Just hearing Gust’s fawning voice, coupled with the pity-grabbing story, Wesley almost threw up.

However, he soon brightened up once everything had been sorted and priced - he and Gust had earned a small fortune for their troubles!

The two left the shop with a small bag of coins in hand, smiles on their faces, some swagger in their steps.

“Alright Wesley, where shall we eat? Today, your nose makes the choice!”

“The nose leads the way!”

Wesley and Gust strolled through the town’s streets, before they finally ended up before an exquisitely designed, two story restaurant.

Wesley’s nose twitched a few times before he stopped and pointed.

“The nose says here!”

The kid really has an expensive nose, thought Gust. Despite that, he led Wesley into the restaurants, where they were promptly shown out the door by the hostess.

“Get out! The two of you smell like donkeys, you’ll ruin the experience for our guests! Look for handouts somewhere else!”, she had said.

Back on the street, Wesley sniffed a few more times. “Hey Gust, do we really smell? I don’t smell anything?”

“I guess.” Gust promptly turned around. “Come on, let’s go. We can wash up at the hostel, and we should probably buy new clothes while we’re at it, too. Our clothes have been through a lot.”

…

An hour later, the two exited from the front doors of an inexpensive inn they had found, refreshed and energized from their baths.

“How expensive are clothes?” Wesley asked Gust.

“More expensive than a few meals but less than we’ve got.”

“Does that mean we won’t be able to eat at the nice restaurant after we buy new clothes?”

“We’ll probably be able to afford it again if we win our duels; the payouts here are pretty big, almost comparable to the Larwin Kingdom’s cities.”

“Hmm.”

“We’ll be fancy boys.”

“Fancy boys!”

The two strolled their way into a tailor’s shop, and tried on several garments. Gust being Gust, he quickly chose a very flamboyant piece, somewhat reminiscent of the colorful feathers of a peacock.

Likewise, he chose an outfit for Wesley that suggested the look of a, well, lesser peacock.

Of course, he didn’t forget to also purchase more subdued outfits for himself and Wesley to travel in. This kind of wear was barely appropriate in towns and cities, and was certainly not appropriate wear for physical exertion.

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Exiting the store, the two waltzed their way, now in their peacock-ish clothes, to one of the cheapest food stalls in town, and filled themselves up with barley bread and porridge.

Those in the area looked at them with confused, sometimes even disdainful, gazes, but the two didn’t care.

Because they were fancy boys.

After they finished their meal, the two retreated to their room at the inn, and rested for the night.

The next day, they stomped their way out of the inn, and toward the town’s stadium.

Today, they would win… to be true fancy boys!

The two entered the stadium, and proceeded to the registration office.

Before entering, however, Gust quickly checked his and puffed his chest out. Then, he pushed the door and strolled in, while Wesley followed closely behind.

A fierce-looking, young lady looked up. “Ah, Gust and Wesley, good timing. The duels today have just started. Let’s see… Gust, you’re due for a fight in about an hour in Arena 1, while Wesley, you’re due for a fight in two hours or so in Arena 3.”

“Sounds good. Uh, by the way, are there any fighter/mage duo fights at the stadium here?”

“Yes, but the participants must have won at least five duels prior, each.”

The lady looked at Gust and cast an eye over his flamboyant outfit. “If you ever reach five wins, let me know…”

Gust’s chest slightly deflated.

“Will do. Let’s go, Wesley.”

The two left the registration office and went to the stands to scout their competition.

The stadium was far larger than the one in the village they’d previously fought in, with a far larger crowd as well - nearly a thousand people could be seen in attendance.

To keep the audience entertained, and to accommodate the numerous fighters who were continuously looking for duels, there were multiple arenas at the center of the stadium simultaneously hosting fights.

Gust and Wesley walked around the stadium until they reached the part of the stadium closest to Arena 1, where Gust would be fighting shortly.

It seemed that Arena 1 was the designated arena for light-armored fighters, as the two fighters currently on it were both clad in light pieces of armor, designed not to take the brunt of any direct hits, but to catch and deflect any glancing blows.

One was equipped with a short sword in one hand, a large, weighted net in the other. The second fighter was equipped more similarly to Gust - he held two long knives, one in each hand.

“Oh?” When Gust noticed that the second fighter was also a dual knife wielder, his interest was piqued, especially because the dual knife wielder was holding his own against the one with the net.

After all, a weighted net was many times more dangerous than any shield or sword, especially in the medium to long range for melee combatants. This range was the perfect distance to attempt to catch an opponent with the weighted net, and once the opponent was caught, it was a simple matter to simply walk up to them and end the fight.

Furthermore, at that range, the net could also be used as a legitimate defensive tool. While it wouldn’t function like a shield in the traditional sense, if one attempted to strike the wielder on the net’s side, an effective warrior could use the net could catch the weapon, effectively disarming the attacker.

Hence, Gust knew the only way for the dual knife wielder to win, was to…

Just as Gust’s train of thought reached this point, the dual knife wielder on the arena stage faked an advance, leading his opponent to throw the net out. Without

Before the net wielder could retract the net, the dual knife wielder dashed to the right, attacking the net wielder’s left side.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to retract the net in time to defend against this attack, the opponent released his grip on the net, and jumped backwards.

After a flurry of exchanges, the fight had been more or less reset to its previous state, except that the weighted net was still left, unused, on the arena floor.

As the battle drew on, the dual knife wielder eventually eked out an advantage, slicing open a wound on his opponent’s leg, then his chest, leading his opponent to surrender.

‘Hmm.’ Gust stroked his chin. ‘I wonder how much better than him I am…’