And so was the current scene: Him watching four people get eaten alive by rats.

He sighed, pulling one bowl of diluted repellent and splashing it on them. It was already in his space, pre-prepared. He was in a hurry, so he didn't bother explaining what it was.

"Hey!!"

"What is this?"

"What did you do?!"

They were shocked and a bit angry, but it quickly deflated when they saw the rats move awkwardly around them, hesitating.

They still attacked though.

Finn now knew that a toughened-level person bleeding (he could tell they were at least a rank stronger by instinct) had more effect on his monsters than his diluted beast repellent.

While the rats still attacked due to the blood, the attacks became much more manageable because they moved with a lot less frenzy, giving the humanoids time to hit many of them back.

Their movements were slow, though, and it was only a matter of time before the rats would regain their energy. In the end, he had no choice but to use the undiluted one, throwing it at them like he was sprinkling holy water.

The undiluted beast repellent had a wider area of effect, so it wasn't just limited to a person. The distance wasn't maximized, however, because blood was still attractive. Fortunately, there was still distance, and the rats couldn't get past a meter away from the people, which was already more than enough.

He was glad it worked, but he still felt physically in pain for literally splashing out something expensive, but it is what it is.

Still, he still felt very annoyed, so he decided to vent on the damned rats instead! Raising his weapon, he started massacring the rats near him. He had to hurry too because it wouldn't take long before the repellent on him would lose efficacy as well.

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[...]

He swung his halberd in graceful arches, angled downwards to hit the monsters trying to climb up.

Swipe, Stab, Squelch!

For the next half an hour, he just harvested the easy ones. He started moving forward, swinging his halberd diagonally, attacking the monsters who were directly under his blade.

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[Killed! Brootrat (Awakened)]

[...]

He admittedly got a bit carried away, happy to see the progress of his mission.

He looked at the others who were breathing heavily, watching him. "You know, that potion won't last forever. If I were you, I'd be getting rid of them while it's easy."

As such, the others also started harvesting the rats, though they had naturally slowed down. They must be in pain. However, he wasn't planning on talking to them anymore until they cleared out the rats.

After about half an hour, the place was finally free of rats.

He also earned a few hundred progress in his mission!

Finn felt several stares and saw four people at the corner of the room, still looking guardedly at him. They weren't hostile, of course, but he couldn't blame them for being a bit suspicious.

"As you can see, I come in peace," he said. To everyone's surprise, he turned away to show his back to them.

"This…"

"See?" he smiled, observing them as they were observing him.

He also noticed that some were not even human. One even had longer ears than usual, and the other had a small, stout physique.

Wow. Another elf-ish girl and even a dwarf?

Finn felt fascinated. Seems like meeting people from fantastical races would be more common than he thought.

Then he looked at the four, who all seemed to be wearing fairly decent equipment (if one ignored the cracks). They all looked tired and horrible, though, and from what he knew, the nearest town was still a few days away.

In his head, there was a sound: ka-ching, ka-ching!

Looks like those beast repellent potions weren't consumed in vain, after all!

"My name is Finn," he flashed a handsome smile. "I am…the Innkeeper."

…

"The what?"

The four were still guarded as a default, but Finn knew that they were not antagonistic to him. He did save their lives, after all. That kinda tended to increase affinity in general.

"Innkeeper: The one who owns an inn," he said, his amber eyes tracing over each of them.

"First of all…let's determine what to do with you…" He said, studying their state. The women were pitiful, but it was the men who looked…er… ravaged.

Finn checked his purchase limit in the [Hearth Market].

[Special Healing Potion]

[Information: Concentrated reddish liquid infused with vitality. Capable of restoring 20 HP and an increased HP regeneration by 10% for 10 minutes.

Cost: 1 Gold

Purchase Limit: 3/5 (refillable every 5 hours)]

.

[Special Mana Potion]

[Information: Concentrated blueish liquid infused with magic. Capable of restoring 20 Mana and an increased Mana regeneration by 10% for 10 minutes.

Cost: 1 Gold

Purchase Limit: 3/5 (refillable every 5 hours)]

He had already consumed most of his potions before, and he had been saving these up. He thought for a moment about how much he could reveal, speaking only a few moments later.

"I have four of each remaining Healing Potions and Mana Potions (each) that I can sell you. Would you like to buy them?" he said, including some of the stocks he had in his space to sell. They were not mere awakeners like him. A person might need more than one bottle.

The group of them immediately flinched, needing it desperately.

"How much?"

"I'm not saying this because I know you need it, but my way of purchasing has a lot of fees. Each bottle is 2 gold, or 4 awakened cores," he said, just mentioning the exchange rate in the Hearth Market for now.

"I'd also like to note that the beast-repelling potion I used on you cost the same. It lasts 5 hours, by the way."

The four looked at each other. It was definitely on the expensive side, considering the System rounded up things to the nearest gold, but Finn didn't really mind. They needed this, what was a bit of gold for their lives?

"We'll take them all."

Finn smiled. Ka-ching, ka-ching indeed! And this was only the start!

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