Peck reappeared beside a river.

His clothes were changed to a full-body white suit that suited his thin build and a pair of shoes of the same color.

He thought for a moment that he died. He was surrounded by flowers, he heard the birds singing and the wind blew gently caressing him. The nearby trees gave him shade to cool him down.

He had no wounds, he was intact. He looked at his reflection in the river and pinched his cheek, but it hurt too much and he closed his eyes with a tear escaping due to the pain.

He turned his back to the river and sat up. He opened his eyes to find that there was someone in front of him.

“You shouldn't pinch yourself like that”.

Due to the surprise, Peck screamed and quickly backed up only to fall into the river. In front of him a white-haired girl had appeared.

“That was a cute reaction, but you shouldn't do that if there's a river behind you”.

She hid her smile behind her hand as she laughed silently at what happened.

Peck poked his head out of the river. He had the same expression as a cat after a bath. After all, water was his natural enemy. But what surprised him most was the girl who appeared. She levitated, her legs were crossed, it was valid to say that she was 'sitting on the air'.

“How bad… I gave you those clothes a few moments ago and you already soaked them. You didn't even thank me for that”. She pointed at Peck and smiled mischievously. “Come on, thank me”.

Despite her words, the girl did not sound hostile.

Peck got out of the water and shook himself dry like a dog. When he opened his mouth, some of the water that he almost swallowed fell out.

“Hm... who are you? If you changed my clothes, it means you saw me naked?”

“Ah”.

“That's bad, isn't it?”

“L-Let's talk about another thing. You'll thank me later...”

She preferred to avoid the question, Peck looked annoyed but what had him angry was the fact of falling into the river.

“Well, who are you?” Peck asked.

“My name is Sen”.

“Mine is Peck. By the way..." Peck put his hand under his chin to think. "Oh! You're named after the... the... the... Leader! Yes, the leader where I come from”.

“Of course I'm named after her. It's me, after all”.

She replied, smiling broadly.

“Oh, I see”.

Peck smiled too.

He didn't understand at first.

When he finally understood Sen's words, Peck stood up and did a pirouette to end up falling on his knees in front of her in a reverent pose while shaking with nerves.

“Very nice to meet you, Niss! I mean, Miss! I-I'm very grateful for the clothes!”

“W-wait...”

Now it was Sen who didn't know how to react to that because of how unexpected it was.

“Relax, a 'thank you' was more than enough. You didn't have to kneel down, or bend your head so low to worship me... didn't you hit yourself too hard doing it? I can see a crack in the ground...”

“I'm all right! And with grateful gratitude I thank you gratefully for...”

“Are you trying to make puns?” Sen interrupted. “You're a very funny person, but just lift your head up and look me in the eye already. It's weird talking to you while you're in that position… haha”.

Peck followed Sen's direction to the letter, standing up quickly and straightening his posture.

“Thank you, ma'am!”

Peck's forehead was red. Sen was right, he did bend too low and got hit. Still, Peck didn't seem to mind.

“Are you nervous?” Sen asked.

“Yes! No!”

“Hey...which one is your answer? The 'yes' or the 'no'?”

“Yes!”

Peck is not good at reading, but he heard a lot of stories. In most of them, kingsand queens were stern and Sen, to him, was the closest thing to a queen so he was indeed very nervous.

“Try to breathe a little, come on. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...”

Sen instructed him to breathe properly until he calmed down. They stayed like that for two minutes before resuming the conversation.

“So, miss Sen, what are you doing here?”

“I should say that. Why were you in a place like that? I heard a lot about a kid playing where he shouldn't be”.

“Why are you calling me a kid? You're flying, that's why you look taller than me”.

Sen stopped floating and put her feet on the ground. Standing in front of Peck, she looked slightly taller.

“That's not fair, your shoes give you more height…”

That was true, but Sen wouldn't comment on it. She already felt like a winner.

“Tell me something, Peck, what were you fighting with? Will you become the strongest if you beat that... thing?”

“Yes, most certainly yes!”

Sen's face became extremely serious, and with a stern voice she remarked:

“Stronger than me?”

“No, most certainly not!”

Peck turned pale at that question. Fear manifested itself in his trembling legs. Sen smiled again, triumphant again.

“I won't do anything to you. If you became stronger than me, it would be a good reward for your efforts. Trust yourself more!”

Peck sighed in relief, but he didn't know what to say to her.

“Oh, but I really should do something to you”.

“Why?!”

“Because you shouldn't be here alone. Besides, look at you, you're so dirty”.

“That's not the problem! The problem is that you look too clean!”

“...huh?”

Sen had no argument to respond to that peculiar logic.

But it was true that she was well dressed, unlike Peck.

Sen wore a loose-sleeved black blouse with a red ribbon at the neck, a short skirt of the same color, with rose prints around the edges, and long white stockings that came down to her thighs. Her brown shoes, as Peck rightly pointed out, made her look taller.

Her hair was well groomed, reaching down to her shoulders and had ornaments in the tresses at her sides. Her skin was like snow and her eyes were a deep red.

There was a big difference between the two.

“Setting that aside, ready for your punishment?”

Peck swallowed and closed his eyes.

“Have mercy, please?”

“It's too late for mercy.”

And then, Sen used the tip of her finger to tap Peck's nose gently and then pinched his cheek.

“That's it! Now let's get out of here!”

Peck was very confused, he expected worse, but chose not to speak for his own safety. His cheek was burning anyway and he didn't want to make it worse.

However, there was a bigger problem.

“No, I'm staying”.

Looking sheepish about it, Peck remained firmly in place.

“Oh?”

The surprise on Sen's face was enough for Peck to understand that he had to justify himself. He was afraid of provoking the wrath of the one who was known as 'the strongest' in Batoru.

“I can't go back until I defeat Leben. If I don't, I have no right to return”.

“Did you say Leben?" She thought for a moment, suspicious of that. “All right, I'll defeat him for you”.

“No, I don’t want that! I have to do it myself!”

“Why?” 

Peck was intimidated by that question. 'Why,' for some reason, he was afraid to say. The expression on Sen's face was unreadable, it was impossible to tell whether or not she was angry at him for refusing to accompany her. Sen was waiting for an answer and Peck was not good at face-to-face conversation.

Many doubts went through Peck's head in a matter of a second. In the end, he concluded that he couldn't avoid her.

“Because I don't want to go back and be alone”.

Sen's gaze was filled with suspicion as well as concern.

“Alone? You'll be alone if you don't beat him? Hm… when and where did you learn about this creature?”

“It was in...!”

Peck hesitated.

“Where was it?”

He himself seemed to forget. Thinking it through he felt anxious. He spent a long time trying to beat it, but he could no longer even remember how he had met him in the first place. It was then that a flash of enlightenment came over him.

“I remember now! One day, in the rain, I saw a drawing and a map. When I followed it, I discovered Leben!”

“There's a lot that doesn't add up in your explanation, you know?”

“T-that's the best I can say now…”

Once again, Peck looked scared. Sen quickly realized that she was going about things the wrong way and decided to act differently. She relaxed her expression and addressed Peck warmly.

“You look rather tense. Peck, I understand that my reputation is quite... complicated. Don't let that upset you. You know, even I hate formality. Talk to me like you would talk to a friend."

“I don't have a lot of experience with that either…”

“Then I'll guide you”.

Sen took one of Peck's hands and squeezed it gently between hers.

“If it's hard for you to tell me your reasons, I won't force you. I can imagine what it's like. You talked about being alone, it's bold of me to say, but I understand. A community that values its people based on achievements in such a superficial way would overwhelm anyone, it makes you think: what have I done that is worthwhile?” Sen sighed. "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm lonely too. People are so intimidated by my supposed talent that they either avoid me or try to curry favor with me by pretending to be nice, and there's also... something else that's hard to explain. It's been a long time since I've been able to talk to someone by being myself”.

Peck had a hard time processing those words. If a person talked a lot, Peck would easily get confused. Nevertheless, he understood well what she meant, he just didn't know how to respond to her.

“Doesn't it feel good to have everyone compliment you on what you do?” Said Peck.

“After a while it makes you think they just want to make sure you're on their side. There are a lot of people who take advantage. If they discovered someone stronger than me they would bow down to him or her for favors”.

“Are there people stronger than... than you, Sen?”

Peck considered what she said about formality and decided to make an effort to speak normally, but he didn't know what normalcy was.

Sen smiled at that attempt.

“The world is big, there's always someone better and that's okay. Striving to be better than everyone else is crazy, doing it just to impress others is crazy too. What about you? Do you really want to make yourself stronger for a couple of compliments?” 

For an instant Peck relaxed, but suddenly he began to feel annoyed. He didn't understand it himself, but he really got angry and turned away from Sen. Sour memories came to his mind, memories that did nothing but make him suffer. Anger, resentment and frustration were visible in his eyes. He had a distressed face and was biting his lip.

“I can't go back! Not until I defeat Leben! If I go back without having succeeded, they're going to…!”

A lump formed in Peck's throat.

“They're going to... they're going to...”

Sen figured it out immediately. She reached out again and this time caressed Peck's cheeks with both hands, made sure he looked into her eyes.

“You can trust me, Peck. You think I'm the strongest, don't you? Well, the strongest right now says you're an important person, If you think strong people make the rules then you can't deny me that”.

“What? But, that's... are you... sure?”

“I want to know more about you. Why are you so scared?”

That day, for the first time, Peck discovered what it felt like to be understood. The next time he decided to talk, without understanding the reason, he chose to tell what was tormenting him.

---

Next chapter arrives on Monday!