"He made you do the tree climb, huh? I told him you weren't ready, but I guess I was wrong," Sora smiled, slapping Ren on the back.
The playful slap nearly caused Ren to fall over and embrace the unconsciousness his body yearned for, but he persevered--the thought of looking any more pathetic than he did in front of a cute girl like Iris was the only thing stopping him from dropping.
"Yeah...well, maybe you were right. I'm dying over here," Ren yawned, following behind Iris.
Sora continued to massage the towel he was holding into his wet hair, getting droplets of water all over the wooden floor below.
"Where are you two going?" Sora asked with a sly smile.
"What's that look for? It's kind of creepy. I'm just showing him to the bath," Iris' expression was as if she was on guard.
"You don't want to know what he's thinking. As a guy, trust me on this one," Ren sighed.
Iris shuffled before she began to climb the spiral staircase leading to the second story of the house, turning back only to see Ren still standing at the bottom with a blank expression on his face.
"Are you okay…?" Iris asked.
"Are war veterans okay after hearing fireworks?" Ren answered with no emotion to his voice, staring blankly at the stairs in front of him.
After some coaxing, she managed to get the reluctant Ren up the staircase, watching as he dragged himself over each step like a pouting child. As he remembered, the second floor was rather bare in what it held, seemingly just containing all of the Outlander's rooms and apparently a bath. She led him to a simple, yet pleasing-looking yellow door with silver flowers decorating the threshold of the door.
"Um, well, you'll be fine from here, I think," Iris nodded her head before hurrying off.
"Wait--" He stopped her.
"...yeah?" Iris stopped, fiddling with her soft hair.
"Thanks," He scratched his head, looking down to hide his rosy cheeks.
"Mhm," She nodded her head before leaving down the stairs.
It was endearing and also extremely cute to him how shy she seemed to be--almost matching his own. He enters the bathroom, stepping into the pristine marble floor as it squeaked under his step. It almost felt like a sin to drag his dirt-covered boots over the shiny floor, but it had to be done. He undid the straps holding the metal plates of armor to his leather, letting it fall to the ground before peeling his clothes off, clinging to his skin from the solidified sweat.
"That's...gross," He scrunched his nose, pushing his clothes into a pile.
Now he was ready for a bath, or so he thought--the problem is, this wasn't the era he was used to being in.
"That's right...these are medieval times, so how the hell do baths work?" Ren muttered to himself, scoping around the tub.
A silver nozzle embroidered with a circular array of blue gems sat in the position that a usual modern bath would have--so he tapped it. The gems lit up before a stream of water began to fill the tub.
"Hold on--magic tubs? I can't tell if that's amazing or a waste of magical ingenuity," Ren watched the water flow into the porcelain tub.
The water filled to the perfect amount before stopping on its own, and upon slipping himself into the water--it was the exact temperature he desired.
"I have my answer: amazing," Ren closed his eyes, relaxing in the soothing water.
As someone who never worked a day in his life, for the first time, he finally felt like he deserved this relaxation. He stretched his legs out, resting them on the edge of the tub as he allowed the gentle water to massage his restless pores.
Finally allowing himself to truly relax, his muscles burned and ached, yet it was a feeling of growth, telling him that he pushed himself past his limit and into a new horizon.
"Meinhard, I met a pretty cute girl today," Ren kept his eyes closed with a smile.
After waking up from an unintended nap, he finished his time in the bath. There was just one small problem. There was a distinct lack of cloth sitting in the bathroom, besides his reeking leather armor.
"I forgot to grab a fresh set of clothes--!" Ren yelled out.
There was no way he was putting his dirty armor back on--especially with how blissful his skin felt, it would be like getting a new white tuxedo stained with mud. Peeking the bathroom door open to just a slit--he scanned the hallway--empty.
He estimated the distance between the bathroom and his room to be roughly five meters, not a straight shot, but not too far.
--Am I ashamed of my prized sword being seen? Yes, but that's not the point! If I get seen with my dangly bits out on display, they'll never live it down. The dudes will laugh at me and the girls will think I'm a total creep!
Watching countless hours of spy movies wasn't for naught. This was the exact situation it had all been for--to save his social life in this new world.
No footsteps: check. Nobody in sight: check. The coast was clear and so was his resolve.
--The day will come when a girl sees it, but that day is not today! It's totally not an excuse for my own terrible social skills--but I'm saving myself for the right girl!
Conjuring the concept of a bolt of lightning and the spirit animal of a cheetah, he dashed forward in all of his natural glory.
'Gah--!"
An unforeseen outcome. A miscalculation. He forgot how dreadfully burnt out the muscles in his legs were, even the slightest strain seemed to cause his calves to cramp up as punishment for his own human limitations.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of sudden footsteps rang through his eardrums, causing his body not to be coiled in just bathwater, but sweat as well. He could feel each step echo through his body, coming from the staircase. By the weight of the steps, it definitely wasn't a man, or at least not one he knew.
"Move!" He gritted his teeth, commanding his own body to push forward.
He was no more than a meter from his door, yet his legs had already given up on this battle. Naked and temporarily crippled on the floor--to say it was an unsavory sight would be underselling it. As the steps drew closer, the enigmatic thuds were more menacing than anything he had faced that day--he threw his arm up in desperation. His fingertips brushed against the door handle, so close, yet so far.
"Come on---!"
With one last push, he turned the handle, falling into his room, and quickly slamming the door with his foot. Victory--a clear, hard-fought win. After contemplating his "near-death" experience, he got dressed, sliding a long-sleeved black tunic over his body before pulling a pair of tan trousers up his legs.
He was about to drop onto his bed and relieve himself to the night--
Growl.
His stomach was against that idea. All he had eaten that entire day was a piece of bread, and by the appearance of this mansion--it definitely wasn't frugal around there. He massages his sore legs before setting out towards the kitchen, wherever it may be.
"Seriously, why is every house so damn huge in this world?" Ren muttered to himself.
Back to the lounge area, there were at least a dozen doors all around him, with no apparent signs that told of their use.
"Looking for something to eat?"
He turned to find the voice, seeing an obviously tired Sora yawning as the muscular man made his way down the stairs.
"Yeah...that white-haired bastard only gave me a piece of bread. Seriously--after that much physical activity, how many calories do you think I burned? I'm going to die over here," Ren whined, shrugging his shoulders.
"I see. Well, Tristan has his own way of doing things but he's not a bad person," Sora stretched his arms, gesturing for Ren to follow him.
"Are you sure? Sometimes I felt like that guy was really going to let me die out there," Ren shuddered, reminiscing the fight against the wolf.
Pushing open the door adjacent to the fireplace and table holding an expensive-looking vase, the two entered the kitchen. Somehow, it surpassed even Althaus' needlessly large kitchen, mostly due to how streamlined it was--containing the dinner table, pantry, and all of the materials that actually assisted with cooking.
"Look, Tristan knows better than anyone how messed up this world can be. Being weak, or even average doesn't really do you any favors here. He wants you to become strong, and he doesn't like to waste any time reaching that goal, because to him, the longer you stay weak, the higher risk you're at," Sora opened the pantry door slowly as it let out a drawn-out creak.
"I guess that makes sense…" Ren sat on the stool next to the marble table.
"Yeah, well, he did that crap to all of us, so don't feel too bad about it, " Sora scavenged through the pantry before finding something, "Catch!"
Ren barely reacted in time as he caught whatever the crimson-haired man tossed towards him. It felt squishy--a piece of meat of some kind clearly smoked to retain freshness.
"What is this?" Ren asked, sniffing the piece of meat, getting a whiff of the spices that were seasoning it.
"Wyvern thigh," Sora answered while chewing, taking another large bite of his own piece.
"You mean wyvern as like...the type of dragons?"
"You bet. Hunted this one myself. It was pretty damn cool, I threw my trusty Murugan into the clouds, and down came the wyvern. I felt like some type of greek hero," Sora boasted with a smile.
"Murugan?"
Ren nibbled at the meat, testing the texture before taking a large bite. To his surprise, it was quite easy to chew and juicy. The quality was befitting for a mythical creature, as weird as it felt to use it as a source of good.
"Yeah, my spear. You saw me take down that dragoon knight with it, remember?" Sora sat himself down on the stool across from Ren.
He looked up to the ceiling as if conjuring those recent memories to the forefront of his mind. It was crazy to him that he didn't immediately remember such a wild memory, but with all that's happened, it wasn't exactly special.
"Oh right, yeah I remember that," Ren answered, "Hey, Sora?"
"Yeah?" Sora responded, particles of food spraying out of his mouth as he talked with his mouth full.
"Do you think I can actually become strong? Like you?" Ren asked, looking down at the table.
"Hmm. I don't know about becoming strong like "me"," Sora laughed.
The man quickly realized how his joke sounded, slapping his chest to force the food to travel down the tunnel to his stomach.
"I mean--don't limit yourself, you know? There are different ways to be "strong". I just swing my weapons around like a brute, a powerful and handsome brute--but still, I can tell you my own shortcomings," Sora told him with a reassuring smile.
"Like what? You're strong, muscular, handsome--wait, urr, I mean--you're strong." Ren coughed into his hand.
"Well, for starters, when it comes to magic, all I can do is destroy. Even for a destructive affinity like fire, all I can do with it is hurt others, " Sora's smile reeked of melancholy, "this world has a cruel way of dishing out your destiny, you know? It can give you all of the raw power you could hope for, but kiss your chances of protecting those you care about goodbye."
Ren picked at his lukewarm piece of meat as he listened to Sora's words. It seemed to him like the man was speaking out of experience, the look in his eyes was pained despite his constant smile.
"Isn't raw power enough to protect your loved ones?" Ren asked quietly.
"You'd think, Ren, you would think. Sometimes someone with even more strength will show up, and in situations like that, you need something else. Heart? Luck? Maybe that's enough to pull through sometimes, but I'll tell you what I needed: "healing magic". Something so simple, yet completely out of reach for me," Sora's crystalline mirrors quivered as he reminisced.
He was terrible at handling situations like this. Sora was a pillar of hope for him, and to see him brought down by the same demons that plague everyone--it was saddening even for him.
"Do you, um, want to talk about it?" Ren asked, not knowing if he wanted to push the topic even further.
"...Nah, I'm here to help you out right now, not vice versa, bud!" Sora laughed cheerfully, sheltering the brief glimpse of sadness away from the boy.
"That's the problem…" Ren clenched his fists.
Sora grabbed an apple from the counter, biting into it as he raised an eyebrow at Ren, who seemed visibly upset by his words.
"I want to be able to help you to. All of you. As I am right now...I'm just the one being protected. I've seen what happens when others try to shelter me, I don't want that to happen ever again," Ren felt his eyelids flicker as tears sat at the precipice of release.
"You're that desperate to get strong?" Sora narrowed his gaze.
"Desperate? It's like you said--this world won't wait for me to stop being weak. I think Tristan had the right idea."
"Then how about this--Tristan and I will train you together, well, we'll alternate sessions. I'm warning you though if you really want this, you better give it your all. I'm not going to be your "friend" while I'm training you--and neither is Tristan, as you might already have guessed," Sora took a large, intimidating bite out of his emerald apple.
The mood had changed, stemming from Sora's shift in demeanor. That boundless positivity was now replaced by a stern, unforgiving stare. It was as if Ren's own words sparked the embers within the man, a mutually beneficial deal.
"Of course--I'll give it everything I have!" Ren responded in vibrant affirmation.
"Good. Training starts tomorrow morning then. Go get some sleep, you're going to need it," Sora smirked.
That type of smile only sent fear into the deepest depths of his being--it was a scary sight to see that your teacher was "excited" to help you learn. He didn't take the boisterous man for a sadist, but then again, it seemed everything he knew was always being flipped on its head.
His determination outweighed his fearful prospects of what would follow the next morning, carrying him to his room as he got some much-needed shut-eye, now with a full stomach.
When the curtains withholding the light of day drew once more, it marked a change in my life. I took charge for once, I met hardship head-on. I stopped being "Ren Nakamura, the drain on society, the loser, the degenerate" and became "Ren Nakamura". I owned who I was for a change.
I didn't hide behind my own shame, sheltering my own existence in fear of ridicule, in fear of those judgmental gazes that scorned every choice I had made in my life. It was hard, but I molded myself into somebody the old me would look up to.
It wasn't just tangible strength-- adversity had empowered me. Guilt had pushed me forward without letting me look back. Despair reminded me of my own weakness constantly. So now I can finally proclaim to the world, shout it to the heavens above--
"I am Ren Nakamura, and this is the real beginning of my new life in another world."