V returned to the inn, Eika following behind. As they entered the Innkeep's small daughter energetically greeted them, in return V waved weakly and asked her if he could have a meal. The little girl nodded happily and ran to tell the cook. L was setting at one of the tables, with a small smirk on her face, which was a somewhat unusual expression for her. V and Eika walked over and took a seat across from her "Something funny?" he winced as he sat down, his back causing him a fair bit of pain. "I was just wondering if either of you ever trained a day in your life. You look like an old punching bag, and the girl looks like she ran a marathon." Pursing his lips V scoffed back "It’s not the training, it’s the damage. I suppose while I was still in the forest, tension and adrenalin limited the pain to a certain amount. On the walk back to town though, everything just started to really hit me. As for Eika, she spends a lot of unnecessary energy..."  Eika did not speak up, she was used to staying quiet when others were talking. Instead, she simply set there, looking around the inn.

"So, what happened out there? Even with your lack of skills, in all senses of the word, a few mantises should have been easy, even if you just threw some rocks at them." V shook his head, "Ya, if it was just mantises, you would probably be right." Looking at Eika, L narrowed her eyes "Did the girl lead you into a pack of gorillas? If I remember correctly, the first time you found her she had just gotten two other people killed." Eika froze as L spoke, V could see the words effects on the girl, her eyes started to get that misty quality he had seen a few times already today. "Look it’s not that simple, something is wrong with the forest..." V spent the next hour recounting their adventure in the forest. Eika was quiet for the most part, only interjecting once to explain how cute the fairies were, as V glossed over that part, according to her.

L furrowed her brow "That is odd. When I first arrived at the town, I spent some time in the forest, cutting mantises down, I never saw any of these abominations you speak of. Villagers have been logging the edges of the forest as a source of income for a very long time. I doubt if gorilla mantis things where stalking the place for years, the town would have been able to keep that up. The only reason the lumberjacks are not torn to pieces by gorillas is because they tend to stay inside their own territory." V nodded "I had been thinking the same thing. It seems like a recent addition to the forest, an addition that evidently seems to coincide with the arrival of the Divine Champions." L and V sat in silence for a time, considering the implications. "Regardless, there is not much other choice in locations to level up while I wait for your recovery. Eika is... contracted... for a week, so I might as well attempt to level up the swordsman class. I think I can avoid the mantis gorillas, for the most part, they seem to be rather low when it comes to awareness of their surroundings. V had finished his meal while he had recounted the day to L, more than ready for bed, he got up and started upstairs. "Oh, I hope you don’t mind, Eika will be sleeping in our room for the duration of her stay." L simply nodded.

When V awoke, his back was stiff and pained, but seemed ok. He had wrapped the wound on his leg before laying down the night before, the other cuts and bruises he had needed little tending. L was already awake, and was turning over the broken shard of her swords hilt in her hand. Eika appeared to still be sleeping in the remaining bed, no surprise there. L spoke up "This morning I had time to think on a certain matter, we should discuss it before you head out, over breakfast." V hoped it was not some lecture or threat over whatever behavior of his she disproved of now. "Sure, lets head down." As they sat down and ordered breakfast, L looked at him seriously "That girl, Eika, you said she knew about your status, and taking her out with you only increases her knowledge of you. Your habits, your methods, your strengths and weaknesses. She is becoming a giant liability." V nodded; the thought had crossed his mind more than a few times. "Your right, and at first I did not think it was that big of a deal. She said she would keep her mouth shut about me. I doubt she could resist an order to however, as she also loves talking about it. I had thought even then, it was not much of a risk, as I doubted anyone in this rural town on the outskirts of society would search for information on me, but after our fight with O, it became clear that we might be being observed by people who we don’t even know exist yet." L sighed "I had come to the same conclusion. If it is common knowledge that most of us started in this area, it would be the place to search for information on our abilities or methods. It will be easy enough to learn that one of the town "heroes" has been running around the forest with a slave girl, and then it’s only a matter of forcing her to talk." V was unsure where this conversation was headed. Although he himself had a similar thought process, he was certain his solution was not going to be the same as Ls. "I am not sure what you want me to do about it, I doubt you would believe, or approve of, if near the end of the week, Eika "Ran away" from me." He gave her a look, which she returned with a cold stare "Of course not. Although, I have to admit, I do not have an immediate solution to the plan."

Thanks a bunch. V shook his head, L might be a good fighter and an overall asset, but she sure did make things complicated. If he was not certain she would cut him in half, he was sure he could arrange for Eika to disappear in a way that also absolved him of financial responsibility, she was a known problem for the slave guild after all. "Great, well that was helpful. Look, I’ll try to think of another solution before the week ends. However, unless you can suddenly come up with fifty gold to buy her with, we might be left with only two options, leaving her as a loose end, and doing something you will not approve of." With his meal finished, he went back upstairs to wake Eika, and prepare for another venture into the forest. When he walked into the room, Eika was in the middle of putting her leather armor back on. Although she had her underclothes and shirt on, V still slammed the door shut "Ah, uh, sorry. I did not think you were awake yet." Eika's responded through the door, "Eika is ok. I am just putting on my leather jerkin. I will be finished preparing soon!" V shook his head "Well, when your ready ill meet you downstairs." V ordered her something to eat while he waited.

After Eika had eaten, they headed out, back to the forest. V's plan was to avoid anything other than standard mantises, to level up his Swordsman Class. The first few encounters proceeded well enough, only a few minor scratches and bruises. Quickly he acquired the second level of Swordsman. It did not seem to confer anything special, ability or skill wise. V suspected many of the levels would be empty of such benefits, after all, he had seen townsfolk with high levels of non-combat classes. If you got a skill or ability each level, every baker or inn keep would have a ton of skills and abilities. The next level's experience requirements increased by fifteen, bringing the needed experience to thirty-five. He had been wondering if experience reset to zero when leveling up. It did seem as if the counter reset, but any extra was carried over. Currently he was one out of thirty-five. After a few more hours, he had leveled up again.

┌——————┐
You have fulfilled the requirements to level up Swordsman Class!
Class: Swordsman Lv 3  2/55
Attribute Scaling:
Strength: C
Agility: D
Constitution: C
Awareness: D
Willpower: E
Skills: "Swordsmanship Lv 1",  "Athletic Lv 1"
Abilities: Focused Slash
└——————┘

This is what he had been waiting for, skills. His divine class, so far, had given him the ability to add an edge to other classes, while being a basic, but all around balanced, class on its own. The difference in attribute scaling had been made apparent to him in his encounters in the forest. His all-B class was extremely better than the swordsman's Cs and Ds. If his "Swordsmanship" skill allowed him to fight well with a sword, he could use it along side of his much better ranking Divine Class. He hoped he could use the Divine class as a way to be a stronger version of other classes. If he could acquire the skills of a swordsman, but not be held back by its attribute scaling, he might actually end up being useful. He was sure L would be happy if that was the case. Sure, he lost out on the ability "Focused Slash" if he was not using the Swordsman Class, but the ability mainly felt like it brought his senses up to a B, but only for a single slash, no great loss.

As for what his new skills actually did, V immediately had feedback on Swordsmanship. He seemed to now have an innate feeling indicating if he could efficiently wield a weapon or not. He could sense that his sword was within his range of weight and length. While not a huge boon, it was the first level skill of the most basic combat class. He could not expect much. As for Athletics, he... was not really sure what that was doing, if anything. He assumed it was a passive buff to his ability to... be athletic. He shook his head, anyway, he needed to keep leveling the Swordsman Class. However, it was getting late, and he and Eika needed to get out of the forest before night fell.

As he approached the town, Eika tugged on his clothes. For some reason she was being even more reserved and meek than normal. She was looking at the ground, and had used her other hand to cover her left eye with her fluffy ears. After she had gotten his attention, she did the same with her right hand. "Eika needs to report to the guild." V waited for her to continue for a few moments. When she did not, he spoke up "Any... you know, particular reason?" She nodded before quietly whispering "Well, Eika disobeyed an order yesterday. I sort of... forgot about it till we were in the forest. Its Eika's job to turn herself in." She paused a moment, sounding even more sad than before when she continued “Also, I doubt they will let me now, but Eika has gotten enough experience to level up, but the slave-master needs to approve it. Slaves are not allowed to increase their level without permission. Sometimes owners worry that slave who is much stronger than them will rebel easier..." she trailed off and hung her head. "Ah, well, I suppose we should do that then." V was fairly sure that the guild would not punish Eika while she was out on a contract with him, and if they did, he would definitely demand they compensate him.

Nearing the entrance to the guild, V stopped suddenly, causing Eika to walk into his back. "Eh?" She looked up, to see what had happened. "Actually. We don’t have time for this. I need to speak with L about something." Eika spoke up "Ehhhh? Are we in a hurry? Eika really should report in! It’s what I am supposed to do when stuff like this happens!" V shook his head "Do you think Gergor would want me to report that you also decided to go against me now? Isn't your first priority fulfilling your slave contract?" Eika looked confused for a few moments "That’s.... true. Eika did not know we were in a hurry, I guess we can go next time."

Back at the inn, V had taken L out back, into the ally he had practiced knife throwing. "I have an idea on how to fix the Eika problem. However, you’re going to have to put up with some "Dishonorable" conduct, but unless you have thought of another solution, this is the only one that works for both of us." L cocked her head "Oh? I'm curious what sort of "dishonorable conduct" you think I would approve of."