Chapter 136

136 Heal your wounds properly, please! part Pain is often described as a negative feeling, something any sane person would try to avoid at all costs. Some would kill or even betray their loved ones only to avoid it, while others would risk their own lifes out of fear of it.

But that didn’t apply to Ryu, not in the slightest. Right now he found himself trapped inside his own mind in a blank space where nothing could be seen or felt. For him, pain was a reminder that he was still alive, that there was something he needed to do in order to survive.

Did he accidentally trip over a root and lose a health point? the pain he felt that day allowed him to continue, to keep walking knowing full well he couldn’t afford to stay put in a dark forest.

What about the time he got bitten by a jackal? that pain was almost unbearable, yet, it reminded him that he needed to clean and dress the wound appropriately or he might lose a limb.

It didn’t matter if it was sickness, cold, injury, any sort of pain would keep him motivated to go on, to move forward, to fight for his life.

Trapped inside his counsciousness he couldn’t help but think he was already dead. He was fine with death now, he made peace with the idea of dying after saving everyone.

He wasn’t strong like the rest of the heroes, at least not until recently, but he always admired their will to help everyone.

While he was able to feel sympathy for other people, he would only help those in front of him and didn’t really care for the fate of strangers on far away lands. That’s why he secretly admired Luke’s intention to become the hero that would save the world.

From what exactly? nobody knew just yet.

.....

Then a thought invaded him, he was dead now and will never be able to find out what was the big event that was threatening mankind. This little idea made him regret dying.

Not because he wanted to help his companions, which he did, or because he wanted to help others, which he sort of did... but because his curiosity was insaciable. It was like an endless pit of knowledge that always drove him towards the most outrageous situations.

He wanted to smile thinking on the time he spent the tavern’s supplies experimenting on potion crafting or the time he wore a pile of fur and leather as armor to see if he gained a skill. But he had no body to control, and no face to smile.

Then, a female voice interrupted his line of thought.

“Can you hear me?”

“Who are you? your voice sounds familiar”

“That’s not important now, you need to wake up!”

“Wake up? Am I not dead?”

“Don’t be silly, you won’t die so easily”

“Please tell me, who are you?”

“I promise I’ll answer your questions eventually, but right now there’s no time to lose. Anne needs you”

“Where is she?”

“Read the last page of your card everyday, everything will start making sense once you wake up”

Ryu didn’t have a body inside of his mind and neither did the female voice, so the whole conversation was held using only their thoughts.

“How can I wake up?”

Ryu asked, but there was no reply, only silence. He could feel that whoever that was, was no longer inside his mind.

“Since I don’t have a body I can’t pinch myself, how am I supposed to wake up?”

His thought was louder than he meant which made him counscious about something he had missed entirely. Though he couldn’t feel the air getting inside his lungs, he could tell he was breathing.

Without a drop of fear, Ryu held his breathing as long as he could. He didn’t feel any discomfort and thought it wasn’t even working. That was until he found himself out of breath, an urge for breathing tried to take control of his body, but he refused to breathe anymore.

He suddenly woke up, covered in sweat and gasping for air. He tried to get up from bed, but his head hit the roof. The pain from the hit helped him wake up completely, not long after he noticed there was no bed at all.

He was inside a small wooden room, completely empty and there was no one around. His torso was naked, the only piece of clothing on him were his pants and he didn’t have any weapons on him.

The situation was bad, but he calmed down after noticing someone treated his wounds. A dark green poultice covered his wounds, and he could tell his deepest wounds were stuffed with that thing, but he felt no pain at all.

Someone knocked on the door and Ryu reflexively asnwered.

“Come in”

He was expecting Sera or maybe Mia, but he was shocked to see the scarred goblin walking towards him baring his fangs. Ryu quickly drew his hands towards his sword, but it was nowhere to be found.

“Good you awake”

“You can speak!?”

To say Ryu was shocked wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

“I learn”

“I was told every sentient creature was able to speak fluently without the need to learn, even some animals can speak”

The goblin looked confused at his words and then muttered

“I learn slow, no hard words”

“Nevermind then. Did you save me?”

“The other no warriors, many fight one, one wins. you good warrior, warrior save warrior”

Trying to make sense of the goblin’s words, Ryu scratched his head.

“Are the girls safe?”

“Females? yes”

“Am I a prisoner?”

“No prisoner”

“Can I go see my friends?”

“No”

“But...”

Before Ryu could finish, the goblin growled in a displeased manner.

“You hurt, no go”

With those words, the scarred goblin stomped out of the room. Goblins were considered among the weakest beasts, even kids with sticks were able to defeat them. But this goblin was able to whithstand a fight against Ryu.

At the time, Ryu himself thought it was because of his own weakness, but then he remembered when the goblin commanded an army and surrounded them in the clearing. This meant that this particular goblin was stronger than the rest. Somehow he felt relieved and came to the conclusion that he shouldn’t be ashamed of ending his fight in a tie against him anymore.

Now instead of worryng about his own weakness he started worrying about how strong this goblin was, and how could he escape from his captors. The goblin’s words didn’t do much to reassure him, even after he told Ryu that he wasn’t a prisoner.

“Master Ryu! you’re awake!”

A crying naked Mia threw herself on top of Ryu, making him feel pain for the first time since he woke up.

“Calm down Mia, I’m still recovering!”

“I’m sorry, I just got excited you know”

“How are you? did they hurt you? where’s Sera?”

“Calm down master Ryu, Sera is fine, she went back to Celarent with Fena and Thea. They’ve been treating me well these past days”

“Days?”

“Yes master, you’ve been sleeping for two whole days. The girls must have arrived at Celarent already”

“Ok, ok... tell me everything... but first, can you please give me some space?”

Mia was still on top of Ryu, pressing her bare chest against him and it made it difficult for Ryu to focus on a serious conversation.

“I refuse”

She said brushing her body against his. The small room didn’t give Ryu any chance of escaping from her.

“Mia...”

Ryu frowned, but before he could continue Mia cut him short

“Please master, I’m starving! Only by staying close to you can I replenish my energy, even if it’s just a little. The only reason why I didn’t go back with Sera is because I’m hurt too and since I haven’t eaten in two days I’m too weak to walk such a distance you know”

“Fine, just tell me everything”

Ryu sighed.

“Yes! When you collapsed, Sera ran towards you, but before she could reach you she was surrounded by goblins. Without any weapons we were completely defenseless, I wanted to fight, but then the scarred goblin started treating your wounds. Then they took us to their village, it’s really impressive you know!”

“How so?”

“You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it yourself. The goblin doctor said you would be able to walk tomorrow, you just need to eat some food and rest today”

“Now that you mention it, I’m starving”

Ryu’s stomach was as empty as Mia’s since both of them had spent the last two days without a meal.

“They’re preparing something for you right now. but...”

“That bad uh?”

“Yeah, Sera said it was worse than Luke’s cooking”

.....

An unfathomable fear struck Ryu’s heart.

He wasn’t afraid of fighting for his life, of being alone in the wilderness, of sickness, as much as he was afraid of Luke’s cooking. The one time he tried it, he felt his whole body was about to give up on life. He didn’t get the status effect of poison, but that only meant his resist poison didn’t take effect either.

There wasn’t a skill to resist Luke’s cooking and If what Sera said was true, then it must mean it really is something terrible.