Chapter 14 - 14 (1/2)
”The joint assault force,” Doc smiled. ”It was made up of Adventurers and Fourth Division soldiers. They went out when they saw the commotion going on the cliffs. They hadn't gotten through in time to save your friends, but they got there in time to pull you out.”
”Ah...” I said. I felt better knowing those little shits were dead. It didn't absolve the guilt I felt in surviving, though. ”Could you help me up? I tried but my muscles aren't agreeing with what I want to do.”
”Haha!” Doc gave out a hearty laugh. ”Of course they won't. You nearly shredded the muscles in your shoulders. You fought a Hobgoblin and lived to tell about it, I'm surprised your wounds weren't worse. Here, let me help you up.”
Doc slid his arm under my back and helped me sit up. As the blanket slid down, I saw what he meant. My skin had turned a light purple over my chest. There also was a large purple mark in the shape of a hand on my right wrist.
”They were worst when they brought you in,” Doc said as he began to examine the purple marks. ”They're good enough to lightly use, but try not to move them quickly or lift heavy objects. I don't want to have to use a lot of mana on them. With the state, they're in now, a few more days with a mixture of light healing spells and natural bodily healing with fix this.”
”That's good...” I was curious about this magic the man spoke of, but in the current unknown climate, I figured adopting a passive stance would bring fewer headaches. People loved to talk from my experience. I could piece it together later.
(”If you can't trust the people around you, and you have the time, just take in information passively. That's how we did it overseas.”) Jacob's voice echoed once again in my head.
”So what do we call you?” Doc asked. ”We can't keep calling you Boy, but everyone thought you were a girl at first. Well, only me and the important folk around here know you're a man.
”Name's Kian, Kian Willow.” I gave him a weak smile.
« † »
I leaned in the wooden rocking chair Doc had on his porch. Much to my surprise, the old man's cottage sat in quite the spot. His cottage rest on the mountainside, and by the mountainside, not a rocky slope. The village, or ”Settlement” as Doc called it, had been built upon a ridge. From where Doc's home was, I could see the dancing waves shimmer in the midday sky. I could see tens of thatched roofs, tightly packed together along the ridgeside before it ended abruptly. From there, a tall palisade had been erected.
Beyond was densely packed trees. Maybe oaks, or beech trees, or maybe a different kind I've never heard of. The view would have been astounding, if not for the large swath of land on the border of land and sea. There, I could see the crashed Osprey - broken and burned. I could not see the bodies of the soldiers. I didn't see the dead monsters who'd terrorized us.