"Now, get off my fucking property"
Darren didn't respond, his mind still reeling, trying to process what he just witnessed.
As far as he knew no normal person should be able to stop a sword swing with just his bare hands and seemingly take no damage at all, that was simply impossible.
There were only two possibilities. This man before him had an item that guaranteed complete resistance against bladed weapons.
However such Items are said not to exist. Magic items were powerful, in an age where magic was nearly gone but monsters still existed, magic items were the best way to protect yourself. However, they were not omnipotent.
A magic item that helps you resist certain phenomena, like attacks from weapons and explosions is called a Damage Reduction Item (DRI) However even with those items the best they can do is allow you to take less damage, not negate it.
This meant that if you had a ring that made you resistant to bladed weapons, you're still going to take damage, just that the damage you take will not be as significant as it should be.
There are a few categories for items like this, the first being [Minor damage Reduction] (MDR) meaning you'll still take majority of the damage, if an attack was supposed to cut off your arm, instead the attack will almost cut all the way through, making a deep wound, your arm won't be cut off but it will be dangling.
These MDR items are what most Mercenaries and Explorers would call trash items, you still take a majority of the damage so what point was there in having them, however to normal people such items were life savers, because they meant you survived, to put it in gaming terms, MDRs made sure your HP was never zero.
The second category is [Intermediate damage reduction](IDR), these items also worked the same as MDRs, with these items you only received half the damage you were supposed to.
If an attack is meant to cut your arm off, it will only cut halfway through. Your arm won't be dangling but it won't be as usable.
The third and last category is [Greater Damage Reduction](GDR) and it too worked similarly to the last two, if an attack is meant to cut your arm off, it will only leave a small wound.
Regardless of which category an item is in, there's no item that completely negates damage, even if the Item is in the GDR category and you take an attack that's meant to just give you a small cut, you'll take damage It's just that damage will be negligible to the point that you can ignore it.
Darren did not believe that Arthur had an item that could negate damage, it's far more likely that he had a GDR item on hand that allowed him to easily block the sword attack but that would mean Leo's attack was so weak that it could be blocked with bare hands, something that Darren found difficult to believe.
There should have been a small cut, and at least a drop of blood.
The other possibility was that Arthur was an Explorer and that was also hard to believe, not because Explorers are rare but because why would an Explorer be living near the slums?!
If this man before him truly was an Explorer then it would be much wiser to leave him alone.
"Hey did you hear me? I said Leave!"
Arthur spoke and Darren could only give him a hurried nod before he quickly made his way out of the yard. There was no point fighting anymore, mostly because Darren knew he had no chance of winning.
Once out the yard, he grabbed Gus and Leo each by the leg and dragged them back to where they came.
...….
While Arthur was fighting outside, he had instructed her to stay inside the bedroom, it was a precaution by Arthur in case the assailants somehow made it inside the house.
Of course, that was never a possibility but it never hurts to be safe.
Esme easily complied with his instructions and even tried her best to ignore the situation outside, unfortunately, the sounds of fighting coupled with the muffled voices had been loud enough to reach the bedroom and the more she stayed within its walls the more she worried about Arthur.
Here she was safely tucked away in the comforts of their bedroom, not far from the danger but relatively safe. While Arthur dealt with the assailants who came to harm him because of a stupid and naive decision she had made.
The deep thumping of her feet against the floorboards echoed in the room as she paced back and forth, her heart wroth with guilt and worry.
All her filled with the fear of Arthur facing someone far more powerful than him,
Arthur being an Explorer brought no comfort, only fear of him facing an opponent stronger than him, such a fear was amplified by the fact that she could not see the fight and thus could not tell if he was alright.
Her anxious hands slowly reached up to her chest, an attempt to clutch at the necklace her mother had given her. It was something that brought her comfort at times like this however her hand could not find it.
The realisation that it was stolen struck her like a boulder rolling down a hill and forced her to halt her pacing. A pang of hurt pulsed from her heart, her precious necklace was gone.
And now her husband was in danger because she dared meddle in affairs that a woman should not have.
What a horrible week.
A woman's job was to take care of the home, cook, clean, and make sure that a house was a home, a place where her tired husband could come back to and rest.
That was her job, she had no business making decisions on things regarding the safety and protection of their home.
'I should have let him decide and remain quiet'
She thought inwardly to herself, had she just remained silent and just let him make the decision, not only would he have made a wiser decision than her but she would not be burdened with such worry and guilt.
'Why did he have to be so different?!! Am I going to have to make more decisions like this?!'
When it came to making some important decisions, most were made by the man, buying a house was done with the man's hard-earned money, so a woman had to convince him to buy it but if he didn't want to then he simply wouldn't
It was the same with clothes, a married woman cannot work and thus does not need a bank account, as her husband is expected to give her all the money she needs, this means that even when buying an article of clothing she likes, the decision to buy is still on the man.
Essentially women had little autonomy, even women who are not married and are allowed to work, they have no bank account and have to get their hard-earned money from a close relative who's a man.
Esme for the first time had gotten a taste of what it meant to make an actual decision and unfortunately, she did not like it, she did not like the burden it placed on her heart, her stupid decision had now put Arthur in danger, the man who restored her honour as a woman and made her a wife.
'I need to stop him, it doesn't sound like anyone is hurt, I can…'
Her thoughts paused, she can what? Go out there and put herself in danger? Arthur was working hard to protect her, why would she want to squander his efforts like that?
She stopped her pacing and held her head, shutting her eyes and shaking her head in distress, all of this was horrible.
"I didn't want this!! Why did he let me make the decision!!"
She nearly shouted in a bout of mixed emotions, she was worried, felt like she put her husband in danger, and was angry at him for putting such a burden on her, the burden of autonomy was unfamiliar and far too heavy for her to handle just yet.
However as she was lamenting her decision, she heard the sound of fighting stopping, followed by Arthur's voice shouting, she couldn't hear exactly what he said, however she didn't care, she quickly bolted out of the bedroom and hurriedly made her way down the stairs.
Once down the stairs, it was only a brisk walk towards the door, however once she reached the door, she stopped, placed her ear on it, and tried to listen to what was going on outside.
It was silent, she couldn't hear anything.
A frown marred her face, she didn't like that, if there was no more fighting then Arthur should have come back inside the house, with worried haste, she opened the door and stepped outside.
The cool breeze of the night air wafted on her face, however, she ignored it and looked at the surroundings. The assailants that had come were gone and not only that but Arthur was also nowhere to be found, her heart sank to the pits of her stomach.
"Arthur!!"
She screamed his name but no reply came, her heart sank deeper.
"ARTHUR!!"
She screamed louder, this time fully stepping out of the house and stood a few steps away from the door.
"Esme! What is it?"
Arthur's voice came from above however before she could look up he suddenly dropped right before her startling her and causing her to let out a yelp of surprise, she nearly fell as she had hurriedly tumbled back however Arthur had quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her close
"What's the matter? Why are you outside?"
She was quick to recover from her surprise and gave him a look over ignoring his question, looking at his body and face. Relief returned to her heart and she let out a sigh.
"You're unhurt"
She said while fixing her dress and standing with the right posture.
"Of course, I told you no need to worry, but why did you get out of the house?"
"I thought they took you, why wouldn't I worry?"
She countered and Arthur paused for a moment, realizing he hasn't had someone genuinely worry for his safety in so long that it felt foreign.
He let out a sigh, he supposed he couldn't 100% reassure her that there was nothing to be worried about.
"I see but as an Explorer, there are very few people who can harm me"
"But that doesn't mean there's zero people who can harm you"
She countered his reasons once again and he couldn't argue against her this time either.
'Damn, ok'
He could only give her a blank stare that made it obvious he not only did not expect that rebuttal but also had nothing against it.
Although the only people he knew who could harm him weren't in this Kingdom but they were probably in the Northern empire.
"I suppose you're right, now let's get back inside the house, it's quite cold out here"
She nodded and they walked back inside the house.
"What were you doing up there? I'm assuming you were on the roof"
With her worried heart settling down a bit, her curiosity prompted her to ask.
"It's an old habit of trying to check if there's an oncoming ambush, typically after slaying a monster, other monsters show up to steal the prey, climbing a tree or something high up helps look for any opportunist predators"
He explained and she nodded in understanding, she figured that much like carnivorous predatory animals monsters are also drawn by the smell of blood.
"Hmm… do all monsters eat meat? or do some eat plants rather than meat?"
The question wasn't something she'd always wondered but rather it simply came to her at this moment, since Arthur mentioned that little information regarding monsters being opportunistic.
"In my experience, I've never encountered a monster that didn't eat meat"
He answered as they both entered the house and he closed the door behind them. Having heard his words Esme hummed in curious thought, she wondered if a monster that eats plants, would even be considered a monster.
"Anyway we should go to sleep, I'm confident there won't be any coming attacks tonight