3.1

“I want to touch his face.”

“Shh… You’ll wake him up, big sis Mera. Daddy said to only ‘watch’ him.”

John was awakened by two husky voices that were far too excited that they let themselves to be. He tried opening his eyes but his eyelids were glued in place

“But Meli, he just looks so weird that I can’t help it, hehehe.”

“You think so too? His eyebrows are thick…”

The sound of firewood cracked as John twitched his stiff face. The warmth of the room flowed into his chest and…

My limbs? Why aren’t they moving?

John commanded his fists to form, his palmed obeyed and scrunched inwards but his fingers didn’t curl and stayed frozen.

He slowly came to his sense using all he could to lift his eyelids.

His field of vision was blurry upon opening them, he blinked once, twice but it showed no signs of clearing up, all he could see was vague shapes.

“W-where…a-am...I?”he croaked at the two figures who were standing beside the bed that he was on.

“Gyah! He’s awake!”

“Eeep! We were not talking about you or anything!”

The two girls fumbled over each other, hands—or what John had assumed to be—moved in all directions as they moved away from the bed that John was lying on.

“I-I...can’t...move…can’t see properly.”

“Father said that you were lucky that you survived after almost being frozen to death.”

“Mera, big brother Miril told us to not talk to him! We are just here to keep the fire going, otherwise he would not be able to accept the truth.”

“W-what do you...mean?” John was perplexed.

“Your body, especially your hands and eyes…” Mera’s voice became small.

“Mera, don’t tell him!”

“...might never work again,” Mera rubbed her eyes as she turned away from John. Her nose sniffled as she held back the tears. “I am so sorry.”

“Wahhh! Mera! You idiot! That’s why…big bro t-told us to not speak to him.” Meli unlike her sister, couldn’t hold back her tears clang to Mera as she buried her sobbing face. “P-please don’t get angry at us, uuuu…”

John kept quiet as he took a deep breath, this time, channeling his focus and drew out the correct amount of mana. He visualized the parts of his body and called forth his magic.

“[Heal].”

A spectacle of blue light flashed before Mera and Meli, rendering their sobs into gasps of wonder.

“Magic…”

“Beautiful.”

When his aura no longer surrounded him, John slowly pushed himself upright and rubbed his restored eyes.

“Are you two the girls that looked after me while I—”

John was swarmed by two little girls that met him with sparkling gaze. Their faces were brighter than the kindling flame that was in front of the bed he was on.

“Hey, hey, what’s your name? I am Mera, this girl beside me is…”

“I am Meli! Please teach me how to make lights with my body, i-if possible, I want mine to have a green light.”

“I, uhh…” John squinted his face, his eyes darted the room, unsure what to do.

The girls suddenly retracted from John’s face. And started bowing furiously, it was though they were in big trouble for having spoke to him.

Did I make a face?

“No… I didn’t mean it that way… I am John, nice to meet you two,” though the girl’s behavior struck odd to him, John managed to give them a kind smile.

Seeing that he meant no harm, the girls eased up and began to close in on him.

“Are you perhaps an adventurer, Mr. John? I don’t know what magic you have used earlier but I can tell that it was something that only someone like an adventurer could pull off,” Mera asked.

“Adventurer? I am only a healer for A’ve—” a small sting found its way to John’s heart. “I am just your average person, I think.”

“Is that so?” Meli followed up. “Brother John look very confident too, even when we told you the bad news, you didn’t cry at all! Are you really sure you never fought monsters or bad guys? Not even once?”

“I think I know people who are like that… But I have never been into a battle.”

Ramos, Esma, Esme.

The names of the three men appeared in his mind, he remembered his rage, the burning desire to punish them. Everything after having Raina in his arms was all but discarded away from his mind.

Did I kill them? It was justified killing wasn’t it? Killing isn’t a crime, as long it was all done for the sake of Raina… I only did what I knew was right.

John watched the men suffer in front of his eyes. He killed them.

Why do I feel nothing?

He had judged that death was fitting for the likes of the men. He neither reveled nor sobbed at their deaths. But how could he have decided that killing them was the correct method that quickly back then was a mystery to his own.

It was though the act of killing someone was something he was used to as a child.

But, I never...

“Mr. John, you don’t look well, are we bothering you?”

“Brother John, is it because making the blue lights takes away all the energy from your body?”

“It’s fine…this...just happens when I use magic, yeah, that’s it.” John bit his tongue saying that and quickly shift the topic. “Speaking of which, where am I?”

“In our house!” Meli threw both her hands up with glee.

“That’s not accurate enough for someone like Mr John who travels a lot, Meli,” Mera smiled as she patted Meli’s head. “Parac Village, a few hours walk away from the edge of Reperane Woods.”

“Edge of Reperane Woods?” John widened his eyes

“Daddy— Ahem. I mean, my father and Miril found you somewhere there while they were sneaking around to pick some echo laces.”

“Daddy went out selling them yesterday, he will be coming back home soon! Then mommy will be able get her treatment.”

John placed his palm on his head, outside of Reperane Woods meant that he traveled at least three days worth of distance because of that Elder Dragon.

It isn’t surprising that the dragon could fly up in the sky in matters of seconds… But just how strong was it to fling me across the sky like a pebble…

The hairs on the back of his neck stood, John remembered the dragon’s words.

“Pray that we won’t meet again, ungrateful demon.”

“Did it purposely let me live...?”

Meli tugged at John’s sleeve, “Brother John, are you still feeling sleepy? Are you hungry? I can share some of my bread with you, just wait for me a little bit,” having finished her sentence, the little girl quickly made her way out of the room.

“Wait…I am not actually…” John was ignored by Meli as she shut the door on her way out.

“The fact that you have slept for days and can still use his magic, Mr. John, you truly are someone strong. Are you certain that you are not an adventurer?”

“I told you I am just a healer—Slept for days!? Not one, but several?” he exclaimed.

“Yes, it is a miracle that you have gained your conscious and still use magic,” Mera gave him a small smile as she grabbed a nearby jar and filled a cup with water. “Here, drink up, you must be thirsty.”

Putting the glass to his lips, John blinked rapidly. He should have noticed, the unfamiliar clothing that was on his body that made his nose twitched every now and then reeked of his odor.

Even in this unpleasant presence of his, the girl, Mera, in her long dress made no complaints or distanced herself away from him.

Her ruby eyes stared at him curiously.

Raina…

“How old are you, Mera?”

“I will be fourteen once winter ends. Why do you ask, Mr. John?”

“Nothing much, it’s just the way you stare at me,” he lifted his head towards the ceiling and watched the shadows danced from the flames in the fireplace.

“My stare?”

“It reminds me of someone I know,”

“How do I resemble that person?” Mera titled her head.

“I don’t know…”

“And is this person close to you, Mr. John?”

“It’s just something minor, don’t worry about it.”

Mera kept her gaze at John, inched closer to him as to signal that she was not convinced by his adamant dismissal.

“Ah, speaking of which, why do you keep calling me Mr. John? Just my name would be fine, after all you people saved my life…”

“H-huh? N-no special reason, it’s just that you are the first boy that I have talked to who is around the same age range as me besides my brother. Everyone other guy in this village is either ten years older than me or have not reach their boyhood yet,” Mera explained.

“I see.” He nodded “Is there a reason that your brother is the only one who is around your age?”

“Most of the boys were offered to become soldiers for the empire when they reached twelve. Those that return to the village will have already reach their twenties and will have a family back with them.

“My brother, Miril, didn’t followed their footsteps. A few years after giving birth to Meli, our mother fell to an incurable illness. And for the sake of the family, he decided to stay behind.”

John examined the room that he was in, from the tone of the girl’s voice, there was no doubt about it. The plain glassware, the simple sheets that covered him, the excessive lack of furniture besides the lone table and two chairs.

“Ah…”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No doubt they sold many of their belongings in order to support their ill mother.

What am I supposed to say? Tell them that it will all turn out alright in the end? Wait…

An idea popped up in his mind, there was something he could do, as a repayment for saving his life.

John turned got off the bed, staggering slightly as he landed his feet on the wooden planks. He bent his knees for a few times before he walked towards the door.

“Wait, Mr. John you shouldn’t stand up, your legs might not be able to handle it,” Mera quickly swooped his right arm over her back, her face flustered.

“You don’t need to help me walk, my magic works just fine, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“If you fall, my father would blame me for it. Please, allow me to.”

“If you insist on having my smelly body odor on your clothes, be my guest.”

“!!!”

Mera immediately retreated from him with a red face.

“Haha, I joke, Mera, there’s no need to be that serious. How about you give me tour around your house, that way I might be able to pull my weight around here.”

“But you’ve just woken up! Even father would reject your notion, Mr. John!”

“Oh, and don’t call me Mr. John. You see, I don’t have a place to live at the moment, I might just be staying here until I do so,” John said with a faint smile.

“T-there’s no need for you to worry, my father is a kind man, Mr. John. He would be understanding of your situation and let you live with us.”

“My. Name. Mera. ”

“J-John…”

I don’t have that much experience in using my magic on sick people, [Heal] mostly restores their body. Illness, mental health, vitality and the like…they are unaffected by my magic most of the time. Even age… I don’t think I have stopped aging even though I used it so many times on myself.

He clenched his fists, his back straightened, he would solve the problem that his savior’s family faced. Regardless of their own financial crisis, they showed kindness to a stranger like him.

He was certain that he would die from the harsh winter, yet because of this family, he was alive.

“All right, let’s start by showing me around.”

Just as they stepped out of the room, Meli was running towards them

“Waaah! Mommy is dying! There’s blood everywhere!” Meli’s cries reached them right as they stepped out of the room.

Mera, having heard this, froze on the spot, the glee that she had from speaking to John was replaced by a dark exppression.

“S-she…”

“She started coughing…and didn’t stop. T-then blood came out! She needs her medicine!”

“Where is your mother now?” John asked the girls calmly.

“S-she’s in the room on the right corridor over there, the largest room…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do something about it.”

“B-but we ran out of medicine and father is still not back with more,” Mera protested while she embraced Meli. “W-we knew this might happen…b-but...”

“She won’t die. Not when I am around,” he said confidently to the two girls, bringing a small glimmer of light into Mera’s vision as she looked up at him, understood what he meant.

“W-what do you mean, brother John?” Meli stopped crying at John’s declaration.

“Let’s just say, she won’t have to feel that pain anymore,” he took off with a sharp look on his face.