And so, I got into a pretty violent confrontation with a guard. Normally I'd try to resolve things peacefully, since I was never really the one who thought violence was the only option. However, this was a guard; I didn't jail, and certainly not in these clothes I had JUST bought from a tailor. Cost me nearly all the money I won beforehand.

Anyway, he started to walk towards me with a shiny sword in his hand. I always uncomfortable with having something like that plunge into me, and it certainly didn't help me now. I slipped my hand into my pocket, but that caused the guard to walk more quickly towards me; apparently, these guys were paranoid, and they were correct about me pulling off a trick this time. I pulled out a bunch of darts within my pocket, which I couldn't remember the origin of those things. Nasty pointy things too, what with extra power and being able to teleport back to its user. Was it a curse or blessing? Well, I didn't have anything else to fight off that guard with.

Being rather pragmatic, I always searched for obvious and the not-so-obvious solutions to a problem. This could range from simply talking a man out of a fight or being creative with the surroundings. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't just sway a man from the law from walking away from me, hence I why I looked for another solution - the sign above him. See, that inn next door was robbed poor, by me of course. They've since used rotting ropes to hold that bulky sign up, but they didn't take to me too well and kicked me out on the alley. Oh well, more customers for me then. I take their money, they can't sleep in the inn, both of those parties suffer and I get cash in the end. Win-loss-loss.

Enough of that. That guard was getting dangerously close. I wasn't too confident in hitting the sign above him, and sure enough when I threw it, the dart just bounced off the sign and reappeared in my hand with a purple mist. At that point, the guard lunged at me with that sword in his hand, now convinced I was going to kill him or something. "Okay, I get it now!" I yelled, side-stepping and letting him trip onto his own face. Even more amusingly, his sword actually fell out of his ha-

"Shit!" That followed after a loud series of clanging noises. While he was grunting in pain, I jumped his body and arm to pick up the sword, stupidly by the blade and somehow avoiding cuts to my palms. When he was about to get up with a bruise on his forehead, I was pointing his sword correctly at his face. He seemed rather surprised at me, wondering why his own sword was missing from the ground in front of him. I smirked, telling him to get up: "Oi, you, get the fuck up! You don't want to mess with me, 'cause I got a damn sword now with your name on it! So, get up unless you don't need your pretty nose anymore! Who does?! Probably not you, but I assume you're not deaf and all. You wanker, you wanna bloody die or something? I can guarantee you a world of pain should you choose to disobey me!" ...and that worked. He was at that point absolutely convinced that I'd cut him or something, though really I was a bit of a wimp when it came to killing actual people. Either way, he stumbled somewhat, trying to get up while avoiding provoking me.

Well... that should've happened. I wasn't patient, and I sure as hell didn't need anyone trying to pursue me. So, I bashed his head (as if it wasn't already bruised badly) with the hilt of his own sword) - maybe a bit too hard, 'cause I heard a sickening crunch afterwards. I was both disgusted and worried at what I just did, covering my mouth while crouching down to make sure I didn't just kill someone. Granted someone died near me before, but he was a fucking psychopath who happened to get struck by the inn's sign. Luck? Rotting ropes.

The guard seemed okay, but he definitely took a beating. I sighed, taking his sword and concealing it under my shirt. I definitely got taught a lesson from this, walking away and kicking over a barrel to attract attention to that unfortunate guard.