After confirming his identity, Dorhud sighed deeply and pulled up a chair that was the right size for his height.
"Ezareth told ye were dead, so I marked ye down as deceased in the records, but fixin' that's an easy matter. The real important thing is..."
Dorhud stared at , or rather at my right eye, which I could not open.
"I won't be remindin' ye of the hardships ye went through. Just... I hope ye will get well soon, that's all."
I put my hand to my right eye, so I understood why I couldn't open it even if I wanted to.
There was sothing over my eye, probably a bandage.
I lowered my hand, but just then I paused.
My left eye locked onto my lowered hand as it slowly widened.
In the space where my missing fingers had been, I now saw new 'fingers'.
"W- what?"
Their color was slightly different from the color of my skin, a little lighter. Yet I could neither believe what I was seeing nor make sense of it.
"After all, ye saved my life before, so I thought I'd lend a hand to ye as well."
After what I heard, my hand involuntarily went to the bandage on my eye and different thoughts appeared in my mind.
Is that healed too? Is it bandaged now because it was a short-term abnormality like the color of my fingers?
I looked at Dorhud, and then at the questions in my mind.
The reconstruction of missing body parts...
Of course, only three fingers and an eye instead of a big piece like a whole arm, but... It still has to be expensive. It must be really expensive.
I shifted my gaze to Dorhud, so that when our eyes t, Dorhud smiled slightly.
It's really not easy to get a potion or treatnt that can do that.
"Heh, I was joking. Quick to catch that, ye are. North, as a country, did lend a hand to ya. Still... even if they hadn't, I'd have pitched in definitely."
North Holar... helped ?
In the midst of a few thoughts forming in my mind, Dorhud's voice echoed in the room.
"Ye need to take a bit of rest, get yerself back to walkin' shape at least."
Unlike his previous words, this one was a bit more serious, so I involuntarily pulled myself away from my thoughts and looked at him.
Indeed, he had a more serious expression on his face. He was confirming my guesses. Still, I wanted to confirm it one last ti.
"You talk as if this is an obligation."
"Cause it is."
I took a deep breath, slowly let myself fall back onto the bed. The bed... For a mont it felt harder than it was.
"I'm going to be interrogated, or rather I'm going to talk to important people... right?"
Dorhud said nothing, so I was sure.
"How much is known?"
"That they be lookin' for ye everywhere 'cause ye wrecked Caleuche and got them Southerners too riled up."
So I can't just heal my wounds and walk out of here. North Holar will ask for information, and keep here for a while.
This was not a 'good' thing in many ways, but... Still, a smile appeared on my face.
Why should I be unhappy? This is exactly what I want, after all.
Ezareth... South Holar... Kahdun...
I will have my revenge on them all.
To do two of these things, I need to be fully involved in this war. Likewise, it's a requirent for the things I've already planned. So I'm not going to complain about that.
Even if they wanted to release , I would have found a way back here.
"Ye don't be lookin' unhappy."
"Because that's exactly what I want."
Dorhud sighed deeply. It was not what he wanted to hear. I could see it in his face. Yet he did not attempt to give any 'advice'. On the contrary, he respected my decision.
"Just like I said, take a good rest. I'm a busy man, so I gotta be on my way now. But I'll co visit again, don't ye worry."
"Wait a second."
Dorhud had just turned away when he paused, his eyes back on mine, and waited for to speak.
"Ezareth..."
Just repeating her na made involuntarily clench my fist, my eyebrows furrowed in a trembling frown. Still, I restrained myself and continued.
"What happened to her?"
Dorhud responded to my reaction with a aningless look, his brow furrowing.
"Did sothin' happen?"
I took a deep breath and let go of my clenched fist.
"No... No, just answer please."
There was a brief mont of silence between us. A few seconds passed in silence, Dorhud studied during this short ti. He seed to have sothing on his mind.
Yet he did not avoid my question.
"She left the country directly after we survived."
"I see..."
It was an answer I was expecting... I'm not surprised. After all, she, Ezareth, has nothing to do with this war.
"Thank you."
Dorhud continued to look at suspiciously for a mont. Of course, he couldn't keep it up even if he wanted to. When the device on his wrist beeped twice in a row, he apologized hurriedly, though his expression did not change, and then quickly left the room.
When the door closed and I was alone in the room again, the silence, as usual, brought with it a sensation that enveloped my whole body.
Just for a mont, I felt empty and that was enough for to realize sothing.
I gritted my teeth, raised my hands, and looked at my palms.
I had been calm until now, but... Now, especially when I am alone, in the middle of this silence, when I think, I realize.
It's not a dream... I survived. I got out of there alive, sohow.
And yet... Why do I still have this feeling?
When it's all over, I can go back ho, I can go back to my sister and my friends.
Why don't I feel happy then?
Why don't I feel tears of joy?
I continued to stare at my palms for a while, and then I lowered my hands.
A blue window opened in front of .
Not much has changed.
I got a passive skill called Poison Immunity, which makes sense, and my stamina and vitality stats jumped two degrees each, which also makes sense...
My eyes drifted to two tabs, ??? and Chaos...
This is the first ti I've been able to keep my calm when the ??? statistic is this high, it's interesting. Also, the ranks under the Chaos tab have increased and I've gained a new authority.
It's an ability to scramble the minds of living beings using caora. I used it a lot in Caleuche thanks to my wiera side. And now... it's an authority.
It was actually an important issue, but I didn't dwell on it too much and I moved my eyes further down to the Passive Skills tab.
Absolute Mind...
It is the source of certain problems, but it is perhaps the only thing that allows to still be able to walk the path I want to walk... It is just waiting in the middle of my skills, ranked up.
Is that why?
Is it only because this skill has ranked up a grade that I am able to maintain my calmness to this degree, have I changed after what I went through, or is there sothing else involved...?
I felt a headache coming from nowhere, getting worse and worse slowly. It ca on for no reason, maybe not as 'for no reason' as I thought... But it was definitely enough for to see it as a warning, for whatever reason.
"Haaaa..."
I shook my head from side to side, closed my eyes, and stopped thinking.
I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave my mind alone with its emptiness for a while. I decided to use the ti I was given, at least I thought I deserved it.
So, without thinking about anything, I just let myself fall into the darkness I saw when I closed my eyes.
And so I fell into my dreams again.
This ti they were not dreams that didn't even belong to , but dreams of a happy future...
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