Guardian's Farm 25

When I returned home, Eli was already up, practicing his spear with a surprising intensity, each stab cutting through the air sharply.

It wasn’t that he was lax before. He had been a diligent student, picking up my teachings quickly, making very few mistakes. But, there was a new intensity to his strikes, the kind that marked great fighters from the ordinary ones.

The effects of his latest misfortune, no doubt, were driving him to be stronger so that he didn’t suffer anything else like that. But, as his teacher, it didn’t make me happy. How could it, when I had already seen many of my own brothers-in-arms destroyed by the same intensity.

Fear and anger pushed a person, but often too far, until they ended completely falling apart, burned in their own flames of fury. It never ended well. I had seen it many times. I exhaled slowly, forcing the bitterness of my many failures aside. Sage walked to me, and I scratched behind his ears.

“I know, buddy,” I whispered to him once I saw his worried glance. “But, I need you to go follow this smell and find if there’s any other area like this in the region,” I said. Understanding the gravity of the situation, he left without bargaining for a bribe. I turned my attention to Eli.

I could help Eli figure out how to harness it to prevent his fall, just like how Garum had helped me back then.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the immediate situation. No matter how much I wanted to help him, the sickness in these woods was no small matter I could ignore. Someone was trying to create a fake Blight, with mysterious aims.

Retired or not, I had no intention of letting anyone plot under my nose… Especially when they made it personal by using those accursed scales.

How I wished I could barge in and deal with the enemy, but with my injuries holding me back, it was impossible. If I truly pushed myself, a single moment would spell my end if my body chose that moment to betray me.

Those wouldn’t be safe, one-on-one duels that I could control myself perfectly.

“I see that you’re feeling energetic,” I called Eli, distracting him from his training while approaching closer.

He was panicked as he turned at me, with a touch of fear, but I was happy to see that his fear dissipated once he saw me. It was good that he wasn’t scared of me even after seeing me deal with those assassins.

“Master,” he greeted me, his tone hesitant. He opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say, he failed to find the correct words, as he closed his mouth immediately.

I didn’t blame him. The situation was too complicated for a farm boy, even one who was determined to leave and be an adventurer. I decided to start from somewhere simple. “How are you feeling? Any lingering pain?”

“No, master,” he replied, but I could see that it was a lie.

“I hope that’s true. I would get angry if you’re hiding something and waste all the effort I put into healing you,” I said. Not the kindest words, but I had been in his place before. I needed to guilt him to make sure he didn’t put on a brave face.

He looked panicked. “Not in pain, master. Just, some discomfort…”

“Good, come here so I can check you,” I said.

“I don’t think that’s necessary —”

“Sit, down,” I repeated, gesturing to a stump near the shade. As he removed the dressings from his wounds, I started to go through each wound, some already bleeding. “I need you to be careful,” I added. “You don’t want to hurt yourself in a way that couldn’t heal easily. It can ruin your future.”

He stayed in silence for a moment, then asked in a hesitant tone. “Is that what happened to you?”

“More or less,” I admitted with a shrug. “At that time I faced many situations that I had believed to be urgent, but not all of them were. I would have benefited from sitting down to rest.”

And, wasn’t that the truth. Pushing myself against the Dragon of Darkness had been one thing, but the duels I fought against the nobles just to maintain our political power ended up being a complete waste of time. I failed to accomplish my objectives, and ruined what remained of my health in the process.

Eli took a deep breath. I could see that he had many questions to ask, but he was afraid of the pitfalls he might stumble into.

“I have already checked the diseased land,” I said, wanting to resolve at least one of his worries. “It’s not going to spread this far into the villages.”

“Really?” he asked, smiling for the first time since the rescue. “That’s excellent news.” Then, he noticed I didn’t match his smile. “Right?” he asked.

“It’s complicated,” I replied, pondering on how much I should share with him. Before his rescue, I might have tried to hide the situation from him, and convince him to just leave for his village, but that was not an option anymore. He could never return to his village or show his face — making me glad for the remoteness of my land. He deserved better than a deflection. “Someone had actively planted a dark artifact to mimic the Blight.”

His eyes widened. “Why would someone do such a thing?”

I shrugged. “No idea. It might be a group of cultists trying to recruit by faking a resurgence of Blight. It might be a political ploy. It might be a hundred other things,” I said.

“Really?” he asked.

“Politics are too complicated for me to understand,” I said. And, wasn’t that the painful truth. The link between agents and the capital meant that there could be hundreds of different reasons, most too complicated for me to even comprehend.

“Politics?” he asked softly.

A meek request for me to explain more about myself, no doubt. I could have ignored it just as easily, but I decided he deserved at least something resembling the truth. “I was a strong adventurer before the injuries got really bad,” I said. “Strong enough to live in the capital and be targeted by the political games.”

“You lived in the capital?” he gasped. “Where the palace … and everything is…”

“Yes,” I replied simply.

“And, is that where the technique you taught me comes from?” he asked. If it wasn’t for the hysteria growing in his tone, I would have assumed that he wanted to focus on that. Instead, he was trying not to be overwhelmed by the implications of my revealed past — however limited.

“Yes. I picked it because, in its basic state, it’s almost indistinguishable from Ember Jab, so you can learn it without raising any suspicion. I assumed that no one at the border would recognize it.” I took a deep breath. “I assumed wrong. I’m sorry for the pain you suffered for it —”

“No, master. If it wasn’t for the technique, they would have simply …” he said, but the last word escaped like a gasp, followed by his breathing going out of control. He was panicking.

I put my hand on his shoulder carefully, watching his reaction. It was not an uncommon reaction, especially for someone like Eli. He was not a soft, pampered kid, and he had faced death before — hunting was not a safe job for someone that didn’t finish growing — but there was a difference between facing a wild boar or a hungry mountain lion, fighting with a burst of adrenaline, and sitting in a dark cell, lost in pain while acutely aware every second brought him closer to death.

It was the kind of experience that could strip someone of everything they believed, and shatter them forever. A momentary loss was nothing in comparison.

He trembled as I rested my hand on his shoulder, testing his reaction. Some people craved touch, while for others, it made the pain even worse.

The way he leaned to my hand gently broke my heart. I pulled him into a hug, careful not to squeeze too hard, letting him know that he could easily pull back if he wanted. In my arms, he froze, shivering like a little bird lost in a blizzard, making me wonder if I made a mistake.

Then, he hugged me, his grip tight enough to make me worry he reopened at least one wound. But, as he started to cry, I said nothing, and just kept hugging him.

I didn’t know what else to do.