After a silent prayer he opened his eyes and casually browsed the rest of the tattered book, burned pages made a few words and figures incomprehensible.

Numerous titles laid each page, God of Heroes, Goddess of Violence, Goddess of Truth, God of Trials, God of Grace, the pages kept going as numerous different gods’ names were plastered with short descriptions and warnings about each of them. At the very end of the book there was one sentence.

“There are no gods in this world, only beings so powerful that we cannot comprehend them so we could only call them gods.”

“Pops grew quite senile in his old days. They’re called gods because they are just that powerful.” Reinhold closed his book and stored it away carefully. He didn’t place this book inside his safe but just oddly left it on the bookshelf, to be met with the elements.

The sun directly above Green City gave the entire town a vibrant glow as the surrounding dark forest emphasized the life inside the city. Lurking mutated wildlife lurking inside it but the residents were mostly safe as long as they stayed within the city’s walls.

Alongside this change, a ringing bell came from within the city walls, a well-known custom within the city that there was massive news that could greatly affect the future of the city.

“One, two… ten, One, two… ten. Good news.” Reinhold counted how many times the bell rang for then waited for the ten second pause between the rhythmic ringing.

Reinhold grabbed his crutch but was about to go outside when he saw Miss Howards just outside in the vicinity, she was casually talking to her friend, still bragging about how reliable her son was.

He didn’t even hesitate to go back to his bed and just hope some passerby would mention the news.

Resting his tired body, he nearly dozed off when the noise from the plaza a few blocks away reached his ears.

“The news must’ve been interesting. I wish was there to hear it.”

Little did he know, a robed girl was frantically searching through the crowd trying to find a certain person. This was one of the few good things that will ever occur inside the city so he should’ve been here, yet he couldn’t find that man. She didn’t hesitate to climb up the roofs of multiple houses trying to use it as a vantage point to find a specific quality of the person she was looking for, a young man with a crutch.

“Where is he?! If he’s not here, then he must’ve gone to a hospital. Dammit! I knew this was a waste of time! Gotta hurry!”

She ran nimbly through the rooftops frantically going to one of the three hospitals in the city, she hasn’t gone to yet. She rushed inside frantically.

“W-Was there a person with a crutch that came by this morning or yesterday or even a few days ago or-“ Her words prattled on overwhelming the nurse by the desk.

“Calm down, miss. You’re trying to find a person with a crutch? I’m afraid I haven’t seen anyone with that description. If you’re trying to find someone with a crutch, I know a blacksmith that does a few odd jobs like that, you want their contact?”

“Y-Yes please, ma’am.”

The nurse brought out a piece of paper methodologically and the robed girl just asked her to just tell her where he worked. Time was running out.

The robed girl thanked the nurse and immediately ran away in the direction where the blacksmith lived.

“So fast.” The gust of wind she made the paper she wrote a few words on fly away.

Halfway to her destination, on top of one of the rooftops she was running on, her legs gave out.

She stumbled on her steps and fell down a two-story building down straight to the ground. Weirdly enough, her body was fine, other than the beads of sweat that appeared on her brow. She wiped it away while out of breath, she usually didn’t run this much since she only focused on bursts of speed for stealing but with so much on the line she had to keep running.

She stood up as soon as possible but felt her legs shaking, she could barely stand anymore.

“Move! I have to keep running! It’s only been six hours! Dammit! Move! Move! Move!”

She clenched her fists and started to assault her legs, purely blaming herself. After a tiny rest of a mere few minutes, she stood up with her legs aching in agony as she kept moving forward to find the blacksmith.

A few onlookers who saw the entire scene looked at the girl and tried to offer their help. With her back turned to the wall, she had no choice but to trust these random strangers. These people weren’t expecting such a tragic scene since they just came from the plaza after reading about the good news.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Please ask the blacksmith beside the guild if he recently built a crutch. I’m begging you to ask him if he knows a man with a crutch. My brother’s been poisoned by a red diamond python and that man has the cure.”

Hearing the notorious name “Red Diamond Python,” people understood why this girl was so frantic. Only through its tear ducts or using advanced alchemy and magic could one cure it. In this dilapidated region, there wasn’t any advanced alchemists, healing priests, or mages strong enough to cure the poison.

Even then, without its extremely toxic venom, its small stature and speed was barely perceptible to the human eye, only skilled people could handle it as one singular mistake could lead to their deaths.

Another young man, with his golden hair, immediately ran forward, skillfully ran through alleys and roads to reach a building with an open forge emitting a blazing heat. In front of the opening building, an old man was guiding his grandson about the art of his craft.

“See here, little Johnny. After metal reaches a certain temperature, it turns red, meaning it’s really hot. You shouldn’t touch it without proper equipment.” The old man brought the piercing metal inside the forge out, showing the red-hot metal emitting heat that made the little boy wince.

“Yes, yes. So, grandpa, what does this have to do with studying books?”

“Err. You really have your mother’s observational skills, hahaha!”

The old man was caught in the act, he was trying to make his grandson choose his profession instead of being a womanly scholar. He firmly believed that it was better for his grandson to earn a living through actual hard work instead of worthless paper writings.

“Alright you got me, tsk, tsk, like mother like son. I’ll teach you a tiny bit in this book.”

“Forgemaster! There’s an issue, someone got bitten by a Red Diamond Python and a person you might’ve done a job for has its tear ducts.”

The old saw how hurried the young man was and sent his grandson inside to read the book he gave him.

The old man’s frivolous expression now turned frosty, he eyes narrowed and spoke in a deep voice, “What do you need me for?”

“The man who has the cure had a crutch, did you perhaps make a crutch recently?”

The old man brought his hand to his chin, his eyes piercing the sunny sky in deep recollection.

“I’m afraid I haven’t taken any job involving a crutch. How long has the victim been bitten?”

“I don’t know, the girl just screamed out for help after falling down a five-meter-tall building.”

“A gifted asking for help, she must’ve been desperate.”

The young man sighed and sat down, not knowing to give her the news. The old man just let the young man rest, running such a far distance should’ve taken a lot out of him.

Soon enough, the girl alongside a few spectators intrigued by the drama came to.

She ignored how the young man and old man just sat around and desperately asked, “Sir blacksmith, you definitely know him right? Definitely! Thank goodness, I didn’t fail, right? Right?!”

The young man looked at the girl tearing down in front of him, as she said her words. He knew that she also knew what’s happening.

She kneeled down, despite it being just an hour past noon, her body had been thoroughly exhausted. Running throughout the entire city, she ran through countless rooftops, spoke to numerous people, spread herself thin until the only thing that kept her going was familial love. At this point she had nothing, only leaving enough energy to cry.

“Grandpa, who’s outside?”

“Oh, no need to worry little Johnny, carry on inside, we’ll talk later.”

“Momma said to help those in need! She’s crying so as a gentleman I should help her out!” The young boy placed the book in his hand beside him and went forward to ask her.

“Miss, young ladies shouldn’t cry. You’ll ruin your beautiful face.” The little boy smugly tried to cheer her up, only spouting nonsense from her mother’s words.

The only reply she gave was soft whimpers, she couldn’t even be bothered to look at the boy obviously younger than her.

“Stop it, you’re just hurting her. Just go back.” The old man brought his grandson that couldn’t read the mood, sometimes trying to help when it was entirely pointless hurts more.

“No! I won’t give up, at least not until I try! What happened to her?”

The young man sitting down sighed trying to humor the little boy to make him give up already, “We’re trying to find a man with a crutch, he has the only thing that could save her brother.”

At the mention of the word ‘brother,’ the girl choked in her tears.

“I’m sorry, Ian. I failed you. I-”

“Oh? A man with a crutch? I saw a guy like that last night, momma said not to be like that man, she said that he gambled away all his money and that I shouldn’t be like him.”

This tiny spark of hope coming from such a tiny voice brought back this girl to her senses. She widened her eyes as she tried to immediately speak but her tears kept her from coherently saying anything.

The old man immediately moved forward knowing that time was of the essence, “Little Johnny, do you know where he went?”

“Yup! I saw him when we were leaving the shop yesterday. He lives in that house.” The boy then pointed to a house a few blocks away.

The girl, seeing where little Johnny pointed to, didn’t even hesitate to wobbly stand up, almost falling over. She only took a few steps when her legs once again gave up on her, but this didn’t stop her. She still had her arms, she was desperately clawing her way towards where the man with a crutch lived, where Reinhold lived.

The old man’s heart ached at this scene, such determination to even claw her way, not merely leaving it up to others but taking her fate into her own hands.

“Girl, leave it to us, we still need you to tell us where your brother lives.”

The old man left the girl in the young man’s care and immediately ran over to where his grandson pointed to. He also told little Johnny to go back inside and bring out some water for the young girl to drink. Acting with pure naïve bravado, little Johnny went inside and brough her a glass of water with a few ice spheres floating around.

Arriving to the selected house, an old woman was slowly tending to the flowers outside the house. Her slow movements enforced the idea that the woman was too old for her own good. She was in a good mood from hearing the good news just an hour ago and was whistling to herself.

The old man immediately asked, “Does a man with a crutch live here?”

The old woman quite shocked but merely uttered, “The young man living here hasn’t come back home yet.”