Shaking their heads as they watched Groob leaving, Lilly and Iain soon looked for a suitable spot.
Not far from them one of the pillars was still unoccupied, so the siblings decided to rest their backs on it. Luckily the pillar was designed to adapt to the surrounding temperature, so it didn’t scald their skins.
To prevent themselves from growing too bored, the pair of siblings quietly conversed with each other while observing other people around them.
They quickly noticed that others were more prepared when they came here. Many thoughtful parents brought different kinds of cushions or even chairs for their children. The kids also carried all kinds of toys or games with them.
The siblings smiled wryly as they silently cursed Groob for his bad preparation.
The adventurer had just occupied a couch when he suddenly sneezed. He was surprised how a master of his level could still sneeze, but he soon laughed it off.
Since badmouthing Groob didn’t help their situation, Lilly and Iain soon conserved their strength as they fell silent.
As Lilly closed her eyes in concentration, children’s laughter and even the sound of a group of women practicing swordsmanship reached her ears.
Iain stealthily looked towards the side where a handsome woman in attractive training clothes performed a dangerous looking sword dance. The charming scene easily captured the innocent 19-year-old man’s attention.
Although he knew not to be impolite, he couldn’t hold himself back from sneaking a few glances.
Suddenly a sharp pain traveled through his body. Iain flinched as he looked down on his waist, where his sister’s hand had viciously twisted his skin.
He stared at her in irritation, but Lilly had innocently turned her head away.
“Hey, what was that for?”
“You know exactly what that was for!”
“This… I was just looking around.”
Suddenly Lilly didn’t keep up her act as she began to snicker.
“You always looked away when sister Sophia was around. But now you suddenly check out other girls?”
“How could that be the same? Sophia is like family!”
A sigh escaped Lilly’s mouth.
“I hope she is fine. Mom and dad killed those monsters, so the village is safe… right?”
“Definitely!”
Confident in their parents, Iain reassured his sister. Strangely the old Rottals’ voices stayed silent during this topic…
Suddenly a bang interrupted Iain and Lilly. A leathern ball slowly rolled past them. As the siblings turned around the pitiable sobbing of a child erupted.
Iain watched in surprise as a young boy sat on the other side of the pillar while crying. His sister reacted faster. Lilly stood up and approached the patient.
“Heey, hey. Don’t cry. Did you hurt your head? Come, I can help you.”
Through tearstained eyes Felio watched a kind woman approaching. He had been playing with a few friends when their ball was suddenly swept away.
The young child didn’t know that nothing could fall from this tower, so he chased after it in a panic.
But it only took a short distraction for him to collide with the pillar.
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A big bump quickly grew on his forehead as the small child broke out in tears.
Lilly carefully talked to the boy in front of her while she crouched down next to him. Her voice turned mellow and soothing as she asked with a smile:
“Do you want me to help you? I am a healer, you know.”
Those words garnered some attention from the boy as his sobbing died down slightly.
“Are… are you really a healer? My mommy is a healer!”
“I’m sure you mommy is a great healer! Do you want me to search for your mommy?”
Iain felt slightly awkward as he watched this scene. When he noticed the boy’s friends coming, the young man was reminded of the culprit and turned around to find the lost ball.
Felio also heard his friends arriving. Wanting to appear brave in front of his friends, he struggled to stop himself from crying.
Fortunately, no one mocked him as the children expressed their worry chaotically.
“Felio, are you ok?”
“What happened?”
“Is our ball ok?”
“Your mommy will surely scold us.”
Lilly smiled slightly as she addresses the group of children.
“Don’t worry kids. This is no big deal, no one will scold you. Can anyone fetch Felio’s mommy?”
A young girl bravely answered her:
“We aren’t allowed to talk to strangers! Quickly leave, before brother Enar comes!”
While Lilly was surprised, Felio inserted himself in a fluster after he stopped crying:
“It’s ok, Minu. This big sister is a healer.”
“Ohh. Then it’s ok!”
Holding back her laughter, Lilly turned her attention back to Felio. Since Minu mentioned a brother Enar, the young healer concluded that Felio’s mother probably wasn’t around.
“So, Felio. Should I help you? You need to take your hands away though!”
The young boy nodded bravely before revealing his forehead. An impressive bump had already formed at this point.
Although Lilly’s healing magic couldn’t be considered impressive, treating such an everyday injury was well within her capabilities.
The young woman concentrated and applied what she had learned from her mother.
Since she didn’t have any tool to help her it took a few seconds before she willed simple runes to form in the air in front of her open palms.
Luckily Lilly didn’t need to treat any serious injuries, so a few ‘life’-runes as a core connected with some ‘amplifying’-runes as attributes was enough.
Soon, coerced by Lilly’s mana control, the mana in a small radius around them rapidly approached the runes. Someone with the necessary skills would see a shimmering ball gathering above Lilly’s palm.
Next the young healer gathered the mana stored in her own body. She could feel the invisible energy streaming through her entire being before gathering on her palm. Using her own magic power Lilly abruptly pushed out a dense mass of her own mana which rushed into the prepared runes.
This step was called creating a spark as Lilly’s mana activated the runes, which suddenly imposed their own attributes on Lilly’s provided mana.
Afterwards her mana rushed into the previously gathered ball, leading to a sudden chain reaction. Coerced by the magical energy stemming from Lilly’s body, the gathered ball also took on the rune’s attributes.
Suddenly a ball of mana filled with ‘life’ appeared on Lilly’s palm. Under the children’s admiring gazes, the young healer carefully pressed her newly former healing spell on Felio’s forehead.
Unfortunately, Lilly’s healing magic was still a low level, so she could only use it to strengthen Felio’s own recovery. As soon as the boy’s body had used up some ‘life’-energy it received from the mana, the latter would return to the atmosphere as pure mana. Then the surrounding magical energy would be drawn to Lilly’s spell until she released her mana control.
Therefore, the spells’ activation put a strain on Lilly’s mana storage and magical power, while the upkeep took a toll on her mind and mana control.
Naturally Felio wasn’t seriously injured. When Lilly treated worse wounds, she still needed the help of medicine, but the bump on Felio’s head visibly shrank after a few seconds under Lilly’s spell.
Happy laughter adorned the children’s faces when Felio exclaimed:
“You are really a healer!”
Lilly grew slightly embarrassed as some children even started to clap.
“It’s… it’s not that big of a deal.”
“You should visit us sometime, big sister! Mother always complains that we don’t have enough healers in the city!”
“I will keep it mind.”
Lilly regretted that the offer came from Felio and not his mother. She was slightly interested but didn’t want to question a child for their address. Furthermore, she couldn’t be certain what his mother was looking for.
Worker, assistant, disciple? It could be all of those.
Therefore, Lilly kept the notion at the back of her mind.
Luckily Iain came back shortly after and presented the children their ball. After celebrating the pair of siblings like heroes, the children soon continued to play.
At this point both siblings felt the obvious signs their bodies sent them. Despite their heat resistance already rising to level 1 their mouths had dried up while their skin turned dangerously red.
Therefore, Iain and Lilly decided to rest for now. They left the training ground though the air lock and soon found a sleeping Groob in the lounge.
Annoyed by the adventurer’s leisurely demeanor the siblings grabbed some water from nearby and stealthily approached Groob again.
Lilly snickered as she slowly stretched her arms.
Just as the siblings thought about tilting their bottles, steel-like hands suddenly grabbed their wrists.
A mocking smile appeared on Groob’s face as he pushed the siblings’ hands away.
“Haha nice try, but you are too naïve. I have even slept in the Frozen Hell, do you really think I have no sense of danger at all?”