“Well, well, what do we have here?” The oldest of the 'Vegetable Bunch', an arrogant-looking man with short, curly black hair and a pair of deep green eyes, slammed his hand on the table. Neither the twins nor Violet flinched. All three leisurely continued to drink their liquor. I, on the other hand, shuddered. Goodbye, my precious water-downed wine.

“Good evening, fellow practitioner.” Sorrel’s voice sounded friendly. However, the air around him had changed to a cold breeze. He did not look up to face ‘Broccoli’. “How may I help you?”

“Well, my dear comrade,” ‘Broccoli’ retorted in an overly sweet way, “I couldn’t help but notice you’re not traveling on your own.” He sat down right between Violet and Acacia, who both gave him the cold shoulder.

“Both my sister and I are on a mission on the orders of Geb himself.” Sorrel's gentle demeanor gradually faded away. Instead, his icy gaze pierced right through 'Broccoli'.

“Mhm, but our lord Seth personally has also sent us on a mission.” In the absence of another cup, ‘Broccoli’ grabbed the jug with liquor and directly took a sip out of it. The atmosphere was so tense that guests on the neighboring tables vacated their places, slowly moving inside. Gazes from the street fell upon us. As it turns out, nobody messed with the Order of Seth here in Nussud. I would later find out that although many Orders had tried to establish a temple here, they had all been driven away by practitioners of Seth.

Violet’s emotions came through, implying that this was why she disliked being in cities. Oh, and she threw a few insults at the twins as well. Seeing Acacia’s smile at Violet meant that she must have understood this much, at least.

“You think that after these many years of pursuit the goddess of war and her disciple will turn up on a silver platter?” It was Acacia who now spoke. Grabbing the jug out of ‘Broccoli’s’ hands, she poured herself another cup. “They are under our protection, so kindly remove you and your vegetable bunch from here.” I grinned. Acacia suddenly became very sympathetic to me.

“What did you say? You woma- argh!” ‘Broccoli’ slammed both hands on the table and wanted to grab her by the collar. However, Acacia was quicker. So quick that even I could barely see what she did there. Brushing away his right hand with a decided move of her left arm, the experienced practitioner ducked beneath his arm to move her upper body behind him, twisting her torso. For a moment, it looked as if she wrapped herself around him like a snake. After releasing him, she had left her original position to stand behind him. Charging her right hand with magic energy that pulsated orange, she held it right next to the left side of his neck like a knife. For the remaining practitioners, the movement must have been too quick to notice, since they all gasped in shock when they saw Acacia appear behind their boss as if she had just teleported there.

“You would do well not to underestimate the Order of Geb,” she hissed with a gaze as cold as her brother's. Finally, the others unsheathed their weapons and pointed them at us.

“Sister, why must you be so reckless,” Sorrel sighed. Putting down his cup, he stood up and attacked the practitioners with ease, using only his bare hands. It didn’t matter whether only one, three or all five charged at him, he bent his body in impossible ways to dodge them. Whenever he had the chance, he would strike them in the neck or knee with the flat palm of his hand, rendering them unconscious. All the action around me, made me hold on to my cup with excitement. I had never seen such a battle before in my life. My blood was boiling, and I wanted to take part in it. Violet, who had been sitting the entire time opposite of me, suddenly reached out and patted me on the head. I believe she felt the bloodlust in me rise and had decided to defuse it. No need to interfere. Her emotions were amazingly clear as if she had spoken directly to me. Even the twins had finally understood her.

“What do you mean, no need? Clearly, we appreciate any form of help”, Acacia retorted, slightly hurt. She slammed her hand into the neck of ‘Broccoli’, sending him to dreamland as well. The twins looked at the feat they had accomplished, garnering acknowledging applause by the onlookers. Only now did I realize that their short, but spectacular fight had garnered the attention of several people. Another remarkable feat of their battle was that not a single furniture was harmed. In hindsight, Sorrel had even purposely taken on attacks for the sake of sparing the tables or preventing bystanders from getting injured. I really was in awe!

“Dear practitioners, if I had known earlier that you are the ‘Twin Snakes of the Earth’, I would have provided you with a more luxurious room!” The old innkeeper suddenly appeared, bowing deeply. Just keep talking old man, I bet you recognized them earlier. Studying his cheeky gaze, I could not help but wonder if he had alerted the 'Vegetable Bunch' in the first place for some entertainment. “I am humbled to witness such a wonderful fight.” Translates to: "Indeed, my marketing campaign was successful." After all, people will be flocking to his tavern now. Look, they are already climbing over the sleeping bodies of the ‘Vegetable Bunch’ to order a jug of liquor.

“I guess it is time to retire,” Acacia sighed. The gentle demeanor returned in the twins’ faces. We returned to the room upstairs, with me wondering whether Violet had known right from the start that our company was this special. Were they the reason why Violet never put up a fight in the first place?