The Dryad 68 Brawl

A few of the men managed to side step Leafia and go after me. I might not be as strong as Leafia in a fight like this, but that did not mean I was defenseless. Even besides my pure strength, there were things I could do. There was a soft glow on my hands but that was lost to everyone else in the bright sunlight and amidst all this commotion.

The first man to come at me grabbed my arm. Instead of trying to break free, I simply grabbed his exposed arm with my free hand. After a brief shock the man pulled his arm back and started to scream in pain. Red welts were already starting to form in a nice hand shape on his arm. Another man also reached out trying to seize my arm and was handled in the same way. This one fought the urge to run away so I started to sc.r.a.pe my hand along his arm. It did not take long for the pain to cause him to falter.

A third a.s.sailant approached. He seemed smug since he was wearing a thick heavy s.h.i.+rt that would prevent my attack. But he did not realize that this was only a disadvantage for him. With no other option he received a smack across his face. Just to be sure, I used a significant portion of my strength. He stumbled backwards and his face was already turning red. Though I was not sure how much was just from the blow itself.

The fight had only lasted a minute at most when I heard the sound of many approaching footsteps. I threw off another would-be a.s.sailant and turned to look at the newcomers. It was a group of ten men, all wearing matching clothes. Unlike most of the rest of the people in the city, they were armed with short sticks.

"Stop this fighting at once!" a middle aged man at the front of the group shouted. He was burly and did not look like he was one to shy away from a fight himself. I had already put a little distance between myself and my attackers but Leafy and the others were still in the midst of fighting. Leafia gave a swift punch to the side of the man in front of her and used that opening to retreat out of the encirclement she was in.

"I said stop fighting!" the man shouted again and started to approach Leafia.

"You can't expect me to one-sidedly stop fighting while surrounded by a group of men who don't seem too keen on stopping themselves," Leafia shot back. It was clear that she was worked up after the fighting. "All I was doing was making sure I was not attacked in case they did not listen to you. They obviously have a problem with their ears since they attacked us just for asking them to move out of the way. Or are human ears just that bad?"

Her statement about human ears caused a slight stir among this new group of men. "Why is an elf causing trouble in our city?" the man said gruffly and started to close in on Leafia a little more.

"Is it against the rules for an elf to simply walk through the city? I have done nothing but defend myself from being molested by these perverts here," she spat back, waving at the men still on the ground.

Before the situation could escalate any more an older lady walked up to the newly arrived men. "Thank goodness your Patrol was able to help those girls in time."

"But that elf was the one attacking the men?" The Patrol man, as I guess they were called, sounded slightly confused.

The old lady was perplexed by his reaction. She then looked around at the scene. "I guess these young masters bit off more than they could chew this time." She let out a chuckle. "If I knew it was going to turn out this way, I might have just stayed on and watched the show."

"No, it was wise of you to get help and I thank you for it." I said with a small bow to the old lady. "If any of these men were the least bit strong we might have faced some trouble." Did I really have the right to call this woman an old lady? Even if you counted by thousands of years instead of by ones, I was still older than her.

"Who are you calling weak?" The blond leader of the young men said in outrage and ran at me, interrupting my thoughts. I was unable to block his punch that was aimed at my face. My skin s.h.i.+mmered as I hardened it to resist the punch. He seemed quite surprised at how much resistance my face provided and I felt his wrist give a little under the force. I did not think a sprained wrist was enough punishment for attacking a lady, so I firmly grabbed his face with both hands and held it. He started to scream in pain but I just continued to hold on until he was ready to collapse. It might leave a scar, but why should I care about that for someone who attacked me without cause?
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"Lady, are you alright?" The Patrol leader said while rus.h.i.+ng over to me.

"I will be fine. As I said earlier, they are surprisingly weak."

"You were glowing just then," the older lady who had come to help us said in shock.

"I would like to know exactly what you did to these men." The guard looked around at the pathetic lot lying on the ground. The men around me had all broken out in red welts.

"I think the best way for me to explain all this would be for me to introduce myself," I said calmly. "I am Laurel the Sorceress. You likely have never heard of me since I have been a distinguished guest in the Elven kingdom for many years. And this is my guard, Leafia." I said that as I pointed at Leafia. For some reason she frowned at my introduction. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"You did not introduce me as your student this time," she explained while sounding slightly pitiful.

"You got disappointed yesterday when I introduced you as my student instead of as my guard."

"Is it asking too much to be both?" she said while looking at me pleadingly. I did notice a small smirk barely evident at the corner of her mouth. While battling through the crowds earlier, she had gotten into a sour mood. But fighting all these men really seemed to cheer her up. It seemed she enjoyed the violent fighting better. She seemed much more playful now.

I could not help rolling my eyes a little, "Sorry, let me rephrase that. This is my honorable guard and devoted student, the bravest of the Elven realm, the mighty Leafy."

"It doesn't even sound half serious when you call my Leafy at the end," she protested. The older lady and several of the guards started to laugh at our exchange. I guess the fight had also livened my mood some too. It had been a while since I had to get my body moving.

The leader of the Patrol did his best to keep a straight face. "If you are a sorceress, it is not surprising that you were able to defeat them. But may I ask again, what did you do to them?"

"Stinging nettle," I simply responded. This response just gained me questioning gazes from my surroundings, so I elaborated. "I specialize in plant magic. Over my years I happened to discover a particularly potent form of stinging nettle. I have made myself immune to it, which allows me to use it as a rather effective weapon."

Several of the patrol men gave knowing nods while a few others did not seem to understand how painful a plant could be. One of the men in the back, however, seemed to shudder rather violently. He must have had some nasty experiences in the past.