Skill vs the skill

A fight started at the bar.

It wasn't a usual occurrence as the usual patrons had more than enough brains in their heads never to pick a fight with any youngsters, as those had a high chance to be the students of the Brylant Academy and, therefore, nobles.

Even during the winter and summer breaks.

The thing was, the ones eager to have a fight weren't any of the usual patrons…

It still was on the level of verbal quarrel, but two women escorted by some brawny men seemed to be increasingly agitated by a certain white-haired girl accompanied by a young brown-haired woman donning an inconspicuous worn-out traveler's attire.

"Lisen, madam. It's not that I say that you are flaunting fake jewelry because I think that you're trying to trick others. I'm just pointing out that you are stupid and bought a fake for the price of the real deal."

The white-haired girl raised both hands as if to show that she was not picking a fight, only to directly pick a fight.

"You little bitch! Do you think that just because you have white hair, you can talk down to your betters?!"

"Perish the thought. My sister would never do something like that."

"...pfft…!"

The friend of the offended woman spoke up to which the brown-haired young woman shook her head and cleared out in a serious voice, causing the white-haired one to snort.

"She just clearly did!"

"You're quite slow on the uptake, aren't you?"

"PFFFT…!"

The woman with the fake diamond necklace proudly on display called out, making the brown-haired woman roll her eyes and sigh in disbelief, making the white-haired girl barely keep it together, trembling from holding back all the laughter.

"How dare you!?"

"Listen, I came to visit my sister, and it's not our fault that you try your hardest to make some sort of scene while wearing obviously fake jewelry. Have some shame."

The other woman gasped, getting completely red in the face, making the brown-haired one frown and complain.

"YOU…!"

"Please move. You're blocking the way to the toilet."

Both women were about to raise their voices even more, but suddenly, a slovenly individual with a mossy stubble covering whatever was visible of his ching approached the group and said in a tired voice.

The hooded man's attire was not just wrinkly. It was straight-up dirty, and nothing in his stature suggested that he was of any importance.

"Buzz off."

One of the men accompanying the women with fake jewelry scoffed at the hooded man, not only ignoring his request but straight up stepping in front of him, blocking his way even more.

"Kind sir…. Hic…! Sorry about that… Kind sir, you are blocking the way to the toilet. I have no interest in the offense those two lasses committed to your patrons. Please just tell your friends to move slightly to the right so I can scuttle over and…"

"Are you deaf?! Buzz off!"

The hooded man stepped back and spoke politely after hiccuping, but the burly man he spoke to had none of it, shouted, and moved forward to shove the unkempt man even further back…

"GAH…!"

It happened in a fraction of a second.

As the burly man tried to push the hooded one, the hooded one dodged his hand by barely moving his body, then he grabbed the attacker's wrist and twisted it, using the momentum to slam him to the ground…

*WHAM*

"GYAAH!"

"WHAT THE…?!"

…only that there was a table in the way, and the falling burly man's face hit its side, launching whatever food and beverages were on it and showering the rest of the burly man's group with it.

Yes, including the already furious women.

"...here we go…~"

The hooded man grinned, glancing at the indicators of an encounter popping up in his vision.

He was drunk, but not enough to believe that his level would deter the concussed man's comrades to stop and talk it all out…

And he didn't want a peaceful resolution either.

—-

"Come on, sis! You know what kind of trouble we would get if we get captured by guards!?"

The white-haired girl called out, pulling on the arm of the brown-haired woman who stopped right in her tracks, staring back at the pandemonium that erupted in the bar.

What started as the scuffle between the hooded man and a few bodyguards of some ladies from the countryside turned first into a bar-wide fight with more and more people being pulled into the fight… and then someone called the guards, but instead of that being the end of it, the hooded man simply never stopped fighting and was taking on everyone that came his way!

The white-haired girl and the brown-haired woman used the chance to sneak out and were now watching the chaos unfold from a distance that the white-haired girl deemed too short.

Each minute, more guards were coming, and the commotion got so big that even some adventurers entered the fray to stop the rampage, but…

*WHAM*

"Ugh…!'

When the hooded man's golden knuckles transformed into a staff, and he used it to launch himself and kick off one of the attackers, the unfortunate man flew all the way to the wall of the building that the sisters stood, slammed against it, and slumped down with a hazy look in his unfocused eyes.

"...this… this is a physical combat teacher at my Academy…"

The white-haired girl froze up, still holding onto her older sister's hand, and gasped at the sight of the fallen man.

"...sis, we have to go…!"

The white-haired girl shook her head and cried out urgently, but her sister didn't even budge, staring at the grossly outnumbered hooded man overwhelming all who approached him.

As the brawlers were clearly outmatched, the spellcasters entered the fray…!

But only to discover, to their great dismay, that the golden weapon wielded by the slovenly hooded man deflected spells! And he used it with such proficiency that even when surrounded and attacked from all directions with paralysis and electric spells, his opponents were the ones who ended up incapacitated!

The fireball spells were the worst choice afterward, as it turned out that the transforming golden weapon could send them right back, and deflected like that, they stopped being counted as the spells of their original casters…!

Somehow, they were even charged with an area of effect stun too…!

Insanity.

It was pure insanity.

After standing there long enough for her legs to grow numb, the brown-haired woman witnessed the impossible.

The hooded man has run out of opponents.

With literal piles of incapacitated guards and adventurers sprawled all around, no one else was coming to attempt to stop the hooded man anymore.