In a relatively confined area like this alleyway, magicians would find themselves at a severe disadvantage against martial artists. If Erwin were on his own, he would've used a combination of instant-release spells and space split techniques to open up some distance between himself and Talan, but Onean still hadn't fully recovered from her injuries yet, so it felt too dangerous to leave her to face two martial artists on her own.

Thus, Erwin engaged Talan in battle while making sure to not stray too far away from Onean. As a result, he was willingly placing himself at a disadvantage, and it was already becoming quite a struggle. What made things even worse for Erwin was that as the leader of a mercenary legion of convicts and bandits, Talan was naturally one of the most powerful warriors of the entire legion, which already made him a very tough opponent for Erwin.

What Erwin was unable to understand was why Talan had insisted on picking him out as his opponent.

It was clear to everyone that Larwood was the commander of their mercenary legion, and Chase was the one who had hurled all of the insults at Talan and his subordinates just now, so Erwin couldn't understand why he was the one being targeted.

"I recognize you, Erwin Friar," Talan said as a sinister smile appeared on his face. "I saw you during the Pillow Sword Tournament."

Erwin was very surprised to hear this. If he recognizes me, then I'm sure he's aware of who everyone else in my group is as well, so why is it that he still dares to attack us like this? Just how brazen are these bandits? I bet if they knew that the princess was with us, they'd immediately seize her and try to extort the king! 

"Didn't you put on a really good show during the Pillow Sword Tournament?" Talan said with a disdainful expression as he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks. "Let's see if you can take my three killing strikes!"

All of a sudden, a burst of cold killing intent descended upon the entire area.

Prior to this, Talan and Erwin had only been throwing figurative jabs at one another, but it was clear that Talan was serious about taking Erwin's life now.

The first attack from Talan was like imbued with incredibly overbearing power, and it seemed to be capable of slicing entire rivers in half.

A grim look appeared on Erwin's face at the sight of the attack, and he unleashed around a dozen ice spears in rapid succession while quickly retreating until his back came into contact with Onean's back, following which he conjured up his light shield to encompass both of them.

"Are you alright?" Erwin asked in a concerned voice.

Onean was panting slightly as she replied, "I should have no trouble dealing with these two."

Thump! Talan's devastating strike crashed through the oncoming ice spears before striking the outer wall of the light shield. The attack was so powerful that Erwin's vision darkened momentarily, and stars began to dance in front of his eyes.

"Are you pulling out your signature trump card already?" A cold smile appeared on Talan's face, and he cast his gaze toward his two subordinates who were attacking Onean, wordlessly communicating with them not to get involved. The two subordinates exchanged a glance, then turned to join their companions in attacking Larwood's trio.

Meanwhile, Talan had already leaped up into the air and was about to unleash his second attack.

In the face of his almighty blade, it seemed that even mountains would crumble into a heap of rubble.

From Erwin's perspective, this wasn't a single attack. Instead, it was around a dozen bursts of blade intent layered on top of one another. Onean could only look on from inside the light shield as the attack came crashing down toward them. She desperately wanted to do something, but she was completely powerless.

The dozen or so layers of blade intent were imbued with all types of chaotic energy that surged directly into the light shield, causing Erwin's stamina and magic power to seep rapidly out of his body, and he was struck by that same sense of dizziness once again.

Even as blood began to flow out of Erwin's nose and the corners of his lips, he continued to stare intently at Talan from within the light shield with an unyielding gaze.

A derisive sneer appeared on Talan's face as he tightened his grip around his blade, preparing to unleash the third attack to put an end to the battle.

Right at this moment, a furious voice rang out from the corner of the street. "Stop! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

A man in a suit of intricately crafted silver armor rose up into mid-air, then landed directly between Erwin and Talan. He then slammed the butt of his spear violently onto the ground with a resounding thud, then continued in a thunderous voice, "If you don't stop right now, none of you are going to leave this place alive today!"

The two sides were locked in a fierce battle, but everyone stopped cold in their tracks upon hearing this authoritative voice.

Immediately thereafter, two lines of silver-armored guards rushed over in an orderly formation with cold looks on their faces as they sized up the two brawling parties. Erwin instantly identified their equipment as standard issues given to the official soldiers of the Effer Kingdom.

"Ah, what brings you here, established city guardians?" Talan asked in an indifferent voice while giving his subordinates a subtle look, and all of them retreated a few steps, thereby opening up some distance between themselves and Larwood's trio.

Seeing as the situation had been defused, Erwin withdrew his light shield, and all of the chaotic energy from Talan's attacks instantly surged into his body, making his blood churn and causing all of his meridians to throb with pain. He swayed unsteadily on his feet, then coughed before throwing up a large mouthful of blood.

Onean immediately grabbed onto his arm to steady him with a concerned look in her eyes.

Erwin wiped away the blood from the corners of his lips, and his gaze was still fixed firmly on Talan as he gave him a cold smile.

"What brings me here? If I didn't come here, there would be murder being committed on my territory!" the city guardian said as he glared at Talan. "Is this what your Wolf Moon mercenary legion is all about? I haven't seen you fight any soldiers from the Skycourt Kingdom, but you sure are doing a good job fighting your own allies!"

"We were just passing through this place, and I wanted to borrow some pieces of equipment from our friends here. However, we got into an argument, and that turned into a fight. I apologize for any trouble we may have caused," Talan said in a completely shameless manner.

Back in Sarus, Erwin and his friends were known for their shamelessness among all of the young nobles in the city, but couldn't even begin to compare to this scumbag!

Larwood immediately spat onto the ground with a furious expression. "You weren't trying to borrow anything from us, you were trying to steal! I'm telling you, this isn't the end of this! I'm going to take this matter to the department of military affairs and have them take care of this!"

"Aw, are you gonna go cry to the department of military affairs wike a wittle baby? I bet you can't do anything without that duke you have as a father," Talan said with a mocking sneer as he swept a derisive gaze across the group of young nobles before him. "All you do is depend on your fathers to take care of everything for you. You can't do anything on your own!"

Erwin and the others were very surprised to hear this. They were already stunned that Talan was willing to attack them at the risk of being labeled as traitors by the department of military affairs, and their astonishment was compounded even further upon learning that Talan knew who their fathers were.

"That's enough!" the city guardian yelled. "Do you really think no one can do anything to you, Talan? Do you think the city guardians are afraid of your Wolf Moon mercenary legion? I think I should just kill all of you right here so you don't go causing any more trouble!"

The two lines of city guardians immediately fanned out upon hearing this, then directed their spears forward in unison as they glowered at the members of the Wolf Moon mercenary legion with threatening expressions.

Erwin couldn't help but be impressed by the decisiveness of the city guardians upon seeing this.

"With all due respect, you're making a big deal out of nothing," Talan said with a fawning smile. "We would never dare to commit any crimes on your territory!"

He was saying this both to the city guardians, as well as for Erwin and his friends to hear. This was a barely concealed threat to Erwin and the others, telling them that there was going to be a continuation to this feud once they left Windmetal Fort.

"You wouldn't dare to commit any crimes on my territory? Then what were you doing just now? Do you want to go back to being a bunch of bandits and convicts?" The city guardian was completely unconvinced. "I'll be reporting this to the department of military affairs for sure, so you better pray for yourselves in the meantime."

"That's understandable. I'll be taking my leave then," Talan said with a smile, seemingly completely unfazed by the threat that had just been made against him. As he turned to depart, he waved a hand toward his subordinates, and they immediately followed along behind him.

"Get out of my sight right now! Take your people and piss off! If I see you again in my territory, I'm not going to be so lenient next time," the city guardian said with a dismissive wave of his hand without even taking a glance at the group of bandits.

Thus, Talan casually departed with the members of the Moon Wolf mercenary legion. As they were leaving, the narrow-eyed man took a gloating look at Chase.

Erwin turned to Larwood and the others to find that they weren't in much better condition than he was. All of them had been beaten black and blue, and their bodies were riddled with gashes of different sizes.

"I've never seen anyone so shameless!" Chase said in a resentful voice. "Why don't they fight me one-on-one instead of ganging up on us? How do they not feel embarrassed when they're talking trash?"

"Are you alright?" the city guardian asked as he took an indifferent glance at Erwin and the others.

"We'll be fine," Larwood replied as he looked back at the city guardian.

The city guardian nodded in response, then turned and departed with the other city guardians in silence.

"Wow, this city guardian is quite an interesting character as well. He's going to leave just like that? I thought he would at least offer to treat our injuries or something," Chase said with a surprised expression as he watched the departing city guardians.

"Keep dreaming! We're in Burmen right now, no one cares about nobles like us who come from Sarus," Kaiba said as he dusted himself off. "The fact that we're not with the main army tells them that we're just a bunch of young nobles starting a mercenary legion on a whim, so there's no need for them to suck up to us. If that bastard from earlier hadn't revealed our backgrounds, the city guardians may not even have bothered to step in at all!"

"If I'm not mistaken, that man is not just some ordinary city guardian. Instead, he's one of Lazaar's most trusted subordinates and the mayor of Windmetal Fort, Jayson Young," Onean suddenly said.

That explained why he didn't view Erwin and his friends in high regard at all. Someone like him had climbed all the way to his current rank by accumulating accolades on the battlefield, so he naturally wasn't going to acknowledge a few young nobles who owed everything to their lineage.

"I think I've heard of that name before. Jayson Young is supposed to be the spear god of Burmen, isn't he?" Larwood said as a hint of recognition surfaced in his eyes.

"That makes sense. As soon as he arrived, Talan immediately cleaned up his act. It's clear that even he is quite wary of Jayson," Kaiba remarked.

"In contrast with this so-called spear god, I think Talan is someone we should be much more worried about. I almost wasn't able to withstand those two attacks from him," Erwin said with a wry smile.

"Judging from what he said earlier, it seems like he's planning to take this matter even further from here," Larwood said in a cold voice.

"Surely they wouldn't dare to..." Chase's voice trailed off before he could finish his own sentence. Talan's Wolf Moon mercenary legion was a legion of brazen bandits and convicts, so there really wasn't anything that they wouldn't dare to do.

Onean was trying to keep her own identity secret, so she didn't offer any remarks on Talan and his mercenary legion in this public setting.