"Better to find yourself a better weapon, Sir." Dodging the incoming axe Vaterian laughed at the man, the rusty nail that hold the blade and the handle together was about to fall off.
"I had no idea how long you haven't been on the battlefield, but maintaining your weapon sharpness was a basic requirement for everyone." Vaterian pulled out a bit of his sword, the silver edge was full with Damascus pattern, deadly yet so elegant.
"At least it was sharp enough to slice off your lip and tough enough to break your skull!" The raging bloodhound held the axe tightly and struck from the bottom, an attempt to cut Vaterian's waist.
The young boy unsheathed his weapon and blocked the attack with the strong point of the sword, a huge clash ringing in the tavern, but it failed to drag the other attentions.
"It seems like it wasn't the first time to you to clean up those people who offended you in here? No wonder the filthy liar wanted to come here so badly." Vaterian smiled, he knew with some more progress he could breach the gate that lead to the jeweller.
The man didn't reply, he rapidly closed the distance with Vaterian and used the club in his other hand to hit Vaterian's head.
Instead of blocking or evading the attack, Vaterian lowered his body and struck Bloodhound's armpit. The precision strike caused Bloodhound to drop the club on the floor, without mercy Vaterian pulled his sword further out from its sheath, the pommel hit violently on the jaw of the man.
With an immediate reaction, Bloodhound swing his axe upward along Vaterian's sword trying to cut through Vaterian's shoulder, his leg stretched out tried to reach Vaterian's legs and tripped Vaterian over.
All of it happened under the sight of Vaterian, he turned around and keep his back closed to the man. With a quick over shoulder throw all the man saw was the wooden ceiling of the tavern.
"Sir, sorry to let you disappointed but my lips and skull were still fine, but I afraid your butthole was already fractured." Vaterian smiled at the man in front of his eyes while placing his finger on top of his lips.
The man didn't reply, a drop of tear came out from his eyes, such a humiliation might be too much for him.
Vaterian went back to his seat and tapped on the table with his finger, the follower of Bloodhound was not prepared for a defeat, they were all stunned and doing nothing.
"Anyone wants to revenge for him? I don't mind having some extra snack before I have my meal." Vaterian sat down and stared at the rest of them, his hand was still holding his sword.
Without even a moment of thought, those underlings flee away from the scene.
"Neither of them has cared about you, it seems."
"We came here for gold, not for sacrifice."
"Fair point, that's what you Landsknecht… or we Hellander known for." Said Vaterian, those words were rather bitter for him, who will expect the first group of person went out from Helland to the north was mercenaries, merciless eager for gold and gore.
"If we had any chance to survive in the fatherland, we won't risk our lives to come here. Fuck! I still did understand why those Tharcian like this sweet alcohol." Bloodhound stood up and drank the cider on the table, neither of the teenagers was stopping him.
"Why won't you kill me?" Bloodhound asked Vaterian.
"I need a person who can guide me through this city, additionally killing you will make me into trouble and this area would dive into turmoil, which neither of us willing to see," Vaterian replied with a calm voice while sipping a mug of water.
"And yet you provoke me into a fight."
"I don't think I could convince you to help me just with words."
"Ha! Exactly just like the others told me, the Prince of fatherland didn't let his great-grandfather down!" The word came out for bloodhound's lips surprised Vaterian.
"Where do you get that piece of information about the prince? I curious about who was 'them'." Vaterian seems a bit nervous from it, he started to rub the pommel.
"Recently RAHFUG decided to expand their business into here, with some deductions and improvement, of course. The news of the prince was exiled was spreading across the city." Bloodhound called the waiter to take a paper in front of them and show it to Vaterian.
"You are lucky enough that most people didn't know what the prince looked like." Bloodhound tapped the newspaper with his fingers, the headline was about the bankruptcy of a company.
"But how do you know how I looked like, I believe neither did I see you before."
"What did you think that guy work as? He was a colleague of your coachman or in your word, a smuggler. Despite your coachman wasn't directly under me but the man, not the best person to keep secret, I believe most of the captain around the city knew how the prince look like." Bloodhound pointed at the seller attempting to sneak away and said.
"Seems like you didn't have huge authority over them. Your soldiers left you alone and your… employees try to run away during the conversation." Vaterian sneered and looked at the man.
Bloodhound didn't seem to be offended by it, he drank the cider and told Vaterian.
"We were not an army, Your Highness. We were only a bunch of people just struggling to survive. Furthermore, they can't live without me, neither of them had the intelligence to survive in this city, violence wasn't so useful here as on the battlefield." Bloodhound seems unhappy about peace arriving on them.
"All we learnt in our life was to kill each other and now we had nowhere to utilize our ability." He drank the rest of the cider and said.
"How about Hibernia? I heard the never-ending succession war they have, never consider it?"
"Those Hiberian never accept foreign aid, the last time they invite a foreign force to enter their land cost them a lot."
"Seems like you knew a lot about it? Mind to tell me about where you get it?" Vaterian carefully asked the man, he knew he could obtain some important information.
"Personal experience, I was a mercenary under the Raven Prince at that time, the second Corvinus of the Hunyadi dynasty. Ladislaus Corvinus Hunyadi."
Although Bloodhound said it like it wasn't important at all, Vaterian was surprised by the information he gained, maybe the protectorate wasn't as powerless as he thought.