"Protection? Who’s to say that we aren’t in need of protection from you, mister?" She shot back.

Fredrinn took a moment to think of a response.

What could he say that would please the two of them?

He glanced at Andrea’s short dress and slight tears on Rhea’s clothes. It hadn’t been a day since the apocalypse and yet the girls looked like they needed a long bubble bath to cleanse the dirt and grime off.

A cocky and confident reply should work in this case, no?

[ <LUST> agrees. Women like confidence. ]

"Well," Fredrinn turned to look at Andrea with a small smile, "If you did need protection from me, there’s no one here that could offer it."

Andrea’s lips parted like she hadn’t expected him to challenge her like that, while Rhea blinked and then widened her eyes, not understanding whether he was kidding or should they really be afraid.

"Hah. So you mean you can beat all of the guys here and even Jacob?" Andrea asked, her voice a pinch higher that would at least attract the attention of some men who were nearby and pretending not to listen or care.

They didn’t have any moment to interfere in the talks earlier since all the three people at the table simply disregarded those men, but now?

The topic of the conversation was attacking them directly.

There were two of them, a slightly chubby young man with a mediocre unkempt beard and slight acne, while the other was a thin man with long hair and an above average face cut.

Their ears twitched visibly as they paid closer attention to the conversation.

Fredrinn didn’t expect Andrea to be ballsy enough to challenge his claim directly, but he didn’t hate it.

It simply proved that she didn’t just act confident, she really had it in her.

But of course, Fredrinn couldn’t just go back on his claim just to stroke the egos of two side characters whose names he may not even learn.

He shrugged his shoulders at Andrea’s question, not caring if the others listened, "Obviously."

And that did the trick as the chubby man shot up from his seat at a speed that was slightly unnatural for his stature.

While his friend also sprung up his seat, walking towards the table with their chests pumped outwards and hands in pockets.

"What did you just say?" The chubby one asked, glaring at Fredrinn.

The slim one was silent, but glaring as well.

Fredrinn turned towards the two of them, smiling politely, "Nothing. Did you hear something?"

The slim one was quick to respond, "Yes we did, bitch. You said you could take all the men here, huh?"

"If you heard it then why ask me to repeat? Also, I did not mention anything about taking guys, I said I can beat you all. Phrasing, please." Fredrinn clicked his tongue in disagreement.

Andrea chuckled softly at Fredrinn’s dismissive attitude, which seemed to piss the other two guys even more.

The chubby one shot his hand forward to grab Fredrinn’s collar, but he simply swatted the grubby hand like it was a fly.

But that was enough to cause a minor commotion in the area as Jacob looked towards the table and began to walk towards them.

After seeing his hand get slapped off so easily and the sitting man being an elusive awakener by profession, the chubby man didn’t try to anger Fredrinn and instead waited for Jacob to come.

The original, their leader, and an awakener. Jacob should put this cocky man to his place, no?

However unfortunately for the chubby boy, reality worked differently than the imagination.

It didn’t matter how long the bond had been for, if there was a better option available, most would jump at the opportunity with no remorse.

And Jacob was definitely among the majority.

He arrived with his usual calm swagger, his cowboy hat sitting atop his head and one hand in his neon jacket’s pocket.

With the other hand he seemed to be holding a small plastic bottle with a fruity design, suggesting it was some sort of a juice.

"What’s going on over here, Freddy?" Jacob asked Fredrinn directly, disregarding the chubby and slim boys.

"Oh hey, Jacob." Fredrinn greeted casually, "Andrea here was asking if I could defeat you in a fight and I said I can, but these men seem to have taken offense to my claim."

Jacob’s lips twitched slightly at Fredrinn’s words.

This guy was telling him to the face that he could defeat him easily!

But then remembering how useless his skill was currently in a fair fight, as well as the elusive epic rarity of Fredrinn’s own skill, Jacob understood that the man in front of him wasn’t just putting on airs.

He could really eat him up and leave no scraps.

Of course, he didn’t intend to accept or deny that claim.

Like a true politician, he laughed, "Oh come on, why would we even fight? As the only two awakeners in the group, we should be the best of buds, no?"

Andrea was speechless, noticing Jacob’s slight hesitation about actually fighting Fredrinn as the man’s respect just went up in her books.

And it was already pretty high to begin with.

The slim and chubby pair wasn’t happy with the escalation though.

Their boss was being a scaredy cat and avoiding the fight instead of putting the newbie to his place!

"Boss, he even said that he could take all the men here alone! How could you allow him to speak such disrespect?" The chubby guy turned to Jacob and protested.

"Okay I never mentioned taking any men... can we please fix the phrasing? Come on, beanpole, you tell him what I said." Fredrinn shook his head aggressively, his mind suggesting all the wrong meanings of the chubby guy’s phrasing.

"Ehh?" The slim man who was just renamed as beanpole, blinked as he stared at Fredrinn before looking at Jacob.

"Okay...? This guy said he could beat all the guys here combined, with even you in the mix." he rephrased.

Naturally, he spoke loud enough that everyone in the entire storeroom could hear his voice.