Chapter Six - The Agreement

Nereem was in the middle of making a new woollen blanket for one of her neighbour's children, it had become a sort of tradition that she would make every new child their own personal blanket when they were born. As she was close to finishing the blanket she was concentrating harder than usual not really paying anything else much attention until she heard three strong knocks on the door.

KNOCK - KNOCK - KNOCK

Normally she would get Noah to answer in her stead especially when she was working this hard on a project for a neighbour but he had been out practising with that wooden sword every morning since he received it off of Isan. He wasn't back yet but she was used to him going to help the farmers after practice.

Sighing out loud, she stood up and answered the door to see Isan standing there in his cloak while holding two people in his arms. She was exceedingly confused but once she realised that one Noah was one of the bodies he was holding she ushered him in quickly.

Isan asked if he could place both the people onto some beds so he could take a look at them properly. Nereem nodded and went to go fetch a pale of cold water as Isan placed the two on beds.

Once Isan had placed them down he began to check Noah's injuries, he already had a huge black eye developing. Isan knew he had to check for other injuries that could be obscured by Noah's shirt, he pulled a knife out from the inside of his cloak and cut the shirt down the middle and gently removed it.

Isan could see a number of bruises scattered all over Noah's torso, he saw the ones that Noah had clearly just received and a few older ones that Isan had no clue how he got.

Glancing over at the beast person to make sure they were still resting Isan held his hand over the black and blue eye, "Leha" Isan's hand began to emit a soft blue glow.

First, the swelling fell followed by the skin turning into just a yellowish-green colour and finally back into Noah's natural skin tone. Isan moved his hand along to the other injuries, his face starting to sweat a little at the effort it was taking to heal all of Noah's injuries.

The bruises on his chest were soon taking care of and it was as if Noah was never injured in the first place. Smiling and stopping the magic that he was performing, Isan threw the blanket over Noah again.

Moving to the beast person and first checking their face. Isan's medical abilities were very poor he could do some basic healing for humans but when it came to other races he had no idea, even though he had raised a few ranks to Captain he had specialised in weapon magic over any other when training, quite frankly he knew his healing magic was pretty subpar when compared to others. It was thanks to his tactical skills and weapon prowess he managed to move quickly up the ranks over the last eight years.

After examining the beast person to the best of his abilities, Isan was aware that there was an internal issue with the beast person's health and that he would have to bring this beast person back to the capital to get checked under a true physician and magic healer.

He threw the blanket back onto the beast person who Isan was surprised to discover was female during the examination as they were predominantly male. Isan could only assume it was a genetic trait that allowed them a greater chance of survival.

He didn't have to wait much longer before Nereem had come back with a new bucket of water. She grabbed an old cloth and soaked it in the water before applying it to Noah's head, checking in on how he was doing.

"What happened?!" Isan could hear the panic in Nereem's voice but said nothing, only resting his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I think we need to talk about Noah now that he is 16." Isan gently told her.

"He's still a boy, I do not want to send him off to the capital for god knows how long where I won't be able to keep an eye on him. He is still the little boy running around the house helping me out with the chores! And I don't even know what happened to him today or how he got hurt!"

"..."

Isan looked down onto Noah, "He has a big heart, he wanted to help the Beast Girl. I am guessing he heard her scream and ran in headfirst to try and help in any way he could. He was in the middle of running back to the village with her before I spotted him and saw him get knocked out."

Nereen looked up in shock at Isan, she knew that Noah would go out of his way to help people if he could but she didn't think that he would rush into the forest to help a random stranger.

There was an awkward silence where all Isan could do is watch over the two unconscious individuals waiting for them to wake up.

Time passed slowly when Noah woke up he could hear the festival for the Dragon Troopers going at full blast. His head ached and hurt worse than when he had a sneaky few drinks with the farmers after taking in their harvest. It felt like whenever he looked side to side his brain was bouncing around the inside of his skull.

It took a few seconds for Noah to realise where he was, in front of him was his mother with silent tears coming down her face and behind her a man he had not seen in eight long years. The bright sunlight coming in through the window of the house hurt his eyes.

"..What happened..?"

Nereem wrapped her arms around her son and squeezed him tighter than a snake coiling around its prey.

'Oooft'

"Mother, please. Stop, it hurts."

Nereem squeezed even harder, wanting to teach her idiotic son a lesson of what to expect if he did something that stupid again. Without missing a beat she started shouting at Noah, "What happened?! I should be the one asking you that. If it wasn't for Isan you would be dead in the forest and no one would know! You charged headfirst into a fight you couldn't win, do you know how lucky it is that Isan was nearby!"

He gently hugged his mum back, "I knew what I was doing mum, I couldn't leave a helpless person by themselves like that!"

Under the hood Isan was hiding a small smile, 'I have to take him in, he would make a good hunter but an even better knight. He is kind, and managed to learn all of the basic techniques by himself not many would be able to do that in this short a time.'

With Noah awake and in at least talking condition Isan could rest at ease that his healing magic wasn't in a complete shamble. Not that he was worried about this in the first place, it just meant that now he really had to find a way to convince Nereem to let Noah go to the capital.

He had considered making him stay knocked out an say he would take him to get proper medical help in the capital. Isan couldn't do that to Nereem, especially after everything he owed Oran, that would be too underhanded.

Isan dipped a mug into the bucket of water and handed it to Noah, making sure he had a firm hold of it before letting go. "Drink this, it will help your head. You must have trained hard with that sword I gave you. You used all the magic in it to the point it broke aha.."

Giving Isan a dead-eyed look, Nereem hugged her son tight. "Really. You couldn't stop yourself could you?"

His face red with embarrassment, he held his mum close while they hugged. "Father would never have hesitated either.."

Noah could feel his mum's grip tighten at the mention of his father. He knew she still missed him every day, it was part of their unspoken routine that when Noah left sword practice and on his way to help the farmer he would check in on his mother through a window. There hadn't been a day he didn't see her replay the painting she got off of Isan. Her eyes would still get teary and she would sit in silence listening to her passed partners voice, longing for more and knowing it wouldn't ever happen.

There was tension in the air but nothing that Noah or Isan could do, other than comfort Nereem.

"Mother, I want to go with Isan and become a better Hunter, a better swordsman, a writer and reader. I want to become a great man for you and father to be proud of."

That was the final straw for Nereem, she burst into tears. "It isn't fair, first your father dies and now you are going. I don't want to be alone. I miss your father and don't want you to go."

Seeing his mother was in such a state Noah could only hold her as close as he could. Knowing that if he left her heart would break again. He accepted his fate of just having to learn from the other hunters and become a great man even without the help of Isan.

Isan could practically read their minds, he had an idea that this would happen and was already prepared for it, "Why do you not come to the capital with me Nereen? Noah can come and learn from me and you will still be close by and be able to see him most of the time.

Nereem's crying calmed down while she thought of it. The festival kept going in the background and it wasn't until that it was over that Nareem finally agreed.

Noah was ecstatic and Isan was pleased with himself, although we were able to skilfully hide it compared to Noah. The inside of the house felt warmer and even the beast person seemed to be more relaxed. It was now time for Noah to become the man he was meant to be.