Ryan was relieved to have Raiju back in his hands. The full extent of his affection for the thing was still an unknown, but like any good weapon the owner would much prefer to have it than not. Mercenaries were quick to fall in love with inanimate objects, sometimes I wished I could empathise. A non-talking sword sounded like a dream come true.

Moments after I had finished handing it over, it came to my notice the way that one of our foes was moving. As Maria faced Cali and Jonell head-on in a fast-moving duel, the other slowly backed away and turned on her heel as if to run. That eager escape came to a sudden end as she spotted the two of us waiting in the wings. The look on her face was something I would never forget – I’d seen less fear on the face of a mercenary who had genuinely shit himself.

I squared up in front of her, “An Inquisitor and a coward? I can’t imagine anything worse. You’re just gonna’ ditch your friend there?”

Her ally ducked a swing from Cali’s halberd, “Maritan, what are you doing?”

She yelled back; “I’m not dying here! You can throw away your own life, but I’m not dying!”

“You stupid-” Maria was knocked aside as the wooden shaft of Cali’s weapon came back around again, striking her across the brow and sending her rolling into the dirt. There was no time to divide her attention between her flaking compatriot and the two people attacking her. She needed to focus on protecting herself.

Maritan decided that trying to fight Cali and Jonell was safer than taking me on alone. She spun back around again and charged into Jonell, knocking him over and grappling him from behind. Cali was quick as a whip – she brought the end of her polearm up and struck her on the chin before she could stick her dagger into him. The strength of the blow was enough to carry her back up onto her feet.

Cali watched as I approached the daze Inquisitor from behind and swung with every bit of my effort. Aiming at centre mass meant that Stigma’s edge cut straight through her ribcage and into her internal organs, almost carrying enough momentum to split her clean in two from above the waist. She cried out in agony and reached down to clutch at the vicious injury. Jonell soon joined in, his mouth held wide open at the grisly display. I pressed my foot against her back and pulled my sword free – her entire body collapsed onto the ground at a strange angle as a veritable flood of blood and guts seeped from the gigantic gash.

When I looked back to them to check for any wounds, I realised that her friend had already made herself sparse. She had run for the hills the moment her friend was dead. So much for that solidarity, though Maritan had brought it on herself by trying to get away first. It was ironic. Maritan’s efforts had allowed Maria to escape instead. She was fast. It was a suitably anticlimactic ending to the battle. That was how things worked around here, being down in numbers resulted in a quick and efficient rout. By my count, it was two Inquisitors dead and one incapacitated – a good return on the investment.

“Where the hell did she go?” I asked.

Jonell turned around and shrugged, “I don’t know. She just dashed outta’ here before I could stop her.”

I sighed. I couldn’t expect everyone to be as quick on the draw as I was. Their mortal body could only do so much before it ran into limitations. Jonell wandered over to me, taking a wide path to avoid stepping in Maritan’s blood. “And what about the man in charge?”

“He’s dealt with.”

“You mean, he’s dead? Or that he’s not coming back?”

“I said I dealt with it, didn’t I?”

Jonell was right to be suspicious of that claim, but I wasn’t going to reveal what had actually happened to him. Two broken arms and a brow-beating from the Absolver was going to keep him out of the way for a long time. The only way he was getting back here was with an army at his back, and the tides of the conflict hadn’t changed in some time. I was expecting to hear about a peace agreement any day now.

“Hey, let’s just be happy that we got Raiju back!” Ryan cheered, “Thanks a lot, buddy.”

Jonell averted his eyes, “No problem. Those Inquisitors are tough. If you didn’t show up when you did, I might have taken a hit or two.” It was lucky that Cali’s defensive fighting was so good. She could keep both her and other people out of range easily. I had planned by taking that into account. Cali herself seemed unperturbed by the whole thing.

The last member of the group descended from the roof and landed next to me. She had an unreadable expression. There must have been a lot of complicated feelings going on in her head at the time. I patted Tahar on the back and smiled, “Thanks, Tahar. See? You’re pretty good at covering my arse.”

“Thank you.”

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“And to be honest. I think that guy’s gonna’ live. Assuming they get a healing potion down him soonish, anyway.”

I had to chastise myself for saying something so silly. It didn’t matter whether he died or not, Tahar didn’t know. From her perspective he was as good as dead regardless. Tahar mulled it over in her head, but I got the sense that she didn’t want to talk about it in front of the others. I leaned over to Cali and whispered to her, “Take these guys back to their house. We’ll catch up.”

Cali nodded and moved to usher Ryan and Jonell back home. Tahar waited until they were out of sight to speak with me openly; “I am unsure of how to feel about this. Even if the man survived, I have broken an oath I held for my entire life.”

I started walking slowly towards our next destination with her in tow, “Well – can I tell you something? I’ve never told this story to anyone before. But the first time I ever killed someone, I was eleven, maybe twelve? I was just a kid. But growing up in one of those orphanages demands that you do some disturbing shit if you want to get by.”

“Twelve?”

“Yeah. Some fucker was trying to touch one of the other kids. I had a shiv, so I stabbed him before he could try anything. I look back on it now and think it isn’t a big deal, but it is. I killed a man before I was legally allowed to drink. That’s one of the few solid memories I have from that time. I’d never killed anyone before. I was mute for days, couldn’t say a bloody word to anyone.”

“And now you kill many?”

“I don’t mean to imply that I’m a murderer or anything like that. But it was an adjustment for me too. I came from a place where you didn’t need to kill anybody. It was outdated. Something that only the mad would consider. I lived for a decade here without realising that things are different. I couldn’t get by peacefully, I needed to defend myself and other people. But you should always remember what you’re doing – the people who start taking lives lightly are the ones who’ve abandoned living normally.”

“I struck him to protect you,” Tahar stated firmly, “And I… feel guilt.”

“Good. I’m not going to tell you how you should feel. Hurting someone else is something you should think about first. I never wanted to force you to oblige by any of this stuff, the marriage, or coming here and accompanying us. It’s okay to not compromise if you feel that strongly about it.”

Tahar stepped in front of me and peered down from above. Her yellow slit-eyes were sharp with intent, “I will not compromise. A great warrior is a great mate. I have learned that you are more than that, yet I remain on the path.”

I came to a stop and sighed. Tahar really wasn’t going to change her mind about this. “Is that your final answer?”

She nodded again.

“Alright. I’ll take your word for it this time. As morbid as it sounds, shooting him proves to me that you’re taking this seriously. I’d like you to stick with us for real this time, and we can talk ‘relationship’ stuff later.”

Hearing that made Tahar happier than a pig in mud. She swooped down and pulled me into a spine-crunching embrace. The smell of sweat, mud and feathers filled my senses as she squeezed me for every drop of blood in my body. I tapped her on the back and finally got her to show some mercy a few seconds later. I kept forgetting how strong she was, she could easily break someone’s bones using her grip.

Tahar did have one other thing to add to the discussion, “I’m worried about what Cali will say. She is interested in courting you.”

“Huh? Did she tell you that herself?”

“Yes. She said she was trying to make me jealous.”

“That sounds like something she’d do…”

“But I think she may be jealous herself. She is trying to get closer to you, but you have pushed her away out of concern as you did with me.”

I wasn’t exactly prime marriage material, in my own opinion. I didn’t understand what these two saw in me. But projecting her emotions onto other people was one of the ways that Cali expressed herself. It was very subtle and often of little consequence. Cali would come straight out with it, and if not, she would use her logical thinking to assign a similar emotion to others. It was an odd combination of being accusatory and empathetic. If Cali ever implied that I found the state of the camp or lodgings distasteful, it meant she hated it.

I mulled over the issue for a moment, “I think it would do Cali some good to feel jealous. She’s always talking about experiencing emotions and the like, but we can’t just reserve that learning for positive ones. She’s hoping that you getting close to me will make her bolder and more confident, even if she doesn’t know it.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Tahar replied. Her speaking and grammar skills really had come a long way thanks to Cali’s instruction.

“I don’t really get it either. It’s just a gut feeling. Would you be okay with being in a relationship with her?”

Tahar looked to the sky, “Hm. I have not thought about it that way. I thought people on this continent did not like multiple partners?”

“It’s uncommon. Usually just nobles trying to have as many kids as possible, but there’s no laws against it. In fact – nobles are the ones writing those rules in the first place. Whether someone is willing to do it earnestly is another question. I don’t even know myself.”

Sure, it was every guy’s dream to have a harem of beautiful women at some point in his life, at least I thought so anyway. The reality was a lot more complicated than that. Jealousy was inevitable, making sure that everyone felt equal was would be tough, and it would create a lot of emotional baggage that I wasn’t sure I was ready for. Was I willing to take a chance on a real, romantic relationship for the first time in my second life?

Cali and Tahar were candidates if only for their willingness to live on the road with me. But I’d be lying to myself if I said that I didn’t find them attractive either. I’d come around to Tahar’s physique, and she had a smile that could brighten the stormiest days. Cali was pretty, and would be capable of ‘sexy’ if she weren’t so emotionally stunted. I wanted to like her, and she was receptive to that, but it still felt like I was taking advantage of her.

“Shit, this romance stuff is making my head hurt.”

Tahar laughed, “Then perhaps you should stop thinking so hard!”

It was an off-the-cuff retort, but Tahar had spoken a truth that I hadn’t considered. For the first time I was among allies and friends. Turning my mind off and enjoying it was probably the best way to handle things. Maybe by doing that I could find the answer to my question by turning things down and going where my heart took me.

God. What kind of sappy light novel crap was that?