"Hey I found them!" A voice calls out.
The footsteps he heard were a group of rescuers who were lead here by Emma. They uncover Max and get him up.
"Another one over here, he's in terrible condition but he's breathing!" They carry over Ray, and Kaito stands up smiling.
They manage to wake Max and Terra but Ray is still unconscious.
They're all escorted safely, the people wrap them in bandages, and hand them warm drinks. They hand Kaito a weird... drink? "What is this?" He asks.
"They're called jellies, it's medicine."
Tips: Healing jelly is a magical medicine, it has the consistency of well jelly! They come in a wide rage of fruity flavors, so adventurers pick them up all the time, especially when they can't afford the expensive elixirs.
It doesn't close his wounds, but it does at least slow the bleeding enough, that he won't bleed out in the next few hours.
Terra smiles at Kaito. "I can't believe you're seriously a D ranker. A multiple element mage, and you can kick ass?!" She shouts as she pats his back.
Max nods too. "I must agree, I was certainly looking down on you, but you came through for us in the end. I apologize." Max says. They get up and Max shakes kaito's hand.
"I must make a briefing on this and send it back to our guild leader. But it was an honor." Max says. "I apologize we can't do more for you, but we must return to our guild hall." He says.
Kaito nods. "It was great working with you too. I got a new skill out of this and learned a bunch!" He states happily.
Terra messes with Kaito's hair. "Alright little buddy, we'll see you around!" She says happily before they depart.
Emma nods to him, "it was hard, running outside, but i managed to retrun and get help for you all." She says.
She then bows deeply. "Thank you, mister Kaito, without you i'm not sure i'd be standing here right now."
Kaito smiles back. "It's no big deal."
With that Emma hands lucky back and, hops onto the cart with the others and they leave.
With everyone gone Kaito is left all alone. He sighs and begins walking back to the town. The pain of his wound still with a fresh sting.
After a while he painfully wobbles back into town.
As the city buzzed around him, Kaito's heart weighed on him. Amongst the murmurs of the crowd, he caught snippets of conversation. "Isn't that the loudmouth newbie?" a mocking voice reached him, followed by laughter. "Looks like his head really was too big for his own shoulders," another added, each word a pinprick to his already battered spirit.
"Knew the kid was all talk."
"Looks like he ain't cut out for it after all."
"Kid should pack it up and go home before he gets himself killed."
Yet, despite the ridicule, Kaito found himself silent, a departure from his usual loud self. Pain, both physical and emotional, made him not feel like arguing. As he settled onto a nearby bench, he winced, realizing the pain was more than just skin-deep.
With a sudden downpour, each drop a cold reminder of his solitude. He clutched Lucky gently, tucking him as the rain drenched everything he wore. "It's gonna be a cold night," he murmured, resigning himself to the storm's embrace.
In the relentless rain, his thoughts spiraled back to the battle, replaying his futile attempts against the Graith. A sigh escaped his lips, acknowledging a bitter truth, he couldn't have won alone.
People rushed past him, indistinct blurs muttering and laughing, utterly indifferent.
As he sits alone Kaito couldn't help but feel lonely.
While thinking, Nyla's face surfaced, and with it, a sense of longing for understanding. He pondered the space between him and the world, from the townspeople now to those villagers long ago. Was it true that he would have to be alone?
The feeling was much like it was when he fell down that ravine so long ago.
As the rain continued, Kaito wanted to distract himself from the thoughts, but each attempt led him back to his loneliness. Then suddenly the rain had stopped..
"You know you're gonna get sick if you sit in the rain like this, right?" The voice was gentle, piercing Kaito's despair. He looked up into the kind eyes of a boy his age, an unexpected beacon of warmth, that he needed more then this boy had knew.
The boy stood over him, sacrificing comfort to shield Kaito from the rain. His kindness was a lifeline in Kaito's storm of doubt. "Come with me," the boy urged softly. "It's no good for you to sit here alone."
In that brief moment, amidst the laughter and the jeers, amidst the self-doubt and the rain, a single act of kindness sparked hope in Kaito's heart.
They arrive at an inn, the boy handing Kaito the umbrella. Before hurrying off.
"mamá estoy en casa!" The boy shouts. In an unfamiliar language. As he runs up some stairs
Kaito takes a seat, his wounds still stinging.
A woman comes down the stairs. "Hello valued customer!" She says. She looks at Kaito before becoming worried. "Are you ok young man?" She asks before kneeling down to him.
Kaito smiles. "I'm fine, it doesn't even hurt." He says, obviously in pain.
The woman smiles. "You can worry about payment later, go get you some rest." She says as she rubs his hair gently. The woman's motherly voice makes Kaito think of Moon, comforting him.
"Ok, i'm gonna check out that wound on your stoamch now ok?" She says.
She peels his shirt up, a fleshy wet noise following, she winces herself a bit looking at it. "This is pretty bad." She says.
She ties her hair up and smiles. "Hey, sorry I don't have anything to numb you with, but i've gotta stitch this up or you won't make it to morning." She says.
Kaito nods understanding. The woman stitches his wound uo for him as Kaito painfully sits awake for the entire thing. Beforelong she finishes. She then holds her hand out, summoning some ice in her hand. "Put this on your wound, it should help with the pain."
She then nods to her son. "Take care of him."
The boy takes Kaito's bag for him. "Come with me i'll get you to a room." He tells Kaito.
Kaito follows behind the boy slowly. His wounds still effecting him. "My names Dante by the way." The young man introduces himself.
Kaito weakly smiles. "I'm Kaito." He introduces himself.
Dante then takes Kaito's bag to a room, sitting it gently on a bed. "You should probably get out of those clothes before you get in any beds, it'd be hard to clean up all that blood." Dante shakes slightly just thinking about it.
Lucky crawls out of Kaito's jacket rubbing himself onto Dante's leg. "A cat?!" Dante shouts. Kaito will giggle. "I rescued him a little bit ago." Kaito explains.
Dante also gently places the cat in the room.
Kaito begins to drop his pants before Dante stops him. "Do it in the bathroom dude!" Dante shouts. "Take a shower, leave your clothes at the door i'll bring you a change." He tells Kaito.
Kaito goes into the bathroom and wonders how he's supposed to use a the shower. Back at home they just used the springs.
Kaito eventually figures it out and the warm water soothes his aching body as the blood rinses off of him into the tub. Kaito takes a nice sigh of relief, this is nice after what happened in the dungeon.
Kaito comes from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Dante sees all of Kaito's scars around his body making him shake wondering how much it hurts.
"How did you get all those scars?" Dante asks him. Kaito laughs as he changes. "I was in a fight with a monster." Kaito explains. Dante face gets excited. "Wait you fight monsters?!" Dante exclaims. "You must be from outside the barrier!" Dante shouts.
Kaito nods. "Yeah I just got to this place. I'm looking for a treasure." Kaito says, he'd give more energy but he's still in a lot of pain. Dante can't hide his excitement.
But he notices Kaito is clearly in pain. "Right sorry, sorry, let's just go to your room." As much as Dante wants to ask question after question he has to let Kaito rest.
Kaito falls to the bed and Dante closes his door for him.
Lucky hops onto the bed and looks Kaito in his eyes. "Please don't lay on me Lucki i'm in pain." Kaito asks politely. Lucky meows at him then lies on Kaito's chest.
"Ow." Kaito says.
Before Kaito passes out he remembers the scroll he grabbed from the dungeon. Once he thinks of it. It summons before his eyes.
He opens it up, "this arte is one formed to push the body to a limit that are yours to develop. This powerful arte is given the name energy fission." The scroll reads.
Kaito thinks to himself. "That's a weird way to fish."
He decides to try and use it the way detailed. "Control energy in my body as I want to?" He thinks. He attempts it but it immediately makes him pass out.