The Stew

They were sitting at the table eating the food Nesiara made with Erica as Nesiara showed Erica some magic tricks she could use herself in her daily life.

"Now then Guts is known as 'The Black Swordsman' or 'The Hundred Man Slayer'. He used to be in the Mercenary Band called the 'Band of the Falcons'. *sighs* He left them some weeks ago as he roams now fighting against stronger people wanting to become the strongest in this world," says Godot as he continued telling them more about Guts.

"Does he know that the Band of Falcons was dissolved because of what their leader did?" asks Nesiara curiously as Godot shakes his head.

"I don't think so. If he knew he would have returned to help them. Now the Band of Falcons are being chased by everyone that wants to earn some coins since their bounty is quite high," says Godot when John was curious.

"What about their leader?" asks John as Godot sighs.

"I only have rumors about everything. Some say he was killed by the King others say that he is imprisoned and is tortured everyday and others say that he fled and left the Band of Falcons to their fate," says Godot as he bites into the Lembas bread filled with meat that Nesiara made.

He suddenly felt full as he looks at Nesiara and says, "That is Lembas. It was created by a wise person as rations for their travel around the world. That way you wouldn't need to eat a full meal since sometimes the enemy could attack you by seeing you cooking food."

Nesiara suddenly gulped the whole Lembas down making Godot open his eyes wide when John says, "My wife had a faster metabolism that means she needs to eat much more than a normal person."

John only took two bites out of it since his metabolism was also high because of his demonic blood. It wasn't as ridiculous as a Saiyan's metabolism but still.

After finishing eating Nesiara was teaching Erica how to defend herself just to be sure that no one would hurt her. John on the other hand was smithing with Godot as they were making a sword similar to the Dragon Slayer but smaller and less heavy so a normal strong man could wield it.

God of was complaining that the sword would most likely go into Guts' hands since he was his only customer. John smiled from hearing that as he was hitting the iron with his hammer.

Two weeks passed and Guts knocked on the door of Godot as he says, "Old Man, are you there?"

"What is it Guts?" asks Erica as she opened the door Guts looked at her and he could see that Erica has completely changed.

She seemed to have more confidence in herself as Guts saw a wooden staff laying against the wall besides the door.

"You have changed Erica. What happened to the girl that was scared of me when she first met me," says Guts as he smiled at Erica seeing that the girl didn't move away.

"It's because of my teacher. She taught me some cool moves like this one," says Erica as she suddenly holds a Ki-Ball in her hand and throws it at Guts who somehow managed to put his almost broken down sword between himself and the Ki-Ball.

He still flew a distance away from the door when Guts asks, "Have you gone crazy?"

"This was for scaring me the first time you came here," says Erica as she stretches her tongue out at Gut before entering the house leaving the door open.

Guts puts his sword on his back when he enters the house finding a woman he never saw before inside it cooking food beside her was Erica helping her. Guts ignored the woman since he had business with Godot when he passes the room.

"You know Erica sometimes if you want to get revenge on a man that trusts you, you need to put a mild poison in his food. That way he will understand that he did something wrong and he won't do wrong ever again," says the woman making Guts who heard that feel chill run down his back.

"Did you do that against John?" asks Erica as the woman smiles.

"I would have done it put poison doesn't work on us," says the woman when she looks at Erica before saying, "But I have other ways to punish him. You will learn those once you are a married woman."

"Aren't you going a bit too far by teaching the girl how to poison her lover? She could kill him," says Guts as the woman smiled at him.

"But she won't. She will only make the person have a stomachache bad enough to not be able to leave the latrine for two hours. That way he will know that he did something wrong. Once married she can use her body to punish her husband by denying it," says the woman when Guts just rolls his eyes and opens the room to the smithy.

He enters it and only finds one big muscular back facing him shocking Guts who says, "Godot, is that you?"

"No, Godot is sleeping right now. I am giving this sword only the last touch," says the man not turning around to greet him as he didn't want to make a mistake on the finish line.

"And you are?" asks Guts as John stood up making Guts feel small because John was towering over him.

"John Crownguard, have you met my wife Nesiara already?" asks John as Guts could only think of the woman besides Erica and nods.

John was holding the almost finished blade as he went to make the last step so the blade would be durable which was the last step of the heat-treatment.

Once this was done he looked at the blade and saw nothing wrong with it before both appeared outside and John swung the sword a bit to see how good it was when a smile appears on his face.

"Good the sword is perfectly balanced and weights less than the Dragon Slayer. It is a bit longer than expected but it will do," says John while Guts wasn't believing his eyes when they suddenly appeared inside again.

"What are you?" asks Guts as he wanted to draw his blade.

"If I were you, I wouldn't draw that sword. Godot should be coming soon to make the handle and finish with everything else. But if you really want to fight me we can do so after you have a better sword," says John as he didn't turn around while sharpening the edge of the blade.

"Why should I fight against you?" asks Guts when John smiled but didn't turn around.

"Because I am the strongest swordsman in this world. I heard from Godot that you want to become the strongest. That means you have to defeat me to become it," says John as Guts didn't believe him.

"Really then you should know who Zodd is right," says Guts testing John who smiles.

In the last two weeks, John wasn't only making this sword with Godot but also learning the background of the world using a clone. John turned around and smiled at Guts.

"Of course, the Beast Swordsman. But he is more beast than man, aren't I right?" asks John as Guts' smile disappears.

"Are you al-," says Guts nervous when John interrupts him.

"I'm not really something like him. But you wouldn't be far off either. Let's just say that I am a wandering swordsman that is today here and tomorrow somewhere else but I never stay in one place long enough," says John as he wasn't lying about it since he really doesn't stay in one place for a long time, since he and Nesiara traveling to other worlds the whole time.

"Now my question is, do you want to challenge me or not?" asks John as Godot enters the room seeing that John finished their work when he notices Guts standing across John.

"Oh, it seems Guts already arrived and you have already presented yourself," says Godot as John handed over the blade to Godot who had the rest already prepared to finish the sword.

"I have, but I asked him if he wanted to challenge me. He still hasn't answered yet," says John looking at Guts when Godot smiles.

"Don't worry boy, John doesn't bite. He will stop before something dangerous happens. Even if you suffer some injuries he can handle that by healing you," says Godot as Guts looked at him confused when Godot picked a hot iron from the flame and pressed it against his palm.

Godot knew the pain of hit iron touching his skin since it wasn't the first time but it has been some years since he made such a novice mistake when he showed his palm and John healed it as if it was nothing.

"You don't have to worry. You can just see it as a sparring instead of a duel if that makes you feel less nervous," says John as Guts now smiled viciously at John.

"Which sword will you use?" asks Guts not seeing a sword near John.

"That is a surprise," says John as he smiled at Guts normally.

"But first let me finish this sword," says Godot as he finishes with the handle of the sword.

"We should eat something until Godot is done," says John knowing that the sword is for Guts as he walks into the living room finding Erica and Nesiara preparing the table for them to eat.

He helps them by picking up the big pot with the stew in it and carries it towards the table. After a while Guts and Godot joined them as they began to eat the stew while Guts was looking at Erica at first waiting for her to start just to make sure that the stew was edible and not poisoned by her.

"Are you afraid of the little girl poisoning you," says John seeing that Guts was staring at Erica as he was eating his stew.

"I just wanted to make sure," says Guts as he wanted to begin to eat.

"Have you checked that your dishes are clean. They could be drained in poison instead of the stew," says John as he sees Guts almost put the spoon on his mouth.

Guts stopped as he looked at Erica which seemed to have turned from the kind-hearted and timid girl into a sadistic and confident one. He put the spoon back down when John begins to laugh out loud.

"Just eat the stew. You know that there are two people here that can help you with the detoxification of you really get poisoned," says John as he couldn't believe how much respect Guts was showing Erica at the moment.

Guts began to eat peacefully when suddenly his stomach began to turn itself inside out as he stood up and rushed to the latrine making Erica giggle while Godot almost let his spoon fall from seeing his daughter do that.

'I should be careful not to anger Erica from now on,' thinks Godot as he was more careful when he talked to his daughter from now on.