After finishing off the bandits, I was exhausted and had to rest.
I quickly checked the caravan: clothes, coins, weapons… I took what I needed. Since my clothes had been burned, I grabbed some I found there.
I left the forest stumbling a bit, with light cuts and burns. When I reached the edge, I saw Lilia and Zekin waiting for me.
Lilia ran toward me with a worried look.
"Aito! Are you okay? Look at you, you're hurt!" She checked my arms and my scorched clothes. "Drink a magic potion right now! Why didn't you use it earlier?"
"It's nothing serious, Lilia… just scratches," I tried to smile.
"Nothing serious?! You're full of cuts and burns!" she pulled a potion from her bag and put it in my hand. "Drink this now. Don't be stubborn! If you don't take care of yourself, how are you going to keep training?"
Zekin laughed from behind.
"Listen to the girl, brat. She's right."
I sighed and drank the potion. Warm healing spread through my body, closing wounds and easing the fatigue. Lilia sighed in relief, but she still looked worried.
"Thanks, Lilia," I said, patting her head.
She smiled a little.
"You're welcome… just take better care of yourself."
We went straight to receive the reward. We showed them the caravan as proof and they paid us. I had earned more from the bandits than from the official reward. They asked if we had taken anything and we said only clothes, since we needed them. I also exchanged my bow for a better one I found there; it was sturdier.
"Congratulations, Aito. You earned a lot," Lilia said proudly.
"Well done, brat. You're paying for dinner today," Zekin added with a malicious grin.
"What?! You're so cruel, master."
"Why would you say that, grandpa?" Lilia asked.
"Hey, girl, why do you defend that brat so much?"
After that we went back into the forest to continue training. We ran into some beasts, but they weren't that strong, so we defeated them easily.
We trained all day until nightfall and then returned to the inn to rest.
I had killed the bandits, but I didn't feel anything for them because they had too much innocent blood on their hands. It's not like I was used to it — they were my first human victims — but since I already knew what they had done, I couldn't feel bad for them.
Since it was my turn to pay for dinner, I gave the coins to the master so he could pay. This time we ate downstairs. The atmosphere felt very different since other people were eating just like us.
While eating, people laughed loudly and told jokes, though there were also others who were just looking for trouble. That day I saw more beastmen than before and more than in the inn from the other town.
I went over to talk to them since I didn't have the chance to talk to the ones in the other town. It was like seeing another race for the first time.
They weren't very friendly, they were sniffing me, and while they weren't violent, they weren't kind either.
I only wanted to do one thing: fight them. I'm very curious about magic and I also like fighting people. So I asked them to fight me.
"I want to fight you."
"Grandpa, Aito is challenging these people, aren't you going to stop him?"
"Let him have fun."
"Hey human boy, you want to fight us? Wait, why do you have that happy face?"
"Yes, let's fight."
I was very happy while asking them to face me. It's not like we had any problem between us, I just wanted to fight them.
"Well, judging by your face, it's not like you bear any grudge against us. Fine, let's do it."
I had the feeling they weren't stronger than the bandits I fought earlier… although I might be wrong.
And so we left the inn and went to a quiet corner where we wouldn't cause much damage.
Let's see if I was wrong or not about whether these beastmen were weaker or stronger than the group of bandits I fought in the forest…