He was hesitating about whether to take his own Emily and leave this place to rest somewhere else, when he felt his Emily tug on his sleeve, pulling him into a corner of the room.

It seemed that Emily Carter was very confident in her own skills, so she wasn’t at all afraid that these vicious-looking fellows would try anything.

Perhaps, in the heart of William Clark’s Emily, as long as these guys didn’t make a move, it was fine; but if they had any ill intentions, she wouldn’t hesitate to go on a killing spree tonight, treating it as ridding the people of evil.

Although she had never voiced these thoughts to William Clark, from her current actions, William Clark could pretty much guess what she was thinking.

And, as it turned out, what happened next was not much different from what William Clark had predicted. Those guys had been getting along with the two of them without trouble—after all, both of them were armed, and from their manner and speech, it was clear they were martial artists, so the others didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble.

But after those men had some wine and meat, perhaps their courage was bolstered.

Of course, it was also possible they noticed that William Clark was injured and seemed to have trouble moving. So, after whispering among themselves for a bit, a clichéd but ever-present scene began to play out right in front of William Clark.

“Kid, I’m in a good mood today and don’t want to kill anyone. Get lost, now!”

The leader flipped his hand and drew a broadsword. The sword wasn’t anything special, especially the blade, which was pitted and clearly well-used.

But from this, it was obvious that this man was not easy to deal with. For a weapon to be worn like that, it must have seen many fights, and for him to still be standing here unharmed after all that, he must either have excellent skills or some unknown means of survival.

Either way, it was not good news for William Clark and his companion.

William Clark could see this, and so could Emily Carter. After all, Emily Carter had grown up in an environment far harsher than William Clark’s. In contrast, the original ‘Chris’ was someone who paid no attention to the outside world and focused only on studying the classics, so he wasn’t very familiar with these kinds of streetwise experiences.

In Emily Carter’s mind, her Chris was still that clueless fool, and now, with injuries and, even worse, suffering from soul-loss syndrome, he couldn’t even remember who he was.

In this situation, if a fight broke out, the odds were grim—especially since this Chris’s skills were mediocre to begin with. She didn’t dare let him get involved.

So she whispered, “If there’s a fight, just stay here and don’t move!” Thinking that might not be safe enough, she corrected herself, “Actually, you’d better find a safe place to hide!”

In her mind, it would be best if this Chris agreed, but if he refused, things would be even more difficult! And judging by his character, he probably wouldn’t agree—more likely, he’d try to reason with these ‘gentlemen’, hoping to persuade them to lay down their weapons and turn over a new leaf on the spot.

But ever since he got soul-loss syndrome, this Chris seemed like a different person, and his response now surprised her.

“I understand. If there’s a fight, just go ahead and cut them down, don’t worry about me. I know how to protect myself…”

Those two words from William Clark made Emily Carter’s mouth twitch, and she was startled inside: “Cut them down… When did Chris start speaking so bluntly?”

While the two of them were talking, the big man across from them was still rambling on with some pointless nonsense, mostly things like, “Girl, follow me and you’ll live the good life!” or “Don’t make things difficult for yourself!” and “I don’t want to see blood today!”

But seeing that the two of them didn’t even look his way, and with his buddies behind him starting to jeer, he was starting to lose face.

“Old Thompson, those two kids don’t even take you seriously!”

That shout finally made the big man snap. He swung his broadsword and cursed, “If you won’t take the easy way, you’ll take the hard way! I’ll chop this pretty boy into pieces, then deal with you, little lady, and let my brothers have some fun too!” He clearly thought William Clark and Emily Carter were a couple.

William Clark didn’t care about this misunderstanding, and the last lewd remark didn’t bother him either. In the past, when he got into fights, if there were women involved, he’d heard far worse.

Some women were even more fierce, retorting, “I’m just afraid you losers couldn’t handle me even if you all came at once…”

He just forgot that this wasn’t the world he used to live in, and some ideas here weren’t as ‘progressive’ as in his time. Usually, if a woman was harassed like this, she’d be so ashamed and angry she might die on the spot. So that last line from the man named Li was like lighting a fuse on Emily Carter.

Before the words had even faded, Emily Carter’s sword flashed from its sheath in a dazzling arc. Standing to the side, William Clark saw only a flash of white light, and then a flurry of sword shadows enveloped the big man.

With a series of crisp clangs, their weapons clashed countless times in an instant.

Normally, no matter how fine a sword is, it can’t go head-to-head with a broadsword. But Emily Carter’s sword always struck at the weak points of the man’s blade. At first glance, it looked like a direct clash, but in reality, there was great skill involved.