“Here we are.” Carol stretched her hands after arriving at their destination. They stood in front of a two-story manor.

An old, imperial-era building that had stood there for hundreds of years. It had dark brown-colored bricks and large windows. The building had a gray stone wall surrounding it. Some of the stones had different colors, the ones on the top in particular.

"When they heard you're buying this place, everyone came together to fix it up."

"Everyone?"

"Well, not everyone, everyone."

Raphael eyed the complex with curiosity. It would take a while for him to clean it on his own, so he was grateful. Still, he didn't expect the town to help him like this.

"I really should pay them back sometime."

"... If you're paying them back, then they'll need to pay you back again."

"Did I send that many?"

"Yes, you did send that many. You've been helping like what, two years? The number stacks up." Carol pulled out a set of keys and inserted them through the lock on the metal gate. She opened it. The metal gate was colored black, different from the gray stone walls. It looked sparkling clean, the paint still fresh.

Stepping into the garden, Raphael inhaled the fresh morning air. The garden had been filled with various different kinds of flowers and little potted plants. In the center of the garden stood an apple tree. Several fresh, bright red apples could be seen dangling on its branches.

"The mayor insisted on calling a mage just to make sure that the tree is fresh."

"Even the mayor!?"

"Well, one of those medicines did help his son."

"Whew…" Raphael didn't dislike the attention he received. What he did dislike was the expectation the people of this town had for him. Looking at the manor, his lips twisted into a little smile.

"Future Ranger Carol Priya. I now declare you my assistant!"

Carol stood upright, bringing her right hand horizontally above her chest. With a sharp gaze, she opened her mouth,

"Yes, Sir! I shall do my best!"

Raphael smiled and headed for the manor's wooden double door. He stopped underneath its presence, marveling at the build quality of the two doors. He stretched out his hand and touched the door's surface.

"This is smooth."

Carol stood behind him, giving him cold looks.

"Do doors not exist in your dorm?"

"They do, but nothing of this caliber."

"Raphael, that's a usual, brown door."

"But it's huge."

The double doors were one and a half times taller compared to Raphael. Based on the feel, Raphael would predict that it was made out of walnut wood. It had an alluring deep, dark brown color.

"Come on." Carol slid in front of him, unlocking the door. "I'm a bit worried if, out of this entire manor, the front door is the one that attracted you the most."

"..."

Raphael wasn't as interested when he looked at the pictures in the online ad. The manor looked terrible. He thought if he couldn’t fix it, he would just demolish it and build a new one.

It was a rundown manor, after all. Its owner had died more than a hundred years ago. None of his children took over, and the manor was handed to the town. The town had been trying to sell it since. A relic from the imperial era that no one wanted, not even Mr. Rodger, the history geek himself, showed interest when he showed it to him. It just looked that terrible. Overgrown, and fallen out of grace. Not even that rare in the first place.

It was consumed by age, and coupled with the price and the distance from the center of town, it was simply not appealing.

Raphael bought it under the condition that he could also buy the large, empty field across from it. Out of curiosity, he brought out his phone and checked the sales page for the manor.

It's… so different…

He definitely needed to thank everyone after this.

"If you think the outside is shocking, wait until you see this," Carol, who had been paying attention to him, pushed the doors. The two wooden doors slid open, revealing the interior of the manor.

“... This is nothing like the pictures.”

“No, no it’s not.” Carol grinned. Sparkling white marble floors, clean light brown walls, luxurious and well-crafted maple furniture. A far cry from the photos he saw in the ad. Almost nothing from the original, run-down manor remained. Everything had either been fixed, restored, or outright replaced.

“How much does this all cost?” Raphael asked while gawking at the interior. It had become way too clean, to the point he felt uncomfortable. Since he was so busy creating medicine, the free time he had back in university he used for sleep or sometimes, studying. The dorm room was a mess, and he expected that his manor would soon see the same fate.

Seeing all the effort the townsfolk put in for him, he would feel terrible if he didn’t take care of it, but…

“This is bad…”

Carol saw his gloomy gaze and began panicking.

“It doesn’t cost more than the amount you save by giving away medicine for free, so don’t worry about it!” Carol panicked as she tried to reassure him.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, so there’s no need to worry!”

“But still…”

“Come on. Just think of it as a fruit of your labor, alright.”

“I mean, yeah, but-”

“Don’t worry about it! Everyone’s happy to help, I even have some photos!” Carol brought her phone out and searched through her gallery. It took her a while, but she soon turned the screen toward him. On it were pictures of various townsfolk scurrying all around the manor, carrying boxed and fixing items, all with a smile on their faces.

“It even turned into some kind of gathering, you see!”

“I’m glad, I guess?”

“... So what are you so worried about? All these people helped you out because you helped them.” Carol looked at him with a gentle smile. She walked forward and reached for his hand.

“We’re together now, so no need to worry, okay?” She clasped his hand, transferring her warmth.

“... Why do I feel like we’re misunderstanding something?”

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Carol cocked her head at his response.

“I mean, this is so nice to the point that I feel bad dirtying it, but I will if I wanted to focus on making enough medicine, I won’t have time to clean the place… Maybe I should get a maid, or make an automated robot?” Raphael started muttering ideas, all while having his hand held onto by Carol.

Carol turned his head downward and let out a sigh, squeezing Raphael’s hand tighter.

“... Carol?” Raphael snapped out of his thoughts, addressing the girl standing before him. She shook her head and let go.

“Are you really that busy?”

Raphael could only nod. Creating effective medicine that lasted long took time. Magic couldn’t be automated, nor could it be used by robots. He had no intention of rescuing everyone, hence why he preferred to be left anonymous. He didn’t want people to come knocking on his doorstep late at night, asking for help. He knew he wouldn’t be able to reject them. Just the thought of it filled him with a headache.

An exhausting, repetitive process. Yet he had been the one to be gifted with these skills. He had some obligation to use them for the greater good. He didn’t want to throw away that obligation, nor follow it like his life depended on it. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

“Carol…”

“Yes?”

Raphael searched for a sofa and slumped down on it, letting out an exhausted breath. He looked up at the ticking clock. It was time for lunch, but he found himself having no interest in doing so.

“What is it?” Carol asked again, a hint of worry in her voice.

“I’m not the saint everyone expected me to be,” he said, not wanting to hide anything. He didn’t mind people banding together to build him a manor, nor did he particularly dislike the praises, but he was simply afraid of committing to it. He tip-toed between wanting to help everyone, but not wanting to fully commit to it. He didn’t want his life to be filled with only making medicine, yet he didn’t want others to suffer as well.

“...”

Not hearing Carol’s response, Raphael looked up at her.

“Ah, I’m not saying it’s your fault… it’s just, I want to sleep well at night too, if you get what I mean,” he said while scratching his cheeks.

I wouldn’t mind once or twice a month, but I don’t think I can handle more than that.

He knew it was selfish. He had been blessed with an ability dreamt of by many. People looked at him with reverence, awe, hope, and often envy. He knew he did nothing worthy of this ability.

It was an entirely selfish request, but he wanted to live normally, like a normal person.

“I’m sorry.” Carol lowered her head. Raphael stood up and threw his hand around her.

“It’s not your fault, okay? I’ll get used to it, probably.”

He didn’t know how to say it, but he was sure that Carol too would be dragged into this. After they got married, they would be living in the same house. A knock on Raphael’s door meant a knock on Carol’s. Making medicine and helping people was his choice, he didn’t want to burden her with it. Even if it wasn’t a burden to Carol, he would still feel terrible nonetheless.

And now, with so many expectations on his shoulders, he couldn’t just discard them all. He needed to carry them if he still wanted to live with himself.

“We will always walk forward no matter what, so let’s think about that some other day, alright?” He didn’t feel like he had the right to say that, considering he was the one who brought the mood down, but he said it regardless. It needed to be said. Not for Carol, but for him. So that he could move forward. A future filled with endless challenges. A heavy burden on his shoulders. He didn’t want to throw it away. He didn’t want to be crushed by it.

Carol didn’t say a word, she simply nodded, her head moving up and down on his chest. She clenched the fabric of Raphael’s shirt. As she remained on his chest, he used his magic to create a piece of tissue. He lifted his right hand, light blue lines appearing from it, forming a tissue in his palm. He let Carol go and wiped the tears of her beautiful black eyes.

“This… this is not the time for your wizardry,” she said with a dry smile.

“Well, let’s not discuss that.”

Carol stayed still, letting Raphael wipe her tears off.

“Thank you,” she murmured. Raphael nodded with a smile, albeit his chest hurt a bit. A kind of pain that, unfortunately, couldn’t be healed by magic or medicine.

My girlfriend is a lot cuter when she’s smiling, but this side of her is also precious.

“Let’s think about something else. It’s not like I have anything scheduled for today.”

“You sure? How about the shipments?”

“Ah, right…” he had completely forgotten about them. The two carried them from the car, dropping them in the kitchen. All the seafood the professor ordered had been stored in a styrofoam box. He had a refrigerator, so he didn’t need to worry about the other styrofoam box, the one that contained the gifts from the seaside villagers.

The refrigerator was pretty large, but not large enough to store the contents of both boxes.

“... What should we do about this?” Clara asked. Raphael glanced at her, feeling relieved that she had recovered from the previous tears.

“Sorry, I made you cry. Not long after I returned, no less.”

“Ah, no, that’s my fault as well…” she twiddled her fingers.

“Still, it's not like the fish will stay fresh if we discuss that.”

“You’re right.”

Raphael extended his hand above the seafood. He closed his eyes, concentrating. Magic worked in weird ways for him. People often talked about things like chanting, channeling magical power, using energy, things of the like, and various different ways of utilizing magic. But for him, all he needed was to tell his mind the thing he wanted. The power of mind was a common thing in magic casting, using thoughts to form magic, but the result often came in a much simpler form, like wind magic or fire magic.

He wanted a tissue, thought about said tissue and where it would appear, maybe put some thoughts to the shape, color, or properties of said tissue, and viola, the tissue appeared just like he had expected. The same could be said of medicine. He thought about a medicine that could heal all simple wounds and symptoms. He made sure that the medicine didn’t have any side effects and also added that if the symptoms were of a disease the magic medicine couldn’t cure, then the effect would return immediately. Add some more details like the shape of the paste and the packaging, mix it all together and the medicine would appear right in front of him.

A truly revolutionary medicine, one that admittedly got him in trouble more than once. When he first made it, no one trusted him. He spent countless hours being interrogated by his professors and real doctors. In the end, they couldn’t find fault with his creation. It was tested, and no one could explain how it worked. It just. They reluctantly let him spread them. Spreading them under the university’s name was his choice, and the university never received a complaint even until this day.

His once ‘enemies’ had turned into his allies. After seeing just how effective the medicine was, they had been researching it day and night. But they failed to replicate anything similar.

The thought saddened Raphael, to the point he lost his concentration. The seafood, which previously had started to glow, lost its light.

“Raphael?” Carol asked.

“... It’s weird to think that I’m the only one with this kind of ability. It would be nice if there were people like me.”

“A lot of people wanted that too, you know?”

“Yeah, and I feel like I’m betraying their expectations.”

They needed to study hard just to be able to use normal magic, and they still followed the rules of magic. For someone like him to be able to do as he pleased, it didn’t feel right. Even now, he could apply a time-freeze magic without much effort. He tried concentrating again, closing his eyes.

“Tell me when the ice spreads throughout the entire box.”

“Okay.”

He concentrated. He thought about the styrofoam box of delicious seafood. He even imagined the smiles of his professor once this wonderful box arrived at his doorstep, the delight on his face.

“Stop,” Carol said twenty seconds later. He opened his eyes, the entire box covered with what looked to be crystal-clear ice. It didn’t have the cold property of normal ice, however. The magic kept the seafood in its current state, protecting it from being spoiled. Carol poked on it.

“Feels just like solid ice, but where’s the cold?”

“It’s not ice magic. It basically removes all contact between this world and the area it covers.”

“An entire pocket universe? Wow…”

“Well, nothing as grand,” Raphael chuckled. He took out his phone and searched for one of his contacts.

‘Can you pick up some cargo? For the prof.’

As he waited for a reply, he stood up. Carol followed him and the two stored the contents of the other box in the refrigerator.

“I wonder what I should do with them.”

“Do you even need them in the first place? You can just make food out of thin air, right?”

“Yeah, but they don’t taste as great. It required me to concentrate on the taste, after all.”

“Right…”

Raphael felt his phone vibrate. He checked the notification.

‘I’ll be there at eight. Will that be alright?’

‘... Can you come earlier? Just for today?’

‘I’ll head out right now.’

‘Thanks, and sorry for this.’

‘I’ll take any excuse to fly.’

He looked back at the styrofoam box. The professor loved his food, so he didn’t want to make him wait.

“How about I cook lunch?” Carol asked, pointing toward the styrofoam box in the refrigerator.

“Sure. You mind if I make some medicine?”

“Of course not. I would rather keep you away from the kitchen.”

“Look, it’s not like I will actually cook just salt.”

Carol sharpened her gaze.

“Okay… maybe I did eat rice and salt several times back in the dorm.”

“See? Oh, they made a laboratory for you. It lacked any equipment, though,” Carol pointed toward a room at the far end of the living room.

“Don’t worry, I don’t need any.”

“Okay.”

Raphael went to the lab, trusting the kitchen with Carol. The laboratory looked pretty basic, a large empty room with a window facing the garden. It had a shelf to the side, with a table and a chair in the center.

“This’ll do for today. Alright,” he stretched himself and approached the chair, beginning his work.