Monotonous days, not that I mind. Finally, I was able to focus on matters which, in the end, were the foundation of this little journey.
Thanks to continuous training you received [5 exp] Your body is getting used to the hardship of training...
If only I knew this little trick when I was still a newbie. The exp that one gets for physical training is ridiculously low, definitely worth less than just hunting things, but, it’s much safer, and then there are also these additional notifications. It’s more than obvious that once those notes would appear a sufficient amount of time I would receive something nice. If I wouldn’t, my disappointment would be immeasurable and mood ruined.
Again and again, I kept on repeating the same exercises. The number of repeats would make every bodybuilder collapse from exhaustion, why was I fine?
I “cheated”. I allowed myself to speed up the process of training with some old good regeneration magic. Who needs breaks if you have mana? There was only one thing that magic couldn’t fix in terms of training. The feeling of pressure which somehow accumulated.
Muscles soreness was far more worse than I ever remembered, but at least it was vanishing fairly quickly, letting me to start all over. And over. And over again.
Kim was disappearing every now and then, he was like a cat, doing whatever he pleased all day long coming back at nighttime falling asleep in random locations (but usually somewhere near me, in such way that he caused as much damage as possible) – on the tables filled with documents I put in order (of course he managed to mix them all together so I had to start from beginning), at the doorstep, so everyone that was coming in or out was tripping over him (he would then jump and hiss annoyed), or in piles of clothes that Giselle would drop on the floor in the middle of the room (you know, she is a messy girl). The last one caused the most havoc and collateral damages.
Gis have hard time accepting (read – she didn’t accept it at all and would start the fight each and every single time) that Kim is more animal than human and is easily allured and drawn toward sources of heat and smell, especially smells that he associated with safety – if it smells like safety and is warm – it’s best place for a nap.
Oh. The cups were sent flying, the glasses were shattered, even the blades were pulled quite a few times.
Horror. Horror. I suggested a very simple solution that would make this whole battle come to the end – I asked dragoness to clean after herself like every civilized sapient being and stop dropping her things on the floor.
I have ALMOST succeeded (I failed completely)! As the outcome, nothing changed, and evening got even louder than before.
With a painful groan I finished my last pull up on the rod attached to the ceiling, I dropped down and unstrapped myself from ballast that was attached to me against my will.
* “That’s how I like you.” I heard tempting voice from behind my ear
* “Dirty and sweaty?” I asked Giselle without even looking in her direction
* “Dedicated. Motivated. Hard working. And yes, dirty, like a veteran fresh out of a fight. There is nothing manlier than warrior covered in scars.”
* “You like my scars?”
* “You have no idea.”
* “Fine. I will get more.”
I turned in place and faced her. She also was wearing her training clothes. Short shirt, and short… shorts… which dumb moron even named a clothing "short"? How to properly describe it?! How would you meet the word quota on essay when your nouns are formed based on adjectives describing it?! Short shorts, oh for fuck sake! As for me, the whole Oxford Dictionary should be fucking rewritten![i]
Her clothing was pressing against her skin tightly to reduce the burden of unnecessary movements. It was very pragmatic, but also very…
* “Zaaari! My eyes are up here.”
For a split of a second, I raised my gaze, just to lower it back down.
* “I have made a decision. Right now it’s not your eyes I want to look at… OUCH!”
* “Bastard…” even though she said that her tone was rather pleased “… wanna go for a round with me?”
* “Sure, I just will go grab some candles, set up a mood, grab a bottle of wine…”
* “Zari, why do you need candles for sparring.”
* “Aaah. That’s what you meant.”
* “Wait, what were you thinking?”
* “Nothing, really. As for sparring, I have just finished training and…”
* “Good. It means you are warmed up.”
Dang it!
* “I am afraid I kinda overdid myself this time so…”
* “Even better, we can test your limits! That’s very wise to know how much your body can take before completely giving up…” A dangerous light sparked in her eyes.
DOUBLE DANG IT!
In that moment, the door to training room opened.
* “Zari! Yesterday you asked me if I would have some time to spare for another lesson, it happened that I have it. Right now, so if you have the time as well you ca… Oh, am I disturbing you… AGAIN?”
Lana yelled from the doorstep, and the accent she put on “again” left no doubt what kind of disturbance regarding what kind of action she meant.
* “You don’t disturb us. I do have time. I have all the time in the world..." I turned toward Gis "...As you see, sweetheart, yesterday I was begging Lana all day long for this lesson, so…” I literally can’t remember me even talking with Lana yesterday. If I recall correctly, she was busy in the library - we didn't even meet.
* “It can’t be helped then. Next time?” dragnoness said in a truly sad tone.
* “Next time, and whenever you would wish. It just this one time is off my schedule so…”
* “I get it. I get it.” She waved her hand.
* “Thanks babe. Thanks Lana, I will join you shortly, will just take a quick bath and…”
* “Yeah. That would be highly recommended. You stink like some kind of savage barbarian.” She meant nothing wrong, just teased me with a bright smile
* “This, Lanele, is the smell of hard work. I know you are not used to it but maybe one day…”
* “Working? Me? Thank you, but no. I have people to do this whole
Smart. Elegant. Proud, but with distance to her own persona. Lanele was one of nobles I could tolerate.
I gave Giselle one quick peck on the cheek as a goodbye, entered the bathroom, refreshed myself really quickly and joined priestess.
* “Regarding yesterday’s conversation…” I started. She snorted. “… thank you for the rescue.”
* “You just looked like you were in desperate need for a chance to run away. And it happened I indeed have some time to spare.”
* “Thanks. I really overdid it today, my body is barely working.”
* “You owe me.” She teased
* “I owe you.” I nodded in agreement.
* “The question remains – will you be able to live with the idea of lying to Giselle?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
* “I will. Perfectly fine. I will tell you more, I will be able to live an even healthier life after avoiding sparring with her in my condition.”
* “Lazy-ass. In human measurement, you acted like 8 years old spoiled kid.”
* “Technically I am more or less 3 years old, so I will take that as compliment…” she messed her footing shocked with the information I just dropped, yet her face remained unchanged
* “And as 3 years old, how many people did you exactly killed?” she raised one of her browns
* “Times are changing, kids are growing faster these days!”
* “I have never heard about 3 years old mass murderer.”
* “You did. Just now.”
Since we left the guild we traveled most of the way toward the library in silence. Eventually, I decided to lift that awkward mood.
* “Your turn.”
* “My turn for what exactly?”
* “An awkward confession.”
* “What the… Zari, you can’t just…”
* “No. We have to get to know each other better. I have shared with you a portion of my past, not it’s your time to do the same.”
* “No, Zari, I…”
* “Awkward confession. Now! Or I will not go to study with you!”
* “Fine by me, I will be the first to inform Gis that your schedule for this afternoon is free again.
* “I… haven’t considered my threat thoroughly.”
She giggle happily.
* “What am I supposed to tell you? That most of my life I spent in the inner palace surrounded only by maids and guards? Studying ethics, negotiations, religion, and magic? That before I was thirty years old… for humans that would be less than 8 or 10?... I was introduced to dozen or more potential marriage candidates? Few of which were older than me by few centuries and few weren’t yet born?”
* “Excuse me?”
* “That’s a common practice, actually, once a woman is pregnant you can more or less determinate the gender of a child with magic, of course, the more advanced the pregnancy is the more accurate the spell… I can’t really give you many of these awkward confessions you yearn for, because until very recently I… I pretty much wasn’t living at all. Just existed. Now I have a decade or two before I would have to get back to my golden cage and repeat the previous century of my life for next millennia, two or ten? Well, I may try getting pregnant quickly and force my daughter into doing my job, this way I could retire fairly quickly, oh, and by the way, that’s what my mom is doing right now. She is barely 800 years old, she had me once she was 700, and as far as I heard, she was trying to have a baby for two or three hundreds of years...”
* “What a slut…” I decided to lift the mood cutting her in the middle of her speech.
The rank the high priestess had in their community was really, really high. No one would try speaking badly about her, especially not in such a vulgar way. Lana had to respect her mother twice as much.
This is why once she heard such words addressed to her mother so casually, first she made a huge eyes, then, she hyperventilated, cough, and at the end burst into uncontrollable crazy, completely not-lady like loud laughter, drawing the attention of each and every passerby. Elves were known for their ability to keep their emotions under control, this is why seeing one of the members of this noble race whizzing on the ground was quite a spectacle.
She needed a good minute or two to calm down, first her unladylike-laugh became a bit more lady-like, then she manage to cover her lips with a palm, raised from semi-kneeling position straightening her backs, eventually even smile would disappear from her lips.
* “Please, refrain yourself from saying such vulgar words about her majesty.” … thought her eyes were still sparkling.
I wanted to add an adjective or two more, but as the classic said, sometimes less means more. I decided to give up the subject.
* “The world is extraordinary…” Lana would finally say “… so colorful, so exciting, so… not-dull. In two months that I spend with you, I already experienced more than through my whole life. That’s something I wanted to say once we would be parting our ways but… I am very grateful. To you and Giselle… so, if you would ever be traveling somewhere near the forest of Bagoraz… Feel yourself not only invited, but also required, to visit.”
* “You are aware that I am a merchant and you just gave me a tax-free pass?” in my mind a complex equation for the taxation reduction from every business operation appeared.
* “Zari. Your eyes. Beware of crowns and ravens…”
The gold shines in the eyes of the greedy – the common saying of this world.
* “Guilty as charged. But… damn, now even more pesky merchants will try to beg a meeting with me. Greeeat.”
* “Speaking about the merchants and meetings. I heard you are going with Giselle for a party to the Merchant King.”
* “Where do you know this from?”
* “A bird sang a song about it to me.” She gave me a cheeky smile. I keep forgetting she in an elf. An elf with lots of money. A smart elf from royalty with lots of money. She could get every information she wanted. What was her intelligence network? She paid locals? Or maybe elves had their own spies all across the continent? Now, she decided to keep the source of her information a secret. She can be quite a dangerous player…
* “… Just kidding. Giselle got drunk two days ago and just couldn’t wait to tell everyone she has another
…
…….
………
As always. The shortest distance between two points is a line – simplest and most obvious solution are usually the correct one.
* “I asked her several times to be quiet about it.”
* “And she did great, for hour or two she literally didn’t say a word!”
Gisseeeelleeee!
More pain in the ass incoming.
We entered the library in really good moods, moved toward alcove we booked for personal use for the whole day and started our studies.
I would love to say that I made huge progress, but that would be an awful, terrible lie. Each and every time I thought I would at least understand the rule behind some grammatical formula, Lanele would introduce exemptions from the rule, fucking up my whole conception. In my previous world, I was attending three different language classes (not counting my mother-tongue), I admit – I couldn’t really use the other two, my understanding of these languages was fixed only on passing the subject – read, learn, pass, forget circle of action. Buuut! I thought it was rather easy for me to learn a new language, at least its basics. It turns out that either it wasn’t as easy as I recalled it to be, or Elvish was completely broken and fucked up. And I really think it’s the later of the two reasons.
Still, despite all the headaches that Lana gave me, despite of her yells and screams and offenses (I was called an idiot, moron, and illiterate turd dozens of times), we really had a good time.
I enjoyed each and every day of our visit in this city. For a moment I could forget about quests, hunters, devils and end of the world to treat the matters that were really important. Looking back at the time and place I came from I could really say it now.
I regret nothing and wish these days never end.
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Kim once again entered a shabby local. In the poorest section of the town, there was a “bar” if you can call it this way. Located in cellar, damp and dark, few candles were shining the path to the main chamber. Inside quite a few poor looking beastmen were gathered, by the bar and damaged tables they were drinking alcohol mixed with water. Criminals, slaves and escapees. Not a single “decent” person in sight.
Once Kim entered, they all got up from their seats.
* “Good day everyooonee!” Kim almost sang from the doorstep in happy voice.
* “G-Greetings, my king!” the wolf man standing close to him greeted him.
By now, everyone knew about Kim’s special talents.
* “King. Ki-ing. Funny word. What does it mean?”
By now, everyone also knew about his not perfectly developed inteliigence.
* “It means you are the strongest of all, and that if you lead, we will follow.”
* “So, I am the king indeed, am I not? I am strongest of all of you after all…” he jumped on the bar counter sitting on it, letting his legs freely hover over the floor.
* “But, if I am king to you, does it mean that someone stronger than Kim will be Kim’s King?”
* “N-no! You are really strong now, and will keep getting stronger until there would be no one stronger than you!”
* “But there are so many stronger people than Kim that Kim already met! There is sister Giselle, there is sister Lanele, sister Blanka is weaker, but wiser, and when we sparred Kim still lost… There is big brother and few people in guild that smelled like blood and decaying flesh, near them all of Kim’s senses were screaming… I wonder if Kim can really be the strongest after all… And why should Kim be strongest, I wonder, it feels natural to be, but why…so many things to wonder... wooonder.”
* “M-maybe it’s because it was your destiny?”
* “Destiny? What is it?”
* “Your appearance was known long ago. We knew one day you would come, it was meant to be this way. Just as salmons periodically travel up the stream, just like trees drops leaves. So it was known that you would come.”
* “But whyyy?”
* “Look at us, my lord. Who is stronger, ordinar human, or ordinary beastman?”
* “Silly question! Beasts! We have claws, we have fangs, humanity is using tools like swords or bows, but beastmen can use them too…”
* “Yet who is controlling who?”
* “Humans. They have perfectly balanced breeding habits and more flexible social connections. They are far less attached. This is why they won the race between races. Race of races...” All of the word-games appeared to amuse the little monster
* “Should it be this way?”
This question puzzled Kim, he didn’t understand the concept of something being right or wrong.
* “Humanity is inferior. They were just a link in evolution from which beastmen grew. And just as archaic link they were not meant to last. We are stronger. Faster. More dedicated. Better in every aspect. We are meant to be apexes of new world. They are flawed and afflicted and were meant to cease, to make a place for better than them. But, instead, once they noticed the newly developed races, they seized control using system they made long ago. They are hunting us, enslaving us. Using us as their pets. They are offending the very evolution. They are risking glorious progress to halt. It can not be this way. The progress needs to be maintained!”
During many conversations, beast-men already noticed how Kim seems to be obsessed with self-progress. They were thinking really long how to gain a divine beast’s favor for their case.
* “Indeed. Weak are food for strong. It has always been this way. They are weaker, so why are they on top, I wonder?”
* “It cannot be tolerated!”
* “It cannot?”
* “No. Or else the prey would hunt the predator. Or else the night would be brighter than a day. Because the whole world order would fall into chaos. Your appearance was known long ago. You were meant to be a cure for sickness called humanity.”
* “Sickness? Plague…”
* “This is why, we beg you…” wolf man kneeled “… We were fighting from the shadows for too long. We were losing because we were scattered and lonely, we were far too diverse to find someone who could unite us under a single banner… until now… My lord… Lend us your strength. If you lead, we follow.”
* “You lead, I follow!” lion man kneeling hit his open palm with fist
* “You lead, I follow!” Garuda kneeled beside the wolf man
* “You lead, I follow!” the dog-girl he saved the other day looked at him with eyes full of passion and love.
Kim was feeling uneasy. Big brother was warning him not to join any gathering nor group…
… but the brother was always very logical, and everything they said was logical too. In what kind of world weak are dominating stronger?
Kim made up his mind.
* “Fineee! Kim will help you fix the world, but only that! Once Kim does it, Kim goes back to playing with big brother!”
Rejoicing sounded in the whole under-town. The preparation has begun.
To the beastmen, every person that earned Kim’s favor was called by him either brother or sister, because of that they paid no attention to the person he called “big brother”. They thought he was just another ordinary human that was just nice to Kim and thus, he was mostly harmless.
Boy, if they only weren’t wrong.
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[i] You have no idea how much time I spent to form this one part-of-a-sentence! Maybe for whole two minutes! It is not much, but I am a busy man and this whole situation put me into so much stress, that I had to blow some steam throwing this pointless tantrum. Duh.