Chapter 1

  A Quiet Morning

  “Keep replacing the cloth outside and continue to make pressure, Rigel. I’m almost done here...”

  “Y-yes, sir. Gnh… it’s soaked already...”

  “Just replace the top one with a clean one; I’ll be there when I close this.”

  As dawn shone its light on a clinic located within a small village, a man carefully passed a needle through his patient’s flesh, connecting each side of the damaged tissue and closing the wound. Countless stitches were placed across the myriads of wounds that plagued the girl’s body. Given the dizzying number of wounds, he was on a countdown before she bled out. To combat it, he found it best to have Rigel, the boy next to him, maintain pressure in as many places as he could while he cleaned and closed every wound he came across like a possessed man.

  “Marco, it stopped bleeding on the head, what do I do now?”

  “Go to the lower body; repeat the same process of cleaning, pressure, and absorbing blood and replacing the towels and cloth that are drenched except for the one you use to pressure the wound. I’m done here, I’ll be moving to the next ones.”

  “Understood!”

  ...

  The man sat down at the corner of the room. His back leaned against the wall as he breathed a sigh of relief. His gray clothes which are more commonly seen worn by men in the east were now repainted with patches of deep crimson thanks to the entire procedure. The emergency had taken hours to solve on its own, hours when every action counted if he were to succeed or fail. But succeed he did, as evidence that the girl in front of him still drew breath. All he had to do next was to maintain an eye on her to make sure she remained stable—Even while his body screamed for a moment of rest.

  Rigel promptly appeared with a soft smile, “I brought some water.”

  “Ah, thank you. Also, thanks for helping out. Maybe you should consider being a nurse.”

  The boy with messy hair and amethyst eyes gave an incredulous look to the middle age man, hoping that he was joking. He looked at his clothes, a simple dark blue jacket made of a soft cloth and a purple shirt underneath… both stained in blood from the emergency that took place. The look of his clothes made the comment even less appealing than it already was a second ago. Just the look of it made his stomach twist and churn, never mind the times he was close to vomiting when he was pressuring the girl’s wounds to stop the bleeding all over her body, staring directly at the open cuts made by the edge of a blade made up his mind fairly quickly. There he gained a newfound respect for those who practiced medicine for being able to have the stomach to endure such an intense environment.

  “I don’t think I ever want to do this again.”

  “You are still young! Think about it!”

  “I’m good.”

  The lighthearted chatter cracked a smile on both of them. As they relaxed, their eyes are redirected to the reason for their early hurry.

  “… Will she be alright?” Rigel asked.

  “I don’t know. Right now, she is stable, but that’s about it. I need to keep an eye on her should anything happen.”

  In front of the two, a girl covered in stitches and bandages soundly slept on top of the blood-stained bed. The dizzying number of injuries sustained by her body would make any physician sweat cold. A level of damage accumulated that made it not wrong to question whether or not survival was possible for someone in such a condition. A gruesome state of affairs that gave the most terrible of public torture methods a run for their money.

  From the head to some parts of the face, the shoulders and the back, the arms and the torso, the abdomen, the hips, the thighs, as well as the rest of the legs. The damage was tremendous, only beaten by carriage accidents off a cliff, which made her case all the more worrying. The fact that the girl still breathed was a testament to the fortunate timing of a physician like Marco and the girl’s strength to cling to life... and even then it was a close call.

  “Well, so long as it turns out alright...” The boy stretched his arms wide, “Aaah... I’m exhausted.”

  “You should go home now. I’ll take over from here.”

  “What about you? You seem tired too. I could keep watch for a little bit.”

  Marco stood up from his seat, he appreciated the boy’s diligence, but he was not keen on asking any more of him, “That’s nice of you, but I know your mother, and she must be incredibly worried that you didn’t come home -Ngh...!”

  At that moment, a burst of pain came from the left side of his abdomen. It made his body bend over as he clenched his teeth in an attempt to suppress the sharp pain assaulting him. While technically only a bruise, it hurts just enough to require a moment to catch his breath back.

  Rigel rushed to his side, moving carefully enough to not make too much noise for the girl sleeping right next to them, “See? You need to rest from all that.”

  Marco gritted his teeth, “I can... Take it- Mnh!”

  “Sit down already. Gee, just how hard did she hit you?”

  “Definitely high up the list in my experience... Ahahaha-Argh!”

  With the boy’s help, Marco sat down again as he caressed the bruise with extreme care. He opened his clothes to inspect the area to reveal a semicircular, dark purplish bruise that served as the pain’s origin point. Caused by the girl, it felt like the blunt force of being hit with a mace directly on his ribs. While he was certain it would heal over time with standard treatment... that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. The strange strength of the girl was very apparent to him, indeed.

  “I hope she isn’t as agitated when she wakes up…” He thought.Several hours ago, in the middle of the night, Marco and Rigel walked back to their homes after a long birthday party with friends of Marco and Rigel’s Mother, Maya. She had been brought early home for not feeling well. Marco on the other hand decided to stay to help with the clean-up; no particular reason was given, and he was happy to lend a hand to his friends. Rigel accompanied him in order to retrieve a book he had left behind.

  “Tell your mother to come visit me tomorrow, with all that she ate, she will surely need some medicine for that.”

  The boy shrugged, “I’ll make sure to tell her.”

  Marco wryly smiled, “Thanks, I know she can be a lot.”

  Rigel sighed at the thought, but did not elaborate, choosing instead to focus on his book, “It’s not that bad. As long as I have anything to distract me from mom’s weird ways, I’m okay.”

  “I take it that book is what does it, what is it about?”

  The boy’s eyes lightened up at the question. Excitedly, he explained:

  “A book about explorers I finished reading yesterday. It’s really good, the main character is a total gentleman that uncovered hidden temples of lost civilizations and...”

  Rigel happily ranted about the book, talking about the adventures of daring explorers and their findings in lands that were thought just myth, ancient curses and mystic powers, tales of defiance, and camaraderie. Even Marco can’t help but find a tiny bit of interest in this work of fiction. Maybe he should borrow it later.

  As they kept walking, however, they noticed Rigel’s voice was not the only thing that could be heard on the lonely street.

  “AAAGH!”

  A strong scream violently erupted in the near distance, coming from the local bar. From one of its windows, they saw how it completely burst open, alongside two bodies that flew out of it.

  “Huh?!” Marco’s eyes widened as he looked around.

  “W-what’s that?” The boy anxiously asked.

  The first one was an adult man of tall build and well-fit, yet his body torn and dyed red. What remained of his leather clothes were reduced to mere rags. His hand gripped tightly the sheath of a sword but the sword nowhere near in sight. Marco immediately recognized him as a bandit, and not any bandit.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Aaugh...!!”

  Covered in bruises and cuts formed by blunt attacks and broken glass, his face was malformed from brutal onslaught, body plagued with black and red wounds, bruises that seemed caused by war-hammers, eyes bloodshot from hemorrhage, a broken nose beyond repair, and what remained of his teeth all broken and bloody. The man was undoubtedly at death’s door.

  The second person stood hunched over while covered in blood and wounds in equal measure as the bandit. It was a slender, feminine figure with long, dark hair. Her breath was ragged like a beast, or perhaps a demon. Her entire presence was that of the devil itself, standing in front of them. The bandit was so disgustingly beaten it made Marco’s trained eye want to look away. However, there was something that he noticed when the man landed. The bandit had an unmistakable collar made out of carved wood in the shape of a fang. It all but confirmed his suspicion of where the man belonged to.

  Marco bit his lip at the sight; it was a member of the Wood Fang bandits, the largest bandit group in the south of the country, having absorbed or destroyed their rivals they bolstered numbers in the hundreds. The trouble that this will cause made his blood ran cold. The Wood Fang was affiliated with this very village for a coercive protection from other bandit groups, as well as themselves, so the death of one of their members within their walls would demand an explanation at best... retribution at worst.

  Rigel stared at the man, unable to process what was happening. After coming to his senses, he turned his eyes to the figure that caused it in the first place and instantly regretted his decision.

  “Haaa... Haaa... Haa...”

  A girl, or so it looked like, with injuries that dyed her body red; cuts, bruises, and even some green-colored glass piercing through, all marked the girl’s body with ludicrous amounts of damage. How on earth she was still standing was beyond him. Her dark clothes were torn open to reveal even more rend flesh coated in deep crimson. The head, the chest, the abdomen, the back, the hips, the legs, no part of her body was spared. Long, dark, messy hair and a ferocious expression brought her looks closer to a rabid animal than a human. As if like Hell had broken loose and one of its demons had escaped; she stood there with an exhausted breath that was only matched in noise by the bandit’s groans of pain.

  “Rigel. Step back.”

  “Huh? Uh... O-okay.”

  Doing as he was told, Rigel slowly stepped back, carefully moving away from where the woman and the bandit were.

  Marco was glad that the boy would so quickly attend when danger was in front of him, though he didn’t know what exactly he was going to do to stop her and prevent both of them from getting hurt. He was unarmed and given the situation that lay in front of him, he could easily tell that the enemy did not lack the strength to use against her victims. He remained still just a few meters away from her and less than two meters in front of Rigel, ready to block her way with his body if she ever tried to jump on the boy.

  “Ah... Agh... Nhg...”

  The bandit painfully tried to drag himself away as the woman right next to him is locked on Marco and Rigel just a few meters away. So long as he could escape the clutches of this monster...

  Following every step that he made, her gaze was locked on the boy like a starved animal looking for a meal. Yet he kept walking, each step was silently, made as if to not wake up a slumbering beast.

  But the beast was already awake and set on its next target.

  She made one step forward, not before stomping fiercely into the bandit’s stomach. A hollow scream came out of his ragged throat; blood overflew tremendously from his mouth. It was her way of saying that he won’t be able to pull that stunt of his, he would stay here, waiting for death to be delivered to him. Locked on Rigel, who kept moving, she takes another step forward, her target was decided and-

  “Gagh!” The demon-like girl screeched.

  Suddenly, a rock collided with her head, big enough to at best leave a tiny bruise. Her entire head turned towards him with a blank, wide-eyed stare that sent a shiver through Marco’s body. Nevertheless, he had gotten her attention.

  “You look over here...”

  Her expression grew even angrier than before, distorting into a mess that would only make sense if a demon king had possessed her. Launching herself with great speed, she charged at Marco, her wounds opened far more than before, covered in blood like the juice of ripe fruit when it’s crushed. Her flailing arms, which even from a glance look like they are about to fall off, came back to life with the intent to kill.

  “Rigel! Run!!”

  “Aaah!”

  “I brought the ice and towel that you asked for.” Rigel tenderly smiled.

  “Thanks. Is Maya coming to pick you up?”

  “Not exactly... When I talked to mom about it, she came rushing here, and then said she’ll be making breakfast in your kitchen.”

  Marco sighed, “Never misses an opportunity to bug me...”

  After discussing matters with the boy, Marco convinced Rigel to go rest. He assisted him plenty during the treatment of the raven-haired girl, on top of being in extreme danger under his supervision. He needed to show some responsibility as an adult.

  Maya was an old friend of his and the moment she caught wind of the event and her friend’s injury, she came immediately to lend a helping hand in any way she could. Despite Marco's commentary, his heart felt warm as he thanked his lucky stars for being blessed with a friend like her.

  Rigel took an empty seat and leaned against the wall. The room was large enough to have multiple beds that the girl was using, in other words, it was spacious enough for everyone to comfortably stay without invading any personal space. He came back with a book and immediately submerged himself in it, seemingly forgetting about the rest of the room.

  Marco took the ice and towel that was brought to him and wrapped up the bruise. The sensation was unpleasant at first, but quickly got somewhat used to it.

  “That punch was something, alright.” He thought.

  When Marco distracted the girl to come at him, he steeled his body to receive any attack that came at him. His only goal was to get her attention away from the boy so he could escape. Her body was badly beaten, so he figured all it needed to pass out was one more direct blow.

  It was a gamble on his part but one that he could be sure of, being a physician came with a general understanding of the human body and how much can it take at once. While this principle varied from person to person, at the very least, he could be sure that anyone as badly beaten as her could be at their very limit if they still moved. Seeing the state the bandit was in as he internally bled out, he mentally prepared to receive a blow that would make him grit his teeth.

  And indeed, that much he received. The girl landed with her bare hands a punch into the lower side of his torso that provided a sudden, intense pain that stiffened his body and slightly loosened his grip on the girl’s own. As if a spear was pushing into his flesh, the pain was far beyond the expectations of a roughed-up girl in such an injured state, biting through the pain he forced himself to hold her into a clean headbutt that made her bend her head backward. The clash shook him for a second, it had been years since he had a fight with someone and on top of that, the girl’s head to him felt as hard as a brick, which would probably be the reason for that stubbornness to not pass out or die.

  However, the attack worked, as she bent her head backward her brain must have hit its limit and after tensing the muscle in her arms, she passed out. The number of injuries combined with the lack of energy was what allowed that headbutt to work so well, and he was grateful for the luck he had been granted. It was also from looking closer at the unconscious girl that Marco noticed that she was much younger than he initially thought she was. He also noticed upon touching the watery feeling in her eyes and the same sensation of dried-up liquid from her eyes to her cheeks.

  “Was she crying…? Why?”

  The sight had him think a bit differently about the situation, even if for a second: She was fighting a bandit, a criminal. Unless she started it, what would the bandits want to do with a young girl at this hour? What was a young girl doing at an inn with bandits to begin with?

  “Even then, it’s scary to think she was punching that hard on her condition. I feel a little lucky that she was about to pass out, unlike that bandit...”

  When he ran away from the scene at Marco’s call, Rigel bolted away from the place and unconsciously headed to the inn for the sole reason that it was the nearest place to hide while the girl was focused on Marco. After he had subdued the girl, however, he called for him in a faint voice.

  “M-Marco...!” Rigel cried.

  There, they both saw a scene proper from a nightmare.

  Multiple bodies were spread across the floor; most of them belonging to Wood Fang bandits; however, the innkeeper and an unknown man were there too. All killed without a lick of mercy by the same types of attacks: Cuts from broken glass, copious amounts of blunt force trauma, and lots of black spots caused by a relentless beating. This was the job of a beast, or a demon. They all seemed to have been fighting the same rage-driven monster, there is no way they would have gotten into an all-out brawl among themselves, and they must have been fighting something—And that something was unconscious outside.

  There was a man that seemed like an outsider as Marco didn’t recognize him at all, he has lived here for several years of his life he has seen most if not all the adults that live in this village. This man had to be a traveler from Gods-Knows-Where. He, too, seemed like he had some of the same injuries as the rest, but he was the one with the fewest of wounds, almost like the girl didn’t touch him that much, maybe she didn’t have time to go as thoroughly as the other ones, or maybe he was the reason this started, but it mattered very little. He was dead too.

  Marco quickly figured that a fight that went in the worst way imaginable had broken out here, the girl also looked like an outsider and the bandits, being the lovely contributions to the world that they were, might have tried to do something to them both. The stench of alcohol and the sight of used-up cups for drinking also made him realize that his little hypothesis could at least have some ground to stand on.

  However, what was important to him was something that dawned the moment he saw all those bandits, the thought crossed him when he saw her up close, but now it was something he was willing to bet on.

  This situation was awfully familiar.

  A scenario he was deeply familiar with. It was not the same of course, but the fight, the girl, the outcome; he was all too intimate with the type of event that had transpired. It all came reverberating back as the echoes of the past of both painful and precious memories, and a promise that he made one ordinary afternoon... He had no time to think about it that much, the more he thought about it, the quicker that girl would come to her death. He still had something to do, and he wouldn’t be able to hear the end of it for as long as he lived, this one chance to uphold a promise to his cherished Teacher was something he would not let slip by.

  Marco muttered to himself as he looked at the girl sleeping soundly, her body was completely covered in bandages but at least she was breathing steadily, she would wake up, and he would be there, just like she was for him.

  “Finally, I can-”

  “Hey! Marco! Can you come here for a bit? I can’t find where you put the eggs!” Suddenly, the voice of an old friend destroyed the silence. Maya, Rigel’s mother, loudly called for him.

  “Ah? What is she...?”

  Rigel kept reading, “Better go before she keeps screaming and wakes up that girl.”

  “Uh, right, I’ll be back in a bit, keep an eye on her.”

  “Leave it to me.” Rigel replied in a monotone way, not taking his eyes away from the book for a second. Marco then hurried to calm his friend before her screams would wake up the only person who needed to rest the most here.

  “Marco!!”

  “Shut it already, Maya!”

  The moment Marco closed the sliding door behind him; Rigel immediately put his book down and stared at the sleeping girl, curious in a way, like seeing a specimen undiscovered by human eyes until this point. As he saw her body covered in injuries, he had only one question in his mind:

  “How...?” He wondered.

  How did she manage to survive that?

  He was no medic of any kind, and certainly, he had no interest in the career. His studies in magic had a more alluring call to the boy. Yet despite that, the sight of it was astonishing to him. It didn’t take an expert to tell that many injuries even if superficial should pose a threat to one’s life, if not kill outright. Anyone normal would have perished at best along the night. What kind of devilish luck there was at play?

  Four Great Divine Beings watched over life in this world. The Four Cardinal Lords that guided all living beings, they were children of the Great Star God and Void Goddess that filled the infinite sky. Their works and teachings had shaped the very world and protected all from evil...

  ...If any of them was truly watching over humanity, then they must have been watching only this girl alone when tragedy struck.

  “Why would the Gods watch over someone who... Did all that...? She killed them all, didn’t she? Even if self-defense... to go that far...”

  The sight of the bodies was now burned into his brain. Granted, most of them weren’t good people, they were horrible bandits that most certainly did regular bandit things. They stole, kidnapped, and killed. However, reminding himself of that wouldn’t shake the feeling of unrest. And yet, despite that...

  As Marco explained to him what he thought could have happened for things to end up like this, he also felt a little sorry for the girl, if only a little. If Marco’s hypothesis about the bandits starting the fight for any reason was correct, then this girl was, at least in a way, a victim who had gone out of control and now had lost everything. To him, that didn’t take away what she did, not in the slightest, but at least he found some relief in the thought that he could at least see the result of circumstances, rather than unbound maliciousness. He took a closer look and what he saw was indeed a young girl who was older than him for only a few years and nothing else. She had fair skin, and raven hair, as dark as the night. The more he confirmed her more mundane features, a strange sense of melancholy started to form inside of him; it twisted his stomach and made his muscles stiff.

  “Could she be an adventurer? One so young…” He thought. Being this young and ending it up like this. Even he could understand that wasn’t something fair for anyone to happen anywhere in the world. To be potentially driven to the point of fighting until you lose sight of everything and even yourself, blinded with rage and blood lust, regardless of how or why it happened, just didn’t feel right for any human to behave, much less to live.

  He had no way of knowing how much she had before, but he knew she now had nothing left. He couldn’t fully comprehend what happened to her, and part of him felt still scared of that monster fueled by rage that locked into him with the intent of ripping him apart.

  But more than that; seeing the poor state of her entire body, of her rather beautiful face still visible through the bandage contorted so terribly by pain during the night, and all the damage deep inside that he couldn't see nor treat. He just…

  …Felt sorry for her.