Aftermath Filled With Regret And Expectation

𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗻

I carried Himura's body to a medical tent. Some of the healers were already expecting us so the treatment began quickly.

"ᠻi᥊" One of the doctors whispered.

I recognized the spell which caused me to be confused.

The ᠻi᥊ spell was a three-letter spell and was described as "Attach, restore or reverse something or someone to its previous state"

It was a universal spell used by the common folk to fix items however as the description said, it can also somewhat heal living creatures although it's slower than just drinking a cheap health potion.

The spell could also be used as an offensive weapon with the right amount of mana. Some stories tell of a foolish immortal aqua demon who fought a mage who used the spell on the demon and with enough mana caused the demon to lose its immortality which who was then burned to death by a ᥴoꪑ᥇uᦓt spell.

"Hey, couldn't you just use ꫝꫀal?"

"Unfortunately that is not how that works." One of the healers responded as he waits for the items he ordered to arrive.

"The ꫝꫀal spell is a spell that can heal wounds and even restore body parts at a rate of under a minute or two. But as for him, we found some of his shoulder and rib bones to be broken so we need to attach both ends of all of the broken bones via the ᠻi᥊ spell which would take half a day at most. If we use ꫝꫀal on him now, both ends will regenerate which can cause more problems if it isn't aligned with the other bone properly."

"But the burns and bleedin-"

"Rest assured miss, we have tools in this day in age. This world is slowly combining magic and technology, the tools known as magic tools are the fruit of its labor and even without it, normal medical items are sufficient enough to care for him until then." Soon a female healer arrives carrying many liquids and bandages and calls out to the head doctor. "Doc, I got it all!"

"Good, oh and do you have a room for this man where he could stay for a week or so?"

"Yes, in the adventurers guild's inn."

"Good they will treat him there. I am the head healer of this city so unfortunately, I cannot treat him myself, she will." The head healer points at the newly arrived healer.

"I will make sure that he can return to his original state." I nod before carrying Himura and running to the guild, but then the doctor shouts at me "Hey! Don't carry him like that, we have a stretcher for a reason!"

"Ahhhhh Astoria, that's a very bad idea!" The female doctor and Freya who expected it but were still surprised, ran to me panicking.

Although I heard their pleas, I didn't listen and committed to it. A very bad habit of mine, always suggesting bad ideas and committing to them.

This of course didn't last long as I was forced to slow down and carry him delicately after hearing bone crunches from his body with my delicate elven ears.

*****

𝗛𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘁ō

'Who the hell was that anyway? Although he helped me kill that thing, he didn't even say anything afterward...'

'Well whatever, this must be the afterlife then, it's exactly what I thought.' I hear many loud voices and shouts of people partying downstairs.

'.....total pitch black and quiet as well, my very own realm.' I hear quiet steps going away from me and then I felt a gust of refreshing air.

"..." I opened my eyes to see Astoria looking outside the window and surprisingly Freya as well who was sleeping on the desk next to the bed. 'Astoria I can understand but why is Freya here? Shouldn't she be sleeping in her inn?' When I tried to sit up, the pain from my shoulder, burns, and other damages from the battle came back to me.

"Ow, fuck!" I exclaimed in Japanese.

Astoria was quite surprised at the unknown word I blurted out but then realized that I was awake.

"Ah! your awake!" Astoria said happily.

"Yep, morn.ing. What is she doing her.e an.yway?"

"Freya? Can't she also care for his fellow party member?" She responds teasingly

"Oh right..." I still didn't know what my relationship was nor what to feel about them but it seems they were my party members.

"I'll call the healer." Astoria briefly wakes up Freya before going downstairs.

I briefly thought about the possibility of that healer asking him about the scars on my wrist and strange markings on my neck but then Freya calls out to me.

"Himura...thank god you're alive..." Freya said in a sweet and low voice with her tears almost coming out however I didn't know what to feel with such words.

"Yeah..." I responded awkwardly. Astoria and a female healer then barge into the room.

The healer did the standard check-up on me, asking me to move some specific parts of my body to confirm that all of the bones have been connected correctly.

Although it was painful since the burns have only been treated to lessen the pain. After passing the checkup, I was asked to lay down and relax my body.

"ꫝꫀal" A very faint green light surrounded me and all of my pain went away as if it wasn't there in the first place.

When I sat up on the bed, I didn't feel anything wrong other than my body being absolutely tired and weirdly strained.

"You should be able to move after resting for the rest of the day but you'll only be able to move as you usually do after 2 to 3 days."

"I see, an.d the co.st?"

"All of the damages will be paid by the neighboring cities and the capital as a way of aiding Bellken so your compensation for contributing won't be reduced."

"I see," I responded. The healer did her final checkup before leaving and I was quite happy since my anxiety about being questioned about my scars turned out to be false.

"Well since you're all good now, I'll be going downstairs to celebrate with the others," Astoria said to me. Even though it has already been half a day, the celebration of beating the phoenix was still going strong.

"I'll go with you Astoria. I pray to Hu that your health becomes better." Both of the women leave the room leaving me all alone. I spent the rest of the day drawing and sleeping before Astoria brought me soup and bread as dinner.

The bell rang seven times and after a minute, I opened my eyes. After moving my body for a bit, I walk out of the room with my jacket on. My dark long sleeve polo shirt was fixed during my treatment so thankfully I didn't have to shop for clothes.

I left my room with only my long knife on my shin, although I could have used the katana as a cane of some sort, I chose not to.

As I walks around, the bustle of the city was more lively than usual, and soon arrived at the 1-kilometer radius crater where the battle happened.

Many mages are currently spewing out lots of dirt in their hands, trying to fill the crater and many adventurers are also helping with reconstruction.

But I quickly left the area since I didn't have any business there and headed to the guard station where Astoria and I first met. I asked for a certain person's location and was told that she was in another guard station.

Passing through many buildings, I found a massive building similar to a guard station near the training ground.

Entering the building, the inside had a plant in the corner, two hallways going into an office and the other going deeper into the building, and also there was a table in the other corner where a guard was lazing about who approached and asked about her whereabouts.

Apparently many summoners have been suspected but the most suspected is Alice which I already expected.

"I see, then can I see her?" I asked the guard.

"Sorry but she-" Suddenly captain Dral arrived without making any noise. "It's fine, I'll take over."

"C-captain dral!" The guard suddenly stood up and gave him a strong salute.

"Leave us."

"Yes sir!" The guard quickly left the building leaving me and Dral behind. Dral's face was not the usual playful one but instead, a serious one fitting the captain of the guards.

'So Dral is here huh? This might have been easier than expected.' I thought to himself

"Say your business, boy."

"Alice is in.nocent" I said brokenly, straight to the point. With a pause, Dral gave his response "...and how could you say that?"

"I w.as a witn.ess," I said which he immediately responded to. "Sorry boy, but a confession from her is better than a witness testimony." He responded before I responded something dangerous to him. "Look, I ne.ed you to ma.ke Alice in.nocent no ma.tter what it ta.kes."

"That's something dangerous you're saying to a captain of the guards-" I interrupted him by putting down 15 gold on the table.

I wasn't exactly fond of bribery but I knew for sure that Alice wasn't at fault directly which is why I'm allowing myself to bribe him.

Captain Dral's face breaks slightly before regaining it again. "Sorry, but that's a bit too low for the damages she caused."

'Even though it's only, property damage?!' I wanted to retort but I also knew that there were many deaths and injuries caused by the phoenix so chose not to.

I slowly add 1 gold coin while negotiating with him and thankfully after offering him 25 gold coins, he finally breaks his serious face and turns into a playful one like before.

"Alright fine kid, since nobody even knows that she is being suspected other than the guards, I can arrange that, but the problem is finding the true culprit."

"Can't y.ou just pin it with one of the sum.moner crim.inals you locked up?" I said in a calmer tone.

"Forging evidence is illegal kid-" I threw another gold his way.

"Buuuuut it isn't illegal if nobody finds out right?" Dral said playfully.

'I'm honestly starting to think that this guy becomes an idiot when money is on the table' I said while looking at him expressionlessly.

"Besides the darkin follower that we locked up still hasn't said anything, so we can pin it on him," Dral said to himself before entering a room at the farthest in the hallway.

"Yo, you're free to go."

"Huh, but why?" Alice said, confused.

"Someone came in with evidence proving your innocence."

"???" Alice was quite shocked and confused by the sudden announcement but it didn't take long to realize who did it.

After giving Alice her items back, she met me sitting in one of the chairs inside the building.

"Himura..." I looked back and saw the guard coming back. "Let's go." I only said briefly.

"Huh? ah wait!"

As both of them leave in a hurry, Dral thought to himself before counting the coins that he received from me. "Kids these days."

As they were walking back to the guild, Alice asked me the most obvious question. "Why?"

"Isn't wr.ong to be conde.mned by fa.lse cha.rges?" I said not, looking at her.

"But I'm the one who summoned it!" Alice said mad at herself, not because of the damage she caused but the fact that she failed to revive her parents. "But you ca.n't just gi.ve up can you?" I said to her and soon she stopped in her tracks.

"..." Alice stayed silent at my words, she can't just give up now but what bugs her the most was when I'm not even saying my reasons for freeing her.

My face was expressionless as always but I spoke. "I will ne.ver be able to rela.te to your pro.blem and your desper.ation but all I kn.ow is that you can nev.er achie.ve it sta.ying in that labora.tory" I felt weird since this was not only my first time consoling someone but also arguing about a problem I have no relation to.

"Then how?" She asked almost angrily.

"My par.ty are going trave.lling soon, join us." I told her almost like a command.

"How is that going to help?" She asked then I remembered a quote from a certain beautiful club member of mine. "The be.st way to lea.rn how to draw is by experienc.ing life, how it feels, looks and h.ow pain.ful and fun it is"

"Huh?" Alice responds, very confused.

"That was a quo.te from a good artist which I belie.ve also app.lies to you. You will ne.ver get anyw.here by staying on o.ne place. There will alw.ays some.one better th.an you or knowle.dge you haven't eve.n disco.vered yet, tha.ts why I'm sugges.ting that you sho.uld tra.vel with us." I said to her leaving her speechless.

"..." Alice stayed silent for the rest of the way.

'In truth, I just felt like I'll regret it if I don't do this. Half of the things I said were just based on information that I have guessed' I thought to myself and we both arrived in front of the guild. As I was about to enter, Alice grabbed my jacket.

"Himura...can I really join your party?"

Alice's eyes were full of regret but were also full of expectations, seeing this, I responded immediately. "Of course." My face remains expressionless as I said that and we both entered the guild.