I couldn't get what had happened out of my mind as we walked down the stairs of the inn holding hands. As we reached the bottom floor Vernie was there to greet us. "You already missed breakfast…. Why are you both grinning so much…hmm?"
"I-its nothing!" I became loud as my cheeks heated. "Suuure~. Whatever you say. We don't serve lunch here, so you will need to find someplace else. And there will be no more free nights. If you want to stay. You have to pay."
"Mind if we pay later? We don't know if we will stay here another night." Vernie crossed her wings in front of her. "Were the rooms not to your liking?"
"No, no, not at all…" I waved my hands. "...the rooms were great. Perfect, in fact!"
"Then what's the problem? Are you leaving already?" I looked around the dining hall, and there wasn't anyone else. "We might. By the way, where did everyone go?"
"Most of my customers are adventurers. My guess is they all get up early to find quests. We get travelers and merchants sometimes, but they also leave early. Gotta make a living somehow right?"
She was right. I also had a job on Earth, but here I had nothing. Not even a toothbrush. My teeth were already missing one. She also said something about adventurers. If there are those, then that must mean…"Is there an adventurer's guild!?"
"Hmm? You mean you don't know?" Her reaction made me think it was probably something everyone knew. "My dork here doesn't get out much."
"Who's a dork!? I'll have you know I worked out at least three times a week." Enora smirked at me. "That would certainly explain some things…"
"Hey! Don't just say that like you also didn't just…" Vernie cut a wing in between us. "If you are going to talk about your bedtime fun don't do it in front of me."
We both flinched and I wanted to hide. It was already hard enough to look at Enora and not picture her body. "Right, so the guild. There is one in every major city. Even some of the smaller towns have a branch. Ours is just two blocks down towards the east entrance. You can't miss it. If you are going to get lunch I also recommend checking out some of the stands there. The adventurers love them."
We thanked Vernie before we exited the inn. "So you knew there was a guild?" I asked as Enora extended her parasol. "Nope, not at all."
"But you said…" didn't she just make fun of me about going outside? "I never went outside while I was here. Most of the things I learned weren't about this sort of thing anyway." I pinched her arm. "Then why did you call me a dork!?"
"Because you are one?" She showed me a toothy grin. "Fair point!"
"You there! Vampire!" A certain green bird had started to make her way over from across the street. Her eyes still looked as evil as I remembered, and she was still as tiny as I remembered. She was glaring at my girlfriend who was happily returning the glare. "What do you want, chibi?"
"It's Nychibi! I want you to follow me to the arena." The harpy started walking off, but turned around when she realized we weren't following. "I said, follow me!"
"And why should we do that?"
"Can't we just calm down? I am sure it was all…" My attempt had obviously failed. If anything the menacing eyes on Nychibi had gotten worse. "I am talking to your partner, so stay out of it! You…" She looked at Enora.
"I don't know how you stopped my kick yesterday. Are you a Dusk?" To my disbelief my girlfriend actually scoffed. "Heh. The Dusk Clan?"
"You mean you don't belong to the strongest clan? That just means I can kick your butt without having to worry."
"Strongest clan? Who died and made them king?" The harpy started laughing as my girlfriend tightened her grip on my hand. "Haha… You really don't know? You've been under a rock? Well, I don't care if you lived under a rock or inside of one, but you and I are going to finish what we started if you think you are better than me…"
"Sure… You want a fight, I will give you one…" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Just lay down your terms."
"No you shouldn't!"
"There are some things I won't just take. She tried to hit you."
"Well it's true that she did, but I'm sure that was all…"
"Shut it human. This is between me and the vampire. If you butt in…" There was nothing I could say. I was happy that Enora wanted to protect me, but I didn't want to watch her fight. I couldn't let her get hurt. I stood in front of her with my arms stretched. "If you want her then…"
"Stop." Enora grabbed my shoulder. She smiled at me as I turned around, and kissed me. "I'm happy you want to protect me as much as I want to protect you, but have some faith in the vampire you fell for. As soon as this is done. I will get you some lunch… and a toothbrush like you wanted."
She stepped in front of me this time. "The terms please."
"It's simple. We will fight in the arena with only physical arts. If you win I will apologize. Hell, I'll even lick your boots, but if I win you will join my party."
"How about if I win you will leave us alone?"
"Nope, I can't agree to that."
"Why not?"
"Can't."
"Fine. Then when I win you best apologize to Melle."
"Sure. Follow me."
She led us through the town a couple blocks down. I could see the adventurers guild, and across from it there was a small arena. The arena was dug out next to some type of shop. I could see the food stands Vernie was talking about further down, but my head was spinning. Was this anyway normal? Were people supposed to fight like this? "Don't worry…" She kissed me again.
How could I not worry? I felt tears building in the corner of my eyes. This was wrong. People weren't supposed to fight. Enora gently wiped the tears from my eyes. "This is a different world from Earth. This is actually something pretty tame. Be strong for me, okay?"
I nodded as she jumped down into the arena that was dug into the ground. It was really just a few stone slabs put together. Nychibi jumped down at the opposite side."The fight will end when one of us gives up. You human! You will be the signal!"
"Me!?" I didn't have anything to signal a fight. Plus I didn't want this to happen to begin with. I sighed as I reached into my pocket. They were the clothes I still had on from transferring here. One of my pickets had a hole. Everything I kept in there was gone. The other pocket I reached into. At first I didn't find anything, but then I felt it. I yanked it out. It was "A dime!"
I couldn't believe it. I only had one coin, and of all things it was a dime. I kissed my lucky dime for good measure. "When this hits the ground you will start."
As soon as I flicked the dime into the air. My heartbeat ramped up. I wanted this fight to be over already, and I didn't want to see either of them hurt. Sure Nychibi had been rude to me and Enora, but Vernie said to forgive her. And I could tell vernie wasn't a bad person. Once the dime finally hit the ground, I wanted to close my eyes. Although everything happened so fast, I didn't even have time.
The second the coin hit the ground Enora traversed the arena. I didn't even have time to blink as she had the harpy pinned on her stomach with a clawed hand against her throat. "I think it's my win."
"I'm not gonna…" Nychibi started to speak, but Enora pushed her claws in a small amount, drawing blood. "I give! It's your win!"
"And the agreement?" She pulled her hands away allowing the green harpy to stand up. "R-right!"
"H-hey you!" Her face became red as she pointed her wing towards me. "L-listen well! I'm only gonna say this once! I-I… I'm sorry!" As soon as she said that she flew away leaving me speechless.