"Can Onyx sleep with ? There’s plenty of space in my bed." Aran asked.
"I don’t think that either the floor or the bed can withstand her weight, sorry. Besides, where is she supposed to do her business here?" Those words made Aran turn pale.
He loved Onyx, but the stench of her droppings was much deadlier than her bite. At least for him.
"Good night, Uncle." Leria yawned as her eyes beca droopy from the warmth of the woolen blankets.
"Good night, Lith." Aran fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
"Good night, kids." Lith tucked them in and kissed their forehead before closing their door.
A sudden noise from below woke up the kids and swept off his face the kind expression that he had until a mont back.
"What was that?" Both children ca down from their beds, running to the safety of Lith’s legs.
"It’s nothing, soone must-" A violent thump followed by a man screaming cut him short.
"Must have had an accident. Rember to never trust a.d.u.l.ts that drink too much anything that’s not water." Lith’s serene smile didn’t extend to his eyes, but along with a Hush spell, it was enough to calm the children.
"See? It’s already over. Now get back to bed, otherwise instead of letting you sleep in, I’ll make you practice at dawn." His words and the silence made the kids return to their respective rooms, fearing nothing but the extra workload.
"Do you think we are safe here?" Being in a foreign place while surrounded by strangers made strong noises scary for Leria.
"I don’t think, I know we are safe." Lith tucked her in and weaved a protective array while waiting for her to fall asleep.
’I didn’t pay good money to stay up all night and silence this place. Even arrays wouldn’t last long enough, requiring my focus.’ The mont the kids’ breath beca slow and steady, Lith walked out of the room, discovering that the noise had only gotten worse.
He went down the flights of stairs until he could see the events unfolding in the restaurant. Most of the tables had been thrown to the side and the people who couldn’t escape were lined up against the wall, waiting for their chance.
Two ard groups fought in the middle of the room, mostly by yelling and throwing spells at each other. The great hall of the restaurant was reduced to a ss. Ice crystals stuck out of the walls, ceiling, and even of the big beer kegs behind the restaurant counter, spilling their precious liquid on the floor.
Throughout the room, burnt marks showed were fire and lightning had struck, spreading the pungent sll of charred paint. So of the curtains were on fire, with the flas slowly climbing to the first floor despite the best efforts of the waiters.
’What the f.u.c.k has happened here?’ Lith had no idea to be partly at fault.
The rchants whose carriage had crashed earlier after witnessing the Warp Steps didn’t dare to argue with a mage, but that didn’t make their mood any less sour. They had kept bickering between them for so long that when they finally had reached an agreent, both the restaurant and the hotel were fully booked.
They had been forced to sit on the side tables along with their respective rcenary crews, knowing that they wouldn’t get a decent al or place to sleep. Things had only escalated when so mbers of both companies disappeared.
Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ.
Each rchant thought the other owed them rightful compensation and had sent so of their n waiting outside for a table to steal so rch from the parked carriages.
Thefts were commonplace in road inns so they only had to be careful not to be seen. Little did they know that the stable boy had been so busy that he had delayed dinner for the animals.
Whoever put themselves between a magical beast and their al, was bound to take its place. The n had disappeared without leaving a trace and it would take about eight hours for their undigested remains to see the light again.
The rchants blad each other for the missing people, trading accuses of theft and murder until the alcohol in their bodies did the rest. Two middle-aged n exchanging punches were more pathetic than scary, at least until the rcenaries got involved.
From that point, things had escalated quickly, leading to the events unfolding in front of Lith’s eyes.
"Silence!" Lith’s magically enhanced voice carried enough killing intent to make the custors cower and the fighters stop. All heads turned to look at him and he exploited that mont to exert his dominance.
The beer from the kegs flew into his hands and froze into golden blades streaked with green runes from Spirit Magic while his hunter outfit turned into a deep blue robe.
"I’m Archmage Lith Verhen and you are ruining my sleep. I don’t care what’s the beef between you, go settle it sowhere else or pay the consequences." A flick of his wrist extinguished the flas on the curtains.
"Anyone can wear a blue robe." Said one of the rcenaries, showing his hood.
"What’s an Archmage doing in a place like this?" Another one said, his voice oozing with sarcasm.
"You’re no Archmage, just a thug!" A rchant yelled, high on wine and adrenaline. "Otherwise you would have offered to pay for the damage you caused. Let’s see if you can still act c.o.c.ky now that my n are here. You’re going to p-"
"Silence." Lith didn’t waste mana to amplify his voice this ti. He used it to reinforce the violent feelings his words carried and forced those present to obey.
"Kneel." A sudden wave of killing intent and Spirit Magic forced all those below the bright green core to get down to their knees.
There were too many people and the restaurant was big, spreading Lith’s mana thin and allowing those with powerful cores to resist his orders.
With each step down the stair that Lith took, one piece of the robe turned back into the Scalewalker armor’s true appearance that resembled Lith’s hybrid form.
’Solus, analysis.’ Lith asked.
’All rcenaries have dium-grade enchanted weapons and many of them are fake mages. So even have a blue core.’ She replied.
"Nice trick, but you missed a spot." A burly woman with her red hair woven in a shoulder-length tress said with a cruel grin. "Right about everywhere."
She waved her longsword at the many still-standing rcenaries before pointing it at Lith. The rcenary held the heavy blade with one hand, tensing her muscles so hard that her heavy armor seed to barely contain her.
"Why don’t you co here so that we can t-" It wasn’t the fact that Lith had jumped off the stairs to make her choke on her words so much that he had spread the wings of his armor and moved in the air as light as a feather.
Instead of crashing on the ground, Lith floated in a long arc until he landed on the tip of the still raised blade with the grace of a butterfly. For a split second, the woman didn’t feel any pressure weighing down on her sword, making her doubt her own senses.
06/20 Important Announcent: Read it in the Author’s thoughts below. If you can’t find them, you’re reading from a pirate site.
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