There Is Good In Everyone
"Hmmm, the sun is almost setting, this is probably the longest I've spent outside since I came to this world, isn't it?" I muttered to myself.
The sun was setting over the horizon as I was walking down a slope.
I had the discussion with the granny yesterday and it seems like a carriage heading for the capital would be passing through this village tomorrow so today was my last day here.
Perhaps it was because of that and the reason that the granny had sheltered me all this while that I found myself wanting to do something, anything at all for her.
There wasn't much I could do though, given the fact that this environment was still new to me and I genuinely did not know what to do, so instead, I opted for practicality.
The granny makes use of dried wood for her potion brewing, turning them into coal for fire and she also made use of a bunch of herbs and flowers that could be found around the forest. Seeing that I could at least help a bit with that, I went out to collect a lot of dried woods and some of the herbs and flowers that I could recognize after seeing them around her home.
So right now, I have dried wood strapped to my back, a lot more on my hands and a bag containing the herbs and flowers tied around my waist.
The granny has helped me a lot so this is the least I can do, I had practically been leeching off her since I came to this world and anymore would be a really scummy thing to do.
"Kindness must be repaid with kindness."
And I also kinda felt bad for her, she was leaving alone with no one to assist her, I wonder if she had any children. I feel like I've come to know a lot about her these past few days but at the same time I didn't know much, she wasn't someone who talked a lot about herself after all, perhaps that is why she also didn't ask me too many questions about myself.
I had also checked the cliff face today but no luck either. My uniform, my books and my smartphone are things I probably won't see again, I feel especially bad about my phone since I had valuable photos and media in there.
As for my books. "I'm sure Sawabame-sensei would have forgiven me."
As I continued to walk down the slope, I spot Pipi in the sky.
She didn't go out with me today, I'm glad she didn't though because she would have been annoying by now.
Pipi flew down to my face, flapping her wings on my face as she cawed.
"Hey, stop that, you are going to make me drop these. Oi!"
See what I mean? Such a troublesome birdie.
"Shin, Shin, Shin, caw, caw." Pipi said.
"Oh!!!" I exclaimed in excitement. "You have finally called me by my name Pipi!" I thought she would continue to call me foolish boy, was this perhaps her goodbye gift?
"I guess even…you can be… sweet… some—"
I immediately noticed something in the distance after Pipi left my view. My excitement died out.
I felt my heart pounding.
Immediately I dropped all the dry wood that was on my hand as I started to run. I untied the strap around my midsection as the wood on my back fell to the ground with a clatter.
I continued to run. The wind felt heavy on my face as it bellowed through my hair with enough force to put a blow dryer to shame.
With every step, I could feel the solid earth underneath my feet.
Offhandedly, I could hear Pipi's caws.
My breath was ragged and my legs were aching a bit but I continued running, the surroundings blending into the background.
I finally reached my destination and there was smoke bellowing to the sky, a sort of contrast to the setting sun.
I stood before flames, it was raging and unwavering.
The smoke that was rising up to the sky was caused by a blazing inferno that had consumed the granny's house.
What? I don't understand. What happened?
"Granny!!" I found myself shouting aloud as I ran around the house.
"Granny, where are you?!"
There was no response.
My hands were shaking.
"Caw, caw, caw, caw." Desperate cries.
I looked to the side and saw Pipi trying to go inside the house.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
With no hesitation, I ran towards the door and kicked it open, I started coughing as smoke gushed out.
Fire, fire, everything was on fire.
What to do when things were on fire? Call fire department, like hell I can do that!
Stop, this is not the time for panicking.
I quickly crouched low but not low enough to hinder my movements.
I feel hot. Is this hell?
Fire is everywhere, I can't see where I am going, I can't see granny.
I made it to the hallway, there were three rooms in this house, I remembered.
One was where I slept, I kicked it open, more cough left my mouth, it was a sea of fire.
I had been trying to breathe with my mouth and then when I started coughing, I instinctively took a breath through my nose.
It hurts, it hurts, my skin was glistening, my clothes were sticking to my body.
There was the smell of burning meat in the air.
Was I burning?
No, it was not me.
I kicked open the second door, instincts screamed.
Move!
The roof fell over beside me.
I was panicking now, my breathes were coming in short. My clothes, my clothes were burning.
I quickly started hitting it, successfully putting out the fire.
No time to waste, no time to waste. I stood up from where I jumped to. In front of me was the last door, it was the room where granny made her potions, I had been in the room just once.
I kicked it open and immediately fell on my knees.
I held my throat, it felt like I was being fed magma, my lungs were burning, the heat and fire coming from inside the potion room was ten times worse.
Was the potion items making the fire worse? The smoke felt poisonous.
Granny. I could see granny. Granny was sitting on a chair. Granny was not moving. Granny was on fire.
Granny was on fire!
"Granny!!!" Desperation, a cry from the soul.
That sight forced my leg to start working again, with a burst of explosive determination, I ran through flames, I could feel my flesh burning, my eyes were a blur, tears drying up before they could even reach the lid, I was coughing violently, my shoes were on fire.
I got to granny and picked her up, i could hear something crumbling but I didn't look, I started running out of the ruin, granny felt light, fluids were dripping on the floor, I didn't look.
I was now in the hallway, the place I had come from was blocked by burning debris.
Where to go, where to go? How do I get out? How do we get out? I don't know so I ran, I ran towards the opposite wall.
"Uuuuuahhhhhhh." I screamed as I ran with my back towards the wall.
I broke out and fell to the ground, burning wood scattering everywhere.
Something crumbled.
Standing up with granny held in my hands, I quickly put some space between the crashing house and us.
I set granny on the floor before me as I tried to catch my breath.
What was in front of me was no longer granny.
Black and charred filled with cracks, that was the unrecognizable person before me, the person was missing an arm and both legs.
Th-this was granny?
It's a lie right?
No way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way.
"SOMEBODY!!!!!" I screamed. "SOMEONE HELP!!!!!" Help? What was I asking help for?
"GRANNY IS!!!!" Granny? Did something happen to granny? Granny is what?
"SOMEBODY PLEASE." I was hugging granny, I was burning, my flesh was swelling, my blood was boiling, I was leaking fluids.
People had gathered around me.
They were saying something. There were a few men and women, some held sticks, some held swords and some held things that could be found in a home like brooms or a rake.
Why? Why are they not helping granny? Can't they see that she was in pain? So why are they not helping? Why are they looking at me like that? With hate in their eyes. Please, granny does not have long, please help granny, I'm sorry I'm useless, I can't do anything but please, please help granny.
I was kneeling and bowing my head before the men.
"He did this!" Someone started.
"After the old lady even helped him, this is how he repaid her!" Another person.
Wh-what? What were they saying? I did this?
"This is why outsiders are not allowed in the village!"
"This person is an apostle of the evil god, why else would he kill the old lady who provides potions for this town? He came to desecrate our holy ground!"
What are they talking about? Granny is dying so what were they talking about?
"I warned her but she didn't listen." Warned her? Warned her about what?
Please help granny, please help granny, please, I'm begging you.
"This bastard would have done something like this to my sons as well." What are you talking about?
"Lurking and waiting for the right moment." Right moment? Right moment for what?
"Kill him!" Kill who?
"Make him pay!!" Pay for what?
I latched onto the leg of the nearest man. "Please, granny, granny is in pain, help her, please."
He kicked me, I felt pain but that was okay, granny was in greater pain than I was, granny was suffering, I was not.
So why? Why were they not helping her?
I crawled again, latching onto the leg of another man. "Please, please, please, help granny, you can do whatever you want with me please help gra—"
I felt a powerful impact on the back of my head.
The world was spinning.
I fell on the floor, my consciousness was slipping, I saw the burning house, I saw the charred body of granny, I saw the hateful eyes of the people surrounding me, I saw Pipi flying and pecking a blonde man.
[A fragile woman lying on an hospital bed. "Listen, my dear Shin," She said as she ruffled my hair. "There is good in everyone."]
Hey mom… th-there is good in everyone… right?
•••
Last Wish
Pipi was the one who found him during one of our trips. A strange boy with strange black hair who was lying on the cliff face overlooking the village, he was naked and he was bleeding from a deep wound on his chest.
I confirmed that he didn't have up to twenty minutes left to live and such a situation was strange, it wasn't one an old lady like myself should have gotten concerned over but yet hearing the boy who kept muttering 'mom' had tugged a string inside of me, a string connected to a wound so old but yet so fresh.
So, I put the boy in the trolley that I was supposed to fetch dried woods with and then took him home, the village would have disapproved of my actions but I couldn't care less about what they thought, they were all children with a stick the size of a tree stuck in their asses after all.
After all, one had to be foolish to consider their village an holy ground blessed by the Goddess and that any outsider would be tainting it. Honestly, the village reminded her of the [Salome cult] sometimes, overly fanatic people that hides their insanity behind a veil of normality. That was why this village had a bad reputation.
I didn't have any potion to use on the boy when I took him home and by the time I brewed one, it would be too late, the only potion I had was one with a new formula that I had made the day before using all the materials that was in my stock. Honestly, it was a miracle that the boy was still alive, or perhaps a stroke of luck, it didn't matter though, I had already gotten invested so I was going to see it through.
So, as the boy was dying and there was no other choice, I fed him the potion I had made. It was incredible to watch as the boy's wounds were gradually healing, the potion was meant to boost regeneration speed as far as I could tell but yet it was working on the boy's body with an efficiency that I hadn't witnessed before.
Was it a testament of my genius invention or did it have to do with the boy's constitution? I was a bit curious but since I was not one to pry into people's secrets, I wrapped the boy in light clothes and let him recover.
He woke up later in the evening. What do you mean 'Who in their right mind would even wear something like this?' what a rude fellow.
My first thought of the boy was that he was foolish.
It seemed like he was tricked and robbed, the forest around this place was very vast so there was bound to be unsavory individuals inhabiting it. The village had people who patrolled but they didn't patrol the forest area due to monster activities, the way the village deals with monster is by putting monster repellent stones around the forest and it has worked so far.
The boy had been tricked with all his belongings stolen but he didn't seem to believe it, he looked like he was in shock, what a troublesome fellow, kids these days are not careful enough.
I gave him some food when it was clear that he was hungry, perhaps a full stomach would let the foolish boy realized that he was tricked by this 'Alyssa' person.
Not only was the boy's hair color strange— since it was his original hair color— other facets of him were strange as well. He was speaking the human language fluently as if he had studied in one of those fancy academies but yet he was convinced he was speaking another language. Before he started eating, he said 'thank you for the food'. While, not everyone was religious, what was usually said during meals was "To the creator and the maker, we give you thanks for this meal."
I let the boy stay for a while because I needed to know if the potion I had made him drink had any side effects… well, his presence was refreshing in a way, it had always been I and Pipi in this house but with the foolish boy around, it was a bit noisier, even Pipi had taken a liking to him but such things could not last though, not in this village.
Anslem, the leader of the patrol unit and the son of the previous village chief had come to talk to me when the foolish boy was away, talking about how I brought an outsider to the villager, about how I was sheltering him and how no one would stand for such desecration of their holy place. These people were nuts I tell you, I have been staying in this village for about 7 years and I feel like the residents get more stupid as each day passes.
I knew that reasoning with such people was impossible so I had a discussion with the boy that night. He had been living here for three days and while I didn't know much about him, I knew he was an earnest and kind fellow, someone like that should not waste their life away in a village like this.
The boy had questions and he was also interested in magic, but he didn't even know if he could use it, he had no clue about the magic branches nor how they worked either and he also didn't know what [Oum] was, had he been living under a rock by any chance? Even a child knew what [Oum] was.
Since a carriage was going to pass through the village in about two days, I suggested that he went to the capital. The capital of [Eximos] kingdom was one where opportunities could be found, so I suggested the boy went there since he said he wanted to find a job.
There was also a magic academy in the capital since he was interested in magic, but seeing that spark in his eyes similar to the one I had when I was young before finding out that I could not use magic, I quickly made sure to give him some advice. Not being able to use magic was not the end of the world, he might receive some shunning like I did but I could only hope that he would be able to power through it like I eventually did.
It was not a sin for one to be talentless.
I was born without the ability to manipulate [Oum], the fundamental mystical energy that everyone alive was born with, there are some people who believe that not being able to manipulate [Oum] meant that you didn't receive the Goddess' favor, so naturally, people were shunned by it. But even without magic, there were things one could do. There are people that learn the theories behind magic, there are people who are capable of making magic items, there are people who can brew potions, one just had to find the one that worked for them.
And I hoped the boy would find one as well.
The boy would be leaving the next day and it seems like he wanted to repay me for all I had done for him, but honestly I think I should be the one thanking him, I had lost every family I had, so living like this reminded me of moments I thought I had forgotten.
The boy went out to get me dried wood as he had been doing everyday, he said it was only right to repay kindness with kindness, it was a naive way of viewing the world but I couldn't fault him for his innocence, I only prayed that that innocence wouldn't bring him trouble in the future.
Since he would be leaving tomorrow, I decided to brew some potion to give him so that he could at least sell them for some quick money when he got to the capital, that way, he would be able to survive till he could find a job.
I was a bit worried about the brat, he was just a foolish boy who could hardly do anything, not only was his common sense was lacking, he was also lacking mundane knowledge, he couldn't even cook, how was he supposed to survive? Hmm perhaps I should escort him to the capital just to be safe? It's not for any reason at all, it's just to make sure that the potion I gave him the first day didn't truly have any side effects.
Okay, I've decided, I'll go with him.
"Good grief, it seems like this old bones still has some regrets huh."
And as if the world was laughing at my face, as I opened the door leading to the hallway, I felt a sharp pain. A blade had pierced through me, there was a man wearing a cloak before me, on his hand was a dagger and the sharp end was sticking into my body.
My consciousness was waning.
I felt myself being tied to a chair and shortly after there was fire everywhere.
I think I heard the cloaked man saying "Heretic" before leaving but I wasn't sure, after all, trying to stay awake was all I could do.
It was hot, the flames were dancing with indifference.
Ahhh, did my sin finally catch up to me?
Years ago, I had a grandson, he was the child of my daughter who didn't know who the father was. She brought the child to me when he was some months old and then she ran away leaving the child with me. It was selfishness that I didn't believe my own family could pull.
The child grew up in my care, he grew up to be a kind and young boy, a boy with dreams too big for himself. He was still a young child that didn't realize how dangerous the world was and he fell in with bad crowd. I tried to restrain his movement so that he wouldn't fall as low as his mother did but with each passing day, it felt like he was drifting further and further away from me, going to a place where I couldn't see.
He eventually left home and I didn't hear from him for about a year, I had tried to look for him, perhaps to apologize for tying him down or perhaps because I didn't want to lose my last remaining family but no matter how far and hard I searched, I couldn't find him.
It was two years later that I finally heard news about my grandson. He was dead. He had tried to brave the wildlands but it was too much for him to handle.
He had died because of me, because I was not a good guardian, because I didn't have the capabilities of teaching him. My grandson was ignorant of the world and it was my fault that he met his end. That is the sin that I've always carried with me.
That young boy from the cliff face reminded me of my grandson…
'Granny' he would say.
So, this old bones is finally going to meet her end. It has been a long time hasn't it?
I had nothing else to live for anyways… I had always been prepared for my death… but now I was dying with one more regret.
That boy, that ignorant and naive child, that brat that was too kind for his own good.
Goddess Fionna, please look after that child.
Look after Shin.
•••
When I woke up, I was in pain, every part of my body was hurting but oddly enough there was no injury on my body.
Had last night been a dream? No.
There was no injury on my body but there were scars, burn marks covered my hands, arms, chest and legs but they only had a tingling sensation as if I was submerged in disinfectant.
What happened? Last night, I vaguely remember seeing pure white instead of my normal skin color. Did someone heal me?
Apart from that, I noticed something else, I was in a moving object, I think it was a carriage. It was a box with two small windows with bars on both sides, touching it, it felt like the whole place was made with something harder than wood.
Looking through that window, the sun was just rising and the carriage was moving through a forest, I could hear voices coming from the front, where the rider sat.
I tried to listen to the conversation.
"Gavin, are you sure someone like him will sell?" A young masculine voice asked in an uncertain voice.
I couldn't see who was talking, their voice was the only thing I could hear, if only barely.
"Are you an idiot?" Another masculine voice but this one sounded older.
"You have seen his appearance right? Tell me, have you seen anyone with black hair before?"
I assume the younger man shook his head in denial because the older voice continued. "And his face is not bad either so Migo would definitely buy an exotic like him."
My heart sank.
Black hair, w-were they talking about me? That realization came with another haunting realization.
I touched my neck, it felt cold to the touch, that was because it was not my neck that I was touching, it was a metal collar locked around my neck.
I gulped.
Slavery?
I was being sold into slavery?
"And besides," The conversation carried on as I was having a panic attack. "Didn't you see what happened when we gave him what was basically a cheap and watered down healing potion?" The older voice said.
"Yeah, how did something like that even happen?" The younger voice asked.
"Yeah, even to me, that was very weird. That potion was only supposed to alleviate pain but yet it healed his injuries, he still has scars but it healed him. That alone makes him worth something and that is all that matters. Kakakakaka." The older voice started to laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, I agree with you on that one." The younger voice replied.
I- what do I do? What is this situation? What is this situation? I held my head.
"Kakakaka, getting merchandise from outskirt villages is lucrative isn't it?"
"You right about that, hahahaha. Now we just have to reach the capital in like three days to make drop off. But I have to say, there was something about that village that just gave me chills."
The capital… does that mean slavery is legal here?
What the hell is going on? I'm so tired.
"—Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Hmmm, it feels like someone is saying something."
Actually I can hear that as well. Since I woke up, someone has been saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again but yet when I look around, there is no other person in here with me.
There was only me.
I see, there was only me…