Two hurried footsteps echoed through the wide expanse of dense trees. The blizzard had picked up once again, the wind howling like something alive. Snow piled up around their boots, swallowing their steps, and each breath they took came out as a thin wisp of white.
Saranda and Mattie moved as fast as their legs allowed, half-dragging, half-carrying Levi between them. His body felt heavier with each step, his head lolling forward, a faint trail of blood dripping from the edge of the bandages. He was barely conscious, the blood loss and mana depletion had eaten away at his strength long ago.
"Hang in there! We must be close!" Mattie's voice was almost muffled by the howling of the strong winds. Snow sticked to her clothes and her hair.
Saranda's gaze flicked to his face. His lips had lost their color, his breathing shallow and uneven. The bandages she had wrapped hours ago were soaked through, the blood frozen stiff at the edges, but at least it had stopped flowing. For now.
"Come on," she muttered under her breath, more to herself than anyone. "Just a little longer…"
The blizzard roared around them, reducing the world to white and noise. They could barely see five steps ahead, only shadows of trees and the faint glimmer of the moons above.
Mattie's arms trembled as she shifted Levi's weight again. "There has to be something nearby," she said, her voice cracking. The presence of bandits had to mean civilization. Somewhere.
They traversed through the dense forest, hoping that they would soon find somewhere to treat him.
And, the girls eye's shone with life once again as they noticed that the wide expanse of tree's finally ended.
In the distance, they saw the entrance to a small village, guarded by two men draped in thick furry coats and armed with medieval weapons.
"Stop right there!" One of them shouted, pointing their weapons against the three.
***
Silence.
The storm was gone, replaced by the faint crackle of fire and the steady rhythm of breathing.
The room was small but warm.
A lantern hung from the ceiling, its flame casting uneven light across the wooden walls. The faint crackle of a fire came from a corner, filling the space with a soft glow that smelled faintly of burnt wood and herbs.
In the corner of the room, there was a bed similar looking to a patient bed. These beds were evenly spread out on both the right and the left side of the room. The curtains that separated them were left open as there was only one person inside.
It was Levi, who was in process of waking up.
Once he opened his eyes, he was met with a plain looking wooden ceiling, supported by several planks.
He shifted his head around to register what kind of place he was in. It felt painful and heavy to even move his head around.
The silence pressed around him. For the first time in weeks, there were no howls, no screams — only the faint crackle of the fire. It felt unfamiliar.
'Finally, some peace...'
The next thing he noticed that his left eye was covered in several bandages, but fortunately he could still see with it. This meant that he had some injuries on his face rather than his eye.
He slowly sat up with a grunt, pushing the blanket away. His torso was left naked, while he was wearing some dark casual pants, which were cheap in quality. Levi almost didn't feel its weight on him.
His torso was wrapped in several bandages too, including his arms, and he could feel that there were also bandages beneath his trousers.
Slowly, he got up from the bed, standing on his own two legs. His body felt slightly heavy, and sudden movements shot slight pain through his body.
A small mirror hung beside the bed. He approached it slowly, taking a moment to study himself.
He was still fifteen in this body, but his build was surprisingly lean and defined for his age. He had achieved a lean and a toned build with no fat in sight. He was slightly shorter than how tall he had been back in earth, but that was understandable.
Although it would most likely be painted in scars, who knew?
His hair had gotten long, draping over his shoulders, its edges reaching his elbows. He had thought of cutting it in the forest, but after seeing that it looked decent, he decided that he would do slight trimming instead.
Levi's gaze drifted towards the hanger, which had a dark jacket-like piece of cloth hanging on it. He took it and slipped it on, the quality was cheap like the trousers, and it did not even have buttons so that he could cover his torso.
Seeing that no one was coming, he decided that he could get out for a few minutes to get some fresh air and see where they were at. So he limped towards the door.
Once he stepped outside, cold bit into his exposed skin. However that was not what he focused on.
The sky was cloudy, although there was no blizzard in sight. Occasional winds blew past him, caressing his hair as he walked further outside.
There was a pathway, it was made from cobblestone, although now it was filled with snow on top of it. Levi observed people in the distance, they wore heavy clothing as they used shovels to dig the snow out of the pathway.
On the corners of the pathway, there laid several houses, all made out of wood, rarely some bricks in the roofs, which steam came out from them.
Other than the workers, the streets were quite lively. Some people chatted and some carried groceries in baskets. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful.
Levi also noticed that he was getting weird looks. After all, he was a fifteen year old covered in bandages, walking around in cold weather, wearing nothing but some cheap garment.
"Hey! What are you doing outside!?" A childish voice came behind him, however then he looked back, he did not see anyone.
"Down here!"
'Ah... Who is this midget...?' The one who had called out to him was a literal child. She was short in height and had red hair. Her nose was dyed red, most likely from the cold, she was also wearing a heavy coat.
"Are you deaf?? Why are you outside! Get back to the nursery!"
Levi stared at the child for a few second before nodding. The girl huffed and started to lead the way back to the 'nursery.'
It also seemed that Levi could understand what they were talking about. According to the Traveler, that would be the case, but that god never explained anything in detail.
He was sitting on the bed once again, his back resting against the headboard.
"Are you not going to tell me anything?" He looked at the girl, who was looking at him with a judgmental gaze.
"You have been sleeping for a week. I am not inclined to tell you anything more, wait till sister gets here."
"What's up with the attitude?" He mumbled under his breath, which to his luck, she heard it.
"You said something?"
Levi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, looking away from the annoying child and looking at the window. He wondered where the girls are.
After several minutes of awkward silence, and enduring the girls gaze, someone else entered the nursery.
This woman also seemed young. She had black hair that flowed down her shoulders, she had upturned eyes and a crooked nose. She was wearing a white coat, the neckline draped in fur.
"It is nice to see you awake, everyone was worried about you, Levi." Her voice was soft as she walked towards the bed. "My name is Leana, I am the healer of this village. How do you feel? You had lost a lot of blood."
Levi did not reply immediately, observing the young lady first.
"I am alright. Where are my friends?"
"Do you mean Saranda and Mattie? If so, they are probably around the village. When they arrived here, the two was so worried about you, Saranda did not leave your side for two days." Leana chuckled softly. "They have been helping the people around the village with their problems, everyone is grateful to have them."
That did sound like them. Although he did not expect Mattie to jump towards socializing so quickly.
"I see. And what about my condition?"
Leana frowned at the question. "You had lost a lot of blood, and we do not have much blood supplies in this village. So you will feel dizzy for a few days, but your injuries will heal in no time."
"A good thing you did not supply me with blood." He said under his breath as he got up once again. Leana who heard this, raised a brow.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I am a Fae."
A strange silence enveloped the whole room. And at that moment, Levi realized that he should not have said that. The red head child was looking at him with narrow eyes, unlike before, her gaze was wary instead of judgmental.
"Oh." Leana forced a smile on her face. "I did not know that. Although, please do not go around introducing yourself as a Fae. Although Fae's are accepted by the rules, they are not welcomed with open arms."
Levi did not question her, if he did, he was afraid that he would seem a bit too clueless about the world. He did not want to attract any attention.
Now that Levi was aware of the fact that their community was racist, he would not go around telling everyone he is a Fae. Fortunately he looked human, although a bit too white.
At that moment, two figures entered the nursery while chatting calmly. Those were Saranda and Mattie.
When they saw Levi standing there, both of them froze. However Mattie's freezing only lasted for a second before she jumped to hug Levi.
"Levi!!"
However she hugged the wall instead, Levi moved out of the way at the last moment.
"Ow..." Mattie whined as she caressed her forehead.
"Eccentric fool..."
"How rude you are! I was simply happy to see you are awake!"
"You could have expressed it better. Next time, don't jump on an injured person."
Saranda chuckled as she approached them, she looked at Levi with a look he did not quite understand.
"Did you get your beauty sleep?"
"Yes, I feel more beautiful than ever." Levi joked, sarcasm laced in his tone. He basically looked like a mummy. What beauty sleep?
In the corner of his eye, he saw Leana and the red-hair leave quietly.
"So, what have you guys been up to?"
***
Mattie and Saranda talked about their experiences since they arrived to the village. At first, they were treated with vigilance as they practically appeared out of nowhere. Despite that, the nursery accepted to treat Levi.
But the problem was that the three did not have any money. Saranda and Mattie tried to sell the mana cores, but the only place you could sell those were Exploration and Adventure guild branches, which this village did not have.
Leana was kind enough to offer them another payment method. If Saranda and Mattie helped the people around the village with their problems, the nursery would consider their debt paid.
"But, apparently this village receives attacks frequently. Be it infected hordes or wandering wild animals and even bandits. They have the manpower to deal with them, but it is barely enough." Saranda spoke in a grim tone. "The source of these attacks is a ladder three, it is a wolf too. Apparently it sometimes attacks the village with its minions."
"Only a ladder three? Didn't you say the village has a ladder three warrior too? Why can't he deal with it?"
Saranda sighed.
"I do not know why, but I think the infected we faced were weaker. Once I talked with the leader, he told me that you need at least five three-ladders to defeat a four ladder infected."
"That..." He did not continue, simply thinking to himself. The infected they had faced were weaker than their original selves, but how did that make any sense?
There could be several answers to that, perhaps they were weakened by the environment. But that would not make any sense, because most of them had thick fur. Thick enough to protect them from the weather.
So... could they be...
"I think we should stay and help them! They told us they would supply us with equipment and money!" His thoughts were cut short by Mattie.
"I think so too, we can continue heading towards the kingdom after we are done here. The leader told us that it should only take us a few hours to reach there on foot."
"Lets do just that then."