The day in Albrook was slowly coming to an end but the sun was still out. Chatters and laughs that were previously prevalent in this establishment went silent the moment an unknown person walked in through the saloon-like door.

He was larger both in height and stature than the average human male. This wasn’t what made this person stick out like a sore thumb. The armor that he was wearing was dark crimson, mana stones, and runic symbols adorned it from head to toe.

The people in this place belonged to a more rough element of the city. This place was one of the cheap pubs where they could spend their hard-earned coin. A chunk of it procured through less than stellar means. Thieves, rogues, and con artists were all here and they could tell that this unexpected ‘knight’ was here to cause trouble.

It was abnormal that someone with that amount of gear would show his face around here. Most people here were already inching away after the armored man looked to the side and started approaching one of the tables in the back.

“Hey, isn’t that Devyn and his chums? Did they do wrong to some high ranking adventurer?”

An old-looking dwarf asked while taking a swig from a pitcher filled with alcohol. The person sitting next to him was a human of similar age. The man rubbed his chin but soon he shrugged.

“No idea, though Devyn and his boys aren’t pushovers. This might be interesting. I’ll put two small silvers on those idiots...”

“Your on!”

Both of the men grinned at each other while continuing to drink their booze. They were far away from the spot those men were sitting in and wanted to see a good show. It was quite normal for bar fights to break out in a place like this and just as normal to put bets on them.

It was something that was welcome amongst the ruffians living here. It was seen as a form of entertainment to spice up the monotonous life. With the lack of modern-day entertainment what was left was fighting, gambling, sex, and drinking.

“Hey Garlen, get a load of this guy.”

Devyn , the leader of the group was in the middle of drinking some cheap booze while glancing at the busty bar wench. He looked to where his buddy Garlen was pointing to spot a strange armored man.

The man was wearing a full suit of plate mail armor. On his back was a kite shield and to his side an arming sword. Devyn was a bit drunk already and he was together with four other party members.

Even if the man was armored and armed this didn’t pose much of a threat. The people here also had their weapons ready, some strapped to the sides just as the knight while others had them placed on the table directly. In this neighborhood, there was a need for the protection of one's life. Having people fighting with drawn weapons wasn’t as rare as some people might think.

“You think you’re scaring anyone with that fancy armor, fuck off.”

The other four men laughed while looking at the crimson armored man. This wasn’t the first time someone tried starting things with them. It was the first one that someone in a fancy armor like this though. Devyn was already thinking about how much he could get for this piece of equipment if this man actually tried something funny. Before the laughing stopped the man in crimson pointed to something behind them and spoke out.

“That doesn’t belong to you, return it.”

Devyn’s face twitched in anger slightly after hearing the person speak. He had quite the condescending tone and Devyn was a person that despised getting ordered around. Before speaking out he glanced to where this person was pointing.

“The backpack? Did that idiot Bernir send you here?”

“Bernir? Maybe we were too lenient with him, next time we should break both his legs.”

Garlen said from the side while the other party members started to laugh again. Even though they were laughing they were all slowly reaching for their weapons. This person was an unknown element that they haven’t seen before. The only reason they attacked Bernir was that they were sure that he didn’t have anyone backing him. Now this man showed up which made their previous assumption null.

“Give it back…”

The man took a step forward while not letting up. The four members from Devyn’s party stood up with weapons in their hands to protect themselves. They knew that the one that struck first had the advantage and they wouldn’t let this person deliver a blow while they were sitting down.

“You’re brave my friend, but also stupid. How about this, I’m a generous man. You can take the backpack for let’s say…”

Devyn had a big smirk on his face while talking slowly. His men were ready to strike and he felt confident that this person wasn’t a tier 3 class holder. The man had a certain skill akin to the analysis skill to sense his opponent’s strength.

The man in red was clearly someone at tier 2 but he didn’t out level his party by that much. If he fought them one on one then he might have stood a chance but with all of them ready to strike there was no way of them losing this battle.

“Ten gold coins does sound reasonable, doesn’t it?”

Everyone that was looking at this play out gulped hard. Ten regular-sized gold coins were quite a big sum. A person could buy a house with that or even a set of enchanted items. The man in red armor didn’t answer this proposal. It seemed like he was examining the situation before making a decision.

“Ten gold too much for you? How about you leave us that armor of yours along with your shield and sword?”

Devyn grinned some more, he didn’t think that the man would go for the trade but he didn’t care. If he attacked them, then they would have the right to strip him of all of his belongings. The city guards didn’t come here and no one in this pub would snitch. It was an unspoken rule among the people living here. Everything would be taken care of between them without involving the nobles.

“What, don’t have it?”

The man in red remained silent without answering. Devyn’s grin started fading as getting ignored was also something that he disliked. The man showed up out of nowhere and wanted to take Bernir’s backpack back. Inside of it, they found some change and blacksmithing materials. There wasn’t much but they could pawn the large storage bag at the auction house later.

He would certainly not give something like that away for free, even less likely after the armored man showed up. If they gave in to his demands it would make him and his crew seem weak. A person of crime had an image to uphold, if they didn’t every two-bit crook would try to screw with them.

“So, you won’t return it?”

“Are you an idiot?”

Devyn replied with a glare, the man seemed to ignore his previous proposal. It was as if bartering for the item was out of the question. Then the man did something strange, he moved his hand into a smaller spatial bag. This prompted Devyn’s men to get ready but instead of any weapons, he pulled out a round orb.

This peculiar orb lit up in blue color and projected an image of some dots. It was clearly a magical device but the use was unclear.

“Good… empty alleyway, no one there…”

“What are you mumbling about? Devyn, this guy is pissing me off, let me…”

Before Garlen could reply the man in the crimson armor moved both his hands forward. He wasn’t holding any weapons, just pointing with the flat side of his palms at them. It looked like he was trying to push an invisible wall. They realized too late what he was up to as his whole armor lit up like a Christmas tree with the focus being his hands.

“What the!”

A massive ball of green energy formed in front of him before being shot out. It was a massive burst of wind elements that pushed all five of the men back against the wall with a staggering amount of force.

The shabby wooden walls of this pub weren’t able to support this attack and crumbled. All of Devyn’s party members, including him, were sent through this wooden wall and fell out on the other side.

Everyone that was watching this from the side was astonished by this development. The armored man looked like he had some enchanted armor on but no one had ever seen someone use it like this.

Mostly the enchantments would be buffing spells or defensive ones. Active magic spells burned through the caster’s mana by too much. Unless someone was a mage they wouldn’t be able to handle prolonged use of such gear. Even then mages would use special magic wands or staffs for such things and not bulky armor that slowed them down.

The fight continued while people scattered to the sides even more. Now they realized that the fight had some kind of crazy magic