“As your father have told you, Miss Claire, you will be sent back home the moment you have no-”

“I will become a Light Healer.”

Cutting my maid’s words, Elma, I reaffirm my objective.

As the horses’ hooves hitting the paved ground make sounds, it echoes inside the carriage while Elma and I wait to arrive at our destination.

Right now, I am heading to a place where young men and women are taught to learn holy arts, Clantara Holy Knights Institute. That place teaches aspiring Holy Knights how to combat against the Demon Race.

Although it’s a place where they teach Holy Knights, they also provide teaching for healing arts for aspiring Light Healers.

And my aim there is to become a Light Healer.

“Miss Claire, although I’m in no position to say this, I don’t want you to go fight in the frontlines.” Elma said with a concerned tone.

Her words are filled with kindness and concern, I am fully aware of that. Yet her kindness irritates me due to my current situation. “Are you going to be like Father, Elma?” I asked her.

“No, I mean—”

“No. If I stay in that house, I’ll end up like sister too. I don’t want to become a political piece for his benefit.” I rolled my eyes to the window.

Although I turned my head away from her, I could feel her moving to my side. “Even so, there are other choices aside from being a Light Healer.”

I rest my head on my arm while looking out the carriage window while ignoring Elma. Well, I intend to ignore her, but I could still hear her.

Yes, she’s right. There are other things I could be aside from becoming a Light Healer. However, not becoming a Light Healer would mean wasting my Gift.

I want to tell her this, but this is something that I need to keep for myself. Only a handful of people know about my Gift. If this secret becomes known, there’s a possibility I would endanger my life.

It seems that Elma has finally given up in convincing me to turn back. She just sits there with her head hanging down. She’s very unrefined for a lady who’s in her mid-20s even if she’s just a maid.

While I look out the window, I could see vast wheat fields divided by a river. And beyond that, large mountains that touch the clouds could be seen. Legend says that this was created from an aftermath of a war against the Demon Race.

Supposedly, this flat land used to be hills and the rivers were large lakes.

As we continued with our travel, I notice that there’s a young man walking alone on the road. He wore white clean clothes that looked familiar. His hair is purplish black so I can tell he isn’t of local origin.

“Elma, isn’t that the Institute’s uniform?” I asked with my head out of the window.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Elma hurriedly peeks out the window to see the man I’m taking about. “Yes, Miss Claire. That’s indeed a uniform of a Holy Knight.” She confirmed.

As we slowly went past him, we could see that his face does indeed look like a foreigner. He must be an exchange student from another country.

I suddenly realized that it was improper and rude to stare at a stranger so I pushed back Elma and returned inside the carriage. Strangely enough, the young man didn’t seem to mind us.

“So that’s what a Holy Knight in training looks like.” Elma said while looking impressed.

“He seems to be disciplined very well. He looks like a cold person with his sharp eyes though.” I commented.

As Elma and I feel excited from seeing a student for the first time, we fall into silence once again.

In that silence, I realized something.

“Mister, how far are we from the Institute?” I asked the coachman.

“About an hour, mistress.” He replied respectfully.

So our destination is still roughly an hour away, we departed from a nearby town almost thirty minutes ago, and we haven’t seen any buildings along the road during the duration of our travel…

Doesn’t that mean he’s been walking for more than an hour now!?

“STOP THE CARRIAGE!”

The moment I yelled to the coachman, he pulls the reigns and the carriage stops with the horses screaming. After that, I immediately exited the carriage and stood outside.

“Miss Claire, what are you doing!?” Elma followed in a panic.

“What do you mean by ‘What’?” I retorted. “That man has probably been walking for more than an hour under this hot weather. Have you not known of compassion?”

“Yes, your kindness is admirable, but we don’t know who that person is!” she retorted.

Though she tried to pull me back into the carriage, I stood my ground while waiting for the man to walk up to me.

As he approaches us, for some reason, he only glanced at me for a second and then looked like he isn’t stopping. When he walked past me, both Elma and I were surprised, very surprised that we stopped moving for a second.

It was like he only glanced at an inanimate object and walked right past it. How insulting!

“WAIT A MINUTE!” I yelled at the man.

It seems that I got his attention. He stops walking at turns his head towards us. Weirdly enough, his expression did not change like some sort of mask.

“Yes?” he said in monotone.

“Yes! You! Why didn’t you stop walking?” because of what he did, I inadvertently got furious and raised my voice.

He paused for a moment while making a thinking gesture. After that, he replied “Why should I?” still in monotone voice.

The way he reacts doesn’t feel normal at all! Why did he even pause? Moreover, is he being sarcastic?!

“What do you mean ‘Why should I?’?! It’s normal to react to someone who waited for you under this scorching hot sun!” I yelled again.

Still, with a pause, he looks at me, then Elma, then the coachman while making a thinking gesture.

For some reason, his gestures are more expressive than his face…

“Oh, I see. You’re trying to offer me good will by letting me ride your carriage.” He said with a slightly energetic tone.

But was there a reason to explain it by detail? He’s a weird person.

Still, I’m thankful that he finally realized my intention. “It’s a good thing that you finally understood.”

“I’m grateful for the offer, but I can’t accept since you are a stranger.” He immediately rejected.

Just who in the world is this man!? Although I do understand what he means, he’s being unreasonably dense!

As he walks away, I chase after him and then blocked his path with my arms spread to the sides.

“Um, excuse me? I have to go some—”

“I cannot let you pass without accepting my good will. Especially now that you stepped over my pride! I cannot allow it!” I announced.

As I stood in front of him, he looks at me with a confused expression with his head titled to the side.

“I was told not to talk to strangers nor interact with them.”

“My name is Claire Elroy! What’s your name!?”

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I feel like I couldn’t leave him alone just by listening to the way he talks and react. Maybe it’s just the heat getting into me.

As I look at him, I can’t tell what his thinking. As I stare at his dark brown eyes, they seem to be like looking directly at my soul.

However, just when I was about to fall deep into those eyes, his voice shakes my eardrums as he says his name. “My name is Axel.”

-end of Chapter 1-