The angered, blonde-haired man took a step forward, but immediately stopped as an ominous force was felt like a cold, bitter wind.
"Careful now," Emilio warned with a calm smile.
It was a deceiving smile, to say the least; coated behind that expression was restrained malice—honed and mastered; the hot-headed muscle man could sense that much as he paused.
"—Tch," Everstein clicked his tongue before walking away, pushing past the spectators as he made his league from the tavern.
Avoiding an unnecessary fight, Emilio sat back down at the table with a small sigh of relief, fixing his seat as he looked around, "Alright, who's next?"
There was a pause for a minute as he glanced around for any takers before a heavy thud rang out with the arrival of a new challenger.
Putting his elbow on the table, he greeted the challenger before looking at them, "Let's have fu–"
He immediately caught his words in his throat as he looked at the man who was sitting across from him, who placed his muscular arm on the table as well with an excited smile.
"Been awhile, Emilio, huh?!"
Sitting before him was a familiar man he had not seen in awhile–that black-and-silver hair was unique in itself, paired with those golden eyes; if that wasn't enough, there weren't many people as tall and muscularly-built as the man before him.
"Kintoki?!" Emilio said in surprise.
The man smiled, "The one and only! How've you been, comrade?"
"Great…Wait, where's your companion? That red-headed woman, I mean," Emilio asked.
"Oh, Sumera? She's in town, but she doesn't like taverns. The smell makes her sick, ha-ha!" Kintoki laughed with booming volume.
Reuniting with the man brought a smile across Emilio's lips, seeing as he never had the chance to say goodbye to him. After a quick reuniting, the match was still bound to happen with bets rolling in quickly.
"Fifteen crowns on Death Arm!"
"Kintoki looks strong–I've got twenty on him!"
"Two-hundred crowns on Mr. 'Death Arm'," Sirius raised his wager, drawing in gasps from the alcohol-inflicted guests.
Noticing the large bet, the green-haired, elven girl who had been acting as the referee seemed to call the man on his ludicrous gambling, "I've got two-hundred on Kintoki, then."
"Oh~." Sirius looked delighted at the high wager, grinning at the girl.
"Hmph," the elf looked away.
–
"Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you," Emilio said, clasping the man's hand.
"I wouldn't dream of it!" Kintoki smiled brightly, showing his pearly whites as he gripped Emilio's hand like an iron vice.
Starting the match, the lithe referee raised her hand, "Go!"
Immediately, the roars of the crowd began just as both of the competitive friends began trying to push each other's hands to the table. There was nothing held back in the immediate push from both of them.
"Hff–"
"Gah!"
Emilio found himself struggling to keep up, just slightly being edged out by Kintoki despite using magical reinforcement on himself. One look at Kintoki was enough to tell he was strong, but it was more than that; Emilio was well aware that a supernatural strength inhabited the man's body.
'He's strong–I should've known…of course he'd get stronger, too! It's like a mountain is slamming against the side of my hand,' Emilio thought.
Taking in a quick inhale, he bolstered himself as he put forth his maximum reinforcement, beginning to push his opponent's hand back. The arrival of such aura caused not only the table to rattle, but the floor as well as the nearby lanterns swayed.
"Woah!"
"What's goin' on?!"
"A tremor?!"
Though the spectators were left in shock at the unnatural events taking place, some seemed aware that this was the cause of such powerhouses coming in contact, competing with one another.
Kintoki strained, though still smiling as he sweat, "Damn, you've gotten strong…! Hah!"
"That's not all you've got, is it?!" Emilio challenged playfully, overcoming the gap as his opponent's hand was a quarter towards the table.
"No way–!" Kintoki retaliated.
At the same time, they both activated their internal strength, pushing in unison with power that bypassed the laws of magecraft. Emilio's amethyst eyes turned to a draconic blue, while Kintoki's muscles bulked up and hardened, flooding a golden blood through his veins.
[Dragonheart System Activated]
[Braveheart System Activated]
[Current Stage: 1/10 | Dragon Newt]
[Current Stage: 1/10 | Brave Soldier]
The newly-birthed clash of supernatural powers caused the table to begin cracking at the seams as it rattled beneath the pressure of such auras. In the face of this, the spectators backed away, giving space to the two as they competed, going back and forth on who held the advantage.
"Hmmm…" Sirius held a smile, putting his hand to his chin as he witnessed the over-the-top battle of strength.
'I wonder…This Kintoki fellow,' Sirius thought.
After a few minutes of what felt like a stalemate, going back and forth, the first of the two felt their strength faltering to the other–
"--Ah."
It felt as though his strength was completely swallowed in that split-second, overtaken by his opponent as Emilio found his hand being slammed through the table. The unfortunately-placed table was shattered completely under the finishing move of the arm wrestling match.
"Winner: Kintoki!"
For a moment, the crowd was silent at the shocking contest that had taken place. It seemed that this hesitance came with an expectation of a fight to come after such an intense clash.
However—
"Phew! You got me," Emilio smiles, shaking his metallic hand after it got slammed through the table.
Kintoki smiled wide, extending his hand with a laugh, "You got a whole lot stronger! Had me on the ropes there for a second—if we did it again, I don't know if the outcome would be the same."
Accepting the hand of his friend, he shook it with a smile. The total display of sportsmanship was contagious with the patrons of the tavern, who cheered them both on.
Still, in his mind, he knew that the golden-eyed man was only being nice to him.
'That's not true. Ten times out of ten, he'd win. I felt it at the end—he was holding back most of his strength. Physically, I've never felt a reservoir of raw strength like his. Just what is he?' Emilio questioned.
—
Sighing out, Sirius handed over his wager, "Looks like I lost. Oh well."
Snatching up her winnings, the elf woman smirked, "Of course you did.
After such a clear cut defeat, Emilio decided not to try again and call an end to his short career in arm wrestling. Though it wasn't a scot free endeavor—before Sirius and himself could leave the tavern, one of the barmaids called him out.
"Hey! The other one left, so you have to pay for that table!" The woman yelled.
"Urrgg…" He groaned.
Looking around for Kintoki, the burly man was already long gone from the establishment of alcohol.
'He's a total dine-and-dasher!' Emilio thought.
Fortunately, a table wasn't much of a large fee to cover, so he handed over the coins before exiting the establishment alongside his friend. Stepping onto the front porch of the tavern with a clear look as the bustling city, night had crept up on them.
"Huh, it's already late, isn't it?" Emilio remarked.
Sirius had his hands slid into his pockets with a smile, "Are you kidding? This is when Party City starts waking up."
"...Hm," Emilio glanced over at him, wondering what was next on the agenda of his eccentric companion.
"What to do, what to do~," Sirius playfully asked himself while tapping his own chin.
Now that they both have a bit of booze in their stomachs, the gateways were opened for a night at Party City. Still, despite how anxious he was about the nefarious organization, Emilio felt that a leisurely break like this was direly needed.
"How about a brothel?" Sirius offered his idea with a smile.
"A wha–? What?!" Emilio reacted surprised at the out-of-nowhere suggestion.
Sirius chuckled, slapping him on the back playfully a few times, "You and Celly are getting closer by the day–I bet it won't be long till you two are happy doves of love. However, for now…before all of that commitment, this might be your last chance to have some fun, my friend."
"I'm not–hmm…" Emilio stopped himself, thinking.
Standing near the tavern still, it felt as though two sides of his mind were at war with one another: the rational side and the excited side of his brain. It wasn't as though he was intentionally considering Celly, though when brought up by Sirius, he did feel that was his natural continuation.
Still, he was a young man who had just reached adulthood–the prospect of a brothel was certainly something that was heard by him.
'...All throughout my journey to become a world-class adventurer, that was one of my goals. I was a kid full of hormones. Now, I'm a man–but I'm still the same!' He thought.
After a few moments of indecisiveness, he spoke out to the man beside him, looking up towards the moon, "Sirius."
"Yeah?"
"Let's do it," Emilio admitted.
Sirius smirked, "Atta boy! C'mon then–it's party time!"
The nature of Party City definitely wasn't anything exaggerated by Sirius; as he followed the man through the streets, they were even more lively under the veil of the night sky and stars. Street performers were out in full, with clowns juggling knives and breathing fire, and beast tamers acting out tricks with behemoths and remarkable beasts.
Hanging above the streets, attached between buildings, were enchanted, folded papers that were inscribed with simple magic that gave them an orange glow, providing light to the nightly, busy streets.
"Wow, it's a dozen times more busy than it was during the afternoon," Emilio remarked.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺