Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Chapter 396  Healing

When he once again came to his senses and started hearing faint noises and recognizing light through his closed eyelids, he felt as weak as a leave being swayed by the wind. He didn't know if he'd ever manage to move his body while having no energy at all. Even the task of opening his eyes was so exhausting and overbearing to him.

"Mmmm..."

"Ah?" as if responding to his groan, he heard a low surprised gasp. "Are you awake?" a soft hand gently caressed his cheek.

"Mmmm..." He opened his eyes and a familiar scene entered his view. He was inside a room barely lit by a faint light. He was lying down and beside him sat a man with gorgeous red hair, leaning close to him and examining his face with a frown on his brows. "Do you have pain?"

"Mm!" the kid closed and opened his eyes as a positive answer. "Can you breath properly?"

"Mm!"

"Can you sense your limbs?"

"Mm!"

"Sigh!"

The man moved back as he heaved in relief, "Sleep a little bit more, I'll wake you up when the food is ready."

"Mmmm..."

Little Reyn nodded and closed his eye. While his mind was being drifted into dreamland once again, his thoughts wandered on their own. 'What happened to me? Did I fall ill again? But I... remember seeing something at night... Mmm... When will I feel better again? Didn't Mister say that he wanted me to leave? Why is he taking care of me now? Mmmmm I wanna eat meat...'

Before he could reach any proper conclusion, he fell asleep once again. A few days passed by him feeling sick and confused. He'd sleep most of the time and the kind red-haired mister would feed him delicious food once he woke up. "Mister... Aren't you going to throw me away?"

Little Reyn held into the man's robe before he could leave the room. The man gently held him in his arms. "Throw you away?"

"You said, mnng..., said that I couldn't stay with you..." The kid hadn't talked much in the past few days so his voice was husky and shaking due to pain.

"Shhh," the red-haired man petted the child that was trembling in his arms. "Aren't you sick? How can I just leave you alone?"

"Mm... I can stay with you since I'm sick?"

The child was raised up and laid down on top of a mattress. "I can't let a child in this state wander alone in a new city," the man's eyes were deep and dark, unlike usual. "And you're in this state due to my carelessness."

"..."

Reyn was told that he had become injured because he got close to something that he shouldn't have, and was hit by it. The red-haired mister had told him that it was a miracle that he was still alive, but his body was damaged beyond its bearing. Another thing that he realized was that his hair and eye color seemed a little bit lighter than usual. He was panicked at first when he saw his hair being almost white, but it kept returning to its original power as time passed and as the kind red-haired mister treated his body. They now looked more or less as how they used to be. Little Reyn lowered his gaze to look at the exposed skin of his arm. There were traces of scars all over his skin, looking like red thunderbolts painted on his skin, not just on his arm but throughout his body and even his face. He couldn't help but think that it looked as if his skin has cracked and opened up. "...Then I want to never get better..."

Then he could stay with the kind red-haired mister forever. "...." The man paused while pulling the blanket over the kid. His brows frowned and a strange expression formed on his face, "...Don't say such stupid things."

"Uh?" Reyn flinched slightly and bit his lips. Scared that he'd offended his kind red-haired mister, he opened his mouth to apologize, but the man was faster to talk. "You'll have to live a proper and free life, one that you can feel satisfied with, one where you reach anything you desire, one that you'll have no regrets about when you're at your final moments of life. You can't throw away your life like this."

"...."

The little kid stared at the man with his jaw dangling open, not knowing how to respond. He couldn't even completely understand the man's words. After speaking those words, the red-haired mister moved away from the kid to leave the room, like always.

"M-mister!" Before he could leave, the kid reached out and grabbed the hem of the man's robe once again. "Don't leave! Don't leave! At least stay until I fall asleep!"

"...??"

Reyn had understood something during the past few days but wasn't confident to tell it to his kind red-haired mister, but now, he thought it wouldn't matter. "When mister is near I-I feel less pain! Mister, please!"

"...." The kind red-haired mister tilted his head. "You feel less pain?"

"Mn!" Reyn nodded his head with confidence. Staring at him for a few seconds, the red-haired man sat back down and touched the kid's forehead. "How does it feel?"

"Nice!"

The child responded energetically, feeling all the pain in his body disappearing. He knew that it would be back as soon as his kind red-haired mister left, but that didn't stop him from feeling happy at the moment. "Mister..."

"Yes?" The man was busy examining the kid's body. "What's your name?"

"..."

"I won't tell anyone! I promise! I just want to know!"

"...." The man watched the marks on the child's body, which seemed fainter than a few seconds ago, and mumbled in a low voice.

"You can call me however you want."

"I'll call you mister, but I wanna know your name!"

"I have many names."

"Uh? Like nicknames? Then just tell me your real name! The first name you had!"

"Didn't you ask me to stay with you till you sleep? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Misterrrr pleaseeee!!"

The man lifted his hand that was on the kid's forehead. "Eeek!" He watched as the child gasped and trembled for one or two seconds before holding the kid's small hand in his. The pain once again disappeared from Reyn's body. "Mister..." A teary and betrayed cry left the kid's lips. "It's Roy."

"...Uh?"

"My name. It's Roy."

"Ah!" Reyn moved closer to the man and hugged his arm. "I'm Reynold but you can call me Reyn!"

"I know."

"Hehehe!"

Now not feeling any more pain, the child, who was also extremely happy, fell asleep faster than usual. While still half awake, he could hear his kind red-haired mister, Roy, mumbling to himself. . . . . . . . . . . . "So does that mean that the damage can be extracted from the soul with my power? No, rather, instead of extracted, it'll only be mixed with mine... and the soul will still remain damaged... but if it's constantly in touch with a source of harmonious universal energy such as my power, it will remain calm..."

Once again, not understanding a thing, the child's mind was dragged into the darkness of his dreams. . . . . . . . . . . . "Uh? Huh? What are you doing, mister?"

The next day, the child watched as his mister grabbed the necklace around his neck and studied it in silence. "You wear this all the time, right?" @@novelbin@@

"Yea!"

"Then keep wearing this like this. Never take it off or let it be damaged."

"Uh?" Reyn tilted his head. "Alright, but why?"

"..." Roy glanced once at the kid and then at the necklace. He seemed hesitant for a second before sighing. "Kid, look carefully and listen to what I say."

"Yea?"

Reyn straightened his back in response. "I'll be showing you something. Remember it, but never tell about it to anyone. Do you understand? You should never talk about this with anyone no matter what!"

"Yeah! A secret! Yeah!"

"Huu..."

Roy sighed once again before raising up the necklace that was still around the child's neck. Just as Reyn was wondering what might his mister want to show him, an unbelievable scene appeared in his eyes. Zzz

Zzz

Small golden lights, like tiny lines or little cracks in the air, or maybe just like a flicker of a fire or sparks of a miny thunder, spread out from his mister's finger and danced around his necklace. Jumping around and moving to the necklace, the sparks felt like joyous children in summer. Reyn watched as the sunlight-colored cracks leaped towards his necklace and seeped into it as if they never existed. After a few seconds, all the cracks were gone from sight. "............"

Reyn stayed watching the necklace with his jaw dropped open, his eyes looking like two round hazelnuts. The man let go of the necklace and it once again, dangled from Reyn's neck, but the necklace was no longer cold, it felt warm and soothing. All the pain in his body vanished as soon as the necklace touched his chest.

"Uhhh....." Reyn hesitantly wrapped his hands around the necklace. "M-mister..." he said with a trembling voice. "A-are you a god?"

"...." The man froze on his spot. "What?"

"Mummy said... Gods have... they... Gods only..." The child went on, without even understanding what he was saying.

"I'm no god," Roy responded firmly. "Just a human."

"Huuuuhhh....?"

The child was taken aback beyond Roy ever imagined. Before the child could form any unrealistic scenarios in his head, Roy hurriedly grabbed his cheeks and pulled them slightly.

"It's a secret, okay? It'll remain between you and me."

"Uh... Ah! Y-yea!"

Reyn nodded his head and after blinking a few times, he shot to his feet. "Then I'm fine now?"

"Yeah, as long as you wear that necklace."

"Uhhh!" The kid's shoulders raised up as if being tense. "Then you'll throw me away now? You'll take me to another city?" Sniff Sniff

Tears immediately welled inside the kid's eyes.

"....Sigh." Roy chuckled then shook his head. "I can't just throw away a child that was harmed because of me."

"Uh???"

"You can stay with me for now, until I find a way to completely heal you!"

"R-really?" Reyn ran to the man with clasped hands. "Really? Really? Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Gasping once, the child jumped up and threw himself into the man's arms.

"Yaaaaayyyyy!!!"