"Stay calm. Don't irritate him," I muttered to Lucas, and despite his confusion, he nodded his head. Melody seemed to have agreed as well. What a charming gryphon.

"You have a nice pet," said the dwarf-like megalomaniac whose guts I despised, extending his thick palm toward the gryphon. If you ask me, it was a big mistake. "Hope you don't mind it if I touch your pet."

Before Lucas could even react, Melody clutched his fingers with her beak. The dwarf yelped and yanked his hand away, two of his fingers now glowing red. Melody was still chirruping, and I could tell he found his reaction humorous. Even one of his lackeys couldn't stop chuckling in the background, still situated at the table.

"S-sorry," Lucas squeezed out.

Ignoring his apology, the dwarf only scowled at her, as any bastard would, and said, "I'm going to roast you alive, chicken."

Melody let out yet another chirp, daring him to act.

"Could you please mind your manners?" I asked quietly, scanning the restaurant, only to discover that everyone was listening to our conversation. "You're bothering the other customers."

"Douglass," Lucas whispered my name, possibly concerned that the situation would worsen.

Unfortunately for his peace of mind, I was aiming exactly for that.

Ignoring his lackey's distant attempts to calm him down, he eventually opened his mouth. I swear I could smell the stench of booze from here. "What did you just say to me?" he asked, his eyes bloodshot.

Was he, by chance, inebriated before chasing after me? No wonder he couldn't catch up with me.

"Do I need to repeat myself, or are you just too stupid to understand, midget?"

"You son of a—," he shouted, clenching his fist, only to be cut off by someone unexpected.

"Mister," the waitress called with a firmness I never thought she could muster, unaffected by the approach of the augmented men twice her size. Lavender was as marvelous as ever. "Please leave; you're annoying everyone else who's just trying to have a good time."

I didn't want her to be a part of this, so I uttered, "Wait," or tried to, but she shut me off with her gaze.

Mumbles began filling the air around us. Everyone was looking at him with the same disgust I was feeling. That was the last drop for someone as pompous as him.

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"Stop pestering me already, you nasty bitch!" shouted the dwarf, reaching his hand toward the weapon I knew he held in his belt.

"He has a gun!" exclaimed Lavender, and serval people slightly rose in response.

Every customer was swayed by her comment. Even his companions couldn't interfere because of the chaos, their faces pallid as they knew what was going to happen.

Others would act, but they were too far away. I couldn't allow things to become any worse now that Lave has intervened and was about to be put in the line of fire.

"What the—" the dwarf exclaimed as I snatched him by the scruff of his neck, but before he could finish, I slammed his head against the table, denying him the opportunity to even point the gun at her. It shook with a satisfying yet loud thud. I sincerely hoped I hadn't broken it by accident.

I was prepared to do even more, but the midget didn't do anything after that. He got knocked out cold due to the combination of booze and a strong collision against his head.

I released him go once I noticed he wasn't moving—his body dropped from the table, sprawling all over the floor. Then I turned to face his lackeys, daring them to intercede. They were the real threats here, after all.

Those goons couldn't make a fuss though, especially not when it was brutally obvious their leader—that freaking letdown of a megalomaniac—was the one in the wrong.

I nearly felt bad for instigating a fight with someone considerably weaker than myself, but what did it matter? Melody even let out a confused chirp to demonstrate her unwavering support. No, I wasn't feeling anything other than some horrible satisfaction.

"We're sorry for disturbing you," Lucas replied as he stood up, placing the money on the table and hiding Melody beneath his cloak. "I wish you a wonderful night."

Then we took the back exit, which was the closest to us. There was, as I had thought, a way out through the restroom. It would have been awkward to turn around in case there wasn't one.

"Knocking someone out like that was astounding," the beast tamer remarked. Melody agreed as well, judging by the chirp she let out underneath his cloak. "However..."

"'However,'" I repeated. "What?"

"You were... a little too fast to react, Douglass," the beast tamer remarked. "I apologize if I'm getting ahead of myself, but why do I have the impression you were hoping for something like that to happen?"

"Are you even listening to yourself, Lucas?" I scoffed, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. "Leaving that aside, I'm more interested in whether you liked the show?"

"Yeah, I did," he said, somewhat reluctantly as if he had witnessed something awful. "But don't you think that was a bit too much?"

No, it wasn't excessive. He was much crueler to me. Every blow he landed on me stung all over. Simply taking a breath was enough to send a throbbing ache from my ribs throughout my entire body. Even walking became more difficult as I felt my thigh swelling with each step. In my opinion, the midget deserved far worse than getting knocked out.

But the fact that Lucas felt guilty showed how ignorant he was. Much more than I anticipated. And even worse, he's unaware of it. That was extremely worrying...

"Wait!" shouted a woman, her heels clacking on the ground as she pursued us. When we turned around, I realized she was Lavender disguised as a waitress. Seeing her contorted expression made me gulp.

On my way to justice, I had completely forgotten about her existence or the trouble my actions may have caused her.

A blunder I'm sure I'll have to pay for.