3.2

Relentless coughing could heard by him even from outside the door, no doubt, this was the room where their sickly mother was.

John headed into the room without a moment to spare and was greeted with a bloody scene of a woman in her thirties coughing profusely.

That is not natural.

Blood was splattered across grey linens as the woman in a her thirties had her hand on her chest, her body trembled with each passing second.

“I’m...ack...sorry...Miros…”

She her eyes were shut, no— They were sealed as a result of her illness, even the blind opened their eyes despite their lack of vision.

One look was all it takes for John to understand that this was no minor illness, he moved beside the woman and hovered his hands over her.

“[Heal.]”

The wave of blue aura washed over the woman, acting as a coolant to her burning body. Slowly but surely, the strained lines on her face eased and was replaced by a look of relief.

“Ack! Ack! Ack!”

But her coughing did not stop, his magic only made it stronger.

“She is getting better but… Okay, one more time, [Heal].”

“Ack! Ack! Ack!”

The moment the second wave of his blue aura hit the woman in her chest, she writhed and curled into a fetal position, her hand at her mouth as one would in anticipation that vomit would come out.

“What? [Heal]!” John shouted, this time, he directed his flow of his magic at the center of the woman.

And then he saw it, in the woman’s abdomen, a red light that glowed to rival his magic.

It was clear now, that must be the source for the woman’s illness, every time his blue healing aura would attempt to cover that region, the red glow repelled all of it.

In that case…

John stopped his magic from covering the woman’s whole body. Instead, he focused them in a straight line before his palm.

Just like the Elder Dragon.

The thought caused his shoulders to tense. Just thinking back on the Elder Dragon’s and how the fiery laser came from its snout [Heal] became a concentrated beam right before John’s wide eyes, it shot at the red glow in the woman. At last, that blue aura of his found its way and collided with the red glow.

“Gak!”

To John’s surprise, the woman produced a red orb above her as she jerked her head backwards.

Decidedly that she was no longer suffering, John looked at the ball that she had produced. It glowed in a brilliant red, filled with energy that was unknown to him.

Wow...

Just as his fingers move to make contact with the red ball to investigate it, it disintegrated into pieces.

“Ah. What?”

“T-thank you,” a warm voice cleared the confused look on John, causing him to blink in realization that his healing had been effective on the mother of the two girls.

“I...uh…” he scratched his head, not knowing what to say. “It’s the least I could do for your family.”

“John, was it?” the woman who still had her eyes closed asked.

“Yes.”

“Thank you for helping me, even if it meant prolonging my life a little, Meli was overjoyed to see you waking up from your deep slumber. She told me that you are a healer and made...blue lights?” the woman, like her daughters wore a blissful smile on her face. “She also said that you looked weird, I wonder what did she meant by that.”

“About your eyes, why do you keep them closed? Um…Mrs...”

“Itzella. Itzella Harvest. They no longer work ever since I have this illness of mine from years ago,” Itzella’s brows dropped.

“About your eyes, Mrs. Harvest. Can you try opening them? I believe it should be fine for you to do so—”

“Itzella! Are you okay!?” a large man charged into the room, interrupting John before he could finish his sentence.

“I can see Miros. I can see.”

The large man known as Miros dropped his full bag the moment his his wife opened her eyes for the first time in years.

Miros was unable to comprehend the miracle before him and did the only thing that he could think to express his gratitude to the young man who cured his wife of her sickness.

Miros Harvest got on his knees and prostrated himself.

“Huh? W-wait, please don’t bow towards me, Mr Harvest. I-I should be the one doing this instead of you.”

John darted his eyes across the room, unable to accept Miros’ sudden behavior. Only to spot Mera and Meli looking at his direction from the corner of the door with sparkling eyes.

“By the Angels. I have never prayed to think that a miracle like this could happen to a mere peasant like me! I have nothing of worth to bestow upon you, if you so wish, I shall give you both my daughters!”

“What? No, like I said, I am merely a healer who can use healing magic from...”

A’vetheas.

His face darkened.

“How about the farm?! You can— Ow!” a chop landed on Miros’ head, snapping the man back to his senses.

“Stop being over the top, Miros. Can’t you see the boy is bothered by your ridiculous antics?” Itzella shouted. “Please don’t think ill of my husband, John. Ever since I have fallen ill, he adopted this attitude to keep our children from worrying too much.”

“S-sure.”

“Haha, Itzella, I see that nothing is impossible for our little savior here. Even your strength has returned. If it meant you getting healthy, I don’t mind getting hit by you every day,” Miros’ smile was still radiating even after being hit by his wife.

John lifted his hand to interrupt the couple’s reunion.

“I am able to settle for a nice bath for the time being, I don’t like how sticky I am at the moment. The other stuff…let’s put that for later”

“In that case, I’ll have Mera to go with—” Itzella silenced Miros before he could speak joke about his daughters again.

“Mi-ros.”

“Hahaha, alright, alright, I’ll stop it, I am just too happy that I don’t know what to do. Mera, Meli, would you be kind enough to show John where he could get cleaned? Heat up the water for him while you are at it, an adventurer like him must be treated with most care,” Miros winked at his daughters.

John took his chance to leave the room, much to his ease, Mera and Meli were already waiting for him on the outside.

“Here you go brother John!” Meli plopped a plain bun on his hand. “I saved this for when I am hungry. You can have it.”

“Ah, thank you, Meli, I’ll have it later.”

Meli remained stationary, staring at John with her small face while she puffed her cheeks.

“I believe she wants you to eat it, John,” Mera chimed in.

Unable to go against the pouting Meli, John accepted it and fitted the small bun into his mouth. Chewing the soft bun made his saliva water from his glands, it was heightened when he bit into the center of the bun where a small amount of sweet mellow nectar flowed to his buds.

“Is this honey? Wow, this is good.”

“Hehehe…” Meli blushed.

The bun was most likely her little gem. Even in A’vetheas, honeyed products were not cheap. Yet, the little girl was more than willing to offer the bun to a stranger like him.

“Now that John has finished eating, let us bring him to where he needs to go.”

“Okay.”

John followed the girls as they led him across the house, unlike the elven palace that was built with precision, in the Harvest’s residence irregular protrusions scaled along the walls and old scratches from a time long before presented themselves.

The wood planks was soft to the touch of his feet, polished and smoothed, it was sure that its inhabitants have kept it well maintained despite the occasional scratch marks here and there.

“The house is surprisingly large,” John said as his eyes investigated.

“Grandpa grew up here. That’s why it is large. Daddy said that he used to have a large family before we were born.”

“Ah, so it is inherited. If your father had a large family, what happened to the furniture—”

“T-that’s because we sold most of them,” Mera answered.

“Oh...sorry, I forgot.”

“No, it’s not brother John’s fault. You helped us! And now mommy is strong like she used to be.”

“Y-yes, you are right, Meli. Because of John, we are able to see mother smiling again,” Mera sniffed her nose and turned towards John. “I am sure that everyone will treat you like family, so don’t have to worry about your living arrangements.”

A family. With people who he just met, people who saved his life…

“I won’t mind if I get married to brother John,” Meli twirled her fingers. “T-that is w-when I grow u-up. Eeehhh, what am I saying...” Meli buried her palms to her face and shook her head embarrassingly.

“…”

The embarrassing conversation was cut short when they reached the bathroom. Beyond the sliding doors was a sizable bathtub filled with pristine water, wooden buckets and stools could be found at the edge of the bathtub for him to use.

“Meli and I will be starting the fire soon enough, once you see smoke from that opening there the water should be ready. It would just take a short while.”

“I would bring brother Miril’s old clothes for you brother John, along with some towels. Dinner time is in two hours so you can slowly enjoy yourself.”

“Right. Thanks, again.”

After the girls left, John entered the bathroom and slid the doors to close.

“Where is this Miril brother of theirs?” he wondered. “Same age range but his old clothes? Sigh, I guess it is just me, even Mr. Harvest was tall enough to reach the top of door frame with his hands.”

He ran his ran through his short voluminous hair.

Did the other humans have tall statures like Miros?

He couldn’t remember, even though he knew he lived a life in the outside world prior to A’vetheas, there was only so much detail that he could hold on. His parents, his sibilings, the mansion that he lived in…

“Argh…”

His brain throbbed when he pondered further in these mundane topics that he had no attachments to.

“I shouldn’t think too much, using that much mana after...that... And converging them,” he placed two fingers on his temples and massaged his forehead, applying a small dosage of healing magic to subside the throbbing sensation. “Still, I didn’t know I can use [Heal] that way. In a form of a beam, that’s fun.”

He stretched out his hands.

Maybe… Just maybe…

“[Execu—]”

“John, are you in the bath yet? The water should be warm now,” Mera’s sweet voice called out to him from the opening above.

“Gah! Oh, oh right! I will use it now!”

Sure enough, there was white wisps visible with the blue sky for background indicating that the fire had started.

Once he removed his smelly attire, John poured a bucket of water on himself and began to wash himself. Once he was done soaping up his body, he sat inside the bathtub. The lukewarm water rid the stickiness from his skin, removing the foul stench and replaced it with a light chamomile scent.

“A family?” he muttered to himself as he set his shoulders on the bathtub walls.

Back in A’vetheas, his baths were often taken quickly without any regard for pleasure, he would find himself often too busy running around for errands. And if he ever had the time to take a long dip he rather use that time to get more sleep or do focus on increasing his magical potential.

How long ago was it since John was able to have such a luxury to himself?

This feeling reminded him of a time before he lived in A’vetheas, just a little. He took slow breaths, allowing a good intake of oxygen to enter his body while he dipped in the warm bath.

“Mera, are you still there?” he called out to the girl on the outside who was still monitoring the fire.

“...”

“Mera? Mera, can you hear me?”

“Ah... What!? Yes, yes, I am still here, I am just about done setting up the fire.”

“What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word, ‘family’?”

“Um...my parents and my siblings and also...love? To be able to live together with people that I care about under the same roof, we eat, share and talk to each other happily.”

“Is that so?” John closed his eyes and slowly let air out from his nostrils, letting the rising heat envelop him entirely.

“O-of course, it is because we care about each other. Whenever I think about my family, I know it is a place where I belong. Every time I think of Meli or anyone in my family, my heart feels warm and safe. E-even with my mother in her illness, it makes me happy whenever I feel her hand on mine.”

“Must be nice to have a place you know people will like you regardless of who you are.”

His family… John did not remember what happened to them, even their faces were but a blur. Humans who related to him by blood, people who claimed to stick by his side and bring him happiness in the darkest of times.

“I wonder if I had any.”