Climbing the Ranks - Chapter 23 preview (Patreon)

Arthur hesitated only for a few seconds more before he chose to stand up. He waved a little to the quartet, still holding onto his staff as he offered them the most disarming grin he had on hand. It was a good one too – he’d been told it was a little rogueish and charming. A hint of little boy mischief in it.

It also bounced off the glaring women who gestured for him to enter the clearing.

Once again, he hesitated. Then again, his choices were either run like hell right now or talk his way out. And he rather thought he had a better chance at negotiating a peace than outrunning the women.

“I’m not with them, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he began immediately. “I just heard the fighting and came to see what was happening.”

“And play vulture, once we left, right?” the girl who had found him sneered. She was tall, probably Northern Chinese descent of some form. Didn’t use to have a lot of them early on, since the initial wave of settlers to Malaysia came from the south, but once China had grown more populous, a lot of Northern Chinese had arrived.

“If you left anything, yeah.” Arthur admitted. “One man – well, woman’s – garbage is another’s treasure, right?”

“Scavenger.” The woman spat to the side and muttered something in Mandarin, too low for Arthur to pickout. Also, his own Mandarin sucked. He was a KL boy after all – Cantonese was the thing.

Arthur tried not to look offended. It was not as though he was stealing after all. Or killing.

“He’s weak,” Rani said. “Come on, if we chase Budo down now, we can capture him.”

“You think you can catch Budo?” the leader snorted. “As good as he’s at fighting, he’s even better at running. By this point, he’s probably a good few kilometers away. Anyway, running off to catch the bird in the bush when you have one in hand makes no sense.”

Arthur offered them a tentative smile as his grip tightened on his staff. “I’m really not a very tasty bird though. Nothing much for you to steal, beyond a few crystals.”

“Fast to admit you own anything,” the leader said. “Not scared we’re going to rob you?”

“Scared? Yeah. Robbery’s never fun. But you seem rational and controlled, so that’s a bonus. Better than drugged out or in withdrawal or doing it for the first time,” Arthur replied.

“You been visiting Shah Alam a lot then?” one of the other girls said, her eyes crinkling a little in humor.

“Not by choice. But I had a few deliveries that way before. Almost not worth doing deliveries there, you know?”

The girl made a face as she nodded in agreement. “Damn tongs.”

“Yeah.”

“If you two are done?” the leader said, tapping the edge of her spear against her body. “We still need to decide what to do with him.”

“That’s your job, isn’t it?” the Chinese girl said with a smile.

“I…” she sighed and nodded. “Fine. I’ll take your word for now. But why the hell are you out here this far?”

Arthur grimaced. “I had a little bit of a run-in with people when I first arrived. The umm… Suey Yong tong got in my face. So I got in theirs. Been out here, you know, powering up.”

“Suey Tong… beginner…” the leader frowned, trying to remember what she had learnt. Then, her eyes widened as she recalled the details in full. “You’re the fool who killed like three of their people! They’ve got quite the bounty on you.”

“Yeah, I assumed that.” He sighed. “Well thanks for the confirmation I guess.”

“If you’re idiotic enough to antagonise them, I guess you’re not an enemy. But we sure don’t want to hang out with you.”

“Now that’s just hurtful,” Arthur replied.

“Whatever. Stay out of our way, we’ll stay out of yours,” the leader gestured for the others in her group, some of them who had finished looting the bodies. “Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Rani frowned, looking bac and forth between her boss and Arthur before she leaned in. “We can’t just leave him here. He’s going to get killed.”

“Not. Our. Problem.” The other girl hissed, pushing Rani along. “We’ve got a mission, damn it.”

Arthur watched as the group moved off, leaving him in the clearing. He bit his lip, considering following them before he shook his head eventually, leaving them alone. Whatever they were up to, it was none of his business.

He did go check over the corpses and the bags of equipment that the girls had left behind. Extra clothing, some basic hygiene kits, a sewing kit and a bunch of pots and pans for cooking had been left behind along with a pair of tents. He eyed their tents for a second, then replaced his own worn down one with their better quality options, taking the rest of the equipment in short order.

No food, which was fine. He could survive on Tower energy, though he really was missing actual food. No first aid supplies, no pills or even a boot knife. Still, even the extra sets of clothing was a boon to him at this point.

Having stripped the corpses of everything the women had chosen not to take, Arthur made his out of the clearing. Overall, he had a little bit of a jaunt in his step.

This was a good day.

Which was, of course, why about an hour later; he found a sword against his throat and a glowering, angry man staring back at him over the edge.