118 Recognition (2/2)

Ada looked taken aback, but at the same time, her tense shoulders eased down. ”Papa? Why him?”

”Is it about father's illness?” said the husband.

Li shook his head at the husband. He noted that the husband must have married into the family, considering Ada called the old man 'papa and the husband called him by the more formal 'father'.

”Okay, Ada, I'm mostly here to talk with you then. Tell me, your papa used to be a farmer, right?”

Ada's brows knitted together in concerned confusion, but she went along with the questioning regardless. ”Aye, but that was many, many moons ago. Gods, more than twenty years.”

”You must have been old enough to remember him farming, then. I'm sure he didn't give up right after the fields started to do worse around thirty years ago.”

Ada's hand fidgeted rapidly, twitching almost involuntarily before her husband reached out and clasped it. ”Aye, I was a wee little lass when I remember leavin' the farm. It was after mama passed. Papa took us to the city, opened this bakery, and it's all we've done.”

”All we've done, yes,” nodded the husband with quick and urgent nods.

”You two seem to be anxious for some reason. Relax. I'm just curious about the old farmers, you see. As you can tell, I'm not from around here, and I actually recently moved here to be a farmer. I have a farm right outside the city, but it's strange to see that almost none of the other farms are working.”

”Well, there's no future in em' is what papa said. Bakin' is all I've known, though.”

”Ah, that's a shame. Figured I could use some company. Tell me, though, did your papa ever talk to you About what farming was like? About worshipping forest spirits?”

Ada shook her head. ”Papa told me he loved farmin', but never told me why he left. I figured it was cause' he couldn't get coin. And spirit worship? That's heresy, and papa would never do that.”

Li was beginning to realize that Ada was too young to be useful. She was born right around the end of the demon wars and Morrigan's death, so she had no idea about what her father did beforehand, when he actively farmed and worshipped. This was on top of the fact that the duchess had gone on an active campaign to purge beliefs other than that of the light, meaning Ada's father had likely shielded her from his past worship.

With a sigh, Li asked, hoping for a lead, ”Tell me, how did your papa fall ill?”

Ada shook her head sadly. ”I don't know. He just got worse and worse over the years. Started mutterin' in his sleep some ramble, sounded mighty monstrous like. By the time I took over, he was like this.”

”I don't blame him,” said the husband, and Ada pulled at his hand, bidding him quiet.

Li nodded, beginning to understand more of this family. ”Can I try talking to your papa?”

Ada looked at her father, at how he had curled himself into a ball, his teeth chattering despite the fact that several blankets engulfed his tiny and emaciated frame. She said, ”Aye, don't see why not. Maybe a new face will get him back to reason.”

Li walked over to Ada's father and knelt in front of him. The old man shrunk away from Li in trembling fear, his eyes bulging and wild as he pressed himself further and further into his corner.

Li gently stretched out a hand towards the elderly man. He must not have been much older than sixty, but his mental state had aged him immensely. He seemed now liable to drop dead at any moment, his breath wheezing and his movements made with visible difficulty.

Iona's medicine had been for this man, meant to restore him to full health, but in his case, it likely just extended his agony, keeping his body healed but leaving his mind damaged. In this world, terminal illnesses and permanent mental illnesses could not be healed away normally as they were considered to be part of the person's body.

Otherwise, nobody in this world would ever die of anything except old age if they did not fight. Although, Li did figure that any higher tier healing spells would easily overcome this restriction judging by the fact that there were tales of strong spirits, dragons, faeries, and other mystical beings healing such terminal afflictions.

However, Li did not intend on healing the old man just yet. He knew he was already attracting attention by going around the city and directly investigating instead of getting the count to do all this work, but he needed to throw his presence out there as he eventually planned on making his human form some kind of 'avatar' that spread the will of his true form. Yet healing this man was not something he was yet willing to do until he had a following willing to believe that his powers came from divine blessing.

”It's okay,” said Li, his voice quiet. He placed his hand on the old man's arm, feeling the bone-thin limb through the blankets.

The old man was panicked, his eyes darting from side to side, but then, they finally settled on Li.

There was a pause. A moment of silence as the old man seemed to become still like a statue. Then, he raised trembling hands through his blankets, clasping wrinkled hands over Li's arm. Tears welled from his eyes, pattering on the skins coiled around his body.

His lips moved, speaking in a language that must have sounded like utter nonsense to Ada and her husband. A tongue she had previously described as ”monstrous like”. The language of forest spirits.

”Great One.”