Chapter 12-Road to Amorium
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Two days after our shopping, Sekh and I are preparing to leave Jericho. Our destination is the town of Amorium to the northeast. 

During the two days, Sekh and I did a ratman job. Even though I received four-fifths of the share, Sekh did most of the work.  Sekh told me something about how I was needed to watch her back, but I think she just wants to pay me back for the horse. We killed twenty ratmen in total, so I received 32 nummi. Apart from that, Sekh and I spent the rest of our time sparring and learning to ride. 

Before leaving Jericho, the two of us ate breakfast and picked up Sekh’s gambeson at the tailor. 

“How long do you think it’ll take us to get to Amorium?” Sekh asked as we left the gate. 

“Three days or so, I think.”

The first day of travel was uneventful. We just rode our horses, cooked some food, and got suspicious at the rustling of trees and brushes. While waiting for dinner to finish cooking, Sekh and I decided to do some sparring. 

“This just isn’t fair,” Sekh told me with ragged breaths. “It’s actually impossible to win.”

I smiled apologetically as I leaned on my spear. “Well you’re definitely getting better. I think you really need to work on your endurance though.” 

Sekh gave me an exhausted look. “Easy for you to say. You got stupid hero powers. Could you even do this before you were a hero?”

“Yeah,” I replied after thinking for a bit. “I was one of the best young warriors in the Marches before I became a hero.”

Sekh continued to look at me in disbelief. “What exactly are your hero powers anyways?”

“Hmm…Enhanced reflexes, speed, strength, and endurance. Also have faster healing, a higher metabolism, an improved sense of balance, pain resistance, and immunity to a lot of diseases. At least that’s what I heard from a heavenly spirit.” 

“So you’re not even sure?” Sekh asked in astonishment. 

“Well most of those seem true,” I told her. “It’s hard to say since I can’t fully remember what it was like before I was a hero. Like I can describe how I was before, but I can’t really feel it. But I still remember how I felt during the war, when I was in a heightened state. So you could say I actually feel weaker now.”

Instead of saying anything, Sekh just silently pouted.

Seeing her like that, I tried to change the topic a bit. “Funny story, I wasn’t known for my skill with a polearm before I was a hero. I was actually known as the best archer around my age.” 

Sekh looked at me in confusion. “Then how come you became the hero of the spear and not the hero of the bow?”

“I don’t even know,” I laughed. “When I met Aethel, I was a much better archer than her. I even helped her train during our early days.”

“So how are you compared to her now?” Sekh asked curiously.

“Can’t compare,” I said with a smile. 

“But you’re really good with a bow. Is she that good?”

“She’s on another level. The difference between us is most distinguishable at longer ranges. I’ve seen her hit shots at more than three hundred meters.” 

“How about you?” Sekh continued.

“Maybe two hundred meters at best. Even though I think I’m stronger, she’s just absurd with the bow. Same thing for the other heroes.”

“So even though you’re 19, you’re pretty much a master with the spear at this point?” 

I scratched my chin while I thought. After coming up with an answer, I walked over to Sekh and began to stroke her head. “Not really. Heroes rely a lot on instincts, but our techniques aren’t as developed as a real master. I’m still learning and I always will be. So don’t worry about where you are now, just focus on improving.”

Sekh still looked at me with apprehension, but I think she feels relieved in some way.

“Anyways, the porridge is finished cooking,” I said with a smile. “We even have wine today.”

After we ate, Sekh came up to me nervously. “Umm...can I make a request? Can you massage my legs for a bit, my muscles are sore.”

“Sure,” I replied offhandedly. 

As I began to squeeze her nicely toned calves, Sekh let out a soft voice. “Ahnnn~”

“Can you quit moaning?” I said with a mock glare. “It’s just a massage and you’re making this weird.”

Apparently Sekh hadn’t noticed herself being a pervert and began blushing. “Ah. Sorry. Won’t do it again.”

“Good grief,” I sighed. “Well I’m glad that I’m able to make you feel better. How about I take the first shift tonight? You seem tired.”

“Oh, sure,” Sekh replied. 

Luckily, me and Sekh have separate tents now. It felt a bit weird when Sekh told me that my bedroll smelled like me. Like what the hell is it supposed to smell like? Wool? I’m also don't have to clean out cat hairs like our return trip, so that’s nice too. 

During the afternoon of the third day, Sekh and I decided to gather some fresh food. As I was taking out my bow, Sekh put a hand on my shoulder. 

“There’s a creek nearby,” she said happily. “How about we go fishing. We haven’t had fish so it’ll be a nice change of pace.”

I began to scratch my cheek in confusion. “How are we going to catch fish though?” 

“With this,” Sekh said as she pulled out a fishing pole, a line of string, and a hook. “I have another one for you too.” 

“I don’t know how to use that,” I told her somewhat nervously. 

“You don’t know how to fish?” Sekh asked in astonishment. 

“Yeah. I’ve never gone fishing. When I was young I only learned how to hunt.” 

Sekh began to giggle. “So you do have some useless sides. Do you even know how to swim?”

“You’ll be surprised but I do.” I responded with a cocky smile. 

“Huh? You do? But how come you’ve never gone fishing?” 

“It’s a bit strange,” I began. “But all the heroes are required to learn how to swim as part of training. Our heavenly advisors thought that if we couldn't swim, our enemies could just dump us in a large body of water and call it day.”

“Heroes are so strange,” Sekh mumbled.

I wholeheartedly agree with her statement. 

“So can you teach me how to fish?” I asked.

“Of course,” Sekh said excitedly. I feel like she might have an ulterior motive but I’ll just ignore that for now. 

“Ok so we start by looking for bait,” Sekh instructed. 

“So worms right?”

“Exactly.”

“Ok but where do we find worms?”

Sekh looked at me with amusement. “Do you actually not know? Just look under rocks and damp spots of earth. Here I’ll show you.”

For a while, Sekh and I wandered around and dug up worms for bait. I actually got the general idea fairly fast and managed to contribute a good amount of bait. 

“Now we should be able start fishing right?" I asked after we got around a dozen or so crawlers.

“Exactly, you know how to do that right?”

“More or less, I’ve seen people fish before. Just don’t know the exact steps.”

“Alright then, just watch me.” 

Sekh slowly speared a worm through the hook then used the long pole to dip it into the large creek.

“Ah I get the idea,” I said as I took out my own fishing pole. 

“Ok, you can start fishing over there,” Sekh replied as she pointed to another spot along the creek. “If we fish at different spots we should be able to catch more.” 

I moved along to the spot Sekh suggested and dipped my own hook into the water. Before long, Sekh began to yank her line upwards. 

“Got one!” she yelled triumphantly as she showed me a fat trout. She then tossed the fish into a pot filled with water beside her. 

I also felt a gentle tug on my own line. When I pulled the fish out, I saw a small perch on the hook. 

“Can you toss that one back in the water?” Sekh asked me when she saw my catch. “It’s too small.”

“But it’s big enough to eat,” I replied in confusion. 

“It’s a tradition from my village,” Sekh explained. “We always put small fish back so they can live their lives and reproduce before we eat them. You don’t have to, but I’d like it if you toss the little guy back in the water.”

I thought for a bit and complied. Her clan’s traditions actually remind me quite a bit of home. When we went hunting in the mountains, we would always spare young deer and goats to maintain the game population. 

After half an hour or so, Sekh caught a total of two big trouts and a perch. The only worthwhile catch I got was a bass.

“You did pretty good for a beginner,” Sekh told me with a bright smile. “We’ll kill and clean the fish now. This part is kinda hard so pay attention.”

Sekh took out her knife and stabbed it through the fish’s head into the brain. She then opened the side of the fish’s head, stuck her fingers in and ripped out the gills.

“Like this?” I asked as I mimicked her motions.

“Yup,” Sekh said with a nod. “Now we’ll scale the fish then gut it.”

As I scraped my knife along the bass, the little scales flew into my face. 

“I recommend holding the fish over the river and scaling the side opposite to you,” Sekh told me when she saw my predicament. 

It feels really nice to have someone experienced help me out. 

“Ok so we’ll gut the fish now,” Sekh said after we finished scraping off all the scales and cutting off the fins. 

She gently slid her knife through the belly from the bottom up. Then she pulled out the organs and tossed them in the creek. She then took out her knife again and began to scrape out the kidney from the backbone. 

“Ok just do that then rinse the fish off in the water,” Sekh told me after her demonstration. 

I quickly picked up the method, mainly since I have a lot of experience preparing food. 

“Sekh, did you learn all this in your village?” I asked as we walked towards our camp.

“Yup. My dad would bring me fishing along with some of my siblings. He even taught us how to clean the fish before we went home so our mothers wouldn’t get angry.”

“Your dad sounds great.” 

“He is,” Sekh replied happily. “I think you should meet him sometime. He’ll definitely like you.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“You’re both outdoorsy warrior types,” Sekh told me with a giggle. “Besides, my moms don’t like it when he drinks with my brothers.”

“That’s a funny way to propose to me,” I said jokingly.

Sekh gently jabbed me in the side. “Pretty sure the man is supposed to propose in the relationship.”

“I guess,” I responded. “Hey can you go and gather some herbs while I prepare the fish?”

When Sekh went off, I began to prepare our dinner. After setting up the campfire, I began to score the fishes and lightly rub them with salt. While waiting for Sekh, I also grated some lemon zest, cut some lemon slices, and chopped some garlic. 

“I’m back,” Sekh announced proudly when she got back with a bundle of rosemary and dill. 

“Thank you. Can you also wash these beans in the river?”

After properly seasoning the fish, I took out a large pan and began to melt a generous amount of butter. After the butter melted, I began to gently fry our catch along with the garlic. 

“Smells good like always,” Sekh told me as she gazed hungrily at the cooking food. “How come you know how to cook so well anyway?”

“That’s a bit of an awkward story,” I replied. “After the incident at Beroea, the other heroes actually punished me by forcing me to take over all the cooking duty.”

"Sorry, but I'm glad they did that," Sekh said with a smile.

After the fish was fairly close to done, I added the lemon zest and juice was well as the beans to the pan along with some white wine. 

We ate directly from the pan and even dipped our bread into the sauce. Sekh seemed particularly happy and ate even more than normal.

“Azel, I’ll take the first watch,” Sekh told me as we prepared to go to sleep.

“Sure I don’t mind,” I said as I plopped into my bedroll.

After Sekh woke me up, I smiled when I looked up at the moon. She had definitely let me sleep longer than half the night. Maybe she noticed that I was taking longer shifts. 

I put my hand on her shoulder. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You don’t have to force yourself so much,” Sekh told me as she went back to her tent. 

I wonder if the animals and the monsters out here could see the grin on my face. 

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