Darkness trudged back along the worn path to the village, her branch dragging lazily behind her. The sun had already sunk low, staining the horizon with a rusty red glow. Her chest was tight, not with exhaustion—her new skill had made her recovery far faster—but with disappointment.
She had hoped for more.
The cavern had been cleaned out, its winding passages echoing only with the drip of stale water and her own uneven footsteps. Not a single goblin left. No hidden stash of treasure, no mysterious chest. Nothing but the cold, slimy walls and the faint smell of decay.
So all she carried back with her were the grisly trophies—the ears of the fallen goblins, wrapped in cloth and tied at her belt. Enough to claim her reward at the guild, but not enough to satisfy the strange hunger in her chest.
Her lips trembled as she muttered to herself.
"I-I was ready for more… I even picked a skill to… to endure them better, and now… nothing."
The thought made her legs feel weaker, though her body itself was steady. She sighed, puffing her cheeks, shaking her head as if to chase away the contradictory desires swelling inside her.
The village gate welcomed her with its crooked wooden arch. Children ran past barefoot, women carried baskets of vegetables, men pushed carts filled with grain. It was a modest place, alive in a way the caves never could be. Yet Darkness kept her gaze low, her cheeks hot. The bundle of ears at her hip made her look like an adventurer—successful, even. But she felt strangely empty.
Her destination was the guild. Just one more street, a stone building at the square's center, with its flag snapping in the breeze. She hugged her arms under her chest as she walked, trying not to let her mind wander too much.
That was when a voice broke through the clamor of the square.
"Training! Wrestling training! First lesson at ninety percent discount—yes, ninety percent! Don't miss it, young ones!"
The voice was deep and worn, like a cracked bell. Darkness blinked, raising her head slightly, and found the source.
An old man—short, rotund, his belly hanging loose beneath a patched tunic—stood at the edge of the square. His hair was thin and wiry, his beard scraggly, his clothes little more than rags. He looked more beggar than teacher. Yet he waved his arms with surprising vigor, holding up a sign scrawled with charcoal:
"WRESTLING TRAINING – 90% OFF! SPECIAL FOR ADVENTURERS!"
Darkness stopped in her tracks.
Her heart skipped. Wrestling…
Her throat tightened, her body shivering faintly as the word echoed in her head.
Could it mean that kind of wrestling? Or was it something different?
She found her feet moving toward him almost on their own.
"Um…" Her voice was a timid flutter. "E-excuse me…"
The old man turned, squinting at her, then grinned wide enough to show his missing teeth. "Aha! A customer! And a young lady at that, with the look of an adventurer! You've come at the perfect time!"
Darkness pressed her hands together nervously. "I-I just wanted to ask… what kind of training is it exactly? Y-you said wrestling, but…"
The man slapped his round belly and laughed. "Exactly what it sounds like! Wrestling! The art of using your body against another, testing strength, endurance, and technique! Adventurers these days swing swords and wave spells, but when an enemy grabs you—what then? Eh? No blade can help you then! Only your body decides victory!"
Her stomach twisted. That was exactly the kind of battle she'd been dragged into again and again, forced against goblins in sweaty, humiliating struggles.
The man leaned closer, his eyes glittering under the dirt of his brow. "Let me guess. You've been caught before, haven't you? Pinned down. Forced to fight in… other ways."
Darkness's face lit crimson, and she immediately waved her hands frantically. "N-no! I mean—I, um—I have, but—!" She bit down on her tongue, realizing how her words betrayed her. Her body, however, betrayed her worse: her thighs pressed together instinctively, heat crawling up her neck.
The man only chuckled knowingly, as if he had seen this many times before. "Heheheh. Don't be ashamed, girl. Every adventurer faces it eventually. Some are broken by it, some never rise again. But the smart ones… the smart ones learn to fight back."
Darkness swallowed hard. "F-fight back…?"
"Exactly!" He lifted his stubby arms as if demonstrating. "Wrestling training. Learn how to twist out of a hold, how to shift your weight, how to exhaust an opponent faster than they can exhaust you. It's not about who's stronger—it's about who lasts longer."
The words stabbed right through her chest. Last longer. Outlast them. That was exactly what her new skill promised. It was as though fate itself had dragged her here.
Her lips trembled, her voice shrinking. "B-but… isn't it strange? A noble knight… taking lessons in something like that…?"
The old man's grin softened. "Strange? Girl, what's stranger? Losing over and over in shame—or preparing yourself to win no matter the battlefield? Tell me, which feels worse?"
Her heart twisted violently. She could still taste the memory of her last match, the humiliating cries that had slipped from her lips, the sticky warmth down her throat. She shivered, wrapping her arms tighter around her stomach. The contradiction inside her was unbearable—she hated remembering, yet her body tingled with happiness at the victory that had followed.
"…T-to win…" she whispered.
"Eh?"
"I-it would be worse to lose…" Darkness's voice wavered, then grew steadier. "I… I have to win. No matter how embarrassing… or strange… if my enemy drags me into that, then I… I want to be ready!"
The man's eyes gleamed, and he clapped his meaty hands together with a booming laugh. "Now that is the spirit! Hahaha! You've got more courage than most who come asking. Good, good! Then you'll be my next student. And lucky for you, today's lesson is practically free!"
Darkness jolted back, waving her hands. "W-wait! I-I never said—!"
But her voice cracked into an awkward giggle, her shoulders trembling. The thought of actually training in something so indecent, of learning deliberately what her body had been forced into before, made her flush hot from head to toe. Yet some stubborn flame in her chest whispered that she had to.
Her head lowered, hair falling over her burning face, but her voice still came out in a shaky whisper.
"…How much is the discount again…?"
The old man's grin widened to monstrous proportions. "Ninety percent! For you, girl, almost a gift from the gods themselves!"
Darkness pressed her palms together, her heart hammering. She wasn't sure if she was making the smartest decision of her adventuring life—or the most humiliating one yet.
But either way… she couldn't walk away.