“It is a teleportation ability. He teleports to his axe. I am not sure if it is an option or a skill.”

I leaned back and took a sip from my coffee. I gently stroked the head of Larve who had fallen asleep.

“No shit, genius! I understood that much.”

Arslan grumbled. Then he held his side. I probably should have guessed that he would fight Grizzon the moment he said something stupid.

“If you did, you wouldn’t have bruised ribs.”

I gave him a smug smile.

“Honestly, it is a shit combo. If he had the ability to erase his presence completely, he should have had a better teleportation ability. If he can just teleport to his axes it doesn’t matter if he erases his presence or not. You can just target where his axe is and he would be toasted.”

“Wait, wait. I don’t understand.”

Ursara massaged his temples. I sighed.

“Okay, 1: Grizzon has the ability to hide his presence completely as soon as he leaves someone’s vision. That is why we weren’t able to sense his arrival or how he was able to shake Börü off his tail, huh funny. 2: He can teleport to his axes. 3: He throws one and teleports to them, cutting the sight between his enemy and him which hides his presence. Then he strikes to his now unaware enemy.”

These were the things I could reason with the all information I had.

“Do you think I should have killed him?”

Arslan asked not to me but Morrigan who looked at me. I sighed. When did I become the voice of reason?

“No. Not only there is a risk of his man seeking revenge, but we are also in the process of forming political bonds with other beastkin. If others think that Whifur is a place where beastkin could be murdered, the chances of them looking any kind of alliance warmly decrease directly.”

I rubbed my temples. God, I hate this political bullshit. I thought I could run away from it but even Börü and Aine were rather inexperienced in these kinds of things. Then again, considering how old I really was nearly everyone in this city was inexperienced compared to me. I felt someone hug behind me. There was only one person in the entire world who would touch me this shamelessly.

“You can’t escape being a politician. You should have listened to me and we could have joined a circus and traveled around the world.”

Lily spat out his stupid dreams.

“Or maybe you should have stayed with me and helped me.”

I headbutted him, not too hard. Yet he dramatically threw himself to the side.

“I am pretty bad at this kind of stuff, you know. Plus I will create chaos the moment I am bored.”

“You can’t use that as an excuse to freeload.”

Lily raised his hands defensively.

“I am not freeloading. I was just in a dungeon! I even bought some drinks for us to enjoy! I heard what happened so I thought drinking till we collapse would help.”

I leaned back as another sigh escaped my lips. It’s been hours since the shitshow with Grizzon happened. When Aine learned what happened she was shaken. She went into her room after dinner telling us that she was tired.

“I still don’t understand why he did this. Do you have any idea, Ursara?”

Neither Arslan nor Ursara told us what exactly caused Arslan to challenge Grizzon to a duel and I didn’t dig into it. All I knew was that Ursara looked even more worn than before.

“My uncle isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but he won’t try something unless he is sure he has something to gain.”

“Do you think he has something else besides “killing those pesky humans”, Poyraz?”

Ama imitated Grizzon’s tone. I shrugged. Arslan leaned forward, his face still showing signs of pain from the bruised ribs.

“I don’t think he was thinking with his head at all. Just pure aggression. Some beastkin are like that, Poyraz. Whatever it is their past or what they have been taught, they will see humans as simply enemies that must be destroyed. I was like that once…”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Perhaps it was true. I remembered Bolverk’s words. Some people didn’t look for deep thoughts or plans. They moved with what they felt at that moment. Maybe my overthinking and my need to plan and grasp everything happening around me caused me to be blindsided by the simplest things.

I closed my eyes and felt the connection with Gökbörü. He was fairly away from Whifur right now.

“Where is the fleabag?”

Lily sipped the alcohol. He grimaced after taking a sip.

“Ugh, it is warm.”

I grabbed the bottle. Focusing my mana on it, I created ice crystals around the bottle.

“Huh, neat trick.”

Lily tried to grab the bottle from my hands but I took a sip myself.

“Don’t call Gökbörü a fleabag. Only I can say that. If you are really curious about whereabouts he is tailing Grizzon’s group.”

Lily tried to grab the cold on on my hand but I pulled it away again.

“Why, are we going to kick their asses?”

I pushed him aside.

“Just an insurance.”

I took another sip of the drink. It was some kind of wine, I think. With a sigh I let Lily take it from my hands. I finished my coffee.

“Will it be fine? What if your connection gets separated?”

Ama asked.

“I told him to return the moment that happens. I think it will be soon since the connection got very weak.”

I grabbed Larve and slowly rose with her in my arms to not wake her. I put her to her bed and returned back to the living room. The moment I entered the room, a bottle was thrown in my face. I managed to grab it before it hit my face.

“What was that supposed to be?”

I asked Arslan who had thrown the bottle.

“Ice.”

“I should break this bottle on your head but I will take it easy on you since you are already hurt.”

I cooled the bottle and threw it back.

“This reminds me, we had a deal to fight when we reached Whifur, didn’t we?”

I cooled the bottles for others and sat down, waiting for a response from Arslan.

“Aye, we did. I forgot it.”

My smug smile returned.

“Of course you did. You didn’t want to get your ass kicked.”

He let out an angry growl as I laughed.

“What will you do, Poyraz? Do you plan on following them? If you will then I will come with you.”

Morrigan’s clenched fists told me that the first she delivered to Grizzon wasn’t enough to quench her anger.

“That would be just a waste of time. I think it is time for me to finish my break and crawl on some dungeons.”

I saw everyone’s ears perk up with my words. Despite Whifur being surrounded by dungeons I haven’t been in one yet. I wanted to rest and not fight for some time after my experience with the Tormented One but I think it is time to test my skills in actual fight.

“And you said I was scared.”

Arslan called out. I chuckled.

“I am giving you time to prepare, kitty.”

Arslan looked away. He couldn’t take it yet he couldn’t help but participate in a duel of words with me, every time. He could have just ignored me, things I said to him weren’t even that offensive.

“Nice. We can go and fight together just like old, shitty days.”

Lily wrapped his arm around me and sat beside me.

“I will be solo for now.”

The room fell into a brief silence as my words sank in. It was clear that my decision to explore dungeons on my own surprised them. Lily leaned back and raised an eyebrow.

“I see.”

He looked uncharacteristically down.

“We should have some unreserved dungeons but are you sure you want to do it alone, Poyraz?”

I cracked my knuckles.

“Yes. I need a test run then I can team up with you guys if you want.”

“Dibs.”

Lily raised his hand.

As the evening continued, our conversation shifted to discussing potential dungeons, strategies, and preparations for my upcoming solo adventure despite me wanting to experience everything blind.

“Before you enter the dungeon, you should come with me before entering the dungeon. The weapon crafted with wurm’s core is ready.”

Morrigan said. I tilted my head.

“Oh, that thing. I forgot that.”

“You forgot about a thing as valuable as a thousand gold?”

I shrugged at Arslan’s words.

“I am not greedy.”