Isy greeted me as I walked through the door to our room. “Hey, your back! So… How did it go?”
“Sorry to have to ask you this… But do you think you could spend the night in her room and look after her?”
“Oh… uh… Sure!” Her voice cracked. “no problem…” She squeaked out.
“I’ll stay here this time to guard our things.”
The next morning as the sun rose I forced myself to get up and go check on them, and as I opened the door, sure enough, I found them both sitting at the table with two thugs tied up on the floor.
“Hello, Siya!” Isy said with a big smile from ear to ear. “Look, I did what you said, and caught the bad guys!”
Mo nodded. “She was… Helpful… As a distraction.”
‘I see…’ My eyes slowly gravitated toward a giant slender figure just behind them. ‘Isn’t he the guy we saved? He lost a lot of weight… I didn’t use that much magic did I? Oh, well if he lost a lot of blood, so I guess… It’s not worth worrying about.
Another glitchy screen appeared before me, and as our eyes met, it solidified. ‘Oho?’
[Name: unknown
Loyalty: 0
Opinion: 50
Intimacy: 0
Attitude: indebted
Mental state: cautious]
He crossed his arms as he stood up and looked down at me. “You are all friends, yeah? My debts have been paid then… You can keep their marks.” He said bluntly before walking toward the door.
“Hold on a moment.” I leaned against the door, blocking his way out and he stopped with a deep scof.
“What is it…”
Taking a closer look he still had no weapons, his hands were bare but calloused like stone, his knuckles large and hardened. “I take it you fight barehanded?” ‘it’s almost too perfect.’
“Why does it matter?”
‘His status says indebted… So he doesn’t actually think his life is equal to beating up a few rogues.’ “You said you paid us back, so can I ask you a favor then? What’s your name?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
He had been staring right over my head, but when he looked down and our eyes finally met, his face softened slightly and he took a step back. “Bear… You can ask whatever you want… But if I don’t want to then I won’t.”
“I need you to help Frostbite change classes…”
He looked over at the girls behind him and let out a groan.
“I know she stabbed you and everything, but I was hoping-”
“That's not the problem.”
“What?”
“I don't care that she stabbed me…” He sighed. “And blaming me loseing the next fight on her too seems a bit generous doesn’t it?” Taking a deep breath he let out a deep growl. I'm a pugilist. There's no way she's strong enough to fight like I do… I'm not even strong enough to fight like I do without getting a knife to the chest…”
“I'm sorry,” she mumbled.
“Shut it!” he yelled and she shrank backward.
He turned back to me his voice instantly calming again. “See what I mean? When she isn’t in a fight, or holding a blade, she’s just a scared little girl… You expect her to fight without the only thing that gives her confidence? I’m leaving now. Move.”
I came off the frame, standing squarely in the path and blocking the door even firmer. “She will be fine. She’s stronger than you are… Despite her size… And I’m sure she can fight hand-to-hand just fine, especially if we teach her. What I need from you is something else. The alleys, gangs, and streets of the city… You two are going to take them over. And you’re going to do it with nothing but your bare hands and brute force, and most importantly, without killing. If that doesn’t change the school's mind about her class then nothing will.
He looked at me, and then back at Mo. “Well… They got the spitfire part right… Although you’re more like a lizard than a dragon…” He took a deep breath and stepped back and leand against the wall. In the background I could see Isy practically fuming, only being held back by Mo who eagerly waited for his answer. “I see no reason not to try… But I have conditions. Firstly, I’m in charge until she can beat me in a hand-to-hand fight. And second, she tells me her real name. As for me. I’m Bear.”
The room fell dead silent.
He sighed. “If she can’t at least say her name then this won’t work.”
“M-Mo…” She mumbled.
“What's that?”
“Mo, my name is Mo.”
“Sorry, I'm tired, I couldn't quite hear you.
“I SAID MY NAME IS MO!” she yelled, straightening her arms in frustration. Right after she belted it out she covered her mouth. ‘I wonder… If she's ever spoken that loudly before?’
“Right, Mo huh… what a weird name,” he said bluntly. ‘Says the guy named Bear…’
She was so embarrassed her face turned red. “Nobody asked you…” She said coldly, her eyes sharpening as she sat back down.
The corners of his mouth started to rise “There we go… That’s more like it. ” He walked over and threw a punch at her at full speed. When she dodged by simply leaning to the side his grin grew even wider. He threw another and another, but it was the same result every time. “Right. Let's go outside.”
We tied the thugs up and hung them by the waist from the balcony as we left. ‘So much for no one daring to enter… Although, it’s also possible they beat them up outside and drug them in? If that’s the case maybe they wern’t even being targeted.’
Bear led us to the training grounds next to the garden outside. “Little Lizard, you said you knew some martial arts right?” He asked, looking over his shoulder.
‘Finally! A cute nickname!’ I was so excited I felt my body lift onto my toes as we walked.
“DON’T CALL HER THAT! She’s the guild leader! And she’s way stronger than you!” Isy yelled as if defending my honor or something absurd, taking away any excitement I felt, and making me feel silly for feeling it in the first place…
With the excitement gone all that was left was to answer bluntly. “I know plenty. In fact, when given a choice I’d probably prefer fighting hand to hand if I knew I’d be fighting other humans.”
“Hm… Mo, I'm going to be honest with you… I don't have a real fighting style, it's just going to be what I've learned through experience. But with the Little Lizard teaching you I’m sure you will be fine.”
The excitement came back. Even though Isy seemed to hate it, I was all too happy about my new nickname. It made me feel cute for once, instead of like some scary man-eating monster… Although, judging from how his expression changed after looking at me… and how my ears twitched every time I heard it… I felt like I was probably showing it a little too much… But… Seeing as how his opinion statistic kept increasing… I decided it didn’t matter.