Chapter 216: Stab In The Dark

Buddy and I walked back to the girls, and I told them to be careful. I watched Buddy and Moshi walk off down the middle lane, and all that was left was the right lane and Rena. 

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Mhm," Rena mumbled walking ahead of me.

"Hey, come back and stay closer to me," I said and Rena froze mid-step and waited for me to catch up. "We have to be careful here, I don't want you to get hurt just because of a silly accident. Let's stay close and that way if something does happen, we can deal with it in the best way."

"Okay, sorry," Rena said while looking at the ground.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit off. Is it because you don't have your sword? I can protect you, you just have to stay close."

"No, I am fine, I can still fight without it, and I know you can protect me…"

I looked over and then looked away again before my face got red for no reason at all. Rena was blushing, but she was a warrior, a cyclone with a blade, but I didn't feel like I was standing beside Buddy or Breth. 

We started walking again without either of us saying a word. 

'Are you so used to them just throwing themselves at you that you can't see when someone likes you?' -Trinity.

'It's not that easy, I have responsibilities, and I have wives, or did you forget that?'

'I know that, but you also are a person Hyde, don't forget that. What you want matters too, and I think you should consider Rena. I don't mean take her as a wife right now, but get to know her, that's not doing anything wrong. I know you're worried about Kyla, but as you said, spilled milk, so just get this done and get back to her, but at least start up a conversation with her.' -Trinity.

A person too...I was, and I did think Rena was cool, strong, and beautiful, but I wasn't here to rescue her. Still, it wasn't going to kill me to be conversational while we walked.

"What's your family like?" I asked, making Rena look over to me, but she kept walking.

"My parents have a farm, but I don't have any brothers or sisters," Rena said casually.

"Hmm, I bet pops didn't mind having you for a daughter! You must have been the apple of his eye! My parents loved to travel, and once my brother was eighteen he came and stayed with me while my parents went and traveled," I said, thinking about Dave and our real parents.

Mom and dad know about what happened to Dave's friend, but we had never told them what we were going to do here. They would never miss us, no one would know we were gone. Maybe on a timeline, different from our own, they would find us dead. Maybe, but it didn't matter, that was like a daydream, and this ever-changing game was now my home and the only reality that mattered anymore.

"My father always treated me well and told mom that we don't need another one. He would say, what a father really wanted was a strong back and a big heart in his children. Since he had both in me, they didn't need more children, but dad did want me to stay on the farm. So, it was hard to tell him that I wanted to become a mercenary, but he still wished me the best."

"Eh! Now that's a good dad! Great saying too, your father sounds like a good man!" I said, while still keeping my eyes on the path ahead.

The last thing I wanted was to walk into a trap while yapping, so I kept checking around while we talked. 

"You said you know how to fight with your hands? Where did you learn that? I haven't seen any arenas or martial artists in this world, so I'm curious who taught you to fight?" I asked.

"My father taught me how to fight with my hands, and how to defend myself for three years before he would let me leave the farm. After I told him what I wanted to do, he didn't talk to me for half a day. He went and sat on a big rock the entire time, just looking out over our field. When he finally came and talked to me, he made me promise that I would stay until he could fully train me."

"Oh? Interesting! I will just take a stab in the dark and say that your father wasn't a farmer his entire life?" I asked with genuine interest.

"Hehe, no, he was also a mercenary before he bought our farm, but that was before I was born. He actually got my mother and a cash reward for rescuing her and four other women from raiders that had attacked a village. After getting them all back he was offered his choice of any woman from the five girls that he had saved. My father didn't pick one though."

"What? Wait, then how did he end up with your mom?" I could see far ahead that we were finally coming to another room.

"My dad asked the five girls if any of them would like to come with him to live on a farm and raise kids," Rena said with a smile that I caught when I looked over.

"I would have paid money to see the looks on everyone's face when he asked that, haha! I bet your dad a big ox of a man too! Okay, so did they all jump at him for a chance to go be a farmer? I mean that would be a good life I guess, but farming is hard work!"

"No, only my mother would come with him, but he said that's all he wanted. He didn't want to pick someone to love him, that wasn't right. He wanted to be wanted because that's what the person felt and wasn't told to do."