I took another sip from my tankard.

"Alright then, let me tell you... about the two months I've spent in this town," I said as I put the tankard back down on the bark counter.

All the other people that were in the room had gathered around us.

"It all began about two months or so ago when I was leaving Titan's Palace. After two days of travel, I arrived here, in the Footprint. Now, the first thing I did was gather information on this place."

'The first thing you did was throw up because of the humans,' Ira said.

'Shut it, I'm trying to tell a story!' I replied to her.

I could see the people around us lean a little closer.

"So, I went looking for a tavern or something like that and asked around a little. They all said that I should go to the East Cornerhouse, supposedly the best place to gather info they all said. So of course, being new to town, not knowing that there were gangs here and that none of them like non-humans particularly much, I went there..."

I took another sip from my tankard, it was actually quite delicious.

"And what happened there?" Ilaria asked, sounding quite interested.

"Well, as soon as I arrived I felt like something was off," I said.

'No, you were too busy not throwing up again...' Ira said.

'I said shut it, I swear the next time I meet you in my mind I'm gonna rip your spine out!' I responded.

"You good`" Ilaria asked after I had been silent for a little too long.

"Yeah... I'm fine, anyway, let's continue. So, when I entered the East Cornerhouse I went to the barkeeper and asked him about the place, wanted him to tell me a few things. And that he did, he went on and on and on. I noticed that everyone was staring at me weird. Or rather at my antlers which just started growing. But when I noticed that it was already too late and I fell asleep."

I took another sip of the honey liquor.

"So what happened next?" one of the people behind us asked.

"I woke up in a cage, surrounded by other non-humans. Everything from beastfolk to half-humans of all kinds," I explained as I looked around the room.

I noticed a few weapons leaning against a wall, a few armours lying around on tables and so on.

"Well I was obviously having none of it so I got out of there using magic," I explained.

"Using magic? I heard a lot about wood elven magic but what is it actually?" Ilaria asked.

"Just basic body enhancement and a few other things, although where I come from they didn't teach us everything about it so there might be a lot more," I explained.

"Interesting," she said, looking at me a little more intensive.

I took another sip just for good measure and continued telling my story.

"So... I bend open the cage with enhanced strength and stepped out. But suddenly I got this terrible headache, turns out that the leader of that gang was also a mage, and he could manipulate people's minds in some ways, but it's limited. All he was capable of doing was to enhance things like sleepiness and headaches and things like that. So there I was, with a headache so bad I felt like my head was about to explode and multiple people running at me. I couldn't even think about what to do, but I did have my raven with me. Well, he was missing at that point in time, flew away before I entered the East Cornerhouse. But when I was about to be overrun he swooped down and killed the people about to attack me," I said.

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"You have a raven that killed the people that attacked you?" Ilaria asked.

"Yeah, why?" I responded.

"I mean... I don't know... just sounds weird. And why do they call you the Crow then? I thought it was because you had a pet crow..." Ilaria said, sounding confused.

"You really think that the people in this shit hole of the town know the difference between a crow and a raven? They just saw a black bird on my shoulder and assumed it must be a crow," I explained.

The room was suddenly filled with laughter. But that laughter only came from about ten people or so, including Sarge, Cole, Gapler, Orva, Ilmila and Ilaria as well as five others I didn't know. The rest just looked confused and one small man, seemingly a dwarf since he was even smaller than some children spoke up: "Isn't that like the same thing?" he asked.

The laughter from the ten became even louder. At first, I had thought that Ilaria was quite stern and serious but she seems to be one of those bosses that like to be friends with her employees.

"Alright then, now that the jokes are over, please continue with your story," Ilaria said as she turned back to me, took another gulp from her tankard and looked at me with eyes full of expectation.

I took a big sip from my drink as well and continued the story.

"As I was saying, my raven saved me at that moment which seemed to have shocked their boss so much that his magic deactivated. And so I charged at him with enhanced speed, dodging a few more people or using them as stepping stones, jumping along wooden beams sticking out of the walls, things like that. When I reached the boss I could see his magic mark beginning to glow, thinking that that was part of the activation I hurried up and punched him straight into a wall. For a few seconds I thought he was unconscious but then he suddenly jumped up from the ground and was about to kick me. That's when I grab him by the foot, slam him into the ground, turn him around, grab his back and bury my thingers between his ribs..."

I took another sip from my drink and looked into the eyes of everyone there.

Might as well make this entertaining for them...

'Oh my, you should become an author!' Ira joked.

'I said shut it!' I responded.

I smiled at them, trying to make it an extra wicked smile.

"And then I ripped his spine out! Blood everywhere, his back was like a fountain, covering me completely in red. And as I stood there, his partially ripped out spine in my hand I looked down from the platform he had been on and looked down at his subordinates, I smiled at them and began laughing as I jumped down, dragging their boss' body behind me. They were begging for mercy, for sweet mercy... and that's when I conjured thorn tendrils from the ground and strangled them all."

When I was finished I took another sip and looked into the faces of my audience. Some looked shocked, some neutral... and then there were those who looked even more excited, among them Ilaria.

"And then what?" she asked.

"Well, I went back to the East Cornerhouse, which wasn't far, and walked in, covered in blood, a large black bird on my shoulder and dragging the corpse of the gang leader with me. Of course, as soon as I asked for information about the other gangs the barkeeper immediately told me, fearing I would do to him what I did to his friend. Conveniently for me, there were four gangs in total, one in the East, West, South and North. Luckily for me, the supposedly strongest one was the East one, so the rest would be easy work. Once I got that info I left for the North where I went on a rampage amongst the gang members, killing them all off one by one since they didn't like to stick together a lot, after a few hours I finally found their leader. He challenged me to a one versus one and because I was in a bad mood I just charged at him and rammed his head into the wall behind him. Guy died at that exact moment," I said.

I took another sip from my drink and continued.

"So then I went to the west where everyone looked at me like a complete monster, all covered in blood. It didn't take long for the gang to find me and attack me. I killed the entire group except for one who then led me to her boss. She was a proper bitch, yelling at me and all so I just ripped her head off with a thorn tendril and strangled the rest of them. Once I finished there I went to the south where I finished off the last gang in just a few hours, that one was pretty easy, all I had to do was destroy a few pillars and watch a house collapse onto the gang, burying them alive. Afterwards, I burned the entire thing down just to make sure. Once I was done with that people suddenly began whispering as I walked through the streets, and some remaining gang members apparently teamed up and tried to kill me. They obviously didn't succeed but it was still annoying since it happened like twice so I just began travelling along the roofs after that," I said.

Then I took another big sip from my drink.

"Well, after that I just found the building I live in now and a few days after that like twenty or so non-humans stood in front of me, I recognized them from the gangs, most of them being from the cage of the gang in the east. They said they wanted to help me. Now they're what I call my fledgelings... mostly just to stay with the bird theme since some idiots also call my home the nest. And well from there on I just started doing things to earn money and gathered information on the side," I said, finishing my story.

All the people looked at me, quite interested.

"Hmm... that sounds like quite the story. How long did that take you?" Ilaria asked.

"About a day," I said, matter-of-factly before taking another sip.