“Here.” I said, as I pushed a small wooden figurine into Emeri’s hands. Her eyes went wide, and she turned the little statue around to take a better look. After a moment of silence, her cheeks turned red and she finally responded.

“Why did you…?” she asked, fixing her eyes on mine.

Suddenly feeling slightly embarrassed, I hurriedly cleared up her confusion. “It’s an apology gift. The things I said during our duel are not what I truly believe. I only said them to infuriate you.”

She nodded and started looking at her feet, finding them suddenly very interesting.

“Right. Thank you, though it wasn’t necessary.” She replied formally. “I already figured that was why you said those things back then. Still, they were rather hurtful. Please do not repeat them in any context.” She asked, to which I nodded in response.

A rather graceful way to accept my apology, I thought. If someone had insulted my father, things wouldn’t have ended so simply.

She took another look at my gift, inspecting it from every angle, before seeming to realise what it actually was for the first time. She turned red again, from embarrassment, I supposed.

“That being said, how did you even make this? And why give me a statue of myself?” she asked.

Now it was my turn to redden.

“I, uh…, had a woodworker make it based on an image I projected with mana. As for why I gave it to you… it seemed like a good idea at the time?” I explained, rubbing the back of my head with a forced smile.

She seemed perplexed for a moment, before breaking down into a fit of giggles a moment later, which turned into full-blown laughter. Her laugh was infectious and before long I was chuckling as well. This had been a rather awkward situation, after all.

-Scene transition-

A few days later, Emeri and I had decided to take off. We’d spent long enough catching up with my family, and the haunted look on Emeri’s face told me she was growing weary of facing my mom in honorable combat.

The past few days I had been going around and showing her my favourite spots in and around town, which turned out to be, for the most part, my training spots. Emeri had seemed impressed at my routine as a teenager, though not surprised. Perhaps she, too, had chosen to undergo a gruelling training schedule as a child.

Apart from a few mediocre vistas, my tour had been mostly uneventful. Strangely, Emeri had shared awfully little about herself during the time we had spent together, but I could understand her reluctance to open up. We’d only loosened the tension between each other a few days ago, after all.

When the time came to choose a destination for our journey, we eventually decided on a destination. We would be heading to the most southern city of Alterian, the country to the south of Roa. Altus was not only the most southern city on the continent, but it also acted as the capital of the theocratic empire Alterian. The headquarters of the church of Helios was also firmly nestled in a valley right outside the city, which was the main reason why Emeri wanted to go there.

Apparently, various shrines dedicated to Helios were spread across the nation, which acted as beacons for a pilgrimage. Our goal was to make the pilgrimage to Altus, for no reason other than our own ‘want’ to go there. It felt exciting to go somewhere just to explore, for once.

Unfortunately, there was a reason why the Alterians were so secluded in their nation. That was because the northern part of the country was covered in a large tropical forest, which to us Roan natives was known simply as ‘the dark forest’. Creative, I know.

Further south from the forest lays a desert known as Caltian’s scorch, because as the legends told it, the desert was a product of a dragon’s breath. A dragon called Caltian, apparently.

In other words, we would have to cross the dark forest and Caltian’s scorch before we even got to the start of the pilgrim’s road. For that reason, we intended to stock up on potions and alchemical pills at the border, so we had enough provisions for the journey.

Having made our decision, I thought that our departure from Roa would be the easiest part of the journey. I turned out to be dead-wrong, however.

“Absolutely not, young man! Over my dead body!” mom screamed, while threateningly waving her dough roller at us.

I sighed. “It’s not like you can stop us from going, mom. Regardless, we’ll be fine! We both have healing skills, so neither the heat nor the insects will be able to do a thing to us.” I explained, before turning to Emeri. “You do have a healing skill, right?” I whispered quietly. Imperceptibly, she shook her head.

Thankfully mom, in all of her rage, didn’t notice.

“You think I care?! Arthur, those zealots will skin you alive once they find out what you are!” she replied.

“No they won’t, ma. First of all, they know they can’t, not without risking the ire of Roa. Secondly, they can’t stop me from escaping if need be.”

“So you plan to escape and leave poor Emeri all by herself, do you? So they can take it out on her instead? She’ll be branded a traitor in a heartbeat!” mom clapped back. Hearing this, Emeri froze for a moment.

“Listen, the decision has been made. Whether you like it or not, we’re going to Alterian. That being said, why are you so pessimistic about Alterian?” I asked, to which my mom just sighed and put a hand on her head.

“Just… just be careful, alright.” She asked.

I nodded. “Of course. I’ll be back home before you know it, just you wait.”

-Scene transition-

Ruita was a small border-city near the dark forest. We had been travelling for about a week atop Revan, who’d happily accepted carrying a second person. Emeri apparently had a summon too, but she’d explained that it wasn’t big enough for her to ride it yet. For now, she was stuck sitting on Revan’s bony back.

Entering the city had been easy enough, and before long we had all of the supplies we needed. We had even bought some pills that were supposed to cure various poisons and venoms that appeared in the dark forest, which had cost us a pretty penny. Thank Helios for my tournament winnings.

Unfortunately, as we got to our high-class accommodations, we ran into some trouble. The place I had been advised to visit by one of Rolla’s wealthier merchants was a large, stone building with wide halls and tall rooves. The inn was decorated with old wooden ornaments, which made the place seem warm and cosy, even though a giant could fit through its doors without kneeling.

“What do you mean our room isn’t available? I thought I’d sent you a letter to reserve one five days ago!” I complained. Since we were about to head away from civilisation for a while, I had decided to book a two-bedroom suite in an expensive inn in advance. I’d never been in one of these, so I had been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, our room had apparently disappeared overnight…

“I’m sorry, sir.” The lady on the other side of the room explained. “We got your letter and confirmed your reservation, but it seems we made a mistake. No room was available after all. We’re fully booked for tonight.”

I sighed. There was no point in accosting this random lady, this had nothing to do with her, so I let it go.

“One more night in a tent won’t hurt.” Emeri comforted me with a small smile.

I could only muster a half-hearted smile in response, though.

Just as we were about to leave the luxurious inn we had hoped to stay the night in, an obnoxious voice resounded behind us.

“What do we have here…” the newcomer said. “A pretty lady, accompanied by a barber-fearing brute?”

“Huh?” I asked, surprised. Both of us turned around, only to find a large youngster staring back at us. He seemed about my age, and from what I could tell, he enjoyed food just a little too much. As in, he was being carried by four Sure, my hair was getting pretty long, but why did this fucker care? “Why don’t you mind your own business, fatass.” I growled back. Now, I’m not usually one to insult others for their body shape, but with frustration mounting up, a single comment sent me off the edge. Thankfully, any guilt I might have felt over my outburst quickly evaporated the moment mr. annoying opened his mouth.

“Why don’t you go crawl back to the whole you dug your way out of, peasant?! That is, if your undoubtedly terrible sense of direction allows you to find your way back to it.” He retorted shamelessly.

His reply made me snort. At least this fatty had a sense of humor. After a moment, he turned his attention back to Emeri. “That being said, I’m afraid I didn’t stop the two of you simply to admire your beauty, mademoiselle… No, I did so because I require your help. In fact, I believe we can help each other…”

I frowned, no clue what he was getting at. “Why would you even bother requesting two strangers for help?” I asked.

“Ah!” he began, raising a single finger, “Your reputation precedes you, I’m afraid. Why don’t we head up to my room and discuss my proposal? Simply put, in exchange for a single duel I would be able to get you a room in this inn tonight. The best room, even.”

I smiled, though Emeri seemed hesitant. “Now you’re speaking my language! Lead the way.”

The stranger waved his hand at his escorts, who led us upstairs, into a separate sweet, where a banquet had been prepared. Once all three of us were seated, the stranger began.

“I’d offer you a bite to eat out of courtesy, but I’d rather you didn’t touch my food, actually.” He began, unapologetic. Suppressing a chuckle, I prompted him to get to the point. Emeri and I both knew not to eat stranger’s food anyway, since it could be poisoned.

“My name is Everic von Ormbratar elrucideic, second son of the Ormbratar family. Our family belongs to the aristocracy and rules over Ruita and its neighbouring towns and villages.”

Ah, now his behaviour made sense. You could always count on finding a pompous fool or two in any aristocratic family.

With a hand, he gestured towards himself and his rather sizable body.

“As you can see, I don’t like to get my hands dirty. In fact, this is a trait shared by all my family members. As a result, disputes that escalate to force are also handled by proxy, which is where you two come in. I have no idea why two famous tournament finalists have decided to grace our city, nor do I care. All that I need from you two is to act as my proxy in a single duel. In return, I’ll have a room prepared in this inn for you, and grant a single favour besides.” He stated imperiously.

A fight for a room and a favour. Not a bad deal at first glance, though I would have to test how far that favour could be stretched.

“Could you get us a map of the dark forest?” I asked without breaking eye contact.