The door slammed open, and Zach emerged from the outside. The meat on his shoulder dropped to the ground, tainted by the dust. His eyes rested on the person laying on top of a bed of hay. It was Tobias.
“My lord,” Tobias weakly smiled. Trying to prop his body up.
“Lie down, Tobias,” he said. Walking over to Tobias’ side. He knelt and saw the bloody bandage wrapped around Tobias' abdomen. One thing was for sure it did not look good.
“What happened?” Zach asked.
Rather than Tobias, Milly intervened. He had been wondering why Cyrus' fan lingering beside Tobias’ bedside.
“It’s my fault, milord,” Milly said. Her eyes glistened as if on the verge of tearing up. “If it wasn’t for my carelessness, Sir Tobias wouldn’t have got hurt.”
Tobias narrated what happened. The ambush caught them off guard, and while fleeing, a pouncing tusk-ant almost pierced Milly right through her gut. But Tobias was there. Pushing her to the side at the last second, taking the brunt of the unavoidable. So now here he was. On the bed on the road to recovery.
“You fucking idiot,” Zach said. His crass words caught both Tobias and Milly off guard. They stood there startled, never expecting Zach to say such words. Unlike what they believed, Zach saw Tobias as an important person. Not only because of his class being a healer, but also because of his Highbrow status. He was a man of knowledge and in a situation like this, Zach needed a logical and rational mind to keep this fort afloat and tackled the many unknowns of this world.
“I’m flattered, my lord. But your worry is wasted on me,” Tobias said. “And I think a congratulation is in order.”
“Huh, what?” Zach asked.
“Your complexion,” Tobias pointed out. “Your youthfulness has finally returned.”
Milly who heard Tobias took another glance at Zach. True to Tobias’ words, Zach looked like a whole other man. She did not realize it at first as she was drowning in guilt, but this appearance Zach had was like the sun in the sky. He was drop-dead handsome on par with his brother Cyrus. For a second, she felt her heart beat.
“Oh, that,” Zach shook his head. “That’s not important. So how are you? And why are you still bedridden? Shouldn’t your heal do its work?”
“A good observation,” Tobias said, smiling. “Due to my unfortunate circumstances, my life was once hanging on the balance of life and death. Yet through that, I’ve found another bit of knowledge…” Tobias explained further. He fought for his life as he tried to keep his heart beating with what little mana he had throughout the whole night. The heavy wound and the little mana he had was a disastrous combination. If it was not for the Safe Zone’s regeneration rate, he would have ended up dead and was sure of it. But through all those adversities, Tobias was not left unrewarded.
“…and that’s how my healing skill reaches level 5,” Tobias said. Smiling throughout everything as if the nightmare he went through was all worth it. “But a word of warning though, I won’t recommend such action.”
“I’m not that reckless,” Zach asked.
“Sorry for saying this, my lord, but you’re the definition of reckless,” Tobias said blatantly.
“Humph,” Zach smirked. “You've heard the news?”
“Oh, yes, my lord. After that, I’m quite sure reckless really suits you,” Tobias replied, chuckling. As he heard the dominance of Zach over Cyrus and Orland.
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“Can you blame me though?”
“A bit too late for saying this, but you can explore different alternatives rather than going the barbaric way. One that I can think of right off the bat is negotiating under the house’s name about that land the houses were disputing a century ago,” Tobias said.
It was like an imaginary light bulb turning on right on top of Zach’s head. He didn’t think of it, and to be fair, he didn’t really know the details of how the blood feud had begun.
Zach gave a glare at Tobias. “Now where were you when you were needed the most,” Zach said.
“As you can see I’m fighting my own battle,” Tobias grinned. He further told of how he was fully healed. Jeyne saved the day as another healer was enough to heal him back healthy. The only reason he was still in bed was that he still felt a bit lethargic over everything he had been through.
“Milly, you wouldn’t mind taking the meat to the kitchen? I think a nutritious meal would be good for Tobias’ body,” Zach said. Trading glances with Tobias as if it was a signal for some matters that needed to be discussed.
“Yes, milord,” she nodded. But the moment she tried lifting the meat, her grunts drew Zach’s gaze. Her strength was too pitiful to lift the meat up, and Zach had to do the heavy lifting.
“Apologies, my lord,” Milly said. Her head was down and the guilt was still strong in her.
“It’s not your fault,” Zach said. Placing the heavy meat on the table in the kitchen.
“Yes, I’ll be sure not to bother you any longer,” Milly said.
“Hey, that’s not what I meant,” Zach said.
“Eh?” for the first time, she locked eyes with Zach.
“It’s not your fault that Tobias got hurt. He did it to save you, and he was right. We can’t really lose our only cook, right?” Zach smiled. “So chin up.” Zach tapped her on the shoulder, a show of encouragement. But it didn’t work as he expected. She was still down, and he had no clue why.
“But I’m a knight, milord, shouldn’t a knight not be a burden?” Milly asked. Her eyes were desperate. Last night's event showed she was still the same old helpless Milly, waiting to be rescued. Deep down, she envied Dayana and Teena when they were chosen to follow Cyrus’ hunting party. She too wanted to be wanted, and not just be a sunflower on the wall.
“Then join the fight in the night,” Zach said. “In this world, what matters is not your class or your lineage. What matters here is what you do with the opportunity in your hand. So fight, and get stronger.”
Zach left the kitchen. Leaving Milly to contemplate his words.
He returned back to the living quarters and met eyes with Tobias. “So what is it, my lord?” Tobias asked. “Is there a problem that needed my humble view?”
“I’ve done it,” Zach said. He was stoic as ever.
“Apologies, my lord. But what exactly have you done?” Tobias questioned.
“The cantrip,” he replied. “I’ve managed to break it down.”
“Tell me this is not a jest,” Tobias said. He almost jumped on his ass and stood, but the newly recovered body reminded him not to exert too much. He paused as if something was wrong.
“You pulled a muscle didn’t you?” Zach asked.
Tobias nodded silently. Zach chuckled and sat beside the bedside or haystack to be exact. He recounted his experience of breaking down the cantrip from failure to the brink of success. Zach didn’t forget to add how excruciating the pain was and how he almost die from that mishap.
“As I said. Reckless,” Tobias said.
“I know, but there’s no reward when there’s no risk,” Zach said. “So can you help me with the cantrip? Because I’m hoping you have linguistic studies in your credential.”
“Lucky for you, my lord, I have. But this is not going to be easy though,” Tobias said. Going through the last page of the recipe book. “Despite being able to read this cantrip, the language itself is far different to the one we spoke nor with any languages in Brittania and the countries around Brittania.”
“But you can do it, right?”
“I might. But I need time,” Tobias said.
“Can you do it before the night comes?”
“Why?”
“Preparation for the unexpected,” Zach said. “It’s best to have all your weapons fully functional, and when the time comes, it won’t let you down.”
Zach stood up and grabbed the sword he leaned on the wall. He put some distance between him and Tobias and the Highbrow grew curious. “What are you doing?” Tobias asked.
“What else? I’m attempting the cantrip,” Zach said nonchalantly.
It confused Tobias who had just been tasked to analyze the cantrip. “I thought I’m supposed to analyze it first before you attempt it again,” Tobias said.
“Well, we’re multi-tasking,” Zach said. “You analyze the cantrip while I physically test it out.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Tobias said.
“Nothing makes sense in this world, Tobias,” Zach said. Ignoring the concerned look of Tobias, Zach went straight away with his second try at the painful experiment. He took a deep breath in, and down he went. The immense pain returned.