Oliver was now lying on his bed to take some rest of his strained body. His body felt too heavy to move and he could barely stand up. His mind was also still in turmoil and a bit chaotic from earlier incident.
The village chief had come earlier to inform him that his sister had been attacked by the monster, just like what had happened to him. The news really caught him off guard, and he nearly tripped because of that. Fortunately, a strong platinum-rank warrior arrived in time to save her. It was the same old man who had saved him as well, and now she was safe and needed some rest after being tended to by the healer.
She just needed some time to regain her bearings after being shocked by the monster's attack. She was only nine years old, after all. The most important thing was that she was fine, only lightly wounded, which brought him relief.
Perhaps it was precisely because the old man chose to save his sister first that she was able to escape with fewer injuries. As a result, the old man arrived just a bit late to save him, and he now had to suffer in bed from the aftermath. Should he feel grateful or sad? Well, all that mattered was his sister was alive—and so was he.
A few hours had already passed since the incident, but he still couldn't move. The village chief said that he would be all right, and soon an assigned healer would come to tend to him properly after they were done with others who needed more urgent care.
He judged that his injury wasn't serious enough to require such immediate medical attention, which he could more or less understand. There were many ailing people who were in worse physical condition than him and needed priority attention and special treatment.
Oliver honestly didn't pay any mind to it and just reminded him to take care of his sister before the village chief left. The monster break had already been taken care of, and he had nothing to worry about, especially since his anxiety problem was gone for good.
"Well, things sure are peaceful nowadays. Is this what it feels like to be free of anxiety?"
The old man in person knew that the village was attacked and instantaneously rushed here to save the villagers. There were some people who passed away, but he could save a few from the monsters, including his sister. Well, if he had been too late to come to his senses, Oliver would be dead by now.
It was just sad that, according to the village chief, he was the last person the old man tried to save. The old man said that he was lucky, but was he? Because apparently, he was the last person the old man could be bothered to save. Maybe that pouch of mana stones he gave him was because of guilt?
Assuming that, even if he really had died, his parents would have been the ones who received it, and that wasn't too bad.
Hehe, but since I'm pretty much not dead, this pouch is all mine" He grinned sheepishly while staring at the pouch.
Given that his talent in magic had uncannily improved for an unknown reason, he was also very eager to try and learn some magic skills to see how far he could push his magical abilities. But, not before his body had fully recovered, that is.
With that in mind, Oliver realized that his near-death experience was something of a boon. If he had not gotten injured and barely survived after being treated as the plaything of that stupid monster, would he have ever regained the memory of his past?
He didn't know, maybe there would be another chance, maybe not. He had been trapped in that accursed darkness for a long time, after all. He had no way of knowing where it was, nor how long he had been there.
It was liberating to be alive, free from anxiety and no longer flying randomly out of nowhere again. He had to admit he felt reassured, maybe even a little happy. Now he came to understand how precious it was to have a family, something he didn't have in the past.
For all that, what happened to the village still left him feeling somewhat mournful, though.
The village suffered major damage after the attack by a horde of monsters. According to reports from the village guard, 35 people perished in this incident out of a population of nearly three hundred villagers. Most of the monsters were wiped out by the old man, while the rest scrambled for their lives after the peerless platinum-ranked warrior drove them off.
That was a problem indeed. A big problem. They had been attacked by a horde of monsters and had barely survived, if not for sheer luck. That was why the old man said he was lucky to escape death.
This meant that if that... whatever mysterious monster the old man had mentioned wasn't properly dealt with, it would keep spreading chaos to the village. What if he failed to capture or kill it, then? Wouldn't everyone be dead?
Oliver thought that it was indeed a problem. The problem was that he himself was so weak and could not help to defend the village from the monsters' attack.
How could he ever possibly think to help defend the village, considering that he couldn't even defend himself and had barely survived the last monster attack? He was also very far from reaching even rank 1.
As far as he knew, rank 1 warriors, that are usually called novice-rank, were common everywhere. For example, in this village, there were around a hundred of them. There were around 20 rank 2 warriors, and only one rank 3 warrior, the chief knight of the village guard.
In any case, even if he were a legitimate novice-rank warrior, he wouldn't matter at all for the survival of the whole village.
They could not possibly defend the village if the monster horde attacked again. This made Oliver uneasy. He had to find a way to solve this as soon as possible, and also protect his family. Last time, he had been powerless and nearly died. He didn't want to feel that way again.
The first thing he should do was to learn one or two defensive magic skills as soon as possible. He wasn't sure whether he could do it, though. The past Oliver wasn't really interested in any magic whatsoever.
Well, that was before he recovered his past life memories. For now, he seemed to need some adjustments on his magic department
Soon after, Oliver's parents come back home along with her sister.
Upon seeing him lying weakly on the bed, his sister ran to him, threw her arms around him, and started crying. She was still afraid of what had happened.
"Brother! I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, her voice trembling.
"Ugh… Yeah. I… I'm okay." Oliver winced as she clung to him. It hurt a little, though he was trying to calm himself as much as possible in front of her.
"Kalisa, be careful… don't squeeze your brother too hard." Her mother gave her clueless self a small nudge.
"I'm okay, really. You don't have to worry about me," Oliver said, smiling a little.
Though she felt a bit strange about his reaction, she didn't pay it any mind.
Their parents also talked to him about the recent incidents that happened in the village. They were glad that their son was not badly injured like others. They continued to chat for a while.
Oliver's parents told him that they had been on the farm while the monsters attacked, which was located on the far side of the attack, so they were safe.
But the others were not that lucky; one of their neighbors had died miserably, and they couldn't help feeling sad.
Oliver also knew that these incidents must have impacted them heavily, based on his memories. They shared a close bond with their neighbors after all.
Oliver also inquired about what happened to the rest of the monsters that had run away, and apparently the village chief said that the platinum-ranked warrior named Sean would try to track them and patrol the nearby forest for a while, so they didn't need to worry.
After Oliver listened to their explanation, he felt slightly more relieved. At least that old man didn't just leave like that. If the old man left, even if reinforcements came and tried to track them down, it would be useless.
Two days later, he woke up with refreshed feelings. Yesterday, the healer from another village had come to help tend to him. That helped speed up his recovery, and he could move his body perfectly now.
Lying on the bed was torture, but compared to the strange feeling of floating seamlessly in the middle of nowhere, it was still way better. He could even lie on the bed for a month without a whimper, let alone just two days.
Today, it's time to practice some magic.