“I’ll fight with him if you want!” he exclaimed. “I’ll be the wiener, you’ll see... Wait... Wiener? No... Winner! That’s the one!”
The rest of the group members burst out laughing. Alice’s laugh sounded the sweetest, akin to the chime of bells on the wind. Ash liked her laugh so much that he was ready to make a fool out of himself on a regular basis just to hear it again. He was also glad that he had managed to make Mary smile, even though she had turned around to hide it.
“I’m afraid,” she coughed, “that you can’t defeat him.”
“Really?” Ash sighed and lowered his gaze. “And here I thought that I was the most powerful mage on this side of the Continent.”
A new wave of laughter filled the air, making the passersby stare at them in confusion. However, this helped relax the tense atmo
