War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

her you had an interest in the lycan. That seemed to appease her. I hope I wasn’t revealing too much.”

“An interest? Well, whatever. Thank you for finding out for me. You can consider any debt you owe to me discharged.”

“My debt is my debt; it isn’t for you to decide if it is discharged. I swear, sometimes men know nothing,” she said with a tense tone as she moved to get up. Then turned back and said, “Oh, I almost forgot this. It might help you.” Then she tossed a small leather pouch down into Kyle’s cell before running off.

When he opened the pouch, he saw what looked like jerky inside of it, but it had a rather pungent odor. He was completely lost as to why she had given him the food. Kyle already ate very little. More and more, he found that he only ate for the taste of it, not because he needed to. This body was maintained by the essence that he was able to draw out.

Not that he had any luck with other types of essence, or with learning how to use Earth Essence. His raw essence had topped ten thousand though, and his War Essence capacity had gone up by one after the fight with Skrug. Still, he sat on the edge of his bed, bored and wishing for a cellphone to putz around on in order to pass the time.

Eventually, Hilde said, “You do know why she gave you that pouch, don’t you?”

Kyle could honestly say, “I have no clue.”

Hilde’s laughter was always a welcome sound, even at his expense. There was something so warm and, dare he say, sensual about it. After being distracted this morning while training with Kierra, though, he didn’t want his mind to go down that path. He agreed that since he had been given a second chance at life, he didn’t want to make winning be the only thing.

“She thinks you are trying to court Kierra and left you with a gift to try to woo her. It was actually very thoughtful of Nyda, especially after she outright offered herself to you,” Hilde said.

“Nyda was just nervous before. She didn’t know what to do, so I assume she just said what she thought she should. I doubt that she really meant it,” Kyle replied.

“Based on your memories that I sifted through, what was the phrase, oh yeah, you ‘hooked up’ with a not inconsiderable number of women, but yet you are so naive about how women actually think.”

“Maybe, but any woman back home who heard a guy say that she had to sleep with him because he did something nice for her would have thrown a fit. We freaking had to take sensitivity classes on things like that,” Kyle replied.

“First off, you are still thinking that Verden is Earth. It isn’t. Given all that is thrown at you, I would say you are actually adjusting quite admirably, but the sooner you can stop trying to apply Earth rules, the better. Second, saving a woman’s life in what I would call a very dramatic fashion is hardly the same thing as buying dinner for her. Finally, Nyda is a slave. She doesn’t have anything of value to offer other than her body, and technically even that isn’t hers to offer,” Hilde said.

“Well then, she is just relieved that she thinks I’m interested in Kierra,” Kyle said.

“Hardly. If I could read her at all, she was just trying desperately to do what she thinks you want. She was confused when you wanted her to check on Kierra’s well-being. That just isn’t a normal thing here. What other conclusion could she draw than that you had special feelings for the lycan, especially after you turned her offer down? Even amongst elves, she is above average in beauty, so I suspect she was highly sought-after before she was made into a slave.”

“Why would it be wrong for me to want to check on another fighter’s health?” Kyle asked.

“Again, you have all the drive to win, but you think you can win without hurting others. This isn’t your ball base game. This is combat, and you are the god of that, or you will be.”

“You mean baseball, but I get what you are saying. It is the same thing as Saber was saying. I was just sorta thinking of Kierra as a teammate rather than a rival. I guess that was short sighted. It appears there can be only one.” Kyle paused his thoughts after finishing his line for dramatic effect, only to realize that Hilde had no idea what he was talking about.

After the awkward silence, Hilde’s voice took on a mischievous tone. “So, what I want to know is if you are interested in Nyda or Kierra, or both of them? Oh, or maybe Lady Meeka? I sensed the way you looked at her assets when she walked away.”

Kyle was accustomed to being pursued by women, it came with the stardom, but he wasn’t accustomed to women who had expressed an interest in him talking to him about other women. “What makes you think that I’m interested in either of them?”

“Oh please, I may not be able to completely read your mind, but I can get enough of an idea by gauging your body’s reactions. When the little war god comes out to play, it is fairly obvious.”

“You make it sound like I’m just after them physically,” Kyle said before adding, “And what about you? Maybe my heart belongs to you.” He was trying to regain the upper hand but was surprised by the reaction from her.

Hilde laughed loud and long in his head before stopping abruptly and saying, “Wait, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

Kyle didn’t know how to take that at all.

“Uh, what else would you be interested in them for? They are only mortals, even if they may potentially be gifted ones. Mortals exist for the amusement of the gods,” Hilde said.

It was flattering to be the center of