To be awake

"Mmm..."

A voice entered my ears. It was my own groan, a pained groan. At that moment, my consciousness snapped awake and my senses started working one after another. My view was dark and my neck was stiff.

'I fainted?'

Ignoring the heaviness of my eyelids and my sleepiness, I cracked my eyes open. Even after I had opened my eyes, the surroundings were dark. What entered my sight the first was a vast, endless dark sky spread over my head like a silk cloth adorned with sparkling diamonds. The night sky was so stunning that I forgot what I wanted to do for a moment, unable to take my eyes away from the shiny star just above my head. It wasn't particularly bright, but it felt rather good staring at that silver hue of the object and its gentle glow.

"B-brother Ian!"

A kid's excited shout was the thing that made me finally look away from the star and survey my surroundings. Ralph was sitting just beside me with his two hands tightly pressing on the ground and his head leaned forward to look at me. Behind him were the group of knights, gathered around a bonfire and chattering quietly. Not too far away from the crowd, I could see a few horses and one half-destroyed and one burnt carriage.

Rustle

Rustle

A gentle chilly wind blew past my face and rustled the leaves of the trees and the grass all around us.

'So we are still in the plain...'

Well, one of the carriages got burnt and the other was damaged, so there was really no means for the group to move forward and reach a village or city nearby while also carrying an injured person.

The pale light from the fire was illuminating a small area beside me and to my right. Once I turned my head, I found Ranger sitting not too far away from me while holding a wet towel. Sticking to his side was the curled-up Alaric, who was hugging his knees and had his head buried in his arms. Upon hearing Ralph's voice, the old man stopped folding the towel and Alaric raised his head slightly to peek outside.

"Ah, Ian!" Ranger put the towel on a bowl and reached out his hand towards my forehead. After touching it for a second, he turned to the side and said in a fairly loud voice.

"Miss doctor, he is awake. Can you please check on him for a second?"

"Sure!"

When Ranger moved to the side, I could see two figures sitting on a thick tree trunk a few meters away from the whole group. One of them was the innocent and kind-looking woman with light-brown hair. She smiled as soon as she heard Ranger and stood up, hurriedly walking over to me with a bag in her hands.

'So she was a doctor...'

She knelt down beside me and opened her bag. She then started examining my body like a professional.

"...."

I looked away from her and glanced towards the direction where I sensed a piercing gaze. The gaze belonged to a man clad in black clothes, sitting on the tree trunk and staring at me with folded arms. If it wasn't for the light from the fire, I wouldn't probably even recognize him in this dark atmosphere.

"...."

"...."

Our eyes locked for a brief second. Ignoring the burning pain in my abdomen, I narrowed my eyes and examined his face in detail while combing my memories and searching for someone similar to him. However, no matter how much I thought, I couldn't come up with an answer. He definitely felt familiar. The sword style he used was something I have seen before, but I can't remember where and when it was.

Since he was a child in my memory and now he looks to be the same age as me, if I take it that this man is the same child I've seen in that hazy vision of mine, then it means that I was a child when I met him... And I can't really think of anyone who could turn into this dude from my childhood.

Also... If he really is someone from when I was a child and recognizes who I am... Then it means things are not good at all.

'I've got to avoid this dude!'

That is absolute! I have to, I must, avoid this black dude at all costs.

'I mean... He saved me and I thank him for this but that doesn't mean I can trust him! It's the exact opposite, the fact that he saved us is suspicious on its own. Why would he do that... First of all, what was he doing there, to begin with?'

"You need to rest a lot and also eat nutritious food for a while and a lot of meat. Don't move around a lot and don't work until you are fully healed."

The woman said as he bandaged my wound gently.

'Hoh! I've been eating proper food and skipped working because I was poisoned, and now I can keep doing that because I got injured... Should I jump into the fire as soon as my wound is healed so that I can keep living this luxurious life?'

I had a really hard time preventing the edges of my lips from curling up into an evil smile.

"Now, drink this and sleep."

"Huh?"

Before I could say anything or even see what was going on, my head got lifted up by the hand of the woman while her other hand pushed the bowl she was holding to my mouth. Unable to resist at all, the cold liquid entered my mouth and slid down my throat. As soon as the bowl got empty, I felt my eyelids become heavy again. The rush of sleepiness was so intense that I could only curse inwardly and grumble under my breath.

'Wait, I wanted to ask what that dude was doing here! I don't want to sleep. I don't want to...'

But I couldn't even finish my naggings as I fell into a deep sleep.