“… Hello.”

“… Mm.”

This is awkward.

I’ve never been one for small talk, but she’s just not saying anything at all. Whenever I ask her to do something, she just does it silently with her head lowered. Her hair covers her face so that I can’t see her expression, but doesn’t this just look like I’m bullying her?

Awkwardly avoiding her for now, I The my attention to the now-open window. From what I could see, I was several meters up, which meant I was probably on the second or third floor of the building. I saw several smaller wooden houses and huts with a similar rustic theme behind all of them. Further behind them are some trees which look like coniferous evergreens such as pines or spruce. Overall, it had a very familiar look.

‘It sort of feels like… medieval Europe?’

It looked somewhat like what many modern depictions of medieval Europe would be. I’m probably in one of those restoration parks where people come to get a fantasy-like feel. As expected, it wouldn’t be like actual medieval Europe. Even if they were going for that old rustic feel, having feces spread all over the town wouldn’t exactly be pleasant.

That’s why I thought the girls’ outfits were familiar. They looked like actual stereotypical Innkeeper’s family members. I’m not sure if I’m correct, but I believe those dresses are called cotehardies? And Lily was wearing a sort of tunic over hers.

I was originally in the North, so the blast from the machine blew me several hundred kilometers away huh. I’m not sure if I flew over some highly armed military states, but it would be likely given how terrible the state of my pod was in. When the pod flew over a country with anti-air systems, they would definitely try to shoot it down to avoid damages to areas its rocketing towards. Its unpleasant, but I can’t blame them.

Although, maybe I’m not in Europe but somewhere else which recreated that medieval aesthetic. That may not be the case however considering the features of Lily and Amanda. Amanda had mildly tanned skin, but that’s probably a result of her being a working woman. Lily however looks like she’s of European descent with her lighter skin but still western features.

I just need to get my bearings now. If I can reach an embassy, I could easily get home and get treated. I’m just… worried about the consequences of the Pandora Protocol. Its bound to be more than just getting my body smashed and getting thrown several countries away.

I’m getting an ominous feeling from what Amanda said earlier though. I’ll just have to focus on resting for now.

Shaking off my bad feeling, I fall into slumber, not noticing the girl staring directly at me.

…

“Is… is he asleep?” Lily muttered to herself as she saw him close his eyes and stop moving for a while. Curiously, she approached the sleeping man.

She wasn’t actually afraid of him. Anyone would be frightened by someone suddenly bleeding out of their eyes like that, but she wasn’t traumatized by it. It was just Oliver’s misunderstanding. She was far more matured than others her age so she isn’t as easily scared.

This also meant that she was influenced by other things however. As she peered at his face, her own face felt like it was getting hotter. As a girl in puberty, romance would be on the foremost of her thoughts. While her peers would still be playing around with each other naively, she had now become acutely aware of the opposite sex. Especially considering…

‘He’s so handsome…’

The black haired young man was very clearly a foreigner. He looked completely different from those snot-nosed brats she saw every single day, as well as the grizzly bearded uncles she saw whenever she helped out at the inn.

Although it wasn’t as obvious because he’s currently injured and bedridden, each of his actions carried a sort of grace and a regal air. She was actually peering through a crack in the door when Amanda was tending to Oliver. Even when he was basically drinking the food in the bowl, not a single drop fell anywhere, and his face was still clean. Even his sitting posture made sure he was as straight as an arrow despite his injuries which gave him quite the presence.

His features were incredibly well defined. His chiseled chin, his straight eyebrows, his perfect cheekbones. Even though his nose was on the smaller side, rather than detract from his masculine but somewhat androgynous appearance, it instead made him somewhat cuter and more approachable.

Finally, his eyes. Those emerald green gems which looked like they were taken from deep within the core of the earth and carved by the gods themselves. His eyes felt as if they would peer into the very essence of your being, and they looked as if they could glow in the dark.

When she felt those piercingly handsome eyes look at her, she could feel a heat rising up from deep within her. Like a deer caught in headlights, she was paralyzed by him.

Lily wouldn’t know this, but she wasn’t the only one. Many a young woman had already been held captive by Oliver’s charm, much to the chagrin of his companions. He even had his own fan club at the high school he was attending.

Oliver himself is aware of this, but he didn’t mind it too much back then. The people around him at that time were the high class sort which had at least the sensibility to not be completely entranced by The appearance alone. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about how he would affect those of more common birth, and how it would affect the girl with her first love.

Lily herself wasn’t lacking in any aspects. In the future, she would grow to be a very beautiful lady. However, much to the dismay of her would-be suitors, a certain young man would elevate her standards to ridiculous heights, but that’s a story for a different time.

While she gazed at him in a daze, suddenly someone knocked on the door. Lily yelped in surprise, but immediately covered her mouth in fear of waking up the young man. As she glanced at the sleeping figure to make sure he was still asleep, the door opened and Amanda walked in.

“He’s asleep now huh?” she looked at Oliver to check on his state and nodded slightly. When she glanced at Lily’s flushed face, she chuckled wryly.

When Lily saw her laugh, her face turned even redder than a tomato. “I-I’ll go clean downstairs!” She shouted as she sprinted away like a rabbit running from a wolf.

Amanda watched her flee with a wry smile before turning toward Oliver. She was holding another tray in her hands. On the tray were a few towels and rolls of cloth, along with some strange objects, things like paper talismans and a glass jar with a faintly glowing blue liquid.

“Haven’t done this in a bit but…” she mumbled to herself as she folded her sleeves. Her forearms were tanned and slightly muscular. It didn’t make her look masculine though. In fact, while Oliver didn’t really pay much attention to their appearances, they were actually quite beautiful ladies. He was just either numbed to beauty or he didn’t care for it as much.

Lily was cute and charming with her head of chestnut brown hair and her short height which was smaller than most of her peers. Her skin was fair and she was quite dainty. Amanda was almost completely opposite from Lily though, despite being her aunt. Amanda had tanned brown skin and was quite tall. Although she would be considered more handsome rather than beautiful, it didn’t make her masculine. Both had incredibly distinct charm despite being related by blood which baffled everyone in the town who knew about them.

Amanda opened the jar with blue liquid and used a ladle to scoop the fluid. She then poured it carefully over her hands. The blue liquid was thick and slightly more viscous than water. When it flowed down, it didn’t splash everywhere but instead it just settled down, sort of like slightly watery hand sanitizer.

After she poured a sufficient amount on her hands, she rubbed them together to spread it until it wouldn’t drip off. She then moved Oliver’s blanket so that it would reveal his torso.

Multiple bandages covered his body. It was to the point where it just looked like he was wearing a white shirt. Spots of dark red could be seen here and there.

Carefully, Amanda put her hands over his head and started chanting a strange language.

“꒦ꄲꋪ꒤ꂵ ꅐꏂ꒒ ꏂ꒐ꉔꁝꇙ ꓄ꋪꏂ꒐ ꁴ꒤ꂵ, Slumber.”

As she spoke, her hands glowed with a light blue color. That blue light slowly fell like smoke into the sleeping boy’s head. When the smoke completely disappeared, Amanda snapped her fingers twice to check if he was still awake. When she saw he didn’t react, she then proceeded to undo his bandages.

The state of his body was quite a gruesome one. The bandages were thickly wrapped, twice or even thrice. As she peeled of some layers, the white bandages were soon replaced by ones dyed by a dark red color.

When she completely removed the bandage, his abdomen was fully revealed. Because the bandage was pressed on, his torso was basically glazed with blood. Multiple horrifying gashes and wounds covered his flesh. Although they had started to clot which meant they were beginning to heal, it still didn’t make for a pretty image.

"ꁝꋬꋬ꒦ꏂꂵ ꊰ꒤꒒ ꒦ꄲꋪ꒤ꂵ ꓄꒐ꏂ꒒ ꀘꁝꋬ꒐ꇙ ꓄ꋪꏂ꒐ ꁴ꒤ꂵꂵ ꒦ꋬꋪ ꁴ꒤ꂵ, Heal."

Amanda then put her hands over his torso and started chanting again. This time, her hands started glowing a refreshing blue-green color. She straightened the index finger and middle finger on both hands and the blue-green glow concentrated on the tips of those fingers. If the glow earlier was like a glowstick, this one would be more like an LED light.

Very carefully she pressed the tips of her fingers onto his abdomen, one hand touching the area under his navel and the other just above his diaphragm. As their skin touched, the blue-green light flowed down and spread to those areas. The horrific wounds suddenly started glowing in that same color, and the scarlet blood turned dark green due to the light.

Astonishingly, the wounds started closing on their own. It was slightly eerie seeing the flesh gradually regenerate, but Amanda wasn’t fazed by it at all. The large slashes slowly turned into smaller red slits about the size of a finger before the light faded. Still quite large wounds, but it wouldn’t bleed as much and isn’t life threatening. Injuries of this size would simply heal on their own without risk of infections.

Amanda used her forearm to wipe away the sweat on her forehead before she took the towel on the tray in her hand. She started to wipe away the dried blood with the towel. By the time she was done, one of the previously white towels became red instead.

She proceeded to do the same to his back. As she gently turned him over and removed the wounds there, she checked the state of his back. Previously, Oliver’s back had taken the most damage. It was incredible that his spine hadn’t just turned to dust due to the impacts. Right now it was in an even better state than his abdomen because of the treatment of the prior doctor. Originally, it was to the point where it would be necessary to put a mosaic over it, as well as an NSFW sign.

Amanda did the same treatment with the light and wiped his back with another towel. She then wrapped him in more bandages before cleaning up. The old bandages couldn’t be used anymore so they would be thrown away. She attached a paper talisman to the foot of the bed before she left the room and closed the door. The paper talisman glowed yellow for a moment before it stopped and looked just as it had before.

Had Oliver been awake and seen any of that happen, he would’ve been driven mad by these supernatural occurrences. He was originally a scientist with enough knowledge to explain most universal phenomena so he wouldn’t even be fazed by supposed ghost sightings. This however was far beyond explainable science and logic of his old world.

The day he sees that happen however, would also be the start of his long despair.

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Hey guys! It's me again. I've decided to set my posting schedule to around 4pm every Saturday GMT+8 or 12am(00:00) in PST. I'll do my best to stick to this schedule as much as possible. How do Chinese authors manage 2,000 words a day? How frightening.

I also like to mess around with the text to give emphasis on the story. Don't focus too much on the spells since usually they're meaningless unless I put emphasis on them. Or maybe DO focus on the spells so that you can maybe observe some pretty cool things as the story goes on. Please tell me if it gets too confusing or gets annoying. I just like to add flavor to everything to make it more immersive. 

As usual, I'm a starting author so any productive feedback is highly appreciated.