Chapter - 55

"Hey! Oi, look at that shit!"

A loud voice slurred through the silent hall.

Leo turned to look and at the table closest to the entrance, a massive, barrel-chested man shoved his chair back with a screech and stood.

He looked like someone had built a human being out of bruises and scar tissue. His eyes were barely open.

"Jax, what are you doing?" Mara frowned.

This was Jax, an Iron-Rank adventurer who had spent fifteen years at the bottom, rotting there like spoiled meat.

He staggered forward, pointing a thick, filthy finger at Leo with a smirk that showed too many missing teeth.

"Oi, you see that?" Jax laughed, voice echoing, "Pretty boy here is acting like he owns the place. And you… The slutty receptionist…" he jabbed his thumb toward Mara,"You damn near sucked his finger off like you was starvin'."

The entire hall erupted in an ugly mocking laughter. The kind of laughter from men who had failed at everything else and were now hungry for someone weaker to tear apart.

Jax swaggered into Leo's path, blocking him. He was a full head taller and twice as wide than Leo.

"What'd you do, huh?" Jax sneered. "Promise her a good fuck? Whisper some noble boy bullshit in her ear and she melted? That it? Bet she's already wet in her pussy just watchin' you stand there."

Mara's hands shook. Her eyes went cold from the humiliation. She was furious.

Leo looked over his shoulder. He didn't bother to turn fully. He just sighed. It was a long, annoyed, sigh, like someone dealing with a barking dog.

"Let me guess," Leo said, voice calm and flat, "You saw a woman not afraid to express her needs and your balls shriveled up in jealousy. Is that it?"

The laughter turned sharper, more shocked. A few choked. Jax's face darkened instantly.

Leo still didn't look at him. He brushed imaginary dust off his sleeve.

"Tell me," Leo continued softly, "Is every guild cursed to have one of you? Do you idiots breed? Or do they just hand out membership cards to the village morons?"

The laughter in the hall died instantly.

Jax's face turned a violent shade of red. The veins in his thick neck bulged.

"You got a mouth on you... Pretty Porcelain Doll," Jax spat the insult, stepping closer until his foul breath washed over Leo, "Maybe I should cut it off and feed it to you."

He reached over his shoulder, his hand grasping the handle of a heavy, double-headed battleaxe.

"Draw your weapon, doll," Jax growled, "Let's see if you bleed gold."

Mara, behind the counter, stood up, "Jax! No fighting in the Guild! Stop, I will revoke your…"

But Jax ignored her. He started to pull the axe free.

But Leo didn't wait. Before Jax could even draw his axe, Leo moved.

He didn't draw his sword, and to the drunks in the room, Leo simply blurred.

One moment he was standing still. The next, he was inside Jax's guard.

Leo spun, his body moving with the fluidity of water. Before Jax could even lift the axe halfway out of its sheath, Leo's leg lashed out.

He kicked Jax in the side of the knee. And he did not hold back.

CRACK!!!

The sound of the knee joint shattering echoed like a gunshot.

"ARGH!" Jax screamed, his leg buckling sideways at a sickening angle. He collapsed, his heavy body crashing down onto the wooden desk.

Leo didn't stop. He grabbed a fistful of Jax's greasy hair and slammed the man's face into the hard oak table.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Wood splintered. Jax's nose exploded in a spray of blood.

In a flash of movement, one of the Twin Serpent Daggers appeared in Leo's hand.

THUNK!

He drove the blade deep into the wood of the table, the steel passing between Jax's splayed fingers, pinning the man's hand to the table by the webbing of his thumb.

Jax shrieked in terror, freezing instantly as he realized he was trapped.

Leo leaned over him. He drew his second dagger and rested the cold, flat side of the blade against the ruin of Jax's nose.

"You were saying?" Leo asked.

His voice was calm. Bored. He was the man who had killed seven professional assassins a couple of nights before and found this bar brawl beneath him.

"Something about cutting?" Leo pressed the blade against his nose and traced it down to his mouth.

Jax went cross-eyed, staring at the steel. He was trembling violently. A dark stain spread across the front of his trousers as his bladder let go.

"P-Please..." Jax whimpered. "I... I didn't..."

"Pathetic," Leo whispered.

He stood up, withdrawing the dagger from Jax's face. He grabbed the handle of the dagger pinned in the table and yanked it free with a casual twist.

Jax scrambled back, cradling his hand and his broken knee, sobbing on the floor.

The rest of the guild was dead silent. The other adventurers stared at Leo with wide, terrified eyes. They had seen Level 3 guys before. They did not move like that.

Leo wiped his blade on a napkin from the table and turned back to the counter.

He found Mara staring at him. Her mouth was slightly open, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. Her pupils were dilated. She wasn't scared. She was aroused. The violence, the dominance, the sheer speed, it had flipped a switch in her.

"Why is the quality here so low?" Leo asked, leaning against the counter as if nothing had happened. "This is a border town. Next to the Endless Forest. Shouldn't there be high level warriors here? Where are the Silvers? The Golds?"

Mara swallowed hard, trying to compose herself. She leaned over the counter, closer than before.

"You are new to the area, aren't you, handsome?" she breathed.

"Enlighten me," Leo said.

"The border has been silent for nearly a decade," Mara explained, her voice husky, "The Kingdom of Zarth hasn't launched a raid in the last 10 years. The last Monster Flood was 8 years ago. And no new Dungeons have spawned in this region for 50 years."

She gestured vaguely at the room of losers.

"Auravale is a dead end," she said, "It's a backwater."

"The ambitious adventurers with real talent! They go North to the Ironblood border to fight in the skirmishes, or East to the coast to guard the trade ships. Anything away from the South is still a green patch for the adventurers."

"The only ones left here are the ones who want to drink cheap ale, hunt goblins once a month to pay their tab, and pretend they are heroes. It's a retirement home for the useless."

Leo nodded slowly. It confirmed everything Aiva had told him. The Kingdom had grown complacent. The "Gate" was unguarded because everyone thought the war was over.

It was perfect. A power vacuum waiting to be filled.

"Your card is ready," Mara said.

She held up the small metal plate.

Leo reached for it.

Mara pulled it back slightly, just out of his reach. Her eyes roamed over his body, lingering on his chest, then dropping lower to his belt, and what lay beneath.

"You know," she purrs, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that only he could hear, "The guild is closing soon. And my shift... will be over in 2 hours."

She leaned over the counter so far her breasts were practically resting on the wood, pressed together by her arms. She looked up at him through her lashes.

"Most greenhorns... Most Porcelain Dolls..." she teased, using Jax's insult but turning it sultry, "Need a... private tutorial on how to handle their equipment. I could show you the ropes. You can have your card... after."

Leo looked at her. She wasn't Seraphine. She didn't have the noble elegance or the beauty that could topple kingdoms. But she was an experienced woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn't afraid to ask for it.

Someone who could show him the heights of ecstasy Seraphine could not.

A slow smirk spread across Leo's face.

"I am a fast learner," he murmured, leaning in until their faces were inches apart.

"But do you mind putting in a quest, I am always open to some extra credit."

** ** ** ** **

[

A/N: If you are enjoying the story, do consider supporting it. Thank you!

]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.