“…ck.”

Huh?

“B—“

Am I hearing things, or have I finally met my end?

I lost the will to even figure it out, resting my mind.

A deep sense of satisfaction surfaced, if I could look at my face it would probably have a smile on it.

As to why?

Who knows?

Suddenly, my body immediately froze up, in the literal sense. I gasped, opening my eyes. I sat upwards searching for what caused it. It was still dark yet the sky had gone from pitch dark to a more bearable one. A figure loomed in front me, gazing at me.

Was it the person who attacked me? It isn’t possible, I ma—

“So this is where you went…” the figure muttered.

When they stared more intently, they moved backwards. “Wait. Who are you!?” They exclaimed, shocked.

They grabbed a nearby candle, lighting it up to see better. Both of us stared at each other realizing the identities of one another.

“Wha—“

“Serge, what are you doing here?” I asked, rubbing my arm, wincing whenever my hand made contact with my skin.

“I…no—“ Serge's mouth hung wide open, his eyes wide open.

He immediately kneeled down to me, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. He proceeded to start supporting me as I limped.

“What are you doing?” I asked another question with a hoarse voice.

“Huh!? Isn’t it obvious? We’re finding a healer!” He shouted, visibly worried.

I slightly pushed him, in response he stopped. I coughed up blood. I attempted to cover the mess by placing my hand over my mouth, the results were minimal as most of my blood splattered on the ground.

“Why did you push me? Don’t you see how critical your condition is!?” Serge urged me to stop resisting.

“I’m okay,” I said, dismissing his worries.

“The fuck? Of course you’re not okay! Look at you!”

I turned around my head, pointing my finger at the cloaked figure who was luckily still unconscious. Serge followed my stare, he grunted in confusion.

“Get them in safe space, we don’t have time to find a healer,” I explained, staggering onto a wall.

Serge bit his lip, understanding my request. At the end of the day, finding a healer would be extremely difficult in the middle of the night. This isn’t to mention not many people can use healing magic in the first place.

While we do not know the reason, many assume they’re certain characteristics one needs to hold to gain the ability. And even that theory has a lot of holes.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

An exception to the theory—

“Dammit! Fine! I’ll do it. Though I will prioritize your safety over this motherfucker.” Serge contained his fury.

With that he roughly picked my attacker, running out the building.

I smiled, thankful.

I waited.

I waited for a long time.

Though with every second passing my excruciation increased by tenfold. I lost count how many times I had tried to count every second passing.

Yet, not once did I regret my actions.

Why would I?

I intentionally chose this option. I fully understood the suffering would increase if I prioritized someone else other than myself.

In the first place, I held no resentment towards them. Not a single ounce of malice was directed at them.

For one, I could sympathize.

Sympathize with their situation. Although I haven’t gone through a similar situation, their predicament is a very common one.

I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It made no difference if I wasn’t here.

They would’ve found more prey to hunt.

Who am I to blame them for trying their best to survive?

Who am I to reject the notion of instinctual behavior?

I have no right to condemn their actions.

And I will never have.

“Hk—!” I exclaimed through my close mouth.

It hurts.

The pain never subsided.

The agony is more prevalent than ever.

At the moment of my groan of pain, two people came into the building. One was Serge Lipski while the other was a familiar looking woman. She desperately ran towards me, observing my condition.

Not sparing a single glance at Serge, she shouted at him.

“Wasn’t it your job to find her before anything happened!? How can you be so fucking useless!?”

Her tone was way different from last time. While the first time she was angry, this time she held pure animosity.

And a hint of despair…?

Her palm hovered over my bloody cheek. Her hand emitted a green light. Even though I felt no better, I was sure this wasn’t the whole treatment.

I hope so.

Serge stood dejectedly, not answering her. His lip severely bled as he avoided eye contact.

“Answer me, Lipski!“ she shouted, leaving me and heading towards Serge. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, threatening to attack him.

“God! Please just fucking heal him! I don’t care how much you insult me, you can even punch me if you want. I. don’t. care. So heal him! Please!” Serge responded by begging.

Begging her to heal me only made her fury even stronger. She slapped Serge on the face. “What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time! If his injuries weren’t as bad then I wouldn’t have to do this!”

“..w—“ I forced myself to speak, gathering both of their attention.

“No need to fight. You see, I’ll be fine,” I said, trying to reassure them.

My plan seemed to backfire as the woman stared at me in shock. Her body froze before she opened her mouth.

“Fine!? You call that fine!?” she cried.

“I—“

My body suddenly felt even heavier. It was evident by my body collapsing once again to the ground. The fall for some reason wasn’t as painful as last time. This made Serge glare at the woman in which she nodded sideways, clearly expecting this.

Once again, I’m losing consciousness. The thing I saw was the woman rubbing my arm. Since it was blurry I couldn’t make out the exact actions.

Ah, I almost forgot. This woman in front of me was the same one who verbally tried to prevent Serge from harming the slaves.

If I remember correctly her name is Andreana.