Elena's Gift (1)
Yeah! I secretly thought, 'This time there'll be a pretty solid wounded guy!'
When I was in the same unit, I figured I'd bump into you someday, but I never dreamed we'd meet like this again. Uuuugh!
Cloud burst out laughing brightly, then suddenly furrowed his brow and clutched his side. Vivian, startled, dropped to her knees and yanked his shirt up. "Don't say anything! I'll heal you!"
She pressed both hands to the exposed flesh of his side. As she closed her eyes and focused, a yellow glow spread from her palms, mending the broken ribs one by one.
Once the healing finished, Cloud let out a sigh of relief, barely alive. "Thanks."
"It's nothing. This is my job, after all. What else?"
"Your tone's changed a bit."
"Does it? It looks softer?"
"Yeah, it feels gentler. You were so stiff at the temple."
"Well, this isn't exactly a temple..."
"Hey, Priestess Vivian."
A middle-aged priestess passing by called her name and shot her a glare. "Is this the time to nuzzle a patient?"
"I-I apologize!"
"This is a wartime situation and we're in a military camp. Pay attention."
Regretfully scolded, Vivian secretly winked at Cloud and hurried away.
Once his body felt fully recovered, Cloud smiled bitterly and pushed himself up from the bed. He was heading back to the training grounds where the recruits gathered.
As he stepped out, a conversation between soldiers drifted in from behind him.
"What happened to you?"
"Oh, don't ask. I went into the Tyrande Inn because it was burning down, trying to save the guests. The whole building collapsed suddenly, and almost everyone inside was dead, but I got lucky and made it out."
"You're not kidding!"
Cloud shouted, rushed over, and grabbed the soldier's collar as he sat on the bed. "You're not kidding, right? Tell me the truth!"
"W-well, it's true. Do you think I'd lie when my state is this obvious?"
The soldier pointed at his legs. Both knees had been sliced off, but thanks to the priests, the stumps had already begun to heal.
"Damn it!"
Cloud clicked his tongue, dashed out of the field hospital, and headed straight for the Tyrande Inn.
While running, memories of Sophia and Cecil's words surfaced.
'Since we've received such great help from Mr. Cloud, it's our turn to repay the favor. Leave all these gruesome details to us, okay?'
'Then I'll become the woman with the most vulgar taste for you? As long as it's Cloud, I think it's fine.'
"Don't die! Stay alive, please!"
Cloud escaped the military district and saw the city's tragic sight, despair sinking in. Fires blazed everywhere, citizens screamed and fled. The numerous soldiers who had been in the district were nowhere to be seen. All that remained were dragon-like creatures soaring through the sky and hideous goblins leaping across the ground.
Two goblins were about to rape a human woman. "Hehehe!" One laughed gleefully while pinning the woman's belly down. She couldn't resist because of the knife in her mouth, completely helpless.
While one goblin pinned her upper body and ground it against the ground, threatening her, the other flipped up her skirt, yanked down her panties, and tried to shove his stiff little thing into the gap between her legs.
Cloud strode forward and stomped the two goblins' heads and bellies without mercy. Once they collapsed unconscious, the woman quickly pulled her skirt down, stood up, and straightened her clothes.
"T-thank you."
Cloud picked up the jungle blade that had fallen to the ground, but only gave a slight hand raise in response to her grateful expression, then immediately turned and walked away.
"Kyaaah!"
Just a few steps later, the woman's dying scream rang out from behind. When he glanced back out of habit, a group of green creatures wielding swords stared at him with vicious eyes against the backdrop of countless breath weapons raining from the sky. One, two, three, four, five, six. Six goblins.
They were clearly sending hostile looks because he had slain their kin.
Cloud met their eyes straight on and muttered, "The same goes for you...".
His temper suddenly flared. Anger surged. He felt the urge to kill.
Unable to hold back, Cloud charged into the goblin group first. Using the witch's power to slow time, he slashed, stabbed, broke, kicked, and pounded them, tearing out their guts and using those intestines to strangle them. In an instant, he slaughtered all six goblins miserably.
Once everything was over, sweat poured down his forehead. But he didn't feel drained. His stamina was still fine. This was all the result of his training, and he couldn't help smiling with satisfaction.
His eyes, however, burned with poison.
Just as he thought it was time to hurry to the Tyrande Inn, another dragon descended and breathed fire at him. If not for the witch's power, he would have been engulfed in flames and died. Fortunately, the flames approached slowly in front of him.
Cloud dodged the breath and walked steadily, carving a circle from the dragon's right lip corner, across the back of its head, and to the other lip corner with his sword. Then he grabbed the scalp and peeled it off smoothly.
As time sped up again, the dragon with its scalp peeled thrashed on the ground, spraying blood and screaming in agony. Sensing it was about to die, Cloud left the scene without looking back.
'Since I've already broken the Tyrande Inn, don't expect any mercy.'
Old words from Cecil, crying back then, resurfaced. 'Mom and I saved up the money we earned from work and part-time jobs, and with the savings we've built this Tyrande Inn.'
"But in the end..."
Cloud swallowed his choking emotion deep into his throat and kept advancing. As he walked, he mercilessly slashed at the goblin groups blocking his path. Killing, killing, killing again. At every intersection, goblin and dragon fell to the ground spitting blood. He didn't need to feel any guilt.
Citizens who had somehow survived looked at him with eyes full of respect.
"This is a simple matter. If it's a vegetable shop, sell vegetables. If it's a fish shop, sell fish. If it's a trash disposal company, pick up trash bags. I'm a soldier, and killing those who disturb this city is exactly my job."
Cloud was about to go into a full rampage when he suddenly stopped. Cold sweat trickled down his back. His heart pounded violently. He realized his body wasn't in good shape. 'Did I use too much power?'
On the way to the Tyrande Inn, he had fought countless enemies and used the witch's power each time. His limit had been reached. The mystical water that once filled the jar to the brim was now at the bottom.
"Damn it, I should've trained martial arts. I should have held out with martial arts and only mixed in the witch's power occasionally, instead of relying on it too much."
He clicked his tongue. It seemed he had no choice but to avoid enemies from now on. If he kept using the witch's power like this, he might collapse before reaching the Tyrande Inn.
"Damn it, but what can I do..."
Then a tiny fairy as big as a wasp hovered in front of him. It drew an "8" in the air, flew toward him, and kept trying to say something. There was no hostility, so it probably wasn't an enemy. What was it trying to say? He couldn't understand the fairy language.
"What the hell! Speak human language! Human language!"
Exasperated, Cloud got angry. The little fairy got mad too and pinched his right cheek with both arms, pulling hard. "Kuhhh!" The action was cute, but the feeling was undeniably sweet.
"You want me to follow you?"
Whether the words were correct or not, the little fairy smiled brightly and clapped.
Cloud followed the fairy without thinking. It led him along a surprisingly safe path and finally pointed at the roof of some building. When Cloud discovered something on the roof, his face lit up with joy.
"Elena!"
Elena, who had been searching around on the roof since she arrived, looked down. "Here! Right here!"
Cloud waved his arms widely. She jumped down from above.
"Cloud!"
She ran over and hugged him tightly. A good scent wafted from her. "Cloud! I've missed you so much!"
"Me too!"
The word "me too" stung a spot in his chest.
Later, the two of them moved to an empty house nearby. Whether the owner had fled or died was unknown, but no presence could be felt inside the dirty, messy house.
"Sophia and Cecil are still alive?"
Cloud leaned against the living-room wall and slid down, sitting on the floor. After a tired sigh, he looked up at Elena standing in front of him. Three tiny fairies were playing happily in the air around her face.
"Who saved you?"
"I did."
A hollow laugh escaped Cloud's lips. It was a story of how Elena had safely rescued the two of them just as the witch's army attacked the city and arrived at the Tyrande Inn at the right time.
"I got all fancy while coming here, like taking noir photos, but it ends with just 'I saved you.' Damn."
Yet a smile soon appeared at the corner of his mouth. "That's great, at least. Where are they?"
"The temple. The Yolonda Temple."
"A temple? That's reassuring. Good."
Cloud let out a large sigh of relief. It was the moment he was thinking of resting here a bit before heading back to the unit.
Elena rummaged through the pouch at her waist, pulled out a single pill, bent forward, and placed it in Cloud's mouth. Cloud swallowed it without thinking. The hard surface crunched, breaking into small pieces with a rich sweetness.
"What is this?"
"Healing candy."