Tepo’s eyes fell on a sign close to the door. It read Reahva’s Home of Alchemy. With a dried throat the warrior approached his mother’s store.

Suddenly, however a grating voice disturbed Tepo’s good mood.

“Sir. I advise you not to enter this store. Their goods have huge problems!”

Abruptly Tepo stopped. His eyes narrowed as his head turned to the right, focusing on three dirty men lingering in front of the door.

Two of them had blurry eyes. Tepo could tell they weren’t even warriors and had most likely drunk some alcohol. Only the man who just spoke looked somewhat like a warrior.

A cold chill seemed to spread invisibly, letting the three men shiver. For a moment they felt as if Tepo’s eyes would kill them any moment.

“And who are you that you think you can advise me?”, asked Tepo with an almost growling voice.

The leading warrior shook slightly before he remembered his bosses’ orders.

“S…sir. I’m just a local trying to do a good deed.”

“A good deed, yes? Then I’m sure you can tell me what’s supposed to be wrong with the wares here.”

“Of course I can. Just last month someone bought the detoxification pills here. But after only a day he came back, threatening to destroy the shop as the pills had no effect!

He almost died, but luckily a comrade had pills from another store with them and saved his life!”

“This really happened?”, interrogated Tepo with barely contained anger.

“Yes, yes. Many have witnessed the scene.

Sir, if I were you, I would just buy in the Pill Center down the street. You can’t go wrong there!”

Tepo stared at the three men. He understood what was going on, but he didn’t want others to suspect his identity. Therefore, he could only hold his rage for now.

“Let me also give you some advice!”, pressed the warrior between gritted teeth. “Don’t try to influence warriors with your bit of strength, or you might have to pay a price!

And now, Get. Out. Of. My. Way!”

The three men shivered. Even the two commoners felt their heads clear up slightly.

Tepo scoffed as he stepped forward. He was just about to enter his mother’s store when a hand instinctively reached for his arm.

The small warrior wasn’t even conscious of his action. He only knew that his boss told him to stop people from entering this store.

But suddenly he felt a steel-like grip on his wrist. A strong pull lifted him off his feet. The weak warrior let out a startled scream before his back heavily crashed on the ground.

Everything happened too fast for others to react. The two commoners stared at Tepo in horror, their boss’s pained grounds reaching their ears. Their vision swayed as they stumbled backwards.

Tepo dramatically dusted off his hands. He glanced over his shoulder, where two guards watched the scene nonchalantly.

B*stards. Maybe I gave you guys too much credit before.

Although he really wanted to, Tepo didn’t dare to kill the weak warrior lying on the floor. With a frowning face he entered his mother’s store.

Immediately a soothing smell entered Tepo’s nose. He recognized the aromatic odor his mother used to spray in her store.

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Tepo ignored the steps quickly getting quieter outside as his eyes took in the familiar sight.

Finally, he was home again!

The young man stopped before a wooden counter. Since it wasn’t manned, he knocked a few times.

A moment later a brown-haired woman wearing a violet alchemist’s robe appeared from a door. Reahva stiffened slightly as her eyes fell on the new costumer. Although his face had changed, how could the young-looking woman not recognize her own son?

Tepo suppressed his emotions as he finally saw his mother again. Memories chaotically swirled through his mind. Two pairs of eyes met, communicating silently.

Suddenly Reahva turned around again and left through the door. Tepo understood and quickly followed behind his mother.

The young man had no time to take in the familiar herb-filled room as he was met with a warm embrace. His mother joyfully welcomed her son home.

Silence fell on the room. The embrace between mother and son said more than thousands of words.

Tepo’s restless heart calmed down. A subconscious tension which had accompanied him for months left his mind. He noticed the wetness in his mother’s eyes and hugged her even more tightly.

Only after a few minutes did Reahva and Tepo slowly step back. The gentle woman held her son’s shoulders, her concerned eyes mustering Tepo’s body.

The warrior had already deactivated his mask. He spoke with a shaky voice:

“It feels great to be home.”

“Indeed…”

Suddenly Reahva stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes focused on Tepo’s neck. She spotted something below the red scarf she made for her son.

Tepo averted his eyes in shame as his mother carefully pushed his scarf aside. The woman shivered slightly as she stared at the scarred skin on her son’s neck.

“You… what happened here? Tepo?”

“This… is just a normal injury during a dungeon exploration. As a warrior I can’t avoid being injured.”

Reahva bit her lips. She wanted to say a lot of things, but she also grew up in this society. She knew what the live of a warrior entailed. Still, how could a mother not worry for her child?

As a tear threatened to run down Reahva’s cheek the gentle woman hastily turned around.

She tried to open a cabinet but needed multiple attempts due to her shaking hands.

Tepo watched the brown-haired woman, not knowing what to say. Only a dry ‘mom’ left his throat…

Reahva took a deep breath as she rummaged through her things. Finally, a finely crafted box made out of a dark wooden material appeared in her hands.

Reahva put her hand on the box. With a click some mechanism reacted, unlocking the box, and revealing soft red interior carrying a large number of pill bottles.

Doing her best to control her hands Tepo’s mother shifted through them. Soon she found what she was searching for. A small bottle containing three pristinely white pills.

Reahva turned around again looking at Tepo with a smile which didn’t reach her eyes. She presented the pills to her son.

“Here. Tepo, use these. They will help your injury to heal. Or never mind. Just take the whole box.”

With eyes wide open in surprise Tepo stared at his mother. Even he could tell that none of the pills in this box were simple. All of them were of high-quality, not something you would get elsewhere in the Floating Rain City.

“Mom those… are way too precious. Where did you get them? It’s a waste to take such a pill to cure some old scars.”

Tepo spoke carefully as he took the box from his mother’s hands.

Listening to her son, the gentle woman was silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh. Finally, she stabilized her emotions.

“I guess it’s just hard for me to see my baby injured…”

Tepo didn’t know how to answer his mother. He could only stammer in embarrassment:

“I… I’m sorry.”

Reahva smiled lightly and began changing the topic.

“Were you injured during training? I hope your organization protects you well, or I have to hold a serious conversation with them!”

Relieved, Tepo hastily answer his mother. He immediately did his best to reassure her:

“Don’t worry mother. My organization is great. We have an unimaginably powerful guardian!”

“Yeah? What rank?”

“I’m not sure. But she is stronger than the man who recruited me. And this man was already looking down on the mayor. So, I’m assured that they can protect themselves in the Carrying Winds World.”

“Hah. I’m still a bit worried that you don’t dare to tell me their names. Just the technique you used to change your face is not simple.

As a mother it is difficult not to feel unsettled.”

Tepo opened his mouth, but he could only sigh. It might be impossible to comfort his mother’s worries.

Subsequently mother and son had a long conversation. The young warrior told his mother about his journey so far, doing his best to let it sound as harmless as possible. In the end it almost resembled a fairy tale for kids, but Reahva enjoyed it.

Deep into the night the woman finally urged her son to leave, but Tepo proudly showed of his stealth skill. This convinced Reahva to agree to Tepo’s wish to sleep at home.

In the darkness it was easy for Tepo to follow his mother sneakily. No one out on the streets was able to spot the young warrior in such a rather weak city.

Therefore, mother and son arrived at their home without any problems, where Reahva only needed to hold open the door for a moment longer, letting the invisible Tepo in.

Covering one window Tepo had enough space to move without any chance to get spotted from outside.

The warrior was still displeased that he had to go through all this hassle, but in the end, he was rewarded with a sumptuous meal cooked by his mother, making it all worthwhile.