"More beer," a man screamed from across the tavern, raising the massive cup in his hand as he signalled towards the waiter.
"Your ass isn't getting anymore bear," a reply came from behind the counter where a buff looking woman stood, "not until you pay for the last one."
"Don't be like that, old hag," the man shouted again, "you know how hard adventuring has been lately, besides, I'm planning on taking on that bounty."
"With the pay from that, you could even fix up this run down dump of an excuse for a tavern," The man added with a grin on his face.
"Are you an idiot?" The woman said.
The man raised his head only to realize everyone else in the tavern was looking at him like he was some idiot.
Which, considering the bounty he was talking about, he really was.
"What? The bounty is so damn high," the drunken adventurer insisted, waving his arms, "with one platinum crest, I could drink for years, there's no way I'm missing out on that kind of pay."
"And why the hell do you think the bounty is so high?" The woman asked, looking at him with a disappointed gaze, "do you know how many high rank adventurers have tried and failed to complete that bounty?"
"Just because a bunch of dumb asses failed, doesn't mean I will too," The man said confidently, "besides —"
Before his words could be completed, the door to the tavern let out a creek as it opened, allowing a new customer to walk in.
The entire tavern quieted down and they turned to the tavern door in sync.
There stood a figure in a cloak, they slowly walked in, ignoring the stares and sat on one of the empty tables, waiting for a server.
He was soon approached by server, one younger than the buff lady behind the counter.
"U-um, what would you like?" She hesitantly asked since the person still refused to remove their cloak, which made her a bit nervous.
The cloaked figure turned to her, but even then, his face couldn't be seen beneath the hood, she could only see shadows.
"What would you recommend?" His voice sounded a lot younger than most in the tavern were expecting.
"Umm, we've got boar meat soup and bread," the server recommended, "it's good."
"Then I'll have that," the man under the cloak spoke and by the tone of his voice, one could tell he was smiling.
The sever nodded and headed towards what was assumed to be the kitchen, leaving the cloaked figure by himself.
He seemed to be in deep thoughts which was soon interrupted when the adventurer, who had previously been speaking, sat on the empty chair across him.
"Nice cloak you got there," the adventurer said as he made himself comfortable even with the massive weapon strapped to his back, "so what are you, a noble?"
"Ulf," The buff woman let out a growl, "don't you fucking dare start a fight in my tavern."
"Relax old hag, I'm just making conversation," Ulf said as he turned back to the cloaked figure, "isn't that right?"
The man under the cloak refused to say anything, choosing to ignore Ulf, as he patiently waited for his food to arrive.
But Ulf hated being ignored, especially so when he was drunk.
Every bit of restraint he had in his pea sized brain seemed to have been drunk down with the beer he just had.
"Why don't you show us what's underneath?" Ulf reached for the cloak, only for the man to move a bit to the side, causing him to miss completely.
"Ulf?!" The woman behind the counter growled his name again in warning, but he was too far gone to be reasoned with.
He rose to his full height, dwarfing the seated man as his massive frame swallowed the light. One hand settled on the weapon strapped to his back.
It was massive hammer.
Ulf took it off and set it on the tavern floor with an audible boom that shook the tables around him a bit.
"That idiot is at it again," one of the customers in the tavern muttered, clicking his tongue. "Poor guy."
"Won't Miss Hilda stop him, though?" someone else asked.
"As much as she wants to," the man said, shaking his head, "she can't. No matter how she looks, her strength is nowhere near an adventurer's."
Seeing that the cloaked figure was still refusing to say anything, Ulf took that as a sign that he was intimidated, so he continued.
"You might be new here," Ulf said, "but whenever I ask for something to be done, I expect it done and right now, I want that cloak to come off."
Again, the man refused him a response which made his frown deepen.
"I don't think you get it," Ulf took something out of his pocket and slammed it into the table, "I am an A ranked adventurer, which means I can smash your head in and no one would question."
What he placed on the table before the cloaked figure was proof of his A-rank. It was a golden badge with the letter A and the Guild's sigil on it.
"Now, I'll ask one last time," he easily placed the massive hammer on his shoulder as he demanded, "remove that cloak."
No answer.
"You asked for this," Ulf lifted his hammer high into the air and let it fall towards the cloaked figure's head, but just before it could make contact, he froze.
He stood like that for a few seconds before his massive body fell backwards, shaking the tavern floor as he landed on it.
"W-what the hell just happened?" One of the customers asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
Ulf was laying on the floor with his eyes rolled far back into his head, an indication that he was completely knocked out, but how.
The customers raised their heads towards the cloaked figure, only to realize that there was a strange object sticking out of his cloak and held in his hand.
The device seemed to be releasing a bit of smoke before it disappeared and the cloaked figure stood up, dropped two gold coins on the table and made his way towards the tavern's exit.
"He'll be fine," he added as he reached the door, "he should be up in a few hours, or days."
With that, he stepped out, leaving the stunned customers and Hilda.
The cloaked figure stopped outside for a short while and let out an annoyed sigh, "thanks to this damn heart, I can't even eat in peace."
He was about to activate a function of his cloak when someone called from behind, "umm, Sir?"
He turned around to see that it was the same sever that had previously taken his order, this time she was standing with a bag in hand.
"Y-your food," she said outstretching the hand with the bag towards him, "I made it take away when I noticed Ulf approaching."
The cloaked figure looked at her for a second before grabbing the bag and saying, "thank you."
"No need for thanks," the girl quickly waved both hands before her, "I was just fulfilling a customer's order."
"Hmm," the cloaked figure nodded and turned around, so did the girl, before she paused.
"By the way, Sir," she started, "are you..."
She turned around and realized the man was completely gone. The tavern wasn't crowded enough for him to disappear into the crowd; it was as if he had vanished outright.
"Elias Ardent?"