It didn’t take Ethen, Hannah, and I long to get back to the orphanage. It was only a five minute walk away. I wasn’t expecting much from an orphanage in a small city like this. But when I arrived, I was still taken aback by the state of the building.

  It was a ramshackle and thin two-storey house that looked like it could fall over from a gentle breeze. Practically the entirety of the left-side wall of the building was haphazardly boarded up with wooden planks— as if the wall had somehow caved in from a falling tree or collapsed due to natural decay.

  There was a small yard surrounding the building that was barely protected by a short wooden fence that would hardly even stop a dog from entering the premises. And standing at the front porch, waiting for us with a worried look on her face, was a middle-aged woman with long brown hair tied into a bun who I somehow knew was Ms Mary.

  “Hannah, Ethen, I thought I told you to get back home before—” she started, before she caught sight of me. Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, “And Eli! Martyr’s guide us… where were you?”

  She looked me once over with round eyes. Her eyes drifted over my wounds and my torn clothes. Her lips drew into a thin line, but she didn’t seem to question it. It looked like she was used to it— tired of it, really.

  I must’ve really been a troublemaker, huh? I thought as I tilted my head. It was strange. Even though I didn’t do anything that warranted it, I felt… guilty? Like I had done something wrong. I never had a normal childhood, but I imagined this was what it was like when kids were reprimanded by their parents when they knew they had done something wrong.

  Hannah shuffled her feet nervously as she lowered her head. “Sorry, Ms Mary. It’s not Ethen’s fault we stayed out so late. I was the one who convinced him to help me search for Eli until we found him.”

  But Ethen sputtered in protest as he placed a hand on his chest. “Well, I’m the older one here! I’m the one who should be held responsible for listening to you!”

  Mary’s face softened as she looked between the three of us.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter who’s at fault. What matters is that you’re all safe. Come on, let’s get inside.” She paused as she looked at me. “And let’s get you changed. You’re a mess.”

  “Right… thanks…” I said as I followed her into the orphanage.

  ***

  Mary provided me with a new set of clothes for me to change into once we were inside the orphanage. Well, it wasn’t exactly new— it was an old and worn out pair of tunic and pants that was recently washed.

  Once I changed into it, she wrapped up my wounds in some bandages, applying some healing ointment beforehand.

  “You should be fully recovered in two weeks’ time as long as you don’t strain yourself too much,” Mary said as she drew back from me.

  “Thank you, Ms Mary,” I said as I inspected the bandages for a moment.

  There was a pause as the middle-aged woman didn’t respond. She just eyed me quizzically as I sat there at the empty dining table, raising a brow.

  Right, I’m supposed to be a troublemaker or whatever, I thought as I took a step past her. Then I gave her a toothy grin. “I promise I’ll wait until I’m fully recovered before I do something stupid again.”

  “Oh, no you won’t.” Mary crossed her arms as she gave me a half-glare. “Because I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again. Stealing is one thing— but trying to mess with the Blood Swords?”

  I just faked a chuckle as she sighed.

  “If you keep this up, Eli, you’re going to get yourself killed one day. And even though you’re always causing trouble for me, I don’t want that.” Mary looked past me, towards the little girl that was waiting by the stairs for me.

  “Eli, let’s go to bed!” Hannah called out as she hugged onto a teddy bear.

  I looked at her, then I turned back to Mary. The middle-aged woman closed her eyes as she turned away from me.

  “None of us wants that,” Mary finished.

  And I slowly nodded as I headed up the stairs, following after Hannah as we headed to our room. Unfortunately for you, the worst has already happened…

  At the very least, I’ll spend some time with them as ‘Eli’ as I figure out my Class-situation— or lack thereof— before I head off to the Capital City of the Sanctus Empire. Then they would be able to get a proper goodbye.

  Hannah led me to a room in the leftmost corner of the second floor. It was a small room. There were two beds set opposite from each other. To the right was a bunkbed which was empty, and to the left was a single bed with a pair of young twins— a boy and a girl— already tucked in and sleeping.

  I watched as Hannah clambered up to the top of the bunkbed, and I moved to get into the bottom bed. However, she popped her head over the edge and whispered to me.

  “Psttt, come here,” she said as she proffered me a hand.

  I eyed her curiously and accepted her hand. She helped me up onto her bed as she looked down cautiously towards the twins for a moment. But even though they were snoring, fast asleep, she still threw her sheets over the both of us, covering us entirely so we couldn’t be seen.

  “What are you doing, Hannah?” I asked narrowing my eyes at her.

  But she just raised her hand expectantly. “Let me take a look at your arms, Eli. Please?”

  “Uh, sure?”

  I didn’t know what she wanted, but I did as I was told. After all, something inside me told me that I could trust her. It was a strange sensation— I couldn’t quite describe it. But even though I had just met her, there was a familiarity here.

  A warmth of knowing each other that I was surprised I felt.

  Slowly, she unwrapped the bandages covering my freshly-cleaned wounds and traced her finger over the dried cuts. I winced at that.

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  “Hannah, I don’t know if you should be doing—” I started.

  But she took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes. And my eyes flickered as I sensed a shift in the air around her. Like a spell was being cast. Then she exhaled.

  Frowning, I watched as a dim golden glow began to spread from her fingertips to my arms. A warm sensation enveloped the cuts on my arms as I stared on with wide eyes.

  “This is… healing magic?” I whispered.

  But Hannah hushed me. “Shh, I need to focus.”

  She made a strained expression as the golden glow began to shine brighter, wrapping over my arms in their entirety. I watched closely at the way she poured out the mana in her body into her fingertips— commanding them to heal me. And as minutes passed, I silently observed her, even as the cuts covering my arms began to completely close up as the numbing sensation I previously felt faded away.

  Until she was finally finished. Hannah sighed as she pulled away from me, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

  “Alright, all healed,” she said as she mustered up a weak smile.

  She faced me reassuringly, but I just stared at her blankly. I wasn’t sure how to respond— especially since deep within me, I knew that Eli hadn’t even known she was capable of doing this.

  “S-sorry I never told you about it,” Hannah said as she averted her gaze, “but Ms Mary told me to keep it a secret. I don’t know why. She just said it’s bad if it got out that I am already an Iron Rank [Healer] at my age.”

  She scratched her cheek sheepishly. And I wasn’t quite sure how to react. But a small part of me compelled me to reassure her— for some reason, I was grateful that she had even shared this secret with me, even though I barely knew her.

  It was evidently clear at this point that Eli and Hannah had an extremely close relationship, and while I did wonder why I was able to intuitively feel or know things I didn’t, I knew that the most important thing right now was I had to act the part. So I gave the young girl a reassuring look as I placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I owe you that much.” I grinned back at her.

  Hannah smiled at that. Then she hurriedly began to wrap the bandages around my arms once again.

  “You should keep your bandages on for now— if Ms Mary finds out that I healed you with my magic, she will get mad at the both of us.”

  “Right, right,” I said as I helped her bandage my arms once again.

  And as I did, I cast aside all other thoughts and focused back on how she had healed me. I replayed that scene in my head again and again, studying it— remembering how she had cast that spell.

  Then when I clambered back into the bottom bunk, I hid under my blanket as I raised a hand. There was a momentary flash of golden light as I focused my magic onto my fingertips. Before I smirked to myself.

  A basic healing spell, but a useful spell to remember nonetheless…

  ***

  The next day, I was woken up in the morning by the banging of pots and pans which apparently meant that breakfast was ready. The entire orphanage gathered downstairs at the large dining table sat right next to the kitchen.

  During breakfast, I didn’t say much, choosing mostly to listen in to learn more about the orphanage. And what I learned first of all was that iIn total there were nine kids living here, excluding Ethen.

  Apparently, Ethen was already an adult at twenty years old, even if he looked like a teenager. He could’ve moved out years ago, but he chose to stay to help Ms Mary out since she was getting old.

  The twins I saw last night— Alan and Alice— were the youngest in the orphanage. They were both eight years old, and they were practically inseparable. After them was Hannah, me, and another boy named Jay who looked to be fourteen.

  Unlike me, he didn’t seem like he got into much trouble. He wore a pair of glasses, and he spent most of the breakfast time reading his book. He also barely even acknowledged my existence, despite greeting Hannah.

  After Jay, everyone else was about the same age. In their late teens. There was a pair of sixteen year old girls named Melinda and Sarah who were definitely not blood-related. Then there was a scrawny seventeen year old boy named Jason. And lastly, a seventeen year old girl named Michelle who was apparently Melinda’s sister.

  Of course, there was Ethen too. But again, he was more of a helper than an orphan, considering his age.

  Just like last night, I felt like I had known everyone here all my life. I laughed and chatted with them almost seamlessly, understanding inside jokes that I didn’t think I would understand.

  I had my theories as to why I felt this way. But for now, I just sat back and observed while making my plans for the day.

  Regardless, almost everyone seemed to have a role to play in this orphanage. They were all assigned chores to do— for example, Sarah had helped Mary prepare breakfast this morning, while Jason cleaned the house. Even the twins ended up helping out by clearing the dining table after breakfast was finished.

  I wanted to help out too, much to the surprise of Hannah. But Mary stopped me and told me to rest.

  “No chores for you until you recover,” she had said sternly as she eyed my bandaged arms.

  “Lucky me, I guess,” I replied how I thought Eli would respond, before taking a seat back down at the dining table.

  I wanted to go out and wander the city to learn more about the Blood Swords, however Mary would definitely stop me if I did that. I would have to sneak out later. But for now, I decided to make idle conversation with Jay since he was the only other person who wasn’t doing any chores right now.

  Besides… I eyed the book he was reading. I read its title. And it piqued my interest. The Lady of Light: The Greatest Hero Chosen by the Goddess of Life, huh? So a biography of sorts…

  “Hey,” I greeted him as I sidled over next to Jay.

  He eyed me dubiously as he lowered the book. “Can I help you?”

  “What are you reading?” I asked, raising a brow at him.

  Jay furrowed his brows as he skeptically faced me. “How out of character of you. And what could have possibly caused this sudden interest in my ‘boring books’?”

  “I’m not allowed to go outside,” I said with a shrug. “And I’m bored.”

  “I see.” Jay looked like he was deliberating over whether to actually entertain my question for a long moment, before he sighed. He set the book down as it seemed like he made a decision. “Well, if you really want to know, this is a biography of the Lady of Light— written and published by the Church of Life, so you know it’s legit.”

  “I could tell as much.” I rolled my eyes at him. “But what’s so special about it? I mean, don’t we all know what she did? She killed the Death God like all the other [Heroes] of the past, right?”

  Jay just shook his head as he scoffed. “It’s not just that she killed the Death God— it’s that she killed him and lived. No other [Hero] in recorded history has ever done that.”

  Picking up the book, Jay flipped through its pages as I watched.

  “And that’s not all. It’s what she’s done even after that… dealing with the Avatars of Death… destroying the Artifacts of Death…”

  I paused when I heard that. “Avatars of Death? Artifacts of Death?”

  I blinked a few times, taken aback by that. Jay just scoffed as he waved a hand dismissively.

  “Of course you don’t know what I’m talking about. You need to pay more attention to things that are happening outside of our tiny city. Unlike you, I actually listen to what the passing [Traders] have to say, so I know about world events.”

  I just scratched the back of my head as he held his nose up high. I ignored his remarks, since I knew that he was probably accurately describing Eli. Instead, I chose to prod him further.

  “Well, I want to know more now— has the Death God made a return or something?” I asked as I leaned closer.

  Jay rolled his eyes, before facing me. “Not exactly. It’s more like—”

  But right as he started to explain, I heard a shout coming from outside the orphanage. Blinking, I looked up through the window to see a crowd of rugged and large men standing outside of the fence. They had weapons drawn, and they were yelling, pointing at the orphanage.

  Mary, Ethen, Hannah— everyone paused what they were doing and looked out the window. Jay rose to his feet as he dropped his book to the ground. I just frowned as the other boy exclaimed.

  “Gracious Goddess, that’s the Blood Swords! But… what are they doing here?”

  And I remained silent, even though I knew that they were probably here because of me.