Moments after the hunter had produced the magical barrier which he took cover behind during the moment that I had engaged him outside of the establishment, after which I had produced a large sphere of energy which had the power of a mini nuclear strike which was detonated into a small condensed radius.

Basically what I mean is it was a really big explosion. That wouldn’t have bothered me one bit because it only detonates in small area all the while maintaining its condensed amounts of power. But the moment when the hunter slash pirate slash idiot used that basic spell, I panicked a little.

The main reason behind that is because when he went ahead and did so he could have potentially reflected about half of the power that was directed at him, back at me. Some kind of principle is at work here. I think that just like you would be able to block swords and bullets using a sturdy metal shield but is vulnerable to lightning and fire magic, would work the same way as being able to block magic blast and energy projectiles using a magic shield, but it would be vulnerable to the effects of direct melee or physical attacks.

There are some variations and exceptions to that rule depending on what kind of shield you are using, as well as what the characteristics and properties of that shield are. A good example was that time when I blasted that paladin back at the top of mount Neverspring, when he managed to dissipate my fireball with his massive axe (which I will consider as a shield for now, even though technically he parried my attack) because the axe itself was blessed and so was effective even against magic attacks. And the other example can be when the Rifleman took the long shot with his gun and I managed to completely block it with a high level barrier, and thus can be used to block physical attacks more efficiently.

And now thanks to that hunter, he managed to defend himself and rebounded some of the energy back at me, and since I wasn’t prepared that time I couldn’t block it. Who would have thought that a hunter taking a freelance job under a holy order of knights that use blessed equipment and everything, to know how to use a spell that needs dark energy, not me apparently.

Now that I’m done explaining all of the technicalities and whatnot, where was I?

Oh, I remember now. I exploded.

The massive blast of energy wasn’t enough to cause significant destruction to the surrounding environment but it was able to do a significant amount to any living thing in the vicinity of the detonation. As I knew what was about to happen then, I just closed my eyes seeing that I wouldn’t be able to do anything else as the shockwave reached me, I got blasted back and fell unconscious.

I felt my consciousness returning to me as I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was an unfamiliar ceiling, which obviously meant that I was inside right now, and that also means that someone brought me inside. I was lying down in a really comfy bed right now, like really comfy.

I tried to take in the surrounding area in hopes of figuring out where I was but when I tried to sit up I felt an absurd amount of pain in my back and my chest, and also a little bit in my left arm and both of my legs.

This was telling me that I sustained a very significant amount of damage from the spell. I closed my eyes for a bit and sighed. Where am I? Did I get captured? If I did who knows what might happen to me now. I will probably end up dead, or worse they’ll torture me and take me apart bit by bit while I’m still alive just to see how I “work”. I cringed at that disturbing thought.

As I was resting and trying to compose my thoughts, I had a weird feeling that someone was here. I opened my eyes only to find myself face to face with a pair of pink eyes looking down straight at me just a few inches from my face. I got startled by this and jumped up in my bed screaming.

Meanwhile I must have surprised the girl with my sudden reaction and she fell backwards landing on the floor, all the while screaming.

As I bolted upright into a sitting position on the bed, I had completely forgotten about me being seriously injured at the moment, and I immediately recoiled and then grabbed my arm, crying out in pain. After all that, I propped myself up on the bed using my arms. I groaned in pain, and I’m pretty sure that I pulled something just then. Magic on the receiving end really is something to behold.

While I was sitting up, I took a look around the room. It looked pretty not prison-like so I’ll assume that this isn’t some containment facility designed to hold me. The decent looking furniture inside the room was actually very nicely designed and looked comfortable, everything was mostly coloured black and white, with a bit of red here and there. There was also a large holo-monitor on the wall which was probably costs a lot.

I shifted my attention back over at the white-haired girl lying on the floor. She had a pouty face and rubbed her head in pain I assume. We had a grumpy staring contest for about ten seconds before she spoke up from her growl.

“What was that for?! That hurt you big meanie!” she snapped at me.

“What do you mean?! You fell off on your own, you idiot!” I retorted to her, and then I immediately felt the pain in my body start acting up again from the sudden movements. I winced in pain again as I held my arm.

“Yeah well, uh, you’re rude for yelling in my face!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have yelled at you if you weren’t right next to my face!”

“That doesn’t mean that you should kick me off the bed!”

“Again, you fell off on your own!” my god there is no arguing with this kid is there? I looked around again as I tried to sit on the edge of the bed. I looked over at the girl and asked her a question.

“Uh what- what happened?”

“You got knocked out silly. Me and Mr. Ryan carried you back to the den and then he asked me to heal your wounds.” She said playfully as she stood up a little too excited.

“Mr. Ryan and I.” That was the first thing that came out of my mouth for some reason.

“What?” she said curiously as she held put a finger to her chin.

“Never mind, you said awhile ago that you healed me?” I really need to focus on what I’m talking about.

“Yep, I sure did! After we carried you back here you were bleeding a lot and broke a whole bunch of bones!” she exclaimed in a very enthusiastic matter, and oddly enough that didn’t really make me feel any better.

I tried getting up from the bed really slowly and staggered just a little when I found my balance to stand. I noticed that I was covered in bandages again, and I’m not really bothered by it, or I wouldn’t have been bothered by it up until the point that I had realized that I had been completely changed out of my clothes. I wasn’t even wearing the same underwear as before.

“Hey wait, Mr. Ryan said that you aren’t supposed to get out of bed yet!” She sounded a bit concerned as she gave a face to match the way she said it.

“Y-yeah, don’t w-worry about me, I’m fine. Uh h-hey, did- did you change me out of my c-clothes?” I could feel the heat rush to my head again and I couldn’t really shake out the stutter from my nervous voice.

She gave a very confused sounding “Hm?” as she tilted her head to the side in a really childish manner. She closed her eyes for a short while before pointing her finger up exclaiming a very excited “Ah!”

“No, it wasn’t me. I’m pretty sure that Mr. Ryan changed you after I healed up your injuries. I just washed your stuff!” She smiled again.

Just the thought of being undressed by that guy already left me sweating nervously. But this situation seemed awfully familiar and I can’t really remember why.

I walked over to the girl in a really slow and crippled manner. Then I asked her for my clothes back, I still have a place I need to get to and I’ve already wasted much time getting knocked unconscious like an Idiot.

I glanced at my Neuro-syndex to check on how many hours I’ve been out. I waved my hand over it and it flashed up showing the date and time. JAN17-2090 05:11:41 was the small combination of numbers and letters popped up. I turned off the device after estimating how long I’ve been unconscious. It’s already been a good 4 hours or so, and I’m not even halfway to the capital yet.

Anyways, after I asked the girl to give me my stuff back, she gave a happy nod and started walking to the door asking me to follow her to go get it.

She pushed the door of the room open and started to bounce happily along the polished ivory floor, giving a light tap sound each time she took a step. As we started walking outside, I realized that I still had some questions that she needed to answer. But before I got the chance to do so she already piped up. She faced my direction without stopping her gleeful galloping along the hall.

“So what’s your name?” she gave a cheerful look.

“I think I should be the one asking that.”

“Shiro!” she said as she raised her arms up in the air excitedly.

“What.”

She faced forward again with the unnecessary strut of hers.

“That’s my name. Shiro!” she repeated exclaiming her name as she raised her arms up again. She glanced over her shoulder with an innocent look and smiled at me.

“Now it’s your turn to tell me your name.” She giggled a bit. Her happiness is starting to irritate me just the slightest. I considered lying to her and that I would tell her a different name. I don’t think that I should go ahead placing my trust in people I just met.

Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I can’t just trust anybody no matter how cute they- I mean persuasive. Not cute, no, definitely not cute. Honestly what’s gotten into me, and as I shook the thoughts from my gaze shifted back to the girl staring at me cutely. I mean curiously, yeah, that’s what I meant.

“So what’s your name?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s Daniel.”

Insert internal face-palm here. What did I just say?! Why did I just give her my real name, really, I can’t believe it. This is it. This is how I die in life. I might as well get killed now if I just give away sensitive information to strangers. I have the strangest feeling that I already did that though. I’ll look into that later, for now we were walking up to corner and at the end of that corner was a room.

Moments later we walked through a slightly bigger room than the one that I was sleeping in, and I’ve got to say, it looked impressive. The walls were lined with so much alcohol, most of it I’ve never even heard of, probably because most of it was imported and really fancy.

I can’t even imagine how much this all costs. And that wasn’t all though, the very shelves themselves seemed to have so much effort and work put into them, like someone had polished ivory and sculpted them into shelves, the carpet and the lights also seemed to provide a very calming and surreal atmosphere, there was even a grand crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of the room.

It made me feel like I was in room of a grand mansion. Everything made it feel so fancy and high class, but all the while remaining very calm and comfortable, the same feeling you get when you go home, but everything’s fancier. As I continued following Shiro we eventually made it to a lounge that looks like the bar from earlier, but a lot smaller and more personalized, with marshmallow chairs. They aren’t actually chairs made of marshmallow. They’re named that way because when you sit on them it feels like you’re sitting on marshmallows.

Go figure, I guess.

“Go take a seat on one of those, I’ll be right back.” Shiro said with that now iconic smile of hers. She went into another room in the corner by the small coffee table to the left. I didn’t think it would be a good idea sitting on a marshy chair injured, because that would probably hurt, like a lot. So I went on ahead and took a seat on the black glossy top counter.

I waited a bit longer as I tried to soak in the atmosphere more. I felt the cold air reverberate around the room and slowly breeze past my face and the dim lighting in this area in particular gave it a special relaxing feeling. The aura from this place is amazing. It’s always so calm, too calm maybe. Ever since I came into this place, it feels way too calm and quiet. It’s almost as if something is trying to keep it that way.

Wait, I smell something. I can smell something sweet, and fresh, like a newly watered garden of flowers, it was so alluring that I got lost in it and stood up with my eyes closed. I started being drawn to the source of the smell. I have heightened senses because of my blood, but smell is the sharpest of all senses for me.

I started drifting towards the smell completely ignoring everything else all the way until I realized that there is someone here, and I didn’t open my eyes until it’s too late. I ended bumping into the source, and when I looked up I came face to face with the bartender, Ryan.

“It seems you’re okay. Are you looking for something?” He said as he gave the gentlest smile that I’ve seen today. I flustered up again, I should really stop doing that. I’m now standing about a few centimetres away from the well dressed barkeep, and I can feel myself starting to heat up because of how awkward this is getting for me.

Why does this always happen to me?