Chapter 67
Resist till the end?
Messai was surprised by Joshua’s response.
She was truly unable to understand why a mage with barely any magic power would dare to speak with such courage the words ‘resist till the end’ toward four fully armed templars of the Holy Church.
Could he be planning to rely on those sweepers?
Messai took a glance behind Joshua. The tavern’s three other servers noticed that their acting boss was currently confronting some people and had quick-wittedly picked up brooms and took postures in preparation for a fight.
Unfortunately, the coarse wooden brooms were simply unable to cause any harm to the armor worn by templars. Even if those servers were holding iron swords, they would not be able to defeat the Holy Church’s templars.
These templars were elites standing at the forefront in the battle against demons. It was just that they were dispatched to Norland to carry out a mission this time around.
"I am serious when I say that demons are extremely dangerous to ordinary people. They are sinister and deceitful. I believe that you must’ve been deceived by her lies."
Messai tried to dissuade Joshua for one last time. She truly does not wish to attack an ordinary person for it goes against the teachings she was raised under. It would also go against her conscience.
"I see no sinister and deceitful demon. All I know is that my employee here... is very dedicated, honest and friendly. As for the bunch standing before me, they are rude and rough knights."
Joshua was nearly about to recite the core principles of socialism.
But, he decided to call off his courtesy toward these unwelcomed guests. It was time for Joshua to let these templars know that they are currently in Norland and not the Holy Theocracy of Messai!
"Frostaxe!"
Joshua turned around and loudly called out the name of the dwarven Great Elder. Ever since they’ve befriended each other through Hearthstone, Joshua and Frostaxe no longer bothered with honorifics when addressing one another. When having Hearthstone matches, they would curse each other out and call each other names such as ‘lucky RNG bastard’ without any restraint. [1]
"What?! You’re finally willing to sell me your Deathwing?!"
"No, that’s not why I called you. My apologies but we’ll have to close early today."
Joshua managed to open up a legendary card last night — the legendary Deathwing. Ever since Frostaxe witnessed how powerful Deathwing’s effect was, he tried his hardest to purchase it from Joshua.
Any newb in Hearthstone would be awed by Deathwing’s powerful effect and overlook his side effect. [2]
The circumstance regarding deathwing could also be seen in real life. Take this miss templar standing before Joshua for example.
The Templars of the Holy Church were extremely powerful. The moment they rushed forth to attack, it would be GG. [3]
"Closing?! To us dwarves, it’s only morning right now!"
Frostaxe seemed to have heard some sort of gargantuan news. It was even more shocking than the news of an underground ore vein’s sudden collapse that caused over a dozen of his pet lizards to be crushed to death.
For dwarves that lived underground, they do not possess a notion of day and night. To them, there exists only mining time, forging time and entertainment time.
"Due to a slight conflict this miss templar had toward us, the tavern will become a site of conflict later. I do not wish to cause injuries to you all."
Joshua stepped aside. He deliberately allowed the dwarves to notice the nearly 180cm tall miss templar. [4]
Messai straightened her back. This miss templar who had only been around dwarves a few times and had never associated with them was planning to dissuade them the same way she tried to dissuade Joshua so as to prevent them from being accidentally injured.
But, Messai instead ended up witnessing the dwarves’ explosive temper.
"Conflict? So it’s a fight then? Since when have we dwarves fear
Frostaxe jumped down from his seat. He crushed apart a crystal inside his clothes pocket. The instant the crystal shattered, a heavy axe covered in runes appeared in his hand.
The blade of that axe measured nearly two meters long. As Frostaxe was only 120cm tall, one couldn’t help but doubt whether he could even lift that giant axe. [5]
But, the reality showed that Frostaxe was not only able to lift that heavy axe, he was even able to sever the head of a dragon using that axe.
The giant axe landed on the ground and caused the ground to lightly shake. Ice-cold aura began to spread out from the center of the axe blade.
"A fight? Count me in!"
The other dwarves all loudly stood up. They picked up their forging hammers, wooden jugs, chairs or brandished their fists around as they moved toward the four templars.
These dwarves were much more threatening than the four templars. Standing beside Messai, the adjutant couldn’t help but take several steps back.
"Wait a minute. We do not have any intention to cause harm to you all... We just..."
At this moment, Messai came to a sudden realization. She was not stupid. Joshua had deliberately drawn the dwarves’ hostility toward them.
But, Messai never imagined that these dwarves would listen to Joshua like so. No... it should instead be said that they regarded this tavern to be very important!
The moment they heard that a fight was about to break out inside the tavern, these dwarves immediately reacted as if their own mothers were killed and that they would put their life on the line to fight the enemies that killed their mothers.
Messai wanted to explain to the dwarves that there’s a misunderstanding between them. But, no explanation would clear things up right now.
Most frightening of all, some of these dwarves were drinking. Instigated by Joshua, driving out these silver-armored humans became the common goal of all the dwarves present.
That was not something that could be changed by persuading one or two dwarves. Messai needed to convince and calm down nearly seventy dwarves.
In this world, there was nothing more difficult to persuade than drunken dwarves. If there were anything more difficult, then it would most definitely be those extremely drunken dwarves.
Furthermore, no matter how excellent this female knight’s combat techniques might be, her combat techniques would not be of any aid to her eloquence.
The instant all the dwarves in the tavern pressed toward them, the four templars and Messai’s adjutant had no choice but to back away. In the end, they were forced to step out of the tavern.
It was no longer an issue of whether or not Messai could guarantee the safety of the people inside the tavern. Instead, she now had to consider whether or not her comrades-in-arms would be able to return alive.
Even though a lot of the dwarves were only grabbing the tavern’s wooden chairs and stools as their weapons, the dwarf by the name of Frostaxe leading them was most definitely holding a very powerful axe.
It was most definitely impossible for Messai to defeat that dwarf on her own.
"You bunch dared to cause trouble in the tavern that I, Frostaxe, am in?! You shall pay!"
Frostaxe’s loud voice resonated through the entire street. It caught the attention of many street goers. From the way it seemed, Frostaxe was really planning to teach these templars a lesson before letting them go.
"Elder Frostaxe, my most sincere apologies! This is wholly an unintentional accident."
The adjutant stepped forward and was attempting to alleviate the crisis by calming down the two sides.
"Say no more. This is all because of my impulsiveness."
Messai clenched her teeth. She knew that apart from fighting the dwarves and being defeated by them, there was no other way to settle the dwarves’ anger.
"Frostaxe, calm yourself. If you act this way, people will have a bad impression toward you dwarves."
At this moment, Joshua appeared on stage as the emissary of peace again. Joshua arrived before the dwarves that were ready to go at the templars at any moment.
Regardless of what the reason might be, even if Frostaxe possessed a high status in Norland, fighting on the streets of Norland would bring upon detrimental effects toward him.
"Then you’re planning to let that girl get away just like this?"
Frostaxe was truly enraged. While these templars didn’t really do anything, Frostaxe’s rage was ignited the moment he heard that they were planning to cause trouble in Hearthstone Tavern.
"Of course not. Miss knight, if I’m not mistaken, the evil demons that you spoke of, you must’ve encountered them all on the battlefield, right? Those demons were all your enemies. As they’re soldiers of your enemy nation, you viewed them as being evil," Joshua said to Messai.
Messai opened her mouth with the intention of saying something in refute. But, her adjutant extended his hand to pull her back.
Frequently mingled with the townsfolk as a missionary, Messai’s adjutant knew how to conduct himself much better than the female knight stationed in battlefields year-round.
"Thus, miss knight, as a compensation toward us, and to help you all with your investigation, why don’t you all come and assist us with our tavern for a couple days? While our tavern is small, we are generally very busy and need help. As for wages, I will pay you all by the day."
Joshua gave Messai a way out. But, this way out leads to a bottomless pit. He was only waiting to see if Messai would take his offer.
"..."
Messai considered the offer for a short few seconds. Joshua’s offer was simply killing two birds with one stone. It was clear that Joshua was trying to convince her to spare that demon. But, Messai was more confident that she would instead be able to convince Joshua while working in the tavern.
It would suffice as long as she could expose what that demon was scheming by coming to this place.
"I accept your condition. I was acting too impulsive earlier."
In the end, Messai chose to compromise. But, she didn’t give up on Joshua. She felt that she should attempt what the nun that adopted her told her — ‘It is not only a sword that could be a weapon, one’s words could also serve as weapons!’
"Very good. In that case, I shall trouble miss knight to prepare yourself. Our tavern opens twenty-four hours a day. Everyone, my apologies for the inconvenience we’ve caused."
Joshua said to the dwarves standing behind him. But, it seemed like the anger of the dwarves have yet to subside.
"As a compensation, I will provide everyone with three free card packs free of charge later."
The moment Joshua said those words, the anger on the dwarves’ faces instantly turned to smiles. The price of card packs were only cheap for those especially rich dwarves. Many of the dwarves playing Hearthstone in the tavern only possess ordinary wealth.
Most importantly, those card packs were issued by the Hearthstone’s admin.
The trick Joshua used was frequently used after unexpected server maintenance to apologize to the users for their inconveniences. It ended up producing an outstanding result on the dwarves. Because of that, the dwarves returned back into the tavern to play Hearthstone in good spirits.