The cheers quickly die in everyone's throats, and they begrudgingly return back to training.
Except Kasia, who didn't stop in the first place and quickly hopped to her feet before declaring, "Done, Sir!" With a crisp fist-over-heart salute.
"Impressive... At least that's what I'd say if you weren't the second last one to finish! Now get to running, maggot!" Gringar shouts.
"And you! How long have we been training, and you still get outpaced by the new recruit?! You're not even a maggot! From now on, you are slime! You got that slime! Now, get up and give me twenty laps!" Gringar shouts at Erik, almost making the poor boy weep as Kasia comes around from her first lap.
"Oh, Silvantus! Don't forget... The pamphlets... In our... Er, the room!" Kasia says between labored breaths before realizing what she said and runs off, beating Erik once again.
"Don't worry, I already got them!" I shout back, hoping to assure her.
"Malacath's balls! That's one energetic girl you got there, Blüdtoth." Gringar says in admiration.
"Don't I know it. Meet me by the main road when you're done here." I tell him as I turn to leave.
"Aye... Pick up the pace maggots! I got a schedule to keep! That means you, too, slime!" Gringar shouts, making everyone groan.
I then try and find Sophia, but I can't seem to find her, and I'm running short on time since I spent so long looking for her.
I decided to check in on the children, giving them a quick goodbye before going to the main road and waiting for everyone there.
M'rissi is the first to get there with a knapsack slung over her shoulder and wearing simple traveling clothes.
"She is here! Now, give her, her fishies!" M'rissi demands with a pout and a stomp of her foot.
"Nope, I think I'll cook it for our dinner tonight." I refuse, making M'rissi pout even more intensely before smiling.
"Fluffy is cooking? Then she knows it will be delicious!" M'rissi says cheerfully as she saunters closer to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head against my chest.
"Of course it- Hey! Get your hands out of there!" I start to say before I notice M'rissi slip her hands into my knapsack.
"Grrr... Where did you hide her fishies! She demands to know right meow!" M'rissi growls before trying to pummel me in anger.
"Nope, not telling my trickster little kitten. You'll just have to suffer not knowing until it's time to eat." I tell her smugly, ignoring her "beating".
"Hmph! She smells it on you, stupid Fluffy!" M'rissi pouts once more before Inigo shows up. However, it's with a slight wobble to his step.
"Ah, my friend, I see that you are still close with your Kitten." Inigo says with a smile.
"Hmph, you cannot call her Kitten, Stray!" M'rissi shouts indignantly.
"Again, I am no Stray, I am Inigo!" Inigo says in exasperation.
The two then devolve into a tit-for-tat bickering for about 20 minutes before Gringar finally turns up
"Sorry I am late, Blüdtoth, I wanted to make sure Erik finished his routine." Gringar apologizes.
"Oh, so you do know his name." I say with slight surprise.
"Of course I do, but right now, I'm his trainer. It's not until we fight side by side that he will have my respect." Gringar replies with a sagely nod.
"So, he does have potential?" I ask curiously.
"Of course, he could be a great heavy weapon wielder, like that Lydia, as his strength is almost as high as mine at his age. Probably from running his farm, but he lacks speed, flexibility, and killer instincts. I hope to hone him into a capable warrior I'd call a malwun, erm oath-brother." Gringar explains.
"Ul Orsinium ornim ukrypt!" Ginger says resolutely with a thump of his fist against his shield.
"Um, sorry, all I understood was Orsinium?" I tell him as I rub my neck awkwardly.
"Ah, it means 'For Orsinium, home of the orcs.'" Gringar translates.
"Hm... I like it. Ul Orsinium ornim ukrypt!" I tell him, smacking the flat of my blade against my armored bracer, bringing a smile to his aging face.
After that, I turn my attention to the still-arguing M'rissi and Inigo.
"I told you it was Mr. Dragonfly that thinks you are just a pouty little kitten with no self-control." Inigo retorts.
"She will smash that jar if you say that again, rawr!" M'rissi growls before lunging at Inigo with her claws out.
"Alright, enough, you two! We need to get on the road." I say, plucking M'rissi out of the air and holding her by her waist to keep her from clawing up Inigo's face more than it already is.
"Unhand her, Fluffy! She must teach that bug a lesson!" M'rissi shouts, flailing uncontrollably until I start running my nails between her shoulders and I hear her start to purr, and she nuzzles into my embrace.
"Okay, we'll need to walk to Riften since we only have one horse in camp. We'll hit Helgen first, then take the pass-through and follow the road until we reach Riften. After dealing with what must be done in Riften, we'll hit Largashbur on the way back to camp." I outline the plan before setting M'rissi down but continuing to scratch her back.
"That is fine by me, my friend." Inigo agrees
"Lead the way, Blüdtoth." Gringar says before motioning towards the road.
It takes us a few hours to make it to Helgen, but we arrive just before nightfall.
Gringar goes to speak with Korst, M'rissi goes to train with Cienna, and Inigo goes off hunting with Marcus, leaving me alone in the crumbling keep with Valerius.
"Valerius, how goes your investigation?" I ask as I take a seat near his desk.
"Not good, Silvantus. I've hit a dead end. How have you been?" Valerius asks with a deep sigh, opening up a battle of old dust-covered wine found on the cabinet behind him as he sits down too.
(Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm currently in the final stages of testing my modded Skyrim collection, and once I think it's stable enough, I'll post all the active mods in the auxiliary mod chapter so you all can play along! I'm no modder or coder, so some mods had to be removed for compatibility and stability reasons. But don't worry, I'm still taking mod suggestions, and I'll boot up a fresh game to test that mod and any others I find but don't have the capacity to put in my main series/playthrough. I will be recording my playthrough, but I might not upload it to YouTube before I get a better handle on video editing. Thank you for reading the story, commenting, and liking my comments.)