Terry was quite happy when they weren't faced with more death weasels on the way down the mountain. Either Dusk really had killed them all, or she'd scared them so badly that they weren't eager for a second round with the diminutive elder thing. He enjoyed the complete lack of guilt about that. Terry tried to be open-minded, but even he had no sympathy to give to things called death weasels. All of that warm well-being was brought to an abrupt end when a big, heavy stick connected with the side of his head. The stick broke, and Terry was forced to take a half-step to the side to maintain his balance. He turned to glower at Kelima. She wore a look of nearly transcendent happiness.

"Where did you even find a stick that big on the side of this mountain?" he asked, while brushing splinters and larger bits of wood off his face and clothes.

Kelima casually tossed the broken tree limb to one side.

"You can find almost anything if you look hard enough for it," she answered, the radiant smile never leaving her face. "That was for summoning the death weasels."

"I knew what it was for," grumbled Terry. "I assume you've gotten that out of your system."

"Gods, no. But I should be able to resist the urge to hit you in the head for at least a few days."

"How magnanimous of you."

"You know how it is for nobles. Magnanimity of spirit is part of what we're supposed to learn and be."

"Is it?" asked Terry, genuinely curious.

Kelima waggled her hand in the air and said, "That's what I've heard."

Terry shook his head and decided he should just be happy she hadn't knocked him off the side of the mountain. There was a high probability he'd survive, but he doubted bouncing his way all the way to the ground would feel like a massage. Stay on mission, Terry, he mentally commanded himself. Deciding to take some good advice for once, he started down the trail at a faster pace. It was maybe an hour or two later when Kelima apparently couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Do you think it'll take as long to get back?"

"Nope."

"Really? Why not?"

"Well, for one, I'm not going to have you fight everything we find. No offense. You worked hard, but those fights weren't exactly quick. For the moment, I think you've probably gotten as strong as you're going to out here. I also think you've probably gleaned as much from practical experience as you're going to get between everything you fought on the way in and the dungeon. So, going out, I'll be doing most of the fighting. That'll speed things up a lot."

The noble girl frowned at that. Maybe she thought she'd get some more practice in, but Terry didn't feel like he had the time for that. Besides, he'd almost certainly wrung all the amusement value out of watching her fight monsters. Whatever training she'd received had finally started to gel into actual, real-world skills. That meant that he'd be better served by keeping her in reserve to pitch in. He was confident that he could kill just about anything in this forest, but if there were a swarm of some kind, it would take forever to handle that on his own. That's where she could do the most good. By pitching in during a fight like that. Wearing herself out on daily monster battles wouldn't do anything but slow them down.

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"But don't worry. If we come across any goblins or hobgoblins, those are all yours," he told her with the biggest, evilest smile he could muster.

"Wait a second! I don't want to fight—"

"Too late. The decision is made. We can't be letting your skills get too rusty, after all."

"But—"

"Just imagine the glory and the sense of triumph as you overcome that impossible smell to slay the foul beasts!" he cried, lifting a fist high into the air as he practically heard the rising swell of epic speech music. "It will be magnificent!"

Kelima's fists opened and closed a few times before she said, "I hate you."

"That's impossible. I'm awesome. Now, let's get moving. Those goblins won't kill themselves."

They hadn't gone five steps before Kelima shouted, "Did you just guarantee we'll be fighting goblins!"

"I have no idea what you mean," said Terry. "Do I look like a man with that kind of power?"

Then, he took off running, cackling like a madman with Kelima in hot pursuit. Terry thought it was a testament to the girl's growth that she wasn't even winded by the time they got to the bottom of the mountain. She had, it seemed, run out some of her annoyance with him. She looked at the sky before giving him a questioning look. It was fair. There were still several hours of good daylight left. On the other hand, they were likely to wander outside of the exclusion zone that Eliza's presence created. That increased their chances of running into something they'd have to fight. After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Terry made his decision.

"We'll keep going. I don't particularly want to fight anything, but it's going to happen regardless. There's no real benefit in putting it off."

"And I was almost used to being clean all the time again," complained Kelima.

"The sooner we get started, the sooner this part of the trip is over."

"You say that like it makes this part of the trip less disgusting."

"Look, you just need to embrace the power of positive thinking."

"What's that?"

Terry gave her a look and said, "Doesn't the name kind of give it away?"

"Yes, I think I understand the idea. Something like, if I think positive thoughts, positive things will happen?"

"You hit the nail on the head. Good job!"

"And people where you come from believe in this."

"Oh, god no. Well, maybe some people do, but the rest of us just use it as a platitude."

"And how does that work?"

"Well, I say, you need to embrace the power of positive thinking. Then, I'd usually follow up with something like, Look on the bright side. Sure, there may be countless disgusting monsters between you and civilization, but at least you're getting some fresh air and exercise!"

"That sounds absurd."

"No, no, no. Your moral obligation is to come back with something like," Terry affected a terrible imitation of Kelima's voice and shook his fists around in the air, "'Gosh, Terry, you're right. I love nature!' You know, something like that."

Kelima gave Terry a dead-eyed look and asked, "And that works on people?"

"Yes, it does! Like magic!"

"Really?"

"Not in the slightest. But it does occasionally distract them. Are you distracted from the prospect of being showered in stinking goblin blood?"

"I almost was until you brought it up again. Why would you do that?"

"I don't know," said Terry. "Honestly, it might be a sickness."

Kelima looked like she was giving very serious thought to finding another big stick and hitting him in the head again. He wasn't even sure he'd blame her for that. Terry gave her a few minutes to pace and mutter terrible things about him that he pretended not to hear. After she'd vented some spleen, she gave him a long, hard look.

"I'm not sure that meeting someone from your old world has been an entirely good thing for you."

"Why would you ever say such a hurtful thing?" asked Terry as he clutched at his chest.

"It's made you manic, which, and I can't believe I'm saying this, might be worse than the grumpy ass you are the rest of the time."

"It's not worse," answered Terry. "It's just new. You'll get used to it. Now, let's go find you some goblins!"

With that, Terry cheerfully marched toward the forest with Kelima trudging in his wake.

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