Seeing that my master was not inclined to comment on my impromptu duel with Jomyril, at least not publicly, I decided to speak with Captain Maisen instead. After all, I had a number of questions that only she could answer. I saw that she was watching my vanquished opponent struggling to find his mental bearings in order to get up.

The proud man probably realized that the longer he sat on the ground, the more damage that the onlookers will think that I had caused the man. After all, they had no idea how much damage I had inflicted on Jomyril directly. Thus, they can only infer the damage from the aftermath of the fight, and how fast the downed opponent could recover from his injuries. In other words, the longer Jomyril remained on the ground, the better he was making me look.

Right now, there were only three people who knew that I pulled a huge critical hit to end this fight: me, him, and Kalistra, who was still partied with me and therefore, had access to my pop-up messages from the fight. However, I was mindful of the fact that Lady Luck's divine blessing was active, and it probably influenced the fight in my favor, particularly with that weird action sequence at the end of our fight. Therefore, I couldn't fully take credit for this win even if the onlookers thought otherwise. "Is he okay?" I asked the captain quietly.

"That depends," Maisen replied and looked at me. "Did you use some special move on him?"

"You mean to end the fight?" I asked.

The captain nodded.

"Yes and no. For some odd reason, the game required me to make a dexterity saving throw right at the moment when I began my counterattack against his kick to my back," I explained.

Maisen's eyebrows rose. It was unusual for a saving throw to be required during combat, especially in a friendly duel. Even during her life-and-death struggle in the wererats' lair, she didn't need to make any saving throws.

I shrugged. From her surprised expression, it appeared that this experienced fighter also had no explanation for the saving throw. "Back in my home world, we have many sports for recreational purposes and one of them is American football. There is one game ball, and the purpose is to bring the ball over to the end of the playing field. Each side has the same number of players; one side carries the ball as the offense while the other side tries to prevent the ball from reaching the end of the field as the defense. The moves I had used were from football, and I chose to use such moves because they were considered nonlethal. After all, Jomyril and I are on the same team as Patrolmen and I sought to avoid incurring permanent injury to him," I explained.

The captain pointed at the man still struggling to get up. "Did you succeed?"

I winced at the question. "Unfortunately, his head was knocked to the ground. It was not my intention, but I'm sorry that it had happened. He's probably still feeling woozy because of it," I apologized. Suddenly, I had an idea. I walked over to Kalistra. "Master, do you carry any healing potion? I would like you to give it to Jomyril," I requested. "He apparently suffered a head injury from my hit, and I want him to be cured of this condition," I explained.

Maisen whistled at the generous request.

The cat girl looked at me for a moment with a neutral expression and then she nodded. "It's coming out of your platinum coin," she reminded me.

"Yes, I'm aware of it." I tried to put out a brave front, but I winced inwardly at the unexpected additional expense. "It's the honorable thing to do," I pointed out.

My master walked over to Nexholm, who was still tending to the fallen man. She reached into her side pouch that held the precious potions. She pulled out a glass vial with a shiny, golden liquid inside. Wordlessly, she held it in front of the second captain.

Nexholm looked at the potion and pulled up its caption, which read, "Potion of Major Healing." "Are you sure?" he asked while looking up at Kalistra.

She stuck a paw in my direction. "He insists. And since he's paying for it, who am I to argue?" she responded with a shrug.

Captain Nexholm looked at me and bowed deeply in my direction. He took the potion from Kalistra, opened the stopper, and carefully poured the precious content into Jomyril's mouth.

In a few seconds, the potion took effect and the giant man suddenly popped back to his feet. "Oh, I'm feeling great!" he exclaimed. "What did you give me?" he asked the captain.

Nexholm slowly rose back to his feet. "Thank the nobleman. He gave you a Potion of Major Healing."

When Jomyril heard what he had just drunk, his eyes bulged. The potion costs a hundred gold coins, and it was more than he earned as a Watchman in an entire year, even factoring in the bonus pay for manning the northern wall. Still afar, the man turned toward my direction and bowed deeply from the waist.

"What's going on?" the Watchmen gasped out loud when they witnessed the proud Jomyril humbling himself before me. It was one surprise after another today!

Captain Nexholm spoke up before the rumor mill started turning. "Lord Mulligan generously gave our wounded Patrolman a potion of major healing," he announced.

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The Watchmen gasped in unison upon hearing what I did.

Suddenly, I received a notification which read, "+200 Reputation. +400 XP." Huh? I was flabberghasted at this message. Was it really such a big deal that I arranged for Jomyril to be healed completely?

"Lord Mulligan has shown that he is a true friend of ours. And I will be proud to stand with him during his coronation as the next king of Merlin!" the captain proclaimed to thunderous applause.

"King! King! King!" the men chanted.

I felt a hand on my right shoulder. I turned and saw that it was Kalistra.

"It's time to return to the dojo, King Mulligan," the mischievous cat girl said.

"Yes, master!" I replied and started walking southward. As I passed the Patrolmen on the street, they gave me friendly pats on my back and offered, "Good luck in the tournament!"

With a smile plastered on my face, I waved at the adoring commoners continuously until I was finally freed of these people on the next block. I exhaled a deep breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

Kalistra grinned but kept silent.

When I realized that we were alone, I became more relaxed. Suddenly, I thought of my companion and how long she had faced such expectations. "How do you handle it?" I asked.

Kalistra looked me for a moment, her mind lost in the memories of all the harsh lessons of expectations that she was forced to endure throughout her life. She patted my head again. "You just do it," she answered succinctly. A moment later, she generously expanded on her perspective. "When life offers you challenges, your ability to cope and handle them is how you grow as a person. Life is hard in this world but I suspect that life on your home world is equally challenging."

I tried to reciprocate and pet the cat girl on the head but she quickly slapped my hand aside. Kalistra hissed out a warning and walked ahead of me.

I stared at her whiplashing tail as I wondered why I wasn't allowed to pet her when she was doing it to me more frequently lately. A part of me was annoyed at Kalistra for apparently treating me as her pet. Well, at least she didn't cause me any injury and that was something to be thankful for.

The church bell tolled, indicating it was now two in the afternoon. I stopped walking and took a closer look at my surroundings. I mentally conjured my map and saw that I was very close to some of the shops that I needed to visit before I left tomorrow morning. If I went directly to the dojo right now, it was unlikely that Kalistra will allow me to leave the compound again until tomorrow. "Hey, Kalistra!" I yelled since she was already half a block away from me.

My master slowly turned around, annoyance peppered on her feline face. "What is it?" she asked in a calm tone of voice.

"Can I run a few errands before we go back?" I requested politely.

The cat girl retraced her steps until she stood in front of me. "Tell me what you need to do," she ordered.

Why was Kalistra being so nosy now? Nonetheless, I obeyed her and slowly ticked off my mental checklist. "I need supplies for the trip, especially food and a backpack. I need some clothes, maybe a traveler's cloak to ward off the evening chills and footwear better than these nobleman's shoes I'm wearing now for the road. I also need to visit Roen's Sign Maker Shop."

"Why would you need to visit the half-elf?" she persisted with her questioning.

"It's a Church-related mission," I said succinctly.

Kalistra waited for me to continue, but I kept my mouth shut. We simply stared at each other in silence until she finally nodded in acceptance; there were rumors amongst the lowborn regarding less than holy activities that the Church sanctioned. Perhaps, it was best that Kalistra was kept unaware of what task the Church had assigned her pupil, even though she had the right, as my master, to demand the truth.

The cat girl finally opened her mouth and talked. "I've assigned Gendun to help procure your traveling provisions and clothes. I supposed a nobleman like yourself would prefer custom-fitted clothes, but that would take at least a week and we obviously don't have the time. So, we'll go visit the sign maker and then return to the dojo," she decided. Without waiting for my response, she turned and continued walking down the street.

I sighed. Didn't I get a say in this? Apparently not. Seeing the way Kalistra's tail dangled in the air, I realized that she was in a better mood now. Perhaps she was a control freak and enjoyed telling me, "no." I shook my head. I was stuck with her until we return from the Melee Tournament. Having the fickle cat girl in a good mood would ease the trip tomorrow. After all, who else was I traveling with besides Kalistra?

I hurried up the block until I was walking to her right. I was fortunate that my master didn't race down the street on all four again. And I couldn't understand why she didn't do so if she was so anxious to return to the dojo. But now was a good time to ask Kalistra a few questions. "Master, why did you allow me to fight with Jomyril?" I asked.

Suddenly, her tail whiplashed and hit my arm. "It took you long enough to ask this question, Lawrence!" Kalistra scolded me and shook her head. However, she continued to walk and I kept pace with her. "Why do you think I wanted you to fight him?" she asked me.

"Well, he was harassing you," I pointed out.

"I hope you're not suggesting I'm really that petty!" she hissed.

I quickly held up my hands. "Oh, no! Of course not! Hahaha!" I tried to dismiss the suggestion, even though it was what I really thought was the reason for my fight with Jomyril. Thank the gods that Kalistra couldn't read my mind. I felt a tingling sensation from my brand and ignored it. "You wanted me to get some more fighting experience," I said.

Abruptly, Kalistra stopped and I walked right past her. I turned around to face my master.

"Listen closely, Lawrence. You are a weakling. You're out of shape. You're not particularly gifted with a sword. But I still have hope for you. Do you know why?" she asked.

I ignored the personal insults; after all, it was the truth. "I don't know." I shrugged.

Kalistra's eyes glowed and her whiskers twitched. "Jomyril is your typical fighter; he is big, strong, and powerful. But he lacks one thing that you possess: heart. When Jomyril sucker punched you and dropped you to the ground, you did not hesitate to get up and fight back. Compare this with what Jomyril did when he was on the ground. He stayed on the ground and then he accepted your potion of major healing," she recalled.

"Well, Nexholm accepted it on his behalf, though," I refuted.

"Nexholm did what he thought Jomyril would have wanted in that situation. If Jomyril had heart, he would have persisted in trying to get back to his feet until he succeeded. But he didn't do that. Instead, he chose to stay on the ground until his condition improved. In a real fight, he would have died while you would remain alive because you would not hesitate to continue fighting until your very last breath. You have tremendous courage and you strive for success no matter the odds. This is the reason why you are qualified to be my pupil," Kalistra explained and patted me softly on my chest right in front of my heart. "You have an impressive warrior's heart and you will fly as high as your heart will take you," she said softly. "We're running late. Let's go!" Kalistra barked and walked ahead.

"Yes, master!" I replied and followed closely behind her.