(Orcs have 4 tusks, Half-Orcs have 2)

Lugging the giant bag of books was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, honestly.

Firstly, because of thieves. The number of thieves. (And yes, I say that, knowing full well it is a nasty pun.)

By the time I left the main market, I'd broken three wrists, sprained two more, and snapped one particularly stubborn fellow's shoulder as well.

I didn't even bother asking Bete why he wasn't helping me. The bastard was on the rooftops, staring down at me, as if he was testing me again.

I turned off the Main Market street, towards the Castle, and heard Bete hiss gently.

I looked up, curious, and felt a burning sensation in my shoulder. I looked down, and hummed, noticing the dagger buried in my left shoulder.

I set aside my bag, then pulled the dagger out slowly, sniffing it. "No poison... good. Bete? If you're not going to help me fight, guard my bags, please? They're kind of precious. And don't let anyone at the Familia know I have them, either. I'm not the type to share my hunt, past what's due."

He chuckled. "I can understand that."

A second dagger came out of the alley, and I cut it out of the air with my sword, tossing aside the first one. "Not going to work, little assassin/thief, whatever you are... come into the light so I can kick your ass, huh?"

A tall, rather handsome elf stepped into the light, drawing a heavy one-handed sword, not unlike the one I'd thought of buying last week. That helped me measure his strength, and decide a battle of pure strength wasn't in my best interest anymore. Skill, then.

I darted forward, leaping over him when he lashed out. My sword flashed downwards before he recovered, and slit the muscles of his right shoulder cleanly, making his arm fall, useless. I landed on the other side, and leapt again, just as several daggers landed where I'd been crouching.

"Awww, you brought friends!" I chuckled, nonchalant, but my eyes mapped the alley, searching for the others.

The elf switched his sword to his left hand. "I'll handle him myself! I underestimated him, is all!" He seemed to be arguing with his people...

"Aww, are they your babysitters? So nice to see younglings still with proper care and supervision..." I taunted, smiling.

He glared at me, and then touched his sword to the ground, making a magic circle appear.

I hummed, and watched as he began casting, then leapt forward, slamming my knee into his larynx, and my other knee into his teeth, shattering his pearly whites. The circle dissipated just as quickly as it had formed, and he fell, completely mute, clutching his throat weakly.

I looked into the dark alley. "I hope you're satisfied... if I did that right, he'll never speak again, and he'll definitely never use magic again. I hope he was expendable. ."

Two more people came into the light, one carrying a spear, the other a pair of daggers, and both walking a confident Swagger.

I narrowed my eyes, and huffed. "Two on one, daggers and Spear against sword? I like your tactics, but I wish my enemies were stupid... BRING IT, YOU STUPID YANKS!" I roared at them to jumpstart their slow movements.

I leaned back, as the person with the daggers nearly cut my head off. I brought a knee up solidly, and he leapt back, his nose bleeding heavily, and he spit out a tooth.

"COME ON, MY FIGHTS BETTER THAN THAT!" I taunted, and grinned as the spearman hurtled towards me.

I leaned out of the way, and slammed a foot against the wooden shaft, snapping it cleanly in half. Then I caught the bladed end, and slammed it through his thigh, before ramming my knee into his balls, and letting him drop into my elbow, which rammed his eye-socket and the bridge of his nose, smashing the bones to dust, then sending him hurtling away from me.

His partner leapt at me, but without the cover of the spearman to stop me from taking advantages of his openings, I took him down in a matter of seconds, breaking his dominant arm, slamming his face into the concrete, then burying the daggers in his thighs to hold him still, if he woke up anytime soon.

I looked into the alley. "You gonna make this interesting, or what? These guys aren't even as good as me without a gods blessing! They haven't even landed a touch on me, after the first sneak attack! I didn't even use my blade, come on!"

My taunting served a purpose, of course. When someone grumbled in annoyance at my insolence, I threw three of the four daggers at my feet in his general direction, as hard and fast as I could.

Two groans and thuds sounded, and then the sound of someone squeezing a metal dagger until it broke in their fist.

I grinned. "Well, so far, 5 of you were completely . What about you three? Are you guys stupid and as well?" I guessed at the number, from the two directions the daggers had come from, plus the third man.

A loud thud followed, as the third man leapt into the alley, despite hushed protests from the other two.

He strode into the light, cracking his knuckles, and I grinned. "Let me guess, the muscle of the operation. Your friends over there the brains? You know, you should listen to people who are smarter than you-"

I leapt over his fist, and sliced at his skin with my sword, only for it to glance off.

I retreated swiftly, and sheathed it. "Well then. So your skin is a little tough. So what? Come at me, Ya Li'l Baby Back !" I smirked, waving him forward.

He darted forward extremely quickly, and I spun, dropping just as he reached me.

My knee hooked behind his neck, squeezing tightly to hold onto him, and when I stood up, using both of our momentum, he was spun, and slammed, face first, into the concrete. The force of the blow shattered the 5-by-5 block we were on, and shook the alley.

At the same time, my thigh and calf had used the centrifugal force of the spin to press down on his Arteries, which were as hard as lead pipes. With the added force, I managed to knock him out, then slam him onto his face at an off angle, both breaking his spine and smashing his face in, shattering the small tusks that jutted out of his bottom lip.

I looked at the last two. "He ain't getting up anytime soon, and if you don't get him to a doctor, he won't ever walk again. Wanna call it quits, tell your boss I'm not a punk? Or you wanna make this a Hat Trick for me?" I smirked.

The feeling of their presence disappeared, along with the bodies, before I could blink, making me shiver. 'They coulda killed me... damn... I gotta stop making enemies.' I turned quickly, and found Bete standing over my bag.

"Well then... that was interesting, no?" I grinned.

He nodded. "Cruel, though, you taking that elf's voice... and breaking that Half-Orc's Neck."

"I didn't want the Elf to cast any spells. That's the easiest way, when you don't know where he's keeping his magic circle, or so Riviera says. Plus, that Half-Orc, or whatever he was, was stronger than me, and faster. I needed to take him down and , or he would have killed me." I shrugged.

He tossed me the bag of books, and shook his head. "I suppose. Still... hm. That was a test. I'd like to know by who."

I nodded and pulled the bag onto my back. "Well, first let's get to the Castle. Then we can analyze the sample of the Elf's blood that I collected, and that should lead us to his friends." I wiped my sword off on my sleeve, and sheathed it.

He nodded, and started off into the alley, whistling softly.

---

I set the books under my bed, and cracked my back, groaning. "Heavier than it looks." I snapped at a grinning Johnny.

He shrugged and went back to whittling a stick in his hand into a wooden knife.

I walked out, and went to Loki's office, knocking on the door. "Come in." She answered.

I entered the office, and shut the door, walking over to her desk, and ignoring the stares of the first-class adventurers scattered around.

Loki leaned back in her chair. "So. You, in the course of a week, cleared the entire board of Orario Inner-City Contracts."

"Yes ma'am." I nodded.

She grinned. "And?"

"And? Oh, right, I guess I'm not in danger of Riviera never teaching me again." I scratched my ear gently.

She shook her head. "No, no. You threw down with a group of adventurers from Freya's Familia?"

I blinked. "Bete, you knew what Familia they were from?"

He shook his head. "I described the elf to her. She said he's one of Freya's newbies, a Rookie, trying to prove himself. And the Half-Orc was almost Lvl 2, trying to Level Up."

"How does hunting me prove himself or help someone level up?" I asked.

Loki spoke. "Freya's the Realms Premiere Slut, and also a dedicated Hottie Hunter. She wants a Harem of all the worlds prettiest and strongest beings, human and Demi-human, in her Familia. So, when a pretty, promising new recruit appears, she always tries to poach them."

I hummed. "Okay, so the Love Goddess wants me. I'm... feeling oddly proud of myself..."

Loki laughed. "True, yes, that would give anyone an Ego Boost, but it's also possible she knows our little secret..."

"Not possible. I haven't even spoken a word of it outside of private, trusted company." I shook my head.

Her amused gaze turned bland. "She's a goddess, Dorian, she has her ." She sighed.

I hummed. "Well, pretending ignorance would still be the best bet, right? If she really doesn't anything, just , showing her I don't know anything about her, and showing off to get her more interested in me... may prove useful."

Loki grinned. "Exactly what I was going to say. So, this Duel. How was it?"

"They underestimated me to a degree I find honestly ." I said coldly.

"Oh-ho? Explain." Loki laced her spidery fingers together.

"The first opponent, the Elf, was physically stronger than me, but not as fast. His reflexes were as dull as mud. He was distracted, afraid, and barely armored. Then he panicked, and tried to use a spell in a one-on-one duel, like he expected me to simply watch him cast it. I broke his Larynx and permanently disabled his right arm as a warning to his superiors." I said simply.

"I still think that was a little extreme." Bete grumbled.

"The second and Third opponents, a dagger user and a spear user who worked in Tandem, were well-trained, but in a hurry, and not good at ignoring taunting, and so they made mistakes which I exploited." I continued.

Loki's smile grew incrementally with each battle I recounted.

"The final opponent was the most dangerous, and the one I did the most damage to. Bete called him a Half-Orc, and he was massively strong, and faster than me. I was more experienced in fighting humanoids, though, so my skill brought him down hard, breaking his neck." I looked at Finn, who had stirred, and shook my head before he finished.

"You him? Why-"

"He'll , don't worry, and with a good doctor or magic, he may even walk again, but if Freya is obsessed with Beauty, she'll sack him, because of what I did to his face when he hit the concrete." I smirked.

Loki smiled slowly, a long, creepy smile. "..."

I hummed. "Wanna explain? Or is the creepy smile all I get?"

She laughed, the smile becoming more innocent. "Alright, alright. Well, the Familia is going on an expedition soon... which means you won't have Bete around to back you up, for about 3 months."

I hummed again. "I see... worst possible time for me to issue an open challenge to , much less an unknown entity, of unknown numbers, and unknown power..."

"Correct. So, while I'm happy that you had the balls to call them out, I'd stay under the radar while we're gone, and study those grimoires Riviera has for you, if I was you." She nodded.

Riviera nodded and handed me a thick pile of 11 books, bound together by a belt. "These are Elemental Grimoires, to match the Spells in your Circle. Also, I included all Three of my Healing Spells, and my Shielding Spells, so hopefully you can master those."

I nodded. "Thank you, Miss Riviera. I really appreciate it."

She smiled and stepped away. "You earned it, most definitely."

"Oh! Last thing? I'll ignore it this time, because of your effort in earning that Loot... but if you ever hide Loot from a quest again, I'll have words with you, Dorian." Loki said simply, to my back.

I nodded. "Got it. Sorry."

She dismissed me with a flicked pointer finger, and I strode out quickly, before she changed her mind.