Chapter 78：Proposition

Stanis was just passing by the stream when he reconsidered his options. For appearance's sake, perhaps he should clean up a bit before going onwards.

So Stanis eased himself into the stream, his muscles stretching as the water took hold of him. The sky already had a few dark colours to it but the wind hadn't become the night's yet, instead still a warm breeze that helped Stanis relax.

He had no soap at the ready and so cleaned himself to the best of his ability without. Mind you, that wasn't very clean but he doubted the Jaguars would mind any dirt.

He eventually got out and dried himself, before restarting his walk into the forest. It was half-way along the path that he suddenly realised he hadn't brought any bottles with him. At this point, it was simply customary to do so and he felt more than a little bad without.

However, he was already deep in the forest and quite a few Jaguars had already greeted him and were currently in the process of following him. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to sneak away from them and grab a few bottles now.

For Stanis, it was comforting being amongst the Jaguars. They didn't fear him like the other Humans did and they didn't give him a massive berth to walk through everytime he moved. Instead, they respected him almost to the point of reverence, his standing similar to Serb's in their society.

It was during the final stretch of his walk that Stanis lost worry about the bottles he had forgotten to bring. This wasn't because he had all of a sudden calmed down but rather because it was obvious from one look at Serb's cave that the Jaguars had already more than ransacked the village's supplies.

Stanis went to the entrance and waited, one of the other Jaguar Captains walking over to talk to him in the meantime. It was after quite a wait that Serb exited his cave, 3 female Jaguars following his steps.

"Ahh, Stanis. Where'y been old dog?" asked Serb, while resting his poor legs on the ground.

"It's almost like you didn't realise I was gone while living in Heaven over here" joked Stanis. Hopefully, little pokes at his lifestyle would cause him to get his arse up and moving.

"Naa Naa. We knew you were gone because when we went to get a few more supplies," motioned Serb, pointing to all the bottles lying around. "We asked where you were and the other humans said you had disappeared like a few days ago."

"It's good to know that you care," said Stanis.

The Jaguars watching broke out into laughter at this, Serb himself breaking a cheeky grin over his face.

"So, this the regular visit to check if us rotten mutts are ruining your forest or something?" asked Serb, failing to keep the dead-pan look half-way through.

"Mmm. You're not too far off, I've been hearing tales about you. Wenching and drinking more than drunks. Simply not acceptable."

The others once again broke out into laughter, only this time aimed at Serb. Serb laughed the loudest though, playfully pawing Niss while at it.

"Anyway, I'm actually here because I found you guys a whetstone." Stanis paused, tilting his head a little. "Well, maybe a little more than a whetstone but it will keep you on your feet nevertheless."

"Oh. So you went on that little trip for us, eh? Well, it's nicely appreciated, ain't it?" said Serb.

The howls and cheers from the audience supported his claim.

"So, what is it? Where is it? You really going to send us out of this really interesting and not soul-tearing Forest?" asked Serb.

"Ha-ha," laughed Stanis. "See the big mountain over there, it's on the other side. Some weird monsters called Rashkars. Very strong, mind you, but also mutant looking. Eats rocks and has boulder-feet."

"How strong?" enquired Serb.

"Strong enough that I struggled to keep my life against three at once. Well, that was partly due to my stupidity as well but I think you against 3 or 4 of them would be the max, so the rest of you can probably only manage one on ones. If not, just group up on them." Stanis then paused. "But mind you, the ones I fought seemed to be excludes or something, so I guess they were just the weakest ones."

"Mmmhm. Anything else?" asked Niss, taking steer of the conversation before either Stanis or Serb turned it to jokes again.

"I need their bones, so pass them along to me. Especially their boulder-feet and their shoulder bones." Stanis decided to clarify before they began to get any grand ideas, "Need it for forging. Trying something new and metal isn't strong enough."

"So when you gonna do it?" asked Serb, starting another conversation.

Stanis immediately understood what he was talking about. "3-4 weeks. You?"

"About same time. Niss will be joining me, won't you?" he said while once again pawing at Niss.

Niss pushed away his paws and instead asked Stanis more questions. "What do you think their weaknesses are?"

"Ahh, lay off it, Niss. You can ask him afterwards," said Serb while motioning to the Jaguars bringing in hundreds of bottles.

The rest of the night and a good portion of the day passed by peacefully, Serb teaching Stanis how to increase the concentration of alcohol and getting him fully drunk by day. It was after plenty of gagging and thorough circulation that Stanis managed to get back on his feet and return to the village and even then he swayed quite a bit while walking.

***

Time trickled away and very quickly a week had passed. The Jaguars had decided to relocate onto the mountain on the second day and they had begun their fight with the Rashkars the very next day. This meant that Stanis very quickly began to get a supply of good material, meaning he had more than enough to experiment on.

Rikkey, Valentina, Calu, Giang and Duong were all fast learners. They had gotten stronger after Stanis had begun training them but it was their skills from before that really made the difference. With their new strength and old blacksmithing skills, they very quickly began upping the quality of everything they made.

This, in turn, made it easier for Stanis as he had people to discuss with and thus made his progress with applying a skill to the blade easier. Not that he had succeeded yet, mind you, but he had made good progress and was now only a hand's length away from getting through.

Stanis had gone to look for Caleb, Orena and Sil on the day he had come back but it turned out that they had gone to the battlefield in the lack of his presence. They came back a few days later, not too affected by the battlefield, and Stanis began his formal training on them as well.

Whereas Rikkey and the crew focused on blacksmithing, Stanis was doing his best to teach these three how to get stronger. Luckily, he was still much stronger than the three and thus had more than enough ways in which to correct them.

***

Tanya shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable whichever way she sat. She had come back from the frontlines a few days ago and had been shocked by the claims of the new strongest in the village. She had seen and talked to Caleb on the battlefield and thus knew how strong he had become after his little trip and thus it made sense for her to be shocked at anyone being stronger than him, especially when he himself accepted it so.

It was even more of a surprise when she had heard that it was Stanis, the boy who should have been dead. Better said, the boy who had died under her leadership…

Knowing how cold he would act if she asked him directly, she had gone on a wild goose chase to find Jayesh. He was on the frontlines when she had found him and what he revealed did little to help and instead vexed her.

She knew Jayesh had been the one Stanis had been closest to before his death and yet even he seemed perplexed by Stanis's stance on them. Apparently, he said he forgave them and understood why they did it, but at the same time according to Jayesh, seemed to have no desire to mix with them again.

Now that would have been fine and all but Tanya had seen Stanis in the village a few times, every time his eyes very quickly catching her and an ambiguous smile coming to his lips. Every time! He never said anything to accompany his behaviour, instead always moving quickly like he was in a hurry.

Did this mean she was meant to apologise for her actions? Was she supposed to keep out of his way and never come into sight? Was she supposed to kill herself for her past decisions?

Tanya had no idea which one it was and it was these worries that had led her to her situation right now. She had been in a room with Ji-yeon, drinking to their heart's ends when suddenly all of this had burst out of her heart.

One might think that she was far too worried for someone who had been fighting on the frontlines but that was even more the reason to worry. She had been fighting on the frontlines all this time, one of the strongest Classers there. And then she had seen Caleb come out of nowhere, alive despite his prolonged mission, and somehow a hundred times stronger than she remembered. And apparently Stanis was even stronger than that!?

Tanya shook her head violently and tried clearing her thoughts, although to no avail. She heard Ji-yeon speaking slurred and Tanya brushed the long blonde hair out of her face.

"---you're being such a schoolgirl. I swear to God, I'll go to him right now and order to his face. I swear to God. Hehe. Eheehe."

Tanya held down Ji-yeon. Just in case.

She wasn't sure of how to deal with Stanis but she was certain Ji-yeon would just make it worse…