After a long time, no more men came barging in the now ruined wall. Instead, a man wearing a strange uniform lightly landed on the pile of rubble.
Glancing around calmly, he started walking towards the pile of men who were groaning in pain. Each step he took brought a certain degree of pressure towards the people inside the restaurant.
"Struggling in futile. Now stop wasting my time and tell me where the girl went!" The man in strange uniform slapped one of the groaning men and said coldly.
"Ugh, even if we die, we won't tell you the whereabouts of our Young Mistress!"
"You can't seem to understand human language. I'm not asking you to tell me where she is, I'm demanding you!" With a casual slap, the man flew out and landed on another table.
"Such strength..." Argus muttered.
Even though his words were not very loud, some still heard it and they can't help but say in surprise, "What? Is he that strong?"
"From the looks of it, yes. If even Argus says something about it, then it's without a doubt true."
"Doesn't that mean... we're gonna die?"
Kayle heard the crowd looked at Argus with a grave expression on her face, "Uncle, what are the chances of you defeating him?"
"Fifty fifty. We're about even in strength but I have long been retired and my skills are already rusty." Argus said with a sigh.
Looking at the other party, he seemed to have trained for years in order to achieve such a high level of accomplishment. On top of that, his strength is also nothing to scoff at.
With a casual slap, he sent one of the guards flying. This is not just a result of a year or even five years of training. It is the accumulation of a decade of training.
"This..." Kayle bit her lip. She was in a dilemma.
The current situation was incredibly grave. Apart from Argus who was a retired Knight, there was no one in the store who could contend with this strange man.
"Wait, didn't your father leave you a Talisman before he left?" Argus suddenly said.
Talismans are basically portable spells. They come in the form of a piece of paper, and one simply needs to tear it in half in order to activate them.
The Circle Formation and Rune Inscribing have already been prepared by the Talisman Master beforehand. As such, one simply needs to point it at someone—or something—to complete the last step: Spell Discharge. This means that even ordinary folks can use magic to protect themselves.
"He did," Kayle said, "But he said that unless I was in great danger, I shouldn't use it."
"As expected. " Argus said in disappointment.
Pah!
Another slap fell on an unlucky guard and he, too, was sent flying.
"My patience is limited. Tell. Me. Where. She. Is before I massacre you all!" The man in strange uniform shouted, causing the Tavern to tremble.
At this moment, a Fireball whizzed in the air loudly and collided with the man's head, "Can you shut up? Not only did you barge in here destroying someone's property and wanting to kill people, you're also extremely loud while doing it. Tell me, do you want to get arrested or something?"
The man almost fell on the ground by the sudden attack. Fortunately, he was able to maintain his balance. He touched his stinging head and glared at the young man pressed on the ground.
"Do you think a mere fireball can-"
Before he could finish his words, another fireball whizzed in the air and hit him in his head once more. It was only at this time he realized that the situation has gone ary.
He himself knew that his gaze didn't leave the young man. However, he couldn't even react before another fireball hit him. What kind of casting speed is this!?
"Not really. But I think a few more will do." Claude said lazily before creating dozens of Magic Circles around him.
One after another, Magic Circles appeared in front of Claude. In less than a second, these Magic Circles turned crimson red and a crisp sound rang.
To the man, this sound was akin to the Death Knell.
Just as he was about to make a run for it, he noticed that his foot couldn't move an inch. He glanced down and found that one of the guards he had beaten up previously grabbed his ankle.
"Hehe, I won't let you escape that easily." The guard said with a pained expression. After which, he spurted a mouthful of blood. Despite the pain, he gripped the man's ankle tightly.
"Argh!!" The man tried his best to shake off the guard's arm but to no avail. It was as though his ankle was cemented onto the ground.
Soon, the fireball collided with the man's body. Indistinguishable screams echoed in the restaurant, and before long, the man had burned into a crisp.
The guard's hand who had gripped the man's ankles also had a serious burn mark. But he wasn't dissatisfied in the slightest; in fact, a look of relief appeared in his face before he completely passed out.
"What! It was over just like that!?" The crowd was dumbstruck.
This seemingly unremarkable young man who owed them tons of money turned out to be a powerful Mage.
"Claude Daddy! Even if you borrow money in the future, no matter how much, I won't complain!"
"Ehem, my daughter is still not married. She looks beautiful as well, do you want me to introduce her to you?"
"Hmph! Your daughter is already thirty years old this year, do you think Claude would be interested in her? Mine, on the otherhand, is the same age as him. Therefore, they should be together."
Similarly, both Argus and Kayle stared at Claude with shocked expressions. They didn't think that this lousy, good-for-nothing, debt-ridden swindler would have such power.
Ignoring the dumbfounded crowd, Claude said awkwardly, "Uh, can you get off of me first?"
The muscular men dawned in realization as they quickly got off of Claude and helped him stand up. Stretching his back, he glanced at Kayle and asked with a smile, "Are you willing to write off my debt now?"
"No."
"…"