By ’all hell broke loose’, I mean it turned into one massive free-for-all.

I hadn’t even noticed that there had been more than one group of adventurers, but apparently each group had some sort of beef with the other, because the moment the man flew through the door, everyone started beating the shit out of each other.

The men, who I guess were probably in the same party as the pervert, stormed toward me like one coordinated unit.

I have to admit they looked pretty threatening, but that’s about where it stopped.

Their combat abilities were pretty pathetic.

Their coordination lasted only until they reached me, from there it looked like they were practically falling over each other to be the one to punch me.

Which once again seemed to be the only move they had.

I mean really, had none of them ever learned anything about a good battle?

Dodging out of the way of each of their punches was as easy as it would have been to avoid the attack of a child.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh.

It might be possible that they weren’t all front line fighters.

But honestly, I hadn’t even found one of them at that time that would make a good frontline fighter, so I suspected that they weren’t a very high ranked party.

I had just knocked out the last one when Julia appeared next to me.

"I leave you alone for a few hours, and you start a massive bar fight?"

I turned to look down at her, she sounded like she was complaining, but the massive grin on her face was telling a completely different story.

"They started it." I said pointing at the men laying on the ground at our feet.

"And the man you sent through the door?" She asked, meeting my eyes.

"He deserved it." I shrugged.

"So technically you started it."

The sudden appearance of Catharina next to Julia made me jump.

Apparently both sisters had the ability to sneak up on me.

I looked down at her, expecting to find the same contemptuous glare as earlier, instead what was looking back at me was... curiosity?

Our conversation was interrupted by the little girl, who had crawled under a table when everything started, scrambling out to come and hide behind me again.

She twisted a tiny fist in my shirt as she peeked around me at the chaos unfolding.

"And who is this?" Julia asked, I immediately remembered the beastly growl she had released the last time I had been overly friendly with a waitress.

My gaze snapped toward her, excuses and explanations already running through my mind.

I had even come up with the perfect way to deliver them.

But there was no anger or jealousy in her eyes, instead she only seemed interested in knowing why the girl was hiding behind me.

"The one I sent through the door was assaulting her," I said pointing at the door behind us with a thumb. "I rescued her from him, so I guess she just feels safe with me now."

The moment I mentioned the man assaulting the girl I felt the temperatures in the surroundings go haywire.

On one side they dropped to a point where I could swear my breath was misting in front of me, on the other it rose to a degree where I felt like I might start sweating.

"Is he dead?" Catharina asked.

"He isn’t," Julia answered. "But I’ll deal with it."

Now did the man deserve to suffer?

Yes.

Did he deserve to die?

No.

Maybe if I had let him go on he would have deserved to die, but not at that moment.

"Now, now, ladies, wouldn’t it be better to let them live with regret, rather than dying?" I asked, just trying to keep Julia from going on a killing spree.

The two of them paused for a moment, and shared a look.

I had just thought I might have gotten through to them, that maybe they would just let it be.

I didn’t think that they might take my words of having them live to regret it to mean that they should suffer while alive.

"Darling, would you mind putting out the flames?" Julia asked.

"Flames?"

The answer to that question came in the next instant.

Every one of the men I had decked suddenly and spontaneously burst into flames, even the one that was still unconscious outside.

Well he wasn’t unconscious anymore.

The sounds they were making signaled to me that they were definitely not unconscious anymore.

I reacted as fast as I could, immediately sending some water balls in their direction to put out the fires. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

But my reactions weren’t quick enough to save them from some pretty serious burns.

The little girl behind me yelped again, ducking back behind me to hide from the scene in front of her.

"Okay... not exactly what I meant, but I guess it’s better than the alternative." I whispered.

"You could have let them burn for a bit longer." Catharina said, looking up at me.

I could swear I saw flames dancing in her red eyes.

"That would have killed them," I answered.

I had kept surprisingly calm through the entire ordeal.

Maybe I had adapted to the world around me?

Maybe I had always been like that?

Who knows.

And honestly I didn’t particularly care.

According to me those men got everything they deserved for the way they had acted, and how they had treated those weaker than themselves.

The quick fire show we had just put on, had apparently gone entirely unnoticed by the crowd of people who were still brawling in the inn.

The previously cluttered and bustling dining room had been completely ruined.

Tables were smashed to pieces.

Chairs were used to wack people with, so they weren’t in a good state either.

I just continued to look at the mess going on in front of us, unconsciously flinching at the amount of money it would cost the innkeeper to repair all of that damage.

From the corner of my eye I saw Erick and his men come storming down the stairs.

Apparently the huge commotion had made them worried about me and Julia.

As soon as I saw them though, another brilliant idea came to me.

This might just be an opportunity for me to get the very first guard contract for my mercenary company after all.

"Erick, can you guys sort out this mess please!" I yelled over the commotion.

The man only gave me a nod, before he and the men sprang into action.

Within moments every person who had previously been fighting was either unconscious, or had surrendered.

I had to hand it to the men, they might not have stood a chance against Julia, but they were very efficient at stopping a bar fight.

They would make perfect guards... with some more training of course.

Julia could always improve them some more.