Chapter XIX

Finally, it was over, the boar had been defeated. Thus he, the two useless guys. That happened not to be completely useless after all, and the three hunters converged around the steaming carcass of the beast.

As such, the six gather around the carcass, whose flames, resulting from the spell that had brought down the animal, provide the best source of illumination in the dark night.

The battle had been long and difficult. Well, actually, it had only been so for the hunters. For him, it had all caused fear and anxiety, but as this final confrontation had shown, the real danger was minimal.

Between the first encounter with the boar, where the animal had been thwarted by the undead mule. And this conclusion where the boar had been defeated with a single fireball. Once again, this demonstrates the ridiculous power of this spell.

It reveals how much of the danger had been only in his head. If he hadn't panicked when the beast appeared unexpectedly, all of this could have been resolved already.

"You're a mage!" exclaimed the tallest of the three hunters, his voice and face revealing the shock of surprise.

"Yes, our... friend. He's a very capable mage." says grumpy hesitantly and uncertainly. After all, being discovered as a powerful mage could lead to questions. And worse, it could lead to comparisons with the powerful necromancer they may not have heard of yet. But they will hear about him soon, and that could lead them to correctly conclude that the two are actually one single person. And that's something they would prefer to avoid.

"But he doesn't..." the woman begins to speak, looking at him. Clearly not know how to say that he looks more like a beggar than a mage.

"Yes... you know..." says Grumpy, looking at him and his own blond friend. Clearly trying to find a way to explain how a powerful mage is dressed in rags. Preferably an explanation that doesn't involve prisoners and necromancers.

It is here, while the previously skillful liar struggles to come up with a good story, that an agonized cry is heard. "Father!"

The cry comes from the house, where a figure is kneeling on the ground next to something. Due to his absence, he can only conclude that it is the old farmer who is on the ground.

"Old Van!" exclaims the tall hunter, starting to run towards the house.

His companions, seeing him accelerate, immediately follow him.

For their part, he and the other two having nothing else to do, also follow. So they all run to the house of this farmer.

When he arrives, the tall hunter is already kneeling beside the fallen farmer. The hunter touches the man on the ground slowly, as if checking his condition.

After a few seconds, the hunter turns to the rest of the group. And on his face, only illuminated by the light coming from the door of the house, it is immediately possible to conclude that the news is not good.

He raises the hand that had been resting on the old man's chest, revealing it to be dark. For a moment, he has some difficulty understanding why the hunter's hand is like this. That is until the hand catches the light differently and he realizes that the hand is actually dark red.

In that same second, he quickly concluded that it was blood. The boar must have managed to hit the man.

"Do you have any healing potions? We've used ours!" the huntress asks hurriedly, anxiety transparent in her voice.

Immediately, the girl next to the man stands up and exclaims, "Potions, we have potions. Not long ago, father bought a few from a merchant."

Her face brightens and she seems to gain energy with the relief of having a solution for her father. And before anyone can react, she dashes off to her house.

Unfortunately, the cart remains in front of the house, which hinders her entry. The girl even stoops and crawls to the door.

Seeing the situation, they all, without speaking to each other, come to the same conclusion and start pushing the cart. What would have been a simple and quick action becomes something difficult and uncomfortable. One of the wheels had been damaged, making moving the cart complicated.

Something that had helped protect the lives of the inhabitants of this house just a few minutes ago is now a serious hindrance.

"Valerie, come here to stop the bleeding," says the tall hunter as he rises from beside the old man. Meanwhile, the huntress stops pushing the cart to quickly go to the side of the farmer. And starts to apply pressure to his chest.

"I'll lift this side and you push," explains the hunter as he approaches as close as possible to the damaged wheel.

And that's what they start doing. It works, but soon the effort becomes too much for the hunter who is already injured and tired. Fortunately, grumpy notices this quickly and goes to help him.

So they manage to get the cart out of the way of the door. And at that moment, the girl reappears, running out the door to meet her father, with a wooden box in her arms.

While attention returns to the man lying on the ground. His focus for some reason goes to the damaged wheel. Which can now be better observed with the light from the door shining directly on it.

What interests him is the fact that the damage is so deliberate. It's almost as if someone broke the wheel on purpose. Turning his gaze to the body lying there and noticing the hoe next to it, he can only say to himself, "Clever and brave old man."

To add to the confusion, new movement occurs by the door. Which turns out to be a small child crawling out of the house.

"Darling, stay there, mommy is taking care of Grandpa.", says the girl amidst all her anxiety. While struggling with the cork of a small bottle.

Feeling all the nerves around, the child begins to cry. Which leaves him completely blocked. Only able to think about what he should do, as he had never been good with children.

To his relief and surprise, the shorter hunter appears to save the situation. Going to the child and picking him up to calm him down.

"Drink, drink, Dad," he hears the girl's voice saying. Leading him to look back at her. She lifts his head and brings the bottle to his mouth.

The huntress continues to try to prevent the old man from bleeding out. As such, she has the best view of what is happening.

When the farmer finishes drinking the potion, the daughter turns to the huntress and asks, "Should I give him another?"

"Considering the wound, if you have more, it's better, yes.", is the swift response she receives.

And that's exactly what she does, going to the box beside her to take out another bottle to give him to drink.

While she gives him the second bottle, the others can only watch and wait. Beside him is the tall hunter, sitting on the ground trying to recover from the effort. By the door is his shorter companion, with the child in his arms trying to calm him down.

For their part, blondie and grumpy are not far from the man lying on the ground with the women around him. Watching the situation closely.

Finally, the man finishes drinking the second bottle. Seeing this, the huntress lifts her hand from the wound to see it better. And quickly puts her hand back and applies pressure again. So much so that the farmer lets out a groan.

The huntress looks at her companions and simply shakes her head. Making it clear to everyone the result.

"What? It can't be," shouts the daughter.

"The potion has to work. We saw them work. The merchant got a cut on his hand and took a bottle to heal it. In no time, the cut closed. Maybe he just has to take more!" the girl asserts, now becoming more nervous, while she goes to the box to look for another bottle.

The huntress, in turn, looks at her companions with a sad face as she shakes her head.

"Do you have any potions?" she asks the blond, who is closest to her.

He, in turn, sadly shakes his head, denying her that possibility.

"When we left our house. The potions were in a place..." Grumpy begins to respond with dismay, "...that became inaccessible. So we don't have any."

"But these potions..." the girl speaks again.

To be interrupted by the woman speaking in a calm but affectionate tone. "Dear, now it's best to say goodbye to him. He doesn't have much time left."

Upon hearing this, the girl drops the bottle and starts crying. This leads the child, upon realizing his mother's tears, to follow suit. The hunter with the child in his arms then goes near the mother while trying to calm her down.

All this conversation confused him, everyone was nervous, but they seemed hopeful. Now it seems they are declaring the man's death. But the potion should have worked, shouldn't it?

He can't understand what's going on. Thinking about what just happened. The mood changed completely when the girl told the story of the merchant demonstrating the effectiveness of the potion. As the girl spoke, there was an intense exchange of looks among all the others. And the expressions on their faces became somber, even in the darkness.

So what happened? Did the merchant use a good potion for himself and then sell fakes? Something that could have happened.

But thinking about his own experience making health potions, a memory comes to him.

He remembered when he had prepared his potions, he had cut himself. Something that wasn't unexpected, after all, he had to cut and crush quite a few herbs. But the important thing in that situation was that after finishing the preparation of the potions. He took a sip of it.

And that sip, even though it tasted bad, had been enough to completely heal the cut on his hand.

The girl said the merchant took a whole bottle. Something that would be a waste of a real potion. After all, this isn't a game where you always have to drink the whole bottle.

As such, that can only mean that her potions are real. But useless for serious injuries, probably a good potion diluted until it loses real effectiveness. Comparing it to the game, she has potions that may restore two or three hit points of health. Unfortunately, they needed something with forty points.

Whatever they paid for the potions. They were scammed. This thought makes him furious, this man will die here because he trusted a dishonest merchant.

On the other hand, he is here because he couldn't sell his potions at a good price. Probably a good reason for that is scammers like this merchant. It clarifies why the apothecary was so defensive about his reputation about the mere suggestion of possible deceit.

His thoughts are interrupted by a weak voice that cuts through the sound of the girl and the child crying.

"Don't cry, dear," says the weak voice of the man on the ground. Completely unrecognizable from the strong and irritable voice he had heard just a few hours before.

"Oh Daddy.", exclaims the daughter with a smile on her lips, although it doesn't seem that the tears on her face have stopped. The whole scene is even more terrible in the darkness of the night, the light coming from the house is little. But more than enough to illuminate the tragedy.

"It's so dark, I can't even see the moon," says the farmer. This comment leads him to raise his eyes to the sky. To see it covered with clouds, it made everything even sadder. As if the heavens themselves didn't want to see this tragedy.

At that moment another voice is heard, saying in an almost timid whisper, "The last light of magic."

It's blondie voice and a few spans above his outstretched hand floats a ball of white light, which illuminates the whole scene. Making everything clearer.

The huntress, still applying pressure to the wound, is kneeling over a large dark spot on the ground. Her hands and those of the daughter were covered in blood. While the man's clothes are stained by his own blood. The only white thing is his face, which is now as pale as his beard and hair.

"How beautiful! I've never seen anything like it.", whispers the old man on the ground, looking at the magical light ball. The daughter, on the other hand, only has eyes for her father. While the child also falls silent as he admires the beautiful light.

With this magic trick, another light illuminates his mind. He remembers that there is another way to save the old man. Magic, more specifically, healing magic. And he must have access to that magic.

After all, it's basically one of the few spells he learns in all his characters. Why spend resources on potions when he can simply use magic?

As such, practically all his characters learn this spell when they can. The idea of a mage as advanced as Nero not having more than one spell of this kind is ridiculous. As such, Nero must have at least one healing spell among others.

The only problem is the usual problem. He can't remember the damn name of the spell.

He looks hopefully at his hands. And he can imagine a repairing light running through them. He can see that same light jumping from him to the farmer on the ground, and saving his life.

Even being a necromancer, he almost feels healing power within himself. The spell may not be one of the most efficient he has. But it must be usable, he has magic reserves to try to cast it at least ten times.

In his mind, he tells himself, "This must work. Time to be the hero. You just have to remember the damn name."

But that's where a blank space is. And in that space, he begins to encounter terrible despair. Motivated by the fear of failure. If he fails, this man whose only sin was trying to save his family will die.

He will be responsible because within him is the chance to change that fate.

So he closes his eyes and begins to murmur softly to himself.

"Pity..."

"The last hope..."

"The mercy of the gods. No..."

A myriad of words and phrases pass through his mind, but nothing fits. The world continues to move around him, while something happens. But all his attention is on this desperate search, having to find the name of the spell.

But then the crying gets louder and he opens his eyes. To see that the tallest hunter has gotten up and gone near the farmer. The blond is now beside the daughter supporting her, while tears run down her face even more. The huntress has stopped applying pressure to the old man's chest. To slowly bring a hand to his face and close his eyes.

For a few seconds, what is happening doesn't make sense to him. He can't understand what happened. Finally, reality is inescapable. He completely failed, and the farmer died.

As the guilt of his failure feels almost like a knife in his chest, the blond's spell ends, and a new, more ominous darkness falls upon them.