Day moved on.
Zigmund, after sorting out his feelings, left his office. He found his daughter laying by a side of the table in the living room.
“Sarey?”
“What?” She answered without looking at him.
“It is not that bad, to be honest with each other. I asked some friend to help out dealing with this mess that we found in that forest.”
“He is a mess? He is still human, at least.”
“Alright, I am not talking about him. That treasure out there, what I hide.”
“What about it? Have you already found some buyers? Good for you, I suppose.”
“Don’t be that upset, Sarey. I am trying to help as well.”
“You never said that you would. So-called my responsibility, or however you called it.” Sarey said in a calm tone.
“Yes. You are right. But, after asking around, it is probably for the best to be cautious. This boy is potentially very dangerous.”
“I know that. Energy or whatever it is. If he is a bad person, I will kill him myself.”
“S-sarey?!” Zigmund fell back few steps, as he found her words rather surprising. He did not expect his daughter to be so resolute. It was not a good thing or horrible per se, but still, to hear it himself...
“It is my responsibility, after all. I will do it if I had to. Will you stop me?”
“Forget it. I won’t argue with you any longer. There is no point in that. Here. Take it. Gift from a friend.” He tossed her a small box.
“Gift? How generous friend of yours.” She took a glance inside and noticed a very good-quality robe inside. It had a white-brown color with some grey outlines. It was hard to say what material it was made from, but it was close to silk, which was very expensive in this region, but not silk either. The texture was extremely smooth, but it was not particularly light as silk should be. It was also considerably bigger in volume, and the cloth felt very large and soft to a touch.
“Wow. This looks nice. I wonder why he sent it to me.”
“I think it was just on a whim. He is probably quite richer than me.”
“Would you afford something like this, father?”
“Ehhh... I guess.” Zigmund did not know what it was and why did he tell him it was something she would like if she was like him? It still had some value within his mind, which he couldn't put his finger on, but there was nothing wrong with a gift from his Elder Brother. He was sure of it.
“I indeed enjoyed dressing nicely when I was young, but this is nothing like this.” He thought to himself.
“Give your friend my thanks. I will take good care of it.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”Zigmund did not have more things to say to her. Her mood was not up to him. He went once more to his office and laid his leg on the table.
“What a troublesome daughter. Oh, dear... I hope you are happy that you left me with her.” He helplessly sighed.
In the living room, Sarey was looking at her robe. It was not something she wore very often. Its quality shocked her. What would people think if she wore it in the restaurant? There could be an increase in customers, but at what costs?
She decided to try it on and not gave unconscious Allan much thought.
It was shorter than expected. Right below knees with some strips on the back. It had long sleeves which were wider than usual right around the wrists. Her hair leaned on the robe's back. It made some good addition for her.
She checked herself and was very satisfied with how it felt. Light with free movement with every possible movement. There was nothing obscuring her at all. Even the sleeves were somewhat free. The cloth did not get in a way when you grabbed something, nor did the fast movement of the legs.
“It looks more like a uniform. Female uniform.” Sarey muttered.
“Who uses silk uniforms? Well... if it’s father’s friend, I guess this is most likely not made of silk. Maybe it has some other features that are not ordinary? I was sure to know most fabric materials there are, but this is new. Oh, wait... This time I was harsher with him. I didn’t even ask about what he talked about with his friend. I hope he could be trusted if he asked about this boy.” Sarey of course did not forget the important things which caused anything, but as her father had some trust in the friend of his, she could only accept it and lay aside Allan. Books of all kinds were beside her as she spend a long time here already.
She liked to spend this little time she had in this room. With a quiet accompaniment to Allan.
“I hope he will wake up soon. It’s getting a little boring waiting like this.” She thought.
Time moved on. Morning came and night spread its darkness the same way as the night before. It has been currently the 3 days since Sarey stabbed him with 36s accompaniment.
At this time, Zigmund did not ask Sarey to help out in his restaurant. He considered his worry, too. Waiting for Allan’s awakening. This did not mean their time was spent doing nothing.
Sarey had her study with her teacher one afternoon, and this morning, both he and Sarey went to the forest to hunt for some goods for Zigmund’s restaurant.
He did not like to buy meat, since the forest he owned was quite decent and held plenty of animals. Buying meat was an expense he could live without. Hunting a few times in a while went well, and he saved his money. Knowing what he killed and ate also helped him. The quality of meat went without saying.
In the afternoon of that day. Sarey was walking around the living room with worry in her eyes. She was quite an impatient type of person. It had already been a while since she thought he would wake up.
She even considered summoning 36, but was reluctant to do so. Waiting for him to wake was boring, but an expected problem.
“Aaaaaah! I don’t like this. Hey, boy? Can you hear me?” She muttered by a side of Allan’s ears.
“I hope your hearing is alright. There is no real way to check it, unfortunately.”
Allan still appeared to be sleeping. She wanted to know if this was a little too much time to keep the needles in his body.
He was left there on his stomach for days. It would normally make some issues, but his body was getting better and better. Prior problems never arose. Like nightmares and wounds caused by himself.
Zigmund was left with similar tense feelings. His restaurant was a secondary thing on his mind right now. For the past 2 days, he was trying to come up with a way to hide the whole treasury in the forest for good, rather than figuring out anything else. It was impossible to move it. He could only try to do something about its surroundings. Trees were destroyed dozens of meters around it. It was catchy to the eye. He made sure the trees were moved in an orderly fashion inward. They would be concealment as well as look like a normal forest.
One time, Sarey walked there and saw what he was trying to do. She found it rather abnormal to be unable to access such wealth. Zigmund had a weak moment and told her more about his elder brother’s help while not including certain stuff he found hard to tell her.”
For this amount to be so shocking, Sarey understood Zigmund’s worry instantly. Since little, she came to understand the monetary system and things that were wealthy and cheap.
This was beyond her or anything she knew before. It further made her question Allan’s identity and ceased any ideas to reach her teacher about this at all.
Another day passed by.
2nd day.
3rd day.
4th day.
5 days were spent like this. A mixture of worry and expectation made it obvious that her and Zigmund’s emotions were stirred over the past few days.
On one particular end on the 5th day. Sarey and Zigmund were sleeping in their beds. Huffing and growling sounds penetrated the silence. Sarey woke up in surprise and checked what was going on. It was coming from the living room.
Allan’s body was sweating heavily. His limbs and body were trembling wildly. He was still laying on his stomach. Grunting sounds were coming from his mouth. The pain was visibly twisting his face.
“Hey!? You are finally awake?” Sarey said calmly and walked to him and checked his body.
“Can you hear me? Can you hear me?” She asked twice.
Nothing.
“I guess not.”
Allan’s body was still grounded with rope.
“I guess it’s time to get rid of them. I doubt they are of any use. It could be painful for your dreams.” Sarey removed the acupoint needles from his back. She was slow and patient. Allan kept moving and trembling. Grunting in anguish.
“Hey! Calm down, will you?!”
After what seemed like an eternity. His back was finally rid of needles. There was no visible difference from before. No stabbing wounds were visible.
“Time to get you back.” Sarey grunted as she pushed him back up while getting rid of the rope. Allan was turned around in a few moments.
“Damn. You got heavier, or I got weaker?” Sarey muttered.
His face was still flushing red. His appearance twisted the same way as before.
Hour passed.
Sarey was carefully observing him while watching if there was really nothing wrong. There was never a stop to his terrified face. Something going on was happening with this boy, and she did not know how to help him.
“No! No! Ahhh..” Allan suddenly shouted with an unnatural voice.
His trembling further intensified. He was trying to move away as if he wanted to force something from himself, or it could be the cause of his immobility. Since he was still having the firmly put wood around his limbs to prevent more movements as well as make sure the bones would not get overly stressed.
Sarey got worried even more after seeing this. She was trying her best to force him to lie on the table. Having been fed up with it for a few minutes already, she decided to jump at him.
“You force me to do this, boy.”
She rested her knees on his chest, and her hands were wrapped around his head and shoulders.
“Ugh. Will you calm down already?”
“You! Fine.”
She let go of him with one hand and slapped him on the face with her right hand.
“Wake up!”
Smeck!
Another one.
She did not stop, as he was not stopping either with his struggles. She continuously spoke to him to get to his senses, in a hope of shaking his mind.
He slowly got better. No longer grunting and yelling in that weird manner in about 10 minutes. It turned more natural and normal before he was only breathing heavily.
Sarey slapped him once last time. Just in case.
“Huh? It worked?!” She sighed in relief.
“Hey! Boy, can you hear me?“
The grunting voice could be distinguished from the heavy breathing. It was impossible to understand.
“Water. He must be thirsty.” Sarey thought and went for a cup of water.
She carefully lifted his head and poured the water into his mouth. He choked on it in no time, but eventually, he began to drink voluntarily.
1 cup. Second cup. six cups later, he had enough. In a hoarse voice, he tries to speak, but still, only indistinguishable words left his mouth.
“I can’t understand you. Can you hear me and understand my words? Open your mouth if you do.”
Allan opened his mouth.
“Great. I will get you more water. You are probably very dehydrated.”
“D-dark... Where... Am... W... Are... You...” Allan muttered at last.
