When the loud cheers erupted, Xyenna just stood in place, staring into the distance. While she enjoyed the excited shouts of the crowd, it didn't hold any real meaning to her. They were a stimulus that could be used to hype her up before the fight but, after the adrenaline rush started to recede in her body, they became yet another background noise that she had to endure.

Throwing a quick look at the mangled corpse that lay on the ground, Mike's bodyguard couldn't help but feel repulsed by the awful sight. For some reason, commoners believed that decapitation was an awesome way to end the life of someone. On the other hand, Xyenna judged it as a repetitive chore of cleaning her armour of all the filth and blood that splashed onto it during each battle.

Suddenly, as she felt her legs twitch, only then did the girl realise the extent of her wounds. During the fight, all of the cuts she received went unnoticed thanks to the adrenaline rushing through her veins. But once the fight had ended, the adrenaline content gushing through her veins subsided. Devoid of this natural painkiller, all of her body began to itch and send painful signals to her brain's receptive senses.

Unable to hold her composure for much longer, she thanked God that she was already on the edge of the arena. If not for that, she didn't have the strength to escape this place with just a short walk.

As soon as her foot crossed the line separating the crowd from the challenge grounds, her body lost its strength to even stand. She was initially startled when her fall was broken but, the moment she realised it was Mike who had come to her aid, Xyenna managed to relax a bit.

"You fought great!"

Mike helped her walk to the tribune and sit down on it when one of the merchants initiated a conversation with her tired self.

"Stop bullshiting me. He was toying with me the whole time. If I'm right, it was you who actually allowed me to win this fight."

The girl refused to accept the merchant's praise. When Mike carefully touched one of her wounds, her face grimaced slightly, but she pretended as if nothing noteworthy happened.

"No need to act tough. We need to mend those wounds."

Noticing the small waver in the girl's expression, Mike couldn't help but feel worried. Most of those bloody cuts could be avoided if only he had acted faster. Now, she would be covered in ugly scars that would forever taint her once silky smooth skin!

"Hold on tight. We need to go to our Inn. I have some medicaments kept within my sacks there."

Putting his arms behind her back and under her knees, Mike lifted the girl on his arms. He managed to princess-carry her only for a few steps when the people surrounding them suddenly got pushed away by Damash with his entourage.

"Is she okay?"

Furrowing his brows in concern, the burly man couldn't help but gaze at the multiple wounds scarring the girl's body. Only after confirming that most of them were just scary looking shallow cuts, did he allow himself to exhale. He saw what Mike did to those who were responsible for the trouble that his bodyguard went, making him all the more worried about well being of the girl.

"For now. Help me a bit. We need to bring her to the Inn so that I can take care of her wounds."

Tightening his embrace, Mike explicitly showed that the word help only applied to the overall idea of healing her injuries, not the task of carrying his friend!

"Let's go to the carriage then. This way, we can at least lay her down on the couch."

Following Mike's line of thought, Damash quickly reorganised his underlings, creating a cordon surrounding the pair. Standing on the front by himself, he began forcing his way through the crowd.

"Don't worry, it will be over soon."

The Merchant whispered in a silent voice as if trying to prevent the guards from hearing his words.

"Just hold on for a moment."

"I'm not some kind of scarred herbivore, don't talk to me like that!"

Xyenna protested, hitting him softly with her relaxed fist. After the fight, when all her wounds started acting up, she didn't have much strength left. Her failed attempt at a threatening punch turned to look like a scene of cuddling between two lovers.

After a few long minutes of walk, the entire party reached the carriage, secured in the same spot that they left it earlier in the day. From the envious looks thrown at the vehicle by the surrounding people it was apparent that if not for the armed men watching over it, not even the dust that settled over it would have been left intact.

When the cordon touched the side of the wagon, Damash opened its doors and rushed to prepare a comfortable lying spot. Pulling some blankets from the boxes located under the seats, he creatively turned what was once hard seats into a soft couch.

After ascertaining the security of the inner part of the vehicle, Mike carried Xyenna inside and laid her down on the prepared place. As he tried to leave the place to order the driver to move out, he stopped in his track as he felt a slight tug on his arm.

"Hold my hand please."

A barely audible voice reached his ears, gently caressing his eardrums.

"Okay."

Pointing to Damash to take care of the coachmen in his stead, Mike sat beside the improvised mattress and carefully reached for the girl's hand.

"I'm here, don't worry."

Just as he said those words, he felt a short pull and the carriage started moving. A moment later, Damash boarded the room and closed the doors behind him. As a form of respect towards the intimate moment between the duo, he moved to the farthest point of this small space, at least pretending to look through the small window.

"I hope you didn't forget what I promised you earlier. It's our fault that things escalated to this scale and we couldn't hold on to our responsibilities."

Still keeping his eyes on the outside, the burly man affirmed the merchant. While he didn't have much to say in the entire faction decision-making process, he was glad that they didn't try to use Mike and just ditch him afterwards.

Probably thanks to her exhaustion and accumulation of intense stress, it didn't take long for Xyenna to fall asleep. Noticing that her eyes had already closed and her breathing stabilised, Mike finally allowed himself to look outside.

The crowd didn't even notice that the winner had long left the scene. Talking about the duel, the moves used by both parties, the strange disparity in strength that suddenly flipped from tides of the battle from Marcus to Xyenna's side… It looked like this duel would be the only topic of the discussion over the next few weeks.

On the other hand, seeing such happy and excited expressions on the faces of the masses, Mike suddenly felt heaviness in his chest. The blood of people he killed today started weighing down on his mood. Only the warmth of Xyenna's hand supported him while he started thinking about the assassination.

He thought he left that life for good. Cutting his ties with Xantia and leaving them on that day when he reached that decision was the main foothold for him to abstain from killing. He didn't want the sacrifice he made to appear meaningless.

There was still another point hanging over both his and Damash's head. What would happen when the City Hall notices the corpses of their people. The only comfort the young merchant would find was the idea of leaving this stupid city as soon as possible. By doing that, all the problems here would disappear!

While he was deep in thought, the carriage drove through the city streets, unbothered by guards or town residents. Most of the people were outside in the duel area, still discussing over the recent fight. Thanks to that, the Inn courtyard appeared a lot sooner than he had expected it.

Paying extra attention to not wake the girl up, Mike inserted his hands in the same spots as before when he had carried her in a princess-carry and carefully lifted her up. Making sure that his grip was secure, he stepped out of the carriage. Thanking Damash for opening the Inn doors with a slight nod of his head, he moved towards the stairs.

"I will organise some medicaments for you. When the girl recovers, feel free to come downstairs and celebrate with us!"

Damash didn't hesitate to invite his new friends over for the party. They were the ones who made this party possible.

"I will think about it later, for now, she takes priority!"

Gently holding her in his embrace, Mike continued onto the stairs. He had to watch every single step of his so as to not wake up the injured girl. After finally appearing on the second floor, he kicked open the doors to his room and laid Xyenna down on his bed.

After making sure that the breathing rate of the girl was at a steady pace, the merchant quickly rummaged through his sacks. Finding the stuff he needed that was hidden deep in his private stash, Mike pulled out a small jar of mudlike substance and a few rolls of bandages.

"Wake up."

After putting the items beside the bed, the merchant lightly shook Xyenna's arm. Tending to her while she was sleeping would be dangerous for both of them.

"Whaaatsss goingggg on…"

It was reassuring to see her sleep like a log even with such severe injuries. Mike raised the medical accessories he had taken out.

"It's time to tend to your wounds. Can you sit?"

"Ugh… It seems that I don't really have any choice in this matter, do I?" Her casual expression turned into a grimace as she tried to sit up, her injuries turned out to be more painful than she had expected.

"Don't overexert yourself. While you don't seem to be hurt at any of your vitals, the massive loss of blood due to the accumulated wounds have heavily exhausted your strength. Come on."

Mike comforted his bodyguard and he pulled her to a sitting position. Unsheathing his knife, he started cutting down the belts holding her armour up.

After her entire torso got exposed, Mike cut a long stip from the armour and rolled it into a short piece.

"Open your mouth."

When she obediently followed his words, he placed the rolled leather between her teeth. While the medicine he had was great, it caused great pain upon applying. He needed to make sure that she wouldn't bite her tongue in the process of tending to her wounds.

Unravelling one of the bandages on the bed and opening the jar with medicine caused Xyenna to struggle.

"Mhmhm, mhmhm hmhhmmh!"

She admirably tried to say something despite the gag in her mouth. Since they didn't start yet, Mike didn't mind pulling the leather out.

"If you want to smear this shit on me, bring me some heavy wine first!"

Freed from the mouth gag, Xyenna declared her demands. Just from the sour smell of the paste, she could fathom how much pain she would have to endure during Mike's treatment. There was no way she would agree to it without desensitizing herself first!

"Okay, okay. Just give me a moment!"

Sighing with resignation, Mike left the room and ran downstairs. A moment later, he reappeared in the room with two bottles of wine in his hands. Uncorking one of them, he shook it in front of Xyenna eyes.

"Half of it now, another half later, okay?"

"Sure, just feed me the wine and get it over with!"

For some reason, sitting half-naked on the bed in front of her employer made her somehow uncomfortable.

Sitting on the side of the bed, Mike put the bottleneck to the girl's supple lips. Slowly lifting the bottle in short intervals to allow her a breathing break, he did his best to watch the liquor level instead of gazing at her breast swaying to the rhythm of her gulping the wine down.

'She is fucking wounded!' Disciplining himself in his mind, Mike finally took the bottle out. He could already see a small shine in the girl's eyes.

As the alcohol swiftly started to work its charm, her mouth gaped a bit in response. Relaxing herself, she stared down at Mike with cutely open mouth. Not falling for that trap, merchant clutched her lower jaw, pulled it down and stuffed the gag right into her mouth!

"Let's get this over with!"