I felt I had to ask

Salazar is waiting at my door, and I really don’t have the energy right now. I just want to go to sleep.

“There you are my rival! I can see you are tired. Another day of fulfilling training I bet?”

“Yup, you have no idea!” I say in a sarcastic tone.

I can’t even muster up the energy to make a fake smile.

“So, what brings you here at my room. Again.”

“To warn you of my departure of course! My first mission is scheduled and the next time you see me I will be a fully-fledged member of the Resting Guild and finally receive my dream catcher!”

“You’re leaving?!” A begin to genuinely smile. “Why didn’t you say so! First mission, right? That’s just amazing! I’m so happy you’re leaving right now! Happy for you I mean ha ha ha!” I cannot contain my happiness.

“Heh heh, your enthusiasm encourages me! I’m going ahead rival; you better find a way to catch up.”

He leaves and I finally can lay down on my bed. The stress leaves my body almost immediately and I have no problem falling asleep.

The days pass. Between blessing and protection practice with the teachers, combat training and reading at the library with the help from Helga, my days are packed.

Each day is more tiresome than the last, but I just cannot stop smiling when I think back about everything.

Learning blessings is fun and really makes me rack my brain about different possibilities on how to use them. Talking with Lafanda and Mimi with their happy go lucky nature also calms my heart.

Protection training is rough but even after leaving me extremely tired every day I can at least blow of some stress when I get I good hit on Juni. I’m also finally starting to make some progress with my fighting abilities.

And reading with Helga on the library after a tough day of training always helps me calm down before going to bed.

Before I know it, two weeks go by, and I get some bad news.

Salazar team is getting back from their first mission. The peace and quiet in my rountine was good while it lasted but I guess all good things must come to an end.

And there really Is no avoiding him. I got sparing training with protection lessons tomorrow. I’ll be close to the entrance when the carriages come.

(Oh well, with him being a full-on guild member I’m sure he will have to leave on sightings more often. Just have to deal with him when we returns to HQ.)

The morning comes and I’m the first one in the training arena. Looking around there is no one else close by, except on the main road where the carriages come from. A man is just sitting there, like he’s waiting for someone.

A guild member from the orc kin with shaved head and an eyepatch is there sitting down and silently looking at the distance.

Not long after, Lafanda, Mimi and Juni arrive. But no sign of teacher Amari so we just stand there waiting.

The orc kin guy suddenly stands up, drawing attention to him.

“What’s he up to?” Lafanda asks.

“He must be waiting for the people arriving from their first mission. Let’s check it out too.” Juni says and starts walking towards him.

Lafanda and Mimi go right behind him.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the teacher? We don’t want it to seen like were skipping class, do we? ha ha.” I really don’t want to meet Salazar.

“C’mon Aki it will be fun!” As Lafanda says that Mimi wraps around and starts dragging me towards the orc kin.

(Just when I was getting used to my peace and quiet.)

We stand next to him, Lafanda with her cheerful expression is already starting a conversation with the orc kin guy.

“Can you see them already?”

“Oh they would be riiiiiiight there.” He says.

We can see the carriage coming in the distance. It’s still a little far away.

“Do you know anyone there? Is that why you’re waiting for them here so early in the morning?” Lafanda continues with the onslaught of questions.

“Let’s just say I really enjoy the welcome the new recruits after their first mission.” He says in a monotone but somehow happy tone.

Eventually the carriage reaches us at the top of the mesa and makes a stop. I can see Salazar and two other team members getting down from it.

They look battered up and are covered in bandages and wounds. He looks towards us, and we make eye contact. I even in this situation, I expect him to come running over to gloat about his achievements and how brave he was. But instead, he just gives me a shy wave and with a weak smile.

I… wasn’t expecting that. I caught me so off guard that I waved back even though my intention was to just ignore him.

We are left speechless, none of us was expecting such a return from something considered so important.

“Heh, alright that’s enough. This was a good one.” The orc kin laughs with a smile on his face and starts to leave.

“What did you say?” I say instinctively. The way he laughed made me angry for some reason.

“Oh sorry, I laugh we I get nervous.” He still has a massive grin on his face.

Is obvious that he is lying and is pissing me off.

“Please don’t take any offense, we all react differently to…” He turns to look at me and stops mid-sentence when our eyes meet.

He stops for a second.

“You are… a new recruit, right?” He looks deep into my eyes.

It’s like he’s searching for something. Analyzing me.

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t been here for long. You wouldn’t understand, once you go on your first mission, I’ll be sure to look at you too.” He says without breaking eye contact, not even once.

Amari finally reaches the training ground and calls out to us to come train. The orc kin leaves and heads inside the main base.

(Bastard.)

We begin our sparing match, and I go against Juni, but I can’t shake the sight of Salazar from my head.

What happened in his first mission? Did it go wrong? None of the other members rushed in to say anything so did it mean it went well? Are you supposed to return like that?

“EYES ON YOUR OPONENT AKIHIKO!”

Amari call out startled me and made me drop my Monstrous Strength protection.

As I focused on Juni again, he went for an aggressive move towards me and I have no time to guard. He hits me on the chin, and I immediately lose consciousness.

Waking up I’m on the infirmary. Lafanda and Juni are all beside me. Mimi is resting her snake head on my stomach like a pet.

“He’s awake! How are you feeling right now?” Lafanda says, with Mimi going back to er side.

“Better I think? Juni got me good.”

“Well, you shouldn’t had your head in the clouds!” He says in a defensive tone. “Sorry, that wasn’t nice. You know that that salamander kin guy, right? Seeing him after his first mission must have been rough?”

(Is fighting slumberwalkers from your own kin that hard?)

“Amari said for us to take it easy the rest of the day, come meet us at the cafeteria so we can eat together later okay.” Lafanda says with a smile.

As they leave, I can hear them talking with someone on the outside.

It’s Salazar. He comes inside.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here my rival. I came to check up on my own battle scars and heard you got in an accident while training from your friends just now. It’s good to see it wasn’t all that serious. Then again as my rival of course nothing would keep you down for long!” He puts on a nonchalant expression.

I can tell he’s faking it. I have experience with hiding my own worries.

“Salazar… Is everything okay?” I don’t care how much I dislike him. I felt I had to ask.

“Well, I don’t know what you are talking about?”

“Salazar…”

“Heh, nothing gets passed you. Sharp as ever rival. It was a little more than I thought I could handle. But I heard it is like that with first missions. And thankfully my team was there with me. But this is what I signed up for!” He jumps up “And now as an official member of the Resting Guild I’ve official taken the lead on our rivalry HA HA HA.”

(And there he goes.)

“Get well soon and train hard so you can come surpass me!”

He runs towards the door and stops midway through.

“And Akihiko…”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you for asking.” He takes one last glance back before running into the hallway.

(I thought he needed to check up on his injuries.)

Now that I’m alone in the infirmary I lay back down on the bed to rest a little more.

“You have wonderful friends.”

A voice I don’t recognize comes from behind one of the curtains on my side.

I’m alone in the infirmary, right?