In games, you usually find those annoying side characters that liked to make things difficult for the Main Characters.
These characters could be considered "small time villains" because they were the lackeys of the main antagonists, who were supporting them from the back.
Alex was now looking at such a person, and he was none other than Bob Wylde.
One of the small-time villains in the story.
He was one of the people that would become the lackey of the main antagonist of either Renard, or Nessia.
He was a commoner, who wished to ingratiate himself to nobles, hoping that they would make him their subordinate once he graduated from the academy.
The academy didn’t lack shady people, but Bob was on another level.
What was worse was that the name was very common, and almost all the Bobs in the game were either shady characters, or part of a secret organization who wanted to break the peace of the world.
Currently, Bob was in a group of three trial takers, who were fighting against a group of Goblin Warriors, and Archers.
The Trial Takers were fighting as a team, and a glance was enough to tell them that they had the advantage in this fight.
’But, all of them have just become Rankers,’ Alex thought. ’If they were stronger, they would have already insta-killed these goblins with a single strike.’
Alex might be injured, but if he fought against these three teenage boys, he was confident that with Dim Dim’s help, he would be able to defeat them easily.
Five minutes later, the seven goblins died and turned into particles of light, leaving behind their cores.
"This trial is so easy," Bob said as he picked up one of the cores on the ground. "It’s such a shame that instead of encountering other candidates, we encountered goblins instead."
"True." One of his team members nodded. "We have defeated ten candidates so far. Fortunately they are always alone. If they only accepted to be part of our team then they didn’t have to be eliminated."
"They’re stupid." Bob sneered. "Instead of taking the easy way out, they thought that they could survive on their own. If everyone is like them, we might not even have to wait until the time of the trial is up. We can just eliminate them all now."
"As expected of Bob!" the boot licker in the team said. "As long as you are our leader, this trial is a piece of cake!"
"Hahaha! Didn’t I tell you guys?" Bob laughed. "Just stick with me, and I’ll help you learn this trial easily!"
Alex, and Dim Dim, who were watching the teenage boy from a distance, were very tempted to throw some brittle vials on his face.
’Should I eliminate him now, so that he will not trouble Renard, and Nessia in the academy?’ Alex thought. ’But, if I do that, it might impact their character growth.’
Although Bob was only a small-time-villain, it didn’t change the fact that he had allowed Renard, and Nessia to overcome some of their insecurities.
Also, some of the encounters in the academy required his assistance, which made the villain a very important part in the initial start of the academy arc.
’Consider yourself lucky,’ Alex thought. ’You still have some use in the bigger picture.’
But, just as Alex was about to leave, he stepped into a wooden branch, which made a cracking sound, catching the attention of the group of three, who immediately looked in his direction.
"Who’s there?!" Bob shouted. "Reveal yourself!"
Alex facepalmed because he couldn’t believe that he made a rookie mistake, which was very common in fantasy stories.
"Dim Dim, I made a decision," Alex said.
"Let’s beat them up!"
The young man went out of his hiding place, and looked at the three teenage boys, who already had their weapons at the ready.
The moment they saw Alex, and his left arm that was still in a cast, Bob, and his two sidekicks felt more confident that they could easily defeat the newcomer in a fight.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Bob smirked. "What’s your name?"
"How did you know my name?" Bob frowned.
"No." Alex shook his head. "My name is Bob."
"... Are you kidding me?" the corner of Bob’s lips twitched because he didn’t know how to feel when someone with the same name as him was much more handsome than him!
"My name is Bob." Alex repeated.
"I heard you for the first time." Bob’s frown deepened. "Is your name really Bob?"
"Yes," Alex replied. "What’s your name?"
"... Bob," Bob answered after a bit of hesitation.
"You’re a Bob too?" Alex smiled. "Then, that makes us sworn brothers. How about we team up, and pass this trial together? As you can see, I’m injured right now, so having teammates is a good thing."
Alex wanted to beat the crap out of Bob and his sidekicks, but an idea suddenly popped inside his head.
Since the name Bob was very common in the game, he wanted to know how Bob would react after meeting someone with the same name.
"You know what, fine," Bob said as he returned his sword to its scabbard. "Since we have the same name, and both of us are handsome, we can be friends."
Not only was he shameless, and resourceful, he also looked decent enough to become part of the Antagonists’ circle, allowing him to become their perfect lackey.
"That’s great!" Alex replied. "With the four of us, passing this trial will be a breeze."
The young man then moved closer to his three new friends, and offered them some dim sum.
There was a famous saying that the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.
Since Alex couldn’t get rid of Bob at the moment, he decided to befriend them for the time being.
Fortunately, the dim sum was delicious enough to make the three teenagers approve of Alex as their comrade, which made Dim Dim a bit disappointed because it was unable to use its brittle vials.
With new friends in his team, Alex, and his merry band headed towards the center of the island in order to meet up with Lavinia, who was still on the hunt for trial takers to eliminate as part of her training.