During this past month, Orion and Amelia continued training daily. When they were inside the dragons' territory, they never stopped.

Every day was for improving. But today was different. After a day that seemed unbearably long, they had enough.

Without resting their mind, training would only give unsuccessful results.

Since this was a day for resting, something unusual for both of them, they were left doing essentially nothing.

After having a good night of sleep, it was now early in the morning.

Orion was sitting on the bed, his back against the wall, while reading one of his books inside a room of the manor.

On the other side of the wall, Amelia was lying down on her bed, watching the ceiling with no particular thought crossing her mind.

A day like this never happened before.

Anyone would expect these two to finally enjoy a day without anything happening, but for them, who were used to exercise daily, this moment of peace was boring.

It was around noon, when Orion was about to finish his book.

*Knock*

Someone knocked on the door. He slid out of the bed and walked toward the door to open it.

"Yes? Who is it? Oh-"

As he opened the door, someone he wasn't expecting forced her way inside.

"Nice room, but isn't it a bit too choking in here?"

"Well, if it isn't Karteira? What can I do for you?"

After closing the door, he approached the table at the center of the room, and presented her a chair.

"Have a seat. Seeing your expression, it's not going to be quick."

She took the chair, and sat down in an uncomfortable posture.

"Well, you're right about that. I wanted to remind you about our spar."

"Listen, the moment I saw you and your friend, something sparked in me. You two are bound to be great fighters, and I want to feel it in a fight!"

A faint smile appeared on his face.

'The moment I realized she was a battle addict, I was certain she would be back soon.'

Something attracted his gaze, the swaying scorpion tail of Karteira.

As she was sitting sideways on her chair, he realized chairs were not meant to be for Karteira.

Indeed, the tail was pretty large, standing straight up high above her shoulders.

It had a few clothes around the segments, maybe to avoid injuring these areas. Her tail was pretty thick, taking around half of her back's width at the base.

"You like what you see? I can let you touch it if you'd like?"

Looking away in a swift way, a bead of sweat dripped from his face.

'I messed up, I was too focused on it that she noticed me staring.'

To avoid making it even more awkward, he shook his head.

"I will have to refuse. I was simply wondering why you were having trouble sitting, and then I understood after looking at your tail. This is a hindrance in everything apart from fighting, isn't it?"

He did his best to avoid the previous questions.

"You have no idea! I can't do much at home, I can't move without bumping into something or someone, and I can't sleep on my back! Do you know how troublesome that is?"

"Most of the others have wings, pincers, or antennas. I'm the only one with a tail this... this... stupidly thick! It's thicker than my thighs!"

Karteira gritted her teeth in frustration while pointing at her legs.

'I've stepped on a trap, haven't I? This conversation is bad!'

A terribly sensitive topic as your very first friendly interaction? Orion was the best at it.

"But you are still proud of it, right? I can imagine it piercing your enemies with it."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He tried deflecting the subject as much as he could.

"Actually, I had to train it to not be a burden in fights. At first, it was weak and impossible to move without causing pain, but now I'm able to move it with great flexibility."

She touched her tail over her right shoulder.

"The base is still a weak point, though, I can't do anything about that."

"Why are you telling me your weaknesses? I'm not exactly your ally right now."

Karteira shook the idea away with her hand.

"Don't bother with that, if you were my enemy, I would have sensed it, and you wouldn't have missed a chance to strike at the Queens yesterday."

Orion frowned while crossing his arms.

"I'm not satisfied by that answer, but fine. If you think I'm not a threat, then there's nothing for me to say about it."

"So, what did you want to say about our 'spar'? You came looking for me for that reason, right?"

Exhilaration showed on her face, as a grin replaced her neutral expression.

"Damn right! I had to ask the Queens for a fight against you two, and I received the authorization."

Her expression suddenly darkened, as she touched the tips of her index fingers together.

"That is, only if you accept. I heard you were pretty exhausted, so I came to say that the moment you feel like it, you could come fight me."

The conflict between Karteira being a nice person, and her trait as a battle addict made Orion appreciate her.

'Fair enough, she has the decency to wait for me to be in better shape instead of forcing me to fight. She might not be so bad, after all.'

Feeling his warm gaze on her, she tilted her head.

"What? There's something on my face? Why are you smiling like that?"

"Nothing really, I'm just beginning to understand who you are."

Confused, she nodded.

"Oh... is that a good thing? I don't know you enough to say the same about you, though."

They made eye contact for a few seconds, and led to Orion to make his choice.

"Well, you will most likely understand me when I'll come to fight you in a few days."

"So you agree to the fight?"

Standing abruptly, she joyfully slammed her hands on the table and stared straight in his eyes.

"I'll be waiting! You can find me near the entrance of the Realm Connector. We'll fight in the arena next to it, as it can withstand quite the beating."

With a nod, Orion focused on another matter.

'I can use her to measure Amelia's aptitude, too. I refuse to bring her with me this time, and I have to explain everything too. I guess I'll pay her a visit later.'

Once his thoughts were clear, he agreed to fight her.

"I understand, we'll come to you when we're ready."

Karteira walked away from her seat, and moved toward the door with a beaming smile on her face, seemingly satisfied about this visit.

'I was also quite excited about fighting her when we arrived in this place. There are still plenty of pent-up emotions I need to release.'

As he stood up from his chair and went to open the door for his guest, Karteira spoke.

"Rest well and prepare correctly, I won't go easy against either of you. I am not the strongest of our faction for nothing."

"I thought the Queens were already exceptionally capable with their speed, but if you are stronger, then it is promising."

"Then there's nothing left to say, I'm leaving now."

Karteira opened the door herself, and walked out of the room.

"Take care on your way."

Karteira closed the door behind her, leaving Orion by himself to think about what they discussed.

...

Amelia left her room before noon to cook for Orion and her, and was currently moving toward his room.

With a tray in her hands, she was carrying two big plates of salads and cooked meat slices. She wanted to eat with Orion, as it was stressing her not seeing him for so long.

When she approached the room he stayed in, she saw Karteira leave the room.

She didn't know how to react to this situation. Someone besides her, another woman, walked out of his room.

While conflicted by an emotion she was never aware of, Karteira noticed her and approached Amelia.

"Hi, you are the other guest that came yesterday, right? What was your name again? Amelie? Emilia?"

"Close, but not quite. I'm Amelia, nice to meet you, Karteira."

She didn't expect this woman to come and chat with her.

"I'm sorry, I've never been good with names. I went inside to speak with your friend, but since I couldn't remember his name, I avoided using it. Pretty sad, isn't it?"

At that moment, Amelia realized who she had in front of her. It was that battle addict.

So why would she have to be jealous of her coming out of Orion's room? There was no way someone could take her place next to him.

In the end, she decided to relax, and exchange with the fairy.

"It's not sad, there's always a thing or two we are not great at. Was I supposed to make fun of you?"

"You... are actually nice. I would have expected either of you to judge me like everyone does, but neither of you did that, which is honestly surprising."

Amelia felt a tinge of sadness between her words.

"We've been to a few places, and we know how different each person is to the other. We are strange too for that matter."

Falling into deep thoughts, she thought about her progress and about Orion.

'We are technically absurd people with absurd powers. But we have our flaws too. Orion can't do anything apart from hurting himself each time he trains.'

'Even I'm getting better with my elements, while he's still struggling to use his.'

A frown appeared on her face, recalling his anger from the day before.

'Now I'm intrigued about what he said yesterday about that place he refuses to send me to.'

While thinking about that, Karteira looked back to where she came from.

"Your friend, he agreed to have a battle with me. He said that he will come find me when he is ready."

An expression of worry showed on Karteira, as she turned back to Amelia.

"He might have a lot on his plate because he looked quite exhausted. His gaze looked a bit off, too, compared to when you entered the realm."

"He did? It's not surprising he accepted, he likes to fight and improve himself."

Thinking about a fight against Orion, she couldn't bring herself not to tell Karteira about the dangers of fighting him.

"Just a friendly advice, if you want to walk away uninjured, bring good protection, and try not to blink too much, or you'll be in for a bad time."

She ignored the part where Orion was not feeling great and instead gave Karteira some advice.

"I'll accept that advice. I wish to enjoy the fight as much as I can, so letting it end quickly is not in my interest."

Looking at the plate of food in Amelia's hands, Karteira frowned.

"Well, I see you have brought meals, maybe I should eat too."

As she spoke those words, a loud growl escaped her stomach.

Amelia laughed at the sudden cry for food coming from her stomach.

"Aaah, I didn't mean to let you hear that. I hope you enjoy your meal, I'm going to have mine right now."

Karteira hurriedly walked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Enjoy your meal too, take care on your way."

After saying goodbye, she walked to Orion's room, and knocked with her left foot.

But when Orion opened the door, she saw him in the worst state she could have ever envisioned.