12 (XII) importance of skills, going to the Big (and hot) Mama's tavern

As the guard's body was sent flying into the group, the archer some distance away on top of one of the buildings fired the arrow, as its tip dripped of poison, he had nocked only for his target to block it with the log Mark was carrying in one hand that sunk into it thanks to how powerful his grip was.

The archer tried to prepare another laced arrow but a piece of wood smacked him square in the face the amount of force it had knocked him out while making him swallow some of his teeth as he fell from the building.

The rest of the guards all noticed that this man they were trying to catch was unnaturally powerful so they all came to a conclusion a battle type skill holder!

Skills in this world decide how far you can go in the ranks of the adventurers, or the position that you'll get in society the guards all had common weapon skills swordsmanship, spearmanship, it was the lesser versions before the average skills thus limiting their growth then again this world was always unfair.

Skill can do one of these two things it can support you to reach the peak of your own glory or hinder you to the point that you become a common thug struggling to get a single copper coin.

Mark reigned in his bloodlust and turned to the hiding gnome who appeared to have a strange look in her eyes as she was so fixated on him with an unnerving smile as she was muttering something that he failed to hear.

Upon seeing this his thoughts were this.

"One thing's for sure this chick has a few screws loose, once I get the information I need I am hauling my ass away from her."

Seeing that she wasn't afraid at least she's opening up to him which might help things after a few drinks.

Mark turned back to the cowering guards before bellowing out!

"SCRAM!"

they ran like fearful bunnies while leaving the two bodies to be picked clean of everything, nodding at their reaction mark brought the log back from where he got it from then planted the log back in place even if it was shorter than before and covered in blood~

it was starting to get dark, as grey clouds were forming thus Mark decided to call it a day before calling out to Remishia who was still muttering something to herself in a daze, so he approached her then ruffled her hair to which she cooed to...

Mark was struggling to keep a straight face as it was twitching quite a bit now as while her actions were a little cute he was getting creeped out from well...

I mean think about it... they only met today, not a very good first impression, made her make a mess of herself, tried to make a fresh start, went shopping with her for some time, protected himself and her from some corrupted guards and now she was cooing under the hand of a man (monster) that she doesn't even know the name of, so yeah this reaction is just plain weird!

To make things even stranger she grabbed his hand as if to hold it in place before rubbing on it for a good 3 minutes, Mark had half the mind now to see how far she could fly! (yes, he was tempted to throw her!)

Yet he was forced to stop and the spying eyes grew in numbers as one was very... beast-like.

Thus he controlled himself again then asked the still Cooing gnome this.

"shall we head to a nearby tavern? it is getting late and it seems like a storm is picking up."

For a moment there it seemed like her eyes gleamed upon hearing 'tavern' but Mark was looking to the sky when it did, failing to see the 'keikaku doori' look she had!

the Gnome answered him shyly yet hastily for some reason.

"ok, I know of a good place we can go to, it is safer than most places, and big mama the owner gives a discount for her tenants on meals"

Mark cocked an eyebrow at this before thinking to himself then nodded with a smile while saying.

"lead the way."

All while Remishia was mentally fist-pumping so without letting go of his hand the little gnome dragged him along yet again like an excited child pulling their parent.

At least that's what Mark thought as he followed along while keeping his guard up against the peering eyes, rather than keeping it up against the gnome that had her own plans for the night~

the place they reached was rather... lively the boisterous tenants and customers at the dining area was quite something to watch as two of the barmaids was dancing together on the small stage that was at the center of the place at the very left was the counter.

it acted as the serving area, reception, there was a tall (as in 6'7" tall) muscular, beautiful woman that wore baggy stained clothes that failed to hide her voluptuous body, her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, lightly tanned skin that had a good number of scars on her body, with smaller ones face that seemed to increase her beauty, with one eye looked like it was clawed at, grabbed one of the men near the counter by the neck, lifted him into the air and showed that her muscles weren't just for show by throwing him out of the door not too far from them that which one of the barmaids opened beforehand as the man crashed into the ground earning himself some bad road rash as his body scrapped heavily on the ground before rolling into a wall stopping his 'advance'.

apparently, it was a common occurrence as one of the nearby drinkers muttered.

"looks like another noble pissed off Lucia again!"

another man that was drinking with the one that spoke added.

"Jeez those bastards never learn, looks like they have forgotten her title before she retired as an SS ranked adventurer-"

the man beside him covered his mouth with his hand before stating!

"You dumb fuck, are you trying to get us in trouble!? look! she's looking right at us with that scowl of hers again!"

With a ferocious look, Lucia AKA Big Mama stared at the gossipers for a bit before turning her attention towards the man she just threw out then her bellowing voice echoed out.

"TRY TOUCHING ONE OF MY GIRLS AGAIN AND I'LL CHOP OFF BOTH OF YOUR ARMS, EVEN IF YOU ARE A DAMNED NOBLE!!!"

Then turned towards the three gossiping men holding her kitchen knife that was pointing at them then yelled out again!

"WHILE I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHATEVER FOOLISHNESS YOU GUYS SPOUT ABOUT I WANT TO HEAR NOTHING ABOUT NAME AND WHAT NOT..."

The last part scared the hell out of all her tenants except for her barmaids, Remishia, and Mark!

A̷̧̟̺͖͇̻̯̘͚͑M̶̨̛̭̩̯̯̦̲̮͒͜ͅ ̶͚͉͕̺͕͆̿͂͂͑̾͂̚͜I̸̢̨̛̝͚̼̱̓̊̆͆̔̓ ̵̖̥͒͆Ć̷̹̺̳̈́͐̔̽̌̋͑́̑ͅL̴̡̢̬̞͕̹̭̤̈́̕Ę̸͙̹̘̫͍̟̠̣͌̑͌̾̈́̊͠À̴̰̿̈́̀͂̈́̽̅̎R̶̛̖̰͔̰͒́͐̂̿̀̕͘̕͜!̷̢̮̬̥͎̣͉̈́̾̓͘?̴͇̳̥̼̖̝͙̫̏͗͌̉͆͛̾̿͝

To which made the current occupants of the dining area nod like pecking chickens.

As for Mark's reaction, it, strangely enough, didn't scare him in fact he liked this kind of girl, a lot!

her angry look quickly changed to a kind motherly one upon hearing a certain girl's voice.

"Big mama, can I have two orders of your specials today and some of 'that' wine?"

Big mama blinked a bit in confusion as Remishia was holding someone's hand before her eyes trailed towards the owner of the hands then laughed out loud as she replied with a peculiar wink towards Remishia.

"HAHAHAHAHA, sure thing Little Rem! just settle yourselves down at the table near the stairs and your food and drinks will be ready~"

the gnome Smiled brightly before dragging the stumbling and baffled man who thought to himself.

"did I miss something? or was that shady as hell?"