“Irving! Help me with the food will you.” I hear my mother call out to me from the kitchen. I grumble but oblige her. It’s not like I can refuse. I walk in and see her standing there, peeling potatoes. She is sitting down so as not to put weight on her bad leg. I’m worried it’s getting worse but I don’t say anything.
It’s only the two of us now since my father was conscripted into the army. I’m afraid he’ll never come back. It’s another thing we don’t talk about in the house. I get another knife and start peeling potatoes next to my mom. I’m lucky I was too young when they conscripted dad but I’m afraid they’ll come back soon and it will be my turn. The Brudian Empire is our home only in name. We live on the edge of the empire and do not get any of the benefits we are supposed to, only taxes and forced conscription.
“Can you go and get some more water hun?” My mom asks me and I nod. It’s not like she can really do it anymore. I pick up two buckets and a sturdy piece of wood to balance the two buckets on my shoulders.
I set out and look at the small village. We don’t even have a wall or anything around. It’s just a few houses and farmland. Maybe calling it a village is a stretch. We are fairly close to the north and we do get a month or so of snow. Luckily there is nothing much up north and no one ever comes down from there. No kingdoms or anything at least. I make my way to the river, it’s a good few hundred meters from the house. Impractical? Yes but it means we are all safe when it floods.
I follow the used trail to the river. I’ve walked down this trail thousands of times but I’ve still learned to keep an eye out. Nothing ever happens but if anything happens to me, I don’t know how my mom will make it. I arrive at the river shortly and bend down to fill up the first bucket. I scoop up the water and put it on the shore as I grab the second one. That’s when I freeze.
There, on the other side of the shallow river is a man, half his body is still in the water and threatening to push him further down, while his upper body is face down on the shore. I pause for a few seconds, unable to think before I jump to my feet at a bird crying out somewhere close by. It jolts me back into the present and I leave my buckets on the other side as I make my way to the man.
My legs sink deeper into the river but at this time of year the water barely gets above my knees and I easily traverse it. I gently crouch next to the strange man. He has brown hair that is starting to get rather long and a beard. Both look incredibly unkept and rough. I’m just about to touch him when his eyes shoot open and he suddenly holds a dagger at my throat. I freeze, feeling my bladder loosening up at the sudden fear. The man says something but his voice is so hoarse I can barely hear what he is saying. He tries again until I finally understand.
“Food.” He tells me and I nod. He finally removes the dagger from my throat as he tries to get up. He is injured, that much is clear and despite his first reaction, it’s clear he needs my help. I offer him a hand and to my surprise he takes it. We cross the river as I help him to stand up, an arm around my shoulders. We ignore the buckets and make our way back to the house. I wonder who this is, or how he ended up drifting in that cold river. I’m not sure many would survive being in that cold water for long, and he looks like he slept in it.
We arrive by the house and I help him sit down on my bed. He nods to me in wordless thanks and practically falls asleep on the spot. I’m curious, but it seems it will have to wait. I go back into the kitchen and my mom asks me why I was gone if it wasn’t to bring back the water.
“I found a stranger by the river.” I tell her and the words sound as strange to me as they seem to her.
“You what?” She asks, unsure if she heard that right.
“There was someone lying on the shore, he is wounded and hungry.” I tell her. Strange how it feels unreal even to me now that I say it out loud. My mom frowns but notice the wet steps into the house and where they lead up to. She limps her way to the room, opens the door and gasps as she sees him sleeping on the bed.
“Who is he?” She whispers loudly and I wince. I close the door and help her back to the kitchen where we can speak a bit louder.
“I don’t know?” I tell her.
“And you thought it was a good idea to bring him here?” To which I shrug.
“You’re saying this like I should have left him there to die.” I tell her. I didn’t really have a choice now did I? Couldn’t just let a man die.
“Plus, he might be an adventurer who will repay us greatly for our help. Who knows.” I say as I shrug. My mom smiles at me with a hint of pride.
“You took all his good sides you know.” She says and I nod, a bit embarrassed at the praise.
“He would have done the same.” Is all I say and she turns to continue peeling the potatoes with a smile on her face.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to wait until he wakes up.” She tells me as she hands me an unpeeled potato. I sigh as I take it. I’m so curious I can’t help but look back from time to time, or trying to hear him move or something. Instead, we both hear loud snoring come from my room after a few minutes.
—
The sun is setting on the horizon as the pot's delicious smell hits my nostrils. I wonder what else she put in there. Potatoes, a hare I already know. I just hope she didn’t prepare any radishes or something. Yucky. I freeze as I hear the door to my room open. Seems like the smell woke him up. I stand there nervously as he looks at me.
“Thanks kid.” He says in a rough voice. I notice more things about him now. He is wearing hardened leather armor that has seen better days. In fact, I’m wondering how it’s still holding together as it seems to have taken countless hits and tears. Even what I believe are burn marks which probably comes from magic or something. Is he an adventurer? A bandit? I hope I didn’t bring calamity into our home.
My mom seems to notice him and looks him up and down. It’s strange but his eyes are gentle and soft even if they seem filled to the brim with sorrow. I can’t help but feel like he’s the hero of a story of some kind. I temper my hopes however, as he could be anything at this point. I’m the only one who can take care of my mom.
“Foods ready. You hungry?” My mom asks him and he only nods in response. A man of few words it would seem.
We sit down in silence at the table as my mom serves each of us a large portion. It smells delicious but I can’t help but glance at the man sitting with us. My mom and I bow our heads and bring our hands together in a prayer. I look up as I don’t hear her say the usual prayer. Instead she looks at the man who hasn’t moved.
“Do you not want to thank the gods with us?” She asks him, tone neutral as if not to judge. A sarcastic smile slowly stretches on his face before he answers.
“For what? They only deserve my wrath.” He finishes and I can see a cold hatred in his eyes. It sends a chill down my spine and my mother excuses herself as she takes a praying position again.
“We thank the gods for this food and bounty. For our good health and happiness.” A rather short one today, but I understand why.
“Are you sure you should thank them?” The man asks my mother and she raises an eyebrow in question. The man points to her leg and she grimaces.
“It could still be worse, mister.” She tells him and he snickers at that.
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“You have no idea.” He smiles strangely at her.
“Are you an adventurer?” I can’t help but ask, fascinated by this man.
“Not anymore.” He sighs. We sit in silence for a bit as we dig in, enjoying the food. He clearly enjoys it and looks like he is restraining himself a bit from devouring his plate. He finished his food first and just sits there. My mom sneaks a glance my way, both uneasy and trying to reassure me everything will be fine. It looks like he wants seconds but doesn’t ask. We might look poor but we actually have enough if he wants to take more. My mom seems to think the same thing.
“Do you want more?” She asks him.
“I wouldn’t want to impose.” He replies diplomatically.
“We wouldn’t want it to go to waste.” She replies as she fills his bowl again. We continue to eat in silence. He is strange but doesn’t seem to be a bad guy. A bad guy wouldn’t be that polite, right? We soon finish eating and he thanks my mother for the delicious meal. She pauses as she looks seriously at him.
“You do not look like a brigand and it is clear you do not want to tell us your situation, so I’ll only ask you this: Are you a danger to us?” I’ve never seen my mom so serious and even the stranger seems surprised by the brutally direct question. He considers it for a moment before answering.
“I am not going to harm you in any way madam. I do not believe me being here will put you in any danger, but I cannot guarantee it.” He smiles sadly at us.
“Can you tell us your name at least?” I ask. He hesitates before sighing.
“Reagan. And I don’t plan on staying here long, just enough to recover. A few days at most.” He tries to reassure my mom who doesn’t let anything show on her face.
“Can we expect you to help around the house while you stay?” My mom asks him and I see that he is taken aback slightly by the question. He doesn’t answer and nods instead.
“I’m Irving by the way.” I tell him as I stick out my hand for a handshake. He hesitates for a bit before taking my hand and shoes it. His grip is rather gentle, not the kind of grip I was expecting.
—
A few days pass quietly by. Reagan is a rather silent but intense guy. We still don’t know what he does for a living or how he landed where I found him, or anything else except his name. But he is nice in his own way. Considerate. He is sleeping less and less, recovering at a far faster speed than I think is normal. I think he might leave soon and I hate it. He is the most interesting thing that has happened in the village for the last century. At least.
He refused to train me in swordplay when I asked him, but after two days of looking at my atrocious form he couldn’t help himself from giving me a few pointers. Since then he always silently watches when I train. It makes it way more intense as I concentrate to not make mistakes while he is there.
I swing the sword down in front of me and stop it as fast as I can before swinging it back up and repeating. I repeat the exercise a few more times and don’t hear him walk up to me in my concentration.
“Add in a forward step when you swing.” He uses a stick to show which foot should move and where. I try and it feels a lot more natural. I turn and give him a smile before I concentrate on repeating the new move a few more times. I’ve been at it for a bit now and have worked up a nice sweat, but I still have energy left to spare. I’m afraid to ask him, but I can’t wait for much longer. He will leave soon, we all know it.
“C-Could you spar with me?” I say without looking at him.
“No.” His answer is instant. He didn’t even hesitate.
“Why?” I ask him as I look at his expression. Is that… fear? He looks me straight in the eyes for a moment before he closes them and sighs. He gets up and my hope does the same, only for him to turn around and go into the house. I put the wooden sword back in the shed, no longer in the mood. As I walk towards the house, I hear someone scream something we haven’t heard in a long time.
“Monster!” I see Mr Klisten shout as he rushes back into the village. Reagan comes out of the house and looks at me.
“Stay inside.” He says before taking off towards Mr Klisten. I see them talk and hesitate to go back in the house. I see Reagan take off in the direction the old hunter comes from and decide to follow him.
He doesn’t seem to notice me as he walks towards the mountains in the north. I soon hear a powerful roar not far from there and Reagan takes out two swords, one in each hand. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder and I jump in fright. I turn and to my relief see that it’s the old hunter that is also following Reagan.
“Stay close to me.” He whispers as we follow in Reagan's footsteps. I’m surprised the old man didn’t tell me to go home, but I can see the familiar curiosity on his face. He wants to know what Reagan is capable of.
“What kind of monster is it?” I whisper as we keep rather far back.
“It’s a steelbear.” He tells me and I gulp. I’ve heard about those. Rare nowadays but dangerous. Really dangerous. Considered a low gold rank threat, meaning they would have to hide while it ate some of their food before it left. With its fur like steel it’s supposed to be very hard to kill. Especially because it’s almost twice the height of a normal man and paws so powerful they can break rocks.
We follow Reagan and soon see the huge bear turn to him. It looks at him, confused for a second before it whimpers and turns around. However, the man doesn’t let the beast run. He runs after it and the huge bear twice his size is desperately trying to make him stop following him. Why is it so afraid of him?
It quickly realizes Reagan isn’t going to stop chasing it and it turns around and roars at him. The huge monstrous bear stands on its two legs, towering far above him now, clearly showing Reagan it’s might. The bear swipes a powerful claw at the man that he dodges effortlessly. He swings his sword once but he doesn’t manage to pierce its thick and durable fur.
The bear seems to gain confidence and swipes his claws again and again, forcing Reagan back. The bear stands up on its two legs again as it towers above him, ready to put all of its power in what will probably be an earth shattering strike. But before the bear can even react, I see Reagan turn into a blur for a moment, and the next he is standing where he started again. The bear doesn’t even have time to react as it starts bleeding from several deep wounds and collapses a second later.
What in the gods name was that. I turn to look at Mr Klisten and he looks just as shocked as me.
“That must have been [Burst Of Speed] combined with several other skills.” The old hunter whispers.
“But I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good mastery of that skill. Could it be a tier above?” He wonders out loud for my benefit. I just look back at Reagan, only for him to turn around and look us straight in the eyes. We both freeze but the man ignores us as he walks back to the village. We follow after him, both in a daze. That was amazing. He really is a hero!
I soon find myself in the kitchen with Reagan and my mom. He looks at both of us kindly but his next words cut deep.
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.” He tells us and I want to say something, anything even if I know it will change nothing.
“I wanted to thank you both properly before I left, and I don’t think you’ll see me leave tomorrow. I plan to leave just before sunrise.” He explains. Then he pauses with a strange expression on his face, as if his attention isn’t on us anymore but something else, something we can’t see.
“I can?” He says to no one in particular, looking at us curiously. He frowns at his own words before his gaze finds my mother’s.
“It seems I can do more than give you empty words.” He smiles sadly at my mother and beckons for her to come closer. She hesitates, clearly unsure about this. She limps towards him and he crouches down and places his hands on her bad leg.
“Wait, what are you doing?” She says, panicked as she tries to jank her leg away, but too weak to do so.
“It’ll only take a moment.” He explains calmly and a strange and worrying glow comes from his hands. It makes me feel uneasy but the look on my mom's face transforms from one of unease to one of surprise.
“I-It’s gone?” She barely dares to whisper. Reagan stands up and looks her in the eyes where gratitude is plain to see. I don’t understand what happened when suddenly my mom walks without a limp in her leg. Slowly at first, but soon she tries to do different things, like bending and even jumping!
“Mom! You are healed?” I exclaim louder than I intended. I hug her and we jump a bit together before we catch ourselves and look back to the mysterious man called Reagan. My mom starts profusely thanking Reagan and he looks a bit embarrassed.
“Think nothing of it. I… barely did anything.” He tells her and she vehemently disagrees. She had prepared some provisions for his departure, but now she insists he take more and tries to bury him in gifts. He looks incredibly uncomfortable but I can’t help but smile at it.
Reagan smiles with a note of melancholy on his face before his gaze spots something outside which makes his expression change completely. He looks scary for a second as he mumbles something to himself.
“Shit, they caught up already.” I can’t help but follow his gaze outside and I see one of the other villagers guide a bunch of people towards our house. They look like adventurers. One of them even has a visible Mithril insignia proudly on display on his plate armor. One look back at Reagan makes me understand they are not on good terms.
He shoots me a glance and looks miserable for a second.
“Sorry you’ll have to see this kid.” Is all he says before he steps outside.