Ezra crept his way back to the inn, his thoughts turning. Who could he go with? Was a date really necessary? I mean, surely not, right? Prise was just messing with him, right?

But what if she wasn’t? What if it truly was in his best interests to… get a date? He stepped over a homeless guy sleeping on the street and continued walking back.

“Who could I even ask?” Ezra muttered. “It’s not like I have very many female acquaintances.”

“I’m fairly certain that any one of the guild girls that have interacted with you would die for a date, Ezra,” Filamenta said.

Ezra glanced over at his shoulder. Filamenta had appeared on her usual spot.

“The idea of spending a protracted period with those women makes me want to vomit,” Ezra said.

“Fair. But you still need to find someone.”

Ezra ran his hands through his hair. “If only you were still human. It would only make sense for me to take my partner out, right? And there would be nothing weird about it.”

Filamenta chuckled. “If I were still human, you wouldn’t be allowed within 10 feet of me and we would’ve never met.”

Ah, if only he’d ended up in that timeline.

“Oh, shut up. Anyway, you do have someone who would probably accept such an offer,” Filamenta said.

“Who?”

“Prise, obviously.”

Ew. His landlady?

“That seems gross for some reason,” Ezra said. “Though I can’t put my finger on why.”

“You’d better get over your sense of ‘grossness’, because she’s probably your best option.”

She was probably his only option. He just didn’t know very many people, period. Maybe Yuki or Dorian would’ve agreed, but they were off doing god-knows-what a million miles away from him. Also, Yuki would probably kill him on sight.

Dorian would probably tell everyone that they were going out or something, just to screw with Ezra.

…On second thought, Ezra was glad neither of them were there.

So then, that left only one option.

Ezra looked up. He was already at the door to the inn. He opened it up, revealing bushy auburn hair sticking out over a desk, peering over some documents. Prise poked her head up, her face like a startled deer.

“Ezra!” she said. “Welcome back.”

Ezra stared at her for a few moments. She fidgeted and coughed into her hand.

“Is there something you need?” she said.

Ezra turned to the left and sighed. He turned his head back at her.

“Are you free on the night of the…” The words were comedically painful and stupid. “Cheese festival?”

Ezra collapsed to his knees and grabbed his chest. Prise’s eyes widened and she ran around the front desk to check on him.

“Ezra!? Are you okay?!” Prise said.

Ezra coughed.

“The cringe of what I said—” Ezra coughed again. “—it physically injured me, oh god.”

Ezra sounded like one of those high school protagonists asking their date to the prom. He was half-tempted to ditch the whole thing and burn this town to the ground just for the feeling of humiliation he was experiencing.

“C-cringe?” Prise said. “What’s cringe?”

Ezra pushed himself up. “Forget it, it’s nothing important. So, do you agree?”

Prise twiddled her fingers. “Well, I suppose you need someone, right? You had no choice.”

“It was either this, or go loud and just assassinate Villscha,” Ezra said. “Honestly, I’m still considering the second option.”

That choice genuinely sounded less painless than what he was about to go through.

Prise held up a hand.

“Please don’t do that,” she said. “And yes, I accept. Why not, right?”

Ugh… he was kind of hoping that she’d say no.

“It’s a date,” Ezra said through clenched teeth. He marched away robotically toward his room and fell face-first into his bed.

----------------------------------------

The next morning was one of dread for Ezra. He tried to focus on leveling up a few of his skills, but found that it was impossible to focus. His attempts to train [Telekinesis] almost ended up with him poking his own eye out. Luckily, even then, he was able to at least train [Bind] and get it up to level 22, which was nice.

[Bind has leveled up!]

[Bind has leveled up!]

[Bind has leveled up!]

[Bind has leveled up!]

Filamenta had demanded that he take another bath, too, stating that it would destroy her sense of dignity if her partner showed up to a formal event smelling like dead monster guts. Once again, Ezra wandered out to a river and washed his clothes, then hung them up on a nearby tree. Ezra supposed that his mother would have a stroke if she saw him doing that.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Ezra erased that thought from his mind.

Best not to think of her.

Soon enough, the time of the festival arrived. Stall after stall filled with cheeses of various types filled the city streets. The roads were so busy that Ezra had to go to an alley, climb up to the roof, and skip over the roofs to get back to the inn.

He showed up at the front door and paused.

“I’m so going to regret this,” he muttered. He reached forward and rapped on the door.

“Coming!”

After a few seconds of movement from the inside, the door swung open, revealing Prise. She wore a simple yet well-made dress of deep green wool. The bodice was fitted but not tight, laced up the front with plain, dark ties. The sleeves were long and slightly loose, gathered at the wrists. A cream-colored underdress peeked out at the cuffs and modest neckline, adding a touch of contrast. The skirt was full and draped to the floor, but the fabric was heavy and plain, more for warmth and durability than for show. A simple brown belt cinched her waist, holding a small pouch.

Ezra rubbed his chin. It was surprisingly practical and conservative—well, Ezra wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Perhaps he was just expecting something more akin to one of those ridiculous puffy dresses from those old Victorian paintings?

“So?” Prise said. “What do you think?”

“Very well-designed,” Ezra said. “It’s not too frilly or over the top, and I like how you have the pouch.”

Prise gave him a dry expression. “Practical. That’s what every girl wants to hear when they’re showing off an outfit.”

Oh.

“You look lovely, my fairest lady.” Ezra’s accent turned to that of a Shakespearean actor. “The color of the dress brings out thine eyes, giving them a tender—“

“Okay, fine, forget I said anything.”

Prise took a step out and walked forward. After a few more steps, she looked back at Ezra. “You coming?”

Ezra stepped after her and the two of them stepped forward into the bustling street. They looked around awkwardly, staring at random stalls.

Eventually, Prise rolled her eyes and dragged Ezra next to one of the stalls. A giant wooden wheel of cheese with holes cut in it sat conspicuously behind the stall’s desk. A man sat with a bored expression at the front. Once he saw the two of them, he perked up and waved at them.

“Hey! You two, do you want to play Cheese Toss?”

Oh God, why?

Prise gave him a cheeky grin and nodded at the man. “Why yes, we would!”

The two stepped forward. Ezra’s eyes looked from left to right for a possible escape.

“The rules are simple,” the man said. “I’ll give you guys small little balls and you’ll throw them into the wheel. If you get ten points, you get one of my special cheese wheels. If you don’t, then the only way you’re getting my cheese is by paying double! Are you up for the challenge?”

Ezra was about to respond ‘no’ when he paused. The whole reason they were here was to make him seem like a normal person, right? So that meant he had to participate.

“…yes,” Ezra said.

“Great—“ the man paused. “Oh, um… you’re the One-Eyed Merc.”

“Is that a problem?” Ezra said.

“No, of course not!” The man reached under the front desk and pulled out a bucket full of balls. “Here are your balls!”

That sounded all sorts of wrong, but whatever. Ezra grabbed one and held it experimentally. It was light—plastic-like, though Ezra suspected that it wasn’t actually plastic, given this world’s technology levels. He threw it at the wooden cheese wheel. He managed to hit it on the first try and the ball sat in the hole.

“Well done!” the man said.

“Let me have a turn,” Prise said. She picked up a ball and threw it into the air before catching it.

“I’m actually 20 Dexterity,” she said. “So I might be better at this than you think.”

She threw the ball forward. It landed perfectly in one of the holes, then bounced out.

“Ouch!” the stall owner winced. “Better luck next time.”

Ah, so it was rigged. Some things never changed.

Prise looked at the ball incredulously before she narrowed her eyes. She reached into the bucket and picked up another ball. With a toss, the ball flew into the air, fell into another hole… and bounced back out.

Ezra reached out and grabbed one ball. He threw it forward and activated [Telekinesis].

The ball sailed through the air and then fell into one of the holes. It stayed there for a few seconds, but then Ezra felt a jolt through his magic, and the ball was repelled straight out. Looked like his [Telekinesis] wasn’t strong enough for whatever this guy was pulling.

Prise leaned toward Ezra, her at her shoulders. “One-Eye, I want that cheese wheel.”

“Ok,” Ezra said. “Buy it.”

“No, you don’t get it,” Prise said. “You’ve got to win it, otherwise we haven’t gotten it fairly!”

“I could just steal it.”

Prise clasped her hands together. “Please just win it the normal way?”

Ezra rolled his eyes. Seriously? He hated this place. So much.

“Filamenta,” he whispered. “Needle form on my cue.”

“Oh?” Filamenta said. “Very well.”

Ezra turned back around and faced the stall owner.

“Oh look, one of those merchants is giving out a million coins,” Ezra said, deadpan.

The stall owner turned around. “Where?”

Ezra’s telekinesis kicked in and Filamenta raced through the air toward the balls. She transformed back into a needle and passed through several of them. Ezra pulled her back up with a mental tug and slipped her through the stone. She returned to his hand with a flash.

He focused on the weight aspect of the stone and transferred it to the balls.

The stall man turned around. “There wasn’t any gold coins.”

Ezra shrugged. “You missed him.”

“Right… well, are you going to play?”

Ezra reached out, picked up one of the balls, and threw it at one of the holes.

The ball smashed into the wood, creating a loud cracking noise. The stall man winced.

“What the hell?” he said.

Ezra dismissed the enchantment on that one specific ball. The stall man reached over and picked it up. He furrowed his eyebrows as he weighed it in his hand.

“It’s normal. But how…?” the man said.

“May I continue?” Ezra said.

“Please let me check your bucket quickly.”

“Go ahead.”

The man reached out and started looking through the balls. Ezra turned off the property transfer temporarily, returning the balls to normal. After several seconds of checking, the man sighed and scratched his head.

“Well, nothing seems wrong,” he said. “Weird.”

“Weird that your cheat isn’t working?” Ezra said. “Yeah, real bizarre.”

The man’s face turned red. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

The game went by predictably, with Ezra handily winning and the man unable to figure out what was happening. The stall man was forced to concede defeat and hand Ezra a wheel of cheese.

Ezra turned and passed Prise the wheel of cheese. She grinned and took it in hand.

“Why thank you!” she said. “Gods, that looks delicious. I can’t wait to have it.”

The two of them continued in this manner, winning 3 more games before Prise got tired and asked if they could find somewhere quieter to rest for a bit. Ezra shrugged and agreed, figuring that there was no reason to deny her request.

They sat down on a bench in a less busy part of town. Just Ezra, Prise, and the four assorted cheese prizes he’d managed to win for her.

Prise swung her legs back and forth on the bench, her dress trailing her movements.

“You know, I’ve got to admit that I had a bit of an ulterior motive for getting you to do this,” Prise said.

Hm?

“Ulterior motive? What do you mean?” Ezra said.

“One-Eye, you’ve got to admit that you’re a bit of a mystery,” Prise said. “You come out of nowhere and soar through the ranks faster than anyone else. And then there’s your level.”

Ezra stiffened. She could see his level—he’d forgotten.

“What about it?” he said.

“Every time I meet you, it’s gone up by one or two,” she said. “Do you know how rare that is? It’s exceptionally strange. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a fast level-up rate. And then there’s that strange weapon you use…”

Ezra began to stand up when he felt something wrapped around his arm. Prise had grabbed him, keeping him from moving any further.

“The needle, it’s a spider,” she said. “Why? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I did my research and I found out something interesting.”

Ezra tugged his arm away and turned around. “I don’t owe you any kind of explanation—“

“That’s a Spirit Weapon you’re using, isn’t it?” Prise said.

Ezra froze.