With my arms wrapped around her, I began to squeeze slightly until my grip was like iron around her ribcage. As she shouted out in pain, I flipped her over and adjusted myself on top of her.

Staring down at her with a serious look, I gritted my teeth. “Now then, I think we need to have a chat, Isanna. What game are you playing and why? I know this has all been an act.”

She threw me an innocent look, as if I’d hurt her feelings by asking such a question. Not believing it for a minute, I continued to stare down at the girl pinned below me.

As I ran the fingers of left hand up and down her neck, I kept my eyes locked on hers and waited. Giving me a panicked look, like I had betrayed her trust, she began to strain her body against mine before giving up at the strength difference.

Limp beneath me, she looked like she was resigned to her fate until I saw irritation flare in her eyes. Finally, her act shattered and she sighed. “Fine. And we were just getting to the good part too…”

Looking me in the eyes, I saw her usual warmth be replaced with a colder gaze. “Okay, you got me. What tipped you off? I thought I was playing ‘infatuated girl’ quite well. It wasn’t hard given how charming you are, almost lost myself in it once or twice.”

“It was too easy, too instant. You didn’t build up to any of it, you latched onto me from the beginning and kept amping up the relationship. As much as I wanted to believe it, especially given how you look, I just couldn’t help but feel something was off. I want the details, now.”

Sighing louder, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself close enough to whisper in my ear. Instead, she nibbled on my earlobe a bit and then went back to laying prone beneath me. “Fine. I guess I overplayed it a bit. My uncle wanted me to get close to you and stay there until you succeed in becoming someone notable.”

As she ran her hands down my chest, I tried not to react but felt myself shiver slightly. This position was extremely compromising for my integrity.

“I’m not supposed to reveal who he is, but you could already probably guess. He figured my luck was better being tied to you than it was staying in the middle of nowhere. After the last two weeks, I’d have to agree. You’re the image of a knight, Rose. Trust me, it wasn’t all an act.”

“That’s all? You just wanted to ride me to a better future for yourself?” I never noticed it before, but her facial features reminded me vaguely of the administrator when I looked for it. It made sense.

“Yes, Rose. I’m not here to kill you or anything, although I doubt I even could. I literally just wanted to ride you to success. Still do, actually.”

“Well, I guess I can’t blame you for that much. I’d probably do the same in your shoes. In a world like ours, any advantage should be found and used…” Realizing I was still holding her against the bed forcefully, I pulled back as I felt my face flush.

With that, her devious smile returned as she wrapped her arms around my neck again and brought her face close to mine. As she pressed herself against me, I realized she was still intent on making more of tonight even after all of that.

After a moment of consideration, and figuring I had nothing to lose, I leaned into her embrace, gently pulled her close, and the night melted away beneath us.

bloody divider [https://i.imgur.com/yTIGwtI.png]

The next morning, I woke up with my arms wrapped around something warm. Opening my eyes, my eyes lingered on the girl in front of me and I remembered last night. Cracking a grin, I laid there for awhile until she finally stirred.

With both of us awake, we set about washing up, getting dressed, and heading out into the city. Today we planned to get breakfast, join the caravan training in the afternoon, and then finish exploring the city in the evening before retiring for our last night of peace. The bed had been divine, so I was looking forward to another night on it.

As we made our way through town, arms locked together, our stomachs led the way as we made our way through the morning crowd. We were headed towards a cafe we had heard serves good breakfast and better sweets. Isanna was apparently a die-hard sugar-tooth and I wasn’t much better myself.

As the morning flew by, before we knew it we had full bellies and were standing in front a large field the caravan had converted into resting and training grounds. Around the outside of the field our peers were running laps, and the caravan leader was standing in the center of a large open area with an unamused look on his face.

Approaching the man, he looked us up and down before shaking his head. “Finally showed up for training, eh? Join the rest for laps until I tell you to stop.”

Letting go of her arm, we both did some stretches before racing off to join our peers. We had done laps a few times when camping on the way to this city, so this was nothing new.

Joining the flood of our half-dead peers as they tried to keep running around the field, we found someone going at a moderately fast pace and joined them. Looking at most of the other runners we were passing, I began to wonder how long they’d been at this — they seemed to barely be holding on.

The runner we joined seemed to be totally fine, he seemed to barely be sweating. With medium-length black hair and blue eyes, I was surprised I hadn’t noticed him before. He must’ve been in one of the other carriages on the way here.

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Keeping pace with him, we made circuit after circuit around the field as none of us wavered and a few other runners joined us. After this many laps, it seemed like the two of them were used to this kind of exercise — but for me I had a cheat keeping me going: Regeneration. It kept my muscles from growing too sore unless I pushed too hard, so I could probably keep at this for days.

It wasn’t fair, but I’d take any advantage I could get over the other conscripts we were passing who looked like zombies. Shivering slightly at the thought of my previous stamina, I picked up the pace and tried not to focus on them.

An eternity later, the caravan leader’s voice finally broke through the field. “Alright, you’re all done with laps. Circle up.”

As we finished our lap, we broke off as a group towards the center. Slowing down to get a good look at the collection of runners we’d formed, there were eleven of us in total. I hadn’t even realized there were so many of us since I had been at the front of the group with the black-haired boy.

Committing their faces to memory, I made a mental note to keep an eye on all nine them. I still had two more seats to fill on my leadership ticket, assuming I still picked Isanna for the first seat. That was up for debate, we still hadn’t finished talking about what she told me last night.

Speak of the devil. “Nice pace out there, Rose.” She said, slapping my back and walking past me towards the caravan leader. Rolling my eyes, I glanced around one last time at the other runners before following after her.

Once we arrived at the caravan leader, we waited as the rest of the runners dragged themselves over. By the time everyone arrived, the caravan leader looked even less amused than before.

“Good, you’re all in one piece. For most of you, that was a poor showing. Those who can barely walk now, you’re dismissed from the next exercise. The rest of you who still feel up to the task, grab one of these practice swords,” He gestured at a crate next to him. “and form a squad of threes. Today’s the first day of real combat training for you weeds.”

Once we all had swords in-hand, we paired off like we were asked. I ended up with the silver-haired girl, as expected, but I also decided to call out to the black-haired boy from before. “Huh, me? Sure, I don’t really know anyone here. I’m Esai.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Roik and this is Isanna.”

“Nice to meet you both. Thanks for the squad invite.” With that, Esai bowed slightly and stood next to us as we waited for further instructions.

A few minutes later, everyone was paired up and the leader continued. “Okay, now in your groups of three start sparring with one member serving as the referee. Head and neck shots are considered fatal, the match is over when one can strike one of those. When someone loses, the referee and that person switch. The winner stays in until they lose. Now, scatter.”

As we walked a distance away, I spoke up. “Alright, I think I should take referee first.”

“Doesn’t bother me, Rose.”

“I’m fine with that too. I’m not very good with a sword, but I’ll do my best.”

With Esai’s declaration, an evil look broke across the girl's face. Shaking my head, I waited as they got into position. “Andd… go!”

In a fluid movement, Isanna closed the gap and swung at Esai’s neck from an angle. In a panic, Esai clumsily blocked while jumping backwards and almost lost his grip on his practice sword. This didn’t look great for Esai so far.

Not willing to let the chance go, she closed the gap and swung towards his chest as he tried to block. In a second, Esai fell to his left knee while kicking out with his right foot. As his sword blocked the strike which was now heading towards his face, he unbalanced Isanna and sent her sprawling. After knocking away her sword, with a downward movement he connected his blade gently with her neck.

“That’s match, right?” He cracked a light grin at me.

“Yeah, yeah. I concede.” She rolled to her feet and stood next to me, gesturing for me to take her previous spot. Grinning at her, I took my spot across from Esai.

“Not the best with a sword, but some good other moves. I look forward to our match.”

“Me too, you need to avenge your woman afterall.” He threw a grin at Isanna, then back at me.

“She’s her own woman, but I suppose I can’t allow a maiden’s honor to be tainted with such a defeat.”

She groaned at that and shouted. “Alright, idiots. GO!”

With those words, I readied my sword and waited to see what Esai would do. Circling around our makeshift arena, neither one of us moved closer to the center as we held our ground.

Taking a step forward, I tempted a reaction from him — and got nothing. Stepping closer, I readied myself. When he didn’t move yet again, I triggered War Leap and threw myself at him. If he wouldn’t come to me, I’d go to him.

In a flash, I was flying at him and knocked the sword from his hand. Less than a second later, my blade rested against his Adam's apple. “Match?”

With a weird look on his face, he looked at me, then at his sword on the ground, and then back at me. “What in the?”

“Nice going, Rose. That’s your match.” She cut in.

“You’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeve.” I said, grinning at his surprise.

The rest of the afternoon continued like that, them trying to beat me and failing. Both of them came close more than a few times, but my bag of tricks didn’t fail me. It was kinda cheating, but does fairness really matter in war? Though, I could tell in a fair match they'd both still give me a run for my money.

As the day wound down, we invited Esai to dinner with us and he accepted. As a party we left the other conscripts behind and headed into the town proper, towards the restaurant we had picked out for that night.

With that, the night turned into a lively experience between the three of us — eating, drinking, and chatting about ourselves. Isanna was the most interesting of us, having been trained in various professions since she was a kid. War was new to her, but she had a lot of skills in her bag of tricks.

Esai and I were the same though, in the ways that mattered at least. Born to low-commoner families scraping by in the lower caste. Nothing special about our lives, aside from his dad teaching him basic martial arts to keep his safe on the streets. Apparently his dad had been a low-ranking adventurer in his youth, but had to retire due to an injury before he achieved anything of note.

It wasn’t an uncommon story, but it was a sad one in this nation nonetheless. People with career potential having it cut short and relegating their lives to working any jobs they had to in order to get by. My parents weren’t any better, it was why I worked so hard to become a tradesman. Not that any of that mattered now.

As the night passed in a blur, before we knew it it was time to retire. We wished Esai a good night before he headed back to the caravan for the night, then we returned to our room.

With that, the curtains closed on the 2nd day in Mezkio. Tomorrow we’d be setting off back on the road again, but for tonight I wrapped my arms around the girl in front of me and let everything fade into the background.