention away from the poor cashier and towards us. More specifically, the girls with me.

It took all I had not to jump out the window right then and there. Only two things stopped me: one, my sanity, and two, the fact that there wasn't a window there for me to jump out of.

"Are you kidding me..." I muttered under my breath as Dong Zhu and his gang began walking towards us.

"W-What do we do?!" Lan Xiao Su whispered sharply, avoiding eye contact with Dong Zhu.

"Stay calm," I instructed. "If he tries anything, just push him away."

"O-Okay," Lan Xiao Su breathed. The other girls did the same as they mentally prepared themselves.

But surprisingly enough, the first person Dong Zhu went up to was not any of the the nine girls, but instead, me.

"Hm...kid. Where you from? Never seen ya face 'round here."

I remained silent, which caused the rabbit-like dude to speak up. "Oi, our boss is talking to you!"

I took a deep breath, looked up at Dong Zhu, and spoke. "I'm just a travelling merchant, and these girls are my companions. We're just stopping by Huizhou for today to spend the night, then leaving tomorrow."

I purposely left out where our destination was, since giving this guy any more information than necessary could prove to be troublesome.

Dong Zhu snorted. "Bud, from what I can tell, you're around the same age as me. Who you trying to fool, saying you're a travelling merchant?"

"I'm older than I look," I replied. "I'm turning 20 this year, in fact."

A lie, of course. And...yeah, he didn't seem to buy it.

"Don't lie to me, little bastard," Dong Zhu sneered, his face slowly creeping up into a grin. "Well, I don't care where you're from, honestly. Just let me have fun with your 'companions' for a bit, and you're free to leave the city. But if you don't..."

He looked at the girls lecherously, which caused them to all avert their gazes in disgust.

I sighed. "Sorry, but...I'm not the boss of them. I can't order them to do anything...and well, by the looks of it, it seems they aren't too willing to have 'fun' with you."

Dong Zhu narrowed his gaze dangerously. "Are you sure about this, kid? This is my city you're in right now."

I shrugged. "Like I said, we'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning. What is there to fear?"

Dong Zhu snickered. "Heh. I'll make sure you'll never be able to leave Huizhou alive. Oh, but don't worry. I won't kill your companions. They're too beautiful for that. I want to enjoy them thoroughly before I get rid of them, haha..."

Goddamn...guess this guy is really at the peak of arrogance, huh? Even if he's the mayor's son, saying such obscene words in a public restaurant? I don't think that's a good idea. Even the mayor himself probably wouldn't do this. I wonder...is this guy's father an actually good man who just can't control his own son, or does the arrogance and idiocy run in the family?

"Hmph, I'm feeling hungry, so I don't really want to bother with you right now," Dong Zhu muttered, before turning away. "But if you know what's best for you...you'll hand those girls over to me."

I didn't respond, which caused him to grit his teeth in anger at being ignored. He suddenly slammed his palms down on the table, and swiped my bowl full of ramen down, causing it to topple and nearly spill everything on me. But alas, my reaction speeds were far too quick for that.

Space - Eliminate.

In an instant, I was gone from the chair I had been sitting in, and was now standing directly behind Dong Zhu menacingly. I patted him on the shoulder, which caused him to spin around rapidly, eyes widened in surprise. His lackeys, who still haven't even realized what happened, just stared on, slack-jawed. My actions clearly surprised the girls as well, since they were now all looking at me in amazement, similar to the other customers in the restaurant. This was the first time someone dared to stand up to Dong Zhu, after all.

"Y-You...how?" Dong Zhu muttered in shock. A hint of fear was also in his voice. "N-No way...I didn't even hear you chant..."

My originally passive and nonchalant demeanor was now nowhere to be seen, and had been replaced by killing intent. My red eyes shone ominously as I stared straight into his eyes - his soul.

"There are many things you don't know in the world..." I whispered. "There are also many people you can't afford to mess with. If you think you can go around doing anything you want just because you're the mayor's son, then let me tell you...I can also go around killing whoever I want, merely because I have the strength to. And you...aren't an exception."

Dong Zhu stiffened up in fear, before attempting to launch some magic at me.

"L-Level Two Void Magic - Nova Bomb!" he chanted hesitantly.

Nova Bomb - the more powerful version of the Level One Void Element spell, Void Bomb.

For a moment, my eyes widened slightly. I didn't expect him to actually use magic in public like this. Any usage of offensive-type magic outside certain facilities (e.g. a school) or for specific situations (e.g. fighting a monster) was banned. And yet...

Haiz...he really thinks he's above the law, huh? Well, no matter. Magic of this level won't do anything to me.

I discretely opened my palm, and his conjured Nova Bomb merely got sucked into my hand, turning into mana for myself.

How ironic. Void Magic...getting sucked into the void. Well, the inside of my body isn't really the void, but you get the idea.

Since I was standing so close to Dong Zhu, no one else could see what I did. On the surface, it just seemed like Dong Zhu's spell didn't work.

"B-Boss!" by this time, his lackeys finally came to their senses, and were now trying to pry me off of their beloved leader.

Space - Eliminate.

Easily blinking behind them, the three lackeys collapsed onto their own leader, one after the other. They piled up on top of each other like a bunch of idiots, and they all collapsed onto the table. The girls all raised their bowls of ramen so nothing would get spilled on them, and the onlooking audience - the other customers in the restaurant - all began laughing discretely in awe.

Dong Zhu gritted his teeth and pushed his lackeys off in anger. "Idiots! Don't you know he has Space Magic?! Why are all of you charging at him at once?!"

"S-Sorry, boss!" the short lackey yelped in fear.

"Sorry, boss...we can't use our magic here like you can..." the guy with the rabbit teeth murmured.

"Our bad, boss..." the final lackey with the glasses said apologetically.

Dong Zhu turned around and glared at me. "Tch...I won't forget this."

I smiled deviously. "You're welcome to try again. But if you do...I can't promise I'll just let you leave alive, like I did this time."

Dong Zhu flinched slightly at the coldness in my voice, and he could tell I really meant it. He could tell that the gaze in my eyes was one that belonged to a true murderer - someone who has killed real humans before, with their own two hands. When I say I would kill someone, I would really do it.

Just another name on the list, after all...

With this, he and his lackeys left the restaurant.

I sighed, and proceeded to go back to my seat, but then, all of a sudden, cheers erupted from all around me.

"That was so cool!" a girl yelled. She seemed to be a student here in Huizhou, probably the same school as Dong Zhu.

"Yeah, that's the first time I've ever seen someone make Dong Zhu actually retreat!" a boy sitting across from her added.

The waitress from earlier then came out of the back kitchen, and walked over to me and gave a bow.

"H-Huh? Wait, what are you doin-"

"Please accept my gratitude, sir. If you hadn't driven him away...he probably would've found me, and done god knows what...that man, Dong Zhu, is a perverted bastard who lays his hands on every young woman he sees, even if they already have a boyfriend."

I sighed, and quickly pulled her back up straight. "Look, I honestly don't really care about all that. I'm not some hero, so don't treat me like one. And besides, I'll be leaving this city tomorrow anyway, so I can't just stay here and protect you guys from him."

"Even then, you've done a lot," a man suddenly joined the conversation as he walked out of the back kitchen. He seemed to be the head chef and owner here. "With what happened today, the news will certainly spread. More and more people will be inspired to stand up to Dong Zhu. If the entire city revolts, even the mayor can't do anything and will eventually be toppled. But...I must ask, if you didn't care about us, why bother driving him away at all?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Isn't that obvious?"

Everyone in the room focused their gazes on me, including my own companions, the nine girls.

I took a deep breath, and spoke. "...It's because he ruined a perfectly nice bowl of ramen, of course! That was my lunch, y'know?! It cost me a good ten bucks!"