Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Street Brawl
"It’s no big deal," Aive said, unfazed. "Rose City is a melting pot of nobles, merchants, artisans, and even retired Adventurers. It’s only natural for their kids to get into scuffles now and then. Nothing to worry about."
"Want to go watch the show? When they have street fights, their weapons are usually just fists, feet, and pebbles. Anything more would attract the peacekeepers. So there’s no harm in being a spectator—see that line in the crowd up ahead? Just don’t cross it."
Since it was just a common street brawl, there was no harm in taking a look. Besides, his companions weren’t exactly the type to shy away from trouble. It would have been impossible to get them to avoid this kind of "fun," so Ron and the others pushed their way into the crowd to get a closer look at what was happening.
"Carlos!"
Just as Ron and his group squeezed through, they saw a strong, healthy young man land a right roundhouse kick, knocking his opponent to the ground. He then rained down punches, roaring his opponent’s name.
"How dare you mess with my fiancée! Climbing through her window in the middle of the night?! I’ll kill you!"
"Ha! Fernando, you big dumb ox! You don’t know anything!"
Although the pinned Carlos was physically weaker than his opponent, he used his agility and well-honed fighting skills to kick Fernando off him. He then ordered his own buddies to start ganging up on Fernando’s group.
"Haha, that’s the way, kid! Punch him right in that round face!"
"Yeah, just like that! Kick him in the legs—hey, what kind of punch was that?"
Sera was cheering from within the crowd, but her cheers weren’t biased toward anyone. In fact, they weren’t just for Carlos and Fernando. She was simply cheering or booing their fighting techniques and movements.
"Does your tribe have events like this often?" Ron glanced at her. They had all come out for a stroll after dinner without their weapons. Without the Grip of the Vast Wave on her back, Sera was just a strong girl, unlikely to attract any undue attention no matter how conspicuous she was.
Besides, she wasn’t the only one in the crowd cheering for both sides.
"Usually in the summer!" Sera laughed. "Back in the day, my record was beating up a whole dozen guys—yes! That’s how you do it!"
In the street fight, Carlos’s side was outnumbered, but their average skill level was higher than Fernando’s. However, seeing they couldn’t win, their opponents abandoned all pretense of a fair fight and started picking up rocks to throw at Carlos and his friends.
"Ah! You bastard!"
A rock hit Carlos in the mouth, its sharp edge instantly splitting the corner of his lip, and blood immediately began to flow. For some, an injury might make them shrink back, but for others, it could awaken their ferocity.
Carlos was clearly the latter.
Enraged, the young man charged into Fernando like a wild bull, launching a retaliatory assault. Caught off guard, Fernando was unable to mount an effective defense.
"Carlos, that’s enough! You’re going to kill him if you keep this up!"
A stronger man, who bore a strong resemblance to Carlos, threw off his own opponent and rushed forward, grabbing his wrist.
"Run! The peacekeepers are here! Everyone, scatter—"
Just then, a commotion erupted in the crowd across the street. Hearing the shout, all the spectators began to disperse "in an orderly fashion," like a flock of startled birds. Amazingly, no stampede occurred; clearly, this wasn’t their first rodeo.
"Don’t panic, follow me!" Aive tugged on Ron’s sleeve. She was clearly experienced in these matters. As long as they blended into the crowd, the peacekeepers wouldn’t bother the onlookers.
But that was only if the troublemakers didn’t try to squeeze into the crowd as well.
When they heard the peacekeepers were coming, the two brawling groups also started to flee. But Carlos just so happened to run down the street toward Ron and the others. And to make matters worse, Fernando kicked him while he was down, shouting, "Sirs, he went that way!"
The crowd, the brawling youths, and the pursuing peacekeepers—it was nearly impossible to escape unscathed from such a chaotic tide of people. By the time they finally broke free, Ron felt dizzy and disoriented, unable to even tell east from west.
"Hee hee, exciting, wasn’t it?" Aive, however, was perfectly calm and even giggled as she asked how the others felt.
"Not great. All that lively flesh and blood, and I couldn’t even take a bite. Such a shame." Silvia shook her head vigorously, trying to suppress the thrumming that had risen in her veins.
"Exciting!" Delaford first glanced furtively at the departing peacekeepers, then showed off the coin purses and other valuables he had just "found." "I’m rich!"
"Could you try to have some self-respect?!" Victoria’s face darkened as she rapped Delaford hard on the head with her knuckles. "When are you going to stop this petty thievery?!"
It was only because it was Delaford. They had been through life and death together so many times that Victoria still had some patience for him, willing to give him a chance to change his ways. If it had been anyone else, she would have dragged them to the peacekeepers long ago.
"Hehe, it was just convenient. Really, it just fell into my hands." Delaford stuck out his tongue. Although he feigned remorse, Ron and the others knew he would definitely do it again.
It was a means of survival etched into the very genes of goblins. Few goblins could blend into the cities of other humanoid races as Delaford did. Unaccepted, they had to rely on the traditional crafts of stealing, robbing, and swindling to make a living. Although Delaford no longer needed to live that way, he would never pass up such an opportunity.
"Just put it all here. They’ll probably be back looking for it soon," Aive said, playing the peacemaker as she glanced at Victoria’s increasingly dark expression. "In that chaos, it’s no surprise people lost things—look at the ground, plenty of stuff got trampled and broken."
"You could say Delaford was just holding onto their valuables for them, more or less."
The Goblin Hunter obediently placed the "stolen goods" on the ground. He didn’t dare act up in front of Victoria.
"Hey, what’s that you have there?"
Ron had suddenly noticed a particularly eye-catching emblem among the items Delaford had "found" on people: it had an obsidian base, with the pattern of an eagle’s head woven into it with silver thread.
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