The morning after didn’t exactly go as planned as I woke up alone in the tent. It wasn’t all that surprising considering what the girl went through, but I hoped we could’ve at least chatted before she vanished on me like that. Who knows, maybe we wouldn’t’ve even understood each other since I couldn’t utter a single word in Elven. Regardless, I hoped she’d reach home safely.
Leaving the tent, I turned to the pond, getting ready to take my first bath in ages. At one point, I stopped noticing how badly I smelled and just accepted it. Hoping the water wasn’t cold, I stretched my arms and took a deep breath while enjoying the morning Sun’s warmth. It felt nice stripping naked outdoors, something I’ve never done before, but at the same time felt a bit weird as if everyone was watching me. I couldn’t help but look around as if someone would just walk up to me, telling me it was inappropriate. Wouldn’t that be a funny sight?
Approaching the water turned out to be a bigger surprise than I expected. Now that I was close enough, I realized I couldn’t see anything underneath the surface. The mana outlined the water as a whole, giving it a gelatinous appearance. I was never big on swimming in deep waters as I hated the idea of some large fish nibbling on my leg, but this was even worse. As if being unable to see what was underneath wasn’t enough, I also had no idea how deep the pond was. Well, there was only one way to find out, so taking a deep breath, I took a step forward and bravely walked into the water.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it reached only a little over my waist, but to balance it out, it was freezing. I never understood how people could enjoy cold baths as if it was supposed to be a method of torture. Nothing was more desirable than a warm tub with a cup of wine to enjoy the evening; maybe it was just my inner noble talking.
“Refreshing,” I mumbled after splashing water over my chest.
However, my peace was soon disturbed as someone emerged from the water in front of me, taking me by surprise. Startled, I kept staring at the elven girl in front of me, who stood fully nude but invisible from the waist down.
“What are you doing here?!” She yelled, covering her breasts and averting her gaze.
“I. . . I was just! Amm, taking a bath?” I stumbled on words, clueless about what to say.
“I get that, but why would you come here if you saw me swimming?”
She sounded flustered, not that I could blame her.
“That’s just it! I didn’t actually see you in the water,” I defended myself.
“It’s waist deep. How could you not see me? Are you blind?”
“Umm. . . Actually? Yeah, I am,” I explained, letting out a sigh.
“You are?” she looked confused, gazing into my eyes for the first time. I don’t know what she saw, but it made her gasp as she lowered her arms, fully exposing her striking figure and well-proportioned breasts that were a bit of a handful. “Your eyes, they’re severely infected. What happened?”
I blushed, looking away as I forgot to mention that despite being blind, I could still see her perfectly. I tried closing my eyes, but that didn’t help as I could still see her shape with Mana Sense.
“My eyes got poisoned as a result of torture, so I lost my natural sight.” I considered telling her about my Mana Sense, but I felt it would’ve made things even more awkward.
“That’s horrible!” she sounded genuinely shaken by my explanation. “However, let’s talk about it once you turn around.”
“Huh?” I was confused for a second as I had my eyes closed.
“Well, you might not see me, but I’m pretty confident I could see you. . .” She averted her gaze again.
“Ah! Right,” I mumbled, turning around flustered. “I should leave you alone to finish up with your bath. Sorry.”
“No, no, please stay. It was rude of me to jump to conclusions in the first place, despite you saving me.”
She probably wanted to be considerate and didn’t mention that one of the reasons she didn’t mind was the fact that I was blind. However, I’ve focused so much on mastering Mana Sense that I never even thought about a way to stop using it, forcing me to ogle her body involuntarily.
“If I stay, I’ll just feel guiltier, so it’s fine,” I said, walking back to my clothes.
“Guiltier?” she mumbled as I caught her staring at me.
Just as I was about to leave the water, I stopped myself, speaking up, “Amm. . . Could you turn around?”
“Ah! Yeah,” she hastily turned around and dove under the water.
Just like that, she became invisible to me once again. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I reached for my pants; the rest of my clothing desperately needed to be washed. While I waited for her to finish her bath, I sat by a tree, practicing how to stop my Mana Sense, but it wasn’t working.
Having finished up, the elven girl slowly approached. “Hey, you’re free to,” she stopped talking after seeing me sitting down with my eyes closed.
“Yeah?” I asked, turning my head toward her but refusing to open my eyes.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t wish to wake you up.” She awkwardly smiled, keeping her distance.
“Don’t worry. I wasn’t asleep.”
“Ah, right. . .” I could see her struggling to figure out what was okay to say and what wasn’t.
“Hey,” I chuckled. “Name’s Alexander Kallis. Most people call me Alex, but you’re free to use whatever nickname you prefer. And please, don’t trouble yourself and just say what’s on your mind.”
“Alice,” she mumbled, still keeping her distance. “My name is Alice, and I’ll try.”
“Alice? What a beautiful name,” I said without thinking how it could sound flirty, focused more on my misconception that elves would have weirder names. “Would making a joke about being blind help you relax?”
“No, no. . . I’ll be fine,” Alice said, pulling her knees closer to the chest before wrapping her arms around.
“Phew. Good, because I don’t know any.” Caught off guard, she giggled innocently. “How silly of me.”
She kept quiet, appearing a bit shy and soft-spoken, but her voice was silvery, even more so when she talked confidently; I wouldn’t mind listening to her all day or having her read me a story.
“So,” she lowered her voice, looking to the ground. “What’s your story?”
“It’s a long one,” I sighed, smiling softly.
“We have time,” she said, glancing up at me curiously.
In the end, I told her everything, beginning with the ambush and ending with Fane’s torture. Of course, I left out most of the gruesome details, but based on her sympathetic gaze, I believed she filled in the blanks. However, I still refrained from telling her about Mana Sense. Honestly, I don’t even know when the right time to confess would be.
“And to think everything happened around my birthday,” I chuckled, looking at her timid posture.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She looked genuinely saddened listening to my story, quite telling of her personality.
“Meh, I guess that’s just life. But now that I’m free, I can hopefully reach my family.”
“You mentioned you’re from Eleron, right? Come with me to Thysa, and I’ll help you get home safely.”
“Are we south of Thysa?”
“Yeah, but it’s still a long way to go.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think you can just point me in the right direction, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“You don’t want to come with me? It’ll be safer.”
“I’m not sure I should be entering an Elven city. You seem kind-hearted, but I’m sure they won’t so easily forgive humans for what they’ve done to your lands.”
“I’m sure that wouldn’t be the case!” she raised her voice for the first time, sounding a bit too eager, in a cute childlike way. “Since you saved me, I’m sure they’d welcome you, and it’s not like elves inherently hate humans. I mean, some do, but most don’t. And besides, Eleron is a friend to Thysa.”
Her rambling made me chuckle, which in turn caused her to avert her gaze and become even more flustered.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Sorry for laughing,” I smiled warmly, noticing how she sounded like me whenever I tried to convince Penelope of anything. It made me want to go with her, but there was more I wanted to know about her before making a decision. “Hey, mind telling me how old you are?”
“Eighteen, why?” she looked at me curiously. “Oh, right. You mentioned all this happened to you around your birthday, so how old does that make you?”
“Ah, so we’re the same age.”
“For real?” she looked pleasantly surprised.
“What?” I chuckled. “Is it that shocking to hear?”
“It’s just that I don’t know many even remotely close to my age,” she explained, leaning her chin on the knees.
“How come? Isn’t Thysa a huge place?”
“Ah, I guess. However, I just never had the chance to meet all of them, and considering that elves have long lifespans, there’s often a big age difference between children.” It sounded like she was making excuses more so than anything, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
“That explains the shyness,” I teased.
“I’m not shy!” she defended herself.
“Then how come you’re sitting so far away?” I showed her a soft smile, leaning my head against the tree. “I don’t bite.”
“I just happened to sit here. That’s all. Look,” Alice said, standing back up before approaching me, sitting as close as possible with her legs crossed. “See?”
“I take it back,” I said but still believed she was a bit shy, which was to be expected. “I’m glad you’re not scared of me considering what happened. When I woke up and saw you gone, I thought you ran away.”
“Well, I was certainly disoriented and thought about escaping, but after noticing I was nursed back to health and that my mana replenished, I knew it was unlikely that you were one of them. Leaving the tent made it kinda obvious, so I didn’t want to disappear without at least saying thanks. So, yeah,” Alice said, lowering her voice to the point where it sounded like whispering. “Thanks for saving me.”
“No need to thank me,” I smiled, tilting my head downward. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“Thanks,” Alice whispered again, looking into my closed eyes with a worried smile. “Do they hurt?”
“My eyes? Nah,” I lied, but they didn’t hurt as badly, more like a slight burning sensation.
“I can’t do much about poison right now, but if we spot some herbs that I know could ease the infection, I’ll make you a mixture.” She sighed, grabbing my hand by surprise. “If I could convince you to come to Thysa with me, our healers could help and maybe even restore your sight.”
She pulled my palm closer to her face and allowed me to cup her cheek.
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused as I felt up her soft skin.
“Well, since you can’t see me, I hoped this would help you visualize how I looked. But it’s not working, is it?” Alice sighed, still holding my palm pressed against her cheek.
“I, ugh. . . I have a confession to make.” Considering we were going to travel together, there was no way of avoiding telling her the truth. Besides, I should’ve done that in the first place, so it was better to do it before things became complicated. Her innocent gaze that stared into my eyes didn’t help to admit the truth. “Listen, I’m blind, but at the same time, I’m not.”
“Huh?” she looked at me perplexed, and I would too if someone started an explanation like that.
“You see,” I sighed. “I have this ability I call Mana Sense which allows me to see despite being blind. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of it.”
“So you could see me in the pond?” Alice’s eyes went wide.
“When you’re out of the water, yes.” I awkwardly smiled. “Mana Sense allows me to sense everything within a certain radius.”
“So even when you turned around, you could still. . .” I felt her cheek suddenly becoming warm as she let go of my hand, averting her gaze in embarrassment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You surprised me, and I didn’t know how to react!” I raised my hands defenselessly. “I swear it wasn’t intentional, and I closed my eyes as soon as I saw you.”
“How does closing your eyes make it better?” she said, lowering her voice.
“It does because Mana Sense allows me to see everything clearly when I open my eyes, even in total darkness. I just can’t discern color, only shades of gray.”
“So what you’re saying is that you’re colorblind?” she whispered.
“Technically? Yeah. But I don’t know if running out of mana will make me blind again,” I sighed, lowering my arms. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lie nor surprise you like that.”
“So why are you keeping your eyes closed now?” She finally looked back at me.
“Because you looked shocked when you saw them, and I didn’t want to make you feel uneasy. I can’t even imagine what my eyes look like,” I meekly smiled. “Besides, sensing everything around is more than enough.”
“That’s just. . . Let me see,” Alice whispered, reaching for my face with a reassuring smile but stopping herself, not knowing if it was okay for her to touch me. She looked saddened, knowing that I did something unnecessary for her sake. “Please don’t do that again. That’s hardly something worth being uneasy over.” Seeing me hesitate, Alice sighed before showing me a tender smile. “Trust me.”
Exhaling slowly, I opened my eyes, gazing into hers. It was hard not to avert my gaze, especially with Alice so close to me.
“Sorry for not telling you straight away,” I said quietly.
“Forget about it.” Her tender smile quickly turned placid. “Besides, I’ll take your excitement as a compliment.”
My eyes went wide upon realizing what she meant, cursing myself for the uncontrollable. No man would blame me in such a situation.
“I. . . Umm-” I kept struggling to say anything intelligible, making her burst into tearful laughter.
“There, now we’re both embarrassed,” she said, brushing away the tears in her eyes.
“Great,” I mumbled, chuckling along. It took us a bit to calm down as I slowly regained the confidence to have my eyes open at all times. “Alice.”
“Yeah?” She looked at me smilingly.
“Mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“You don’t have to ask for permission.” She giggled, getting more comfortable around me as time went by.
“Some might be dumb, so I’ll ask those later. Anyway, I wanted to know how you got captured?”
“They surrounded me from all sides and kept barraging me with spells. Eventually, I was overwhelmed, and I guess I lost.” She looked disappointed. “How did you find me?”
“I watched the fight, but you were on the brink of collapsing by the time I got there, so it wasn’t safe for me to charge right in. I ended up waiting for nighttime before infiltrating the camp, and once I extinguished their light source, it was easy to fight using Mana Sense.”
“Smart.” She praised me, glancing into my eyes. “That ability of yours sure does come in handy.”
“It does, but it also has its downsides.”
“Like?” She looked intrigued. “Oh, sorry.” Her gaze darted down. “It’s stupid to ask about someone’s weakness.”
“Woah, where did that come from?” I looked surprised.
“My teachers always told me not to blab about my capabilities.”
“I can understand why, but It’s not like we’re going to fight, are we? Besides, you told me to trust you, so how could I not?”
“You’re right.” She chuckled, smiling once again and looking back into my eyes. “Thanks for that.”
“We good? And stop thanking me so much.” I smirked, running my fingers through my hair. “Also, it’s nothing major, but being only able to see shades of gray really dulls the place.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
“So yeah. . . I snuck in during the night and eventually got you out of there. Luckily, I had spare potions when I escaped Fane, which I gave you hoping it’d help. Glad it did.”
“You fed me potions?” She looked baffled. “But you didn’t even know me, so why would you waste something so precious?”
“Precious? As far as I know, that’s their intended use. Can’t ask for more than that.” I sighed, wondering if what I said sounded foolish, but I was never really materialistic. “Anyway, what are you even doing so far away from home?”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that.” She smiled.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable.”
“No. It’s fine. It’s just that it’s silly. So you might not even believe me.”
“What was it that you said to me? Trust me?” I smiled softly, making her giggle cutely.
“Fine.” She leaned back, looking up to the clear sky. “Being stuck back home sucked, so I went on a little trip without telling anyone. I wanted to see what the Beastlands were all about, and I even heard there were beautiful pearls by the lake, so I wished to get one for myself.”
“Did you end up finding it?”
“No. . .” She sighed. “A monster attacked me, and when I defeated it, I got ambushed by the slavers before getting any rest.”
“Ah, that’s why you looked so exhausted when you fought them.”
“Yeah, not my proudest moment.”
“May I ask what circle you are? I’ve just awoken my core like a week ago, so I don’t know much about it.”
“Oh, you only recently acquired your core? That’s surprising.”
“Why?”
“Mana Sense sounds like an advanced technique or a gift, so I expected you to be a third or fourth circle easily.”
“Nah, I don’t exactly know how any of that works anyway.”
“Well, I awakened my core when I was still a kid, but I neglected strengthening it past the first circle since I focused on mastering my family sword arts. Besides, elves have greater longevity than humans, so we don’t have to rush it. Once we learn the basics of mana breathing, we begin strengthening, which becomes significantly easier, making our growth faster. My teacher assumes I should be able to reach the third circle by the end of the year.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“Not as impressive as you managing to overcome my captors while being a newly awakened mage, forced to deal with a second circle mage.”
“Nah, you’d beat them had they not caught you off guard. Besides, your swordplay left me gazing in awe.” I chuckled, admiring her elegance.
“Thanks,” she smiled, brushing her cheek against her shoulder, presumably blushing.
“Hey, Alice.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m thinking of going with you to Thysa if you still want to travel with me.”
“Only if you allow me to show you around once we get there.” She smiled enthusiastically.
Something about her welcoming request felt comforting, making me chuckle as I closed my eyes briefly before looking back at her.
“Sounds like we have a deal.”
Now there was another thing to look forward to.
Chapter End.
Thank you for reading.
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