Pissing at someone was the worst thing you could ever possibly do. Especially when that guy was Ogre-man, a 7-foot-tall musclehead with a bastard sword.

“Laurence,” Aaron stepped away. “What the fuck dude?”

“Mm?” He was drunk.

There was a moment of silence around the tavern. It was like a cold chill just passed and nobody could move. They were awestruck, eyes widened in surprise. Then came a hysterical laugh throughout the tavern that could reach the keep.

“You’ve done it lass!”

“Give him a whore!”

“Hey, your wife’s calling for you.”

“Drunken bastard’s braver than me!”

“What?”

“She’s mad. Like really mad.”

“Fuck.”

Observe the drunken bastard in action, taking out his sword as he reached his arms wide and turned around to the crowd. There were a lot of cheers and laughs, but it all fell silent when Ogre-man took out his bastard sword and held it in one hand.

“You’re gonna regret this.”

Sorry Ogre-man, but Laurence won't, not this time at least. Dozens of witch hunters stood up, their swords are drawn along with their piercing glares locked on Ogre-man. Laurence looked back to Ogre-man, stumbling. “I am?” He just made the situation worse.

Ogre-man swung his sword. Laurence dodged, but by hair-breadth. It destroyed the floor causing it to erect up. One hit from that sword and Aaron could already imagine him being sliced into two. The owner roared. “Look at what you’ve done!”

“Oh look,” said Laurence. “He’s mad. What’re you gonna do now, baldy?”

Ogre-man growled. He dashed and attacked once again. Left and right didn't matter, he's destroying the property. Five seconds was long, but it took Laurence ten seconds to fall back to the door. Though unscathed, he was gasping.

None of the witch hunters helped, they must’ve known Laurence could handle it. But he stumbled back. Ogre-man smirked. He raised his sword and struck down. Something gruesome happened. Laurence sat down, bewildered.

Ogre-man was struck on his knee by a sword thrown by a witch hunter. He fell on his knee. Then another sword came through flying. It struck through his heart. Ogre-man coughed blood all over Laurence. This time, Aaron walked closer with a sword in his hands. If he had to kill someone, better doing it early and get used to it. He slashed horizontally. Ogre-man’s head came rolling down and his headless neck squirted blood.

Aaron walked closer and seized the pouch from the man, his eyes rolled away. If he were to look at it now, it would be a disgrace since he might puke. He checked the pouch and threw it onto the owner. It was full of silvers. “Is that enough?”

The owner grinned. “More than enough, Aaron. More than enough.”

Loud cheers roared and a few witch hunters looted the dead body. Aaron dragged Laurence by his feet and threw him back to his bed. The others were sleeping loudly, but Lina jolted at the sound. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” said Aaron. He tried to forget what happened but running away from it was no good. He had to swallow it. “Why didn’t you log-out yet?”

She sighed. “I don’t know, just—“

“Are you scared it might happen again?”

She glared back. “Yeah, I’m fucking scared, so what?”

He raised his hands. “Chill, no need to get mad.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “How long have you been at the tavern?”

“Couple of hours. Laurence got drank and we got into a fight.”

She sniffed, her face crumpled. “Ugh, you reek of blood.”

Aaron jumped back to his bed. “Nothing I can do about it.”

Morning came fast and Laurence got up with a hangover. No one helped him though, not even Aaron. He had enough taking care of a drunk man and doesn’t want to experience it again.

With a plan of getting beaten up again by his instructor, Aaron steeled himself. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but surviving every day like this before going out makes it worth it. Nothing was better than being paid to stay alive. Unluckily, in his case, getting himself beaten up can be the future result of his death. Aaron could already imagine the newspaper headlines: Aaron Roosevelt – Beaten to death by no one.

However, it won’t happen this time. The gates opened and men clad in shining armor and white horses charged inside. They were like knights, with a flag of a headless dragon. One man stood out. On his waist were two swords. Just imagine him using both swords at the same time. Hope it’s not all flashy display.

“I demand to see Venna of Berean Keep.” The voice was grumpy and impatient.

“Do you seek something lord Durris?” Venna came out with a leather armor this time. Behind her were Lina and Lisa with the same outfit as her.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, my lady. However, introductions must come for later. Seize her!”

More men came from behind. Aaron glanced outside as he hurried upstairs and saw more than a thousand soldiers in strict formation. This is bad. They had to log-out, doing so required him to sleep. What a fucking useless ability. He could already sense danger approaching.

And he was right. It happened in less than a second. Venna drew her bow and two arrows from her quiver, nocking them and piercing two men through their eye sockets before they could react.