It took some time for them to think and answer me. Cloude was anxious.

"No. It would be great to have him," said Helen.

"I... don't mind having him around, if he has what it takes." Marcy has mixed feelings. Given their story, it is not a surprise. I reach out for her hand and give her a smile. She does not shy away and smiles back. My other hand goes to Helen's cheeks. I will try to not have favorites.

I turn to address the interviewee, "Cloude, let me tell you one thing. Everyone in this party here is a member of their own free will. But we all share secrets here that would be bad to spread outside. I'll make a test with you. Give me your weapons. Every single one of them."

"Sure." The eager warrior removes his weapons and turns all of them to me. I open my item box and remove a square wooden board about two feet in each side. The board goes on the ground.

"Stand on this board here. Do not leave the board until I tell you to. If you pass this test, you are in. Anyone against this test?"

"There are still five days..." Marcy protests. Yes, five days left. But I won't turn back to a troll's form.

"I won't turn back now. Don't worry."

I get close to Helen as if I was going to embrace her. I lean and whisper in her ear, "Call mittens here, tell him to not attack unless attacked."

Helen is surprised, but she complies. Soon the familiar buzzing of the fifteen-foot long mantis can be heard.

"Don't move, Cloude. Don't leave the board or you fail!" I remind him of the rules.

"What is this sound? It sounds like a bug... Waaaa! what is that! A blood mantis! Help!" He jumps out and falls on his butt outside the board, clutching his head with his crossed arms. He is not even with the eyes open. "Save me!"

Mitten's land next to Cloude. It seems Helen is giving him mental orders. Since Cloude is not looking, I give Mittens his sheaths. He taps Cloude's back and the boy steals a peek up. He screams and leaks just a little.

"Can you please think for a while? Aren't these two here the girls you grew up with? Would they let you be hurt? If you are going to work with us are we going to intentionally let you be hurt? We are going to be facing shit way worse than just a blood mantis, no offense, Mittens." I forgot because he can't vocalize, but Mittens also learned the human language skill. "Stand up and steel yourself. If you were to die, you would already be dead."

Mittens replies to me in his own dialect of the monster language, "Tic, none took, mister. I am superior to a mere blood mantis now. I am a, tic, knight to the Lady."

There is one thing that bothers me, "Can you not drool on the boy?" I push him away. I must remember that Mittens is a male bug.

Cloude spends some minutes cowering. I think his concentration is focused on saving his dignity so his consciousness is not getting as much CPU as it should.

But then some coarse children voices can be heard shouting in the human language, as they were taught over the road trip... "Lord Grendel! Over here! We've found you." The rest of the monster squad runs to our location. They have probably followed Mittens, they had no orders to stay behind.

I scold using monster language the gorilla girl that shouted for me, "I'm Beowulf. We talked about that, remember!"

"Sorry!" Another gorilla kid clocks her on the head. "Hey!"

"Now get out of sight. Before this human boy sees you."

The gorillas run and disappear behind a slope. Cloude is still cowering.

"You failed, Cloude. I am sorry, but we can't let you come with us. At least open your eyes."

He asks with a trembling voice without raising his head, "Why was that blood mantis here? They don't live in these parts."

"Of course not. That is one of Helen's pets. She is a tamer now."

He opens his eyes and Mittens is behind Helen, crouched. Helen talks to him, "Cloude, my back is exposed. If Mittens were aggressive, he would kill me now. But he is my friend! Believe me."

Faced with reality, he can only accept it. "Is Helen really a tamer? I thought they were just a tale!"

With the attention, Helen proudly shows off her pets, "And this guy is Emory. He helped me escape the prison."

Emory comes to sniff Cloude. The boy finally relaxes and actually pats the orc skin helmet of the lead rat familiar.

Enough. Time to face the dire truth because I don't want to be late getting home. "Cloude, you won't come with us. We have many many secrets, Helen being a tamer just one of them. I'm going to call in a favor. I saved you from the orcs. Now you are going to keep silent about us."

The guy is so nervous I think he could break down. He looks at me and says, "Fight me! I want to know how tough you are."

I do a real facepalm, "Not again! And I am supposed to be the violent savage one. Why everyone in this world wants to solve things by bashing each other? Fine. Come at me. If you draw a single drop of my blood I'll acknowledge you."

I return his equipment and get my shield and horn spear out. Cloude similarly goes sword and board and comes at me. His skills are not bad. He is almost a master of the sword already. But in a fight against a spear, you need to get inside the spear's reach, this gives me control of the distance. He comes at me, I sidestep. His agility is too low.

I'll try to do the same thing to him that Cedric did to me. Lock his shield and dance. I fail. I think I need to keep pushing him and make he believe he is the one doing the push. Like leading a lady in a dance. No. He almost got me. I had to proc [Full Defense].

Cloude is making angry faces. Dust raises, sweat flies as we do our blade dance. I laugh in excitement. He slashes from above, aiming at my head, I block with the shield and he tries to kick me from my blind spot.

I tumble backward, the spear facing down. Trigger {Whistling Double}. It is in a low position but the spear waves and whistles like an angry snake. I know what an angry snake-lady looks like. You are between her and me, not an envious position.

"I won!" He stops and declares.

"A kick doesn't draw blood. I am not cut." Technicalities. Neither of us will admit but we are fighting for pride. We are fighting for a woman. Zahariel is flustered. He seems to want to talk something. I think the girls are used to see two boys fighting like idiots. They have bored looks.

"Rwaaaag!" He can't speak anymore. He is the rage. He is envy. A red cloude slashes and bashes away with his sword like a mad beast. I block, parry, circle around. The feeling is like a bullfighter. Olé!

I try to lock his shield again, but I fail. I lack the graceful footwork that Cedric had. The fleet foot. I am heavy. Lumbering.

"Firebolt!" Cloude uses magic. I block with the shield and get away from him.

"It is dangerous to use magic with people around. Do you want to hurt someone?" His spell was weak. He is not in a magic job now. "Fine, my turn. {Flash Freeze}!"

Cloude is encased in an ice lattice. It is not a full cover so he won't drown. He struggles inside, but no go. My magic is stronger than his prowess.

His true feelings finally come to light."I hate you!" He spits.

"For what reason? Say it!"

"You stole my woman! Marcy is mine! Mine!" It is one of the 'I saw her first' cases.

"Your woman? Since when? You took her for granted. What did you to earn her affection? You just sat in the sidelines hoping for the next year fall festival matchmaking to just happen and land her in your lap. You never told her your feelings. You never valued her expertise with monsters and the ways of the guild. You never laughed together with her covered in blood on a battlefield. You never even learned her dreams. Tell me, what was Marcy's dream?"

"To work at the guild?" His voice breaks. It was a wild guess. Maybe the Marcy from last summer would have this dream.

"Maybe back then, but it was not 'the' dream. Another question, what is her favorite food? C'mon it is an easy one for someone that grew up with her."

"How should I know, the girl eats anything! How should I know?"

"You could have done the same thing I did. You could've asked her. And actually listened. She isn't your possession. She isn't my possession either. She is my companion."

"That is not fair! You think that just because you are a hero you can have her? And Helen too?"

"It is the other way around. It was because I had them that I became a hero. If it weren't for these girls, Mirfield would be a greenskin heaven. You would be dead. It wasn't me that saved your life. It was Helen and Marcy. But enough of this. You lost. Keep your word and don't talk about our secrets. Dismiss flash freeze."

He still rushes to attack me but a glowing arrow hits the ground in front of him.

A Marcy with a cold gaze has a drawn bow pointed at him. "You heard him. You lost, now get lost. You were not the one that traveled a whole season to find us and give us purpose. If it were not for Beowulf, I'd never set foot again in Mirfield. Fail in your word to keep our secrets and I'll be the one to hate you. Do not dare raise a blade to me or my partner ever again."

Cloude sheaths his weapon and walks back to town.

We leave with a bitter feeling. Cloude could become a good companion. I am sure he would come to understand us. It is over now. I hope our paths don't cross again. Because next time, we won't walk our separate ways with only our hearts hurt.

Chapter end.

Just for reference, Here is Cloude's status as of this chapter. This is how a guild-raised sword-and-board warrior looks like.

Cloude's Status: Name: Cloude Age: 15 years (fall child) Race: [N/A] Human Current Job: Warrior Adventurer Rank: D Unspent Skill Points: 2 Job History Info [1] Villager: 5 [2] Apprentice Magician: 5 [2] Apprentice Warrior: 10 [3] Warrior: 20

Cloude is aiming to become a magic swordsman, a 4th tier job. It is available at the guild, but only with guild master's approval. Requires warrior 20 and magician 20 among other things.

Stats Points Prowess: 33 (HP: 346) Agility: 20 (Stamina: 40) Magic: 14 (MP: 14) General Skills Armor: 10 Shield: 10 Technique Lore: 1 Fire Magic: 5 Max HP Increase: 10 HP Recovery: 6 Earth Magic: 5 Water Magic: 5 Athletics: 3 Stamina Recovery: 3

Cloude's skills were almost all bought using skill points, as the guild's manual says.

Combat Skills Swords: 10 Long Spear: 7 Short Blades: 6 Axe: 5