Chapter XLI

The pain is intense, almost indescribable. And the sight of the two idiots beside him is no help at all. The thought that he woke up from his dream to this only makes everything worse.

He was back home, even if it was just a dream—it was still much better than this. Then again, almost anything would be better than this pain.

"Nero, Nero. How are you doing?" The blonde idiot asks again. How does he think I'm doing? he asks himself. Aren't his screams a clear enough answer to that stupid question? Does this guy not know how to think?

"Adar, did you see that? Nero must know healing magic," the excited fool says to his friend, who at least has the decency not to ask dumb questions.

But the comment makes him think of something. Did he actually remember another spell? A healing spell! That would be truly important. Of course, that spell is also what caused all this pain.

Well, maybe. Since he has no way of knowing if he was in pain while he was asleep. But he really thinks casting the spell is what started it. He really thought that healing spells shouldn't cause so much pain; they're supposed to make the pain disappear.

Either way, all that matters to him now is making the pain stop. And since it doesn't look like the two idiots staring at him are going to get him any painkillers, he sees only one possible solution: to cast the spell again and risk something going wrong. After all, he has no way of ensuring. He's doing everything right.

In the absence of a better alternative, he concentrates as best he can given the pain and, with great effort, recites, "The great mercy of Merish."

It's hard to tell, but it seems to him like the spell is working. For a moment, a warm, calming energy spread throughout his body. Then, in the next moment, the pain he started to get somewhat used to explodes, plunging the world back into darkness.

To his misfortune, upon opening his eyes, he sees the blonde guy's face. Not knowing how much time had passed made him feel confused, adding to the prior sensation of pain and sickness. This all increased his frustration.

"Adar, Adar. He's woken up again," the annoying guy exclaims.

He looks around and sees that they've apparently built a wooden rope structure to serve as a stretcher for him. This structure is being dragged by the mule. It takes him a bit to be able to think normally. But he has to admit they had a good idea.

"He's awake again," says Grumpy, who just arrived at his side. "The spell seems to be wearing you down. But it seems to be working."

The comment makes him look at himself. He's covered by a blanket while lying on this stretcher they built. Every now and then, the stretcher passes through some hole in the ground. Sending new jolts of pain throughout his body. Although it doesn't seem like the pain is as bad as before.

He uncovers an arm, revealing it for careful study. The skin on most of his arm is red, and moving it hurts him. But it doesn't look terrible. Besides that, it's hard for him to breathe, probably due to some damage to his lungs.

That makes him think it might be a good idea to try the spell again. What discourages him is the memory of the terrible pain he went through. Besides, he had felt this strange sensation of something growing in his body—the sensation was simply horrible.

This thought leads him to a eureka moment. He starts to wonder if the spell causes him so much pain because the skin and nerves, which were destroyed by the fire, are being regenerated each time he uses the spell. This means that every time he casts the spell until he's fully recovered, he will be in a sea of pain while more new nerves can now react to the state of his body.

"Fantastic!" he mutters to himself.

"Yeah, it is," the blonde idiot immediately agrees very excited. "Thanks to this spell, you're going to recover quickly."

The idiot's ignorant enthusiasm for all the future pain he's going to have to endure irritates him greatly. But before he can say anything, an intense nausea takes over. What helps him control the nausea is a hole in the ground over which the stretcher passes, making the nausea irrelevant compared to the pain he feels.

In his mind, this makes the need to cast the spell again pressing. But the prospect of future pain makes it an unpleasant choice. To delay it a bit, he asks, "How much time has passed?"

Something he needs to know. Because that could determine everything he has to do next. After all, the old man's group could be at this very moment, pursuing them to finish the job.

"That depends on what you're talking about. Since you passed out again just now, it's been about half an hour. If you're talking about since we fished you out of the river, then it's been five or six hours," a pensive Grumpy responds, though small looks back to where they had come. He seems worried, probably about the same thing Nero is.

Passing out for half an hour doesn't seem too bad, considering everything that's happened. "Five or six hours!" He repeats more to help him think than for any other reason, trying to figure out how much magic recovery that time should represent.

"Yeah. We've kept to the road, trying to be as fast as possible. But..." Blondie tries to clarify a bit more.

"Luckily, the mule doesn't need rest. That should be what is helping us keep up a good pace..." Grumpy says.

This confirms that they must be worried about the potential appearance of the group that had chased them and with whom he had lost the fight.

"If Nero can recover, things will go better," says Blondie, letting go of the animation he'd been holding for a few moments. The fool must have spent these hours quite worried, wondering what was going to happen.

"They have magic to speed themselves up. If they haven't caught us yet, it's because they're not chasing us," he informs them. Hearing this, they release a wave of stress they had been hiding up until now.

"Are you sure?" Grumpy asks him. To which he responds with a nod.

"Even so, we should keep moving, just to be sure," Grumpy concludes in an intelligent decision.

Before he can agree with Grumpy. A new spike of pain makes him let out another scream. All because he had passed over another hole in the ground. This convinces him to try the spell again, even if he passes out again. It's for the best.

Focusing again, he repeats, "The great mercy of Merish." Once more, he feels like he's in a sea of pain. But fortunately, this time, it's less intense than before.

In fact, this time, not only he doesn't pass out. But he even feels quite well. On the other hand, he feels even more nauseous. This strange sensation of nausea isn't going away.

"Stop!" he orders, deciding to try to sit up a bit to see how he's doing. The command is immediately obeyed since it's his mule pulling the stretcher, and it does what he says. With them stopped, he tries to get up, only to realize he's naked.

"Hey, where are my clothes?" he exclaims at this realization.

"Burned," says Blondie.

"Charred," says Grumpy before continuing with a slight smile appearing on his face. "Fortunately, I kept the old ones."

Noticing this means that even though he's now reasonably wealthy. He has to keep wearing his old rags. This leaves him at a loss for words. With a sigh of frustration, he extends a hand to indicate they should give him the clothes since he can't go around naked.

But when he tries to get up, he has to lie back down on the stretcher due to the return of his nausea. This surprises him since he thought the spell would have taken care of it. But apparently, that's not happening. Maybe he should try something else. Thinking about it, he decides to use one of the health-restoring potions.

"Give me a potion," he commands the two idiots. For some reason, they look nervously at each other, which makes him ask, "What is it?"

Hesitantly, Blondie begins to speak, glancing at his friend. "Well, it's like this. We already gave you the potions."

And thinking about what happened, this response makes perfect sense. They feeding him the potions must have been what saved him.

"Right, how many did you give me?" he asks trying to determine how many potions they still have. But their expressions grow more serious as they exchange glances without answering.

He stares at them for a few seconds, before Grumpy grows the courage to answer dryly, "All of them."

"All of them," he repeats, looking at them. The two nod to confirm. It takes him a few seconds to understand what they just said before he asks, "The five that were left?"

A question to which they, to his shock, respond by shaking yes with their heads. Five potions, so many at once, must have caused a potion intoxication.

He looks at the two fools, wondering if these idiots want to kill him. Although in the game, intoxication from too many potions won't kill him, it will cause a series of debuffs that can't be removed, only disappearing with time. And that explains why he's feeling so sick.

He's about to explode on them, but finally, the nausea wins, and he has to throw up. As he empties his stomach against his will, he can see the worry on Grumpy's and Blondie's faces.

Which makes him a bit hesitant to criticize them. At the end of the day, they must have given him the potions to save him. And in the end, this almost went wrong. He only survived because he managed to cast the spell. Without that stroke of luck, he would have died and they would have lost all the potions for nothing.

In his weakened situation, he looks at them. He has to admit being somewhat surprised by their support. Especially Grumpy, he can somewhat understand why the sucking-up Blondie would try to help him. But Grumpy? He would be surprised to wake up and find that Grumpy took the chance to run away with all the money. Maybe Grumpy, considered that the group after them was too dangerous.

But, no matter how he looks at it, he doesn't feel it would be right to chastise them for trying their best to help him. Even if their attempt might cause more damage.

When he regains his composure, he tells them, "Then start gathering all the Angel Tears you find. When I'm better, we'll find a place, and I'll make more." And with relief, they nod in agreement.

"Where are we going?" Grumpy asks.

An important question that makes him think before answering. "We'll keep going on the path we're on. We continue toward Sagrat."

And with that, they continue on their way.