44: Those three

"Enough" Yeb said.

Most of the crowd dispersed a few minutes ago, after all, the fight wasn't a big deal. It was impossible to say that Airys had any kind of chance, she was sweaty, gasping for breath, hurt from the half dozen direct falls and blows; Esther overcame her… no, she showed her how inferior she was.

"B-but I still haven't given up!" Airys screeched, her left arm was a deep red color, like her left cheek and forehead. "The rules/!"

"I made the rules!" Yeb accentuated, not at all pleased and quite annoyed.

"Please... you better not continue..." Esther said from the other side of the ring, about to leave it. "Sorry…"

Seeing Esther struggle internally to show a respectful expression, although she felt nothing but compassion, tore Airys's self-esteem for the umpteenth time.

She fell to her knees to the ground, mired in terrible disappointment. Yes, she is pathetic.

Natsume jumped the fence to go straight to comfort Airys, Melody wanted to do the same and with a clumsy climb she went to see if her new friend was okay.

"Take her out of here Gregory" Yeb said and patted his shoulder. "You, kid!"

"M-me?!" Layd asked nervously. "Will they make me fight too?"

"Go with Esther, you will spend a week on probation." He stood very close to him, making him feel tiny. "If you fail, I will charge you for everything you eat and much more."

"Don't worry Layd," Natsume told him with a grim expression against that man. "I'll help Airys, so make sure you pay OUR debts."

And so it was, Esther received Layd along with several of the boys in the house of the place, Airys leaned on Natsume and they began their walk away from there without any spirit other than Melody's questioning attitude. Yeb took one eye at the end of the girl with the dyed hair and turned to go instruct the others in their duties, however, Gregory was there behind him, waiting for him as if to scold him.

The only one who noticed was Samantha, the usual expressions of her Uncle Gregory blurred and new nuances painted his face: uncertainty and disbelief, which were directed at that old man who —to be honest —knew quite well.

"Samantha, go with Airys and the others to the house, I'll catch up with you after."

"Yes, Uncle."

"What's the matter?" It wasn't the first time Yeb had seen that kind of resolve in Gregory's eyes.

"Are you going to explain to me why you rejected her like that?"

"She couldn't meet/"

"Don't lie to me Yeb, you know very well who you're talking to."

"Ah? Are you going to bring your authority here? Gre-go-ry."

They were both frowning, arms crossed, and pedantic.

"I just want to know why" Gregory made his tone of voice honest, just as if he were talking to his father.

"Well, I saw a indulged, weak and spoiled brat. It is not material for guard."

"Huh? Yeb, how can you say that?" Gregory threw up his hands in tremendous confusion. "Sure she's weak and maybe she's just what you say, but isn't this supposed to be the place to get over those things?"

Yeb pondered it for an eternal second, sighed as he had visions of the boy who was once the man before him.

"Sorry kid, sometimes it's more of an instinct thing."

"Well my instinct tells me you're wrong" Gregory sputtered as he advanced to go with his nieces.

Yeb scratched his bald spot. It caused him some anguish to know that he was lying in such a way to his best student, but in truth he could not, he was not willing to get involved again with a hybrid, he would not bear it for the third time.

———————————————————————————————————

"Come on Maryon, be good Maryon, go and buy the food Maryon" remedied Maryon, that boy with the boomerang. He carried a basket on his left arm and a sack on his right shoulder.

The place was packed with people of countless ages and sizes, the place was technically outdoors or it would be noticeable if it weren't for the huge number of shops and stalls made up of sticks nailed to the ground, with fabrics on top covering from the sun, wooden tables and some other with stone counters made specifically to never lose your position.

This was the market in the southwest area of ​​Dingars, open every weekend afternoons and very early on other days.

He rushed to acquire the items on the mental list.

"Bananas, more bananas, apples, meat of any kind..." he was muttering as he gave the silver coins for things. "Is this meat?" he pointed to an unrecognizable brown pile with bones in the middle.

"Sure! Just two silver coins a kilo! The best Lakguro meat you can eat!" A thin, shirtless old man replied. "It's super fresh!"

Maryon had no idea what a Lakguro was, and the stuff had no recognizable shape.

"Heh..." But that didn't matter to him. "Give me three kilos sir!" He stamped the coins on the stone counter. "It's cheap, Andra will swallow any crap and Erena won't be able to complain about this crap, hahahaha!" he schemed much more cheerful than necessary in his mind.

When he finally finished shopping, the sun was already setting and the number of people was increasing. For a minute it was difficult for him to move between them, so he was forced to put everything in the bag and carry it hugging in front of him so as not to risk a thief taking something.

He left that crowd and went through the dirt streets, away from the paved area, where the wooden houses were most neglected. the children ran from one place to another and the elderly sat in chairs on the street bars to chat about the gossip of the day.

It took him about fifteen minutes at a brisk pace to get to the alley where they were staying, he stood in front of the second-to-last house on the right and shoved the door open with his foot.

"I came!" he said and tossed the sack aside.

"Welcome Maryon! Did you bring meat?!" Andra's voice came from the background.

"Yes…!"

"Great! Can you help me prepare it?!"

"Don't be foolish and stay in bed!"

The house was the definition of simple, not to say poor, the wood on the floor was rustic and older than the combined age of the three. From the entrance there was an open space with a hoard and a fire pit next to it, a corridor that led to the rooms of the place and the bucket room.

Maryon walked down the hall and peered through the doorless entrance to the first room.

"Oh welcome" Erena said.

She was sitting on the floor in the room two by two, playing with a ball without letting it go. Her wonderful amber eyes were still covered in a thick muddy black hue.

"I'm on this side" Maryon corrected as Erena spoke almost in the opposite direction.

"II already knew" she turned her head, though she didn't get it right either.

"Erena sure is cute when she's not bossy!" Andra said and Erena let it go full of shame.

Andra was in the only bed in the house, smiling, happy, with a huge blood stain by her side from when the wound that was left when pointing her arm was reopened, what was left of her arm was a small piece of her forearm surrounded by reddened bandages.

"I already brought the things to clean that up and change the bandages."

"Thank you very much Maryon!" Maryon walked over to her and helped her out of bed. "I'm sorry you have to deal with us like this…"

"Never mind," With Andra now in the wooden chair next to bed, he began to remove the covers from the bed. "You faced a madman, it was to be expected... and Erena has crap power."

"Hey!" the dwarf yelled in the wrong direction. "If not for me…!" Her spirits faded after that outburst. "S-sorry for not being able to do much… it's my fault I didn't come up with a better plan…"

"Don't say that Erena! That fortune teller told us that only the boy, her sister and Garyon would be there, she didn't tell us about the blue haired girl!" Andra said.

"B-but…" Erena muttered.

"Andra is right, the fortune teller said that her predictions weren't perfectly accurate, and it was our fault for wanting to take advantage of the situation to hunt Garyon" Maryon took the things from the room.

"Yes, exactly!" she affirmed and with those words Andra calmed Erena's regret. "Besides…" she whispered.

Once she had said that and Maryon left, Andra's unchanging happy attitude twisted into a grimace of ferocity and excitement, similar to the one she had during the fight with Garyon.

"If you confront him, it is very possible that you will die there" she remembered the words of the fortune teller.

She materialized her invisible arm where the arm that she lost would be and suffering from the phantom pain, to the point of trembling her eye, she placed it on her face.

"Now I know that I can finish him..."