"Are you stupid?! Don't you know who she is?! Why would you…?! Oh, shit…!"
The other guy scoffed at his overexcited comrade, but then he looked over Jack's shoulder and gasped while turning pale at the sight of something.
"Hah! What's the big dea-HUAAAGH?!"
Jack would continue to laugh off his unbecoming act, but got suddenly interrupted by a large hand grabbing onto his clothes and pulling him out of his seat and unceremonously dropping on the floor.
"What the…!?"
Jack gasped, stumbling around, barely able to keep his balance.
"Who…?! UHFGH!"
*WHAM*
He was in the middle of raising his voice into a shout when a fist almost as big as his whole head struck him square in the face and the power of the punch slammed him against the floor with enough power to make his legs shoot up, ending in him also loosing one of his shoes.
"...fhuack… what in the…?"
With the punch blowing away the haze of the alcohol and replacing it with a concussion, Jack climbed onto his elbows, doing his best to keep his wobbly head upright to focus on the person who attacked him.
"...!"
And what a sight it was…!
A burly hooded figure of a one-armed man, with a face completely hidden by the vision obstruction enchantment on his cloak, opening his fist only to reach and pull out a steel mace at his side.
"..."
"!!!"
Despite not being able to see his eyes, Jack was sure that they made eye contact and shivvered because of it, while the hot breath of the stranger showed up as white steam escaping form under his hood.
"Shit! Somebody save him!"
Luckily for Jack, a lot of people knew and didn't hate him, so they didn't allow for the situation to turn into a murder case.
"Yo! No! Stop! That wasn't a challenge! Jack wasn't picking a fight with your master! I swear!"
"Miss Catherine! Please, stop your familiar!"
While one of the other patrons jumped in front of Jack, using a chair as a makeshift shield, the guy sitting opposite him rushed towards the hooded stranger, trying to appease him while another called out to the upset black-haired girl.
"...wh-why would I s-stop Ross…?"
"...wha…?"
But as the eyes of everyone in the guild were focused on the scene, the black-haired girl, with teary eyes and face completely crimson red from shame, spat through her teeth while covering her bottom with one hand, causing all to release a collective gasp of shock.
"A f-familiar protects i-it's m-master… W-was I not a-attacked…?"
Catherine asked in a quiet voice that, despite being barely louder than a whisper, was brimming with fury.
It was clearly a side of her that no one ever expected…
"Huh…!? W-wait…!"
The attention was on her so much that the girl's hooded familiar moved past the guy blocking him and even slowly moved aside the patron holding up a chair to get to Jack, who was lying prone, without being blocked.
"!!!"
The hooded creature first lowered its head as if to have a better look at the man at his feet, breathing scorching-hot air at his face making Jack scared shitless and only then raised his mace to wind up for a finishing hit.
"Miss Catherine. Stop your monster at once!"
"...!"
Another person joined the scene - the vice-guildmaster in person, calling out to the black-haired girl from the inner balcony of the upper floor.
"..."
"Miss Cateherine!"
The girl gritted her teeth, not looking at the vice-guildmaster and trying to act as if she didn't hear him, which made the man call out more urgently.
"...Ross, th-that's enough…"
"..."
In the end the deeply insulted girl glared at the exasperated higher-up, and only after an extremely long second did she lower her head and spat out a command that her familiar listened to without even a fraction of a second of delay.
"Come back."
The girl added in a softer tone, and the hooded humanoid put down his weapon and showed his back to Jack.
"...bu… hii..."
"!?!?"
Still, before taking the first step, the creature glanced back at Jack for a moment and let out a quiet, disgusted growl, making the adventurer tense up while getting red in the face.
As the humanoid monster got to his master's side and stood behind her, it was rather easy to spot the large silver buckle of the control collar literally sticking out for all to see from the base of the enchanted hood.
The fact that it escaped Jack's attention this whole time was the best testimony of how frightened he was, and how close he thought he was to dying.
"Wh-what are you all doing?! That's obviously a Boarkin Orc! That dumb bitch got a Boarkin Orc inside the city! We must kill it and give her to the guards!"
Jack gritted his teeth, feeling both anger and embarrassment and shouted while pulling himself back on his feet.
"...wha…?"
The people around him looked at each other with confusion, then gave Jack looks full of pity or simply shook their heads at the demand.
"I'm telling you! We need to kill that thing before it will attack the civilians! Or worse! It might be a demon's spy! It was so powerful it must be demon-crowned!"
Jack got bright red in the face because of the lack of response he had expected.
"What are you doing, people?! I clearly heard that thing squeal at me! It must be a Boarkin Orc or at least something like a Demon-crowned Pigkin Orc! It's too strong to be normal! Do you think some weakling would toss me around?! It all means that the control collar he has on isn't worth shit!"
And then he tripled down, reaching out his hand to point his index finger at the hooded monster and declaring with such confidence that he held the guild's highest authority.
"R-Ross. Show h-him your f-face."
But not only wasn't the audience on his side - the black-haired girl clenched her fists with anger and turned her head towards her familiar without taking her eyes off Jack before scoffing.
Just like before, the hooded humanoid complied with the command immediately, raising his hand and pulling off the hood, deactivating the perception interruption enchantment…
"...!"
Revealing to Jack and everyone else watching his beastly face of a Pigkin Orc with not a trace of growth on his head whatsoever, much less those that would imitate a crown.
There were a few adventurers who were as shocked at that sight as Jack, but they were in the minority, as it appeared most were already well aware of the circumstances regarding the girl and her familiar.
"Wha…?! But…! It's ridiculous! This must be a tick or…!"
"Ross."
Jack took a step back and gasped, taken by surprise but still attempting to find a way to quadruple down. Catherine, trembling from ire, spoke up a single word.
The name of the Pigkin Orc beside her.
"BU-HIIIIII!"
"KHIIIIIIGH!"
Which casued the monster to take a deep breath and unleash a roar that freaked out Jack so much that the man ended up backing off so fast he tripped and fell right back to the floor, covering his face and head with both arms while leting out a shameful cry.
"I m-made Ross w-wear that hood b-because of p-people like you. Th-those without any s-skill can only g-go around p-picking f-fights because you're b-bored and a tamed P-Pigkin is a p-perfect t-target."
Catherine scoffed and breathed out before returning the empty tankard to the bar and going straight for the door.
"Vice-guildmaster, I will e-excuse myself f-for today. Ross!"
The girl declared, glaring back at the higher-up on the inside balcony of the higher floor, standing in the door, before calling out to her familiar.
"...bu-hi..."
"...!"
As the monster was leaving, he sent one last hateful glare and mouthing a threatening squal under his breath at the downed Jack before pulling back his hood, making the man break out in cold sweat.
The show was over, so everyone began to return to their own business.
Many people kept glancing at Jack from time to time, this time with much less favorable eyes.
"Jack! You're stupid or what?! Have you been living under a rock the past week or something?! How could you not know about Catherine officially registering that Pigkin and even making it go through the guild master's test for approval?"
The one guy having Jack's back helped him up, but even he shook his head at him.
"That's some fucking bullshit! Do you think a normal fucking Pigkin Orc would be able to toss me around like that?! Weren't we hunting together less than two weeks ago?!"
Jack scoffed as his pride suffered more severe damage than his body.
"To be honest, you didn't have your skills active and… well…"
"And, well…?! What the hell do you mean by -and, well…- ?"
The other guy pointed out but ended up hesitating a bit too long, making Jack growl at him.
"I will not lie to you, Jack, but you aren't the best when it comes to direct one-on-one combat in the first place."
"!!!"
The other adventurer confessed, making Jack's eyes widen in disbelief at the disrespect.
"Anyway, what in the world got into you to slap Catherine's ass? It was the first time I saw you do something like that."
"...mind your own business…"
The other adventure added while both of them sat back at thier table, but Jack merely lowered his head and grumbled, not daring to reveal that the reason was that he completely misjudged how the girl would act.
Especially because he never expected that a timid-looking girl, if not stopped, would have sicced her monster at him without any remorse.