There are three words that describe my current mood perfectly: Pain, confusion, and annoyance.

The pain stems from an experience that I had never had before and I wish I would have avoided it. I hear my bones scraping on each other and a strange smacking sound which makes me think about how lumps of flesh grating on one another due to the blood flow. I feel a torturous throbbing at several places of my body, though it has to be the worst in my mouth. My right arm feels like rivers of coldness are running through the bones, my toes feel like burning clumps that are merely attached to my feet instead of growing out of them, and the list goes on. To summarize it: My body is a whole new world of pain, more colorful and diverse than I would have been able to imagine before.

The confusion comes from the fact that I have no idea where I am, barely an idea what has happened before I passed out... or the last few days for that matter, and that I have the feeling that shit is going on that I'm supposed to know, but somehow nothing really clicks. Which is especially strange, considering the two people that are fighting on the ground.

Who are also the sources of my annoyance, as the noise this makes is very distracting for someone who is still busy puzzling stuff together. Like my name, occupation, and why my whole body hurts and feels broken.

“YOU WON'T TAKE RED!”

“You told me that before. So get off me! HELP, THIS MAN IS RAPING ME!”

“I'M A GIRL!”

“Oh right, you have breasts. HELP, THIS GIRL IS RAPING ME!”

“MIRIANNE!” “WHERE IS THE ELF!?” “WHY DID SHE DO THAT!?”

“Phrrrrwwww” I can't even sigh right, as my jaw is tied shut. I try to sit up, it's clumsy, hurtful, and probably not good for my health, but even if it's jarring, I seem to be able to move my body somewhat. I tear at the bandage that holds my jaw to loosen it a bit, a sharp pain assaults my head, and after a second of wincing, I feel a bit more room to move my mouth. I open it, but don't know what to say. Also, I feel incredibly exhausted after so little.

However, my work is rewarded, as both girls are looking my way. The white-haired one is pulling the brown hair of the other one... Yes, the one who looks like an elf is my friend Ara-san. The other... I don't know. Did I forget about her? Probably, but let's first assume that she's a stranger I don't trust. Especially given that she has her forearm against Ara-san's throat, willing to strangle her to death. Is she also the one, who messed her that badly up?

I mean, Ara-san has scratches all over her visible skin, her dress is in tatters, and she's clearly exhausted and there is a lingering fear around her and--- strange, that I know that. “Ara-san?” While the words feel so very wrong when I form them into my mouth, as my front teeth are either missing or broken, and part of my tongue is also gone, they come out clearly: “Stop playing around.”

“Don't be like that,” she says, as she swiftly takes the thumb of the brown-haired girl into her hand, somewhat twists it, causing her to cry out in pain, loosening her grip. Then Ara-san slips out of the strangle with little to no effort, suddenly standing above the other girl.

However, with eyes full of frightening madness, the human girl tries to grab the legs of the alfr, who jumps at the ceiling and grabs one of the beams and swings her legs upwards, so that she's basically sitting on the beam upside down. “GET DOWN!” the girl ear-piercingly screams, which gives me new kinds of headaches over my old ones.

Seriously, what is her deal!?

“No.” Ara-san is having her fun, but she also realizes immediately that she has more pressing matters to attend: “Kenta-kun, things are looking bad.”

Pictures slam into my mind, all of them horrifying, like a giant shockwave cutting through the air and ground, or some sort of colorful display. Shit, I think she's right, though my mind has trouble keeping up, maybe I hit my head too much. Nah, ‘definitely’. No 'maybe' here, and I have to extend it to 'my everything' as well.

Usually, I'd just brush off the crazy girl and leave, but the only reason I know my legs are there is because of the pain they give me, not because I get any other sort of feedback. I try to move them, but regret it immediately, as it feels like poisonous centipedes eating through my flesh. Or at least, I'm sure how this should feel. “Uggh.” Even repressing my cry of pain just increases the agony. I'm breaking out in a new layer of sweat, and my thoughts are overwritten by the intense feelings I experience. “Painkillers!” I need some, or I'll go crazy!

Suddenly, I feel a warm hand on my face. Unable to see through the curtain of tears and pain, I accept whatever is given to me. Thanks to how a hero's body functions, the painkillers start to work immediately and now I may only feel like half myself, but also only half the pain. “Are you alright, Red?” The one giving me medicine is the girl, Ara-san is next to her.

I think I just missed a moment, as they no longer attack each other. I also feel tired, I only need to rest my eyes a bit...

When I open them up again, I see the two girls from before at my bedside. “He's awake,” says Ara-san with a bored voice, though she seems to be relieved. “I apologize, Kenta-kun, but Mirianne-san is unreasonable.”

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“I don't trust you,” the girl in question comments.

“Could you tell her that we're allies?”

...so this brown-haired girl is trying to protect me from Ara-san, why--- ah, alfr. Makes sense. Even I, who knows how they really are, would hesitate to allow any of them close to an injured person: “She's my friend,” I say as clearly as possible. It still feels weird, I shouldn't be able to speak so clearly, I definitely felt my tongue slipping off my... how is that part in front of the gum even called!?

“You see?”

“Alright, Re-- I mean... Kenta-san,” the unknown girl says begrudgingly, “I'll trust you on that.”

“Mirianne, don't act like you're the one making the decisions,” an older woman I didn't notice before scolds the younger girl. Now that I look at it, I see several adult men here with farming tools in their hands, most of them watching Ara-san's every step. “Now we can all relax a bit, right? Ara'ainn-dono, come with us, I think Kenta-dono needs more rest.”

I do feel exhausted, but to be honest, I don't think that rest will help here. “I'm at a farm, right? Sell us a cart and a draft animal, and we're on our way.”

“You need rest, and we need every-”

Gosh, this reminds me of school: “Pay her, Ara-san.”

“Certainly.” Ara-san grabs into her backpack and takes one of the bags of coins we have. “50,000 Newgold,” she says: “Do I need to smack you in the face with it for you to measure?” It's a large sum, I can see the shock in everyone's face. We have saved a lot by now and while it's still a large sum, I don't care right now.

“I-I-I---” The middle-aged woman stutters, as she takes the bag, which is much heavier than she expected and looks at its contents. She has most likely never even seen the larger 10,000 Newgold coins. “This is too much and-”

Something like a conscience, huh? “Then take it as a guarantee. We'll be back with the cart, and if not, keep it. We don't have much time to waste.” Either we can return or we won't need that money, it's as simple as that. I noticed that I somewhat recovered most of what happened and I know what I have to do.

This offer makes the woman falter: “Erm... very well, let's do that...” Guess Ara-san won't need to smack her with the bag.

“Where is my gear?”

“Here it is, Red!” The braided girl shows me a heap on a table. There is my armor, and my spear, and whatever is left of my clothes.

“Backpack.” While my whole body is covered by bandages, I want a new set of clothes. The girl gives it to me, and I put it next to me, so that I can use my left hand, the only one I can move, to take out a shirt and underwear. “...I can't dress myself...” Every movement hurts and what I can move is very little!

“Let me help, Red! Everyone, out!”

“I certainly won't let you be alone with Kenta-kun, Mirianne-san. He won't be able to resist when you jump on him.”

“I--- I won't do that, it's just-”

“Would you both scram!? Aa------ah” Pain! Cramping up also makes it hurt more.

After maybe ten minutes of some uncle carefully dressing me, I'm ready to put on my armor. Which is in impeccable condition. Strange... I check my status, and I immediately see what happened. It seems like I just learned some new [Skills]. Ara-san believes that sometimes a hero accumulates AP (Ability Points) and would be able to learn a [Skill], but this is put on hold until there is a need.

My new [Armor]-skill is [Auto-Repair], seems like a passive one, that drains some SP to semi-magically repair my armor. ...I really could have used it much earlier, because maintenance is a pain! Well, maybe it's tied to the condition of falling down a cliff after being punctured by several arrows? I'm being sarcastic.

I think it's a good sign. With the help of the uncle, I'm back in armor and he even helped to reduce the number of splints so that I can move at least a bit. “It's a miracle,” he says, as he watches how I stand up on my broken, though still splinted legs.

“I'd call it torture,” I mumble between pressed tee- gums. This feels so weird.

I guess the only reason I'm even conscious is the passive bonuses the curse gives me to all stats due to being close to one of my wives. I'm sure that the moment Ara-san is too far away, I'll collapse. Couple these bonuses to how a hero-body works, being able to keep moving no matter how beaten, and it's not that far fetched that I can even move under these circumstances.

Whether it's smart is an entirely other question, though. “Ara-san, come in.”

The other girl also enters the room, what is her deal anyway? “Wow, Red! I mean, Kenta-san! You look great!” I guess covering most of my head with the hood was the right call, I did it mostly to have as little air movement as possible on my skin, as it burns like being whipped with nettles.

“Cast [Regrow].” I hold my spear towards Ara-san, which is broken at two points.

“Kenta-kun, you may have forgotten, but [Regrow] only works on li-” Yup, she's surprised, as I infuse the wood of my weapon with my own spirit, giving it a pseudo-life. A new [Spirit Magic] of mine called [Inspirit]. “Oh, I have never seen something like this before! [Regrow]!” This spell repairs living plants, therefore my spear repairs in my hand. “Interesting! This shouldn't work, but it does. Is it because of a lack of understanding of [Spirit Magic] even in modern society, specific traits of this world, or maybe because you're not an alfr?”

“I have no idea, and neither the energy nor time to muse on it.” I take a small step, and I can feel the pain crawling—who am I kidding? Crawling? It's dashing in record pace from my heel to my head, pays then a visit to both my arms, makes a quick nap inside my stomach, only to leave from my navel to spread throughout my skin, which brings tears out of my eyes, and makes me lose balance.

Ara-san catches me, though the other girl suddenly takes my arm over her shoulder as well, which irritates Ara-san, as she seems to be offended by this action. I guess, having someone trying to take over despite her succeeding in the task rubs her off the wrong way.

Well, she certainly doesn't like this girl, but given how the two met...

I'm carried to a cart, which isn't even long enough for me to stretch my legs, but it's sufficient. “I need some cushion. Ara-san, would you mind?”

“Poor me, switching from one form of slavery to another.” She's certainly having fun, I guess she likes being dependent upon for a change? She takes parts of our bedding from the [Inventory], furs and some cushions, and spreads them on the bed. “Wait, does that mean-”

I turn to the farmers and point at Ara-san: “Tell her how to get to the next inn from here. Good night.” With this, I fall upon this improvised bed and get some sleep.