Oh, how good it would have been to end everything there. To summon my crossbow, shoot the statue-like Ezilda, follow Eithne's mark, and discover what I would later learn without the fights, pursuits, and ever-increasing dangers. Yet, I didn't. So yes, the truth they say - [Once a fool, always a fool].

Ezilda, the commander of [Zlolim], had neither reacted to me dispatching her man nor my words, and I found myself staring at her, my mind bare of any ideas. She appeared slightly younger than me, about 25 years old, maybe less. Long and well-groomed brown hair, fair skin, a face I would call pretty. Her figure also was rather good, all the curves in the right places, not hidden by her clothing - a white shirt tucked into leather pants with a sleeveless leather vest over. And her half-dreamy expression gave her image a unique feel. In short, I can say she was lovely and, in some other setting, I wouldn't think much of approaching.

Her belt was the only thing of her clothing that looked uncommon, a girdle covered with iron scales. And on it hung two sheaths, the right side one harboring a dagger or long knife and the other one, on the left, her famous sword. At least it was called famous by [Zlolim] members during our first meeting.

Who knows how long we two could have stayed put, but a sudden noise from above made me snap from passivity, and I stepped towards her, "Lady Ezilda, where is Eithne? And who exactly paid your men to kill me?"

"Hmm? If you say to kill, then I take you are that merchant guard from Vruz?" It seemed that not only I chose to snap out, as her half-closed eyes opened, their deep green meeting mine as she asked.

"That am I." There was no reason to deny it, so I nodded before repeating the first question, "Where is Eithne?"

{I know Eithne is near, but I shouldn't reveal that, should I? Well, at least she's talking, so let's see what she responds.} Considering it a good test, especially as until now Ezilda had given me no reason to consider her hostile, even Wern saying they accepted the mission without her, I maintained her gaze, waiting for her to answer.

"She is where she wants to be." Contrary to my expectation of outright denial or the chance of her telling the truth, Ezilda shrugged as she gave me some cryptic words.

"Should I assume you know where that is..?"

"I do, but there is no reason to tell you." Ezilda first nodded and then shook her head, her right hand landing on the plain ball-like pommel of her sword.

***

Considering pure stats, I was worse than her with the sword but had a slight (one point) advantage in [Strength] and nearly doubled her in [Agility] (my 18 compared to her below the max average 9). This latter should mean I was quicker, at least, reaction- and movement-wise. And yet, from the moment that Ezilda's hand landed on her sword's pommel and to the moment she pounced forward, sword in hand, I hardly noticed anything.

Even more, it is only thanks to Aison's crazy training methods that I reacted in time, my sword meeting hers at the last moment!

No matter what I feel about Aison, as a teacher, he's definitively top-tier. Even with Ezilda being a true swordmaster, her sword quick, unpredictable, and swift to capitalize on any of my mistakes, I still managed to hold on during the first exchange.

I didn't counterattack even once, mainly keeping on the defensive while blocking her slashes, though Aison would have kicked my ass for resorting to blocks.

I wouldn't say that Ezilda retreated because of my absolute defense, but the point stands, she took a step back, which signaled the end of this first clash. Recalling Aison's words about not thinking and not staying put during combat, I didn't wait for Ezilda to retake the initiative.

She was better than me, but it wasn't as if I had nothing to show. At least, I thought so while taking a step forward and slashing at her. A slash she easily avoided, another one she deflected, and chaining a counter, retook her offensive.

Yet, now that I had proved, even if only to myself, that I could do more than stand, I disconnected from my fears and everything else, only thinking about the sword. And heavily relying on my longer reach, with Ezilda being a good head and half lower than me, I began keeping my distance, deflecting and countering as taught.

For every ten attacks of hers, I managed to squeeze two or three, and while we both remained unwounded, the battle was far from even. Ezilda was a true master, and while a combination of dumb luck and skill levels allowed me to keep up, for any outsider, it would be clear who was superior. And so it showed, with me failing to keep the correct distance and our swords clashing nearly by the guard.

In such a setting, Aison said to forget about the sword and fight with everything else, but she was a woman, and I did hesitate about punching or kicking her. On the other hand, she faced no such dilemmas, and only the double padding and light chain of my vest saved me from doubling over as her knee connected with my abdomen. It also allowed me to notice the dangerous continuation of the attack, allowing me to react in time, even if blocking a dagger with the steel plate of my glove was not only risky but also dumb as hell.

Once again, as the dagger slid down, Maester Roder's craftmanship saved me, the bracer's light chain resisting the blade and preserving my wrist intact. I wasn't exactly planning to allow her to poke and cut at me, and in a feat of quick thinking didn't find anything else to do but grab her dagger-wielding hand just above the wrist.

And so we stood, at hugging distance, our arms crisscrossed. Sword hands nearly touching, both blades' guards grinding against each other, and our left hands in a strange grip, where I held her wrist as she tried to reach some vulnerable part with her dagger.

While it appeared that I held everything under control, even blocking the few kicks she attempted to land as we waltzed, I knew it was far from being so. She was far more an experienced fighter. So, sooner or later, this standoff would conclude, and she would restart her attack. And the next time, I felt it would not be something I could cope with, at least not with such ease.

---

I have to end this. Killing Ezilda didn't sit well with me, even if she's putting everything to kill me, so maybe knock her out? It seems like the only way. Now, how to do it?

Winning the combat isn't realistic, as unsurprisingly, she's better than me with the pointy stuff.

Using the same magic tricks as with Aison is also out, not after being told to avoid spells.

So, that leaves me with the [Original Words] and [Inventory]. Or, to be exact, with the [Word of Power, Drikawr] and [Inventory]. The [Word of Rest, Kagbi] was also there, but I instinctively felt it wouldn't work. Ezilda was far from being weak-willed, and it was easy to see how concentrated she was on the battle. So let's say I didn't believe she would take a nap. And I had no desire to test it out, not with the several mana points expense.

{So, how to combine that two?}

---

But I would not have a chance to strategize anything. My thoughts may have taken a mere moment, but as I attempted to get something workable, I heard some noise behind, around the entrance.

{Friend or foe?} A logical question in such a setting, and one answered right away, my [Danger Sense] crazily ringing. My senses told me to get out of the way of whatever was coming, but regretfully I was locked on the spot by Ezilda, and she didn't let me move, reinforcing her struggle and attempting to strike me with her knee again.

The next moments were so chaotic that even with [Perfect Memory], I don't feel sure about anything but the results and the pain.

Without any sound but the inner ringing of the [Danger Sense], I felt my left side pushed forward from an impact below my shoulder. As my mind blackened for a moment, my arm weakened, the grip on Ezilda's dagger-hand loosening. And she didn't let the opportunity pass.

*Screech*

The screeching of metal against metal brought me back to my senses, the pain from my shoulder arriving after.

Disregarding everything, I forced myself to concentrate on Ezilda. Breaking the deadlock came first, no matter who had attacked me from behind. The single-ring chainmail behind the leather had resisted the slash of Ezilda's dagger (thankfully!). And not only that, as she betted on that attack, even slightly turning her torso, she had weakened her position. So, ignoring the pain, I pushed forward with my left side, not caring even about the sword's edge passing just by my face.

As I pushed forward, my right arm backed, allowing Ezilda's sword to touch my shoulder. Then, before she could capitalize on this idiotic opening, I turned my wrist, my sword slashing at her. There was neither space nor time to aim at anything else but her extended left arm, but she probably didn't want to lose it. Adding that she had no room to attempt a slash, she jumped back in place of gambling on whether I would or not manage to complete the attack.

Repeating her movement, I also jumped back, only now feeling the stinging pain somewhere around my shoulder blade. It would take me a couple of seconds to look around the room and find the cause and the culprit.

***

Near the half-unhinged door stood a woman dressed in a long dress and an embroidered vest, both in blue hues with golden and green details. She looked anything but a combatant, only the unloaded crossbow she held demonstrating else.

My [Status Screen] immediately appeared in my field of view, informing me of the new arrival stats, but I ignored it, my mind replaying Wern's words, "About your age, well-dressed, rich. I can't say she's the most stunning woman I have seen, but she's pretty and, most importantly, generous. Black hair and blue eyes..."

"YOU!" I found myself shouting out, as there was no doubt she was the one who had paid the [Zlolim] to search for me. To search and kill me!

Yet she would ignore my roaring and glaring, her blue eyes only glancing at me passingly as if I didn't deserve any attention. Who did merit her attention was Ezilda, and she looked straight at her as she coldly, emotionlessly said, "I didn't expect for you to have troubles here. The meeting started. We have to move on."

"You will ignore your fucking husband!" The pain, anger, and who knows what else apparently blocked my ability to judge my actions' wiseness. So as I shouted once again, I sprang toward her.

A truly moronic choice, considering she held only an unloaded crossbow, and just some meters from me, there was Ezilda, fully armed and not wounded as I was.

Something about ten steps separated me from the doorway, and I only took five as my [Danger Sense] chimed, barely allowing me to dodge a slash from Ezilda's sword.

"Fuck off!" Growling like some crazed beast, I slashed at Ezilda without aiming or thinking, as if I was trying to run her off.

"Deal with him. We are short of time." She hadn't even flinched as I rushed towards her. And neither did she move now, merely ordering (and it was definitely an order!) Ezilda.

Maybe I would have regained some calm at that moment, at least enough to remember what I had been planning to deal with Ezilda. But evidently, the gods that watched over the two women ranked above Sepyre or were more involved in today's events. And indeed, how else could I explain that now, when I needed to calm down, Eithne's mark suddenly started moving away from me! [The drop that caused the glass to overflow] - What else can I say?

{Fuck them, fuck Aison's words, fuck this damn city, fuck everything!} As Ezilda parried my sword (with no effort, I should add), she sent her dagger forward, aiming at my open neck, my mind went crazy.

While I did ignore her stats during that night's events, they still were ingrained into my memories, and so, as I do this [Record], I feel they should be disclosed here, at least for me to understand that a calm mind would have allowed me to (with some effort, but still) connect several of the dots before what would result from all that I did, and didn't, in Chubu.

NAME (As I see it) LEVEL (Hiding anything below average) Kingdom of Neverc, Noble - Kingdom of Neverc, Spreng'Dar House - Speech 14 Manners 15 Education 17 Deceit 18 Persuasion 14 Arts 12 Negotiation 19 Counting 11 Ranged-Combat 13 Accuracy 14 Leadership 16 Command 14 Planning 13 Critical Thinking 15 Investigation - Logic - Courtier Knowledge -