translated by A013
All the men were staring at this girl. One drunk got up and started walking toward her. "Hey girl..."
Before he finished talking, the bulky warrior knocked him out of the tavern. People started laughing at it.
Duwei's eyes were filled with curiosity. A warrior, an archer, this girl was surrounded by her companions, then she's probably the leader of the party. Is this an adventure party like those mentioned in stories?
After learning about this world, Duwei knew that there exists adventure parties similar to mercenaries. The big parties contain several hundred people while small ones just three to four people. Monsters frequently appeared in the forests to the south of the kingdom. Which attracted adventure parties to try their luck to hunt monsters and trade the loot for reward. Some local governments would also hire these adventurers to do their deeds like as capturing thieves and such.
There were no adventurer guild though. The kingdom wouldn't allow such power to exist.
But there's a magician in this party? This surprised Duwei a lot. After reading so many books, he knew that magicians were very scarce in this world. It not only took talent but also many years of effort to become a magician.
According to what he read, there were only several hundred magicians in this kingdom. Even some nobilities were not able to recruit magicians. That was why magicians were paid very well. Those without a huge financial backing couldn't afford to recruit one.
Yet, a team like this had a magician in them. This was such a rarity.
The team found a table at the corner. The tavern started talking about them in low voices. Especially at Duwei's table.
The knights weren't in their best mood after being banished to this place. After a few rounds of alcohol, their voices started getting loud. They didn't seem to respect Duwei much also and started talking without holding back.
Finally, one knight said, "Look at those legs, my god, I have never seen prettier legs. This hot girl would probably cost 100 gold if it's in the imperial city's brothel!"
"What? 100 gold? Had you ever been to the imperial city's brothel. The cheapest girl there costs 300 gold." The knight beside him refuted.
Duwei looked at them, thought for a moment and said, "You think she's pretty? I say she's average, but those legs though."
"..."
The knights were shocked that their little master, who was quiet throughout the journey, would say something like this. Weren't rumors said he was retarded? That was why they said those words without avoiding him.
"What's it? Are you guys still men?" Duwei laughed. "She's only a girl and you are knights. You can only sit here and talk when you are tempted by her? I will give 10 gold to whoever dare to go up and make a move."
The knights laughed. Even though this little master lost his position, he seen like their kind of person. One knight said, "Master, give me those 10 gold then."
Then he got up and shouted at the corner. "Hey girl, how about I buy you a drink?"
The girl seen enraged and wanted to get up. But her companions held her down and pointed at Duwei. They muttered something to her. Probably because they saw Duwei is a noble and didn't want any trouble.
Seeing as they didn't respond, the knight prepared to say something. That's when Duwei got up and whistled to the corner. Then he flicked a middle finger.
The knights were shocked again! When had they seen someone of nobility done such vulgar actions. Especially the son of the well respected Earl.
While the knights were at a lost staring at their little master. The girl's reaction was way faster. She threw a cup towards Duwei.
The knight in front of Duwei reacted in time and blocked the cup with his arm, but the content inside was poured out. A bit of the alcohol landed on Duwei's arm. The knights were enraged and pulled their swords. They slowly closed in toward the corner. The girl also pulled out her scimitar and a fight was about to begin.
The tavern was in a mess. Some people fled while others stayed far away and watched.
The bulky warrior took six knights to himself. Although everyone was a little high, they held back a bit during the fight. Especially those adventurers. The magician shouted to them not to cause any critical injuries. But when the bulky warrior accidentally took a punch to his nose and started bleeding, he bashed one of the knights. The knight got knocked over to the counter and started spitting out blood. The rest of the knights started hacking harder at the warrior. Soon enough, a few injuries appeared on his body.
The archer was at the worst position. Archers were skilled at long ranged attacks. In a little place like this, his bow was rendered useless. He could only took out his dagger and attack with it. Before long, he was knocked down.
The girl seeing her teammates were falling, looked at Duwei. She dodged a knight's attack and jumped at Duwei. But the knights hadn't forgotten to protect their master. One knight threw a table over and knocked the girl away. Then another knight slashed at her armor. A white light flashed then repelled the sword, the armor was obviously enchanted.
The magician was hiding in a corner, but when he saw that the girl was attacked, his face got gloomy. He raised his hands and started drawing symbols while chanting a spell. Then a circle emitted from his fingers.
The Roland knights felt their body got heavier and their actions slowed down. Their swords felt many times heavier. Before long, a few knights got injured.
Duwei saw it and his eyes shined. Slow magic, this was real magic!
The magician's finger kept on waving, then he casted a fireball toward the knights. One of the knight slashed the fireball in half, but the ember still caught on some knights. The magician kept on firing and the knights were soon at a disadvantage.
Duwei felt something's not right. That magician had already casted eight fireballs. He didn't know how much mana a level one magician has, but it shouldn't be enough to cast this many spells. Furthermore, as Duwei was paying attention to the magician, he noticed the magician almost didn't chant anything when he casted the fireballs, and his speed was way too fast. This obviously isn't something a level one magician can do.
Duwei remembered magicians excelled at long ranged battles and weak at close combat. He took a bottle and threw it at the magician. The magician dodged the bottle but Duwei already closed in on him. But then Duwei forgot he's only a thirteen year old. No matter how weak magicians physically were, they could at least win against a child. As Duwei was losing the brawl, suddenly, bang... the magician was knocked unconscious. Mard was standing there in panic and holding a table leg on his hand.
Without the magician's help, the knights finally took control of the situation.
Duwei found an intact chair to sit down. He got a hang of the situation. These were ordinary adventurers, their techniques were basic, and non of them knew any qi.
Yet even these people gave such a hard time to his twenty knights. Which went to show his status in the family. They gave him twenty of the worst knights.
Duwei walked over to the girl and started studying her armor. After reading numerous books on magic, he recognized there were at least two enchants on the armor, one added agility and one added strength.
An armor with two enchants would cost a lot even in the imperial city. How can this girl with such low combat skills got a hold of such armor?
Then he took a look at her scimitar. It was embedded with a jewel. Which seemed to be a magical item that can store mana. And of course the most valuable item she had was the bow and silver arrows. Silver was not great for combat due to its hardness, but it was an anti magic material. It was widely known that some metals resist magic. This bow and arrows had anti magic attributes on it.
Duwei took another look at the girl. How did she get to have such valuable equipments?
"Take off her leather armor." Duwei causally ordered. He was thinking of studying the magical items in a room. Then the knight answered. "Uh, master, if you want to strip her here..."