CHRONICLES of a PC Gamer Stuck Inside an RPG (Book One: Duelist)

Chapter 78 - A Warrior's Heart

Seeing that my master was not inclined to comment on my impromptu duel with Jomyril, at least not publicly, I decided to speak with Captain Maisen instead. After all, I had a number of questions that only she could answer. I saw that she was watching my vanquished opponent struggling to find his mental bearings in order to get up.

The proud man probably realized that the longer he sat on the ground, the more damage that the onlookers will think that I had caused the man. After all, they had no idea how much damage I had inflicted on Jomyril directly. Thus, they can only infer the damage from the aftermath of the fight, and how fast the downed opponent could recover from his injuries. In other words, the longer Jomyril remained on the ground, the better he was making me look.

Right now, there were only three people who knew that I pulled a huge critical hit to end this fight: me, him, and Kalistra, who was still partied with me and therefore, had access to my pop-up messages from the fight. However, I was mindful of the fact that Lady Luck's divine blessing was active, and it probably influenced the fight in my favor, particularly with that weird action sequence at the end of our fight. Therefore, I couldn't fully take credit for this win even if the onlookers thought otherwise. "Is he okay?" I asked the captain quietly.

"That depends," Maisen replied and looked at me. "Did you use some special move on him?"

"You mean to end the fight?" I asked.

The captain nodded.

"Yes and no. For some odd reason, the game required me to make a dexterity saving throw right at the moment when I began my counterattack against his kick to my back," I explained.

Maisen's eyebrows rose. It was unusual for a saving throw to be required during combat, especially in a friendly duel. Even during her life-and-death struggle in the wererats' lair, she didn't need to make any saving throws.

I shrugged. From her surprised expression, it appeared that this experienced fighter also had no explanation for the saving throw. "Back in my home world, we have many sports for recreational purposes and one of them is American football. There is one game ball, and the purpose is to bring the ball over to the end of the playing field. Each side has the same number of players; one side carries the ball as the offense while the other side tries to prevent the ball from reaching the end of the field as the defense. The moves I had used were from football, and I chose to use such moves because they were considered nonlethal. After all, Jomyril and I are on the same team as Patrolmen and I sought to avoid incurring permanent injury to him," I explained.

The captain pointed at the man still struggling to get up. "Did you succeed?"

I winced at the question. "Unfortunately, his head was knocked to the ground. It was not my intention, but I'm sorry that it had happened. He's probably still feeling woozy because of it," I apologized. Suddenly, I had an idea. I walked over to Kalistra. "Master, do you carry any healing potion? I would like you to give it to Jomyril," I requested. "He apparently suffered a head injury from my hit, and I want him to be cured of this condition," I explained.

Maisen whistled at the generous request.

The cat girl looked at me for a moment with a neutral expression and then she nodded. "It's coming out of your platinum coin," she reminded me.

"Yes, I'm aware of it." I tried to put out a brave front, but I winced inwardly at the unexpected additional expense. "It's the honorable thing to do," I pointed out.

My master walked over to Nexholm, who was still tending to the fallen man. She reached into her side pouch that held the precious potions. She pulled out a glass vial with a shiny, golden liquid inside. Wordlessly, she held it in front of the second captain.