I skipped towards the village center, feeling great about the fact that each of my steps didn't bring in massive amounts of pain as usual. For two weeks, my body had been doing nothing but resting and getting more meals, which means that all the side effects of my intense exercising was being negated. Not only was my legs feeling as light as a feather, but I also felt like a giant weight had been lifted off my body.
No aching sore muscles, no twitches of pain running through my body, and certainly no more worries about passing out.
I had reached my personal nirvana, and I really didn't want this sensation to leave at all. Then again, I probably shouldn't get used to this feeling.
After all, my training was probably going to get more intense after I find a way to get Alexander to teach me.
"Hey, Feliza!" Buan shouted as he waved at me from the distance, moving his arm so quickly that there was nothing more than a blur, "Come on, Sally's been waiting for you! Let's have a blast today!"
"Alright!" I yelled back as I began to run towards him, "What're we going to do today?"
"I don't know! She said she'll come up with something great for us both to do!" He shouted back with glee in his voice.
As soon as I reached him, he proceed to grab my hand immediately and rushed me towards the other girl. Even though my I could tell from a simple grasp that my strength was more than enough to rip from his grip and just move on my own, I let him simply guide me to our meeting place.
Since I didn't really know where we'd all get together, there wasn't any need to act super hostile. Better for him to drag me there than try to kick up a giant fuss and waste my energy over something pointless.
We rushed towards the location where we would meet Sally, with Buan having the obvious signs of utter and complete giddiness, ready to play whatever game he had on his mind.
I couldn't help but slowly feel a bit more concerned as we approached where Sally was waiting. Obviously, from my first interaction with Buan, he didn't really care about me killing that wolf. But Sally?
She probably would run away as fast as a rabbit when she gets her first look at me. That's just human nature really, witnessing someone's dark side tends to get them to just run away without looking back.
This wasn't some sappy anime or manga where there'd be friendship conquering all. That was just stuff that existed in people's hearts and minds, not in reality.
The real world was just cold, harsh, and cruel. A dark mistress that refused to accept any request for mercy, that would keep going under her evil sadistic pleasures to satisfy herself.
A simple fact that I've been subjected to far too often, and forced to keep engraved within my skull.
I could see the results now: Buan comes in with me with a happy face, and then Sally would go still and pale. She'd stare at me with utter horror and dread on her face, before turning around and dashing away, crying as she ran.
Thankfully, since she wasn't a friend, I wasn't going to get hit emotionally. After all, she was only a mere acquaintance, not someone I had formed a tight emotional connection to.
"Sally!" Buan shouted, snapping me out of my trance, "Let's all play together!"
I turned towards the girl that had been called out, and watched her every movement. My heart was steeled, my mind knew what was going to occur, and I openly welcomed her... smile?
No, that's wrong in all forms. She wasn't displaying a smile born from happiness or neutrality, the expression was more so fitting of awkwardness and despair. The kind of smile you can see on an office worker's face when they're forced to put up a brave front after being shoved a giant load of documents to process.
So, obviously, she didn't want to be around me. However, at the same time, she was staying for some bizarre reason, not wanting to leave with my presence. What the heck was keeping her here? What on earth cou-
Oh wait, there was one thing that could give her the strength to stick around, one sole stupid reason for getting us attacked by that wolf in the first place.
Is her love for Buan that misguided that she'd be willing to hang out with me? That's something even I can't possibly understand. Seriously, this is something that's beyond delusion, something that can be akin to insanity.
I can only hope that I don't become stupid enough to pull a stunt like that.
"What's the plan anyways, you guys?" I asked, in hopes to get my mind from going even further down that hole, "What's the game today?"
"I was thinking we should dance together!" Sally shouted, cutting in right as soon as I finished my sentence, "It'll get all of us to feel that much better!"
Buan and I just turned and looked at her, with complete confusion marked all across our face. Both of us could not believe her explanation at all, period.
We watched as her face went from rapid excitement to quick depression, all within a few minutes. At the end, she could only look at the ground in shame, with a blush on her face from clear embarrassment.
"It sounded better in my head..." she managed to mutter out as she turned her head away from the two of us, not daring to look at us right in the eyes.
"That was a decent suggestion Sally, but I don't think any of us know how to dance," Buan said reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'd be more than willing to learn how to dance with you tomorrow."
"R-really, Buan?" she asked as she looked at him with stars and hearts in her eyes, giving him that disgusting puppy dog eyes.
"Don't worry Sally, we will!" he said cheerfully, as he grabbed her hand, "After all, we are good friends!"
I could hear her heart shattering in a million pieces as she slowly let go of Buan and crumpled to the ground, like a doll that had all of its strings cut off simultaneously. Thankfully, I was wise enough to muffle my laughs behind my mouth. This scene was just way too comedic.
That entire event was so hilarious that I could forgive Buan’s announcement. After all, we were still only acquaintances, nowhere near the status of being ‘friends’.
"Is that what you say to everyone, Buan? I remember the first time you said that to me." All three of us turned towards the source of the voice, and I blinked upon her arrival.
Esther stood there, with a look of genuine humor on her face, while tapping her index finger on her left arm. She was obviously trying to hide a snicker, and I noticed that she was looking directly at Sally. I turned around, and realized why she was trying to maintain her composure.
That girl was the textbook example of a love-filled heart shattered, a girl so torn with jealousy that all of her emotions was on her face. She was shaking so violently that I actually wondered if there was an earthquake occurring in the area.
"Esther," Buan whispered as he put a hand on her left shoulder, giving her a soft and welcoming smile, "I could never say such a thing to you, my old nemesis."
"Who are you calling old? We're both the same age!" Esther stated as she shoved Buan's hand off without much effort, "Or are you going blind?"
"As if! You just act like an old lady!" Buan yelled as he got his hand removed, and the two glared at each other for a brief moment... before they proceeded to laugh their guts out and give up on maintaining the facade.
They got down on the ground, their laughter overtaking them for a brief moment, before they moved to get back to normal. The two of them started to stand up as they kept up with some minor chuckles, before Buan turned towards Esther, wiping a tear off his eye.
"In all seriousness, why are you here? I thought you had to study some more."
"I came here because I knew Feliza was going to play with you two, and I needed to talk to her about something," she replied instantly, before turning towards me with a mild glare.
Huh? Why did she need to talk to me? I didn't do anything wrong, besides the forest incident, which was supposed to have been explained to her. Besides, she visited me when I was bedridden, so I don't know why we need to talk now.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to start playing around right after you got out of your bed? You've been stuck in your house for two weeks just recovering, and you want to go ahead and exercise your body intensely from the start?" she asked with a look of concern on her face, "Shouldn't you be taking this more lightly? From what I was told, you almost died!"
"I'm fine now," I replied while rotating my right arm around without so much of a sweat, "See? There's nothing that shows that my bitten shoulder is damaged in any way. I'm perfectly fine."
"That doesn't change the fact you shouldn't be playing around a lot. Take it slow, you know?" she said as she clasped my shoulders, before letting go and going back a bit.
"Yeah, okay," I said as I rolled my eyes from this little talk. True, I almost died, but due to the power of medical paste in this world, I was fine. They were just going overboard with their worries, I worked yesterday and had no issues at all. There was no way I was going to hurt myself playing Tag or anything.
"You're right. I didn't think about that," Buan said with a hint of sorrow, "I was so happy about hanging out with Feliza that I forgot we should probably be taking it slow. Sorry Feliza, but let's do something we can all play, alright?"
... are you serious? I'm not a disabled idiot, I can do a lot of things right now. I fucking carried an axe meant for an adult with my two hands, don't you dare look down on me.
I was about to yell with anger when I stopped myself. Why the hell did I care about not being able to play with them? Rather, why did I want to play with them anyways? I didn’t care about them that much, since they were only acquaintances.
Well, whatever. I was just getting a bit hotheaded was all. Looks like I need to meditate on my own later on, mainly because my emotions were all over the place right now.
The last thing I wanted to do was go hysterical with my emotions. I needed to stay calm and get myself in check.
"Well... if Feliza can't play today, then we can't do anything right?" Sally asked Esther, who nodded with an interested look on their face, "That would mean she would have to stay and study with you, right?"
"Yes, but why are you asking that? That should be obvious," Esther said as she looked at Sally, who seemed to slowly get happier by the second, "Do you have something planned?"
"YES!" Sally shouted as all of her energy returned back to her body, before turning towards Buan, ignoring me and Esther, "Hey Buan, instead of playing some games, want to hang out at my family's bakery? We can have a lot of fun there!"
I froze instantly. Any thoughts or ideas I had went down the drain as I heard her words. Her family owned the bakery? Didn't that mean they were the ones that made that chicken bun I ate weeks ago?
All at once, my plans and emotions disappeared. My mind turned crystal clear, as a single objective rose into my mind.
I needed to go to the bakery, learn their secrets, and eat a good amount of delicious food. Stew was no longer something I desired any more, I needed some variety in my life.
In that instance of free time, I took action.
"Hey, wait!" I shouted, "I can come too! Hanging out at your family's bakery won't have any heavy loads of activities for me to do!"
Sally turned towards me with wide eyes, realizing her mistake too late. Before she could open her mouth to take back her offer, Esther smiled and spoke up.
"Hey, if you're offering that to Buan, then I'd like to come too. After all, I have to look over Feliza, and who knows? We could have a lot of fun there as well."
Sally's face took on a look of despair as all her plans fell apart, but at that point, I couldn't care less. I was going to go to a bakery! Today was going to be great!