Gareth's response came faster than expected. Ryo woke up three hours after returning from the raid to the sound of horses thundering through Millhaven's main street. Through his window, he could see a dozen armed riders surrounding the Sleeping Dragon Inn, while Gareth himself stood in the middle of the street shouting demands.
"Where's the fucking coward who burned my supplies?" Gareth bellowed, his voice carrying easily across the village. "I know you're hiding in there somewhere, you piece of shit! Come out and face me like a man!"
Ryo quickly pulled on his clothes and grabbed his pack, checking to make sure the letters they'd stolen were still secure. Elena was probably already moving to respond to this, but a dozen armed men in the middle of the village was exactly the kind of escalation they'd hoped to avoid.
He made his way downstairs and slipped out through the hidden tunnel entrance, emerging in the cellar of the building across the street. From there, he could see the confrontation without being spotted by Gareth's men.
Elena was standing in front of the inn with her hand on her sword, facing down Gareth while Marcus cowered behind her. The bandit leader looked like he hadn't slept, his clothes were singed from fighting the fire, and his expression promised violence for anyone who crossed him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Elena said calmly. "But I'd suggest you and your men move along before someone gets hurt."
"Someone's already gotten hurt," Gareth snarled. "Four of my men are dead, and half my supplies are ash. That didn't happen by accident."
"Sounds like someone finally decided to fight back against your bullshit," Elena replied. "Can't say I'm surprised."
Gareth drew his sword, the steel ringing as it cleared the scabbard. "I'm done playing games with you, Elena. Tell me where your noble friend is hiding, or I start killing villagers until someone talks."
"Try it," Elena said, her own blade appearing in her hand faster than the eye could follow. "See how that works out for you."
For a moment, it looked like the confrontation might turn into a straight fight. But then one of Gareth's men leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and the bandit leader's expression shifted from rage to calculation.
"Actually," Gareth said, resheathing his sword, "I've got a better idea. Boys, secure the inn. I want everyone inside rounded up and held for questioning."
Ryo's blood went cold as he realized what was happening. Gareth was taking hostages. Elena could fight a dozen men and probably win, but not without innocent people getting hurt in the process.
[TACTICAL ANALYSIS] - Level 2
[HOSTAGE SITUATION ASSESSMENT] - Level 1
New passive ability: Enhanced threat evaluation
Warning: Civilian casualties probable
Elena apparently came to the same conclusion. She lowered her sword slightly, her posture shifting from aggressive to defensive. "Let them go, Gareth. Your fight is with me and Ryo, not with the villagers."
"My fight is with whoever I say it's with," Gareth replied. "And right now, I'm thinking these good people might be more motivated to help me find my mysterious enemy if their lives depend on it."
Three of Gareth's men dismounted and moved toward the inn's entrance. Marcus backed away from them, his face pale with terror, while Elena found herself caught between protecting him and avoiding a fight that would get innocent people killed.
That was when Ryo decided he'd seen enough.
He climbed out of the cellar through a side entrance that put him behind Gareth's position, then walked openly down the street toward the confrontation. Several of the mounted bandits noticed him approaching, but Gareth was too focused on Elena to pay attention to their signals.
"Gareth," Ryo called out, his voice carrying clearly in the morning air. "Looking for me?"
The bandit leader spun around, his face twisting with rage when he saw Ryo walking toward him with apparent calm. "There you are, you sneaky bastard. Come to turn yourself in?"
"Come to end this," Ryo replied, stopping about twenty feet away. "You want a fight? Fine. But let's do it properly. You and me, one on one. No weapons, no armor, no help from your men."
Gareth laughed, but it was an ugly sound. "You think I'm stupid enough to fall for that? You've got some kind of trick, some way of fighting that makes you stronger than you look. I'm not giving you the chance to use it."
"Then what do you want?"
"I want you dead," Gareth said bluntly. "I want your body dragged through every village in the region as a warning to anyone else who thinks they can cross me. And I want everyone in this pathetic little town to know that their hero couldn't save them when it mattered."
Ryo felt something cold and sharp settle in his chest. Not anger, exactly, but something deeper and more dangerous. These people had done nothing wrong except welcome a stranger and try to build decent lives for themselves. And now they were going to suffer because he'd had the audacity to defend himself.
"Elena," he called out without taking his eyes off Gareth. "Get everyone inside and bar the doors. This is about to get messy."
"Ryo, don't," Elena warned. "There are too many of them."
"No," Ryo said quietly. "There aren't nearly enough."
[PROTECTIVE RAGE] - Level 1
[COMBAT FOCUS] has increased to Level 4!
New skill acquired: [INTIMIDATION] - Level 2
Achievement unlocked: Defender of the Innocent
Warning: Emotional state affecting system parameters
Gareth must have seen something in Ryo's expression change, because he took a half-step backward and gestured for his men to spread out. "Kill him. All of you, right fucking now."
The first bandit to reach Ryo was carrying a spear, which should have given him a significant advantage in reach and lethality. Instead, Ryo stepped inside the weapon's range, grabbed the shaft, and used the man's own momentum to drive the point into the chest of the rider behind him. Both bandits went down in a tangle of screaming horses and spraying blood.
[WEAPON IMPROVISATION] - Level 3
[MOMENTUM REDIRECTION] - Level 2
Two more bandits attacked from either side, trying to catch Ryo between their swords. He dropped to the ground, swept the legs of the one on his left, and came up with the fallen man's blade in time to parry a strike from the right. The parry became a riposte that opened the second attacker's throat, while the first man was still trying to figure out why he was suddenly on his back.
[SWORD COMBAT] - Level 1
[GROUND FIGHTING] - Level 2
"What the fuck is he?" one of the remaining bandits shouted.
Gareth was backing away now, his earlier confidence replaced by something approaching panic. "He's not human. Nobody fights like that."
Ryo picked up a second sword from one of the fallen men and tested its weight. It felt natural in his hand, like an extension of his arm rather than a tool he'd never trained with.
"I'm human enough," he said, advancing on the remaining bandits. "Just really, really angry."
Three men rushed him at once, apparently deciding that overwhelming force was their only chance. Ryo met them in the middle of the street, his two blades moving in patterns that seemed to ignore basic physics. He was blocking attacks from behind while striking at targets he couldn't see, his body flowing through combat stances that should have taken years to master.
[DUAL WIELDING] - Level 2
[BATTLE AWARENESS] has increased to Level 5!
[IMPOSSIBLE COMBAT] - Level 3
System evolution accelerating...
When the dust settled, eight bandits lay dead or dying in Millhaven's main street. Gareth and the remaining men were on their horses, preparing to flee, while Elena stood in front of the inn looking like she'd just witnessed a miracle.
"This isn't over," Gareth shouted as he wheeled his horse around. "You hear me? I'll bring fifty men next time! A hundred! I'll burn this whole fucking village to the ground!"
"Looking forward to it," Ryo called back, his voice carrying a promise of violence that made even Gareth's horse shy away.
After the bandits disappeared down the road, Elena walked over to where Ryo stood among the bodies. Her expression was unreadable, somewhere between awe and concern.
"Eight men," she said quietly. "You killed eight experienced fighters in under two minutes."
"They threatened innocent people," Ryo replied, wiping blood from his borrowed swords. "I don't like it when people threaten innocent people."
"Ryo," Elena said carefully, "what you just did... that's not normal. That's not even close to normal. You fought like you've been training your whole life, but you're using techniques I've never seen before."
Ryo looked down at the weapons in his hands. Elena was right—he had no idea where those fighting skills had come from. The system was apparently rewriting his abilities in real time, giving him knowledge and muscle memory that he'd never earned.
"I know," he said. "And I'm starting to think that's the point."
"What do you mean?"
Before Ryo could answer, Marcus appeared in the inn's doorway, his face pale but determined. "Elena, we need to talk. All of us. Because what just happened here is going to bring attention we're not prepared for."
"What kind of attention?" Ryo asked.
Marcus looked at the bodies in the street, then back at Ryo. "The kind that wants to know how a random noble's son learned to fight like a legendary hero."