I said "My name, my lord, is Sir Collin Rhombus. You do not know me, but you might have heard of me. People have called me many things over the years. I have done a lot of good work in the kingdom. Maybe you've heard of those feats. Phantom Thief Real Rhombus, Blood Knight, Cutpurse Cutter, The Butcher of Hereford are some of those titles. I like my title of The Collared Cat of the Swifthunt Family the most. You get the point. You're risking your life making me an enemy." He flinched. "That's just a myth!" The man had heard of me. He backed down. I simply glared at him. He backed down quickly. Several other nobles also backed down. One man stepped up to me anyway. "Your names don't scare me. My champion is going to humble you. Then we'll move onto those dirty halfbreeds of yours." he threatened me. All I could do was shrug. I turned my back to look at my children. That offended him. "Who said that you could turn your back on your betters?" he snapped as he slammed his hand on my shoulder. He was in danger. "Unhand me!!" was all I said. He outright refused to yield.
He seriously needed to calm down about this. Being humbled was the only other option for him. I grabbed him by the wrist and moved it myself. "You have a champion. It is their job to face me. Assaulting me is unneeded. If you touch me again, I will defend myself as if you were my opponent." I warned him. The noble did not heed the warning. He slapped me in front of everyone. "You need to learn to be silent in front of your betters." he gloated. I just looked at him, the crowd and then at him. Everyone was silent. Waiting. They wanted to see what I would do now. How could I back down here? My children were watching me. No one was going to abuse me in front of them. I did a roundhouse kick to his temple. He was out cold. I reached down and took the hand that slapped me. I broke every single finger. With the level of healthcare they had here, he was going to be crippled for life. All of the witnesses watched in horror from the instance they saw me kick him. Crippling his whole hand further by stomping on all the other bones was pretty hardcore. You could hear all the snapping.
His hand was a bloody pulp by the time I was done. I then turned to my children. I kissed each of them on the forehead. Holding a finger to my lips, I did a back flip and then bowed. I was told to be silent. My children followed me out of the hall. Not a single person dared get in my way. The next day, I was told the lord was the third son of a local noble courtier. His father was an old, unlanded baron. There was little chance of reprisal. I still got a letter of challenge from him the next day. I had to fight his champion. Since I was challenged, I got to name the rules. I chose a cook off to the death. My second was Ottie. His was another knight of the court. The third judge was the palace's head chef. The meal that lost would earn the cook a death warrant. I could cook. He could not. It was a skill a gentlemen needed to have. Unsurprisingly, I won. I forced a vial of poison down his throat. My reputation was maintained. The Swifthunts were not pleased at all. Theirs went down. Under the circumstances, I could see why they were upset. I was in their employ. My conduct reflected badly on them.
They certainly were to be feared if they had all of the Blood Knights at their beck and call. That was not the look they were going for. If they wanted to be seen as very powerful and deadly warriors, it would be perfect. They were going for the shrewd land developer angle. Having us under them did not negate our accomplishments, but it did give people pause. It would make any sane individual question whether or not they wanted to get involved with insane monsters. The myths were real. We were unhinged and ultra violent. You did not want to be on our bad side. People also did not want to be on our good side either. We were avoided like the plague. One family was willing to speak to us after the duel. A high ranked general was not one to mess with either. General Geronim Hue liked what he heard and saw of us. He was willing to give up a daughter to the Swifthunts. Fabien would marry her in a year. They did not want the marriage to go missed compared to this one. Getting this alliance was great even though it was unexpected. Broad coalitions were very important for safety.
