After healing Serena and myself with the Ghost Seed we took two days to get back to the cave, we might have been healed, but we still had injuries, not to mention I had succumb to the curse of the Cursed Fish Spear. Serena had told us that the weapon will pass it’s curse onto the last person it made contact with, in this case, it had its three bone spears plunged deep into my stomach when I let loose the destruction of my Grenade Seed

“Master Udon!”

“Papa Udon!” Miko and Vnaa came running over to us, Miko immediately put my arm over her shoulder and helped me into the cave, Vnaa looked at all of us with nothing but worry in her eyes, to be fair we did look pretty beat up

“After we heard that loud explosion, we worried the worse had happened” Miko said putting me gently on the pile of Wolf furs

“You heard that from all the way over hear Rival Miko?” Umi asked surprised as she sat down against the cave wall herself. I managed to heal Umi’s broken leg in a couple of hours with my Anabolic Seed, she was exhausted because she had to help myself and Serena back to the cave.

“It was loud enough to shake the whole floor, we saw many people from both towns come out and investigate” Vnaa said passing all of us a drink of water from her water pouch. The forest was nothing more than a wasteland of broken trees and holes everywhere, we left that overgrown squid there so it wouldn’t be long until someone found him, Neptune was already after us, he was my next target of my karma.

“So that explosion was you three?” Miko asked still staring at me, I could only see sadness and worry in those sparkling yellow eyes of hers

“That was Sir Udon, he made the whole forest just go up in a massive explosion, not only that, the explosion didn’t affect me or Rival Serena…although, the blast did smash me into a tree, and I broke my leg” Umi looked away somewhat embarrassed. What does she have to be embarrassed about, it was my fault

“I’m sorry about that, I didn’t really think it through” I put my head down in shame

“Oh, no, think nothing of it Sir Udon! That is what made us win after all” Umi waved her hands in front of her, her face had a shade of red, she must be tired after helping not only me, but Serena back to the cave

“Your leg is perfectly fine though, isn’t it Umi?” Miko asked finally turning her gaze off of me and towards Umi’s leg

“Argh” I felt a light pressure in my chest, I looked down to see Vnaa with teary eyes wrapped around my stomach

“I’m sorry Vnaa” I said softly under my breath patting Vnaa’s head, Miko must have heard because she turned her gaze back to me

“That is all thanks to Hero Udon, he used his Ghost Seed to cure Umi’s leg and all my injuries” Serena joined into the conversation after making herself comfortable on the pile of sand

“Although, it didn’t do a thing for that curse of his” Serena added. Why did you have to say that!

“Curse?! What curse?!” Just as I thought, Miko shot up in concern and inched closer to me, she touched my face and my arms along with my legs and head

“This isn’t a doctors check up! I’m fine, Serena said it is a low level curse and a couple days of rest will cure it, it will only slow down my MP restoration” I snapped at Miko who was still examining my cursed body

“What’s a doctor Papa Udon?” Vnaa looked up at me, the tears in her eyes had disappeared, phew.

“Yes, I too would like to know what this doctor of yours is Sir Udon” I turned to see the rest of the girls with their heads corked to the side. Really? They don’t have doctors in this world?

“You know, a person who heals and takes care of the injured and sick, you’ve never heard of something like that?” The girls just looked back at me in more confusion

“I don’t believe I had heard of anyone that does that Hero Udon”

“That sounds like a true Hero, it does Sir Udon” Serena and Umi looked at each other and smiled. Hmm, that might be a good way to make some money than, charge people to get healed, my Ghost Seed can no doubt heal almost any injury if I know what’s causing it, and with my medical knowledge from Manga and anime along with school I am sure I can do it. I learnt a lot from manga and anime, people just laughed at me when I told them that’s how I learnt about a lot of my knowledge, idiots, the knowledge was right and yet they bullied me because of it

“Master Udon, are you planning something?”

“Huh?”

“You have that face you get when you are planning something, you had the exact same face when we traded our goods to that young man at the stall” Damn it Miko, why did she always watch me so closely, she basically had the skill of mind reading already

“Its nothing”

“Is this doctor thing apart of your other world?” Miko leaned in closer to me and whispered, I had forgotten Miko knew I was what she referred to as a ‘summon’.

“Lets get dinner!” Umi shot up full of energy, she didn’t need to rest long

“Vnaa, come help please” Umi and Vnaa went into over to the fire pit and started cooking dinner, Serena fell asleep shortly after while Miko wouldn’t leave my side, I guess I didn’t leave her side when she was in an injured state.

*Gradual Healing Mastery-9/10

“There you are Sir Udon”

“Huh, oh, hey Umi, just getting some fresh air after dinner” I was sitting outside of the cave looking at the night sky, my Night-vision had gone up a Mastery level as well.

“Is something troubling you Sir Udon?” Umi sat down next to me and looked up at the night sky

“Uhh, no, it’s nothing don’t worry about it” After this whole incident I had come to realise that these girls actually care for me, they want to help me and protect me, I’ve never had that before in my life, besides from my little sister.

“If something is troubling you Sir Udon, you can always talk to me, have I not proving myself to you yet” Umi looked at me, a hint of sadness drifted through her tone

“No, that’s not it Umi, please don’t think that” I placed my hand on hers and gave a faint smile, she returned it with a joyful smile of her own. Heh, she’s quite cute actually

“Than what is it?” I returned my gaze back at the night sky, it really helped me think. Have I judged this dungeon wrong? I’ve had to endure so many painful events since coming to this world, I have been on deaths door more times then I’d like to admit, I’ve been betrayed, back stabbed, accused and most likely framed, I’ve caused the deaths of innocent people and have killed others. And in all of it, these four girls have been the shining light in the darkest storm, I haven’t misjudged this world, no, its as cruel and dark as earth, the only difference is these four girls, they are rare, no one else like them, everyone wants to kill you and manipulate you, use you for their own gain and than toss you aside like a piece of trash, but, these girls are different, they’ve put their own body on the line for me, sacrificed themselves just to protect me and even helped me through the floors.

“..Umi” I said softly, she turned to me with a puzzled look

“Am I that damaged that I can’t see right in front of me? That broken that when someone truly cares for me, all I see is someone trying to trick me to hurt me? … Am I that worthless” My voice started to break towards the end, the realisation of how pathetic and worthless I truly am was starting to sink in

“No” Huh? I looked down to see Umi holding my hand tighter

“You’re not broken, or damaged or worthless Sir Udon, just scared”

“Scared?”

“Scared to open up, because when you do it makes you vulnerable, you’re not broken or damaged Sir Udon, just scared”

“Please don’t talk about yourself like that Master Udon”

“Huh” I didn’t even see Miko standing at the caves entrance

“We are all here for you, we are your family Master Udon, we will help you no matter what, you are not worthless, you are someone we all look up to and admire, you are the reason that all of us are here right now” Miko moved over and sat next to me, she rested her head on my shoulder and gazed up at the night sky. I was too tired to move her off me, and I didn’t not like the feeling, it felt like comfort, no, safety.

We ended spending the night outside the cave, once I woke I was wrapped in not just the wolf fur but the other two girls. Vnaa had transformed into her caterpillar form and was nuzzled up on my head, while Serena was in her Kitsune form and resting on my legs…

“Get off me! You’re all too hot!” I had my strength back, it was like a damn sauna in there! I managed to startle Serena into jumping off my legs while Umi and Miko just smiled and grabbed me tighter, Vnaa just looked down at me and giggled. Damn it! I’m not a damn teddy bear!