Appearing completely unphased by the half dragon in front of him, Mac glanced at Carl's impressive looking scars and claws that could easily rip out his throat before going back into his salesman speech.
"... You must be Carl, I would like to talk to your-"
"Leave!"
Letting his wings flare out as his forearms were covered in red, magical scales Carl tried his best to scare off the blacklisted Mac before the guild censured them for interacting with him.
"You're scared of the guild coming down on you for this? I understand."
Seeing through Carl's intentions and worries, Mac finally acquiesced and changed his tactics.
"Then-"
"Then it would be better if I appeared to be threatening you, sorry about this."
Before Carl or Jack could figure out what happened, they were both forced to the ground by a crushing force.
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
(You fucker!)
This act of hostility immediately made the party's ranger act, so far he had been quietly observing the exchange from the side lines, but seeing members of his party attacked he notched an arrow. Leaving cover, Dexter drew back and shot his bow at the aggressor, aiming to sever his neck at the throat. As the arrow arched through the air with murderous speed, Mac did nothing to intercept it, instead relying on the sword / shield spike he had planted in the ground next to him.
"Wha!?"
Watching his arrow get deflected by a bolt of lightning Dexter's composure broke.
"Shot that thing at me again and I'll start getting annoyed."
Releasing Carl and Jack from his hold, Mac waited for the pair to get on their feet again and for Dexter to notch another arrow before speaking again.
"I feel like we're getting off on the wrong foot."
Flashing a smile that diswaded Carl from trying anything rash now that he was free to move again, Mac cleared his throat and finally introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Mac, it is very nice to meet you, members of the Red claw adventurer party. I've come here to fulfill a request posted by your party leader at the guild."
Showing Carl the faded note he had ripped off the guild board and getting an eyeroll in return, Mac nevertheless persisted as he gestured to his sword which lightning had just shot out of seconds before.
"That sword right there should suffice as a demonstration, if the blade so much as chips or in any other way has an unsatisfactory durability when your party leader tests it out she can use what's left of the blade to decapitate me on the spot. Would that be agreeable?"
Turning and speaking to an empty space to the side of him, Mac waited for a few seconds before the Red claw party leader became visible, removing whatever magic spell had made her invisible. Elizabeth was a half dragon like her brother Carl, with a similar height both siblings stood half a head taller than Mac, but unlike Carl's scares dragon-like features of claws and magically materialising wings Elizabeth's forearms were entirely monster-like, with red scales and black claws just long enough to disembowel anyone she got into fights with. Examining the party leader further Mac found small red scales in multiple places on her exposed upper arms, legs and face, furthermore her deep red hair which was heavily braided seemed to contain scale fragments, as they caught the light it reflected red prismatics like a crystal. From somewhere on her back a red, scale covered tail sprouted from her, it was currently moving about the ground behind Elizabeth, showing her apparent displeasure at the situation.
(The older sibling is much more dragon-like, still, I would love to know how Carl has his wings fade in and out of reality like that and if she can do it too.)
While the younger brother could be described as a human which looked like a dragon, the older sister was more of a dragon which could be mistaken for a human.
"... How did you see me?"
Scrutinising the strange invader with her clear blue eyes, Elizabeth kept her claws extended as she intimately judged the distance between her and her foe, calculating the time and number of steps it would take to reap his head.
"You gave off far too much noise moving into position like that."
Not even Tia who stood a few meters away, with her enhanced hearing, had heard Elizabeth move into position, but as Mac categorized some of his enhanced and extra senses as hearing he wasn't talking about sound waves.
"Then how about it? You can either get a weapon that can keep up with your strength, or you get to slice off my head. It's a win-win as far as I see it."
Examining the intruder Mac's expression Liz saw all the hallwalks of an experienced killer, someone who could and had already gotten out of situations like these covered in blood. But there was something else in Mac's expression, while he was confident in his ability to get out of the situation there was also a different kind of confidence in there, it was the confidence of a world class craftsman.
The question is what kind of confidence was fueling his attitude.
Glancing over at her brother to get him to ease off slightly, Liz wordlessly took the sword Mac was offering and examined it closer.
(... I don't think I've seen a sword like this before.)
The weapon looked fairly simple, it was a single edged, flat tipped sword without a guard and held a surprising, but well balanced heft. Although the length of a shortsword normally used in one hand, its hilt was long enough to comfortably place both hands on it, but by far It's most eye-catching feature being the notch in the blade meant to catch blades instead of a normal cross guard.
Slicing at the air Liz observed the pleasant sound it made cutting through the air, and finally her gaze shifted away from the sword and onto what she would be testing it on. In the centre of the party base sat a large boulder which towered slightly above even Liz herself, its surface was adorned with many notches and scratches of previous weapons she had tested, all of them failures.
(This might be the weapon I've been looking for…)
Stepping a bit closer to the rock, Liz took a stance and raised the sword with a single hand, then she disappeared.
Reappearing right in front of Mac with inhuman speed, Liz grabbed her raised sword with both hands and brought it down on the outsider who thought he could threaten her baby brother and party members, tracing a clear line that would smash through Mac's skull and a good way down into his chest before stopping.
(Hmm.)
Moving even faster than the half dragon that had appeared right in front of him and struck without warning, Mac resigned himself to just defend as he felt like he had earned this with his earlier behavior. Tracing the line of the sword coming down to kill him, Mac took half a step back, then remembered that Elizabeth wanted to test its durability and reluctantly moved his right arm up to block the strike instead of evading it.
With a terrible crash, like the sound of metal getting smashed into metal the sword impacted Mac's arm and added another joint to it as the bones in his forearm broke and bent at a 30 degree angle from the impact.
Notably though, his arm didn't get sliced in half like Elizabeth had expected, but instead deflected the strike. Taking a step back as she felt her hand lose its feeling due to the recoil of the strike, Liz's face bloomed into a smile as she realised Mac was the kind of monster who had a body even more durable than herself.
"MAC!?"
Having winched from the sudden attack, Tia remembered herself and rushed to Mac's side with concern, seeing his bent forearm almost made her pass out, but she nevertheless started thinking about first aid when Mac placed his still working arm on her head.
"Calm down, I'm fine."
"But!-"
"No buts, my body is durable, remember?"
Having somewhat calmed Tia down, Mac turned his attention back to his attacker.
"I suppose I deserved that… Still, it's problematic to just strike me like that without warning."
At Mac's words a pair of gunships appeared in the air behind him, having swooped down from their holding orbits they folded out their wings and let their engines roar along with displeased sounding sensor growls. Lighting spotlights that trained on Elizabeth, the pair of gunships unfurled their weapons and spun up their rotary cannons.
It was only Mac's direct command which kept them from eliminating the threat.
"My defenses are mostly involuntary, so tell me next time."
Getting the spotlight out of the face of the person he was talking to as a service, Mac nevertheless decided to have the gunships hang around as he shifted his focus to his injury.
Raising his injured arm and letting it flop about on its newly christened joint with a slightly unnerving crunching sound, Mac observed the bone and muscle damage, as well as the internal hemorrhaging which was quickly turning his skin dark and bloated. Normally this level of injury would've resulted in an open break, but as Mac's skin was quite sturdy his insides continued being insides. Righting the crooked angle of the brake with his other hand, Mac waited a few seconds before letting go again, in which time his bones had set and returned his arm to a decent level of usability. Testing the connection by wiggling his fingers before forming a fist, Mac finally turned his attention back on Elizabeth with a cold smile plastered on his face.
"No damage, right?"
"Excuse me?"
"The blade."
Studying Mac's face for a bit longer, as well as the strange craft that had appeared in the air behind him, Liz shifted her gaze to her own numb hands before she settled on the sword she had just tried to kill Mac with.
(So it wasn't just overstated confidence.)
With her greatly enhanced sight, Liz quickly scrutinised the blade and found no chips, deformity or other damage to the still extremely sharp blade, furthermore the sword hadn't bent from the impact or the force of her strike.
"No… The sword is unscathed, truly a fine weapon."
Finding the weapon lived up to the requests she didn't think would ever be fulfilled, Liz was about to ask what Mac wanted in return for the weapon when it was snatched out of her hands by some unseen force, returning to Mac's left hand.
"Then I've set up a forge where I can make a weapon to your liking, the rest of your party too, with what I'll be asking of you I'll need each of you at your best."
Reminding Elizabeth of the other part of her request, Mac tossed his sword into the sky where it was caught by one of the gunships orbiting around him.
"An hour by carriage to the south along the 5th route sits a quaint forest without any significant monster activity. I'll wait for you there today and tomorrow, so come along if you want some new weapons. If not, I'll just find someone else to sponsor… Preferably someone less violent."
Turning to leave along with Tia, Mac wasn't kind enough to offer Red claw any extensions on that deal after their leader had tried to kill him. Still, he realised they were at least lethal enough to be useful.
"... Are you really okay Mac?"
Back on the street Tia finally felt like she could breathe and so she started fussing over Mac's arm.
"I'm fine."
Although there was still quite a bruise, the bones had already set enough for full function, which Mac demonstrated by ruffling Tia's hair again.
"... Then is it really smart to rely on those guys, that Elizabeth tried to kill you?"
Seeing Mac's arm was at least somewhat fine, Tia's worry shifted over to the adventurers. Still mistrustful of them in general, she especially didn't like that Elizabeth woman after she had tried to kill Mac.
"She was just testing the sword, remember?"
Replacing the truth with a lie that was convenient to both parties, Mac's expression relaxed a bit as he thought back to the attack.
"Besides, I love the kind of woman who can beat me absolutely senseless."