Chapter 25

Eve sat in the chair inside the small house where Fried lived. She headed here after leaving the inn where the Adventurers had breakfast. A few hours passed since she stood watching him. She waited for him to awaken all the while, but he still gave no sign.

He seemed to be in a deep sleep. Yesterday's day had tired him out a lot, and Eve was aware of that. Even Lily, in those few times he had shown her his extraordinary magical abilities, showed signs of fatigue. She told her that she had not used it for a long time, since she had met the man of her life, Fried. For the boy, therefore, it must have been further exhausting.

She did not expect, however, that Fried's sleep would last so long. She hoped it would end soon. She felt something sting her eyes. She rubbed them slowly. She could no longer bear the sight of him looking like that, even though she knew he was fine. She wanted him to wake up and say he was himself.

"Ms. Eve?" The woman gasped and opened her eyes in the direction of the faint voice and saw Fried now sitting up looking at her questioningly. "What happened? What about the cave?" She asked, looking around slightly and recognizing every piece of furniture and every wall in that house.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief that she did not know she had inside. Her body relaxed completely. "We all got out alive. The Adventurers killed the Golem Lord."

Fried's previously sleepy eyes opened wide and glittered hopefully. "So we are saved?"

"The source that destroyed our tree is gone, but the problem still remained."

Fried's shoulders slumped. That hope suddenly disappeared from his eyes. "I see..." He said softly. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know."

"What happened in the cave yesterday?" Fried asked, after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"The last thing I remember was that a Golem had hit me. I guess that's why I was unconscious until today. What happened after that?"

Eve looked at him incredulously. "You really don't remember anything?" Fried frowned slightly, not understanding what she meant, but shook his head.

"Yesterday you fainted, it's true, but it wasn't because of the blow you took. After that, you saved all of us by using your magic and stopping the Golems."

Fried remained impassive for a few seconds, not believing his ears. After he had metabolized it all, his mouth almost fell to the floor.

"I did-what?!"

"You heard right. You used your magic. It is also thanks to you that we are all alive."

"But-how is that possible?"

"I promised you that one day I would tell you about your mother. That day has come."

And throughout the morning, Eve did nothing else. She told him how she had met her, how she used magic, what she loved and what she hated. She tried not to leave out a single detail about Lily. And all the while, Fried remained silent to listen, attentive to every single word, every single description, almost as if he was afraid of missing something he might otherwise never know again. Ms. Eve was not someone who repeated things twice.

When Eve finished her story, Fried's eyes glistened from the tears that threatened to fall down her face. She did not know whether because of sadness or happiness. On the one hand, he was sad because he never had a chance to meet her, much less see her face. On the other, he was happy because thanks to Ms. Eve, through her words, he was able to get to know her, even a little.

"My mother was a sorceress, as was I..." Thought the boy aloud. Eve remained silent. "Yet it was magic that took her away from me."

"Lily knew that life would leave her when you were born..."

"It's my fault she died." Fried continued to think aloud, almost not listening to Eve's words.

"...But still she was happy. She couldn't wait to give birth to you. Until the end she smiled with you crying on her lap, knowing that you were a healthy baby."

"My mother was right. Magic is a curse."

Eve sighed. She rose from her chair and headed for the door. "When you're done feeling sorry for yourself for something you're not to blame for, come out. The others have been worried about you all along." She walked out of the small house, leaving him alone to his thoughts.

Samuele was sitting on the plain ground, not far from the village, intent on his thoughts. He looked up at the stars high in the sky, almost hoping that they would give him some advice, a solution to the problem. But nothing. And how could he blame them? From their point of view, they were insects, microscopic dots not worthy of any attention. Why would they notice their problems and, even more absurdly, suggest anything to them?

Samuele realized he was delirious. He shook his head to rid himself of those stupid thoughts and lay down comfortably, resting his head on his arm. He tried to close his eyes. Maybe then an idea would come. Any one at all. Anything was fine with him.

"Sofia is right." A familiar voice disturbed his thoughts. "You males are such sleepyheads." Lucia stood a step away from his head and looked down at him, her hands resting on her hips.

"How much I want to sleep right now you have no idea... no, I'm thinking."

Lucia sat down next to him. "Are you thinking about how to repair that tree or about the fact that Sofia hugged you yesterday? I hope for the latter."

Samuele contracted his eyes slightly at that memory. It was as soon as they defeated the Golem Lord. At that moment, his level had risen to level 20. The same had happened to Sofia. Overjoyed to see that that was not her upper limit, she had hugged him in a very affectionate way. Samuele, though completely surprised, had decided to reciprocate that gesture. He knew how much that number meant to her. From level 20 and up, it is possible to join Guilds, and her dream was to join the Lupi di Castiglione Guild. Surely, she thought, she had been nervous throughout this quest, and perhaps since even before, knowing that the words "upper level limit" next to level 20 represented the end of her dream.

"Certainly not the last one. What makes you think that?"

"For two reasons. You seem to have known each other for a long time. Have you been friends since school?" She asked, not caring to hold back her curiosity.

"We aren't. To tell the truth, we've only known each other for a few weeks. I met her during a quest."

"Really? I thought it was much longer than that."

"The thing is, she opens up very easily to people she considers friends. And something tells me you're her friend now, too." She said with a small smile, referring to the nickname Sofia had given her.

"Honestly, I hope she really thinks of me as such."

"And the second reason why I should have thought about Sofia and not about our problem as big as the magic tree?"

"I said we would all think about it together. It would be really stupid of you if you were thinking of a solution here alone." She said, not even trying to veil the insult.

Samuele did not respond. He knew Lucia was right.

"And to think that you stated several times that together we can do it. Yet here you are, ignoring your own words. You contradict yourself. I can't tell if you are just too selfless or too much of an idiot. You want to share other people's burdens, but when it comes to your own woe to those who come close. Have I got that right? That's how you are, isn't it?"

Samuele sighed. "I really don't know. When it comes to me, I don't know anything. Why I do certain things, I sometimes wonder myself. In this case, I can only tell you that I don't feel like I carry any weight on my shoulders. It's not as if I caused that tree to fall. I thought being alone with my thoughts would help me, but I was wrong."

"You lie."

"And about what?"

"Maybe you're not doing it on purpose. You just said you don't know why you do certain things, so maybe you don't know that either."

Samuele began to get annoyed. Lucia's way of acting was getting on his nerves, as if she knew something about him. "Enlighten me, then." He said, gritting his teeth.

"You don't feel like carrying any weight? I don't believe it. I feel it on my shoulders, too. Maybe not as directly as before, but these people's lives depend on us. They may move, but will they survive the possible obstacles in their path? Bandits, monsters, or even natural disasters. I'm sure you were also thinking about that when you stopped Ms. Eve. A guy like you doesn't think only of himself."

With his eyes lowered, he smiled sarcastically and spoke in a low voice. "'Someone like you,' 'maybe you don't even know that,' 'you lie to yourself' ... we've literally known each other for a day and yet you talk as if you've known me for a lifetime." His gaze frowned and his tone louder. He looked into Lucia's face and continued. "Even if that is the case, even if Eve and the others leave and unfortunately die, what am I supposed to do? Repent? Should I feel guilty about that? Since you know so much about me, tell me!"

After a few seconds of silence in which the two looked intensely at each other, Lucia looked away and spoke. "You wouldn't have gone on the defensive if I hadn't been right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm really sorry I went so far. What I wanted to tell you from the beginning is that you are not alone." He stood up, adjusting his windswept hair, and returned to the village.

Samuele immediately regretted his overreaction. He silently imprecated and looked at the ground this time. He did not want to look at the stars who would surely laugh at him.

He thought about his words. He was certainly right about one thing. He was not thinking about himself when he had stopped Ms. Eve. He was afraid of what would happen with the portal opened in his world. However, was he also thinking about the inhabitants of this place? He did not know. Perhaps in the totality of all his concerns, yes. He had become angry with Lucia, not because she was not right, but because he understood more of her thoughts than he did himself. He hated this.

"What did you say to that girl to make her leave with a sad expression?"

Samuele turned toward Eve's voice. 'Great, one more reason to apologize to her...'

"To sum up, she made me realize, more than I already knew, that I'm a complete idiot and I got angry with her, corroborating her point even more."

"In her place I would have been smug then."

"Well, the problem I think is that she wanted me to prove her wrong."

"You got there, so you're not a complete idiot. You can go to her and tell her she was wrong." The implied message, which Samuele had fully grasped, was 'go immediately and apologize to her.

"I will, but first we need to solve your problem."

"No need." Said a young voice that Eve immediately recognized.

"Fried?" The woman looked at him questioningly, which was immediately followed by Samuele's. The boy's eyes changed completely from when he was in the cave. Now they were more serious, determined.

"I will repair the tree." Before the two could ask any questions, Fried continued. "I will use my magic. It's powerful, I can definitely do it."

"All right, but how?" Samuele asked.

"I don't know." At his answer, the two almost fell comically to the ground. "I will come up with something. If my magical powers are of no use, then I could never accept them as anything good."

"I understand. Do as you feel, Fried." Said Eve. She then turned to Samuele. "Are you Adventurers okay with that?"

"I'm sure the others will agree. It is your village, after all." He didn't feel like saying that they hadn't had any ideas yet. They might as well try Fried's method.

The boy walked toward the tree and stood motionless a few meters from it, his eyes closed in full concentration. Several hours passed and still nothing happened.

Meanwhile, everyone, Adventurers and inhabitants alike, gathered nearby, anxiously waiting for the long-awaited miracle to happen. All was silent, or rather, no one dared to speak out loud so as not to disturb Fried's concentration.

"I'm sorry about before." Samuele apologized to Lucia, sitting next to him on a small log slumped on the ground. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. You were completely right. You understood what I was feeling better than I did, and that bothered me."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I was the one who started it in the first place. I'm the one who has to apologize."

"That's why you were sad, then?" He asked, with the clear intention of teasing her. Lucia's cheeks flushed slightly. "Sad? What are you talking about?"

"Ms. Eve joined me shortly after you left and told me you were on the verge of tears." He exaggerated.

"I wasn't. I was... I was a little sad, it's true. I was sorry for my behavior, but nothing more." Lucia defended herself, stammering slightly from embarrassment.

"It is also my fault that you were sorry. Friends like before?"

"I didn't know we were friends." She joked.

"Well, you stripped me of my thoughts, so by necessity we are friends now." Beside Lucia, someone choked. Sofia's head jutted out and she looked incredulously at Lucia.

"You stripped him! Since when are you two so close! Then you really were eating it up with your eyes yesterday!" She exclaimed, misinterpreting Samuele's words. Immediately, Lucia put a hand over Sofia's mouth to stop her before anyone else heard something deeply wrong.

"I didn't strip him! Nothing like that happened! You heard wrong, that's all. Samuele, explain it too... why the hell are you laughing?!"

On the other side, Karl and Eve heard them cackling from that distance.

"They are making too much noise those Adventurers. Let's hope Fried doesn't get sidetracked." Karl said, giving the group a dirty look away from them.

"Should that happen, I will teach them a sound lesson."

Suddenly everyone fell silent. The Adventurers first sensed something in front of them. Something that was becoming more and more powerful. Samuele, thanks in part to his class, felt best of all that great power that chilled his spine.

'What immense power...' he thought. He looked directly at Fried. The latter emanated around him an aura of pure magic, so strong that it was visible. It emanated a blue color that was very beautiful to see, but at the same time terrifying. He looked around slightly and saw that he was not the only one who sensed this. Even the inhabitants themselves trembled with wide eyes, incredulous at that sight.

The aura swirling around Fried expanded and slowly wrapped itself around the tree. The boy spread his arms wide in the air. The trunk, which had fallen due to the lightning strike, rose into the air. Looking Fried in the face, Samuele saw how much that single action was testing him. He sweated, his face red from the enormous mental effort.

The trunk slowly shifted and gently settled on the lower part of the tree, which remained attached to its roots.

Fried began to cry out. The magical aura enveloping the tree grew louder as the screams increased in volume. Eventually, it came swirling violently like a blizzard around it.

The scene everyone was witnessing was something they could not have imagined even in their wildest dreams.

The gashes in the tree repaired, as if that magical aura was healing them. Eventually, the tree was completely back to the way it was before. Or so Samuele imagined, seeing the joyful looks of the inhabitants. All of them stood up and rejoiced, some with tears visibly falling, some hugging the one closest to them, some just smiled, and some went to Fried to lift him up in the air, praising him as a hero.

Everything returned as before. The sand from the well turned back into water. Their crops immediately went from being dry to being lush in a matter of seconds.

 [CONGRATULATIONS!]

YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST! COLLECT THE REWARD NEAR THE PORTAL!"

Reading the System's message, the Adventurers smiled. Exchanging nods of understanding, they got up and walked toward Ms. Eve, who noticed them and looked at them, smiling.

"Are you leaving?" She asked.

"Yes, our task here is done, although we haven't done much here." Lucia spoke.

"You have done much more, instead. We residents of Veridale will be forever grateful to you. I wish you all all the greatest good."

"We wish the same to all of you, Ms. Eve. You truly deserve it. Goodbye."

She watched the group move farther and farther away toward the horizon. She then turned to Fried, who was still being praised by the others, and smiled.

'Are you watching, Lily? Your child has turned that curse into a great gift that can do good to others.'

END OF CHAPTER.

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And with this chapter, we have finally concluded this Adventure. When I wrote it, I did not expect such length, I'll be honest. What did you think of it? Good? Ugly? Total crap? Tell me with a comment, a review, and by leaving a power stone.

See you tomorrow, same time. Bye!