Pitching A Tent

"Daniel, wait up a second. I'm sorry I've been pushing you away, I just didn't really feel like I could get along with the kids of nobles.

I've had some bad experiences in my life, and most of them have been at the hands of the rich or those with a higher status. It had definitely left me with some trust issues, and that's something I have to work through so while I do want to be friends with you I don't think I can be right now, Why don't we keep in touch in the academy and sort of ease into it?"

"If that was the problem then why didn't you just say so, did you really need all the theatrics? Just let me know if you need anything from me."

"Will do, thanks for being so understanding."

'Okay, hopefully, he will pass the message on to the others. Fingers crossed they stop constantly bothering me; I really have got other stuff I need to be doing.'

"Okay everyone, it's time to head to sleep. We'll sleep until dawn then carry on going."

When everyone heard this they started heading to their sleeping bags; it seems they were planning on sleeping outside in the cold. While James was used to this, he had told himself that in this life he wouldn't be cold overnight again.

He had his leather workers prepare a tent made from animal skins and various plant matter, it was more than enough to form good insulation for him overnight. All he needed was to build a small frame; it even had padding on the base to make it even more comfortable.

As far as tents went this was one of the best for the current resources available. In the city, animal hides were in short supply and high demand so using them to make things like a tent would be seen as a massive waste, but James knew the importance of being well rested on just about everything in the human body, so he decided it was a worthy undertaking.

"James, what are you doing, we need to sleep."

"I'm just setting something up, don't worry about it."

James began building a frame in the shape of the letter A out of sticks he had set aside when collecting firewood, he placed the ends of the rods in the pre-made holes and then after getting the frame set up he dragged his sleeping bag inside it and finished wrapping it over the frame. Before he could get to the last step of lacing up the gaps in the material James saw a head pop in through the hole.

"What is this? Oh my, it's so soft, move over, I'm sleeping in here!" The girl James had ignored earlier had invited herself into his tent; this wasn't something James wanted to deal with, but it seemed this girl was hellbent on being as much of an intrusion as possible.

"It's not exactly proper for us to share the same tent, is it? What if you try to do something to me in the night, no one would believe me, and then I would be in massive trouble!"

"Tent, so that's what it's called. If you don't want to share it, then you can just go and sleep outside."

'I guess she doesn't get the implication yet, dammit why does everything have to be such a giant hassle with these people.'

"I don't want to share this with you, I'm sure you'll understand why when you're older, but for now, please leave before I have to make you."

"I'd like to see you try!"

Hearing exactly what he was waiting for James flicked his finger, and the girl went flying backwards and landed back on her sleeping bag, after glancing at her to make sure she wasn't injured James laced up his tent and settled down to sleep.

"You filthy scoundrel! Well, let's see how you handle this then!" James couldn't hear anything after this until there was a large splash and he saw the tent sag on one side, other than that nothing much happened.

"You do realise this is waterproof right? It wouldn't do much good if it couldn't even resist the rain."

"Ugh, fine! Then what about this!"

*Piiiing*

Before James could even react he heard the familiar sound of a bolt leaving a crossbow; it was almost like time slowed down when he heard that sound.

'FUCK, why did she have to do that! If that bolt hits me what if it does the same as earlier and shoots straight back in the direction it came from; there's a good chance it will kill her, so, do I let it hit me? I mean I should be able to heal quick enough from it, but still, it's going to hurt like hell.

I'm going to make sure to rinse this girls family of everything they have, watch me own your family and put them to work in the fucking mines for the rest of their lives!'

'System, dont defend this one.'

*Thuck*

"Aaaaahh, you psycho. You shot me, you stupid bitch!"

'Jesus, that hurts way more than I thought it would.'

[Activating Pain Nullification Module]

Now that James' eyes had stopped watering from the pain he could see a small crossbow bolt firmly sticking into his arm.

"What the hell is your problem, why did you shoot me. I was trying to do you a favour by not sharing a tent with you. Someday you're going to realise exactly what I meant, and I hope then you might not be so blatantly idiotic and think before you act!"

"B-but, it wasn't meant to hi-hit you, I didn't mean to. I thought it would bounce off l-l-like when Sebastian hit you earlier!"

"And tell me you absolute genius, where would the bolt have gone if it did bounce off!"

The girl then froze up and began bawling her eyes out, after playing it through she realised that if the bolt had bounced back, it would have gone straight through her heart and probably killed her.