As soon as Lana entered the building, she was instantly rooted to the spot.

This pub by the name of "Whistling Wind" was extremely lively and bustling. Aside from customers who were here to enjoy a meal, there were also many gamblers who were gambling up a storm.

She had thought that Aike had picked a large restaurant in order to show off his wealth and status, and that the statement that the food there was quite good was only a lie to draw her in. However, after entering the establishment, she realized that she had been wrong. If this really were only a pub that catered toward nobles who could afford the extravagant prices here, then it wouldn't have been able to draw in customers from so many different demographics.

Aike and the traveling poet regularly visited this restaurant, so under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have attracted much attention.

However, everything was different on this occasion due to the presence of Lana in their group. Such a stunningly beautiful woman was like a cool breeze that gently blew through the interior of the rowdy, and all of the gamblers locked in heated arguments, customers who were enjoying their meals, and musicians who were playing their instruments in the pub immediately stopped what they were doing as they turned their attention toward the entrance in unison.

A few of them had seen Lana at the entrance of the town earlier the same day, so they were immediately able to identify her upon this second encounter. However, they recalled that she had been quite cold and aloof toward Aike at the time, so they were wondering why they were suddenly together now.

Aike was naturally able to sense the envious eyes of all of the people around him, and he couldn't help but feel very pleased with himself. He strode along at the front of the group with his leather boots tapping on the ground in a rhythmic fashion, and it was clear that he was in very high spirits.

As Lana was making her way deeper into the pub, there would occasionally be a few vulgar gamblers wolf-whistling at her. However, she merely ignored them as she continued to walk forward, but internally, she was thinking to herself that these were going to become her cash cows soon.

In contrast, Aike's face had become flushed with chagrin, and it was as if he were the one being humiliated.

It was lunchtime at the moment, so it was very difficult to find vacant seats in the popular pub. Aike was unable to find a good booth for their group, so he could only lead Lana and the others to the center of the hall before taking a seat.

"My apologies, Ms. Lana," Aike said with an apologetic expression as soon as he sat down. "This is not the most high-end of establishments, but the food here really is quite good."

Aike's apologetic expression was completely genuine, and he was kicking himself for not taking Lana to a more high-end establishment with fewer patrons.

"There's no need to pay any heed to them," Lana consoled with a faint smile. "Let's just focus on our meal."

Aike felt even guiltier upon hearing this. In his eyes, Lana was a very reasoned and magnanimous woman, and he was struck by the urge to confront those gamblers who had wolf-whistled at her earlier.

Even though Aike was the only heir of the Dario Family, he had always been a rather cautious and cowardly man. However, on this day, he wanted to man up and be courageous for once for this woman.

Thus, he vowed to himself there and then that if those gamblers dared to come and harass Lana again, then he was going to confront them, no matter how many of them there were.

Looking at the determined expression on Aike's face, the traveling poet knew that his master really was angry, and that the situation could very well escalate into a physical altercation. He then cast his gaze toward Lana just in time to see a hint of amusement flash through her eyes, and he shook his head with a resigned expression.

Even though Aike had already made up his mind, he was still feeling very uneasy, and he was occasionally taking glances over at the gamblers, trying to see if they had any intention of harassing Lana any further.

Unfortunately for him, the situation that he was afraid of ultimately eventuated.

As Murphy's Law stated: "anything that can go wrong will go wrong", and that was certainly proving itself to be true here.

Sure enough, a burly man soon approached the table where Lana and Aike were sitting, accompanied by a group of lackeys.

"You're a real sight for sore eyes, young lady. I've never seen anyone as gorgeous as you," the burly man said in a boisterous voice.

"How about you come and play with us a little?" a long-faced lackey immediately chimed in.

Lana took a disinterested glance at the group of men, and before she even had a chance to say anything, Aike sprang to his feet in a confrontational manner. "What's your problem? I didn't say anything when we first came in, but don't take that as an invitation to test my patience! Are you looking for a beating?"

Aike's hand had already closed around the hilt of the dagger up his sleeve as he was speaking.

"Oho? You're not challenging us to a fight, are you?" The burly man and his lackeys immediately burst into raucous laughter at the sight of Aike's furious expression.

The burly man could see that Aike's hands were trembling, and he made no effort to conceal the derision in his eyes.

He laid a hand firmly onto Aike's shoulder, and the latter was immediately unable to remain on his feet as he collapsed back onto his chair. However, as soon as his rear end came into contact with the chair, the entire chair snapped into four pieces, and as a result, he tumbled down onto the ground.

He was panting heavily as he raised his head to look up at the burly man, only to find that the traveling poet had positioned himself between the two and was shielding him with his body.

As it turned out, the traveling poet had already sprung into action in the instant that the burly man had reached to grab onto the man's wrist. Otherwise, Aike's shoulder would've most likely already been broken at this point.

The burly man's smile stiffened slightly as he turned to the traveling poet with a surprised expression. "Impressive! I didn't think that you'd be able to catch an attack from me."

Aike was also quite surprised by this development, clearly unaware that Quinton was capable of this.

Meanwhile, Lana, and the burly skeleton were merely looking on as detached bystanders, displaying no intention of getting involved. In contrast, Perry was eagerly looking back and forth, and even through its mask, one could sense that it was extremely interested to see what was going to happen next. In fact, in its excitement, it had even forgotten about its own broken leg. This was the first time that it had witnessed a fight between humans, and it was very intrigued.

The attention of everyone in the pub was naturally immediately drawn to the physical altercation taking place at the center of the hall. In reality, everyone had already been sneaking glances at Lana, but they now had an excuse to look at her more openly.

Much like Perry, all of the bystanders were also very interested to see what was going to happen next, and no one stepped in to try and mediate. Even the owner of the pub was looking on with keen interest to see how things were going to unfold.

He had already identified the burly man as a regular customer by the name of Yuran, and he was reluctant to step in for fear of losing Yuran and his patronage.

"I'd be happy to play with you guys, but you have to wait until I finish my meal first," Lana said as she crossed her arms and cast her gaze toward Yuran with a smile on her face.

Yuran immediately burst into laughter once again upon hearing this, then cast his gaze toward Aike and Quinton as he said, "See? She's more than willing to play with us. What right do you have to interfere and make decisions for her?"

The group of lackeys behind him also nodded in agreement with sly grins on their faces.

"Ms. Lana, you..." Aike hurriedly clambered to his feet and tried to offer Lana some words of caution, only to be abruptly cut off by what she said next.

Lana cast her gaze toward Yuran's group, and her smile faded as she said, "Just make sure you don't run away once I'm done with my meal."

A cold look appeared in her eyes as she spoke, and in the blink of an eye, a burst of black flames erupted from the ground, causing an explosion that forced Yuran to stumble back a few steps.

Thankfully for Yuran, his reflexes were quite sharp. Otherwise, he would've already been devoured by the black flames. Even so, large sections of his arms and legs had still been scorched by the black flames and had been charred black as a result. If it weren't for the fact that he was in a restaurant, the smell of roast meat that was emanating from his body would've seemed very much out of place.

Before Yuran had a chance to retaliate, the black flames instantly transformed into around a dozen black wyrms that surrounded Yuran and his group of lackeys.

"Sit tight and wait there. I'll teach you a good lesson after I'm done with my meal," Lana said with a faint smile, but the frosty look in her eyes didn't abate in the slightest.

The entire pub immediately fell silent.

All of the bystanders in the pub, including Aike and Quinton, turned to Lana with stunned expressions. In the town of Kenon, Yuran was quite a renowned figure, and he had gotten into more than his fair share of fights. As such, everyone was aware of his powers, and he was definitely one of the best martial artists in the area. However, Lana had been able to contain him with just a single attack, and that indicated that she had to be a grand magic mentor.

Up to this point, everyone had only regarded her as a stunning beauty, and no one had expected her to be such a powerful magician. As a result, all of the bystanders who were eagerly waiting to see what happened next were struck by a newfound sense of fear and respect for Lana.

Perry was aware of Lana's powers, so it naturally wasn't surprised by this. However, it was rather disappointed that Lana had spoiled the fun instead of allowing the altercation to play out naturally.

As for the burly skeleton, it was watching Lana with an intrigued expression.

"What are you looking at?" Lana asked as she raised an eyebrow. Even through the mask, she could detect the burly skeleton's meaningful smile.

"Do you know the name of the spell that you just used?"

"Is it... the Arcane Inferno Black Dragon spell?" Lana still had a vague recollection of the spell's name.

"Oh, so you do remember. How impressive," the burly skeleton said with a hint of mockery in its voice.

"What are you trying to say?" Lana asked in a cold voice.

"Don't you want to know how you managed to learn this spell?"

"No," Lana replied in a cold voice. Judging from the tone of the burly skeleton's voice, she could already guess that this spell had something to do with Erwin.

Yuran and his lackeys naturally weren't willing to be trapped like sitting ducks, but the ferocious azure gleam radiating from the eyes of the black wyrms was extremely intimidating to them, and they didn't dare to retaliate.

"You think this is enough to trap someone like me?" Yuran was the most courageous of the group and decided to rush attack the black wyrms.

However, before he was even able to reach the black wyrms, he was sent flying back by the arcane energy imbued within the black flames, and he already burned skin and flesh were struck by even more negative status conditions, reducing him to an even sorrier state.

Yuran's long-faced lackey immediately rushed forward to support Yuran before he could fall, then stabbed a finger in Lana's direction as he yelled, "Listen up, you little bitch! Release us right now or you're going to regret it!"