-----Narrator-----
The city of Zellendore is located between the borderlands of the conflict zone and the far eastern edge of the central continent. Though small in size, it thrived with constant movement where adventurers and merchants gathered to replenish their supplies before the crossing of the Red Dragon Mountains.
Despite its wealth and the appearance of order and civilization comparably prosperous cities of the Asura Kingdom, Zellendore was a place ruled by violence. Its harsh punishment policies that were enforced by third‑rate contractors created a system where violence was the true law. In other words, the city was nothing less than a mafia world.
Amid the rough‑looking "criminals" crowding the streets glaring at one another, an one odd figure stepped into view pulling the attention of the entire main street of mobs.
The small figure wore one large pointy hat and held a white staff crowned with a shimmering blue gemstone. Their hair bore an iconic deep blue color braided into twin braids swerving along their long sleeve white and gray button down shirt. Step by step, they moved into the center of the street as conversations faltered and heads turned as their eyes fixed on the curious presence.
The figure came to a halt. Before her stood a towering brute with his shadow stretching long across the street. He chuckled low and a grin spread across his scarred face as he loomed over her.
"Keh! Are you lost little girl? Where are your parents?"
The girl lifted her head just enough to glance at the rude man blocking her path.
"Could you please move aside? I am in a hurry."
Two more thugs stepped out from either side of the brute, flanking him with smug grins.
"Heh! This girl doesn't know who she's talking to!"
"Aniki, we should teach her some manners before she gets herself into trouble!"
The big man smacked his lips, nodding at their suggestion as his grin widened.
"Why don't you come with us?"
The towering brute extended his hand toward the small figure, his massive palm hovering just above her shoulder.
"... swing your sacred staff and freeze the world."
"...?"
"Icicle Field!"
A wave of frost surged from the staff, racing up the brute's extended arm and locking his hand in solid ice. The chill spread and he and his companions were swallowed by the frost.
Three sculptures of ice now lined the street, their twisted faces frozen in expressions of agony. The small mage shifted her head scanning the crowd. One by one, the onlookers averted their eyes, pretending not to notice as they returned to their business.
With her staff in hand, she turned away from the frozen sculptures and began walking back toward the adventurers' guild as she released a weary sigh.
"I am not a little girl anymore..."
She kicked a small pebble down the road with frustration in mind while she heard hurried footsteps approaching and stopping in front of her.
Her brows furrowed, irritation rising as she wondered who else would dare invite the wrath after such display. Lifting her gaze, she found a figure even smaller than herself.
The child's brow tightened into a frown, and with a sharp motion, they raised a finger pointing directly at her.
"Are you a mage miss?"
"Hm? Yes?
"Then... I order you to heal Amalie!"
The mage tilted her head in confusion and raise one of her eyebrows with the growing suspicious. She has her fair share of experience in hit and runs with children being exploited of their innocence.
She stepped back from the boy as her staff shifted slightly in her grip.
Casting her gaze downward.
"Sorry, I can't help you."
She walked besides the child who stood frozen in disbelief at her rejection as he watched watched the mage's figure drift past them.
Snapping out of his trance, the boy's their feet pattered against the stone road rushing to catch up.
With a sudden burst of determination, the child planted themselves before her once again and spoke in a voice sharpened with authority.
"Why?! Can't you use support magic?"
"Sigh... Yes I can."
"Then why won't you do what I tell you to do?"
The mage's eyebrow twitched as she halted mid‑step, tilting her head just enough to glance down at the clueless child beside her. Her sharp eyes lingered on the fine quality of the clothes the boy wore now with smudges and torn seams.
"I don't do services for free. Do you have money to pay me?"
The child's eyes widened and his gaze sank to the ground. With trembling hands, he rummaged through his pockets until a glint of gold appeared. Slowly, he drew out a ring with its band of platinum engraved with a proud lion crest.
For a moment, he stared at the ring as nostalgia and sorrow etched across his young face. Then he extended his hand with the ring resting in his open palm.
"Here! This is my payment!"
The mage's eyes widened as she lifted the ring analyzing it even knowing that the gold ring had an unmistakable emblem of a family's crest of great influence.
Her mind weighed the possibilities. Take the gold and entangle herself in a feud between noble houses, or refuse the boy to avoid the potential persecution.
After a long pause, she gave the ring back to the child with an unreadable expression beneath the shadow of her hat.
"That won't work. I need you to pay me with currency. Besides, if you don't have money and you are asking for a favor to a person, you must come from a good place."
The child stood frozen as he watched the mage drift farther away. A crushing weight gripped his heart and he desperately sprinted forward, clutching at her sleeve tugging to a halt.
The mage turned, her gaze falling once more into the child's eyes.
His lips trembled as a voice barely held together.
"P-please... Could you h-heal Amelia?"
The child's pleading eyes clung to the mage as he stood trembling.
The mage studied him in silence as she pondered the sudden shift in his demeanor, weighing whether it was genuine or merely another ploy.
"She is the only person I have left..."
Tears almost breaking apart signaled to the mage the sincerity behind the child's plea.
Slowly, she turned kneeling towards the eye level of the child as she watched the boy's tears spill down his cheeks. Gently, she lifted her hand softly rest upon his red hair as a warm smile broke across her face offering comfort in the midst of his sorrow.
"Okie, I will help Amelia, so tell me your name."
The boy whipped his tears.
"M-my name... snif... Matheus."
"What a lovely name, Matheus. My name is Roxy. Please show me where Amelia is."
"Mhm!"
The child darted off the main stone road, weaving into the narrow alleyways carved by the cramped spaces between buildings. Each hurried step splashed through muddy puddles scattering garbage aside. The daylight thinned and shadows stretched longer as the streets grew darker while they passed over figures cloaked in dirty blankets laying aside the filthy floor.
Roxy's grip tightening on her staff as her unease deepened.
Finally, the boy skidded to a halt, pointing toward the dead end of the alley.
There, a rotting wooden door sagged against its frame, marking the entrance to a decrepit hut.
Roxy eyed the boy with skepticism as she stepped forward and pushed the door open wide.
At once, a foul stench of rotten flesh flooded the nostrils forcing her to flinch.
"Ergh!"
Roxy clamped a hand over her mouth, fighting back the surge to puke her lunch out. With her hand still pressed against her lips, she lifted her staff and aimed it toward the interior of the hut.
Murmuring an incantation, she released a wave of cleansing magic. The spell rippled through the air, unraveling the foul stench that clung to the walls and floor. Slowly, the suffocating odor of rot dissipated, replaced by a crisp clarity that allowed her lungs to draw breath once more.
Noticing the dire state of the dwelling and the desperation in the child's plea, the patient was likely a lone guardian in a critical condition.
Her thoughts settled into grim certainty as she turned toward Matheus, who stood nearby, his face filled with anxiety.
"Matheus, I am going to need you to stay here."
"Eh? But she needs me!"
"Matheus."
"Okie..."
As Roxy steadied herself, her eyes swept across the abandoned hut until they fell upon the patient lying motionless in the corner on a broken bed.
She drew in a deep breath and stepped inside. The closer she came, the more oppressive the air grew, thick with the stench of rotten flesh. Her gaze locked on the patient's side, where a grievous wound festered and crawling with infestation.
The sight struck her with brutal force. Her knees buckled as she collapsed onto the floor puking out all of her stomach liquid making it empty.
A crushing headache twisted Roxy's world, forcing her to steady herself with both hands gripping her staff. Slowly, she pulled herself upright, standing firm once more. She raised her hand as her fingers trembled before the summoning of her magic.
The spell surged forth and its light spilled across the festering wound. The maggots writhed and shrieked as the cleansing energy seared them, dropping lifelessly from the torn flesh. The grotesque sight etched itself into Roxy's memory as she held her breath refusing to inhale the acrid stench of burned rot.
Roxy staggered against her staff as she channeled her mana into an healing spell.
The wound flared with a bright green glow as the light seared away the rot and knitting the torn flesh into scarred skin, but the damage was too great as an huge hole caved the patient's chest.
Figures… only an Saint healing spell could mend a wound this severe, she thought grimly.
The patient stirred as a faint grunt escaped their lips.
"M-Matheus?"
"Mom?"
A voice stirred behind her, and Roxy turned her gaze toward the entrance. There, half‑hidden behind the doorframe, the small boy lingered in hesitation.
Suddenly, he sprinted forward, collapsing at the patient's side. His tiny hands clutched one of hers with desperate strength as tears streamed down his cheeks, mingling with the slobber that spilled from his trembling lips.
When he tried to speak, his voice came fractured apart under the weight of fear and sorrow.
"I f-found... hic... A mage!... snif... T-to get you b-better!"
The women meekly smiled while casting her sight at the boy.
"Thank you... You've done well my son..."
Roxy looked at the large hole in the women's lower chest as she casted her eyes down while she grasp the unpleasant reality that the patient won't be able to live after her care.
Beside the bed, Matheus clung to Amelia's arms, burying his head into the palm of her hand as her weakened fingers brushed through his hair with tender care.
Roxy's chest tightened with guilt. She fidgeted anxiously to search the courage to speak. But when her eyes met Amelia's, the mother's steady gaze held her still.
Though Roxy lacked the gift of telepathy, she felt the message conveyed in that silence as clearly as if it had been spoken aloud.
"Please excuse me."
Roxy walked out of the place.
"Matheus... Listen carefully..."
The boy did no move from his position while his grip tighten around his mother's arms.
"You have relatives in the Fittoa region... Travel towards those lands and you will be safe from the family's persecution..."
Her breaths started to grow weaker and the warmth in her body started to fade away.
"Trust that mage... Ask for her help..."
"NO! I trust you! I want to go with you!"
A slight smile formed her face.
"Son... I will always be with you..."
The boy's jaw clenched as he desperately tried to hold his tears back.
"So go... Ahead..."
"... Yes mother."
Amelia's fingers lost their strength, slipping away from the boy's hair as the light faded from her gaze.
The boy clutched in her lifeless hand as his sobs echoed through the hollow hut.
Roxy moved closer with heavy steps. She knelt beside him casting her eyes down sight as she gently rubbed her hand on his back.
...
Beyond the city walls, upon a hill shaded by an tall tree, a stone lay half‑buried in the earth. The name AmeliaBoreas was carved into its weathered surface.
Two figures stood before the grave, their clothes stirring gently in the breeze. Roxy shifted her gaze toward the boy beside her. His hair blazed beneath the fading light, and his eyes burned with the intensity of rubies.
Matheus fidgeted, his hands restless, yet when he spoke his voice carried a newfound severity.
"Ame—… Mother told me to go to the Fittoa Region, but I don't know how…"
Matheus's voice faltered as he turned from the grave fixing his eyes on her deep blue gaze.
"So… could you please help me?"
As Roxy steady herself to give her response, the wind surged, tugging at her skirt and sweeping her hat skyward.
"Kiaa!" she cried out, stumbling awkwardly before catching herself.
One hand clutched desperately at her hat while the other pressed her skirt down, leaving her staff to clatter helplessly against the stone ground. The sound echoed in the quiet hilltop, breaking the solemn air.
Roxy stood frozen in her awkward struggle, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Then, with a sharp breath, she straightened her posture, brushed off her clothes, and forced a dry cough as though nothing had happened at all.
"Yes Matheus, I will help you out in this journey."
The face of the boy lit up.
"Thank you Roxy!"
Roxy smiled faintly, her expression softening as she turned her head toward the distant Red Dragon Mountains.
"We shall get going then."