“Who the fuck are you?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I made another attack. I feinted towards the left side of his neck, which he promptly put up his guard to block, before spinning into a stab towards his flank. As he adjusted his sword to defend himself, I tried to sweep his leg, only to be met with the realization that he’d been feinting me, too. His sword quickly adjusted and swung towards my calf, barely grazing it as I retreated.

That was when I got a good look at his face. Um… this guy looked nothing like the guy on the poster, though?

Then, his sword started to glow, almost. There was some sort of blue mist that seemed to be covering it. Not good.

He must be a user of mana. I could tell as soon as he ran at me- he was faster than I was. I barely evaded his first couple of attacks. His sword grazed my arm, just a tiny bit, but the pain was burning and the gash was larger than I’d anticipated.

That should’ve been a paper cut! What the fuck is up with that sword?!

I tried to get strikes in on his swinging arm, but he was simply too fast. He was rapidly anticipating my every move. I didn’t like being on the retreat at all; I would have to get at least one good hit in to shake him up, if not force him out of the fight. I waited until after his next attack. I noticed he had a pattern of quickly entering and retreating from my range, so I took the opportunity as soon as he took a step back.

I only had one option here, really. I rapidly poured as much power as I could into my left leg. I could feel my muscles tensing and straining and ripping apart as more and more filled my leg. And then, a split second before he entered and swung his sword, I released it.

My leg was shattered as it struck his waist. He wasn’t fast enough to avoid it, barely lowering his center of gravity to try to mitigate some of the damage. I’d surely broken his hip, though. It should be completely shattered on the left side. He would be in a worse condition than I was.

Even with a broken leg, I could fight pretty well. After all, the pain I’d experienced was nothing compared to this.

It was a drastic decision, but it was important to end this fight quickly. This guy seemed to be stronger than me, and I didn't want to take any risks.

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But with his waist broken, he wouldn’t even be able to keep his gravity centered properly. We looked at each other, both already panting and sweaty from our brief exchange.

“What the hell… do you want…”

He asked, between breaths, his hand still gripping the hilt of his sword, which he was now using to hold himself up.

“I’m here to collect a bounty, for Gordon Babel,”

I had already calmed my breathing. Still, my reserves of power had been drained pretty significantly. If he somehow decided to keep fighting, and proved himself able to move decently, I may have had to run.

“Then what are you… attacking me for?! You crazy little shit!”

Yeah, this definitely wasn’t him. Oops.

“I thought you were him. Have you seen him, then?”

He finally collapsed onto the ground, barely managing to sit up.

“Kah… I killed him, kid. He was a defector to the throne. Traitors aren’t allowed in my woods.”

I was pretty surprised. I asked him a couple of more questions. His name was Boris, and he’d been living in these woods for over a decade. These camps were his; he was just using them while he got back to his cabin. Well, I guess the late Gordon had been better at covering his trail than I thought.

Such a shame, though. All that time spent with no reward. I sighed and started walking away from him. Well, more like a controlled limp. My leg would be challenging to repair, but circulating power was effective at slowly recovering damage in the body. I suspected it would be at least a week or two before my leg was back to peak condition.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Huh?

“Home. Bye.”

“Hey!”

Ugh. Why does this guy keep bothering me?

“You’re just going to leave me here? This was your mistake!”

I sighed. It wasn’t really any of my business. I just wanted to get my job here over with, not so much take care of injured old men. Oh, hold on a second.

“Got money?”

I rubbed my fingers together. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so pointless after all.

He glared at me, but caved.

“If it’s coin you want, I’ll pay you to get me back to my cabin. It’s only seven or so miles north. Can you manage?”

He sounded frustrated, but I didn’t really care. I was finally gonna get paid! Sure, it may not help me so much on my quest to find this world’s god, but how long had it been since I’d had a warm meal and a soft bed? Besides, I needed better gear, a map of the kingdom, provisions, and if possible, a horse. Money makes the world go round no matter what world it is.

And so, this grizzled old man got a piggyback ride from me as we headed towards his home.