Day 3, 11:30 AM

“Homo homini lupus est.”

— Latin Proverb

We reach a familiar stream. I think I washed my wounds here before.

“Let’s drink and refill the canteen, then I need to clean up. I understand you are a maiden, but I need to rid myself of this blood, otherwise I may attract more predators. Just stay within earshot—”

“I need to clean up too.”

I take a moment to process that, then give her a sideways look. “What?”

“Just look at how dirty I am. Maybe to your male eyes this passes as clean, but I need to freshen up.”

You need to freshen up? Never mind. She really is somewhat dirty. Nothing alarming, though, unless she plans to hit a ball or something in the next half an hour. At least a third of Amplegord’s random pedestrians were dirtier than her. If anything, she would stick out because of her torn clothes.

“All right.” I nod. “Do you want to go first while I keep watch?”

“We are in a hurry. We can wash ourselves with our backs facing each other.”

“But you’re a noble lady.” She folds her arms and stares at me.

“I told you to stop mentioning that silly joke, Mystery man. My name is Leandra.” She’s smirking.

Wait. She wasn’t angry when she slapped me with that handkerchief? Was she amused? Is she pulling my leg now? I have no idea. Women are a mystery.

I clear my throat. “What I meant is that you are a lady of high status and class, esteemed.”

She nods, a satisfied smile blooming on her face. She can’t be flirting with me right now?

“You are my principal.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.” The smile grows wider. “But we should drink, wash up quickly, and get going.”

I stare at her for another moment before nodding.

“All right.”

We do everything in order, and I’m the perfect gentleman every step of the way. I don’t even glance towards her, let alone take a peek. After Manuella, I’ve lost interest.

Another thing that changed this time round, I didn’t make the superhuman loincloth. To be honest, I have no idea what passed through my head and possessed me to make it the first time. Did I fear a squirrel might jump and bite my nuts?

Anyway, I save myself some amateur handicraft and embarrassment, and we keep going for a few more hours before we make the lunch break.

“You have quite the appetite,” she says, watching me devour the fifth chunk of meat.

“I do. I need the meat to heal, and it’s better to eat it while it’s fresh. It will taste pretty bad in four or five days. I’m also foraging for edible plants along the way, we should have enough to last us a week.”

“By the way, I solved the mystery of your dull razor.”

I raise my eyebrow, and she continues. “You’re using it to dig up wild collak roots. Of course it’s going to grow dull after a month or so.”

That makes an odd kind of sense, but I don’t think the bandit was using it to harvest the lumpy cross between potatoes, beats, and onions.

We keep going and along the way I pluck several plants, increasing our stock for dinner and for when we run out of wolf meat. About an hour before sundown, I spot the tall stump where bandits have made camp.

“We have about an hour before dark,” I say. “Would you like us to find some shelter, or do we spend the night out in the open, like last night?”

She takes a moment to answer, but says the same thing as last time.

“Let’s find a shelter,” I note the concern in her voice, and I hold back a relieved sigh.

“Agreed.” I realize tiny things are changing for no reason at all. Like my different decisions and word choices are random drops, spreading ripples throughout the timeline.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Why did she trip last night? Was it because she ate an extra meal, and the bark gave way. Did she step on a different spot, and that one was weaker? There are millions of potential reasons why and how it happened, and I’m worried some important things would change for trivial reasons beyond my control.

But that is not bad. I don’t want to replay my past life. That’s impossible. All I want is to escape with Manuella and see her to safety.

Leandra finds the shelter this time, mainly because I was looking the other way. We approach it and check it out. Just like last time, there’s a fire pit full of fresh ashes. I look carefully, and this time I spot the faint prints the bandits have made.

They raked over the ground with a branch or something.

Leandra pales, but I shrug with an ‘it’ll be OK’ grin.

“We have already exposed ourselves. It’s not your fault.”

I go over and examine the site more closely, finding it identical to last time. So, events play out the same, if I have no influence over them. I hope.

“Whoever they were, they are long gone.” I turn around, and see she’s still just as jittery. “We could stay here or keep searching. What do you think?”

She bites her lip again and stares at me.

“What do you think?”

Another change.

“If wolves attack again, you can hide inside, and we can light a fire to keep them away. Beasts won’t bother us here. The only problem could be humans, but it’s very difficult for anyone to see our tiny fire, unless they are really close to us.” I shrug again. “I don’t know. I’d stay here, we can’t be so unlucky that a whole squad of bandits decides to come here, and enjoy a place that’s obviously only for one or two sleepers.”

She’s staring at me.

“I would stay here,” I say again, this time more confident.

“Then we will stay here.”

“We can eat, and I can start a fire later. Hopefully, I manage to light it before dark.”

She gives me a smirk I can’t really read.

“I promise the fire will be ready before the wolves arrive.” I grin back at her, and her lip twists.

“You know you jinxed us twice already,” she says, and I get to work.

“No sign of ‘er today either.” A male voice interrupts me rubbing wood against wood, and I turn around, meeting Leandra’s terrified gaze.

I place my finger on my lips, but there’s no need for that. She’s paralyzed with fear.

If only you had a bowman with you. For a moment, I regret that these mercenaries don’t have a Robin Hood with them. I could have leveled up again if they did.

“You know our luck, Tusk. There’s no way we find her. Boss said whoever gets her can have their fun with her, and they keep her coin purse. Anything goes, as long as we bring her head back.”

I shift my weight, ready to hop up like a frog at them. I’m not using a club this time. Last time was way too lucky, and since I know things don’t repeat perfectly, better not to take a chance on lucky stars aligning again.

I see a leg through the bushes, and at the last possible moment I change my plan. I grab the leg and pull the man down. He hits the ground hard, and the other two burst into laughter. I use the distraction to jump.

I plant the heel of my palm into the root of a bandit’s jaw. There’s a crack, and I know he’s dead. The one on the ground hit his head hard and should be dazed, while the one laughing stops laughing and reaches for his sword. I grab his wrist with my left and punch him in the throat, and he goes down.

“Safe,” I say after finishing off the one whose wind I knocked out when I tripped him.

“I’m unharmed, and I didn’t draw any blood. I can drag them away from here, and we could still take shelter here. Or we could move along? What do you think?”

“We’re leaving. The wolves are coming next.” Her voice trembles as she speaks, yet she has the presence of mind to joke.

Her eyes are wide and her hands are trembling.

Shock. I can imagine how she would react if two of the bodies were bloody messes like last time.

“Sure. I just have to get myself some new clothes and check whether they carried anything useful.”

It takes ten minutes to put on the decent forester clothes, the same ones I looted from the bandits the first time I killed them. I carry two swords, and Leandra has one. I feed my handy sack some utilities and eleven copper plows, and it even gets a twin full of food. Enough to last us three to four days.

We walk for a quarter of an hour before night falls, and I start a fire with my newly acquired flint and tinder.

“I can cook dinner, and the fire will keep the inevitable wolves at bay—”

“Stop jinxing us,” she hisses. “Are you having fun, drawing calamity to us?”

“You don’t really believe that?” I cock a brow. I thought she was joking when I killed the bandits. “You do know we will inevitably run into a river of wine in this forest?”

She scrunches her brows in confusion.

“If I could really summon things just by speaking, then I want wine, food, and gold. Come, shower me with them, world.”

Nothing happens. The world is not impressed. Neither is she.

“See? Now, do you want some baked collak, or do you want to go to sleep early?”

We share three collaks half an hour later, and she goes to sleep. I struggle to stay awake, but also doze off, happy I rid myself of the wounded status.

I wake up early. The embers are still glowing in the fire pit, and it’s blessedly warm.

Bedroll and blankets, I add to my mental list of things Manuella and I will need on our escape. Soon enough, I will hit the limit of what a household can hold, let alone a backpack.

I get up, check my wounds, and do my stretches. I pop my neck, startling Leandra awake.

“Sorry,” I smile, and she smiles back.

“Is it time to leave?”

“You can sleep a bit more. But we should have breakfast soon, and head out. Those bandits could have had friends, and those friends may start searching for us sooner than we would like.”

She stares at me for a long moment, her eyes still drowsy. Suddenly, her dreamy eyes widen, and she jumps up.

“We should eat and leave as soon as possible.”

I stare at her, trying to understand her dramatic change, and she seems to understand my confusion.

“You just jinxed us again!”