Entering the Tavern, the sweet smell of alcohol wafted around and into Marcus' and the other adventures' noses filling them with a sense of excitement. The barkeep noticing the groups showy entrance and recognizing Bryce and the members of Wild Wind yelled out saying, "Bryce you bastard good to see you again you are not going to wreck my place again, there are still damages I am finding from last time."
Hearing the barkeeps abrupt criticisms Bryce responded saying, "Hey that was not my fault those guys started it and they already paid for the damages and have I not been a loyal customer for years."
"Yeah, you are right about that so what can I do for all of you."
"Ah the first round for everyone is on me we have the evening off, and we plan to enjoy it."
Bryce then dropped a pouch of copper coins on the bar and the barkeep took it before filling up eight mugs and handing them out to the group. With the first round of alcohol dulled out everyone began to drink.
'Hm, I think it is some type of beer, it is a bit more bitter than what I am used to, but it is pretty smooth and goes down easy. The alcohol content is also higher than the beers on Earth but that is probably because of less refined brewing. Ah let's stop analyzing everything and just enjoy.'
The whole group began drinking and talking, with the members of Wild Wind recanting some of their past adventures and the girls Ingrid and Mia hyping up Bodie as a peerless talent with the sword who was the apprentice of a knight and had set off as an adventure to hone his sword. After a few drinks even the quite Ari began talking mostly about his daughter and how he was a cobbler before but decided to become an adventure to make more money for his daughter's education.
While everyone else was telling stories and Marcus was listing, eventually a silence overtook the group as everyone looked to Marcus to regal them with some of his past adventures.
'Augh, I do not really have anything inserting to say that is not personal or could get me in trouble. Oh, whatever I can tell a few stories about my training in the woods with a few revisions.'
Marcus went about telling the stories from his time in the woods, first with the ambush from the shadow coyotes and finished up with his defeating of the goblin party that had assailed him. The other adventures looked at him with flushed faces and began laughing obviously not believing that one person could face down so many enemies and come out unscathed.
'I guess it is not believable that I received no injuries in those battles, and sure I was horribly injured after both, but I do not want to reveal my lesser regeneration skill right now.'
After having two beers Marcus decided he wanted something sweeter, so he ordered a mug of mead and was not disappointed.
'Man, that is sweet, I only ever had mead once before with my family on new year's and this is about the same, I wonder how my family is, we used to have fun like this. I think the alcohol is getting to me I cannot stop thinking about sad things, I was pretty sure I was a happy drunk before but with all that has happened to me I must have become a sad drunk.'
The loud conversations of the others halted when they noticed that tears had started to fall down on Marcus' face. With looks of concern they asked if he was all right and Marcus responded saying he was just feeling a bit sick an excused himself early and went back to the inn to sleep off the alcohol.
…
Waking up the next day Marcus had a throbbing headache from his bout of drinking yesterday.
'Uhhhh, water.'
After drinking around a quart of water Marcus started to feel better and his hazy mind started to clear.
'Been awhile since the last time I had a hangover, I should not have had that mead, Irene's body is a lot smaller than my former one so I should have known I could not hold my liquor as well as before.'
Once his headache had receded a bit and since he had woken up before the sun, Marcus set out in search of a tub. After berating the person at the front desk Marcus was able to convince them to let him use the tub in their vacant luxury room. Filling the tub up with water from his item box and painstakingly warming it with dozens of fire shots until he ran out of MP, Marcus then slipped into the tub to wash away his fatigue.
'Ah this is the best; I was more of a shower guy before but something about a long soak has really grown on me since coming to this world.'
Soaking for around a half hour, when Marcus noticed the first rays of light creeping into the room, he knew he needed to get out and get ready for his guard duty to resume.
With the coming dawn the adventures and merchants gathered together again and set out on the rest of their journey to Loursend.
…
The next eight days went by in a flash as the group got into the daily routine of travel, eat, and sleep. There were quite a few attacks on the caravan from beasts and monsters but with the experience of Wild Wind and Marcus' prowess the party managed to repel every threat against them. In that time Marcus had polished up on his fighting technique to incorporate magic with his scythe arts.
'We should be arriving at Loursend in a few hours and then the hard part begins. While I am pretty strong for my level, against people that are many levels higher than me, I have no chance of winning a head on fight. I will need to come up with a strategy that involves stealth or subterfuge, I will probably only get one chance, so I need to make it count.'
While his mind was busy thinking about how he would go about rescuing Lilia, Marcus' danger sense suddenly blared in his mind as he jumped back only for an arrow to pass millimeters from his stomach. However, Marcus was not the only one to be shot at as an arrow embed itself into Bodie's left wrist and the back of Ari's neck had been grazed and was now steadily bleeding. Luckily, the merchants carts were set up to protect the drivers from arrows and the armor of the Wild Wind had repelled the arrows that struck them. Another round of arrows followed most targeting Marcus because of his lack of armor and swift movements.
Without giving care, Marcus cast his iron skin spell without chanting and covered his arms and torso with a thin layer of iron. Trying his best to dodge and deflect the arrows, one managed to get past his defenses and lodge into his left thigh.
'FUCK, these arrows are a lot faster and better made than the ones those goblins used.'
Noticing that their arrow were no longer very effective without the element of surprise a dozen bandits rushed towards the carts trying to finish off the adventures and merchants and claim their loot. The Wild Wind party reacted quickly getting into a formation around the merchants to defend them. Ari soon followed suit realizing that around Wild Wind was the safest place, however Shining Ice was panicking and got sectioned off from the others.
The bandits then went after their prey three going towards Shining Ice seven towards Wild Wind and Ari, and the remaining two headed towards Marcus who had been slowed down by an arrow in his leg.
Ripping the arrow out of his leg not worrying about the damage the barbs would cause and taking his scythe out of his item box startled the two bandits coming towards Marcus. With this moment Marcus recast his Iron skin spell to cover his wounded thigh to stop the bleeding. With his defenses reset Marcus charged towards the two bandits swing his scythe. His swing came fast and from the right, but the bandit managed to parry the attack with his spear. However, this was part of Marcus' plan as he stepped in and kicked the man's leg with his iron coated foot. The swift and powerful kick knocked the man off his feet causing him to sprawl onto the ground.
Of course, the other bandit attacking Marcus did not sit idly by and was swinging his sword at Marcus' exposed back. With swift movements enhanced by his scythe skill Marcus brought the handle up to defend blocking the sword. Had the handle been made of ordinary wood it certainly would have been cut clean through but the wood from a Nightmare Treant was far sturdier. With the sword blocked and the bandit right in front of him Marcus finished the chant he had started earlier, and a fire shot appeared and struck the bandit square in the chest. The sudden fire shot burned the bandit badly as all he could do was writhe around on the ground in pain.
Having incapacitated the two-bandit attacking him, Marcus noticed that Wild Wind was in trouble outnumbered by the bandits. Seeing Bryce locked in combat with the leader of the bandits Marcus Quickly cast his lightning javelin spell before hurling it at Bryce's opponent. The bandit leader seeing the projectile coming towards him raised his sword to defend, however when the lightning javelin struck the sword the electricity flowed through the blade and into the man's arms stunning him for a moment. Bryce not letting the opportunity go to waste decapitated the man with one swing from his sword.
Seeing the severed head flying through the air and the fountain of blood gushing out of the bandit's neck Marcus held his hand to his mouth and used every ounce of will power he had not to hurl. Deciding to look away figuring now that Bryce was freed up Wild Wind could win their fight Marcus looked towards Shing Ice only to see a more horrific scene. Mia had been cut clean in half, while Bodie was laying on the ground in a pool of blood and the three bandits were currently toying with Ingrid. Seeing this sorrow started to overtake Marcus' mind before it was filled with rage, and he charged the three bandits. He let loose another lightning javelin causing one bandit to crumble to the ground spasming, before he attacked the other two infusing mana into his scythe.
With the power of his scythe Marcus cleaved through the cheap weapons the bandits had and cut the muscles in their legs so the could no longer move. Ingrid seeing the incapacitated bandits that had been torturing her and had killed her friends, took her spear, and mercilessly jabbed it into their heads. Averting his eyes Marcus glanced over towards Wild Wind again and saw that they were winning and about to finish off the last couple of bandits.. That was when Marcus saw the bandit he thought he had incapacitated earlier, had gotten behind them and impaled his spear straight through Ari's stomach.