"This is the place."

"Oh, it's nice and spacious. No wonder you liked this place."

I said as I looked around the area. 

It was a wide-open field that was surrounded by nothing but trees. The waning gibbous was the only source of light so the place was mildly dark, but it wasn't to the point where it would inhibit our movements. All in all, this place is beautiful, and if we weren't going to fight, I wouldn't mind coming out here to take in the scenery.

 

We stood a few yards from each other and stared into each other's eyes. His was filled with an intense will to battle while mine was studying the surroundings. In a fight, the environment will either be your best friend or worst enemy.

...Hmm, and seeing how the terrain is, a few ideas formed in my head. I can't wait to try them out.

“Take your stances.”

 The King said as he stood between us. He's the referee for this fight.

“Ok!”

Immediately, me and the prince got into our fighting stances. 

“Hey, just fighting it out would be boring, how about we spice it up a little?”

Sporting a smirk, I said happily. Squeezing his brows together, Prince Leonard said.

“What do you have in mind?”

“If I win, I want all the money in your wallet.”

Staring at the somewhat large pouch on his side, I said with greedy eyes.

“Why? Aren’t you going to get 50 gold coins when you leave the castle?”

“That’s true but who knows when that’ll happen. It could be a month or a year from now. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to have a little bit of money on hand anyway. And I’m sure you won’t even miss it, being the crown prince and all.”

Because he’s the future ruler of this country, if he wanted to, he could get hundreds if not thousands of gold coins. So what harm could it do if I take all the money he has in his wallet?

“...I can do that. But when I win, I want those shoes of yours.”

After thinking for a few moments, Prince Leonard said. His eyes landing on my feet. Surprised, I raised my left foot and said.

“You mean my forces?”

“Yes, I want those. I find their white color and peculiar design to be quite appealing to my eyes. I want those when I win.”

“Err, sure. When you win, you can have them...”

They don’t cost much anyway. Plus, I got mine for free so it won’t hurt much if I lose them. 

“But that’s if you win though. To which I highly doubt you will.”

Because I’m about to open a whole can of whoop-ass on you!

“Oh, I’ll win alright...You best be ready.”

“Your majesty, if you please…”

“Alright. The rules are simple, the first one to admit defeat or is beaten until they’re unconscious loses. Understand?”

““Understood.””

“Good. Now…” 

King Paul raises his hand in the air...

"You may begin!”

And drops it. And the moment he did...

WHOOSH!

Me and Prince Leonard swiftly closed in on each other. He threw a punch to which I immediately dodged and countered with one of my own.

Sadly he dodged. 

We continue this series of punching and dodging for about five minutes before taking a distance from one another. 

“As it turns out, you’re not just a pretty flower vase. There’s some skill behind you.”

With a smile, I said as I stared at him with predatory eyes. With every punch I threw at him, he effortlessly dodged and tried to counter-attack.

This guy isn’t confident for nothing, he’s got talent.

“I can say the same to you as well. You're not all talk. I can tell you honed your martial art skills to an amazing degree.”

“Haha, I appreciate the compliment. However, I hope you know this was just a warm-up. I wasn’t serious.”

“Same here.”

“Well, are you ready?”

“Bring it.”

“Okay, here I...come!”

At the end of my sentence, I already appeared in front of him, throwing a fast jab to his face.

“!?!”

In a panic due to my sudden appearance, Prince Leonard rushes to block my jab. Seeing an opening in his defenses due to him hastily blocking, I immediately use my free hand to deliver a monstrous hook to his side.

“Agh!” 

This, in turn, causes Prince Leonard to yell out in pain. However, he still stood strong. Shaking the pain of the hook off, he reaffirms his stance and throws a fury of punch my way. To which I block and dodged most of them before being ultimately hit with a few to the face. 

His punches were strong, firm, and straight to the point. There were no feints or anything.

“Who...taught you how to...fight? The head of the Royal Guard or...something?”

While continuing to slip past his punches and counter-attacking with a few well-placed punches to the sides and a couple to the face, I ask. Because this honest way of fighting is usually associated with knights. They deem it honorable to fight hand-to-hand without any type of trickery or underhandedness.

Whatever that means.

“The head of the Royal Guard Paldis taught me how to fight. He taught me that a knight's attacks should be honorable and true to oneself.”

He then lands a few punches on my side, causing my face to harden. It didn’t hurt much since I’m used to being punched but the shock that runs into my organs pains me a little. 

“I see. If I was a knight, I would agree with you on that honorably fighting thing but…”

“But?”

“I’m not a knight. Where I’m from, I’m taught to fight with a no-holds-barred type of style. So, in advance, don’t think too badly of me...”

“Huh…?Ah, my eyes!”

Before he could understand what I was getting at, I kicked a shit ton of dirt into his face, getting it into his eyes and effectively blinding him. Not wasting any time, I land a few hooks to his sides, and a couple of combo punches to his face before ultimately sending him to the ground with a knee strike to the gut. 

I thought about sending him to suplex city but that shit would hurt both me and him on this hard ground. 

“Ouch!”

Prince Leonard groans as he lays on the ground.

“You give up?”

Crouching next to him, I ask. 

“No! I don’t give up and will not give up! Such a dirty way of fighting...that’s dishonorable!”

He said with a glare full of anger. I simply ignored it. Standing up, I said to him.

“Honorable and dishonorable are subjective terms. You may think it's a cowardly thing to do but I think that it’s necessary. A battlefield is unpredictable so you should be as well. That way your chances of survival shall increase.”

Whether it’d be using traps, human shields, or enemy weapons. At the end of the day, as long as you make it home, that’s all that matters.

“Take this situation right now, for example, no enemy is going to sit around and wait for you to get up after they struck you to the ground, that’s just stupid. If I was them, I’d immediately kill you. After all, their aim is simple, to kill you and move onto the next guy. Aren’t I right, your majesty?”

Turning my attention towards King Paul, I ask. He was sitting in a chair silently watching as the fight unfolded.

...Wait.

Where’d he get a chair?

Oblivious to the thoughts in my head, King Paul replied.

“He’s right Leonard. Honorable and dishonorable all boils down to perspective. Back then during the previous war, Denoria used many deceitful tactics. They used hostages, death soldiers, and many other nefarious ways to almost nearly take over all of Lunaria. If it wasn’t for the hero Mars, we probably wouldn’t be here today.”

“Argh, so what’d he do to help fight against Denoria?”

Lifting his sore body off the ground, Prince Leonard asked. 

“What’d he do? It’s very simple actually. He fought fire with fire.”

“Fought fire with fire?”

“Just like Denoria, he used hostages, he used traps, he kidnapped, and he tortured. Mars did everything Denoria did towards us ten times worse. Soldiers of Denoria were so scared of him that the moment they heard he was coming they’d immediately surrender.” 

“Hmph! As expected of a backstabber and murderer. He’s more of a villain than a hero. He’s a disgrace to all the heroes before him. Using such cowardly schemes.”

Prince Leonard said with disgust as he mentioned, Mars, aka, me.

…Damn, it didn’t hurt hearing about it as a rumor but when you hear it up close and personal, this shit hurts. 

“Yes, he was a villain. But he was our villain, the humans, and demi-humans. If it wasn’t for him doing those acts, you, me, or anybody else wouldn’t be here today. We’d be either chained up living a life of servitude or we’d be dead.” 

Momentarily glancing at me, the king answered. Hearing him say all that, I give him a look of gratefulness.

I’m not proud of what I did but desperate times called for desperate measures. The human and demi-human territories were on the verge of being lost to Denoria. What Lunaria needed wasn’t a hero who spouted words of justice and optimism. 

No, what they needed was a monster.

A person whose moral values were a little more on the dark side. 

A person who’d do whatever it takes to drag them out of the hopeless situation they’re in.

A person who’d erase the line and create one where it need be.

In other words, me. 

“So, while he may be known as a backstabber and a murderer, we can’t forget all of what he’d done for us. Thanks to his questionable methods, our nation, and our allies can continue on today. Do you understand?”

“...I understand. But I still don’t agree with his methods.”

Begrudgingly, Prince Leonard said. Nodding his head in acceptance, King Paul replied.

“You don’t have to accept it. I just want you to know that everything is not black and white. Honorable and dishonorable, good and evil. Everything is all a matter of perspective. When you become the king in the future, you’ll have to keep this in mind. The lives of many will be in your hands after all.”

“...Yes, father.”

“Good. Now, are you ready to go again?”

After giving his son a philosophical lecture, the king asked. 

“I’m ready.”

Albeit, wincing a little because of the pain, Prince Leonard nodded. Seeing this, King Paul nodded as well, then looked towards me.

“Are you ready?”

“I can go a second round.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I said nonchalantly. It wasn’t as hurt as the prince over there so I can go another round.

Gold coins, here I come! 

“Get into your stances.”

At King Paul’s words, we silently raise our guards. We were ready for round two.

King Paul raises his hand…

“Begin!”

And gives the go-ahead for the fight.

***

“Winner, Mr. Marcus!”

Staring at the unconscious body of his son, Prince Leonard, King Paul said with a bitter smile. The prince’s once clean and tidy clothes were now dirtied and disorderly. His body was showing bruising and his face was swollen beyond belief. As for me, I had a cut eyebrow, a few bruises on my ribs, and a slightly bloody nose. 

It was a tough battle.

"You didn't beat him up too bad did you?"

Slightly anxious, the king asked. 

"He’s alright. Just heal him with some healing magic and he’ll be alright...Well, your majesty, you got yourself a good son. If he can get his self-confidence under control then he will be a good king in the future."

Using my thumb to block one nostril of my nose, I blew out the blood that was in there and said.

Although he is a pretty boy and likes the notion of honor and justice too much, I’m fond of the dude. He has this energetic but charismatic air around him that makes you want to be friends with him.

Plus it was fun hearing him complain every time I hit him with a dirty move. The look on his face whenever he got slammed or cheap shotted was hilarious! However, despite my underhandedness, he still got up and continued to fight. 

Which was admirable.

When I explained all this to the king, he nodded a couple of times and looked at his son with pride. He must feel proud that his son has so much capability. Prince Leonard's lucky to have a father like that... I'm a little jealous.

"Anyways, let's head back. I'm starting to get sore."

Doing a few light stretches I said as I touched my ribs in pain. Prince Leonard managed to land a few solid hits there and now they’re starting to feel painful.

I think he broke one. I’ll use [Revitalization] to slowly mend it together. It should be healed in a few hours.

  

"I can say the same for Leonard when he gets up in the morning. From what I saw earlier, he has at least a few broken bones...Did you do that to him because of what he said earlier?”

After examining his son’s injuries, King Paul throws an accusatory look my way. Turning my head away from his look, I simply nodded and said.

“...I won’t deny that was one of the reasons. Anyways, you're carrying him.”

“Why?”

“Because he's your son. It's the father's responsibility to care for his son. Plus, I don't want slobber on me.”

Due to Prince Leonard having a swollen face, he’s starting to have drool come down the sides of his cheeks as he’s sleeping.  

I don’t want any of that on me. 

If he was a pretty woman, I’d be more than happy to have her drool on me since it’d be something to tease her about. But since he ain’t then nope.

“Fare enough…Ugh, this is silk!.”

The king put on an aggrieved face as he placed his son on his back. The moment he did, a long string of pinkish drool landed on his shoulder. Seeing this, I shook my head and commented.

“I take back my praise. I'm starting to doubt whether or not you are a loving father.”

“Say that when you have bloodied saliva pouring onto your shoulder. Do you know how expensive this is?”

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t wanna hear your rich people's problems. Come on.”

Under the cloak of darkness, me, and the King who's carrying the slobbering prince sneaked back into the castle via a secret passage. The King carried the prince back to his room while I returned back to mine.

But not before reminding the king to tell his son about the bet he made. That wallet is mine!

“Ah, time to sleep!”

I said as I tiredly entered my room flopped onto the bed.

“That fight really took it out of me. Is this the consequence of living a battle free life?”

With this train of thought, I slowly close my eyes to slee-

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Master Marcus, it's time to get up.”

“...”

It was at this time, I realized that it was morning.

“... Dammit!” 

***

Author’s note

• This felt way harder to describe since it was nothing but fist fighting. Didn’t think it’d be that hard compared to using swords and magic. Boy was I wrong. But I think I did a bomb ass job on it though. Tell me what you think.

• After posting this chapter, I’m thinking of writing another story. It’d be called ‘The Daily Life of a Fixer’  which will follow the life of Dominic Brown, an ex-soldier as he navigates through the infamous city of Lost Haven, stay tuned!