Chapter 26

The five men surrounded me. They were all well built and would look very intimidating if I haven't been in worse spots. The trader had a grin, knowing that I fell for their trap.

One of the men demanded "Just give us everything you have, then we will just let you go."

Another one added. "We won't hurt you if you follow what we said." The other men giggled. I didn't care enough to see who was the one who said it.

"Mmhmm. Don't hurt me please." I followed along. They probably thought I was more of a sneaky thief than someone who actually fought in the fight.

I took out my twin daggers and Darksky. Then, I slowly placed them on the floor. Next, I took out all the money I had left. After that, I could only back away from my items and raised my hands up high, showing that I was unarmed.

The men started coming closer. Three came towards me empty handed. One of them walked toward my weapons as the last held onto his weapon.

"Can I leave now?" I said calmly before they came close enough to grab me.

"That's a nice ring you have there." The man was talking about the ring that came along with Darksky. "Take it off then you should be able to leave."

"Okay…." I pulled down my hands. Then, I positioned my hands in front of my chest as I pretended to take it off.

The trader noticed something. He suddenly shouted. "Back away!"

"Heh, too late."

I commanded Darksky to come back. Darksky zoomed back towards me. On it's way, it stabbed the man in front of me. The man then lost consciousness and started falling towards me. I moved quickly and circled around him.

I pulled Darksky out of his back as he fell flat onto the ground. His blood splattered onto my hand and covered Darksky in red. Then I dashed towards my twin daggers. The other men ran closer to me.

One of the men took my daggers. He wasn't able to react fast enough though. He tried backing away but I swiftly cut off his hands and retrieved my daggers back. The three other men jumped at me.

I dropped Darksky onto the ground and armed both my hands with the daggers. Then, I focused most of the magic I had in me into this single attack. It was all or nothing.

"Flame vortex."

I spun 360 degrees with my daggers pointing outward. Fire blasted out of my blades. The attack just does a double slash of fire onto enemies, but the closer they are, the more damage it does.

The men coming closer to me were exactly what I wanted. This way, I could maximize my damage and take them all down in one smooth attack. All the five men got knocked out as they were blasted a few meters away by the attack.

Flame vortex also started a fire or two in the tent. The shelves and walls burned.

I kept my two daggers. I walked towards the trader. He was pushed to the ground by the attack. His eyes filled with fear.

"Heh" I said. Darksky flew back into my hands. I slashed at the trader. This time, it wasn't meant to kill. It only left a scar on his face. "That's just a reminder."

Then, I kneeled down and took out something from his pocket. It was Eagle's spark. "I'll take this as a sorry gift.",

I walked around the burned tent. By now, the tent's walls were almost fully gone. I noticed many people gathered around. They were staring at the burning tent.

I heard a voice calling my name. "Hey, Roland!" I turned to it. It was Ghork. "Hey! You did this?"

"I guess so." I replied as I continued looking around for Stardust. Darksky led me to a locked metal box. I took out a dagger, infused it with fire, then slash open the box. Lo and behold, it was Stardust.

I placed my dagger back into my pocket. Then picked up Stardust in my left hand. A sudden gust of magic flowed through my veins. It went all the way to where I kept Darksky on my right side. Then, another flood of magic rushed through again. This time from Darksky to my left hand.

Both of them calmed down after this. Suddenly, I felt a pat on my right shoulder. My reflexes kicked into action and I turned around. I swung Stardust. But, I stopped it right before it hit the other party's neck.

I looked at the person who patted me and realized it was Char. "Hey bro, put the knife down, can't you?"

"Ahaha, sorry about that." I pulled my hand back.

"What happened here?" Radolf asked

"It's a long story. It all started yesterday with this dagger right here" I said.

X

On our way to the tavern, I told them about the trader and the competition.

"So, I returned to him. But he prepared a trap. Well, let's just say he didn't prepare well enough as you saw what happened to his tent." I explained.

"Hahaha" The gang laughed as we walked through the tavern doors.

I looked around. Then, Radolf poked me. "Yeah?" I asked.

"Those two kept staring at you, do you know them?"

I looked at the direction Radolf was pointing. Then, I noticed two people staring daggers at me.

It were Brusken and Eff. From Brusken's expression, he was probably trying to say 'what took you so long'.

"Yeah" I replied to Radolf. "Gang, I have two people who I want you all to meet."

They followed me over to the table. On our way, Brusken and Eff were whispering to each other. It amazed me that Brusken didn't even get flustered even though both of them were right next to each other.

"Sorry that I'm late, had a little trouble after coming out of the arena." I apologized to the both of them.

I turned to the gang and said, "These are Brusken and Francine. I met them earlier today." I walked closer to the gang. "And these are Kishi, Radolf, Ghork, Char, and Juno." I introduced them. The gang were friendly while the kids were shy.

"Ohh, nice to see all of you again." Mrs. Green suddenly popped out from behind me. I kinda jumped. "Would you like a bigger table?"

"I'm fine with whatever." I looked at the gang.

Kishi replied "No problems here."

Radolf added "Why not?"

It looked like the rest of the gang were on the same page too. So I said to Mrs. Green. "Thanks, we could use a bigger table."

X

Mrs Green got us a huge round table. Brusken and Eff sat on my right while the gang sat on the other side. Juno and Eff ended up sitting together on the other side.

Right after we settled down, Juno took the first step and tried talking to Eff. It seemed that both of them clicked with each other straight away.

I started a conversation on the male side. "Hey Char, you should try getting to know Brusken more. He's a dragonkin with affinity to fire!"

"A dragonkin you say…. Interesting." Char stood up and walked over.

Brusken looked at me. I explained to him. "Char here is an asura. He is the master of fire and earth"

"An asura?"

"Yeah. They are also known to also have a powerful affinity to magic. Some call them demi-gods."

"Woah." Brusken looked at Char.

Char smiled and said. "Nice to meet you, Brusken." He reached out his arm for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr Char!" Brusken replied back and shook Char's hand.

"Drop the honorific, call me Char."

X

I offered to change seats with Char. Char agreed. So, I walked over to Radolf, Kishi, and Ghork.

Subsequently, Mrs Green came with our food. It seemed that Char and Ghork teamed up to order a mega selection of apple dishes. It included apple crumble, apple pie, apple cider, apple shake, apple cookies, apple crisp, apple cake. Basically every apple dish that existed. Guess the tavern isn't called "the apple pub" for nothing.

Then, a young lady, who was a waiter here too, brought another tray of drinks. This time they were apple wine. Char noticed and said "I'm sorry, but I don't think we ordered these."

"Oh, are you sure, sir?"

Ghork turned to Char. He then told him, "Oh, it's okay. I'll pay for it."

Char then narrowed his eyelids and replied, "so you were the one who ordered them?"

"Erm…"

"You know we have minors here right?"

"Who says they need to drink? I'm the one who wants to drink! Plus, I want to know who can hold their drinks better, me or Roland!" Ghork exclaimed.

"Hey! I never said I wanted to join in!" I said. I never had the habit of drinking. Getting drunk slows down your reflexes and logical thinking speeds. So, it means your survival rate decreases too. Even in a safe place, drinking can still get you killed, if there was just that tiny chance.

"Whatever, go ahead. I'm not drinking and no trying to force me, alright?"

"Yeah yeah, just the four of us is enough!"

Kishi remained calm and silent the whole time. It was like he didn't care if he had to drink or not.

Radolf looked nervous. "Erm… I don't drink much, so I think I'll pass."

Ghork patted Radolf's shoulder. "No backing away, you're a man, aren't you?"

"Hey, don't force Radolf if he doesn't want to." I told Ghork.

"If he doesn't want to then you have to drink for him!" Ghork proclaimed, acting all powerful.

I said without thinking much. "Alright then." It was probably a bad idea.

Ghork opened up the bottle of wine and poured me and Kishi a cup each. Then, he poured himself one too. "Let's get started." Ghork said.

X

Kishi was the first to lose himself. His drunk self was like a whole other person. He was talkative and naive.

"Hey hey Ghork! Why do you want to fight Roland sooooooooo much? Fight me instead! I'm the master of the shadowless sword, you know!" Kishi said.

"Huh, you didn't even fight much in our team training today!" Ghork said. "There's no point in fighting weaklings like you." Ghork was starting to lose himself too.

"Hey! I'm no weakling." Kishi stood up and tried to suffocate Ghork. His hands were far too weak in his drunk condition though.

"Get off me, you stupid elf!" Ghork tried to push him away but was unable to. He was also too weak.

I was just sitting on my seat, mostly sober, while watching them. Then, I heard Char. "You see, this is why you shouldn't drink. These two got drunk only after 4 cups." He told Brusken.

I noticed that Char, Brusken, Eff, and Juno were keeping themselves busy. Radolf was mostly panicking while watching the both of them slap each other like babies. I calmed him down and enjoyed the rest of the night.