Chapter 22

We are back inside the central building. Melzul just can't stop wanting to get smacked.

I lean on the door frame of the storage room. "Are you done with the picking already?"

He folds his arms as he stares at the row of practice weapons. "There's no battleaxes."

"Yeah, none of us use those. They aren't that common in our place. Make do with it or admit defeat."

He grunts. "But that's not even fair. You'll have your staff, but I won't get the weapon I'm good with."

"Well, I guess we'll cancel the fight since you can't figure yourself."

"Hey, it's not my fault your warehouse sucks."

"Are you going to pick things out or not?"

He grunts and picks up a sword, moving it from side to side to test it out. "If you don't have a practice battleaxe, I won't expect you to have the actual thing."

"Yeah... I guess it will be a practice session for you to find out what else you can use."

It is worth the hassle to find out he won't get his battleaxe than waiting to know about that tomorrow.

He puts down the sword and lifts a spear instead. "I don't know. These all feel weird."

"Do you know how to fire a laser gun?"

He rolls his eyes. "Obviously, come on."

"Okay, at least you'll have that against the beasts if they show up."

He lifts and checks out a scimitar. "This looks more like it. Still not an axe."

"I'll give you a tiny bit of leeway."

"What? Are you so worried that you'll lose, even though I've never used this weapon before?"

I laugh. "Someone has confidence. Come with me."

It has been a while since I smacked him, maybe he is itching for it again.

There's a stadium indoors, which is there for when we have stock coming in from supply ships. There won't be any ships coming so that place has been empty.

He lets out a breath when we get inside and I turn on the light. "Look, this is the perfect place for me to pin you down and... win. Yes, that."

I shiver at what he may be suggesting. Does he want to pin me down and fuck me?

He's such a crazy uzain. Maybe he can do that, and maybe I won't be that against it.

"Except not really, don't be too confident." I lift my staff, getting myself ready.

He smirks. "What will the winner get for winning?"

I tilt my head to the side. "What do you want? Extra serving of food?"

"Hey! We agreed not to mention that again."

"Well, we agreed not to mention starving anyone, but not extra food."

He huffs. "I can always get a refill, that's not a good prize."

"Then what do you want? Horny gray ass."

He smirks. "I'm going to show you that I'm the perfect mate for you."

"Right when we may have a fight tomorrow?"

"We can have it afterward."

He just wants an excuse to fuck me. At least he does give a good fuck.

I shrug. "Fine, what will I get if I win?"

"I... I'll wash dishes."

I roll my eyes. "That's not benefitting me."

"Um... I'll let you smack me with your staff."

"I'll already have plenty of chance to do that."

He huffs. "You're the one with a bit too much confidence."

I smirk. "I know. You'll have to hug every animal on the farm we visited today. That already spared you from all the ones outside of the fence with the herding team."

He sucks a deep breath. "You just love to see me in misery."

"That's the point of winning."

"Fine." He lifts his scimitar. "Get ready to lose."

He hops over with the scimitar, slashing at me. I tilt the staff, deflecting his attack, and shove the end of the staff at his stomach. He sidesteps it and slams at me again.

Sometimes, I'm glad to be the smaller being.

His blow is strong, but he isn't fast enough to catch me. I duck away, slapping his ass with the staff.

He grunts. "That's an insult."

I laugh. "I suppose. Not a lot of damage dealt, but sure be insulting."

He sneers. "When I catch you, it'll be the end of you."

"I'll wait."

He slashes at me again. I move to dodge, but he kicks me. I block with the staff, but I still stumble back. He follows up with his feet behind my ankle. I tap the floor with the staff, shoving myself back with it as the lever, putting distance between us. Now, that gives me enough time to get away from his attempt at tripping me.

He turns around and swings the scimitar at me with his weight. Maybe this is how he uses a battleaxe, which I know nothing about. I don't know how to use a scimitar either, so I guess it's whatever.

I lean onto the staff, hoping up with it as support. His scimitar hits the staff, but I swing my legs and smack right at the side of his neck.

He grunts and stumbles to the side, gasping as I regain my stance.

The staff is fine, the metal coating held up well against the slash, he added a scratch, but I don't really care. "Did it hurt?"

He rolls his eyes. "That's because I didn't have the weapon I'm good at."

"You just have excuse after excuse."

He huffs. "Try saying that again?"

I lift my staff again. "I've been scoring left and right, so... Maybe it is time for you to try harder."

He strikes and hops over with the scimitar again. Looks like he isn't stopping until he can get a win.

I sidestep the first hit, but he knees against my side, seeming to know that I'm ducking. I block with the staff, but he slashes at me.

I turn the staff and shove the end of the staff to the back of his knee. He grunts when I tip him off balance. His slash misses. He lands on the floor but rolls to the side without crashing hard.

"Not like this..." He grunts and sets the scimitar to his side. "Here we go..."

The last time he fought me with bare hands, it didn't work in his favor at all. So...

He heads my way again. He grabs my staff when I move to smack him. I clench onto it, but he spins around, shoving me with his force. I'm not winning against him when it comes to brute force.

I let go of my stance and let him grab the staff, but keeping my hands on it. He can lift and swing me on the curve, but when I don't let go...

He is taller than me, and his optimal spin curve lifts me off the ground. I swing with the staff in his hand, pretending it is a bar for calisthenics. At the right angle, I kick him square in the chest. He winces and his grip loosens. With my kick, I get off him with the staff still in my hand.

The kick gives me the distance, but he grabs me in the air before I can land. Apparently, the kick didn't hurt him enough. I didn't mean to hurt him, which...

Both of us land on the ground. He holds me in his arms and lands on the floor on his back. "Here, caught you." He runs his fingers along my throat. "I can snap you into halves within a blink."

I let out a breath, spreading my arms to the side. "Yeah, congrats. Finally, you win some."

He hugs me and keeps me lying on top of him. "I like this. The two of us just messing around."

"Says someone who didn't end up working today."

He huffs. "You also didn't work."

"Well, I work in the kitchen to prepare dinner for everyone, so my work hasn't even started, while you..."

"No way. My work is to make sure you're feeling better, which is important work."

Although all he has done is mess around and tag along, I guess I don't feel like I can say that it's not important or worthless.

"Yeah, sure. I'll let you slide this one time."

He feels my boobs, "Things I can do to make you feel better..."

I roll my eyes. "Let me go already."

"No, I won, so I'm claiming my prize."

His cock twitches as if he is reminding me what the prize is. I huff. "We know why you win."

He runs his hand over my stomach and invites himself between my legs. "You're already getting wet for me."

My cheek burns at his words. "Shut up!"

"What? There's nothing to be ashamed of about that. You can want me."

"It's not about that. You only win because I let you and I didn't want to cause you serious injury." I'm not sure how strong uzains are, but I could have taken a rib with me, if not more.

He chuckles. "I know. But I still win. A win is a win."

He isn't wrong but at the same time...

I gap when he rubs me even harder. He says, "Why are you worried? No one's going to be here."

I roll off him despite his arms still hanging onto me. "No, before I figure out what's to come tomorrow, that's not happening."

He gets up from the floor and hands me my staff. "Okay, I understand. I'm sure it will go well. We're going in the morning, after all."

"No one has ever said the beasts will only come out at night."

"Um... You aren't wrong."

I stare at him as he rubs his horns, seemingly trying to come up with something to say. "So, rubbing your horns will make you smarter?"

He lifts his head and shakes his head. "No, why?"

"Ah, I was going to tell you to rub them harder. But guess that won't help."

He grunts. "You just want to be mean to me."

Maybe I do. I go to him and hug him, though. The practice fight got us sweaty, but he still makes for good hugs. "It's fun to be mean."

He pats my back. "You just love me that way."

I let out a breath. "I... I'm nervous about tomorrow, even though I know getting nervous over it isn't going to help."

He holds me tightly to his chest, which is strangely comforting. "It's okay. I'll be there, and also the others will be there, too. And you aren't that bad as a fighter."

I hope he is right.