"Dad, are you going out again...?" asked a young woman with short, bright green hair. She was sitting in the living room and tried to stand up when she saw her father about to leave.
"No need to force yourself, Millie." A deep, gruff voice tried to reason with the young woman. An old man wearing worn-out light iron armor and holding a sword by his side helped his daughter to her feet.
"Just a few more quests... we can buy you a high-level potion to heal you..." the old man trailed off, while caressing his daughter's face and hair. The young woman, Millie, gently shook her head in disagreement.
"Stop it, Dad... High-level potions that can even regrow lost limbs are incredibly expensive—even a noble might not be able to afford them!"
A wave of pain washed over the old man's chest, seeing his only daughter in this condition. "But we have to try, Millie..."
"What about you, Dad!?" Millie snapped. "Every day you come home covered in wounds, and even before they've healed, you head out again on a quest!"
"If this keeps up, you'll—" The young woman paused, choosing her words carefully. "I just want to say I'm fine now, Dad! I'm more worried about you!"
The old man comforted his daughter by hugging her. "...Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm a Gold-rank Swordsman, remember?"
"B-but that doesn't mean you can act so recklessly! The Goddess—"
"The Goddess be damned, Millie! If your goddess truly loves her children, she wouldn't have let you end up in a situation like this!"
The young woman choked, unable to reply to her father. Meanwhile, the old man—Ferguson—sincerely apologized to his daughter.
"I'm sorry, but trust me, Millie. Dad will be fine..." Ferguson wiped his daughter's tears and said his goodbyes. "I have to go, see you soon, Millie."
"Take care, Dad..."
Millie watched her father leave every day since her condition had become like this, and she felt guilty. All she could do was help as much as possible by traveling around her village and Themeus City as a healer who was paid very little.
And today, Millie set off again for Themeus City to pick up herbs and medicines from an acquaintance.
***
The village where she lived was not far from Themeus City. It took only half an hour by local carriage, which passed by frequently. The driver was always generous enough not to charge her, but knowing she was a former priestess of the Radiant Church, she didn't want to be in his debt and always repaid him by curing him of his fatigue and backache.
Upon arriving at the door of "Little Twister," she knocked several times but received no answer. The owner, an old woman named Seeva, told her to go right inside if there was no response from within.
"You suck at this, brat!"
"Shut up, old bones! I'm trying!"
From the back of the shop, two voices were arguing. Millie recognized the voice besides Grandma Seeva's—it belonged to a young man named Eric who had been stopping by the shop every day for the past two weeks. When she first met Eric, he hadn't said much, just a brief bow and greeting.
But now she felt a little more comfortable talking to him, even though she still didn't dare to lower her hood. "Grandma Seeva? I'm here to pick up the herbs I ordered…"
"Oh, my dear Millie. Come in, come in. I'm sorry about the commotion earlier, just wait a moment, okay?"
Millie sat down to wait on an empty chair. Not long after, Eric appeared, sweating, "Damn it! Why can't I make the candy in the shape I want!"
"H-hello, Eric," Millie greeted softly. Eric only then realized there was someone else there—who turned out to be Millie. "Oh, Millie, you brat. Good timing. Could you convince that old woman to give me clearer instructions on how to make the candy?"
Millie chuckled, she was about to answer, but Grandma Seeva spoke first. "You're the one who's hopeless, brat! Besides, your candies are all weirdly shaped! Look at what you're holding!"
Millie looked at Eric's hand, there was a candy shaped like a long, slender tube, but surrounded by two small balls. Eric proudly answered Grandma Seeva's question.
"How dare you insult the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong!"
"Go back to the kitchen and stop wasting ingredients! And Millie, here's the herbal remedy you ordered. Give my regards to your stupid father!"
Eric grumbled but obeyed the old woman's orders. Millie accepted the pouch and checked its contents, they were exactly as expected. Usually, Millie would go home right after receiving the herbs from Grandma Seeva, but this time she was curious and followed the two people arguing in the kitchen.
Grandma Seeva's kitchen was fairly spacious and equipped with various tools for making candy. In the middle of the kitchen, Grandma Seeva was teaching Eric to pour hot liquid sugar onto a tray.
Eric followed her instructions, but due to a miscalculation and carelessness, his hand accidentally came into contact with the hot liquid.
"Ouch! Shit!"
"See!? I told you not to pour it all at once!"
A nasty burn appeared on Eric's hand. Millie rushed over to Eric to administer first aid with her Light magic. But before she could, Eric held his hand and muttered something. The young man flinched, but the burn on Eric's hand vanished as if it had never been there, leaving not even the slightest mark.
"As always, that weird power of yours disgusts me, brat."
"Do you have any other options, old bones?"
Millie's eyes widened as she listened to their banter. That meant Eric often got hurt while making candy and always managed to heal himself with his strange ability.
"How? Eric himself said he's a Fire Mage... Why did Grandma Seeva act so nonchalant about it?"
Grandma Seeva and Eric finally realized Millie was standing near the kitchen door. "Millie? Are you still here?" Grandma Seeva asked softly.
"That... just now... you just healed yourself... How, Eric...?"
Eric heard Millie stammer and whimsically replied, "You could say it's my special constitution. Don't worry about it, that was just a scratch."
Grandma Seeva slapped his shoulder, "Don't underestimate a wound like that, brat! What if your wound is so severe it can't heal and leaves a scar!?"
"I'll be fine, old bones. As long as my brain and heart still exist, I can shrug off any wounds."
Grandma Seeva and Millie fell silent upon hearing that, and Millie was the first to respond. "D-does that m-mean you c-can heal any wounds?"
Eric looked at Millie with a blank expression. "Of course, but it comes with a heavy price..."
Millie got creeped out by Eric's icy stare and tone of voice, as if the young man were an evil entity who would grant any wish for the right price.
"Oh Goddess, please punish the demon disguised as a human beside me..." Grandma Seeva mocked Eric with her hands clasped. "Oh Goddess, please punish the old woman beside me so she gets constipated every morning…" Eric mimicked the old woman.
"Ah, um… Excuse me, I have to go home…" Millie said her goodbyes to Grandma Seeva and Eric. On the way home, she kept thinking about Eric's words, but she shook her head.
Millie had only known Eric for two weeks, and there was no way she could immediately trust what he said. Moreover, when Eric healed himself, there was no light or stirred Mana in the room—the classic signs of healing effects from Light magic.
"Which means Eric used a rare artifact that allowed him to completely heal a wound..."
Millie knew that no miracles happened right before her eyes, according to the teachings of the Radiant Church, miracles come to those who work hard.
"That's why I won't give up on helping Dad!"
Upon arriving at the village, she went straight home and ground the herbs she would use to make a pain-relieving salve for her father. Day turned to night, and Millie was busy making the salve.
She felt something was off because it was already late, yet her father hadn't come home. She reassured herself that her father was fine and prepared dinner for him to eat when he returned.
But then she heard a knock at the front door. "Please wait a moment," Millie said as she tossed some firewood into the fireplace. Walking unsteadily, she reached the front door and opened it.
"Mi-Millie! Y-your father!" said a woman, panting heavily. A bad premonition arose in the depths of her heart, but she mustered the courage to ask.
"Wh-what happened to my dad!?"
"He-he is gravely wounded!"
***
Night had fallen, but Eric was still hanging out at the Little Twister. Grandma Seeva clicked her tongue at the sight of Eric slacking off in her shop. "My precious, future lord of the Ostheno family, isn't it time for you to go home?"
Eric was lying on the long sofa in the living room. "Yeah, after this. FYI, the one who's going to be the heir to the Ostheno family is Lucas, old bones."
"FYI…? Wait, really? Finally, our region won't be doomed if Lucas boy is the one who ascends to the seat! Bahaha!" Grandma Seeva burst out laughing. Eric stared at the old woman with a strange look.
"By the way, isn't it time for you to tell Millie the truth? About who you are."
Eric didn't answer the old woman's question and thought to himself. The reason Millie didn't recognize him was because Eric himself rarely went out of Themeus City, especially to the villages surrounding the city.
The former Eric used to only go out within the city, so not many people outside Themeus City—especially the commoners in the small villages outside the city—recognized him at a glance, including Millie.
On top of that, his current style of dress blended in with the locals, making him hard to recognize.
"Let it be. I don't intend to—"
The shop door burst open, Millie tried to step inside again but stumbled. Grandma Seeva quickly helped the young girl.
"Oh my, Millie, what's wrong!?"
"Gran-grandma... My dad is..."
As she stammered, her hood accidentally fell off, revealing her head. Most of her face was covered in severe burns, her right eye was clouded, a sign of permanent damage and blindness. Eric woke from his sleep and approached the two of them.
"Er-Eric! P-please h-help heal my dad! He-he's badly injured and dying! P-please, I beg you!"
He stared passively at the distressed young woman and muttered in a low voice. "Sure, Millie. But what do I gain from it? What's in it for me?"
"You brat—" Grandma Seeva hissed but stopped at Millie's plea for help. "N-name your price, Eric! I-I'll do anything! E-even if you want it, I-I'll sell my s-soul and my entire life...!"
The shop fell silent, with only Millie's sobs echoing through the air. Her desperation was clear in the young girl's cries as she desperately tried to save her father.
"Please...please...Eric. He's the only family I have..."
Eric smiled cruelly. His face looked like the devil. That was what Grandma Seeva saw in a flash.
"Acceptable, I guess. We have a deal, 'Miss' Millie."
Millie snapped her head up at the reply and smiled a little. "T-thank you so much, Eric!"
Eric chuckled menacingly. "Now, now. Not so fast—we should hurry to your old geezer. My power can't bring the dead back to life, you know?"
Millie was helped by Eric, and somehow the old woman Seeva tagged along as well, rushing toward the village where Millie lived by riding the local carriage that had brought Millie here earlier. The driver understood, and along the way, Millie repeatedly thanked him for being willing to take her on this cold night.
It didn't take long to arrive. Eric was the first to step down from the carriage and ran toward the crowd gathered in front of a building that appeared to be the village hall. Eric pushed through the crowd, and several people gasped at the sight of him, as some recognized his true identity.
He saw a pale man lying there with bandages all over his body. Not only that, across his chest were a massive claw marks, the bandages only managed to act as temporary stop gate, the wound doesn't close at all. On his head was a severe laceration—so bad that even though it was bandaged, blood was still seeping through. Eric recognized the old man from when he first sneaked out to the city. "Finally making a mistake, aren't you, Ferguson?"
"Clear away, let me help him."
"You—you are—"
Eric glared at the people who knew his identity. "If you know me, then shut up and let me fix him!" Thanks to Eric's yelling, the atmosphere grew a little quieter, with only faint whispers audible.
Millie and Grandma Seeva finally arrived and stood beside Eric. "This will be an unpleasant sight and very painful for your father," Eric warned Millie.
The young girl nodded confidently. "As long as it can help my dad… pl-please do it, Eric."
Eric accepted the girl's request, placed his hands on Ferguson's shoulders, and activated his power, "Idle Transfiguration."
"A…Arghh…!! Kggghhhhh!!" A blood-curdling scream came from Ferguson, everyone present was both terrified and amazed as Ferguson's entire body bubbled as if inflated by an invisible force, but the subsequent effect was that the wounds all over his body vanished without a trace—even the large scratches on his face and chest disappeared as if they had never existed.
"Goddess, what is that..."
"Is this... a miracle?"
"How is this possible?"
Millie clutched her father's hand tightly throughout the 'healing' process, while Grandma Seeva hugged Millie, trying to calm her down. Eric removed his hand from Ferguson's shoulder and pressed his ear against the old man's left chest.
Thump...Thump...
"His heart is functioning normally."
Millie and Grandma Seeva looked at Ferguson, whose expression appeared calm, and the old man's chest rose and fell, a sign that he was breathing normally and was asleep.
"No—now what, Eric?"
Eric answered Millie's question casually. "Waiting for him to wake up from his beauty sleep."