"Hi, dad. Oh. Hi mister Peter, hi Sir Sieghart. How's the... *gulp* man from yesterday?" Johann preemptively began asking as he entered the room, but the sight of the heavily bandaged man atop the bed and the many bloodstained bandages and sheets a bit away made his voice catch in his throat as the weight in the pit of his stomach came back. He managed to finish his question, but with visible difficulty.

"Johann! Good morning. You don't need to be here, let's talk outside. Captain Sieghart was about to leave, and mister Peter is a little busy right now." Jules tried to pull his son's mind away from the gruesome sight and take him out of the room, but Johann resisted and tried to speak first.

"I wanted to see if I could help. I'm worried about him" Johann told them. It wasn't really a lie, but he was using one true statement to divert attention from what he felt guilty about.

"We've already done all we can for now. I'll try to make sure he doesn't get worse, but he'll have to get out of this situation himself" mister Peter said bitterly, while trying to let Johann know he didn't need to, nor could he, do anything.

As the healer said that, they could all hear a groan. They were surprised, and looked toward the patient as he let out a second, louder groan. He slowly opened his eyes, frowning as he felt his skin pulling when he tried to move his arms and legs.

When the man's eyes regained focus, he could see the three adults near him. As he turned his head he also saw the boy's pale face, before sitting up with some effort. Peter supported him, trying to make sure he didn't open up his wounds again.

"Hello, gentlemen. Forgive my outfit, *hiss* but I ran into some unforeseen circumstances. Thanks for the help, by the way. I don't think I'd be here right now if not for you." the man said, hissing inward in pain as he gestured to the bandages covering almost the entirety of his stout body, calling them his 'outfit', before grinning ironically at his situation.

"No problem. But I'd like you to tell us later what happened to you, if you don't mind." Sir Sieghart talked to the injured man.

The man had dark skin, in the color of fertile soil, as well as golden hair the color of straw. He had a short stature but a strong, heavy-set physique, and both his hair and his beard were long. His hair and beard were, understandably, disheveled and messy.

"Oh, of course. The little issues I ran into are probably something you'd be interested in. Just give me a minute." the Dwarf's expression grew somber for a couple of seconds, with some undertones of anger and indignation, as he mentioned the issues, before he started undoing his bandages.

Mister Peter rushed to stop him, but the priest, with his skilled hands as a Dwarf, had already undone almost all bandaging around him, revealing the numerous stitches on him and grimacing in pain when the stitches pulled at his skin.

The patient, then, placed his hands near the stitched areas, closed his eyes and began quietly reciting some words the others couldn't understand. After a few seconds, his hands started radiating a bright golden light from their palms. The injuries each rapidly scabbed over, dried and fell off, revealing perfectly healthy skin under the scabs, if not for the stitches. After a few seconds on each wound, the hands were placed on the next one.

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A few minutes later, the Dwarf finished shedding light on all of his many wounds. Once he had done so, he asked the healer for a pair of scissors to cut the stitches, but the healer cut them himself, as many wounds were out of the Dwarf's reach. Mister Peter, Jules and Captain Sieghart were stupefied at what they had just seen. Although magic wasn't unheard of, it was rare enough that none of them had encountered it before.

As for Johann, his eyes were glistening in excitement and filled with curiosity. The traveler noticed this and showed the kid a smile. When he finished removing the bandages, Peter cut the stitches he no longer needed, and he was given some fresh clothes since his own had been torn apart. He was given some time to change, after which the others went back into the room.

"Ah! Much better! Should we head over now to give the report? I'm Mimier, a Priest of Thaumar, by the way." the Dwarf asked and introduced himself.

"Yes, please. Follow me." Captain Sieghart told the Priest. Peter handed the knight his written report and excused himself.

Jules told Johann he'd also go meet the mayor, so Johann told him Sofie's message.

"I see. You can go play early today, then, Johann. I'll probably be busy the whole day, so we won't have lessons." Jules said.

"Since the Mayor and I will also be busy, I'll let Martha know so you three can play together! See you later, Johann!" the knight told the boy.

*****

Arriving at the town square much earlier than usual, Johann's mind was buzzing with thoughts of what he'd seen and heard earlier. On one hand, he was worried about what had gotten the adults so worked up. On the other, he was excited that he'd seen magic. Real magic.

In order to calm down and be able to sit still while waiting for his friends, Johann absent mindedly started fiddling with his small clock. His thoughts were still wandering, but by spreading them over more subjects and activities he managed to slow them down to a more manageable speed.

He wondered about how magic worked, how someone might learn it, and whether he might learn it. He also wondered who could have hurt a person able to use magic that bad. His thoughts were turning inside his head like pieces of a three-dimensional puzzle seeking an angle that allowed things to fit together.

After what felt like an endless amount of thoughts yet barely any time, his friends greeted him. Their outfits were both more geared towards mobility, since they expected to play quite a bit, but they were surprised by Johann's deep in thought expression.

"Johann, what's up? You look lost in there." Leon said, pointing at his friend's head. Johann seemed almost startled by what his friend pointed out.

"Oh! It's no big deal... okay, it's probably a big deal. Do you guys know why we got the day free from lessons?" Johann started broaching the subject. His friends told him they weren't sure, so he continued.

"Yesterday, the guards carried in an injured man from outside the town. My dad and Martha's dad seemed worried about what that could turn out to mean. But that's not the most important part." Johann told his friends.

"I don't know, if there are no travelers for weeks, and suddenly just one arrives, injured to the point he has to be carried, and not only that, the Guard Captain gets worried, that seems pretty major to me." Leon pointed out, with an eyebrow raised in both amusement and bewilderment at his friend's priorities.

"Yeah, yeah, that's important too, but you don't get it. The man isn't injured anymore! He healed himself. With magic. I'd never seen anything like it, his hands shined gold, and then he was fine!" Johann described excitedly.

"Woah! That sounds amazing! Do you think we could get him to show us?" Martha grew interested as well.

"Well, he left with my dad and Sir Sieghart to tell the mayor what happened, but he should go back to the Inn later. Wanna have lunch there and ask him after?" Johann explained and then suggested.

"Sounds good!" Martha and Leon said in unison. The three friends then chatted excitedly about magic and worriedly about what might be wrong, too preoccupied mentally to engage in playing at the moment.

Once noon drew near, they headed together for the Frontier Hügel, excited at the prospect of seeing magic in person.