Chapter 35

I've had a feeling I've dreamed about my past.

It was a strange sensation.

After some time passed, I felt my consciousness start slowly returning, and I finally remembered what happened to me.

I was choked by Cassius, and then…

"Cough, cough."

I slowly opened my eyes, only to see the face of the guy in the striped shirt. And the ceiling of the gym.

"Don't push yourself! Stay still."

"No, I'm alright." I brushed the guy's hand and lifted up my body slightly. I wasn't in the cage, but I was still in the gym.

"Phew, you sure know how to worry us." As I turned my head around, I saw someone who I knew.

As I was lying on some kind of a stretcher, Paul was sitting near me on a chair.

"What do you feel right now? Any pain? Feeling lightheaded?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

"That's good to hear." he smiled. "Jessie went to take our physician here, so you should wait until she brings him here before moving."

Only now I started feeling what really happened.

"I lost, didn't I?" It was a silly question to ask, but I couldn't stop myself.

"Sure, you did."

I laid down. "I… failed the test?" Was it really the end for me?

"Who said this?" Paul sounded flabbergasted. "You showed us a great fight."

"But, I, lost."

"Sigh. Listen, Erlig, I don't know why you thought you should win? Was it the reason why you didn't give up in the end?"

"Erm, no." I tried to remember the reason, and only one thing came to my mind. "Actually, I forgot when the ref was going to stop the fight."

"Pffhahaha!" Paul started laughing wildly while the ref was smiling wryly. "I guess you were nervous," he patted his knee, "Alright, now listen to me closely."

I gulped and took a more comfortable position to listen to him.

"You severely lack experience. It was blatantly obvious. In the middle of the fight, you were flabbergasted and didn't know what to do. You even forgot to tap out. "

The ref guy nodded.

"However, this lack of experience or timidity proved to be useful. You didn't rush as soon as the fight started. You tried to prob Cassius, didn't take unnecessary damage and almost made a takedown."

"Yeah, if you think about this spar as your first serious one, you did a great job." The ref added his five cents.

"In the end, how long do you think your fight lasted?" Paul asked.

It was a good question, indeed.

"Five to ten minutes?"

"Hah, you heard him? It was less than three minutes long."

"How?"

"When you are in a cage, time would fly differently."

"Where is the patient!?" We finally heard the rough voice of the physician. Right behind him, I saw Jessie, Cassius, and a few others.

I got promptly checked by a physician who said that I was in top-notch condition, and there was no damage to my body.

I stood up with the help of Jessie but soon was released from her support.

"You kids can talk amongst yourselves. I still need to talk with adults." Paul patted Jessie's head and went to another part of the gym.

"Ehem, Erlig, right?" I looked at my side and saw Cassius, who was still in his shorts. At least he put on a t-shirt. "I'm sorry that I held you for too long. I was nervous." He bowed slightly.

"No, no, you shouldn't apologize! It was my fault that I didn't tap out." I hurried to calm him down.

We chatted for a little bit, and then he said goodbye and went towards his group.

"So, what do you think about this?"

"What do you mean?" I looked at Jessie. Though she had a small smile on her lips, there was also a hint of anxiety deep inside her eyes.

"You liked your first fight? Was it thrilling?"

"I don't know." I sat down on the bench that was standing nearby. "I was too nervous to think about anything."

"Buuut, everything went well in the end, right?"

"Yeah, I guess? Why do you ask?"

"Well, you know, there are people out there who would run away from our gym after this kind of incident." She tried to slur her words so I won't understand her.

However, I heard her really well.

"Hah, you shouldn't worry too much about me. After all, it was my choice to get help from you. And right now, I'm going to take everything I can out of this deal."

"Who is worried about you!? I said this only because you were the first person I've ever scouted. What would happen with my reputation if you end up a sore loser?" she pouted and tried to feign ignorance with her look. But I noticed that the little bit of anxiety she probably felt was now gone.

But I couldn't spend all of my time looking at her. I've had a limited amount of time.

"What should I do next?"

"Hmm…" She looked me up and down. "You will probably get a day off today, but tomorrow you will come here."

"Okay, anything else?"

"Yes, if you feel that something is off with your body, you should notify me or someone else immediately." She walked behind me and looked at my back. "If you don't have anything else to ask, you can go."

I took the gloves and the mouthguard, which were lying near the stretcher, and went towards the changing room when I suddenly thought of something.

"Jessie, I've remembered something."

She turned around and looked at me.

"How do you spend your off time? I mean, when you aren't training?"

Her eyes widened a little bit while I was gathering my courage.

"Do you want to hang out a bit?"

Her eyes widened even more, and then she looked up and tapped her chin.

"Sure." In the end, she smiled and went away.

As for me, I released all the pent-up air in my lungs.

I thought that she would refuse. I was no more than a damsel in distress that she helped. Or was it a laddie in distress?

Whatever.

I went towards the changing room, took a quick shower, and changed into my clothes.

I did want to know Jessie a little bit better. I was sure that the seed of friendship was budding between us. That's why I wanted to know her better.

Even though something out of the ordinary happened to me, everyone didn't bat an eye at me. While the girl at reception didn't take even a single glance at me when I was going out.

What should I do?

That question was left in my mind. I've looked through the homework, and I couldn't train. Jessie would probably train for a while, and I couldn't invite her.

I've got an option to call Jet and ask him what to do. As I was walking to a bus stop, I called him. But he didn't answer the call, and I was left alone.

I would just mindlessly surf the net in my previous life whenever I was bored. I would read something or watch random videos. But right now, my mood was against this kind of pastime.

Should I visit Violetta? But it was Saturday, and she probably wasn't at school. Also, I didn't want to meet her if I wasn't pent up. She acted as a stress relief only when I had enough stress accumulated. Otherwise, I felt depressed whenever I saw her.

As I was thinking hard about what I should do with a sudden day off, I missed a bus, and then I got a call.

"Hm, Mara?"

The past few weeks, she rarely contacted me, only sending short and curt messages like "How are you?" or "Are you doing well on your training?"

Should I talk with her?

Nonetheless, I've already answered this question.

"Erlig, how do you do!?" I heard her raspy voice that was high-tensed for some reason.

"Yeah, I just finished my training."

"Oh, that's great for you. By the way, you remember what we talked about?"

"Erm, what was it? Something about going out with you to visit something you like, errr, was it like this?"

"You can call it a date. You know, I won't hold it against you."

I would bet all my money that she was smiling as she said this.

"I would rather not."

"Eh, that's lame. So back to the business, you have a debt you need to pay, and your payment would be your time. You agreed upon this before, didn't you?"

"Sigh, yes."

"Great, though, we have a small problem."

"?"

"You know, I've talked to my daddy, and he said that every debt has a rate which will increase the sum you should return."

"!"

"I was thinking if you would be generous enough to satisfy my desires and spend the whole weekend with me?"

I was at a loss for words.

"Did you really not plan it beforehand?"

"I absolutely didn't. It's just that, you know, I was so lonely without you." Now her voice sounded sorrowful.

"You could've called me as you did right now."

"I knew you were busy. I couldn't do it just because I wanted to. And do, believe me, I've called you because I really want you to visit this place, and it isn't open every day."

"You want to tell me that you called me not because you wanted to, but because you had no other choice?"

"Mhm."

"And this mysterious place isn't usually open? I don't like how it sounds."

"Ah, please, don't worry about it. We will go there with the accompaniment of the guys you saw before."

What the hell.

"Ok. I'm ready for whatever you want to do."

"Yay, I love you, Erlig!"

"Ugh, don't embarrass us."

"This isn't embarrassing! I said my heartfelt feelings."

My head started throbbing.

"Whatever, let's take a few steps back. When and where do you want to go?"

"Don't worry, it will be tomorrow."

"But I have training tomorrow."

"So what? It will be in the evening, so you would be able to do both things. By the way, where are you now? I would meet you, and we would spend some time together. Oh, just thinking about it makes me so excited!"

Was it really the best choice? After I told her where I was left alone, waiting for this disaster to come by.

Every time I talked with her or saw her, I had this indescribable feeling that her whole existence screamed trouble. Yet, no matter how much aversion I felt towards this, I also felt a strong attraction towards her.

I adjusted the position of my bag. I sat down on a bench for those who were waiting for the bus. Looking around, there weren't many passersby here.

Paul and Jessie's gym were slightly on the edge of the city. By the way, this city had the name Kibryn. It was the third-largest city of a certain country located somewhere in the eastern part of Europe.

Previously, when I looked around through the news, and the overall structure of the world, I learned that everything was almost the same. With a few exceptions here and there. And the biggest exception was a new country named Wagria.

The game took place in Wagria, which was previously a part of other countries. Not only did it take over parts of those countries to itself, but the whole continent was also slightly widened, assumingly by the game developers, just to hold it.

It wasn't a terrifyingly big fluctuation as the country itself wasn't large. It was a small but developed country that took the beginning from Slavic tribes that were here long ago.

And perhaps this was why I was so attracted to Mara. She had Slavic roots, just like I did, yet she acted absolutely different from what I ever expected.

If she were a heroine in a romance game, I would, without a doubt, try to win her over. However, this wasn't a game. What would happen to me if I ever go after her?

As my train of thoughts started mixing up in more ways than I wanted, I took a deep breath and looked at the road.

Another bus was stopping by. That was when I saw someone I've never expected, descending from the bus. Each time I saw her, she would use a car with a personal driver. That's why I didn't know how to react to this.

"M-Mara?"