(sometime later)
"Cut it out!" Aumiel shouted to two rowdy adventurers. Did adventurers not have anything better to do than get drunk and shout at each other? Oh wait. There's an ENTIRE WALL of quests that they could do every day instead of making a mess of her guild hall. Aumiel may only be a secretary, but it was still hers to some extent.
"What ya gonna do to make us?" one of them drawled. He was big, bald, and nearly raw muscle.
"Kick you out." she said, matter-of-factly.
"Come and try it." the other goaded in a nasaly voice. He was hunched over in giant rat skin, almost looking like rat himself
Almost to interrupt him, the door opened, ringing a bell. A middle-height man covered in bandages and a cloak walked in, hauling a very stuffed bag over his shoulder.
"You buy monster parts here?" he asked in halting common.
She scanned him. Bandage over his left eye. More wrapped down his left arm, all the way to the palm. "Yes, though we don't pay as much to those not registered with the guild."
"It cost to register?"
"One gold."
He seemed to contemplate on it before fishing out a gold piece from a waist pouch hidden under the cloak.
"How I register?"
"It's pretty simple. You take this pen," she gestures to a magic pen, "and hold it to a card."
He moved up to the counter and shifted the bag to his right hand, dropping the coin on the counter. Then he picked up the pen with remarkable grace and almost familiarity, considering his speech.
As he held the pen to the paper, Aumiel watched a process she'd watched a hundred times before, but this time with quite a bit more curiosity. Who was this man with broken common, yet who knew how to write. Let alone the fact that he dared use his left hand.
Ink spilled out, hopping and sliding to make letters. In a prolonged second, it was done, and the man picked up the pen, amazed.
Aumiel spun the card around to read it. The card had four pieces of information: Name, role, hometown, and rank.
The name was written in arcane symbols she didn't dare try to read. Hometown was Farsfield, a place she didn't know. He had a hybrid role. Mage-warrior. Those were as rare as they come. And his rank... She had to blink a couple times. This man from the boonies was already 2nd rank. Second best, out of six ranks.
"You're a pretty unique person, um..." she looked down to the card to try and read his name, but it didn't help.
"I am called Argolex." he supplied.
"I'll let you know, Argolex," she said sweetly, "you're really lucky. Already 2nd rank, and a hybrid role to boot."
"Rank? Hybrid?" he asked puzzling over the words.
"The rank is how strong you are, and hybrid means multiple. You're a mage and a fighter."
"You're not saying he's better than us, are you?" the nasaly voice called out.
"Maybe I am." Aumiel huffed, "He's brought in more of a load than you have in the past week!"
"That so?" the man challenged, approaching menacingly.
"Weak touch what is not theirs." Argolex said, not turning to face the adventurer, but swatting the man's grasping hands away from his bag. He finally set it down, and opened it.
As Aumiel came around the counter to inspect it, the adventurer walked in a little closer, and his buddy came up too.
"Stop," the new adventurer said, "go away. I not want hurt you."
"We not want hurt you," the nasaly adventurer parroted.
"If you fight me, it be with swords. When common better, then fight with words."
Aumiel focused on the contents of the bag, tuning out the chatter. She could see a number of wolf parts, and a large collection of goblin parts. But at the bottom... That was a real treasure. A Titan bear pelt.
She excitedly looked up, to find that Argolex was heading to the door for the arena. The two problem adventurers were with him, just barely keeping their distance. She hid the bag under the counter, and ran to catch up. She had a feeling this was going to be a fight she enjoyed.
On a circular arena, no more than a hundred feet across, the two parties stood. One man against two. That hardly seemed fair. But unfairness is what brought the crowd. In minutes, the stadium seating around the fighting pit was about half-full. Some cheered on the duo that Aumiel intentionally forgot the names of. Some were curious about the newcomer like she was. Some wanted to see justice, though they doubted it would come. And some were just watching for the fun of it.
The duo drew their weapons. Two daggers for the nasaly one, and a great sword for the lug. The stranger did not reach for the small guard's sword at his belt.
Instead he extended his left hand and spoke a magic command. Aumiel had never heard the command before, and from a quick glance, she could tell that the observing mages hadn't either.
As the command echoed, the echo seemed to bounce back towards his hand. The magic formed into a sword in his hand. Made out of something similar to charcoal, fresh from the fire.
"Come when ready." Argolex called to his opponents, who were perhaps fourty feet away.
They wasted no time, the lug charging forward, and the nasaly one hiding behind. Argolex let them make the first attack. Lug swung a sideways blow that was stopped in its tracks by the charcoal sword. In a blink, Nasaly was behind him, swiping a dagger at the back of Argolex's neck. It bounced off of an invisible wind barrier.
Argolex spun bringing the charcoal blade around in a cleaving motion, which knocked Nasaly down and away from him. Lug made another swing, and Argolex did something unexpected. He released the ash sword and grabbed the blade of his opponent's with his left hand. There was almost a shock wave from the impact. Nasaly leapt for Argolex's back again, but bounced off the barrier again.
With a twisting motion of the wrist, the blade of the large sword broke in two.
"Weak is mean." he said.
He batted away Nasaly again with the stone sword.
"Weak is loud when mad."
Lug shouted and moved to tackle him, but he nimbly evaded, striking Lug down in a follow-up move.
"But weaker is taunting the man who looks weak."
He paused. Both foes were on the ground, beaten.
"But strong is teacher. Strong is nice. Strong help weak. I am weak, but I am strong."
He stabbed the sword into the dirt ground, then walked back to the main hall. The grey-black sword with red veins slowly dissolved behind him.
Then the crowd exploded. Mages furiously took down notes. Duo supporters booed. But the rest cheered. And the cheer was loudest of all.
Aumiel ran and caught up to the lone fighter. "That was amazing! You really showed those two up."
"They not learn. I not teach."
"You did teach!" Aumiel pulled around him, cutting him off. "You taught them what it means to be strong and what makes them weak."
"I taught them strong get what strong wants. They knew that. I only proved I stronger." he pushed past.
She was at a loss for words.
"I buy steel." he said. She could feel that he was watching her, but he was facing the other way, which was odd.
"We have steel, but why do you need steel when you can summon your your magic sword?"
"When strong break, strong fix."