Sarah's Story Chapter 014 - First Brawl

There was a flurry of motion in the corner of Sarah’s eye, but she had no time to register it. She was already flinging two empty tankards from their table, one at the swordsman’s face and the other at his hand drawing his sword.

Brawler Class Skill [Throwing] has been acquired.

Sadly, the tankard thrown at his hand missed. He must have had a skill for drawing his sword, and with a massive lunge, he drew into range and slashed at Sarah. Or, he would have, had the first tankard not struck him square in the face, interrupting his draw, and leaving him off balance.

Sarah had already started moving to avoid the sword slash, but smoothly transitioned into a low, sweeping kick, knocking his lead foot out from under him and causing him to fall.

Over both their heads an entire table flew by at a terrifying speed before crashing into other tables, pulverizing them all to pieces.

Sarah felt the tension grow and forced herself to split her attention between the swordsman and the bar in general.

Brawler Class Skill [Battlefield Awareness] has been acquired.

Her perception expanded outward as the swordsman continued his slow fall to the ground, and Sarah immediately lunged into a roll to avoid a flung glass bottle. The bar had completely descended into chaos. The sound of a rapid flurry of punches whistling through the air drew Sarah’s eye to her mother and the angry woman fighting hand to hand in between kicking and throwing small objects at each other and randomly around the bar.

Sarah’s jaw dropped. She had never seen anyone manage to keep up with her mother for that long before.

A thud behind her brought Sarah’s attention back to the swordsman, and she saw him rapidly move to regain his footing again. She was crouched, but there was an intact bottle near her foot, and she kicked it towards the man, satisfied to see it slide just under his foot, making him trip, giving her precious seconds. Her mother had made it closer to the bar, but it was the other woman who threw a barstool at her. Helen dodged gracefully, retaliating with a kick, but Sarah leapt up into the air with a spin, catching the barstool out of the air and flinging it down like a meteor onto the swordsman, once again attempting to draw his sword.

Boom!

Sarah didn’t waste a moment, snagging a glass bottle from a lucky table that hadn’t been knocked over or destroyed, smashing it against another as she dashed forward, and moved in for the kill. The swordsman was stunned for just a second before he again tried to stand, but Sarah straddled him, pinning his arms to his side while her left hand slammed his head hard into the floor, exposing his neck, where she positioned the sharp, jagged broken glass of the bottle.

“Stop moving!” she screamed, quite a bit louder than she had intended, given the adrenaline from her first brawl.

Helen and the woman froze at that, and Helen smirked.

“I win in ten.” she said smugly.

The other woman sighed, shoulders drooping. “Ugh, I never could beat my prodigy little sister.” Then she looked at Sarah and the man. “Lassie, he’s already out cold!”

Helen stepped forward and swept the woman into a hug. “It’s good to see you again, Nadine.” Nadine groaned, wriggled out of the hug, and turned to the bartender, who had remained behind the bar catching thrown objects and protecting the wall of liquor bottles behind him. “Put this all on the young master’s tab: he’s the one who started it.”

The bartender nodded once with a stern expression, then resumed polishing a glass.

Sarah heard what the woman had said and confirmed that, yes, slamming the swordsman’s head into the floor had knocked him out. He lay limply underneath her, unmoving.

[Brawler] Class has reached level 2.

Breathing heavily, Sarah pulled the broken bottle away from the defenseless man’s neck, and stood up lithely, turning in time to see the woman wriggling out of her mother’s hug.

“Uhhh…” she said, unsure what was going on now. All the bar patrons had fled, leaving the bar empty save the four involved in the brawl, the bartender behind the bar, and the bar maid, who was now peeking her head up from behind the bar to see if it was over.

“Come over here, Sarah,” her mother called, and Sarah took a wide path around, keeping her distance from the strange woman. The strange woman, for her part, walked straight over to the swordsman and threw him roughly over her shoulder. “Thanks for not hurting him too much, lassie.”

Sarah kept her guard up as she reached her mother’s side. “Uh, Mom…”

Helen swept her daughter into a hug as well. “Good job on your first brawl, honey! Well done!”

She released Sarah and stepped back, looking her up and down. “And not a scratch on you, that’s my daughter.” The smile on her mother’s face was so bright it was nearly blinding.

Helen took Sarah by the hand and they followed after the woman carrying the swordsman. “Where are we going?” Sarah asked. “And who are they?”

“That’s your Auntie Nadine, my sister.” Her mother responded. “No idea who the idiot with the sword is.”

“Ugh…” the woman ahead of them groaned. They followed her up and down several streets, soon reaching a nicer part of town, even nicer than the neighborhood where Sarah and her mother’s inn was. They entered an inn, and the woman turned back to them. “Have you both eaten yet? The food here’s pretty good.”

Sarah’s stomach chose this moment to growl, and she blushed.

Helen smiled. “We can eat, want us to order for you?”

“I’d appreciate it, you know what I like. I’ll be down in a minute.” Then she disappeared up a flight of stairs.

Helen and Sarah soon found themselves seated at a table for four. “Order whatever you like, Sarah. It’s probably going on that young man’s tab again.” Helen giggled.

“Uh, okay…” Sarah replied, before ordering a bit more food than she normally ate. Helen, on the other hand, ordered about three times as much food as normal, making Sarah look at her with wide eyes, but Helen giggled at her. “It’s Nadine’s order, too, Sarah. Come on, don’t look at me like that.”

Sarah blushed again. The waitress brought them glasses and a pitcher of cool water, and Sarah busied herself with pouring water. Soon enough, the woman returned, this time without the swordsman. She took a seat next to Sarah, across from her mother, as if it was perfectly natural and poured herself some water as well.

The woman, Auntie Nadine, turned to look at Sarah. Sarah straightened up under her gaze. “So, you must be my niece? Thanks again for not damaging Leon, that pompous git.”

Sarah nervously nodded. “Uh, you’re welcome. I’m Sarah, and you’re, uh…”

“Nadine. Helen’s sister. Sorry for, uh, not coming to visit…” To Sarah’s surprise, Nadine was also a little embarrassed.

“It’s alright…” Sarah said, but her mother interrupted.

“It’s really not alright, but that’s a discussion for another time.” She leaned forward, but at that moment the waitress returned with their orders.

“Ah, perfect.” Nadine said. “Go on, dig in. We can have the hard conversation after we eat.”

“Hmph, very well.” Sarah’s mother huffed and then started eating as well, with noticeably better manners than Nadine.

Sarah’s stomach growled again, and her hunger overpowered her curiosity. For the next quarter hour, the only discussion at their table was praise for the inn’s food, which was quite delectable. Sarah had gone with a chicken dish, while her mother had ordered beef for herself and Nadine. In Sarah’s opinion, the preparation didn’t quite match up to her mother’s chicken, but there were some spices she’d never had before giving the meal a novel taste that she quite liked.

Soon enough, the plates were empty and the waitress took them away, leaving another pitcher of cool water. Sure enough, the meal had been placed on the young man, Leon’s, tab.

“Now then,” Helen began. “You got my letter, yes?”