Stay, Of course!

"I'm not leaving."

James brushed away Dexter's fist from his shoulder.

"I'm the customer who received the free character. If you have a problem with that, talk to me."

James snarled, pointing at his chest with his thumb.

"Oh? So you're the one who stole a character from me?"

"I didn't steal it, I—"

Dexter snapped his fingers.

Wonder woman immediately moved right in front of James in a teleportaion-esque speed.

Before he could react, the tall Amazonian grabbed James's neck with both hands and picked him off the ground.

"Hlrrck-!"

For the record, James was not a stranger to getting strangled.

Unlike all of the other characters he had met beforehand, however, Wonder Woman didn't seem to have her power restrained.

Even as she held a full-grown man in the air by his neck, the Amazon princess was emotionless as ever—even looking bored at one point.

"...Let...go...!"

James scrambled his fingers over the fingers circling his throat.

Wonder woman didn't react. She kept staring blankly forward with her iron grip still on tact.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, NOW!!"

A booming voice full of rage drew attention of everyone.

Saber ran into the commotion with utmost fury on her face.

Wonder woman turned her eyes over to her master. Dexter smirked and waved at his character allowing her to let go.

James sank to the floor, coughing and wheezing for breath. Saber and Ryu huddled next to him.

"Master, are you alright?"

Saber asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine...I'm fine...more embarrassed than anything..."

James rubbed over his throbbing neck and stood up.

"M-master...your neck is brusied!"

Ryu whispered. James assured her by giving a pat on the head and turned to Dexter.

"Hey, you admitted stealing from my shop. It's a necessary act of sanction. Or would you like to take it to court?"

Dexter jeered with a confident smirk.

James recalled that harming a human was one of the biggest taboo a character could break. If he were to call the police or accuse Dexter, he'd most likely come out as a victor.

'And yet, he's so confident...something is up.'

"Fuck that. If money is your problem, I can pay you and be done with it."

That seemed to grab Dexter's attention.

"Really?"

"But in return, I'll be taking Ram as well."

Dexter looked back at Ram, who was still lying on the floor, not even daring to get up. She looked as surprised as anyone else at James's words.

The shopkeep rubbed his chin, considering the offer.

"Normally, combining them would cost about...eh, $30,000?"

"Easy."

James immediately sent the money to the shop's account. Dexter checked his phone and whistled with a delighted grin.

"Wow, quick to the chase, huh? I like that."

He nudged over to Ram with his chin.

"Take her. She's yours now."

And then, Dexter headed back to the shop with Wonder Woman following him.

As the commotion was over, the spectators returned to their daily lives one by one.

"Master...why did you just pay him?"

Saber muttered. Her voice trembled from her barely supressed rage.

"He could have killed you if I hadn't intervened!"

"Saber, you're smart. You should be able to tell that fighting him at that moment wouldn't accomplish anything.

Besides...his character wasn't strangling me strong enough to kill me."

"That's..."

Saber tried to argue back, but then, closed her mouth.

James was correct; if they had tried to fight in the middle of the emporium, not only would the situation drastically get out of hand, it probably would have ended by both sides getting arrested.

But still, it infuriated Saber that she couldn't do anything while her master was caught in danger.

"Ryu, can you check if Ram is hurt? If she needs medical attention, I know a place where we could take her."

"...I'm fine..."

Ram murmured. She tried to get up, but winced in pain when she put strength into her right arm.

Ryu hurridly came to her side and helped Ram stand up.

With help from Ryu, Ram managed to stand up properly. The pink-haired maid looked up at James with tears etched in her eyes.

"...why, did you, also buy me? Why did you come back?"

James raised his hands.

"Same as Saber, I believe you are smart enough to understand my motivation."

More tears welled up inside Ram's visible eye. Even from behind her covered bang, a streak of tear rolled down her cheek.

"You can't do this...

Y-you, you have no idea how much I had to endure for so long for...

You can't just...butt in and save us like this...it's not possible. This can't be real. It's too good to be true...!"

James reached out to wipe away the tears from her face.

"Let's go to my place. You can gather your thoughts there. Sounds good?"

Ram looked around, as if she was looking for a hidden camera or some other method of surprise waiting to dash her hope the moment she took it.

"Ram, you know what kind of person our master is..."

"...I, personally don't know him well yet, but I can assure you that he is a very good man. He won't be pulling such dastardly tricks on you."

Ryu said with a soft smile.

Ram shook her head, still in disbelief as she wiped away her tears.

Nontheless, she didn't resist as Ryu gently guided her behind James and Saber.

Whether this was a savior or not, there was no doubt that she was 'bought' by James from her previous master.

As a character herself, Ram dutifully followed the orders given to her by her new master.

Ram stayed tensed until they got into the automobile car.

"So—"

As soon as James opened his mouth, Ram jumped in her seat and nearly bumped her head on the ceiling.

"—Can I safely assume you and Rem have some kind of connection more than simply your personas being based on siblings?"

Ram swallowed. Her eyes narrowed in wariness despite of her crying state.

After a long pause, Ram finally nodded.

"...She is, Rem is...my sister. My real sister."

"From the same universe? But that's an astronomical chance of happening."

Saber said in amazement.

Ram hung her head, staring down at her toes.

"I was more surprised than anyone else when Rem came in stock, locked up in that cryogenic tube.

I've sold so many characters to countless different masters, but barely any of them got good treatments if at all.

I couldn't simply set Rem free in this world. It is too dangerous for an un-owned character to roam free here.

So, I wanted to find a safe place for her. A master who'd take good care of her for the time being, at the very least, until I figured out the best possible outcome for her."

Ram glanced at James through the rear view mirror.

"...I didn't expect some rookie master to come by and buy me as well...at an exaggerated price as well."

"Wait, seriously?"

Ram giggled slightly.

"Both Rem and I would cost $10,000 at most. We are not that hard to come by, afterall.

I guess you have plenty of cash to burn, Master."

James groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Well...as long as I got you out of that mess quickly."

Even if getting ripped off of $10,000 was a bummer, money was hardly a problem for him, anyway.

'Gods be damned, I am stupidly rich, aren't I?'

James mused to himself.

Ten thousand dollars of squander had been something unimaginable for him for such a long time, and here he was, literally throwing that absurd amount of money into the air for some characters...

...but then again, it was totally worth it.