“Have you said your goodbyes to your brother?” I asked as Nicky led me to the pile of corpses she had gathered at the center of the room.

  She hesitated for a moment, eyeing his corpsed place at the base of the small mound of bodies. His lifeless and scarred face stared back at her, and she took in a deep breath.

  “I have,” she said as she nodded at me.

  “Good,” I replied and stepped forward. I brought up a hand and created a ball of black flames. It was a small sphere, barely an inch in length at most. And as I flicked it out onto the pile of bodies, I whispered the name of the Skill it was supposed to be. “[Infernal Destruction].”

  And all at once, the tiny black flame exploded in size. It engulfed the mound of corpses, incinerating everything that had been piled up in an instant. It happened so quickly, there wasn’t even an intense flare of heat that overtook the room.

  All the evidence of what had transpired today— it was all gone, just like that.

  Nicky recoiled, reacting a second after the flames had disappeared. Then she stared at the dissipating smoke lingering where the bodies had been. And she slowly let out a breath she had been holding in.

  “It’s over. The Blood Swords are gone.” Her eyes fluttered shut as I drew back.

  And I rebuked her as I eyed a pair of objects that had been discarded to the ground. “Oh, no. The Blood Swords aren’t gone.”

  And Nicky blinked, glancing at me quizzically as I strode up to the fallen objects and picked them up. It was a mask and a dagger— both of which had belonged to Nicholas.

  “Wait, what do you mean by that?” Nicky asked as she narrowed her eyes at me.

  “I mean what I said, the Blood Swords aren’t gone,” I replied simply, inspecting the Lesser Death Dagger, before sheathing it at my side. Then I held up the skull-like mask over my face and looked back at Nicky as she stared at me uncomprehendingly. “The Blood Swords is just under new management.”

  And she finally understood what I meant. “Oh...”

  ***

  It was still night when we left the warehouse. The area we were in had already been practically deserted, but it was even emptier now at this time. So nobody saw Hannah, Nicky, and I dragging Ethen’s unconscious body with us until we were at a secluded alleyway near the main street.

  “Set him down here,” I said as I looked back towards Nicky.

  She had been the one who was carrying the young man around for us, since she was the only adult here. I had also handed off my new mask and dagger for her to hold onto for now. After all, I didn’t want to be seen walking around in public with those.

  Nodding, she did as she was told, and I stepped up to him. Hannah peered over my shoulder with pursed lips.

  “I was only able to keep him stable while I was healing him. But he’s still in really bad shape, Eli.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said as I brought a hand out. “I’ll save him.”

  And just like before, my hands were overcome with a golden light. But this time, I wasn’t manually casting a spell on my own. I was using my brand new Skill— [Healing Touch].

  The magical glow blanketed Ethen’s body as I exhaled softly. His wounds began to close up, and his discolored and bruised skin returned to normal. It didn’t happen in an instant. It took a few minutes. Longer than it should have been, since I wasn’t just manually healing him without a Skill.

  After all, that was both the advantage and disadvantage of using a Skill— they were efficient. They would be extremely cost effective with my mana usage. However, there was a limit to what they could do, especially for an Iron Rank Skill.

  Sure, the Skill would be more powerful and effective the more mana I pour into it. But there was a limit to what my Skill would allow, because of just how inefficient it was to add more mana to a spell to increase its efficacy. That was why I was able to heal Nicky much faster earlier, when I manually-casted the spell.

  Because I had simply expended an exorbitant amount of mana to heal her quickly, since her wounds were far more grievous. And the only reason I could get away with such an inefficient way of healing her was because of my abundance of mana.

  Regardless of my slower rate of healing now, the last of Ethen’s wounds eventually faded away. And I stepped back, dusting my hands off.

  “Alright, he should be mostly fine, although I doubt he’ll be waking up anytime soon,” I said as I turned to Hannah.

  Even though I was speaking so casually— like I didn’t care— a part of me was relieved that the young man survived. It was probably the remnants of Eli’s soul influencing my feelings again.

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  “Thank the Goddess…” Hannah sighed in relief as she placed a hand on her chest. She slumped against the side of the alleyway’s wall for a moment, allowing herself to relax. And then she suddenly jumped up and turned to me in a panic. “But wait, what are we going to tell Ms Mary? And what are we going to tell Ethen?”

  “Well, obviously, we can’t tell him about me,” I said knowingly as I glanced at the little girl and Nicky. The former just nodded, while the latter shifted back uncomfortably. “So, here’s our cover story.”

  I clapped my hands together as Hannah leant in closely while Nicky just listened.

  “Just like what actually happened, Nicky decided she had enough and intervened. But in this scenario, it was not just her. Other members of the Blood Swords decided they were tired of listening to Nicholas, and fought alongside her too. So a big battle broke out, and eventually, Nicky’s side emerged victorious.”

  “So you want me to take credit for rescuing you,” Nicky said with a raised brow.

  I nodded back at her. “Exactly.”

  However, Hannah spoke up, chewing her lips. “But what do we say when Ethen asks how you survived? And if he questions how he survived too? I can’t tell anyone about my healing… Ms Mary says that nobody can know I can do this…”

  “Well, nobody needs to know,” I said reassuringly to the young girl. “I’m a [Healer] too, now. I can just say that I healed myself then healed him. I mean, that’s technically the truth too.”

  “But if people find out that you’re a [Healer]...” Hannah stared at me. “Won’t the Church take you away?”

  That’s exactly what I’m hoping for, I thought, before shaking my head. It was not guaranteed, of course. But [Healers] were a valuable commodity. The fact that they were more effective than expensive alchemical concoctions like healing potions, whilst simultaneously being able to do much more like curing disease and plagues…

  [Healers] were very much desired. However, just because the Church of Life would seek my services, didn’t guarantee that I’d be sent to the Holy Academy like I wanted. Especially in a backwater city like Velmond.

  It was entirely possible I’d just be recruited to work at the local temple. And that was it.

  After all, they might not have the resources or connections necessary to send me all the way to the Capital of the Sanctus Empire. And that was why I wanted to become the leader of the Blood Swords in the first place. To take advantage of their influence they had over this city.

  However, I was getting ahead of myself. For now, I just straightened and nodded at Hannah with a smile.

  “Everything will be fine,” I said simply. “Let’s just get back to the orphanage before Ms Mary gets too worried, alright?”

  Hannah hesitated, before agreeing, “...alright.”

  ***

  And with that, we returned to the orphanage. It was just after midnight, so I thought Mary would’ve been asleep and we’d have to wake her up. But when we arrived, we found her waiting at the front porch, pale-faced and worried sick. She wasn’t alone either. Most of the other children at the orphanage were there waiting for us too.

  When she saw us return, she almost flared up in anger, ready to reprimand us. But when she spotted Hannah, she cooled down, and simply demanded to know what happened.

  So we regaled the story we had prepared beforehand as she and the other children listened. And when I revealed I was a [Healer], everyone gasped. Mary turned to me in shock.

  “Gracious Goddess— why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” she asked with round eyes.

  “Sorry,” I said as I scratched my cheek sheepishly. “I’ve been hiding it for a while now. But that’s why I snuck off— I thought I could, you know, do something to help out since I had a Class now. But all I did was get Ethen hurt.”

  At some point during the story, the young man had woken up. Hannah stayed by his side, and she explained whatever parts he had missed. He was still in a daze, completely confused about what had happened. So she had to repeat herself a few times.

  “I can’t believe you’re really a [Healer]!” Alice exclaimed, eyeing me with sparkling eyes.

  “What Rank are you?” Alan asked as he leant closer. “How did you get the Class?”

  “I was Iron, and now, after what happened, I’m Bronze,” I said, before winking at the twins. “And as for how I got the Class… it was an accident. I guess I was just lucky?”

  “What does that mean?” Jay piped up from the side, frowning at me. “How do you accidentally become a [Healer]? Don’t you have to reach Level 10 before you can even rank up to get a Class?”

  I shrugged back at him. “I got into a scuffle with a couple of thugs and almost died when I fell into a creek with them. And that’s when I ranked up and was given the option to become a [Healer]. That’s actually how I survived— by healing myself with my brand new Class.”

  Mary pursed her lips when she heard that. She was evidently worried, wondering when exactly this happened. But the children just looked at me in awe. Even Jay seemed to be impressed. And it wasn’t like I was exactly lying. I just mixed in partial truths with complete fabrications in my explanation of everything.

  “Well, I am just glad the three of you are fine,” Mary said as she hugged Ethen, Hannah, and I tightly.

  I couldn’t help but smile at her warm embrace. I was also quite relieved that everything was resolved without anyone dying— well, anyone who Eli cared about. A lot of people died. Just people I didn’t quite care about.

  “I’m sorry, I messed up,” Ethen piped up as he spoke almost ashamedly. “I thought I was helping, but I…”

  “Don’t blame yourself, you did what you could,” Mary said as she turned to him. “As I always say, what’s important is that you’re all safe.”

  “Right…” Ethen trailed off.

  Mary let go of us and turned to Nicky who had just been awkwardly standing off to the side the entire time.

  “And thank you for saving my children,” Mary said, bowing her head deeply.

  Nicky paused, before she looked my way. I just smiled at her, and she shifted back uncomfortably. She averted her gaze as she replied simply.

  “R-right. It was nothing.”

  “Now, let’s get you all to bed,” Mary finally said as she ushered us back into the orphanage. “And hopefully, we can put this… event behind all of us.”

  Oh, but we won’t, I thought as I glanced back towards Nicky who was just watching us go. I gave her a knowing look, and she slowly nodded back at me.

  We had already discussed what was going to be happening going forward— how we were going to meet again tomorrow to discuss the future of the Blood Swords. So she turned away to leave as I entered the orphanage, a smirk plastered on my face.

  After all, I am just getting started.