Chapter 50: Bad Examples.

The other two took much longer to get into walking shape. They took about twice as long.

Robert was the second to get to his seat, but only because his sister helped him. Without his sister, he would have been behind Barnabas. After all, Barnabas had just eaten and was full of energy.

As his sister helped him to his seat, he chuckled and said, "As expected of Alexander the so called Great."

"You’re the first to recover again. If I didn’t know that you have better endurance than the two of us, I would have suspected whether those angry fools really beat you. I might think you set this up to weaken us so you could eat us."

Alexander shrugged and continued eating. Robert also stopped talking and resumed his meal.

As for Barnabas, he had finished his meal. So after standing up, he had little left to eat.

His first instinct was to seize their food. Alexander’s lamb was more complete, so he wanted to take it immediately. But then he remembered that he couldn’t fight Alexander for a week, so he changed his mind.

He decided to take Robert’s lamb, which had only a third left. But he also remembered that Robert was a skillful fighter who would fight. Plus, he had just healed and wasn’t in the right state to start another fight.

While he agonized over what to do, his eyes unconsciously wandered to the human among them and settled on her. She didn’t notice that a predator was eyeing her and considering her as his next meal, but Robert seemed to sense Barnabas’s gaze.

Robert didn’t say anything, though. He only growled a little bit. The growl wasn’t loud, but it was clear in the previously silent room.

Robert didn’t know how he did it. He only knew that he wanted to warn off the other party, and his instincts took over.

His actions seemed to work because Barnabas growled back before looking away. Then Barnabas glared at Alexander, stuffed the bare bones on his tray into his mouth, and crunched on them like biscuits.

As the bones shattered in his mouth, he glared at Alexander and said, "This was your fault."

Robert said, "It is also our fault. We were the ones who engaged them and escalated the matter to the point they decided to pick on him."

"If I had been in his shoes, I would have done the same thing. Besides, you didn’t have to join the fight."

"You could have backed off and begged for forgiveness. Maybe they would have left you alone."

"I doubt it, though. After all, you were the first one to say you wanted to fight," he finished, chuckling.

"I wasn’t talking to you," Barnabas said angrily, fragments of bone falling from his mouth as he spoke.

Never one to back down from a fight, Robert smirked as he said, "Yet, I have spoken. I even said a lot."

His sister was already tugging at his bloodied shirt, but he still grinned and said, "What are you going to do about it?"

Barnabas growled in frustration, but said nothing more. He only glared at Alexander and Robert as if they were his worst enemies.

After swallowing all the bones, he stood and stomped out of the second, muttering about people who were full of themselves and would one day meet someone they would regret messing with.

"At least we know he wasn’t referring to himself," Robert said, chuckling after he heard what Barnabas was grumbling about.

In response, Leila slapped him on his arm, a look of disapproval on her face.

"What?" he asked, aggrieved.

Her voice was stern as she said, "This was at least 50% your fault. You didn’t need to rile them up like that. It was your fault that the argument reached that level."

"You’re always like this, always causing trouble wherever you go. Why can’t you be more like Sir Alexander? Why can’t you be calm and collected? Why must you resort to violence all of the time?"

Robert immediately burst out laughing. "Hahaha."

As he laughed, he pointed at Alexander and said, "Who did you say I should be like? Him? Didn’t you see how he smashed someone’s face in without saying a word?"

"You should have seen him yesterday. He did the exact same thing to another fellow and attacked them without saying a word."

"Don’t let his meek appearance fool you. He is always quick to escalate the matter to violence."

Shaking his head, he said, "At least I tried to fight with my words. Alexander’s go-to move is always a punch to the face."

Leila didn’t know if her brother was telling the truth and didn’t know what to say anymore when the role model she picked to chastise her brother was demolished like this.

But she still refused to give up on her point and said, "Anyway, you don’t have to argue and fight back all the time."

Robert didn’t think she was right. Anytime he considered not standing his ground to fight, he remembered how their elder brother had died.

He remembered being out with their elder brother when they encountered a monster cat. The two of them had turned their backs and run away. They had run in different directions, causing the cat to chase one of them.

At that time, he didn’t know what was happening. All he knew was that the cat didn’t chase him. He returned home safe and sound, but his elder brother never returned.

He didn’t know what would have happened if he and his elder brother had stood their ground and fought. He didn’t know whether they could have defeated that cat or scared it away. But he knew that if he didn’t stand his ground, the enemy would see him as prey and give chase.

He also knew that if they separated in the face of enemies, they would surely be picked off one by one. This was why he stood up to fight as soon as the 15 Small Bosses rushed them.

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