…
"Shen, you should rest."
"We have a few days left."
"Yes, but you've been awake ever since you found us."
"And? I'm not a regular foxkin, I'm a vampire." I refuted James's statement. He shut his mouth when I glanced at him with a tilted head. "I can stay up for weeks and not feel tired."
I'm lying… I wanted to feel human still, and at this point I wanted a nap. But this group won't last that long if I did; James was too worried about Melinda, Verd was in a lucid mental state, Shaun was down trodden. Jin was remotely fine, but his confidence was shattered.
I could feel Jin stare at me, sometimes at certain parts; but I ignored him, not worth addressing it.
Really, I'm not good with raising morale. I said my feelings yesterday, and I'm sure now they wouldn't listen to me. Looking back at it, Mathew said the same about me when I was teaching him..
"You sure seem regular to us." James stated whilst raising his finger to my face. "You have bags underneath your eyes."
"Bags come randomly, and it's not because I'm tired."
"If you say so."
Honestly… I had to keep my tongue held. There was tension in the air already, and we're in prime territory to be attacked. There were spikey rocks on either side of this path we're on.
The air was cold, so everyone behind me was cranky. Not to mention, my necklace has been on for a few hours now, so the cold was beginning to creep up into me.
"Miss Shen, can we ask you a few things?" Melinda asked out of nowhere. She's been awfully quiet since her paralyzation, so this was different.
"What is it?"
Due to my tone, Melinda took a moment to ask. "Why are you actually helping us?"
"Yukina."
"Only her?"
I nodded my head and continued. "I already told you all, Yukina was a former student of mine. Or in other names, Mathew. He was a good student of mine, and I was a friend of his father before we were killed and reincarnated.
Now, I do tasks for his father; a long standing one was to look for Mathew. In which, he was the last family member he wanted to find."
There was a pause, and an awe inspired gasp. When I looked back, James and Melinda had their mouths opened. And their eyes? Directly at me.
"Is Yukina's dad someone strong?" James asked me.
"Yes." Without hesitation I replied. "He's the demi-god of prosperity."
"I… what? He is?"
"Mhhhm, you'll meet him soon." Without another word I turned around. "There'll be a banquet held in Ard by Lorraine and Stark. I'll also be there as Frederic's guard."
"What should we do to not piss him off?"
"Simple, show respect."
"E-eh?"
"Frederic isn't an uptight demi-god like Lorraine." Without turning around I raised one finger. "For one, he gives zero care about etiquette. Just respect is fine. Secondly, you won't piss him off, you saved his son."
Everyone fell silent, it looked as if they were shocked by what I said. Honestly understandable… Demi-gods in the past were known to demand respect…
Merely, I shrugged, and didn't say anything more. There wasn't much else to say about this current subject in my opinion. Frederic would compensate them for the trouble.
There was not much time before we were ambushed by a couple of bears; fortunately, despite my mentally exhausted state, I cut both their heads off.
"Is- there anything we should- should know about Lord Frederic?"
I shrugged my shoulders, wiping the blade in my hand off. "He's not scary, compared to Lorraine, Stark and Valda, he's friendly." After setting my blade in its sheathe, we began walking again.
"W-Wait, is there anything we should avoid doing?" James kept asking, which was starting to get on my nerves.
Can this guy not worry for one moment…
"Your party should be fine, there isn't much to piss that guy off." I explained, my ears perking at the sounds around us. "Like I already said, if you were actually listening; you saved his son, or now daughter. He'll compensate you for the trouble, more than you actually think."
".... He might not be the way you think…" James mumbled under his breath; his voice was quick and his judgement was slightly correct. "All of our lives, we were told demi-gods were meant to be feared."
I shrugged again, raised my hand and continued. "Your teachings are wrong; Frederic should not be feared— compared to the rest, he is the least volatile.
And I know Frederic enough; he's an older brother to me— throughout our history he has not once done something to harm someone who did him no wrong."
Our conversation was cut short again, this time we had direwolves running at us. Quickly, I counted six of them.
Certainly fast…
Unfortunately for these wolves, a fox was much quicker; the first direwolf went down with a single split of its skull. A gripping iron smell tugged at me, but I slaughtered each wolf one by one.
The second one fell down when I slammed my knee into its skull; my hands were clamped onto the next two snouts.
This is why I prefer having this active going… With a slight grunt, I released one; twirled the other and stomped onto its ribcage once it hit the floor. Due to my enhanced strength there was a loud crack.
Its rib cage was caved in. Through its skin its lungs expanded then stopped.
This slaughter never stopped, most of the direwolves fell down with their skulls being crushed— brutal, effective…Best tactic to not get injured.
As a healer, whilst being the vanguard, I can't be slow on killing monsters. We don't have the time to dilly dally.
Once I stepped off the last wolf, we set off once again; the view subtly changed, lesser rock spikes and we could see the gigantic mountains.
Maybe I should bring the family here. I thought to myself, there are heating packs at home.
The risks were quite high, but with Frederic we'd be guaranteed to be safe. Anyways, we continued for a short while longer, luckily we found a second cave after an entire day of traveling.
Then again, I utilized my storage; it could preserve raw meat, keeping it from spoiling. After a quick fix, brought to them by me, I went to the closest spot near the entrance.
We're almost there. I would give this group a day or two. I had to rest my back against the cave's wall. I can't rest yet… Well… Sleep. I could feel drowsiness yearning for me, my mind felt heavy as I stared at the roof of the cave.
I could feel my body become weightless as I sat here; sleep was really trying to consume me, it was so tantalizing, tempting… Before I could force myself, Frederic's voice resounded in my head.
How's it going over there?
I had to shake my head, clearing out the lingering fog inside. Once I rested my head onto my knees, I responded.
Exhausting. Haven't slept in three days.
Aren't you with a few others?
I am, but one's paralyzed, can't heal her back until we're out. One's taking care of the paralyzed chick, one's distraught about his wife; one has his confidence shattered, whilst the other is in a delusional state.
Sounds like a headache.
Couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, it really was.
Reminds me of us back then, just to a lesser extent.
Those times are long gone, I envy you… Ahem, I have one question though… Did you have any involvement with that guy whose confidence was lost?
Not again… I held my breath and balled my hands into fists. Yes. I'm sure you already know what I mean.
There was a slight pause, which I had expected. Thus, came his voice yet again, but a quieter tone.
Seems to be happening more often… Are you forgetting about your wife?
I dug my face into my knees, I could still picture her face; beautiful brown eyes, long flowy brown hair and slight wrinkles from age. I couldn't forget it after my memories became clear in this life.
Yet, I have this sense of dread; what if we can't find her? It's been five hundred years since we started searching for everyone— we only found Frederic's wife, we found nearly everyone from the school. Aside from Frederic, and his family I have no one.
What if we find her, and she doesn't want to be together again? It's been so long, I don't know what will happen. It's the only thing that terrifies me in this life.
I'm not forgetting her. I'm scared, you know that…I've told you that many times.
Frederic went quiet, and I had to hold my knees whilst I waited. This situation happened nearly every single time, but he seemed to be thinking of something else.
Once we find her, you'll have to come out. Running away won't be a good option, especially since we've been alive for five hundred years.
I know…
It wasn't before long, I felt my head become heavier; it was beginning to feel like sleep was inevitable. My vision was blurring, and Frederic's voice became muffled.
Shen…?
I heard him call out my name, but… I went into dreamland.