I just want to start off by saying that they deserved it.

I had walked back to the Forest Flute, thinking about all the ways I could’ve handled the entire situation with Catharina a bit better.

I ran through the entire event in my mind again.

How I had introduced myself.

How I had stood.

How I had treated Julia.

Everything.

Trying to find any way I could possibly have left a bad impression.

The more I ran through everything, over and over again, the more I wanted to facepalm about small things I did that might have been stupid in the moment.

Eventually I reached the inn.

Even though it was getting late, the inn was just as bustling as it had been when we left.

All of the tables were still filled with customers.

Some were having meals.

Some were just there to have a few drinks.

I couldn’t help but compare it to our own inn back in Lofie village.

And I came to the conclusion that although this one was way more busy, it didn’t have any of the personality ours did.

There was no personal touch.

There was none of the intimacy that we had created by separating the dining room from the waiting room bar.

Instead here, everything was just mashed together, and there was no waiting room, which meant that everyone was just bundled up in the dining room.

Sitting where they wanted, and basically just doing whatever they wanted.

The pure chaos was almost maddening.

But after the day I had, I decided I might as well drown some of my sorrows.

So I walked over to the counter again, and found the same fat man there that had helped us check in.

"Can I order drinks here?" I asked him.

The man looked at me with the same emotionless expression he had had when we checked in.

These people really needed to learn how to treat people when you’re running a hospitality service.

"Yes you can, I’ll pass your order on to a waitress." The man answered.

At least he didn’t just pass the job of serving me on to someone else.

"I’ll have an ale please." I said, pressing a silver coin on the counter between us.

The man took my coin, and shuffled off to find a waitress to bring me my drink.

I leaned back against the counter as I looked over the crowd of people in the inn.

I noticed a few men near the back of the inn at a table that were especially... rowdy.

By the armor they were wearing, and the weapons that were leaning against the wall near them, I assumed that they had to be adventurers.

I kept my eyes on them, their behaviour making me shake my head slightly.

They were extremely loud, and obnoxious.

One of them even getting up on his chair, and shaking his ass at the others.

I mean seriously, where was the shame?

I turned back when I heard someone place my drink on the counter behind me.

A girl that looked to be about seventeen stood there, her brows drawn in focus as she balanced a tray full of drinks in one hand, and placed mine on the counter with the other.

"Thank you." I said.

She seemed surprised that someone had actually thanked her for the service.

Apparently people there didn’t believe in thanking their servers.

"M.. my pleasure." She squeaked as she darted off to go and serve the tables.

It was at that moment that the fat man stepped back behind the counter.

"Why did she seem so surprised that I thanked her?" I asked him.

"Usually when people are friendly to the waitstaff in here, they want something in return." The man responded without looking up at me, he seemed pretty entranced with the paperwork he was doing.

"Does basic courtesy not exist in this world?" I mumbled under my breath as I turned back to the room.

"Not in places like this." The man answered.

I hadn’t expected him to actually say anything.

Honestly I hadn’t expected him to even care to respond.

I had just turned back to the crowd when I saw the same crowd of rowdy men causing trouble for the young waitress that had just brought me my drink.

They were constantly trying to grab at her.

She had to do her best to dodge their paws, and balance her tray of drinks at the same time.

"Is no one going to do anything to help her?" I turned back to ask the receptionist.

He looked up to see the scene I was pointing at only momentarily, before looking back down with some anger on his face.

"No one can do anything to help her, they’re adventurers." He answered.

"And?" I asked in confusion, did the fact that they were adventurers mean they could just do what they wanted?

"No one here can stand up to them." The man said again.

"Don’tyou have guards?" I asked.

The man looked up at me with confusion again.

"Why would an inn have guards?"

"To stop things like that from happening." I pointed at the scene behind me with a thumb, not looking back, until I heard the girl yelp.

My head snapped back to their table, to find that one of the men had pulled the girl onto his lap, her tray filled with drinks now laying on the ground.

Before my mind had even caught up with my body, I was already standing next to their table, my hand reaching for the girl.

I grabbed her off the man’s lap, and positioned her behind me.

"I don’t think that’s very gentlemanly of you, now is it?" I said, for some reason my voice had become quite... cold.

"And what does it have to do with you?" The man I had just grabbed the girl from asked, slowly standing from his chair.

Now I have to say this, there aren’t many people I have to look up to in my life.

But that man was huge.

He was at least a head taller than me, and probably twice as broad.

"When you target those weaker than yourself in front of me it has everything to do with me." I answered, at that moment I felt like I had no control over my words or actions.

Normally I would have tried to handle the situation with a bit more diplomacy.

Maybe not grab the girl from him, but distract him long enough so she could get away.

Offer to buy them some drinks.

Anything but what I did at that moment.

Without any more words, or threats, the man threw a punch.

My mind cleared instantly.

I leaned out of the way of the punch, and sent a palm into his throat.

As he stumbled backward, choking, I followed after him.

"It’s not that fun when people can actually fight back is it?" I asked.

He was looking up at me with hatred, still trying to stop the choking.

When I came close enough he threw another punch.

Apparently he had only one move, because the punch he threw was almost identical to the first one I had dodged.

And the results of this one were exactly the same.

Except this time I stepped back, and kicked him in the chest with all of my strength.

Which apparently had become quite a lot.

For a moment after my foot hit him, it was almost like time had stopped, then he started to fly backwards.

And yes I mean literally fly.

His feet had actually left the ground as he travelled backwards at quite the speed.

He shattered the door of the inn, and just kept going for a few more feet before finally hitting the ground unconscious... hopefully just unconscious.

For a few moments the inn descended into complete silence.

And then all hell broke loose.