…My whole body hurts.
After barely regaining consciousness, I opened my eyes. What surrounded me was a dark environment, with thrashed ruins here and there.
From what I can tell, the ruins seem to be quite abandoned, with moss covering the walls and pillars.
I tried to laugh at my own situation, before realising that I can't.
I literally can't laugh right now.
My mouth, throat, they're all numb.
Although I could somewhat feel my arms and legs, they're in quite a painful episode right now… ignoring it would be hard, but I'll manage.
Even moving my eyelids felt like a burden. But, laying down doing nothing wouldn't be efficient in a place I'm not familiar with, especially not a place that could house some hooligans.
"..."
This is tricky.
I need to move, yet I can't.
Calling for help is also out of the question due to the same reason.
Now what?
In such a precarious scenario, the silver lining revealed itself.
"...is there?"
…?
It felt like I'd just heard a voice. Although it was quite faint, I knew my ears would never lie to me.
"...Let me ask you again, who is there?"
Should I respond? I don't know, the person may or may not be coming with bad intentions.
Although, I'm not really in a situation where everything could go the way I want.
Thus, I responded, in hope of the person calling for the ambulance.
Despite not knowing what the cause of my painful constitution is, I know it was not minor. In fact, it's probably quite life-threatening.
Had I left it alone for a while, I have no doubt that I would be losing a limb or two.
"Arg…"
Ah, right. My vocal cord.
Although I barely let out a noise, the person heard it. The way the sound of footsteps fastened towards my location implied so.
I've long since closed my eyes, it just takes way too much energy to even keep it open.
Plus, now that the person is closer to me, I could finally make out their gender. With them being quite far away in the beginning, it was quite hard to make out the tone of voice.
I pray that they don't have bad intentions, I am in quite a different body than before, after all.
"You, what are you doing here?"
It was a feminine voice. In that case, she's female, right? I don't like to assume since I've seen some people practise the female voice, even as a male.
Especially in the V-Tubing community. The many clips that entered my page were truly concerning, as I am someone who doesn't go actively searching for them.
In response to her question, I tried to answer.
"Ah…"
What let out was just a husky sound.
Although, apparently that was enough.
I bet she's looking at my body right now. If so, she should be able to make out that I am injured.
While weighing my luck, I heard her mumble.
"...Mana reserves are empty?"
I'm not sure what she meant by that, but having something being empty doesn't usually mean the best of things.
Also, was she talking to me? No wait, maybe she was talking to herself?
And why was she not calling for help right now. I felt like dying over here.
"Can you not talk?"
"Ah…"
Any effort she made to get me to talk went like that. After a few more questions, I heard her distance closing in again.
Suddenly, a cold finger touched my left arm. Along with it is a stinging pain that couldn't be compared to anything I've felt before.
Without restraint, a silent scream escaped my mouth.
"My apologies, I need to check up on your condition. The pain should be stopping in a few minutes."
With that sentence, she continued touching my body.
From the arms, the legs and to the face.
Never have another human touch hurt this badly.
"..Examination completed, please hold your breath for a bit. I'll be healing you. Please bear with the pain for a little bit longer."
With that, she mumbled some gibberish that I couldn't make out.
…and a pain so unbearable assaulted me, causing me to lose consciousness.
—
"You're awake?"
"...huh?"
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"...none."
"Correct, it seems the vision recovered correctly."
"...?"
I looked at the ceiling in confusement.
It's not a ceiling I recognize.
Although, the warm bed and blanket was something I've been missing for a while.
While thinking about what happened the past few hours, I heard the familiar voice call out to me.
"Are you alright?"
I looked towards the source of that voice.
What took my attention immediately was the white nun-like outfit. Although it lacked the hood, she was undoubtedly a nun.
Pale skin, closed eyes with a blond hair that goes down to the shoulderblades.
While looking at her, I can't help but think. I've never seen someone as beautiful as her before.
Due to that, I didn't realise how long my gaze lingered on her.
Fortunately, I caught myself before she said anything.
"I'm alright. Thank you for asking." My response arrived, albeit a little bit late.
"I see, that's fortunate."
I had to hold in a giggle due to the fact that her eyes were closed while saying so.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… Anyways, where am I?" I asked.
"I'm letting you stay at my abode for now, seeing as to how you were injured before. I can't really leave a patient of mine resting at the side of the road."
"Huh? You mean, you healed me?"
"I did."
"Are you a doctor?"
"No, I am just a healer."
...What's the difference?
She was the one that healed me?
It's quite hard to believe a girl could singlehandedly treat a patient who was about to cross the river. Should I ask about her ranking?
Looking at her, I have a feeling she might not answer the question truthfully.
I've been trusting my intuition so much lately. And most of the time, they were on point.
Like that time I was hunting down a boar. My intuition was telling me the moment I lunge towards it at this angle, it'll run that way. Something like that.
And they were right.
Many more situations of similar scenarios played out that made me trust them.
That's why I didn't ask her about it.
"You should be resting now. When I found you, your mana reserves had dried down to the very last drop. It was quite a fortune I found you before it was too late."
"Ah, thank you very much, then."
I have no idea what she was talking about.
Mana reserves? I feel like I've heard that term before, but I'm not sure…
Ah right, D&D campaign. Wasn't that term usually used to signify the amount of magic spells you could still use?
Am I in a D&D campaign right now?
After finishing her statement, she stood up.
Before she left, I decided to satiate my final curiosity.
"Um, excuse me. Why haven't you opened your eyes yet?"
"...You don't know?"
"Was I supposed to know?"
I heard her mumble something along the lines of "No wonder…", but I could be mistaken.
"I have lost my ability to see. In other words, I'm blind."
"...huh?"
"..."
I was waiting for her to say she was joking, but it never came.