As soon as we reached for our weapons, three thugs burst through the front door, while two others appeared from the back. I turned to the stocky woman, the tavern owner, and questioned her, "Were you involved in this as well?"

She gave me an uncomfortable glance. "Sorry, I didn't have a choice."

One of the thugs wielded a bow, and I had never fought against multiple human opponents before. Unlike animals, people could employ tricks, so unless I wanted to reveal all my trump cards, this fight would likely prove challenging. Also,fighting was a last resort; maybe we could come to an agreement.

I mustered a polite smile and asked, “What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

Stepping forward, a man who towered over the others and brandished two large curved swords greeted me with a toothy smile, revealing a gold front tooth. He had a scruffy beard, and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. "We are what you might call a mercenary company. We offer protection to local small businesses."

"Protection? In the city?" I raised an eyebrow, my tone questioning. It was evident where this conversation was heading, even to a blind man—because blind people weren't deaf.

"Oh, trust me, anything can happen nowadays. You walk down an alley, and before you know it, you're full’a holes and bleedin to death," he sighed, feigning sorrow.

They were threatening me? This was a new and frightening experience. I could feel my heartbeat quicken. I wasn’t some badass who was immune to getting punctured full of holes.

"Yes, that would indeed be terrible. So, how much would this protection cost?" I inquired. If the price was reasonable, I was willing to pay off local thugs. It might even offer me some semblance of security. However, it was worrying how swiftly word had spread about my earnings.

“Half or whatever you make, and don’t try cheatin us, cuse we will have a guy on your stall to make sure no one fucks with you, and also keep count of the coin,” he nodded.

"Half? That's outrageous," I frowned.

The man swung his sword down, splitting the table we were sitting at in two. “Is that so? Then what the fuck are you gonna do about it?”

"Nothing," I lied. "But if you demand such a high price, then I'll be forced to shut down my business. It would benefit both of us if you had a steady and prolonged income, resulting in greater earnings."

"Business? Income? Long-term earnings? You're using fancy words there," the man chuckled, shaking his head. His men joined in with laughter. "Listen here, youngster. I don't think you understand the kind of man I am-"

Before he could continue, I thrust my spear into his abdomen. Everyone froze, staring at me wide-eyed. Seizing the opportunity, I grabbed one of the thug leader's swords, he offered little resistance as he was staring at his wound, and I hurled the weapon at the archer.

Though unfamiliar with throwing weapons, the sword found its mark, burying itself in the archer's shoulder. The man screamed in pain and dropped his bow as his arm hung limply by the side.

Two of them fell to the ground, incapacitated. I removed the spear from the leader's belly, causing blood to gush from his wound and he could do nothing but stare at it in shock.

Just to be safe, I kicked his other hand and pushed his sword out of reach. Meanwhile, the remaining attackers closed in on us. Auto swiftly grabbed the goat and fled, leaving Budas and I prepared for a fight without worrying about the vulnerable members of our group.

Budas used his shield to block one attacker's sword while another tried to strike him from behind. Two assailants focused on Budas, leaving only one to face me.

Perhaps they assumed he posed a greater threat due to his larger build, but that worked to my advantage as well. After all, my attacks until now had all seemed to work due to taking the leader by surprise and being lucky.

I hurled my spear at the second attacker, who was about to ambush Budas from behind. The spear impaled him, eliciting a scream before he collapsed to the ground.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The remaining assailant directed an overhead slash at me, but I evaded by tilting my body to the side. He appeared wide-eyed and unsteady, possibly inexperienced or frightened, or perhaps both. Compared to Myrina, they were too slow. Even without a weapon, I effortlessly dodged several of his attacks. When his sword got wedged in the edge of a table, I took the opportunity to deliver a swift kick to his groin, causing him to drop to his knees and release his weapon.

It felt like something broke there. I almost felt sorry for the guy. To ensure he stayed down, I kneed him in the throat.

Budas continued to engage in a heated battle with his opponent, and they seemed evenly matched. Budas sustained a minor injury on his thigh, while his adversary suffered a deep gash on his shoulder.

Seizing the sword of the man I had incapacitated earlier, I stealthily approached Budas' opponent from behind. The final thug was completely absorbed in his own fight and failed to notice the defeat of his comrades.

With a well-aimed slash to the back of his knee, I brought him down, causing him to drop his sword and clutch his leg in pain.

Budas gasped for breath and surveyed the scene before nodding at me. "A signal or warning before the attack would have been helpful."

I grinned. "Come on, we just defeated five men with only the two of us."

"They'll be singing songs about this fight," Budas quipped.

"If a song were written for every bar brawl that occurred, there would be so many that poets would never have to sing the same song twice," I replied as I retrieved my spear, extracting it from the man's belly. He groaned and screamed in agony, causing me to feel nauseous, but now was not the time.

"You bastards! Do you even know who you're messing with?!" the man I had cut behind the knee yelled.

"Do you?" I retorted, flashing a menacing smile, attempting to appear as nonchalant as possible. I needed to say something truly terrifying. What would strike fear into the hearts of individuals like them? What would the most menacing of villains say?

I came up with some speech on the fly. Before I could think too much about it, I sat down on a chair and poured myself some water, trying to appear calm. "I know what kind of men you are, now let me tell you what kind of man I am."

Taking another sip, I tried to calm myself so the quivering I felt wouldn't show in my voice. "I'm a weak man. Not really good in a fight, I am also very easily scared. So if you fuck with me, I'm not the kind of guy who will charge in. No, I probably would shit myself if I fought you."

That seemed to elicit some reactions, but before anyone could say anything I continued. "That's why if I fight, I will be sure that I will win. I will poison your drinks, I will take your family hostage, kill your wives or kids. Anything is fair play to me. Why? Because I am the kind of coward who is too scared to even think about fighting fair."

Ah, fuck! Could they tell I was just a fake tough guy? Did that come out too lame? I should have written something down in case a situation like this came up! Also, I wasn’t the kind of guy who would go after someone’s family. Why did I even say that?

I was too on edge to think things clearly and tried too hard at intimidation, that it probably failed!

***

Budas felt a chill go down his spine as Idas spoke. He called himself weak and cowardly so casually.

Weak? He had taken out five men, and there was no injury on him. Idas clearly wasn't weak. So with calling himself weak, he was implying that the thugs were nothing.

Cowardly? He made the first move against them when he was outnumbered. They were the ones who had come with weapons drawn and threatened him, while he was sitting down after a hard day's work. No coward would ever challenge five men and win.

This only instilled the idea more in Budas that Idas had to be from some kind of divine heritage. One of those rumored demigods. Budas had doubted they even existed, but with how Idas was only a miracle would explain how someone like him could do the things he does.

The thugs too, at least the conscious ones, looked at Idas with terrified eyes. While Idas seemed nonchalant and was drinking some ale from a cup. "Auto, what are the rules of killing in the city?"

"There's no killing allowed," she answered meekly. Auto too had realized just what kind of man she was working for.

"What is the punishment for killing?" Idas asked, the grip around his spear tightening, and Budas could see the thugs' faces all go pale at the same time. By now they had realized they had messed with the wrong guy.

“Usually death too, but it depends as sometimes people have just been banished or even forgiven in some rare cases,” Auto explained.

Before Idas could do anything, the tavern doors burst open once more. He tightened his grip on his spear and swiftly turned around, mirroring Budas' defensive stance. However, to their relief, it wasn't another onslaught of attackers; instead, a group of well-armored soldiers bearing the city's insignia on their shields entered.

Idas didn’t even have the chance to get a word out before one of the guards roared out. “You’re all under arrest! There has been a report of violence and assault within the city walls. For disrupting the order you will all be placed under temporary holdings.”