4 Windfall Inn

Windfall Inn was unofficially recognised as the number one inn in Windfall City, capital of the Great Manta Kingdom. But contrary to what one would think upon hearing its name, it was a privately owned establishment, free from the reins of the city lord, at least in terms of business operations.

The inn was noisy, filled with people heartily drinking their fill of alcohol even though it was still early in the afternoon. The waiters and waitresses hurried around serving food and drinks, casually bantering with the customers as they worked.

At this time, the front door was pushed open, and a conspicuous couple stepped into the inn, drawing attention from most of the customers present.

The duo was comfortably dressed. Both of them had a sword tucked safely into the scabbard hanging by their side, but that was not an uncommon sight. Most of the people at the inn were either soldiers or adventurers, also known to the nobles as mercenaries who could be hired for special tasks ranging from monster extermination to escort jobs, so many of them carried weapons on them as well.

The thing that made the couple stand out was the fact that they wore identical eye masks that concealed both of their facial features above the nose.

Truthfully, nobody thought that it looked good on them.

However, no one voiced out their comments. It was a free world after all, so people try to respect the tendencies of others who are…different.

"The usual again, Mister?"

Nina, the waitress who attended to them, was a pleasant looking young lady in her early twenties. She obviously recognised the two who had just arrived, and politely greeted them with a smile.

"Yes, the usual," the man nodded and they were subsequently led to their usual seat at a corner, with a window for them to look out from.

"Please enjoy the complimentary tea while I go send in your usual orders!" Nina quickly settled them down and left for the kitchen, casually exchanging words with other customers on her way.

The duo was naturally Roland and Rose, who had donned the eye masks as a disguise in order to hang out outside of the palace. Roland had wanted to take a walk outside of the palace to clear his head, and they left the palace right after he prematurely ended the morning meeting.

Most people would not have recognised him as the prince since he had never shown his face to the commoners before, but Roland wanted to be safe just in case they accidentally come across a noble whom they were acquainted with.

Even though the palace facility was extremely huge, with sufficient amenities to cater for Roland's every need, Roland still preferred to hang out with the commoners outside of the palace. Rose didn't need much convincing to follow along either, since she was similarly bored of life in the palace.

They had already lost count of how many times they had visited the inn in this getup.

Despite having visited the inn countless times, Roland had never taken the initiative to interact much with the commoners, and simply listened in to the gossips and banters. As warriors, their conversations usually revolved around battles and fights, which were exactly what Roland loved hearing about.

While people usually chatted in their groups, some discussions would draw the attention of everyone else, which was common to result in a huge argument. Some even ended with some of these warriors heading out of the inn to settle their differences privately.

"Today's the day that the new king…well, becomes king, right? I wonder how he's like!" one comment in particular drew everyone's interest.

"How good can he be? Haven't you heard? He's a wastrel!" someone chimed in from across the floor

Pu-!

"Be careful there, brother! The tea is hot! You don't want to spit that tea all over your companion!" the one seated at the table nearest to Roland laughed heartily.

"Y-Yeah, the tea was truly surprisingly hot," Roland wiped the tea that he had accidentally spit out in surprise.

"Shall I go teach him a lesson, Your Majesty?" Rose continued to calmly sip on her tea as she transmitted her voice directly to Roland. It was a skill that was only available to those who had attained a certain degree of accomplishment in their control of magic.

"No, don't do that! Let's listen to what he has to say first." Roland was naturally able to transmit his voice as well, and replied hurriedly.

"Noted, Your Majesty," Rose's expression never changed.

After seeing that he had the attention of everyone else, the person who called the king a wastrel proudly continued, "You buncha ignorant motherfuckers! Let this B-ranked adventurer expand your knowledge a little!"

"Shut up about the unnecessary crap and just say your piece, asshole!" someone shouted out from the floor, drawing laughter from everyone.

"All right, all right, calm your tits!" the man laughed as well before he continued. "Haven't you buncha motherfuckers thought about why the king did not join the war against the demons? Here's what I heard. This new king is a coward who dared not join the battle! As you all know, I have extremely wide contacts, including among the nobl-"

Laughter sounded out from the floor even before he could finish, but he only stopped for a bit before continuing.

"Laugh if you must, you buncha ignorant motherfuckers! But my contacts have mentioned that this new King Robert, or whatever his name is, has never attended a single court session! Such that most nobles don't even know how he looks like! What a joke! He has just been spending all his time doing whatever he wants with no concern for affairs of the state. How good can such a king be?" the man hollered aloud. "For all we know, he could be seated among us right now, getting drunk in the middle of the day as well!"

Pu-!

"Woah, brother! I warned you just now that it is hot! Chill out on the fucking tea, man!" the man seated near Roland was taken aback as he saw his neighbour spit out the tea in his mouth once again.

"Y-Yeah," Roland was replied politely despite how depressed he was, taking another sip of the tea to calm himself down.

The actions of the duo were largely incongruent to the others in the inn, sipping on tea while the others were laughing as they continued to jokingly put down the king.

Roland could roughly make out words like "wastrel king" and "kingdom is a goner", but he decided not to listen further.

He thought back to what had been said previously. Despite how the man had phrased it, half of what he said was actually the truth, so Roland could only accept it in his heart.

Shit, is this really how the commoners think of me? Looks like I really have a long road ahead of me if I want to be known as a wise king…

"Are you okay, King Robert?" Rose sent another transmission to him.

Pu-!

"What the fuck is wrong with you, brother!" the man who was at the table beside Roland's finally had enough, standing up to confront Roland. "Are you trying to mess with me?"

He had repeated warned this masked stranger out of the kindness of his heart, yet this stranger still continued spitting tea out of his mouth. How was this natural? The stranger was obviously mocking him!

Roland shot Rose a glare, which was promptly ignored, before turning back to face the man.

He was a bulky man with tanned skin that seemed to have gone through years of rough training. His gaze was firm and resolute, and just by standing there he gave off an intimidating feeling. A huge glaive rested against his table, its edge sharpened and polished.

One could tell that he was a seasoned warrior with a single glance.

The laughter in the inn died down as they noticed the scene. They were men with passion, who held great vigour for fights, so the conflict happening before them was far more interesting than simply putting down someone whom they had never even seen before.

"Calm down. It was unintentional."

Bang-!

The bulky man slammed his fist onto Roland's table, causing the teacups on the table to jump up slightly in response.

"Don't play games with me, brother. I might be nice to people, but I am no pushover!" the man leaned forward to position his face in close proximity to Roland's.

"How do you want to resolve this then?"

"Apologise to me, admitting that you will not get in my way in the future, and I will let this matter slide. Otherwise, we can test if your sword will be able to shield you from the might of my glaive!"

His request might sound petty, but for warriors like them, reputation was important. By having the other party willingly show deference to himself, he could walk around with his head hung high.

"A king does not apologise for being misunderstood," Rose sent a voice transmission over instantly.

"I know that," Roland answered with a voice transmission of his own.

"So it is between an apology and a fight? That makes things simple then," Roland stood up nonchalantly. "Let us settle this outside."

"Stubborn fool," the man sneered as he grabbed his glaive, and followed Roland's lead out of the inn.

As Roland made his declaration, cheers rang out from the floor as everyone excitedly picked up the bill and packed up their valuables, all ready to go spectate the fight that would soon be happening outside of the inn.

The waiters and waitresses heaved a sigh of relief as they cleared the tables. They were glad about the unexpected break from work, but even more so that the fight did not break out within the inn itself. Fights between seasoned warriors could be quite devastating in a confined space after all.

The streets of the capital city were usually busy and packed with people. But right now there were only two people standing within a huge circle in the middle of the street, causing human traffic to come to a near standstill.

However, no one was complaining. They were used to a scene like this, especially since it was right outside Windfall Inn where arguments commonly occurred between warriors. In fact, many people had gathered along the circumference of the imaginary circle, wanted to watch the fight.

Within the circle, Roland drew his sword and calmly faced his opponent.

"This is your final chance, apologise now and I can still let this matter slide!" the other party slammed the pole end of his glaive onto the ground with a loud bang as a show of his might.

"Show me what you've got," Roland got into his combat stance, ready to handle any attacks thrown at him.

He had no idea how strong the other party was, but he was confident enough in his own strength. Even if the other party was unexpectedly slightly stronger than him, Roland still had the confidence to defend himself from the first few attacks before conceding defeat.

While it would seem shameful to concede, especially as a king, his life was still more important than pride.

[Haste]! [Giant Strength]!

The man picked up his glaive and immediately cast two magic buffs on himself. As their names suggested, the two spells increased his speed and strength respectively, allowing him to achieve almost superhuman feats with just his physical ability.

"I see," Roland relaxed the moment he saw the opponent begin to charge at him.

Even with the speed buff, the other party's movements still appeared slow to him. It could be a trap set by his opponent, but judging from the veins bulging out from underneath his skin, Roland could tell that the man was already full exerting himself.

Roland brought down his right arm which had been holding his sword in front of him, and opened up his left palm towards the opponent.

[Fireball]!

"What?" the man charging towards Roland opened his eyes wide in disbelief upon seeing the bright light ahead, but there was no longer time for him to dodge.

Boom-!

A cloud of black smoke escaped into the atmosphere as the ball of fire collided with Roland's opponent, sending him flying backwards towards the perimeter of the circle. A small blast wave was sent out in a circle upon the collision, causing the audience's clothes to flutter in the wind.

The man struggled to prop himself up after landing onto the ground, coughing desperately from having the air knocked out of his lungs.

"Let us leave," shaking his head in disappointment, Roland turned to leave the circle, with Rose nodding and following after him.

Not even having caught his breath yet, his opponent could only watch helplessly as Roland left. In the end, it seemed that he had simply picked the wrong opponent this time.

On the way back to the palace, Roland continued to ponder over what he had just experienced at the inn.

Although it is depressing to know how the commoners think about me, there is really nothing much I can do about it. All I can do is to try my best from now on, and hopefully my reputation will improve when I accrue achievements under my belt, of course with the help of Erin and the rest.

However, if even a veteran warrior was only as strong as that guy from before, and could already find the courage to just challenge anyone to a fight, then Duke Ivan might be right about the bad state of the kingdom's army. It looks like I might not be able to have an easy time during the visit to the army after all…