The first thing he feels, after Kasim regains his consciousness, is the feeling of soft strands of hair tickling at his nose.

He needs a moment to realize the situation he is in right now.

Right now, Kasim is hung over the back of Kassandra like a backpack,

while the latter is speaking to what he can only assume to be the beast that attacked the two of them just now.

The location is very close to the inn, that they are staying at, which means that he was not out for too long.

After sufficient time to realize the situation, Kasim signals Kassandra that he regained his consciousness and lightly pushes himself

off her back to stand back on his feet again.

After a few seconds of regaining the feeling in his slightly numb legs, the group of three continues on their way.

_________

POV of Kasim Rojora:

<>,

she sheepishly greets me as if the entire situation wasn’t embarrassing enough.

I don’t bother answering her provocation and instead focus on the actual situation.

<>, I inquire from her.

<

never met before and got beaten up as a result of that.>>

She signals to the being that I had mistaken for a beast the first time I saw it.

Now on closer look and with the torch being held by Kassandra in a stable environment I can

somewhat make out the figure, that is standing before my eyes.

A green oversize sweater, brown oversize pants and a pair of worn-down sandals without

wearing socks.

The man before my eyes seems to be around my age, maybe a bit younger. He is also a bit

smaller than me and has a really tiny frame. Inbetween the holes of his clothing I can see, that

he is slightly malnourished.

Probably a beggar or a vagabond’s son, I guess.

The boy’s hands are a dirty pair with chipped and discolored fingernails showing, that he had

it rough. I look up to see the boy’s face but immediately freeze. Inbetween a pointy nose and

long, sharpened ears I see a pair of eyes with a gaze piercing enough that I feel like being cut

in half simply staring at them.

I reflexively take five steps back and cower behind Kassandra as my shield but after she gives

me that kind of stare, I cough away the embarrassment and walk up to the boy, try to

suppress my external shaking and hold out my hand while looking him in the eyes and say out

loud

<

looked like you were some kind of beast attacking my friend, so I just reacted like that.>>

I wait with my hand stretched out. I wait for a solid ten seconds but the boy makes no effort to

take it. I recall my hand before trying to say something else but the mysterious kid is one step

faster.

<

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Let’s hold hands and pretend like nothing happened’. Would you take that hand?>>

…

I can’t argue with that. What should I do in this situation?

<>

I almost added a ‘Mr.’ at the end there. This kid sure has an intimidating aura around him.

It is scary, how he has not changed his expression since the start of this conversation.

It’s crazy, how his posture has remained perfect and immovable ever since.

I am bewildered by the kid’s commanding and intimidating eyes as if he was hundreds of years

older than me.

Why is he so scary? And most importantly, why has he not answered me yet?

I can see his eyes wandering over my face, contemplating me with his stoic expression like a

predator observing his prey.

My shaking intensifies and I start profusely sweating the longer this goes on.

<>

<>, I am perplexed as this is not the response I have been expecting.

Actually, I didn’t know what to expect so I guess this seems fair.

<>

I blurt out my answer a bit louder than intended. Across the houses I can some very muffled

grunts in response to my raised voice. The people were probably already asleep.

<>, the kid asks me, still

completely unperturbed by my attitude.

<>

Despite my previous nervousness I decide to honestly answer the thing I have been training

towards.

That might have been a mistake, because the mysterious kid now wears a large smile on his

lips as he once again closely observes my body and face. The stoic expression of his eyes has

changed into a slightly amused one.

I involuntarily step back another step.

Not seeming to care about what I do and do not do with myself he continues speaking out

loud his thoughts.

<

warrior reacts with violence when the things important to him are attacked.

I totally get that!>>

His words seem nice but there is this underlying provocative tone within them that I cannot

really put my thumb on. Since it is already really late and I need to go to sleep now, I guess,

that it is smarter to just go along with what he says and go to bed then.

I form a light smile and then start saying some concluding words.

<< Oh really? What a wonderful person you are to be so understanding. Yes, Kassandra over

there is a really important friend of mine. If anything happened to her, I couldn’t live with

myself.

Regardless of that, I do still feel sorry you had to experience this, you know? See, it’s already really late, so I can’t properly thank you right now

but how about after I win the tournament we meet up and I properly apologize at that time? Does that sound good to you?>>

The boy is silent for a moment before breaking out into a long cackle. He is trying his best to

suppress his laughter but to little avail. I have no choice but to wait for him to take his time.

<<*Sigh* … Imogyeran!>>, he brings out this word inbetween his fits of cackling.

<>

<

does that sound alright with you?>>

In contrast to his wicked smile and lunatic expression, Imogyeran seems to be a nice guy. Now

I actually feel bad for attacking him like that.

<>

Maybe I just had a bad first impression off him. Maybe he is actually a really cool guy?

I need to make sure to properly apologize tomorrow.

_________

After getting their misunderstandings out of the way, Imogyeran and Kasim go their separate

ways. Kasim coincidentally notices Imogyeran’s walking behavior while watching him depart

from the inn he is staying at. He can’t seem to make out the limping he had noticed when

looking at him yesterday.

serious.>

He just passes it off as nothing serious and turns to Kassandra for them to go back into their

assigned rooms together.

When he turns around to face her however, he notices the same kind of smile from her that Imogyeran had the entire time of talking with him.

Something is up and he is the only one not on board with it.

Kasim later tries to get the information out of Kassandra but is unable to do so. Sadly, he must wait until tomorrow to find out the truth.

Imogyeran is also a participant in the rookie tournament.

And judging by how the last encounter between the two ended, Kasim’s chances of victory are not the highest in this world, that’s for sure.