Perfect Bait

The bar that we ended up at was near the city center. Right after climbing down some steps, the bar called Fish Juice was located at the bottom.

Near the entrance to the bar was a nice view of the ocean even with all the mist.

Lewis went in first and a loud cheer came from the bar.

"Well if it isn't bloody Lewis!" the bar owner greeted.

He was a big man with a long orange beard.

"Ah, Greg, my man. How've you been, mate?" Lewis asked.

The two men greeted each other with a manly hug.

"Business been good, yeah. Been getting lot more visitors now, always busy, y'know? How's you been? And the wife? Oh hold on there, you've brought company too? Welcome to the Fish Juice!"

After noticing me and Tal standing behind Lewis, the bar owner greeted us with a big hug as well. It almost felt like he was going to crush me.

"N-nice to meet you," I managed to squeeze out.

"Pleasure be all mine!"

Tal had to lean against the wall after his hug. He screamed out, "Learn to hold back on your hugs, old man! That hurt!"

The bar owner laughed, "I am big hugger, yeah. I learn to hold back when I grow old!"

He returned to behind his counter before continuing, "Come here. What would you have? We serve best drinks in city!"

We sat down on the seats in front of the counter.

"Give me your ale special," Lewis ordered.

"Aha, I was waiting for that, coming right up! What about you there?"

I wasn't too sure what they offered, but a beer seemed safe. With how bad I held my liquor, beer would definitely be the safest choice.

"Just beer for me."

"Beer, yeah? Coming right up! And last for you?"

"Beer as well."

"Got it! Two beer and one ale special, coming right up!"

He began preparing our drinks for us.

I turned around to get a better look at the bar. It was currently full of all kinds of people, but I could definitely tell a lot of them were not civilized.

With the way they were spilling the drinks everywhere, some even falling down on the ground from having drunk a little too many, this was not a place I would like to be in for long.

The place felt even more cramped because of all the things that were hung around on the walls. Prized fish trophies and nets with crates on them, there were just way too many things in the room.

The only saving grace was the atmosphere. It felt nice and cozy and the people appeared extremely friendly for the moment.

"Well, well. I never thought I'd find you in a place like this."

A familiar voice spoke as the door opened. It was a man with long brown hair and he was wearing a dark overcoat. When he stepped inside the bar, I could clearly see the scar that was on his face. It was Callum Wolvenna, one of the Ace knights.

I quickly got off of my seat and then held the grip of my sword. I was prepared to pull it out any second now. I had hoped Callum would retreat after seeing that I was prepared, but he seemed to like the fact that I was ready for a fight.

"Huh? Who's that?" Lewis asked from behind me.

"Callum Wolvenna. He's an Ace knight."

Callum laughed, "Are you planning on fighting in an enclosed bar with a longsword?"

Now it made sense why he wasn't afraid. There was no room to swing my sword around inside this room.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" A drunk man approached Callum. "We's just trying to have a good time!"

The drunk man was getting ready to punch Callum, but Callum instantly blocked the attack. Not only that, but as the drunk man was falling back, Callum grabbed the bottle off of the drunk man's hand.

Callum took a chug out of the bottle and then after having seemed to enjoy the bottle, he complimented the bar owner, "Now this is a drink. Complements for the good bottle!"

Right as I was beginning to think that maybe he didn't want to fight, he suddenly threw the bottle straight at me. I raised my arms to block the bottle, but felt myself pulled back by something: it was Lewis.

The bottle crashed behind his back, breaking into little shards. Lewis' cloak was drenched in alcohol now.

"Lewis. Thanks."

I was out of breath even though I didn't do anything. Lewis gave out a warm smile before facing Callum.

"Listen here, pal. We're all just trying to get drinks and live peacefully here. So how about you take your ugly ass and get out of here?"

Callum didn't respond, but he appeared amused by the whole situation.

Lewis sighed, "I tried to do this peacefully, but doesn't look like that's a choice right now. If you want a fight, you've got one."

"Men! Don't fight in bar!" the bar owner yelled.

"Do you know where your sister is, Din?" Callum asked.

I was caught off guard by the question.

"Why would I tell you? You're out hunting for us, aren't you?"

Callum laughed to himself, "I just want to have a nice little talk with her, that's all. I am an Ace knight after all, and we'll always get what we want! If she isn't here, I can always use you to lure her out. That'll be the perfect bait!"

He rushed forward towards Lewis with a punch, but Lewis managed to block it. Lewis grabbed Callum's fist so that he couldn't evade Lewis' punch.

It didn't work out as expected as Callum quickly grabbed Tal, who was sitting beside them. Callum was trying to use Tal as a shield.

Luckily, Lewis was able to hold back his punch from hitting Tal, but got kicked in the gut instead. Callum continued dragging Tal off of his seat, causing him to fall on the ground. The kick from him allowed him to free his hand from Lewis.

Lewis held his stomach as he tried to get up.

The bar owner banged on the counter, "Stop this right now!"

Then suddenly, the drunk man from earlier swung a chair near Callum, but Callum leapt forward to dodge the hit. The drunk man lost his grip on the chair, causing it to fly out and hit a random person in the bar.

"Huh?! What the fuck was that for?!"

A third person started laughing, but was immediately punched in the face by the person that had been hit with the chair.

"Bar fight!" Tal yelled.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" the bar owner sighed.

Suddenly, there was chaos everywhere. Bottles and chairs were being thrown around everywhere. Most of them seemed to be fighting just for the hell of it.

Callum tried making his way towards me, but was met by a couple of drunk men.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

Tal grabbed me by my arm and then started pulling me towards the entrance. "Now's our chance, let's get out of here!" He whispered.

Lewis and I both nodded.

We were making our way to the door when we noticed a figure standing right outside the door.

It was a blond man with blue eyes. He was wearing a red headband and had a white T-shirt with a black coat over it. He had a serious look on his face as he scanned the inside of the bar.

"Crow," Lewis whispered.