Chapter 35: Avoidable Conflict

Tobias really wasn’t sure how the sequence of events went. He was mostly submerged in his own thoughts, really, and his tongue might have moved on its own accord. And he might have said some arrogant things, on hindsight...

... Yeah. This was probably the reason why he didn’t have too many friends, really. If he didn’t pay attention to his words, he would probably say something that’s probably going to earn him the ire of a lot of people.

That, or he would say something stupid instead.

So now, he was about to fight with a guy who he only knew as Leo. Considering what happened yesternight, he knew that he should have been in no position to be able to fight.

But strangely enough, his body felt... decent enough. While his body was still sore and he knew that he wasn’t at peak strength, he knew that he was still strong enough to at least move around with some semblance of strength.

And besides, didn’t he get stronger because of the System or whatever? This should be a perfect time for him to test it out, then.

So when he raised up his fists to guard his face, he studied his opponent. Leo’s stance wasn’t as guarded as Tobias’ – his arms were far too relaxed and only raised half-way up his chest. He had countless openings, really –

Leo suddenly rushed forwards, leading with an almost too fast right jab headed towards his face.

Tobias narrowly dodged it by leaning to the side. The fist glanced against his left cheek, and Tobias let out a small wince; If he was in his prime condition, this wouldn’t have been this close...!

No more time to complain. While his opponent’s hand was still in the middle of being drawn back, Tobias raised his left fist and sent a quick jab of his own.

Leo reacted to it, and he took a quick step back, barely dodging the counter attack. He let out a savage grin. Within that moment, Leo’s left hand raised and sent another jab towards Tobias, who was currently pulling back his extended arm.

Tobias was wrong...! Even if he was at his prime strength, this guy was still too fast...!

Fist crashed against muscle and bones, as Tobias managed to move his right hand to block the jab aimed to his face. The impact made him wince in pain, but he didn’t let it stop him.

His right arm quickly recovered from the blocked strike, before he sent a fast jab towards Leo, his arm sliding against the outstretched arm he blocked.

Leo must have underestimated Tobias’ pain tolerance and quick recovery time, because he didn’t expect Tobias to instantly counter after blocking a heavy strike.

Knuckles met face; Tobias felt his knuckles grind against the facial bones of his opponent.

Leo flinched as he reeled back from the sudden pain. And for whatever reason – maybe from panic-induced reaction time, he raised his hands just high enough to block his face from anymore incoming blows.

But that only left his torso exposed.

Tobias took this opportunity to send a left hook aimed towards Leo’s now exposed chest.

Fist met ribs, and Tobias winced at the sudden stress his knuckles and wrists faced. He found himself idly cursing himself; if he was faster and more precise, then he should have been able to hit his liver...!

Leo hopped backwards, before he looked at him with a cautious, yet impressed gaze.

Even a solid blow like that wasn’t enough to at least wind him, huh? This guy was tough...

Then Leo turned to the side, and spat a globule of blood. “Not bad, not bad. Maybe you’re not as boosted as I thought you were.”

“So now what. Do we stop here, or what?” Tobias narrowed his eyes.

“Nah.” Leo said, and cracked his knuckles one by one. “Fun’s just starting, and I still need to pay you for hitting me twice.” He raised up his guard again, and he returned back to circling around him, while Tobias only kept his gaze focused on him.

Tobias hummed at his words. While he can’t deny that he should have ended this fight long ago, some part within him was also excited at the thought of fighting a strong opponent.

And besides... He was taught and trained by Magnus. When it came to conflicts like this, complaining was futile, and actions reigned superior.

So Tobias raised his fists, and assumed his stance. Leo took this as a sign that he was ready.

***

“By the way...” Bastille called out to the spectators, and looked around him. “I’m surprised that the girls aren’t noticing us.”

“Ah, about that...” Percival awkwardly began, and let out a cough. “They kinda left the district while Tobias was introducing himself.”

“But why didn’t you tell us that?” Jacques said, and the purple haired boy let out a small shrug.

“Uh, don’t be mad at us, but Leo kinda wanted to fight one of you guys...” Harper admitted, and even Jacques let out a wince and a sigh. “So we, uh, let him, I guess?”

“What kind of Priest allows violence?” Bastille asked, staring at the sickly Priest with exasperation.

“Hehe, sorry.”

And after that short conversation, everyone turned their attention towards Tobias and Leo once more.

At the sight of boys gathered around watching two boys beat each other up, Bastille was suddenly reminded of that one saying; ‘Boys will be boys’.

Boys will be boys, indeed. He let out an exasperated sigh.

He only hoped Tobias doesn’t get himself screwed up even more. Clara would probably be out for his head (and not in the good way) if he was.

***

Tobias gritted his teeth together, as he mistimed his parry. The result of such mistake; his right forearm was half-grazed, half-slammed into by his opponent’s fist, and he could tell that a nasty bruise would develop there later on.

How annoying! He was supposed to be good at parrying lightning-fast jabs!

Tobias leapt backwards, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. That result was definitely better than blocking it head on, or receiving that blow in a more vulnerable area for free.

And as usual, his opponent only stared at him. This time though, his stance was much less relaxed, and more guarded like him.

But if he learned anything from exchanging strikes with Leo, then it was the fact that he didn’t know how to parry away strikes. He was the kind of person to rely on his fortitude to tank blows with his blocks, it seemed.

Time to test it out, then.

He stepped forwards in a flash, and sent a right haymaker of his own aimed towards Leo. In turn, his haymaker was blocked with his opponent’s left arm, and Leo let out a loud hiss of pain from the impact.

He gambled everything in this one strike. If his assessment proved to be false and Leo was capable of parrying away that strike, then he would have been screwed over and left exposed to the point where even a toddler would be able to strike him.

It was good that his gamble paid off, then.

When Tobias withdrew his hand, his opponent’s left hand reached out to grab at his wrist. But Leo had already done this move so many times before – Tobias’ left hand swiftly rose to hammer at his left wrist, and that forced him to withdraw.

The moment his opponent gets a firm hold of his arm – he knew that he will lose.

So there. After those attempts at grabbing him, Leo would leap backwards, and stay at a distance that was too far for arms to reach, yet close enough to be crossed in the blink of an eye.

... How annoying.

So this time, for possibly the first time in this battle, it was Tobias who rushed forwards to break the stalemate. Leo had instantly reacted, and sent a quick left jab headed to his face.

But Tobias had already adapted to his body by now; he managed to lean his head to the side to dodge the strike, as it sailed past his right shoulder.

And he instantly took this opportunity to counter. His right fist crashed into his opponent’s left cheek with such a solid thud, that he subconsciously wondered if even the spectators was able to hear it.

But this guy... was simply too tough.

Leo bore the full strike with a full on, berserk grin on his face, as he looked at Tobias like he was looking at a worthy challenge.

... This guy was too stubborn.

Tobias didn’t think that even his full-powered punches would be enough to stop him.

!!!

And faster than Tobias could think of a way to stop him, Leo rushed in, and headbutted Tobias in his stomach.

“Kah!”

He felt his still-healing stomach seemingly rupture and explode with pain, and his vision blacked, whitened, and swirled with agony for the longest moments in his life.

In panic, he raised both of his arms, and rained punch after punch, elbow after elbow towards Leo’s back, sides, and head.

But Leo only ignored them, and wrapped his hands around Tobias’ back. Then his opponent in front of him bent his knees, and huffed...?

...!

Tobias needed to do something before he would get lifted...!

So he forcefully bent his knees, wincing at the sudden stress placed on them. But he ignored it. His arms reached out, and gripped Leo’s stomach.

“Hah...!”

And with a desperate huff of breath, he pulled his opponent’s stomach upwards. Now, Leo’s head wasn’t pressed against his stomach anymore.

His head was pointed towards the ground instead.

“What?!”

This was...

Then Tobias jumped, and then sat while in mid air, while his opponent’s head crashed against the ground.

A piledrive...!

It was decisive. The combined weight of Tobias and Leo crashing against the ground from chair-level and forcing all of that force into his head was life threatening to say the least.

Tobias instantly scrambled away from his opponent, and tried to stand up. But his stomach still felt like it was hit with the might of a warhammer, so only his legs were able to stand, while his torso was bent as he clutched his stomach.

And then he looked down on his opponent. Somehow, he had an idea this guy... Leo, would be able to survive such a maneuver.

And he did, in fact, manage to survive that when he let out a groan of pain, lying down on the ground while his hands reached up to his head.

“God... dammit...” Leo growled, as he rolled around the ground, while clutching his head. “What the fuck...”

Tobias looked down towards him. There wasn’t any gaze of superiority, nor did he look down on his foe. While he was annoyed and in pain, he knew that there was no sense in looking down at his opponent right now.

This was a fight, after all.

“Do you...” Tobias huffed, as he winced when his stomach flared with minor pain. “Surrender?”

Leo said nothing, but he growled and got on all fours, and tried to stand up. Tobias gritted his teeth together, as he swept his leg out. It wasn’t even a kick – it was more of a gentle, firm push with his leg, but it had the desired effect.

Leo fell to the ground once more, and Tobias looked down again, with annoyance this time. This guy was too stubborn, really. “I’ll ask again... In a different way this time. Do you admit you’re wrong?”

“What are you gonna do if I don’t?” Leo challenged, and Tobias huffed to himself.

What would Tobias do...? He had a feeling that this guy wasn’t the type to answer positively to mercy. He would most likely interpret it as pity. So, what should he do to make a stubborn, hard-headed guy like Leo submit...

Magnus taught him how.

Tobias let out a small nod. His stomach still ached, but it was much more bearable now. So he was able to stand to his full height with some minor difficulty. “Alright. I’ll kick your head until you surrender, or die.” And for emphasis, his leg kicked the air near Leo’s head, just missing by a few inches.

Tobias wasn’t sure if it was the piledrive, or the kick, or the threat, but for a moment, it looked like Leo bore a surprised, half-intimidated face. It looked like even this prideful, stubborn person knew fear to some degree...

Well, it didn’t matter what Leo said now. Tobias’ exercise and self-assessment was done, anyways. Once he got past the soreness of his body, he can confirm that he grew in strength, even if subtly...

No, the strength he gained wasn’t subtle.

It only felt that way because of his injuries holding him back. While his natural healing abilities seemed to be stronger than usual, it still wasn’t fast enough to completely heal him in the span of a few hours of rest.

... Tobias wondered how stronger would he be if he wasn’t held back by his wounded, half-recovered body.

***

“Don’t you think it’s a good idea to stop your party member now?” Harper asked, his voice seemingly nervous and concerned.

Bastille let out a slow blink. These guys... Were they really serious?

“Yeah, the moment your party member gets defeated, that’s when you ask for someone to stop them?” Jacques retorted back, with a venomous tone he didn’t know the noble possessed.

“Hey –” Percival began, but was instantly cut off by the sound of laughter.

“Haha...” Leo began laughing, and all conversation paused. Everyone looked at Leo. Had he lost it...? “Hahahahaha!” Then he quickly stood up, and was standing in front of Tobias.

But Tobias only looked at him with a neutral, unbothered expression.

His right hand quickly sailed forwards towards Tobias’ face...! “You!” His finger pointed towards Tobias’ face, which was only a few inches away. “No hesitation, no holding back, and all savagery. I like you.”

Tobias only stared at the finger which was pointing to him. His expression was neutral and indifferent as always, and Bastille somehow knew that he didn’t even flinch at the suddenness of it.

But then he nodded, and stretched out his hand. “Good fight. I learned a lot from this fight.”

Leo looked at the offered hand, and then seemed to tilt his head in confusion. And then he remembered the gesture was for, and he gave a sharp grin. He took it with such force that the moment both hands made contact, a sharp clap sounded out. He seemed to grip it as hard as he could. But in turn, Tobias only gripped his hand equally as hard.

Bastille didn’t know how strong their grips were, but Leo let out a small expression of shock, before settling down to an impressed grin instead. Then they both nodded firmly, and let go of the handshake.

That was the tensest handshake that Bastille ever watched in his life. It looked like a truce, or even an alliance, forged between a lion and a soldier. One that spoke of their mutual respect for each other from the truest, purest form of exchange of ideologies between man to man; unarmed combat.

Or that’s how it went in theory. Bastille really didn’t know what was up with that, so he sighed instead.

“Oh! There you guys are!” Stella’s voice rang from behind them. A quick glance told Bastille that Clara and the other black-haired girl was still trailing behind Stella.

Clara’s eyes briefly met with Bastille’s, before she let out a narrowed glare, as if silently asking if anything happened.

Bastille shrugged in response.

But he had a feeling that his shrug was a bit too nervous than normal...

***

“Ow ow ow ow ow! Dammit woman, calm down!” Leo hissed and glared at Stella.

“’Calm down’ he says.” She parroted mockingly, before glaring down on the boy whose ears she held like a vice grip, and lifted them, earning another curse of pain from the orange-haired teen. “You’re telling me that the first thing you did was to engage someone in an actual fist fight?!”

“Ow ow! Who told you that?!” Leo yelled.

Bastille noted that Percival and Harper were nowhere to be found, and seemed to be hanging out around Tobias, Clara, and their unnamed female friend, who only sat down the tea house and enjoyed their exotic drinks.

Meanwhile, Jacques and Bastille stayed around Leo and Stella, mostly because Leo being punished was too hilarious to pass up.

Also, that was because Bastille knew that the moment he got within fifty meters of Clara – he knew that the safety of his own ribs – nay, his own life was not guaranteed.

“What do you mean ‘who told you that’?! I figured that out because you have bruises all over your face!” Stella shrieked in his ear with righteous fury. “What part of ‘don’t engage them in combat, don’t antagonize them, and stay behaved’ do you not understand?!”

“I got it! I got it! Just let me go!”

“No! I’m not letting you go until you swear on your father’s name to apologize to Marcus, and to promise to never do it again!”

Leo blinked. “Wait... Who’s Marcus...?”

Stella’s face morphed to one of confusion. “You don’t remember the guy you just challenged to combat...?”

“But that’s Tobias...?”

“Oh. Right. I forgot that he has a different name now.” Stella shrugged. Leo looked up at her vague statement with some confusion, before his face morphed into one of pain. “But you still need to promise me, in the name of your father!”

“I will never promise anything...! Ow!”

***

“Hey, hey. Nice finishing move you did to Leo.” Percival suddenly complimented Tobias, who only looked at him with some confusion.

“I think you should be more angry at me for...” Tobias hesitated. How should he carefully phrase this sentence... “Almost cracking his skull open.”

That wasn’t any better. But it sounded better than snapping his neck, at least. Neck and spinal fractures were painful, crippling, and ranged from partially paralyzing to definitely lethal. Skull fractures were... alright in comparison, as long as the brain is still intact. Not good, but not as bad.

Percival and Harper both shared a look, before they chuckled to themselves and collectively shook their heads at the same time.

“Nah. It’s fine, we don’t hate you or anything. Stella already told him to behave, but he still went and asked us to stand back if he provokes you guys.” Harper said, his hand casually waving as if he dismissed the issue.

“And besides, Leo’s got one hell of a hard head.” Percival added, nodding to himself. “If you didn’t literally pound his skull to the ground, he would never give up.”

“I see...” Tobias hummed.

Tobias didn’t really hate Leo. That orange-haired Warrior seemed to respect him to some degree now, anyways.

... He really was a Warrior, through and through, if his respect was earned through proving himself in combat.

“Are you alright, though?” Clara asked, sitting by Tobias’ right side. “I’m sorry for getting carried away by Stella and the market.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Tobias waved his hand to assure her, then let out a small wince. He idly rubbed his stomach, and knew why it was the case. With his left hand, he idly pulled at the collar of his tunic, before he peeked downwards.

His stomach was still heavily scarred, but at least it more so resembled flesh now, and not a mangled patchwork of it. Even the shape of his abdominal muscles were showing again. So with a shrug, he let it go.

That headbutt hurt a bit more than expected, and if his injury wasn’t healed enough (he would say it right now, that it could have been worse actually), the pain might have been enough to make him black out during that fight.

He wasn’t very good with numbers, but it seemed like that he did heal a lot faster than normal while he was resting. Thanks, Clara (and the System she provided to him).

Speaking of her, he looked back at her, and found that she stared back at him with concern. So he idly rubbed the back of his head. “Anyways, what did you even buy from the market?”

“Oh.” She blinked, before she turned towards the black-haired, purple-eyed girl next to her. “Alaina and Stella decided to get me these cloth-sewn wrappings for feet called socks...” She intoned, before her eyes widened. “Oh right, I forgot to introduce you to each other! Tobias, this is Alaina. Alaina, this is Tobias.”

Yeah. Tobias silently admitted that it was awkward, because Clara just suddenly introduced them to each other like that. But nevertheless, he gave a small, polite nod to her direction, which was met by a similar gesture.

“... I am Alaina.” She said, and he noted that her voice was lower, and smoother than he expected. “In terms of what I can offer to our party... I am technically the party’s Enchantress. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She was also surprisingly well-articulated with her words, and seemed to speak with a confidence even if there was initial silence between them. “I am... Tobias.” He bowed slightly to her direction. “I am our party’s Soldier, I suppose. Pleased to meet you, too.”

And so, just like that, she concluded the conversation with a polite nod which seemed to convey one of finality. So he also nodded back, and then fell silent.

After that, he was only content to observe for now. Percival and Harper were only contented to chat among themselves, while occasionally asking a question posed towards Clara, Alaina, and very rarely, Tobias.

Clara and Alaina were also engaged in their own discussion, and he was only content to listen with one ear as he kept to himself.

... It was amazing that in this day, and this one day alone, he made more acquaintances that he ever expected.

...

And finally, after a long time of simply observing and thinking about nothing, Tobias saw that the sharply-dressed server stepped out of the wooden door with the glass pane.

He gave a nod of recognition towards the owner and server of the drink house, which was named The Tea House.

So their specialty is tea, was it? So anything that had tea attached to the end would be their specialty, was it not?

The black-haired, black-eyed man carrying a tray filled with different iced-drinks nestled in clear glasses walked to them, and with a swift, dexterous hand which only came with experience, he served the drinks quickly, without even spilling a single drop. In a matter of three seconds or so, all five drinks were served.

“Thank you for your patronage.” He bowed, with tray in hand. Clara gave a delighted clap, and lightly bowed down to him while thanking him for his service. Everyone else settled for a respectful nod, which was promptly returned.

Tobias stared at the various drinks his companions ordered. Percival, Alaina, and Harper all seemed to know what they looking at. No doubt thanks to Stella’s tutelage, or something. So they gave recommendations to Tobias and Clara, who really didn’t know what they were looking at in the menu.

Percival ordered black coffee. Alaina ordered coffee which was light-brown in comparison, and had a layer of frothing on top. Harper went for a brown-concoction that was called a milk-tea.

Tobias blinked. Was milk-tea supposed to be just milk, and tea...? Milk, and tea... Milk, combined with that strange, exotic, leaf-like tasting brewed drink...

He shuddered. That sounded disgusting.

On the other hand, Clara went for the same light-brown coffee that Alaina ordered. It was called a... what was it again? Lat... Latte...?

And finally, for himself, his glass had thick, green liquid. Just... why did he decide that ‘Matcha’ sounded appealing...?

Either way, no regrets. Each drink is a new experience, and a world of flavors to discover.

“You look disappointed.” Clara called from beside him. “You wanna swap?”

Tobias blinked. Then he shook his head. “No, I’m alright. I was just surprised because... green is a color I never expected to see in a drink.”

“Hmm, hmm.” She hummed, then nodded to herself. “Alright.”

Tobias took a sip, expecting something terrible...

It tasted like grass. But no, it wasn’t just any grass. Imagine growing some grass, steaming it, drying it, and letting it ferment for a few months on end, and finally grinding it into powder. It was now the quintessential grass flavor. Imagine seasoning it with sugar. It was now grass-like, and sweet. Now, imagine seasoning this grass-sugar powder with some bitter herbs, which faintly tastes like tea leaves. Now, this grass-sugar-tea concoction is honestly the weirdest experience ever. But in reality, it probably didn’t have any grass in it, and it was just produced in a strange way. It was literally tea leaves, produced, grown, and built differently. And now, whisk the powdered form of these tea leaves into boiling hot water, whisk whisk whisk to get the flavors evenly blended, and serve it cold with ice. It was perfectly grassy, faintly sweet, and bitter in its own way, and the coldness only amplified such flavor.

... Then again, Tobias had no way of knowing that. All he understood was that it tasted like grass, but it was somehow strangely palatable in its own way. Maybe it was an acquired taste, then? Either way, he just continued to sip it, finding that it tasted better over time.

Maybe this wasn’t too bad... The company was also decent, with their idle chatting and stories that he paid attention to, however discretely.

Another glance towards the table.

Clara was currently chatting with Alaina, and seemed to be giggling among themselves. He didn’t pay attention anymore, so he wasn’t sure what they were talking about anymore.

On the other hand, Percival and Harper only talked to each other every now and then, before letting out synchronized nods.

... These two guys reminded him of Bastille and Jacques, somehow...

Tobias looked the exotic, green drink he held in his hands. And then he stared up towards the sky, and found the skies a mix of blue, and orange. It was already late afternoon, and it would be night soon, wouldn’t it?

Well... This was a better life than he had come to expect. He had friends, and more acquaintances and allies. He idly wondered if Marcus would also live this kind of life if he was still alive now.

Those thoughts were... Tobias sighed.

All he had to do was get stronger at his own pace, and get Marcus back, right? So with a nod to himself, he raised his glass as a toast to his renewed goal, and downed it. He stared at his empty glass with a feeling of melancholy.

And while his thoughts were still a confusing, swirling vortex of thoughts, he had one thing to keep his attention grounded to the present;

Matcha Tea really tasted like grass...