“What the fuck?” Rodrick’s baffled voice boomed through the clearing.

  Everyone stayed silent, processing, and still failing to find any reasonable context for the sight in front of them.

  “Seriously, what is happening here? Why is a wounded and damn near halfway eaten child awakening in the middle of the forest?”

  Carla had the exact same thoughts. The boy shouldn’t be here, no matter how she rationalized the situation.

  Leaving the city alone as an unawakened child was nearly impossible. He would have been stopped at the gate… Were there any caravans leaving today? No… We definitely checked that when we left for the mission. Seriously, what’s happening here?

  Her thoughts were stopped in their tracks when the boy screamed—bloodshot eyes wide open but unseeing. He was somehow still alive, but the awakening had only just started.

  Sometimes awakenings could take hours, even days, and the boy laying on the ground would not survive that long without some serious help. Abyss knew if the boy would survive for ten minutes at that point…

  Rodrick, their leader, had seemingly come to the same conclusion. He started ordering the team, his relaxed attitude shifting to one of a soldier on the field.

  “Ciel, Arthur, secure the surrounding area! Carla, feed the kid a healing potion!” The big man barked out his orders, dashing to the boy’s side.

  Arthur and Ciel dashed in opposite directions, Ciel following a clear disturbed path—probably where the boy had come from. Arthur started doing loops of the area instead, looking for any threats in the nearby forest.

  Carla took off her backpack and started rummaging around for a spare healing potion—their team needed a lot, as they didn’t have a healer. She let out a frustrated grunt, not able to find one of the right type.

  “We don’t have any for iron ranks! The boy could die just from drinking the potion.”

  Rodrick grunted in affirmation, opening the shadow panther’s jaw from the boy’s arm. When the man saw the boy’s arm, he started cursing—Carla caught only mentions of the abyss and demons, but she was sure of its vulgarity,

  She strode up to Rodrick and glanced over his shoulder, her curses joining Rodrick’s.

  If the boy had been in a bad state, his arm… On the positive side, it was still attached. Negatives included deep wounds, broken bones and a hand that had been made practically unrecognizable by burns. Some parts even looked like they had turned to charcoal, and if Carla knew anything about fire, she knew that it was bad…

  “Just feed him a third of the bronze rank potion, please,” Rodrick’s defeated voice rang in Carla’s ears.

  “Are you sure? That could kill him!”

  “The boy will surely die if we don’t do something! Let’s at least give him a chance…”

  Carla grabbed a healing potion from the bag, and uncorked it. Her hands were trembling, the boy’s now silent scream uncanny to say the least.

  “Can you hold the boy’s head? I need to be precise with the amount or he will die before we get to the city,” Carla asked Rodrick.

  The mountain of a man grunted in affirmation, grabbing the boy’s head and holding it steady. Carla poured a third of the potion in and corked it, slotting it on her belt. They needed to move fast. I guess this is what adventurers do. We still have a chance to save this boy’s life, no matter how slim it is. All we can do is try…

  Rodrick lifted the wounded boy as gently as he could, holding him in a princess carry. The boy looked marginally better after the potion, especially the wounds left by the umbral terror looking somewhat better after the strong life affinity potion flowed through his body.

  The boy would have scars for life, that was sure. The potion had healed him somewhat, but there were still loads of visible injuries. Did the energies go to his internal wounds first? How badly wounded is the kid really?

  Healing potions were supposed to direct their energies automatically to the most injured areas of the person. They weren’t fast either, but that was if they were used on people of the right rank. A boy of his rank should’ve been healed almost completely, the rest of the energy destroying his body from within, but that was not happening. The fact that the boy’s superficial wounds weren’t healed meant that he was even more hurt than Carla had thought.

  “Guard me Carla. I can’t fight any beasts when I’m carrying the kid,” Rodrick instructed. “We’re moving at the highest pace I can manage. Clear?”

  Carla simply nodded, starting to prepare runes under her mage’s robe. Prepared spells weren’t necessary for spellcasting, but the few stored spells were always faster than new workings in the middle of a fight. If she was to run, it was better to have some stored up, even if they drained her mental energy the entire time they were ready to cast.

  Carla and Rodrick took off, increasing their pace through the forest until they reached the road.

  Rodrick absolutely legged it, Carla having problems keeping up with the physical fighter. The academy really needs physical lessons… I should be way faster than this big oaf.

  The boy had started screaming again, convulsing in Rodrick’s arms. That’ll attract all kinds of beasts… At least we’re only ten minutes away from the city gate-.

  Carla cursed when a small pack of iron rank wolves emerged from the forest. The weak beasts had probably noticed the running pair and thought they were easy prey. At least they are iron ranks, and not bronze ones. Those would actually slow us down.

  Carla was starting to cast a few basic ice spells to take the pursuing wolves out, when an arrow appeared between the head wolf’s eyes.

  Rolling her eyes, Carla cast a basic ice bolt at one of the wolves as Arthur and Ciel appeared from the forest, clearly just having a race. The fuckers are fooling around… This is a serious situation!

  Even if they were having fun, the two fighters were efficient killers. Arthur shot a second arrow as Ciel blended into the shadows, dark purple runes flowing across her pale skin.

  The woman started appearing around the wolves, slitting throats and stabbing vitals with her dagger. Her other hand was hard at work too, deflecting the strikes of the pack of wolves, and if they hadn’t been in such a hurry, Carla would’ve probably stopped to watch the clash in rapt attention. The rogue’s fighting style was beautiful, that was for sure.

  Arthur reached Rodrick and Carla, putting his bow away with the customary grin plastered on his face. He leaned closer to Carla while still running.

  “I told you she’s an abyss demon,” he tried to whisper, failing to hold his laughter in.

  Arthur thrived in these situations. Truly, the man’s ability to stay positive and calm through thick and thin was admirable. Carla couldn’t say that she really admired anything else about the archer, but hey, anything was better than nothing.

  “Buy me an ice cream or I’ll tell Ciel,” Carla whispered back.

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “Ice cream for me or Ciel kicking your nuts? Your choice,” Carla asked, smiling innocently.

  “Tomorrow then… Not a cookie sandwich though! They’re expensive.”

  Rodrick just kept running, shaking his head. It really is amazing how fast Rodrick runs. The guy’s absolutely massive.

  Carla looked at the massive axe bouncing on Rodrick’s back, the impressive weapon as tall as her. She knew, because of course they had tested. Why am I the short one here? Hmph, everyone else is just a giant. I’m the normal one. Definitely.

  “I hope there’s an available healer at the city infirmary today,” Rodrick muttered.

  “That’s not in our hands Rodrick, and you know it. We can only hope there is one,” Ciel commented, having caught up with the rest of the party. Her runes were still glowing faintly, the creepy rogue still ready to fight if some beast decided to test its luck.

  “How’s the boy looking, Rodrick?” Ciel’s voice was cold and calculative, her concern still clear by her body language. She was on high alert.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Luckily the party didn’t encounter any beasts before they broke out of the forest, entering the grassy plains before the eastern gate of Lyndale. Everyone sighed in relief, the party not slowing down in the least. It was early morning, the gate having a line in front of it. Merchants arrived at early hours, often causing traffic at the gates.

  The eastern gate was generally one of the most used gates, so the line was pretty long…

  “Shit, there’s a line. We don’t have time for that,” Arthur cursed.

  “I’ll handle it. I probably know the guards on shift,” Rodrick grunted.

  Rodrick was a Lyndale native, having lived his early years in the medium sized city. Being the son of a guardsman captain, the man had known some of the guards for most of his life. They would listen to him more easily than the others. Carla hoped so, at least, because they wouldn’t have many other options if that failed.

  The party reached the line fast, blazing past the caravans at high speed. Arthur stopped at each of the caravans, explaining the situation—all smiles despite the serious situation.

  Carla and the others continued their way to the gate, stopping in front of the main guard unit.

  “Rodrick, what in the abyss are you doing? There are protocols in place!” One of the guards barked out, apparently blind to the boy in his arms.

  “Guardsman Joshua… you will let me through, or I will get through by force. A young boy is dying in my arms, injured and awakening way too early,” Rodrick’s voice was calm, but there was a dangerous undertone that the guard clearly understood. “I will get this boy to the infirmary. Gate. Open. Now.”

  Rodrick stared down the older man, his blue eyes cold as ice. The man, apparently called Joshua, obeyed without a word. As the gate started to open, he rushed through, heading straight for the city infirmary.

  The eastern district's early morning routine was disrupted as four people ran through the streets, carrying an injured child through the streets. The boy glowed green, lines of magic all around in his body.

  Most had the wits to dodge the rushing party but some were slower. Those were moved to the side by Arthur and Ciel. Arthur apologized about the trouble while Ciel just stared down the people she moved.

  Everyone understood Arthur’s apologies and continued their day with smiles on their faces, the man’s charisma overwhelming any defenses.

  Nobody complained about the trouble to Ciel either, as the woman’s active runes and cold gaze were… encouraging to say the least.

  Luckily, the eastern infirmary of the city wasn’t far from the gates, so they didn’t need to run for long. If they had had to run for longer, who knows if the boy would’ve even had a chance to live.

  When they reached the city infirmary, Carla opened the wooden main door for Rodrick, who rushed in and called for immediate emergency aid.

  A young woman dressed in healer’s robes rushed from a side room and came to check on the boy. When she saw his state, wounded and mid-awakening, she paled.

  “We need to get to my superior. I’m not qualified for this,” she said, keeping her voice steady despite the dire situation. Professional… Thank the gods for that.

  “Lead the way,” Rodrick followed the healer without question, trusting her expertise over his own.

  The infirmary was built of stone like many other buildings in Lyndale. Its walls were painted white, enchanted lights lighting the corridors with blue light. Everything was tidy, the institution priding itself on cleanliness.

  They passed several doors, made of wood and painted white to match the walls. Next to the doors were signs notifying the room’s purpose. Most were for recovering patients, some meant for active healing procedures.

  She went past them all, the more commonly used rooms seemingly not enough for the boy. I really hope they can help the boy… He’s so young. Awakening at that age would be absolutely horrifying even without being injured

  The healer finally stopped at a door, the sign reading: Critical condition. She practically kicked down the door, startling an older male healer. His aura was far into the silver rank and blazed with latent power, its color telling Carla that he was a life mage.

  The male healer was dressed similarly to the young woman, healer’s robes covering most of his body. The icon of a tree was stamped on his robes, signifying the mythical tree of life.

  As he got his bearings, the healer moved with silver rank speed to Rodrick’s side, already looking over to the boy in his arms.

  “Angela dear, would you activate the prepared spells in the operating table? Use the ones with bronze rank intensity please,” His voice was calm and his eyes were sharp, looking over the dying boy.

  He took the boy from Rodrick’s hands and nodded to him thankfully. As the operating table came to life with life and water magics, he placed the child on its surface.

  “You gave the boy a healing potion. Bronze or iron rank?”

  “Bronze rank sir. We found him in the forest, already in a bad state and starting to awaken. We didn’t have any iron rank potions and thought that giving him a bronze rank potion would be better than nothing,” Carla answered mechanically, looking over the proceedings with trepidation.

  “Good, you might have possibly saved his life with that potion. An iron rank potion wouldn’t have helped for more than a few minutes with this one..”

  Carla felt herself breathe a sigh of relief, despite the still critical condition of the boy. Hearing that her team’s actions might have saved an actual human life gave her some measure of joy.

  Their team was a fresh one and had only done one caravan contract from Rhondell to Lyndale. They were all fresh bronze ranks and only formed their team in the capital. Directly saving a life this early into their adventuring career was a confidence boost and a half to be sure.

  “Don’t get me wrong, he is still in critical condition, and I expect his chances to survive being around fifty percent. Without the awakening life affinity, the chance would be essentially zero,” The doctor’s words lowered Carla’s mood immediately.

  The operation table was now glowing green with life affinity mana, the prepared spells helping along in the healing of the boy. The man nodded to himself, then started chanting spells at a rapid pace.

  “Kilras School Variant 42: Healing Flow,” “Nature’s gift,” “Healing Word.”

  The spells the man cast were complex, multiple overlapping runes forming geometric shapes. Carla understood the basic intensity and shaping runes, but the life affinity specific runes were unintelligible to her. He was clearly a proficient healer, and the boy was lucky to have the man helping him get better.

  “Where did you find the child? I’d appreciate any information on him, as notifying his parents is the next thing after stabilizing him,” The doctor continued his words, curiosity entering the tone of his voice.

  “The boy was in the middle of the forest. Looked like he killed a bronze rank umbral terror and awakened from the kill,” Arthur answered. “I don’t know how he did it though… Maybe he had a firebomb? There were burns on both the panther and boy when we found them.”

  “Possible… that would be possible, yes. The boy has some internal burns though, which is strange to say the least,” The healer answered. “Angela, could you go and check if there are any reports about missing children on the record?”

  “Of course sir Wendir, I’ll go check immediately,” The female healer, apparently named Angela, nodded and rushed off from the room.

  The male healer turned from the boy and regarded the party with interest for the first time in their short meeting. He looked everyone over and nodded to himself.

  “You are the adventurer party on a caravan contract from Rhondell, right?”

  “Team Cookie Sandwich at your service. Blame Arthur there for the name,” Rodrick answered, obviously still annoyed by the name of their fresh party.

  “Oh good. That means you know Viktor right? If I remember correctly, that young lad traveled with the coming caravan from Rhondell.”

  Viktor was a wind mage that had traveled on the same caravan as them from Rhondell. He was a competent wind mage, but Carla wasn’t sure about the man’s rank or standing. Why’s he asking about that guy? He’s not a healer.

  “Yes, we know him. He’s the leader of the caravan guard on the way back too if I remember correctly,” Rodrick answered.

  The man had seemed nice enough, talking with everybody on the caravan even though he had been in a leadership position. The wind mage was polite in all of his interactions, his tall stature and silver hair making him feel elegant and refined compared to normal adventuring folk.

  The mage had still worn the normal mage’s robes—the basic set being a common sight among fresh adventurers

  He’s probably a silver ranker like this guy. Seems a bit young for that though, only being a couple years older than us. Maybe this guy knows more about him?

  “Would you happen to know where he resides right now? I would like to have his expertise with me, as it could raise this boy’s chances to live,” The gray haired healer seemed serious, but his question was confusing to Carla.

  “He’s a wind mage, no? How would his expertise help with this child?”

  “The man’s affinity is air, but I still want his help. Tell him that Ian Wendir asks for his expertise, and that the matter is serious,” The man seemed serious. ”He’ll know my name and come here, and I promise it will help.”

  Carla was about to question the man on their travel companion but Arthur ruined her plan, as he seemed to do frequently enough…

  “Of course, we’ll bring him from the inn right away. Let’s go!” Arthur practically dragged them away from the operation room, leaving the old healer to do his work.

  Once they were some distance from the room, Carla turned to Arthur and glared at him angrily.

  “Why did you interrupt my questions? I want to know more about Viktor!” Carla was pissed, as Arthur’s actions had just ruined her chances to ask about the wind mage.

  “Just a gut feeling,” Arthur answered. “The boy needs help, and if the wind guy is useful we should bring him as fast as we can.”

  As much as Carla wanted to argue, the annoying archer was right. They wanted the boy to live, and obeying the orders of the healer would give him the best chances possible. I still want to punch Arthur though… A gut feeling, really?

  They left the infirmary, walking quickly but not quite running. We’re in a rush, but at least we don’t have a half dead child with us. No need to disrupt the day of the citizens any more than we already did.

  Carla failed to hold her giggle in when she thought about Ciel moving some baker from the street. “She really does look like an abyss demon at times”.

  Arthur started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Carla asked.

  “I think you weren’t supposed to say that aloud,” Arthur told her, trying to tame his laughter… unsuccessfully.

  Carla turned her head, seeing Ciel’s icy glare. Fuck.