Insomnia hits hard... It's around 2 am in my area and I have something to do later. Eh, well.

Have a chapter that I finished during a sleepless night.

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A day has passed since Aisha found me. I'm still bedridden because of the cursed flame on my chest. I asked about the surrounding area and if she heard of any news regarding a skirmish nearby.

"We are in a middle of a meadow surrounded by a forest. I have lived here since I was born and I haven't gone to leave this place." Aisha replied to me. "As for wars, none that I can remember. I rarely meet anyone nor do I get to leave to see the outside. You don't expect someone like me to brave the dangers outside of this place, do you?"

Huh? Judging from what she said, she's practically trapped here? Then, how does she know about the dragon?

"Then, you literally have zero contact with the outside world? How did you survive for so long?" I asked her. I find it impossible for someone to live like a hermit since birth. "Speaking of which, where's your family?"

She looked down and closed her eyes. Shortly after, she looked up to me and smiled, "My mother left me long ago. " I made an apologetic face making her shake her head and smile again, "It's alright. She was born from Edeortha, and has returned to Edeortha."

That sounds like a certain religion common to many worlds I've been to. So many different worlds, yet their essences are the same.

"And your father?" I followed up. She still had her smile on her face as she replied, except it was solemn, "I don't know, mother never said anything." All I could say was, "I see..." so I decided to drop it.

She stood up from her seat and went outside. I didn't make a fuss since she will be replacing the petals on my chest... These things are interesting. Looking outside the window, I can see fields of the flowers where they came from. Blue and white flowers covered the land until the edge of the forest. Craning my head for a bit, I also spot an apple tree in what I'm guessing is the back yard.

Ever since I got here, I haven't really stepped out of this room. This thing on my chest literally saps my stamina and, for some reason, blocks my usage of mana. Although I can't use my mana, I can sense a large reservoir of mana in the surroundings. I have a feeling I'm sitting on a mana well. Anyway, Aisha should be coming back with the flowers now. As if on cue, Aisha emerged from the door with a basket of petals, a basin of water, and a washing cloth.

Aisha pulled off the blanket exposing my half naked body and proceeded to undo my pants. Oh, by the way, these are the pants I wore underneath my armor, along with a silk shirt. I see my armor by a table in the room so... Yeah, she stripped me to clean me.

"Okay, Cavaron. Time to clean you up." She said as she pulled my pants off. Normally I would say no, but seeing as my rescuer and nurse isn't the least bit embarrassed, I let her do her job, aside from the fact that this thing on my chest turned me into a cripple. When she pulled the pants off, I still had my underwear that she just left alone. She proceeded to clean my legs, which tickled me a bit.

You know, I hadn't really asked her why she's doing this for me, "Hey, why are you taking care of a stranger like me?" She didn't pause her scrubbing of my legs but still answered, "Why should I not?" Being answered with a question like that shocked me a bit. It was the first time I met someone like her. After my legs, she proceeded to scrub my torso. Despite her frame, she lifted my arm and scrubbed it easily.

Watching her in silence as she cleaned my body was rather entrancing. Without realizing it, I was looking at every part of her body. She had pale skin, long waist-length silver hair, and a pair of serene amethyst eyes. Her lips looked soft and she had a rather cute nose. Her ears were hidden behind her hair. Her body was slim but, judging from her arm strength, she appeared lithe. Her chest is just right, not too big nor too small. B or C, I think?

Anyway, she finished washing me and replaced my pants with a clean cloth. Afterwards, she placed the basin behind her and brought out the basket of flowers. Aisha had me lie back down, so I did, and placed a blue flower next to the black thing. One by one, she replaced the petals on my skin, that appeared to have wilted, with fresh petals of the same color. The black thing was still beating along with my heart, while giving me a slight tinge of pain. It really sucks not being able to move as I want to. Finally, she finished replacing the flower petals on my chest. Also, I realize that the circle of petals is a bit smaller than before.

"The blue petals serve as a barrier, while the white petals act as a cleanser." Aisha suddenly spoke up. She must have noticed me looking at the circle. "Mother only told me these things so I couldn't really explain it, but it just does so." Seeing that I couldn't get any other answer, I just shrugged and nodded to her.

Aside from my personal hygiene, she also feeds me. I am seriously indebted to her. I looked at the food and I realize something, an absence of meat. "A vegetarian?" I asked her, she turned to reply, "What's that? Some sort of person?" with a question of her own. I am baffled temporarily until I turned my thoughts to 'Common sense does not apply everywhere nor does language.' and began explaining to her what a vegetarian is.

"Oh. I have a small field where I grow vegetables, and an apple tree for fruits." She told me after understanding what I explained, "As for meat, I also have some fish that I occasionally catch at a river near here. I can also harvest other fruits and some berries in the forest."

This place is practically self sufficient! It has food and water to sustain it. Aside from the lack of contact from the outside world, you can literally live here forever!

She stood up once more after tending to me, "Just call me if you need anything. I will be tending to the field, and will be washing some laundry." This prompted me to ask two things. First, "Do you have some books I could read?" Asking so, she went to a nearby bookshelf and pulled it over to my side. My eyes went wide when she did so, then I noticed it had wheels. "Feel free to read anything here. Anything else?" she asked after placing the bookshelf next to me.

Here comes my second question, "Er, how will I go about my 'business'?" She tilted her head trying to figure out what I meant which had me follow up, "How will I urinate and take a dump?" An "Ahh." Left her mouth. She placed her palm on her cheek as she thought of a solution. She suddenly made a gesture like she had an idea and stood next to me. She raised her hands and I felt a fluctuation of mana in the surroundings. The floor of the house, that was made out of stone, suddenly opened up and changed shape. Earth Magic! She can use magic! She noticed my surprised expression, "What? Never seen magic before?" and proudly asked.

I immediately replied, "I have. I can also use magic, but none of the elements. My magic is non-elemental, but you... I didn't expect this kind of proficiency, you didn't even chant nor say a word!" Seriously, it took me 2 years to be able to shorten the cast time, 5 years to omit the long chant, and, finally, another 1 year to completely omit any word used for magic, and a vast majority of these were melded magic with some of my contracts, aside from contract summoning, of course. Contract summoning is too complex for me to make it chantless, especially with the amount of mana it needs. Melded magic is, by the way, an added bonus to my arsenal depending on who I summon. This young woman before me, who looks no more than twenty years of age and was able to form the earth with such ease, is not an ordinary person at all.

Aisha just looked at the... toilet thing she created, "Mother told me that it runs in the family." Mother told you!? What sort of family did you come from!? I sigh at the thought and just dropped it, at least she solved the problem of waste disposal.

"Just call me if you need help to sit here, okay?" She told me with a smile... Again, that smile! Seriously. How can you smile at a cripple like me!? Ahh! Never mind. I'll just behave myself and recuperate so I just nodded and pulled a book from the shelf. Aisha left me with the books as she went to do her own tasks.

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"Is it positive?" An old man asked the kneeling knight before him. It was Aldric, the Sun Emperor, otherwise known as the Emperor of Humanity. "Yes, my liege. We saw him get hit by the black flame and fell down the cliff." The knight replied.

"Alright, you are dismissed." Aldric relieved the knight and sent him away. Stroking his beard, he leaned back on his throne to think, 'Now what? Seeing that the others who got hit by the flame died without resistance, our hope is lost. Do we initiate another summoning?' As the emperor for a race that has been at war for over a thousand years, it's no surprise if he has a surplus of resources to summon another champion. Raising his hand and gesturing to call for somebody, a shadow appeared by his side.

"Yes, my liege?" The shadow spoke, it was a woman. Truthfully, it was literally a shadow in human form. No matter where and how you look at her, all you will see is a pitch-black humanoid.

"Inform the magi to perform another summoning." Aldric ordered the shadow, "Might as well call for another champion to aid us since we do have the means to do so." The shadow looked as though it bowed and dissipated afterwards. Aldric stood up and went to a balcony overlooking Regasol.

"Such a waste but, at least we took out a chunk of the Earth's assets, so maybe it wasn't all a loss." He muttered as he looked beyond the horizon, "Hopefully, the next one will be more durable than Cavaron."

---

Deep within a canyon next to a dormant volcano is a bustling city. Its citizens were running about here and there minding their own businesses. A lot of them were pushing carts filled with ore, while even more were carrying chunks of rocks on their backs with ease. This ordeal was only possible due to them not being humans, but they were a race called the Earth Kildera. They were the so-called demons and deep earth dwellers.

They have no buildings, and a vast majority of their homes are dug and carved through the earth like cave dwellings. Although it may seem primitive, seeing their way of life, a home in a wall of the canyon is a luxury while a whole lot of them live underground.

Within the canyon is a large clearing where the ravines converge creating a large open space for gatherings. If we look from high above, the canyons and ravines are actually a massive network more complex than a spiderweb. Looking closer, their society even digs through the volcano as they harvest precious minerals found only within the high temperature areas of volcanic regions. The land is also barren with a significant lack of greenery. As for water, it would appear that there are monsters nearby that are able to produce such needed hydration for some reason as one was killed and its blood, which did not even look like blood, was drunk by the demons. The monster looked like a cross between a camel and a hippo, and is a rock eater as one chomped down on some minerals it was fed with.

Despite the vast majority of them living within the canyons, a curious structure looms over them near the volcano's crater. It had strange crystalline designs as it looks over the others exhuming an aura of regality. It was black in color like how the volcano's earth appeared. Although the building is protruding from the volcano, its internal structure is complexly different with massive tunnel networks threading within the volcano.

On a balcony that protrudes the inner shaft overlooking the boiling magma stood a massive four armed behemoth.

"The Sun achieved the summoning?" The behemoth spoke with a thundering voice. Behind him was an injured lizardman who was kneeling, "Yes, my lord. The humans have summoned an otherworldly champion to aid them."

Without turning, the behemoth spoke once more, "And? What happened after the Dark Fate dragon died?" Still kneeling, the lizardman naturally replied, "The champion was knocked away by a Sky Knight's fireball and was hit by the dragon's final breath. The champion fell off the cliff and showed no signs of life as our hunters found no trace of his scent."

The behemoth still stood at the balcony looking at the magma bubbling and bursting below him. The lizardman became anxious at his Lord's silence and waited for a response.

"Send an order to the legion. Prepare to attack another city with the other dragons while rushing the ritual to summon our father." The behemoth ordered the lizardman and the lizardman immediately left the area.

With the magma bubbling in the background, the behemoth tended to his thoughts, 'So, the Sun successfully managed to summon a champion. This will make things harder for us. We need to hurry up and finish the summoning of Pyo'ah.'

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Ah, Aisha. Why did I give birth to you?