章節 10: A disagreement between drunks

"Humiliation, defamation, and assault..." Strax muttered. "That's enough, leave them be," said the woman, embarrassed and afraid, her trembling hands catching him off guard.

"Aww, is he gonna cry?" the man taunted, and Strax smiled slightly at the girl. "Move." He said, authoritative, and turned away.

CRACK The punch was so strong that the man's jaw dislocated, and his face... "HAHAHAHA, IT LOOKS LIKE THAT PAINTING, THE SCREAM HAHAHAHA," Strax laughed loudly and looked at the other men.

"Come at me, princess," Strax said, facing the other friends of the idiot. "It's gonna be quick..." he murmured, and both advanced towards Strax.

The table was pushed to the side, and both lunged at Strax, who promptly dodged and kicked one of them in the rear end.

"Ugh!" One of them grunted as he fell face-first to the ground.

"Hahahaha, what an idiot!" Strax said, seeing the reasonably chubby idiot with his rear end up in the air and his face planted on the ground.

"Hey, kid!" The other shouted, trying to hit him with a chair, but Strax stopped him bare-handed. "Look at that, he likes to play with melee weapons," he commented mockingly and kicked the man's knee.

"Argh! You bastard!" He roared, trying to retaliate, but Strax threw himself backward, teasingly. "Come get me!" He said and ran backward. The third man, or rather, the first idiot who received the blow, stood up disoriented as he adjusted his slightly dislocated jaw.

"Pff..." Strax started to laugh, seeing the man still trying to fix his distorted face... "HAHAHAHAHA," he laughed loudly, making the man even angrier.

"Come on, old man! Are you scared shitless?" Strax shouted, mocking, and the men all came running together.

Unfortunately for them, they were dealing with someone very disturbed. Seeing them running towards him.

"Ah, it's so good to live in a new world, with new opportunities, but with the best humor ever," he thought and swept the carpet covering the floor with a trip.

BONK

The three stooges fell as they tried to approach him, and finally, he got what he wanted.

"Now, just relax," Strax said and sat back down at the bar table, with Gladius looking at him in surprise, seeing the extremely different attitude of the young man while the drunks were struggling to get out of the carpet and getting entangled even more.

"Seriously, who are you?" Gladius asked, and Strax didn't know what to say. Well, he was Strax and at the same time he wasn't.

"I am me, don't compare me to the past," he said with a smile and asked, "Do I deserve a beer?" He teased, not failing to smile as he watched the muscular giant get another cup for him.

"It looks like the Steinhardt family mines helped you grow," he commented, analyzing Strax's body, who just smiled and commented, "Nothing better than killing boredom by breaking rocks," he mocked.

"I see..." Gladius murmured, seeing Strax's growth in such a short time. Meanwhile, the fight continued in front of the two men.

"Do I have to end this?" Strax questioned with a mischievous smile, and Gladius just shrugged. "As long as you don't destroy my property, it's up to you to deal with these idiots," he commented with a smile.

"How good it is to have a friend like you," Strax said with a smile and stood up. "Boys, I love dealing with dumb people!" He shouted, attracting the attention of the three men who were fighting each other.

"Hey, why are we fighting? Wasn't it supposed to kill him?" One of them questioned, however, before he could say anything else...

Strax's foot came to his temple, hitting his skull with such intensity that the lights in his eyes simply went out.

He fell unconscious.

"Strike one," Strax said, already starting another roundhouse kick on the other idiot who was beating his companion.

"Strike two," with the body of the second individual flying to the other side of the room.

"And now for the finale," he said, approaching the last man and lifting him by the neck, holding the collars.

"Hey, you idiot, do that again with any woman here and I'll put you in a grave underground while the worms eat you alive, you piece of shit!" He shouted at the man, who was so scared...

That he wet himself and passed out.

Strax looked at that situation and turned to Gladius. "He wet himself," with a mischievous smile that left Gladius... a little uncomfortable, but at the same time.

Very happy that Strax had changed a lot and was managing to protect himself.

"Well, he'll clean up when he wakes up," Strax said and turned to leave, leaving the man to fall into his own urine.

"Gladius, I'll be back tomorrow, I'll pay you what I owe when I prove to Beatrice that that stupid butler messed with me!" He said, waving to Gladius, who watched the situation from afar.

Gladius just laughed, he didn't have much to say actually, he was just happy.

"Wait!" The female voice came as the sounds of panting were heard. Strax turned around and saw the girl, distressed and euphoric, looking at him.

"Please! Let me repay you!" She said quickly, but Strax just laughed lightly. "It's not necessary, I did it for my big friend over there, if you want to thank someone, thank your boss, miss..."

"Clara! My name is Clara!" She said quickly.

"Clara, that's a nice name, miss. Help that old man a lot, okay? Age catches up with everyone, and he's almost reaching insanity if he keeps going like this," Strax said, laughing, while the woman just felt embarrassed.

"Can I... maybe... pay for the help?" She asked, but Strax quickly refused. "Maybe another day, right? I need to get back to the Baroness now, I'll be back here another day." Strax said. "Maybe we can have a drink, alright?" He commented, realizing that the woman wanted to pay him at all costs.

"Of course! Come back anytime!" She bowed quickly, and Strax nodded. "You have a good employee, Gladius, take good care of her," he said and walked away.

Clara stood there watching Strax walk away... "Dad, did he forget about me?" Clara questioned Gladius...

"He's been through a lot of trouble, maybe his memory has been affected? Usually, many things happen in those mines. But he sure isn't the same," he commented as he wiped a glass.

"And you should stop avoiding using your strength. Since when can a man touch you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. "And since when does a father not act to help his daughter?" She questioned.

"Tsk, you're just like that bitch of your mother," he said.

"Don't talk about mommy like that!"