Chapter 18 - Unwanted Advances (3)

The sun was slowly retreating inch by inch and day was turning into nightfall. I was now back inside the town square, except only this time, I was not naked. No, I was wearing a white-undershirt and rough, black trousers with no undergarments beneath.

The twin moons of this world, Seli and Vali, were shining brightly atop the sky and giving off their soft moonlights, which illuminated this town, making the dark bearable. They were, as usual, two lovers longing to join together, but it would just be a fleeting, eternal dream.

The reason why I mention these two moons, “my guest”, is because it has some relevance in my former life as a human when I had been trying to flirt with women just out of curiosity when I had turned sixteen. But more on that later.

In the town square, there were also lanterns, which were black, iron cages that held candles inside to give off light. There was also the cheaper variety that was made from simple wood and rawhide. Evenly distanced around the town, the lanterns and the moonlight made the dark recede.

There are also the rare magic stones which can hold a little bit of magic to emit light, but only the richest towns and cities had them. They were prized because they had a variety of uses and would never cause accidental fires.

Before I could head to the inn, I needed to buy a weapon for the spar with Ryia. Any weapon, so long as it was durable, would be a good one for me. After all, my strength, even in human form, far overshadowed the strongest of men or women. I would be hard-pressed trying to maintain a precise control over my strength to avoid killing that scarred, handsome woman. Most sensible creatures, if they had no death-wishes, would run away in the face of such powerful opponents. So I needed to control myself to avoid killing Ryia accidentally and to avoid making them fearful of me, as I had very little practice in my human-form. Just half a day in fact.

This world, being a dangerous place even for heavily populated human areas, had forced the weapons business to go up and the might of the army to increase. In this town, there were two blacksmiths who had opened up stores in front of their smithies.

But there was no such thing as equals in this world or in any worlds, as a matter of fact, so I went to the better weapon shop, the larger and the more expensive. Inside were two young men, who I guessed were the journeymen under the master blacksmith. One of them was manning the store counter while the other was inspecting the various weapons and armors and every day items dealing with metal, on the many rows of shelves.

“Welcome, my good—” the young man at the counter said, before breaking off in mid sentence. “Oh hey, you are that naked man I saw in the square today. Aside from those nasty goblin raiders, you certainly brightened my day, today. It was such a funny thing seeing such a thing in such a crowded place. Ah the reactions of those people and those children and those daughters.”

“Oh yes, what is your name, mister. And if you prefer, I could even call you Mister Naked Man.” He slapped his right thigh as if that was the funniest joke he had ever made.

Another talkative human, I thought, almost wanting to kill the young man with the faint signs of a growing beard. Were it not for the trouble and the fact that I wanted to buy a weapon with my newly-earned money, he would have been dead. His sense of humor was a thing I wanted to spare the humans from.

I ignored everything he had said, only making my intention to buy a weapon which met my specifications known. “Give me your strongest and most durable weapon. I do not care if its a sword or not, as long as it meets those requirements.”

It would have been useless for me to care about the type of weapon, because I did not know how to use any weapons at all. The only useful techniques I knew in relation to weapons were called “bashing,” “slashing,” “cutting,” which almost everyone could do, including idiots. Although there were many fine points to these techniques to improve them, I was only talking about the execution of these techniques, and not mastering them perfectly.

The young man could sense that I was not willing to humor him, so he soon gave up. Looking toward the other journeyman, who was quite busy with inspecting weapons, he sighed to himself before muttering, “Looks like I will have to get it myself.” Then a small smile formed on his face as he inspected the shape of my body.

Minutes later, the journeyman came carefully walking back to the counter, carrying and heaving a monstrous weapon covered with a heavy, grey blanket. He lifted that monstrous, covered weapon with two hands, effort clearly displayed on his scraggly face as his huge muscles, forged from years of training as a blacksmith, bulged outward along with the veins.

Then the journeyman dropped it onto the counter in front of me before going back behind it, and faced me with a huge grin on his face. “This, my friend who does not want to tell me his name, is the strongest and most durable sword we have.” He paused dramatically. “We call it a bastard sword and have named it Reaver.”

There was a mocking look on his face. “But I highly doubt you can even lift this, my good friend with tiny muscles.”

“I will take it,” I replied.

Then he gave me a derisive laughter and shrugged his broad shoulders. “It's your money.”

After saying that, the journeyman took off the thick, grey blanket, finally showing the form of the weapon to me.

This weapon, a weapon known as the bastard sword, christened “Reaver” by them, was huge beyond practicality. It was a broad sword made for the strength of monsters or giants, not for human strength. It was an inelegant looking thing with a long hilt that allowed for two hands to hold, and did not look very sharp at all. Instead, its main strength was its thickness, which would effectively allow a person to “reave” its foes if that person had the strength to swing it.

It was a bastard sword and would come into good use with my dragon strength, allowing me to quickly kill many opponents at once with its thickness and long reach. The name was also quite ironic.

“Also, give me another weapon. A little, strong, short sword will be good. It should also be steel like this bastard sword, though a bit more refined, if you would.”

“Once more, Mister Naked Man, it is your money to waste. Don't move and I will be back with the sword,” he said snidely, thinking that I was just saving face by buying the bastard sword along with the short sword.

The journeyman soon returned with a short sword and a hard, leather scabbard for it. Along with those two items, he also carried another scabbard, only this one was a much bigger size and with a much longer strap.

“That is going to cost you about six golds,” the man said, trying to inflate the prices as high as he could.

Money was of no concern to me as I had an abundant of it obtained from the three slavers, which, when added, totaled around fifteen golds. I could also have haggled with the journeyman to bring the price down to about four gold, but I did not care much about staying here any longer. I had an appointment with the three adventurers, after all.

I took out six gold coins and handed it over to him. Then I reached out to the bastard sword with a right hand and held it up effortlessly. Now that I could compare it with my height, I could see that it was a little more than five feet. Then I put it inside its scabbard and with my other free hand, I grabbed the sheathed, short sword.

Calmly and without any effort, I headed for the door of the store and not being able to resist my curiosity, looked back at the journeyman sitting at the counter. His face looked flabbergasted, as if a hundred, beautiful wives had been granted to him and then he was mauled by a black bear a short moment later.

“You are right. This is quite hefty,” I said, holding the middle of the hilt of the bastard sword with my right hand and the short, sword in my left hand. Then I turned back around to leave the door, this time not even looking back to see the amusing face of the journeyman.

Now outside the town's square, I headed toward its only inn and soon arrived there. Just above the large, wooden square door was the name of the inn painted in a neat style; it was called The Glamorous Cock. Seeing this, I felt a little amused at the owner's naming sense.

It was most likely a man who had named this inn as women who owned inns were usually more sensible. I spoke from experience as I had traveled a lot with my merchant father when I was a human. Trust me, some of the women merchants whom I had met would make you revere their fierce, business senses. You would pretty much be thanking those women, instead of them thanking you for your patronage.

The world of humans was also mostly patriarchal; that is to say, being born a man was much better than being born a woman. There were few exceptions, as there are some parts on the southern part of Valian continent where woman were matriarchs and leaders.

The armies of most human kingdoms were also exceptions since there were so many rampant raiders and monsters. Women could become soldiers also, but they were in different divisions as it was not a good idea for males and women to live together. Three obvious reasons would be sexual harassment, pregnancy, and discipline would be expensive. It would just be too much trouble.

Near the door to The Glamorous Cock were the three women adventurers waiting with impatience looks and postures, except for Milli Gobumi, the short woman who was partly veiled in the shadowy areas where the light did not reach. She remained partly hidden among the shadows and actually glared at me with what I suppose was hatred, when she saw me coming towards the inn.

“I guess clothes do not make the man, eh Verath,” Elisa said, her brown eyes dancing energetically, the impatient look on her face instantly removed. She checked out my clothing and her lips curled a little in distaste. “You need some fashion sense, dear Verath. With the way you are dressed, you are better off naked. At least that way, I will get some sweets for my eyes.”

Then her eyes widened a little as she saw the two weapons sheathed behind my back, the larger, bastard sword slanted to the right, and the smaller, short sword slanting to the left, making an X. The reason she was surprised was because the bastard sword, which reached almost to the ground, probably weigh as much as her. The way I was effortlessly walking with the two weights only added to her surprise.

Then the look of surprise on her face and the two other adventurers, including Milli, were gone. It just lasted a few moments.

I was not surprised at the fact that they were only a little surprised, because, in a way, all three women adventurers were quite inhumane too. I also had a suspicious feeling that Elisa Ballard's longsword was enchanted with magic. Still, I was not too sure, because I was not very familiar with the magic of humans or whoever had made that sword.

“Ah, a weapon to match your manhood,” Ryia commented with mirth in her voice. “I do hope you won't be “sparring” against me with that.” Her twin maces were hung behind her back in an X position like my two weapons.

“No, just with my short sword,” I said brusquely. It would have been an instant kill if I used the “Reaver” with my dragon strength, which I still could not control precisely, in my human form. I also did not wanted to raise more suspicions about my strength.

“Then I shall also duel with just one mace since you are going easy on me,” Ryia said, winking her left eye at me. She did not look offended that I chose to underestimate her, probably having some doubts as to whether I could use my two weapons at all with efficiency.

Thus, under the moonlights of the two moons, Vali and Seli, my spar with Ryia Altard, the handsome woman with the pale scar running down her whole left cheek, started. Her twin, dark-brown eyes had a look of loneliness and nostalgia, as if I was a former old friend.

Her eyes looked lonelier than the moonlight from the twin moons, who could never, in an eternity, unite, always a distance apart from each other atop the night sky. Like tragic, star-crossed lovers, those two moons and her deep, brown eyes were untouchable, like a heartbeat.

Those eyes, lonely as they looked under this moonlight, were ready for the spar. Thus, I took off the strap of my bastard sword and laid it on the cobbled, earthen ground beside me. It would only impede my movements if I did not take it off.

“Well then, let me test the extent of your skills, Verath. There shall also be no killing blows allowed, but still, try not to die. Accidents do occur, you know.” There was a feral grin on her face that bespoke of determination and taking an insane joy in fighting or killing.

Ryia dashed toward me, a mace already held out in her right hand from a quick, fluid withdrawing motion. She had already closed the ten feet gap, but fast as she was, she still looked like she was in slow-motion, like taking a slow stroll around town.

I had a long time to think about what to do and since I knew no techniques regarding weapons, I decided to just block the spiked mace. The journeyman, after all, had gotten a short sword for me that was suppose to be durable and strong. I hoped that it would not break after clashing with the spiked mace.

A distinct sound that only a steel mace could make from clashing with a steel sword was heard outside of the inn, but no one bothered to look for the source of the noise, so I guessed that the three adventurers had already warned the people of this town that there would be a spar going on. It was probably for that reason or because the people inside the inn were drunk or the music from the bard was too loud, that no one checked out the commotion.

“Strange, you are an amateur, yet you could see through my move. This will actually be fun.” Her feral grin actually got wider as she said that, making me feel that she was like a cat that had found a new toy to play with. A very sexy toy, might I add, feeling confident of myself.

It was strange, and perhaps it was just due to the atmosphere of the night or the amusing things I had seen, but I was in one of my rare, not-quite-jovial mood. It was akin to a feeling of companionship. It was like being a little tipsy. My dampened emotional capacity would only allow me to feel to the extent of being tipsy; I could never get drunk enough to pass out or even more than being tipsy. Trust me, I had tested it out of curiosity when I turned seventeen. But that is another story, which I shall not discuss at this moment.

Our weapons still clashing, Ryia aimed a sudden knee toward my genital. Seeing this, I could either overpower her with my sword and instantly defeat her, or I could move back, or even block it with my own knee. I chose to move back.

Her feral grin turned into a little frown at my calm, indifferent face as if I was just taking a short stroll. I was unaffected and could see through everything she did.

Then a voice interrupted us. It was Milli. “I think that is enough, Ryia. The stranger has shown enough of his skills, suspicious as they are.”

Hearing that, I felt a little curious. Milli, the dagger-girl, was the most vehement about me joining their party, and now she wanted to stop this spar just a little moment after it begun.

Ryia gave Milli a little pouting look as if she still wanted the fight to continue. Then she conceded when she saw the short girl's unmoving face. “Very well.” She sighed a little. “I suppose he can take care of himself well enough to come along with us to the labyrinth.

“Well then,” Elisa interjected, “let us all get some drinks at the inn and then Verath can share a room with me.”

Thus, we all went inside the inn where the bard was singing a funny tale about a knight rescuing a princess, only to find out that she was fat, so the knight left her in the throes of the monster's clutches, not even looking back once after defeating so many of the monster's minions.

That was quite amusing.

And just in case you are wondering, “my guest,” nothing happened between Elisa and I. I just went into her room after a long night of drinking and slept on one of the two beds. She was drunk and I was barely affected by the alcohol, seeing that I had a dragon's constitution and tolerance now, even in human form. It felt as if I had sat down on the cheap, wooden chair of the inn, drinking water all night. My dampened emotional capacity also did not help in getting myself drunk.

I will admit, though, that an accidental petting occurred, which was initiated by her. She also slept fully naked, so the view was also not that bad. There was also an open window in the room, letting in cool air. I meditated beside the window, unaffected by the view of the naked woman sleeping on the bed, deep in my thoughts about everything that had occurred to me since my human life. As a dragon, even in human form, I needed very little sleep, perhaps only an hour or so to feel refreshed. Dreams also did not occur to me anymore and I missed it a little, for what was sleep, but perchance to dream?