Tavern Conflict

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!"

The air tore as Pete stood more than fifty meters from the entrance to Moni Brothers Tavern, but for high-speed Arcane Missiles, it took less than two seconds from release to impact.

The leading brute heard the sound and sensed something was wrong. By the time he turned and saw the missiles, it was already too late to dodge.

He barely managed to twist sideways, but the nimble purple projectile adjusted its trajectory as well, tracing a bright arc through the air and striking him squarely in the chest.

Bang!

A tremendous impact erupted. The brute's expression instantly crumpled, his face twisting in involuntary agony as though he had taken a heavy blow to the head. His vision went black, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before letting out a pained scream.

Though he had not been knocked unconscious outright, the missile's impact alone was enough to leave him reeling. The pain in his chest and abdomen made it hard for him to remain standing, and he had nearly lost the ability to move.

The other four men snapped out of their shock and hurried over to support him, turning to look in Pete's direction.

"Boss!"

"Are you okay?!"

"What happened?!"

"A mage! He's a mage!"

Enduring the intense pain from the missile strike, the leading brute struggled to peer at Pete from afar.

Pete bore none of the markings familiar to the gangs of the Lower District. He did not look like one of them.

And Pete's somewhat refined clothes made it obvious at a glance that he was not someone who ran around the Lower District.

They could not make out his background.

"Y-you... who are you with? We should... have no grudge against each other, right? Could there... be some misunderstanding?"

His caution was understandable. Though gangs ran rampant in the Lower District and all sorts of people mingled there, most thugs were only slightly stronger than ordinary people. A first-rank professional could already be considered a gang's core force.

After all, talent alone was not enough to become a professional. One also needed enough money to pay the appropriate church, then learn the proper methods of prayer, meditation, and training under the guidance of a church deacon before truly becoming one.

These brutes who had come to cause trouble were all ordinary people. Even the strongest among them, their leader, was only barely at the level of an apprentice warrior. Not a proper one, either—he had merely picked up some basic combat training and martial techniques on the sly, and had yet to even touch the threshold of mastering rage.

Pete's ability to cast [Arcane Missile], a legitimate first-rank spell, proved that he was a true professional.

And the fact that Pete had attacked without saying a word had left the thugs unable to gauge him. They had no idea what his background was.

If they accidentally offended some important figure, thugs like them who scraped by in the Lower District knew better than anyone how to adapt to circumstances. They would definitely back down without hesitation.

Pete, meanwhile, was brimming with confidence and not afraid in the slightest.

"No misunderstanding! You're exactly who I'm here to hit!"

"I just got here and saw you smashing up someone's tavern. Damn it, even when I strutted around my hometown with guards behind me, I never smashed a farmer's house!"

Supported by his men, the brute sneered threateningly. "Don't say we didn't warn you. The owner of this tavern offended Lord Dursley. If you oppose us, you're disrespecting Lord Dursley. You should know the consequences, right?"

Pete merely looked confused.

"Who's Dursley?"

The leading brute's face immediately darkened.

Damn it!

He had worried for nothing!

If Pete had connections to some respectable gentleman in the Upper District, then they would have truly run into trouble. In Greenport, people from the Lower District who went against those from the Upper District never met a good end.

Matters in the Upper District were for Upper District people to settle among themselves. They were only hired muscle earning a little extra money and did not dare get involved. They could only count themselves unlucky.

But it turned out he was just a reckless outsider.

With his misgivings gone, the brute's voice immediately grew louder.

"Here I thought he had some big background. Turns out he's just a greenhorn!"

"Don't be afraid, brothers! Rush him! So what if he's a mage? Once we get close, he won't be able to do anything to us!"

"Whoever takes him down gets half the reward Mr. Dursley promised us!"

As the brute shouted, the other four lackeys heard there was money to be made and immediately got fired up, howling as they charged at Pete.

After being tempered by his battle with that mutated monster, these thugs were nothing more than a minor nuisance to Pete. He swiftly formed the familiar spell model, and three new purple missiles rapidly took shape in his hand.

"Arcane Missiles!"

The air tore again. The thug at the front did not even have time to dodge before an Arcane Missile struck him right under the chin. His entire body was sent flying upward with a crack, his eyes rolling white as he was knocked unconscious on the spot!

[Quest: Defeat Thugs 1/5]

"Hiss..."

The other three thugs inhaled sharply at the missile's tremendous power, their charge abruptly stalling.

They had been blinded by money just moments ago, but the reason true professionals could pull ahead of ordinary people was precisely because they possessed real spells and combat techniques with tremendous power.

Their leader had taken one hit, and even though he had not been knocked out, he had immediately lost his ability to move.

If those attacks landed on underlings like them, the man who had just been knocked unconscious was proof enough. One shot would take down one of them for sure!

Besides, the magical construction and chant for [Arcane Missile] were not complicated. At Pete's current level of proficiency, it only took two seconds from beginning the cast to forming the missile.

Mages might be frail once someone got close, but that was only if they could get close in the first place.

With some distance between them, they might get picked off one by one before even reaching Pete.

The thugs were not fools. For a moment, they hesitated and wavered.

Seeing this, their leader hurriedly shouted.

"Don't be afraid! This guy clearly looks like a novice spellcaster. I've heard that mages have a daily limit on how many times they can cast spells! He's already cast twice! At most, he can cast one more time before he's finished!"

"Whoever takes him down gets my share of the reward too!"

A heavy reward drew brave men. The three thugs still on their feet exchanged glances, then howled as they charged at Pete again.

If Pete only had one cast left, he could at most take out one more of them before running dry. In other words, each of them only had a one-in-three chance of becoming the unlucky one.

The other two would have a chance to claim a huge reward!

Gangsters in the Lower District were not exactly flush with cash, and they spent freely besides. They had been promised a large sum for smashing up Moni Brothers Tavern this time. If they got it, they could live it up for quite a while.

Facing three enemies who could still fight, Pete remained completely calm. At his usual unhurried pace, he continued shaping the model for another [Arcane Missile].