I woke up with a headache splitting my head in half. Despite it, I forced my body to almost jump up while forcefully opening my eyes and yelling:

“I WON!”

Just to notice that Giselle next to me did the very same thing. Almost – I mean. She was a second late!

“Sorry, sweetie, I got up first.” I barked through my teeth. “I have heard that time is relevant, but you just can’t do something later than someone and claim to be faster.” She hissed annoyed. “Now. Now. Good job, both of you…” Lanele dropped bags with ice on our heads “… you woke up at the EXACTLY same moment. We counted.”

Blanka and Kim nodded passionately.

“You really moved like one! At some point, even your hearts were beating at the same rate!” Kim’s excitement manifested by his uncontrolled body moves. Like a pendulum, he was tilting his upper body left and right, left and right. Like a cobra “You sure about that?” Giselle was trying to frighten our judges with an angry gaze “Absolutely, and even more.” “But did you…” “I wait with healing you till you would wake up.” Priestess quickly disturbed Gisele “But maybe…” “I forbid them to even touch you. You were lying were you dropped.” “Tsk!” angry Giselle tsked. “This means that the match was won by the one that landed more clean blows… and that would be me!”

I showed all of my teeth in a pleased smile.

“Pff. Clean hits?! Did you call those clean? AND hits? Zari, we weren’t competing in tickle-battle!” “Last time I checked you can’t knock over a dragon with tickles!” “Your punches are weak and savage!” “And yours are clumsy and slow!” “You should work on your body mass and work out more! This way your blows wouldn’t be so pathetic!” “And maybe if you would drop few kilograms you would be just fast enough to land an attack on a sleeping sloth!” “… Did you just call me fat?” her whole rage, arrogance, and confidence vanished. Just like that. As if magician snapped his fingers. “… You called me fat. Did you?” “Babe, that’s not what I meant!” I panicked “Lana! Zari called me fat!” her eyes watered a little as if she was a child desperately trying to hold her tears in. “Now, now! There-there! He didn’t mean it at all! Look, you all lost your cool and said a few things you really didn’t mean! Now, do you really think Zari is pathetic and needs to beef up?” “…” Someone remained quiet “Giseeeelle?” “Well, he COULD work on himself just a little…” “GISEEEELLE?!?” “What!? I am being honest here!” “You little…” I started walking toward her while opening my mouth and starting yelling an insult after an insult, but Lanele managed to pounce at me and cover my lips with her palm, turning all my curses into muffled, yet passionate, squeal. “We both should just cool our heads!” Lana tried to take control of the whole situation.

Little she knew that there are no breaks on madness’s train!

Kim dragged me by my sleeve.

“What happened, Zari? Kim does not understand. Hunter can’t let emotions take control over him, otherwise, he changes into prey…”

… Giselle, you are lucky that minor is present in the room and I have to give him a good example so he could grow into splendid doom-machine.

I smiled weakly at him and messed his hair. Then I quickly looked at Giselle with gaze before I resumed spoiling little abomination.

“You are right, thanks for reminding me that, buddy, did you eat with girls?” “N-no!” He yelled quickly. Too quickly “Kim, you literally have a piece of cake on your face…” Blanka noticed giggling. “I-I mean, I didn’t eat any regular meal. Just sweets… but you yourself have said that sweets are just snacks!”

The gaze that both priestess and war dancress gave me were more than enough to convince me that Kim ate more than he wanted to admit.

“Well, you are still growing, aren’t you? You want goulash or steak?” “BOTH!” “Where did he fits all that food is just beyond me…” “In sub-dimension inside of his cores,” I answered without even looking in her direction “Which meaaans?” “That the two of us can eat however we want and never have enough…” “… you can eat without putting on weight?” “Yes, that’s pretty much a side effect of…” “SIDE EFFECT MY ASS! IT’S CHEATING! It’s too much power for males!” Lanele and Blanka were furious. Giselle agreed with a furious nod. “Actually, Kim, what would you say if we would also have a roasted pig? Of course one for each of us?”

I grabbed Kim shoulder and started dragging him toward the door.

“A-are you not kidding?” “Why should I? I feel like going wild tonight.” “T-then, could we also…” “Yes.” I smiled not letting him finish. “R-really?! So what about…” “Yes! Kim, order everything you want and make it double so I can have a bite too. In the end we have to celebrate… MY VICTORY IN TODAY’S SPARRING” I yelled before slamming the door behind me.

I just managed to hear Giselle saying “oh, you better not, you little…” before the perfectly acoustically-proof room cut her speech.

I just managed to piss off three people at the same time, and damn, It was all worth it.

We ended booking the whole corner of the inn section – we joined six tables together making a complex that could seat sixteen people. And just as always in the adventurer’s guild, peaceful dining turned into fully blown feast as more and more people kept joining us (at least they were polite enough to order their own booze).

It was loud, it was cheerful, there were two or three brawls resulting in the destruction of two tables and five chairs, so you could count it as one of the most pacifist parties in the history of guilds.

We didn’t notice when the evening turned into night and night slowly started turning into the morning. Only adventurers that would more and more frequently appear sleeping all over the inn dead-drunk were the only indicator of the flow of time.

Kim was already sleeping in his room (after the small battle between Giselle and receptionist we managed to get yet another room for him), Blanka was still chugging a shot after a shot in some kind of competition and Lanele was trying to calm down few more aggressive warriors. Gis was not present.

I left the guild and headed back to the training room.

Dragoness was there. She left hour or two ago, something that didn’t really happen often. She kept rising and iron bar over her head and dropping it down with full force on the training dummy’s head – or actually an apple that she positioned on top of it.

She tried to balance her attacks – destroy the fruit without shattering the whole dummy. I must say – she was doing poorly. Over and over again, the whole construct shook from the impact.

“Training room, bathhouse and inn. You really can’t be found in any different places.” I said approaching her from the side.

Once again she raised her “weapon” and once again she brought it down. If there was a living male in place of a dummy, he would have his spine remodeled just now.

“I feel like I have stopped improving. When papa Jericho was teaching me, it was like leaping onward. Then, I was just walking… now, it feels like crawling… or even regressing myself at this point.” “It must be just your imagination…” “No! Lately, I got a bit stronger only thanks to new equipment.. and papa always says that a true warrior can change even a log into deadly weapon… that we can’t focus on tools and instead grow stronger as individual…”

Another strike shook the dummy.

“… you became so much stronger in such a short period of time. I still remember when we met for the first time and you were running away from me because you were so afraid of sparring…” “Guilty as charged…” I smiled to not-so-distanced memories. “… Now you can ALMOST keep up with me…” I punched her lightly in the arm making her smile with corners of her lips “… the thing is… I am afraid, Zari. I was so happy hearing I may have someone to train with. A rival that would motivate me to keep pushing my limits… but… I am slowing down, you – quite the opposite and...”

She stopped talking for a moment. I didn’t raise my voice, letting her finish her own inner combat with her own thoughts.

“… I am afraid you will just leave me behind. Start challenging beasts that are out of my reach. That I will start slowing you down… that you will keep on saving me, just like in Tower of Despair… and I will be left helpless unable to do anything… just like when you were kidnapped by that paladin…”

Her grasp over a rod tightened and the tool let out a sound of metal being bend.

“That’s why you told me to work out more?...” I actually chuckled

I approached her even closer and hugged her from behind.

“Don’t! I am all sweaty!” she tried to break free “I am about to get dirty too, so…” waaait for iiit “…don't sweat it.” “… Reaaaally?” “It was a great pun!” “It was pathetic!” “Hyyy! You have dishonored me, my teachings and my entire culture!” “You are an artificial creation of the goddess from the depth of the forest, you have no nation and therefore no culture.” “Giselle! That was a sentence full of many difficult words! Who taught you that!?”

A quick elbow in the gut. I earned that one.

“Bastard!” Though she said that, it sounded almost warmly.

I moved to the table with training equipment and took two wooden swords stylized on something between sabers and katanas, then I threw one at Giselle.

“What are you doing?” She asked “Told you, getting dirty.” “You need to be taught a lesson again?” she smirked. “This time we keep it fair, Gis. Swords only, no punches, no kicks, no magic. A touch on the body counts as a clean hit. The one that lands most, wins.” “Sounds interesting… but how about a little bet to make it more interesting.” “What is on your mind?” “The loser in on bottom for a weak.”

My heart burned with passion.

“You just made it personal, sweetie. There is literally no way I would lose now!” “Males are indeed simplest creatures in the world…” she repeated Lanele’s teachings under her nose, and even though I have heard her perfectly, I still asked. “Did you say something?” “No. HERE I COME!”