CHAPTER 6: SCARS

"*Yawn*…." Uttered a man, as he sat his arms on the counter with a bored look on his face. The only light that flickers around the vividly dark room is a magic crystal placed on his side.

The clinic, owned by Dian Cecht Familia, was open all night to provide help to those who need it, however, tonight was slow, and no people were waited in line or people buying medicines. Only the occasional cricket sounds can be heard from time to time.

"Hey, you need to stay focused." Nudged one of his colleagues who sat near him.

"Why? Tonight is very quiet, I doubt there would be someone running here because of an emergency."

His colleague only looked at him with a sigh as his colleague only persuaded him not to lay around lazily.

"Come on, if you keep being lazy, you might get cursed by the 'bloodied Adventurer' that roams the clinic, hoo~," said his colleague while using a spooky and scary voice.

The man only looked at the colleague with a deadpan look before fixing his posture.

"Yeah, you're right, I'll get cursed by a scary ghost said to be an Adventurer who died alone on its deathbed while the one supposed to heal him ignored him because they were too lazy to do their work." He said with sarcasm in his voice, before hitting his colleague lightly on the head. "Do you think I would believe that kind of story? We're not kids anymore."

The colleague, who only held her head where she was smacked, only teased the man on that remark.

"Oh, I clearly remember a screaming kid who hugged his mother, because he thought a cat was a ghost that came from the deepest and darkest abyss, which ended up just sleeping near a trash can." She said, this only made the man falter as he blushed red like an apple.

"T-that w-was then, and I recall you also screamed."

"With laughter, Hahaha!" she countered as she continued to tease the man.

The two were too engrossed with their conversation, neither of them heard the door open and walked in a dark silhouette who was wearing full black. As blood dripped from its tattered clothes as it continued toward the counter.

"Hmm, Excuse me."

The two looked at where the voice came from. As they turned to the direction, they were horrified by the sight. They were seeing a figure dressed in tattered black clothes, with hair as white as snow, eyes as red as a glowing ruby, and as pale as a ghost. Blood drips from the figure's face and arms as the magic crystal lamp only highlights its numerous wounds. To the duo's eyes, they saw a scary individual in front of them as if it would drop dead on them. The next thing that would happen would make people who were in the hospital would wake up… even from a coma.

""THE BLOODIED ADVENTURER! HAAAAAAA! EEEKKKKK!"" Both two screech in fear, while Bell only smiled awkwardly at the sight and was surprised by the scream.

A silver-haired woman hurriedly walked with two more people near her as they made their way from the hall.

Airmid Teasanare, one of the best healers of all Orario, quickly hurried her steps as she had heard there was an Adventurer covered with numerous wounds suddenly appeared in the clinic and requested a room as he bought materials that was unusual, he had asked for bandages, nothing out of the ordinary, however, he had also requested a needles and silk strings. In addition to this, she was informed that the Adventurer started to stitch the wound upon getting the requested materials.

Normally as a Doctor, Airmid immediately rushes to the room where the adventurer is staying for the moment, as she nears the room, accompanied by her attendants, prepared to see a stubborn Adventurer who is trying to bandage a now-infected wound.

Upon entering the room, she was surprised by the sight. There, she saw the Adventurer with white hair and red eyes, professionally stitching the numerous wounds that were on his arms, while there were bondages and other stuff for those kinds of injuries placed beside him in the bed. The white-haired Adventurer was too focused on his injuries, he had not noticed the people who had come in the room.

Airmid noticed the white-haired boy was too engrossed in his stitching. She let out a cough to show their presence to the boy.

*COUGH*

When Bell looked up he blushed, it was either that he just noticed there were people in the room or there was a beautiful silver-haired girl with a porcelain doll look in front of him…or both.

Y-Yes? C-can I h-help you?" He stammered making the needle he was holding shake a little as strings pulled the attached skin tightly.

A sudden loud yelp came from the white-haired boy as he was surprised by the sudden pain.

"Stop what you are doing, I'll handle the treatment now."

Airmid quickly got close to Bell as she examined his wound. Ignoring the blushing boy, she quickly checked his wounds, several cuts were seen both on his arms and were now stitched together, it was okay now, however, it would leave permanent scars. And To add to it, his knuckles were both injured, judging from the dried blood and bruises on his hand, had he been punching a wall or something?

"Hmm, I could confirm that your wounds are treated and just need to rest for a few days or so, but it would leave permanent scars from the cuts on your arms."

"Oh, is that so, thank you." He replied while bowing his head.

Airmid quirked an eyebrow at the boy's reply, she was sure this boy was a newbie adventurer judging that it was the first time she saw the boy. But yet, the boy shows an air of calmness to his current situation not seen by most newcomers.

"Then I'll take my leave now, please have a rest, we will inform your patron God if you want about your current location?"

Bell nodded and said where their Familia's home was as the silver-haired healer ordered one of her attendants, to handle the matter. When the rest of the people left, leaving only the white-haired boy behind, he stared at his wrapped arms as he clenched his hand. Ignoring the small pain he continues to stare at it.

'At least this time, I did not take someone's life." he thought as he looked at the starry night sky and reminisced the past, He wasn't bothered he got a permanent scar on his arms, No, although he was new to this, he still knew the feelings.

When a yawn escaped from his mouth, he felt tired as all the exhaustion he had ignored, released throughout his body. Too exhausted to think, he lay down on the bed as he drifted off to sleep. As he closed his eyes, the white-haired boy dreamed of the moment he had gotten the first scar he got…..the moment he saw what the world truly was.

Underneath the clothes he wore there was a scar, placed on his right shoulder. That…scar, was the first one he got, he didn't get it from his master or his training, no, he got this when he had to choose between his life and others. That time, it ended up strengthening his resolve to reach his goal.

Six months ago, in a field filled with grass and flowers, clashes of wooden sticks could be heard. Two people, a boy, and a man were dueling each other using wooden sticks that they had found lying around.

Each clash of their weapon causes ripples in the wind. The boy breathes heavily, but continues his onslaught of attacks on his opponent, the opponent, however, shows only a relaxed expression, and only the occasional grunt is heard as the mercenary blocks and parries each attack.

"Your left side is open again." Warned the mercenary, as he attacked the boy's left side.

The white-haired boy quickly blocked the incoming attack, making the mercenary smile for that achievement, the boy then tried to counter it. In the mercenary's eyes, he could not help but be surprised by the boy's talent. It had only been four weeks since their training, but the boy had improved a lot. The first week was focused on exercising his body and knowing his limits, he had given some advice to fix some flaws, and the boy had adapted it abnormally quickly, leading to now.

"Very good, Bell." He complimented, making Bell smile while focusing on his movements, "But…" the mercenary then seemingly disappeared.

Surprised by the sudden disappearance, Bell looked around to where his master would attack.

"Your back is still open."

When Bell was about to turn around, he felt a light tap on his head. His master stared at him with a wide smirk, as he concluded the fight. Letting out a huge breath, Bell dropped to the ground in exhaustion, sweat dripping from his forehead as he wiped it out. He could still see that there was a gap between him and his master, but was happy that he was improving by the day. Regaining his breathing, he looked up to the sky and noticed it was getting dark.

"Should we return back, Mr. Michael?"

"Yes, we should hurry, come on." Michael then packed up the training equipment as they walked to Bell's house

Bell offered him to stay at his house for the time, and being the person he is…. he first declined the offer and slept outside, he had no choice but to accept the offer when it suddenly started to rain, leading to a very comical moment at that time.

When they had dropped the pieces of equipment upon returning home, Michael started to prepare tonight's dinner while his student cleaned up. After Bell had changed into his new clothes, he started to help prepare dinner by helping Michael cut some vegetables and set the plates on the table.

When they started to eat, Bell sat opposite to his master and enjoyed the food he was eating. The atmosphere was calm, giving off a relaxed feeling. When the boy almost finished his food, he quickly remembered something that had been on his mind for a while.

"What does your Familia do, exactly?" he asked his teacher, he knew what his teacher's job was, but he was also curious about what his other Familia members did, other than doing those "jobs".

This earns the mercenary to scratch his chin for a moment as he thinks about how he could explain what his Familia does and works.

"Well, let's just say, other than being hired to capture or slay monsters with the right reward, we also provide different services like guarding, and scouting, but there were also some moments that we were hired to transport materials to different places. " he explains while taking the plates to the kitchen while Bell followed. "There were some people who hired us to travel faraway places, so we sometimes travel around the land while some, mainly the executives, stay with our Goddess for protection."

"How do you guys communicate with each other? I don't know much, but I heard hiring people to deliver messages would take a while to get them."

"Well, we could say we have are ways to help us deliver messages to each other." The mercenary said while cleaning the plates. "Now I think about it, there is supposed a letter delivered to me today."

After saying that they abruptly stopped cleaning as both heard the loud flapping of…wings? Outside the house. Bell tilted his head, confused by the sudden noise and Michael only chuckled as he opened one of the windows. Upon opening, a small dark silhouette entered and flew around the room, making the white-haired boy jump in surprise.

"Caw….caw….."

The dark silhouette landed at the table, revealing it was a crow holding a piece of paper on one of its feet. Michael walked toward the crow and patted it as he took the paper.

"Meet one of the ones we use to deliver messages, I call them 'Uwak'." He said pointing to the crow.

Bell was amazed as he widened his eyes, he thought for a moment if he could pat the crow but quickly stopped thinking it would be uncomfortable for the crow. Sensing what the boy was thinking, the crow flew near to Bell and landed on his shoulder, making Bell surprised once again.

The mercenary let out a small smile and chuckled. "Well, I guess he likes you, hehe."

With that statement, the crow rubs his body on Bell's head. Bell laughed, enjoying as he played with the Crow. Michael then exited the kitchen, leaving both the boy and the crow to their own business. As he exited the room, he read the message in the paper he was holding.

Upon reading it, his eyes became serious, and he clenched the paper. Gritting his teeth in anger he let out a small bloodlust that most people cannot sense, but he quickly calmed himself as he heard his student's laughter as he played with the crow, letting out a huge sigh he returned to the kitchen.

"Bell." He said, the boy looked up, curious about what his teacher was about to say to him. "How about tomorrow, let's have a break from training, you can do what you want till then."

Bell nodded, it had been a while since he had a break from training, so he wasn't disagreeing with the suggestion. However, he can sense something off from his master, as if something urgent happened. He shook that thought off, thinking it was nothing important, but there was an aching feeling that there would be something bad about to happen.

As the night continues, Both Bell and his master enjoy the time, the latter playing with the crow, while the mercenary watches them with a fond smile. When the boy let out a huge yawn, he got up and said his goodnight as he went to his room to sleep.

Leaving only the mercenary and the crow in the living room, the crow was seemingly tilting its head while it looked at Michael.

"What?"

The crow led out rapid taps on the table, giving a sort of message using its beak. Michael understands what the crow is trying to say as he deciphers the message.

He shook his head, as he opened his mouth. "No, he is not a new recruit, I'm just training him for the time being."

This earns the crow to tap the table more.

"I don't know how long, but I do plan to leave the village after a few days."

The crow looked at Michael for a moment before tapping the table once again. This time Michael was unsure what he would answer.

"I-I don't know yet, he is good at adapting to his environment, however, he said he never traveled outside the village before, so I'm afraid he would change his worldview after seeing what the "other side" is." He looked down at the paper he had just got. "And besides you also know how dangerous my "job" is, right."

The crow looked down for a moment before brightening up and tapping the table again.

This only leads to Michael massaging his temple for that idea, but there is a chance it would work. "Alright I'll try to offer him that…..after finishing this mission."

The crow let out a happy sound, before shutting up by Michael and gesturing for it to be quiet.