Unfortunately, his instincts were correct.
"Oh."
The masked man finally seemed to realize he was the one being addressed. He pointed at himself before tilting his head slightly.
"Me?"
"Yes! You."
The mercenary's patience was already beginning to wear thin.
"Huh."
The masked man leaned back against his chair.
"But why?"
The mercenary blinked.
"...What?"
"Why should I take it off?"
The question sounded completely genuine. There wasn't a hint of nervousness or hostility in his voice. If anything, he seemed honestly interested in hearing the answer.
That somehow made the situation worse.
"Because I said so."
"Ohh."
The masked man nodded as if he had received a reasonable explanation. Then he casually grabbed another snack and continued eating.
The mercenary stared.
The masked man ate.
Around them, several customers quietly exchanged glances. The man had clearly approached looking for trouble, yet somehow it felt like he was the one being dragged around by the conversation.
Meanwhile, the white-haired girl sitting beside Knox had already begun losing interest. Originally, she expected some kind of fight to break out. Instead, she was watching an idiot argue with another idiot.
The silver-haired young man calmly sipped his drink while the blonde girl lowered her head slightly, her shoulders trembling from suppressed laughter.
Eventually, the mercenary slammed both hands onto the counter.
BANG!
The noise echoed through the tavern.
This time, Knox finally looked up. Not because he felt threatened, but because the sudden impact nearly sent the last remaining piece of snack flying off his plate.
That would've been unfortunate.
His gaze moved from the mercenary to the plate before returning to the mercenary again.
For some reason, that simple action felt incredibly insulting.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The masked man shook his head.
"I was just thinking that if you're going to slam something, please don't do it near the food."
The silence lasted exactly one second.
Then several people immediately lowered their heads.
One unlucky bounty hunter nearly sprayed his drink.
The mercenary's face turned red.
Not from embarrassment. From rage.
Behind him, one of his companions stepped forward and helpfully contributed absolutely nothing.
"Boss, I think he's making fun of you."
"NO SHIT!"
The entire tavern froze.
Even Knox paused mid-bite.
The mercenary himself looked stunned by what had just come out of his mouth.
A second later, his face became even redder.
The blonde girl finally lost the battle and let out a laugh.
The silver-haired young man closed his eyes briefly. Whether he was praying or questioning his life choices was impossible to tell.
Beside Knox, the white-haired girl immediately looked away. However, not before her shoulders trembled once.
Just once.
For the first time since entering the tavern, her opinion of the masked stranger improved slightly.
Only slightly.
She had just realized something important.
This guy wasn't merely suspicious.
He was weird. A weirdo.
A completely different species of weird.
The mercenary's dignity, meanwhile, had suffered catastrophic damage.
At this point, he no longer cared about the mask.
Or the table. Or the conversation.
He simply wanted to hit somebody.
Unfortunately, the first target happened to be Knox.
"You little—!"
His hand shot forward.
Not a punch. Not a slap.
Apparently, he had become obsessed with the mask itself.
The moment his fingers reached for it, several people reacted.
The white-haired girl's expression immediately darkened.
The blonde girl's smile disappeared.
Even the silver-haired young man shifted his attention toward the counter.
Meanwhile, Knox sighed.
The reaction was so natural that it almost sounded like someone dealing with paperwork rather than a potential fight.
The mercenary's hand was only a few inches away when it suddenly stopped.
"...Huh?"
The man's expression changed.
He pushed forward.
Nothing happened.
He tried pulling back.
Still nothing.
It felt as though something invisible had wrapped itself around his wrist.
The confusion lasted only a second before a faint glimmer caught someone's attention.
The silver-haired young man's eyes narrowed.
A nearly invisible thread stretched beneath the tavern lights.
Thin.
Delicate.
Almost impossible to notice.
And yet, despite its appearance, the mercenary couldn't move his arm even an inch.
For the first time since entering the tavern, genuine interest appeared in the silver-haired young man's eyes.
"Oh?"
Even the blonde girl leaned forward slightly.
Meanwhile, the white-haired girl stared at the thread, then at the masked man, before narrowing her eyes.
This wasn't a coincidence.
Nor was it some cheap trick.
Whoever this strange masked idiot was, he clearly wasn't ordinary.
The mercenary, however, was far too busy panicking to notice any of that.
"What did you do?!"
His voice cracked slightly.
Whether from anger or fear, even he wasn't sure.
Knox ignored the question entirely. Instead, he raised one finger slightly, and the mercenary's right arm immediately followed the motion.
The man's eyes widened.
His arm lifted.
Lowered.
Lifted again.
Lowered again.
At first, the movement looked almost normal. Then it repeated a few more times, making the entire tavern stare in awkward silence.
The mercenary certainly wasn't moving it voluntarily.
Knox observed the result with genuine curiosity, tilting his head slightly as though examining a new toy.
The arm continued moving.
The mercenary suddenly felt a very bad feeling about this.
"Stop it!"
"Hold on."
Knox raised his free hand.
"I'm trying something."
For some reason, those words terrified the mercenary more than the thread itself.
A moment later, the movement changed.
His right arm rose.
Then his left.
Then both arms stretched outward.
Before he could even process what was happening, his legs began moving as well.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The result looked less like combat and more like a poorly made puppet attempting to imitate a human being.
The mercenary's body marched stiffly in place while his arms swung up and down at awkward angles.
Knox stared at the spectacle for several seconds.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Hmm."
"This is harder than I thought."
The blonde girl immediately buried her face in her hands.
Unfortunately, that did absolutely nothing to stop her laughter.
A muffled sound escaped between her fingers.
Beside her, the silver-haired young man remained silent, though his gaze had become noticeably sharper. Unlike the others, his attention wasn't focused on the mercenary.
It was focused on the threads.
The control was absurdly precise.
Every movement of the mercenary's joints corresponded perfectly with the slightest motion of the masked man's fingers.
There was no wasted movement.
No hesitation.
No visible effort.
The white-haired girl, meanwhile, had reached the point where she no longer knew whether she should be annoyed or impressed.
Perhaps both.
The mercenary himself looked ready to cry.
"LET ME GO!"
"Alright, alright."
Knox nodded.
The mercenary nearly collapsed in relief.
Then Knox looked at the man's current posture and paused.
Something felt missing.
His fingers stopped moving for a moment as he studied the unfortunate mercenary like an artist inspecting an unfinished sculpture.
A second later, his eyes lit up.
"Ahaa."
The mercenary immediately had another bad feeling.
A much worse one.
"I know what's missing."
"What?"
The question escaped before he could stop himself.
Knox snapped his fingers.
The mercenary suddenly rose onto one foot.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The tavern fell silent.
The mercenary's other leg stretched backward.
One arm curved above his head.
The other extended gracefully to the side.
For a brief, horrifying moment, he looked exactly like a ballerina.
The blonde girl completely lost control, while the silver-haired young man quietly lowered his mug.
For the first time since entering the tavern, the white-haired girl laughed.
It wasn't loud, nor was it graceful. A small snort escaped before she could stop it.
The moment she realized it, her eyes widened.
Too late.
Everyone had already heard it.
She immediately turned her head away, pretending nothing had happened.
The mercenary, meanwhile, watched the entire exchange as the color slowly drained from his face.
Whatever idea had just appeared inside the masked man's head, it clearly wasn't good news for him.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
His voice sounded noticeably weaker than before.
Knox didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stared at the unfortunate mercenary for a few seconds before suddenly covering his mouth.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
A moment later, a laugh escaped.
"Pfft."
The mercenary's heart sank.
"No, seriously."
Another laugh.
"This is too perfect."
"WHATEVER IT IS, STOP IT!"
Neither did anyone else.
Several customers instinctively leaned away from the counter.
Even the mercenary's companions took a cautious step backward.
Knox, meanwhile, finally moved his fingers again.
The mercenary immediately rose onto one foot.
One arm curved above his head.
The other stretched outward.
Then he started spinning.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The sight was so absurd that the entire tavern froze.
The mercenary was a huge man with shoulders broad enough to block a doorway. Under normal circumstances, he looked more suited to wrestling a bear than performing on a stage.
Yet now he was gliding across the tavern floor with surprising elegance.
Like a swan.
A very angry swan.
Unfortunately, his body still looked like a bear.
The combination was devastating.
The blonde girl immediately bent forward, clutching her stomach.
The white-haired girl wasn't doing much better.
Every time she managed to compose herself, the mercenary would complete another graceful spin and destroy her progress.
Meanwhile, the mercenary himself looked ready to cry.
"STOP THIS!"
His furious scream echoed throughout the tavern.
The effect would've been far more intimidating had he not been spinning in circles while shouting it.
Knox completely lost the battle.
"Hahahaha!"
This time he openly laughed.
"Sorry, sorry."
The apology sounded completely insincere.
In fact, it somehow made everything worse.