Over time, Hugo and Hilde grew even closer, inseparable. But there were times Hugo still acted alone, like when he deemed a battlefield too dangerous, even though Hilde wielded her divinity freely like a cudgel. She used divine powers more freely than Hildebrand ever could, invoking catastrophes like storms of fire and lightning just by raising her staff. And Hilde even wielded magic skillfully, a discipline Hildebrand had neglected despite her talent.

But Hugo still told her, “I have to go alone this time.” And when she clung to him, he told her, “Let me go.”

“I didn’t want her to get hurt,” Hugo said to Hildebrand.

“She didn’t want you to get hurt either,” Hildebrand said. Those words seemed to wound him.

The “too dangerous” battlefield was where Hugo met Rinaldo for the first time. The past Rinaldo looked even sterner and more villainous than the Rinaldo Hildebrand knew, and he had no glasses to mellow his image.

“His eyebrows are even sharper,” Hildebrand said, pointing. “How is that possible? They look like they could kill someone.”

Hugo chuckled. “I know,” Hugo concurred between laughs. “I thought he was an Overman the first time I met him.”

In his wicked helmet, the past Hugo looked like a devil. But when he took it off, he was even more devilish thanks to a fresh scar he had received in a prior battle. Hildebrand looked closely at the past Hugo’s snarling face as he and Rinaldo circled each other on the battlefield. They both called each other “monster” and threatened to cut the other down. A vicious scar across the right side of Hugo’s face started from his lip and wrapped around his entire head, cutting through his long auburn hair. It made him look even more beastly when he spat threats and curses.

“You thought Rinaldo looked like a bad guy?” Hildebrand asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“You looked like a demon,” Hildebrand said. And she thought, But you looked handsome.

“A demon?” Hugo asked, his voice quieting to a whimper.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! You looked dashing,” Hildebrand said. She turned her face from Hugo just slightly. “You looked handsome,” she admitted.

Hugo laughed, he even chortled. “I think that’s only the second time you’ve called me handsome.”

“This is the first time. Why would I ever call you handsome?” Hildebrand huffed, crossing her arms. “No one can even see your face because of that overgrown rag you call a haircut.”

Hugo ran his hand through his hair, pulling it back to reveal his eyes once again. It had fallen back into his face. “I don’t really consider it a haircut,” he said. “Is it really that bad?”

Hildebrand side-eyed him with a raised lower lip and brow. “It’s…” she hesitated upon seeing Hugo’s pouting face. He looked like a sad little dog. “It’s not that bad,” she said. He brightened up instantly.

Hildebrand laughed softly and looked back upon the phantoms of Hugo and Rinaldo crossing blades. The past Hugo roared loudly enough to shake the air as he forced Rinaldo back, feet tearing through solid stone. Neither man gave quarter to the other. “Did they even call you the Hero back then?” Hildebrand asked.

“No,” Hugo said. “They used to call me the Black Beast. Then they started calling me Kerberos, the demon hound.” He pointed to the pointed earpieces on his old helmet. “Some people said it looked like dog ears; others called them devil horns.”

“How scary,” Hildebrand said sarcastically. Even as the Saintess, Hildebrand found “Kerberos” catchy. It was a blasphemous thought. It was the namesake of a lost dog-faced deity from ancient times, thought to be a true demon banished by Emperor Apolly. She blushed at her sinful thought and tried to hide her face, not that Hugo would know the reason why she blushed. “I guess some ass had the bright idea to put them together,” she said, trying to regain her composure.

“It was my idea,” Hugo said, blushing.

“Oh…” Hildebrand muttered, blushing bright red. Even her ears burned, Hugo would surely have noticed them. “It was a bright idea, like I said! It’s a great nickname! It fits you perfectly!”

He chuckled. “Better than the ‘Hero’?” he asked.

“That’s…” Hildebrand hesitated. She couldn’t answer honestly, because the answer was yes.

But Hugo predicted her answer, anyway. “I told you I wasn’t a hero,” Hugo said. Maybe he didn’t predict it at all, it was written all over her face.

Hildebrand couldn’t help but giggle her way out of her awkward silence. “You still look heroic to me,” she said. “Too bad you didn’t wear that armor in our lifetime.”

“They started calling me the Black Dragon later,” he said. “After I got the dragon eye.”

Hildebrand covered her mouth to stop from gasping. It annoyed her a little that Hugo had the dragon eye to ruin his lovely eyes in both lives, but the title was almost a fair trade. She couldn’t help but think “Hero” was a little underwhelming compared to the nicknames he had before. It meant the world to her, but it didn’t have the same ring to it. Maybe, she thought, I do have weird tastes.

“Ahem,” Hugo grunted, obviously asking for attention.

“Oh,” Hildebrand said. “That’s a great nickname too!”

“No,” Hugo said. “I mean—aren’t I well read? Not everyone knows about Kerberos.”

Hildebrand giggled. “You are! I’m impressed!” she answered. It made Hugo smile, and then grin. And he even chuckled a little.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“But maybe you should have spent more time swinging your sword instead,” she teased. After a long battle that tore up fields, cleared forests, ravaged hills, and redirected rivers, Rinaldo stood over the past Hugo. The battle had ended barely in Hugo’s defeat, proving Rinaldo’s tremendous might.

“Rinaldo was about as strong as Brandt Herrman,” Hugo told Hildebrand.

“That dragon guy?” she asked, incredulity in her voice.

Hugo nodded. “He was strong,” he said. The very idea baffled Hildebrand, that there could be anyone as strong as Rinaldo, other than perhaps Hugo.

Rinaldo had not only power and technique, but he also had an infinite arsenal of skills and spells and a brilliant, calculating mind to deploy them all. But that wasn’t why he was such a fearsome warrior. He used all those qualities to match his opponent’s sensibilities and hopeful expectations, to give them a comfortable experience, then slowly pulled them out of that comfort zone until small mistakes became fatal. The man himself likened it to boiling a frog, whatever that meant. Hildebrand inferred the meaning broadly, but not the history behind those words.

“Hey,” Hildebrand said. “Did Rinaldo ever talk to you about boiling frogs?”

“No,” Hugo said. “What?”

“I just remembered something he said,” Hildebrand said. She waved her hand to dismiss the question, gesturing instead to the campfire lighting up before her.

Hugo and Rinaldo sat by a fire, their misunderstandings cleared away by Hilde’s timely arrival. She interrupted just as Rinaldo was making a speech about how fearsome of a monster Hugo was and had to be put down, or humanity would certainly be doomed if he was allowed to grow stronger.

The Old Man laughed his misconceptions away with a fierce roar, like they were but mice before a lion. They were but trivial things, trivial matters. Hugo had no choice but to forgive him, although Hilde leered and leered at the Old Man.

“How did you beat me?” Hugo asked Rinaldo. “I was overpowering you.”

“That’s certainly true,” Rinaldo said. “I won’t deny it, you’re stronger and faster than me, Hugo. I’m truly impressed.”

“Then why?” Hugo growled.

Rinaldo clicked his tongue in a mild display of authority, rather than anger. Hugo seemed to quiet down at the gesture. “Patience, young man, don’t rush me,” Rinaldo said. “I matched your swordplay and your tempo, to put you at ease. Not enough that you’d get overconfident, just enough for you to trust me.”

“Trust you?” Hugo asked.

“Yes,” Rinaldo said. “Enough to believe that I’d push when you pulled, and vice versa. Then I pushed a little harder and pulled a little harder. Little by little, until you pulled too hard, and pushed too hard. Or too little.”

“I think I get it,” Hugo said.

“You do?” Hilde asked. “I don’t really get it…”

“It’s like boiling a frog,” Rinaldo said.

Hildebrand had to interrupt the viewing experience to point repeatedly. “Hey!” she yelped at her Hugo. “The frog! I thought you didn’t know!”

Her Hugo shrugged and gestured for her to keep watching.

“What?” Hilde snapped. “Why were you boiling a frog?”

“It was an experiment I tried when I was a young man,” Rinaldo said. “I placed a frog in warm water and slowly raised the temperature. I expected it to not notice the rising temperature.”

“You boiled a frog just to experiment on it?” Hilde asked. “How cruel.”

Hugo’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Yeah,” he concurred. “That’s…Weird.”

For once, Rinaldo seemed at a total loss for words. Even when Hildebrand stabbed him in the back, he wasn’t so dumbfounded. Then he laughed, he roared with laughter.

“Oh dear!” he said while bringing his hand over his mouth in shocked reflection. “I always thought I lived virtuously, but I’m afraid you youngsters might be right. Why did I try to boil a frog? Hahaha! I must have been out of my damned mind!”

“Wow,” Hildebrand said. “Did Rinaldo just curse?”

“Yeah,” Hugo answered. “I forgot about that.”

“Aren’t these your memories?” Hildebrand asked. “I’m starting to think you made this all up.”

“I didn’t,” Hugo whined. “I didn’t. These aren’t memories exactly.”

Hildebrand smiled smugly. “Ok, ok,” she said. “It’s crazy, but I believe you.” She had believed it was all true from the start, despite voicing her doubt. She just enjoyed teasing him. She opened her mouth to ask, “Aren’t I so kind?” but she caught Rinaldo’s phantom staring in her direction. It killed the words on the tip of her tongue. It quieted her down, just in time for Rinaldo to lecture the past Hugo.

“Hugo,” Rinaldo said. “My advice to you is to exercise your full strength and skills from the start and win quickly, or plan to draw out the battle with your monstrous stamina and hide your skills to the very end. Don’t be indecisive. Be brave to begin with or be cautious to the very end.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Hugo asked.

“You could have defeated me if you used your full strength from the beginning,” Rinaldo sighed. “Or simply if you hadn’t shown me too much of your swordsmanship with middling strength. By the time you time started using your full strength, I already knew to expect something more. I was ready for it.”

Hugo grunted to voice his dissatisfaction at Rinaldo’s advice.

“Perhaps this seems like basic advice to you,” Rinaldo said. “You’re an experienced fighter after all. But this isn’t about your swordsmanship per se. It’s about your decision making. You’re like a tamed beast who’s not sure if he wants to be a man.” Rinaldo glanced at Hilde, who raised an inquisitive and offended brow at Rinaldo. Rinaldo glanced away quickly, turning back to Hugo. “Either be comfortable with your strengths. Or find new ones you’re comfortable with.”

Hugo furrowed his brows in frustration.

“It’s just an old man’s advice,” Rinaldo said. “But I do hope you give it some thought.”

“I will,” Hugo grunted. He glanced at Hilde, who glared at Rinaldo with suspicion. “I don’t want to be a beast forever.”

Rinaldo pulled on his short goatee, thinking further. “Have you ever played chess?” he asked.

Hugo shook his head, “no.”

“It’s fun,” Rinaldo said with a smile. “Would you like to try?”

Hilde nodded before Hugo could. “We would!” she said.

Rinaldo pulled his sword and fashioned a chess board and set from a nearby tree stump in the blink of an eye, all in place, a testament to his otherworldly skills. The two men played the first match while Hilde watched, but there wasn’t much to watch. Hugo lost easily. He moved the pieces without thinking at all despite Rinaldo’s ongoing advice.

“You didn’t take so long to think back then,” Hildebrand observed.

“I was dumb,” Hugo said. “I get smarter the more I think.” He tapped his head.

Hildebrand stared at Hugo as if he were dumb now. “Who doesn’t?”

“You,” he quickly answered. “Well… I mean—”

He gestured to Hilde, who beat Rinaldo in her first chess match. But the more she played, and the longer she thought between each move, the worse she played. Her first rematch was a near loss. The second and third were fast losses. During her fourth rematch, she flipped the board after thinking for an age, the entire tree stump actually. Even Rinaldo was utterly baffled.

“I see,” he murmured. “Not tamed, but beaten into submission…”

Hugo looked to Hildebrand. “I wonder what he meant by that,” Hugo said, rubbing his chin.

“Yeah. Who knows? Hildebrand said. “I have no clue,” she lied.

“Hilde never played chess again,” Hugo told Hildebrand. He pointed to Hilde, who swung the stump around and around and threw it off into the distance like a hammer.

“I’m not like that,” Hildebrand asked. “Am I?”

Hugo didn’t answer, earning him a light smack on the shoulder.

“Hey…” she said.

Hildebrand heard as Hilde asked the same question, and watched as she hit Hugo’s shoulder the same way. Even the way she said “Hey…” in response to his silence was the same. Hildebrand rolled her eyes at the immature Hilde.

When Rinaldo’s phantom stood and walked away, waving goodbye, both Hugos waved back. One with a smile, the other with wet eyes that betrayed his stoic expression. Hildebrand recalled his pained wailing when they hid away from the world, and the guilt returned to her.

“I’m sorry,” she told Hugo. “I—I’m so sorry, Hugo.”

He said nothing. And she said nothing more. She would give him silence.

“You know,” Hugo said. “Some people eat frogs.”

Hildebrand smiled and put fingers to her lips, trying to control herself. But she let a giggle loose. He gave her laughter.