Chapter 48: Ester wakes up, cured, and healthy

"Now that all the six mutated patients have arrived let's begin." As the psychiatrist said these words, the dream froze once again, darkness engulfed everything, leaving both wisp Vincent and Kazumi staring at each other.

Not long after, Vincent felt his conscious fading as if he was falling asleep or waking up from all this strange dream-like vision.

*Day 11 Morning

Morning dawned, illuminating the cave with its warm sunlight.

Vincent woke up in a hurry after catching smelling the scent of fire. The strange, vivid dream was still fresh in his mind. He felt a bit weird as the senses of his human body, and his limbs returned.

[Do you remember everything?]

Kazumi asked after noticing Vincent waking up. She wanted to confirm both remembered the dream. Vincent nodded in response; then he raised both hands to gaze at. He felt weird because the wisp body was easy to move.

-It might mean you were a real person, but how did the book summon you to this world? It wasn't completed yet, right?-

Vincent brought up a hard to question to a crucial answer. The answer could solve how the potential six mutated people in that room got summoned by a book that Kevin didn't complete yet.

[Let's take it easy and digest this information slowly. It's not a good thing to rush. As for me, I don't remember anything new, yet what we saw made me feel like I had been to that place before.]

-Could it be that my power of the Soul Hero made us see the past on my first sleeping with you? As if there were downloaded memories and they processed the installation when I slept?-

[If and only if there are souls of other Heroes scattered around in this world at their deathbed. Then we could see more of our or their past.]

Vincent nodded as he felt it might be the case. However, his journey already started with a lousy beginning. Finding Kevin's possibly living child and the Heroes' souls weren't going to be a joyride.

Vincent looked from left to right, but only Ester was still asleep, Lupa didn't seem to be in the cave.

'This smell, did she start a fire? Good thing I thought her how.' He thought while letting a sigh because of the constantly hungry Lupa.

[I saw Lupa go outside with a few sticks and your bow drill. I heard her belly growling for some food. Her mouth drooled as if she starved for a week.]

Vincent stopped for a moment to inspect Ester's condition. The result made him raise a smile as her condition only showed tiredness and nothing else. The twenty Soul Power for the two Minor Heals completed their job flawlessly.

"Ester is healed, but... Heh. What am I going to do about Lupa." Vincent sighed from the hopelessness to teach the impatient wolf some manners. Suddenly, he felt his sleeve getting nudged.

"I will teach Lupa some manners... like a big sister." Ester was awake when Vincent commented about Lupa's behavior. She took it upon herself to lighten the troublesome companion's load. She wished to thank Lupa for all her caring as well.

"Morning Ester, I will take you up on that offer. Now, let's check on that naughty wolf of ours, hehe." Vincent lightly chuckled while standing up.

Vincent extended his hand to help Ester stand up. Even though Ester wasn't sick anymore, not walking for a long time made her legs need a bit of rehabilitation.

Ester took the offer, but what happened next surprised her. She didn't think it would be hard to stand up; her body swayed while her legs felt like noodles.

[It's your time to shine, hehe.]

Vincent ignored Kazumi's teasing remark. He held Ester's hand with a reassuring hold while the other held her back to stop her body from falling.

Ester became bright red while her heart raced uncontrollably. A person who she liked held her frail, delicate body. Soon, both their eyes met, causing the two to avert their eyes.

Ester suddenly remembered what the sly Kazumi told her. That Vincent liked her but, is too shy to take the first step. Their face slowly drew close, but Ester didn't have it in her to take the first step,

"Ahem. Let me help you stand until your legs can regain their strength." Vincent destroyed this god sent occasion by changing the subject.

Kazumi already knew that nothing would happen in this fantastic occasion. Even if she continued to tease him, Vincent wouldn't act. Vincent was the kind of guy that didn't like to take advantage of others. Now it's working against him.

Ester shyly nodded but soon gasped when a warm hand held her waist with care. Both kept averting their gaze while slowly exiting the cave.

[Vincent, you make me sad. You had a chance to start a harem, but you blew that magnificent chance away. However, worry not, this cute wisp cupid will help you, hehe.]

Kazumi giggled all alone as Vincent could barely hear her words from his racing heart. Now that Ester wasn't sick anymore, he was conscious of every touch.

"Ohh. Sister is awake, but no fair. I want to join too." Lupa raised a sad frown while fanning the fire with her hands.

"Ester can't walk on her own. Here, help her sit while I bring some boar meat." Vincent asked while sweating from the tension. Then quickly left for the cave.

Soon, Lupa helped Ester sit. With a puzzled frown, Ester asked about the boar meat; she didn't know about how Vincent and Lupa fought for their lives once again. Ester thought she was eating the wolf meat since she could barely tell how many days passed.

"Hmm. We only have enough boar meat for one more meal. Other than the pork jerky, we only have the mushrooms and snails." Vincent calculated a future problem, but at least the worst had passed, and enough food for two to three days was in their possession.

A few minutes later, Vincent used all the boar meat to make many kebabs. It was going to the be last delicious breakfast before the meat stockpile would get used up. Luckily he didn't need to throw a single piece of meat as Ester's condition helped them save the food from spoiling.

"What's wrong, Ester? You seem sad." Vincent returned with meat skewers ready to be cooked. However, Ester didn't look too happy by what Lupa told her.

"I feel useless that I never help. I'm a liability, right?" Ester expressed in words what passed through her heart.

Vincent could understand what she felt; he also felt like this when Kevin passed away. Aunt Trisha and grandma Tessy had to help Vincent from the horrible resurfaced memories instead of mourning Kevin.

Yet Vincent helped them overcome their loss by helping him. In a way, it helped them as well.

"Kasumi told me all about your Self Magic Immunity. If you can't fight, then at least you can freeze our food for preservation. Without support, an assault would be useless, as some say." Vincent tried to cheer Ester in his own way. He first started with praise, then continued with a quote from a character he loved to read about, the green-eyed Hero.

Ester silently nodded, not uttering a word until her mouth began drooling from the delicious, enticing meat cooking in front of her eyes. After the nightmare ended, this smell made her forget about feeling sad or embarrassed.

"Here, sister, you take the first bite, hehe." Lupa giggled while fishing for compliments and praise. She killed the Great Yok Boar and cooked the meat at the right amount with her heightened senses.

The fantastic breakfast sadly concluded in half an hour. The food was devoured by the three while all of them hungered for more.

When Vincent mentioned how they could eat a bowl of soup in the evening, their bright smiles returned once again. However, he never mentioned what meat they would eat. It was a slimy secret.

"Lupa, why don't you go search for some food with your skillful nose. More meat or mushrooms would do nicely. I will give you a second fill if you find something." Vincent knew Lupa wouldn't refuse extra food, and as he guessed, she took the bait, raised a proud smirk, and ran to search.

"Now then. I wanted to tell you about all that happened and also about Kazumi. Lupa knows a little, but that little wolf slept as it was a nap time story." Vincent frowned with a hint of anger. Teaching Lupa seemed a hard feat to accomplish. It seemed listening to a story was Lupa's Achilles heel.

Time passed while Ester could understand Vincent and Kazumi better. She learned what happened after becoming sick. The fight against the Great Yok Boar and the probability that they were followed lowered by the day.

Vincent raised his gaze and noticed how time flew from a long conversation. He could feel less shy around Ester, but it was mostly from the constant teasing of Kazumi. The sly wisp couldn't resist to sarcastically tease Vincent.

"I never heard of Sage Apple or Golden Acorn. As you know, I only know rumors and nothing else, but I still can't believe you gave me a class." Ester said while looking at the mark at the back of her hand.

"I bet you wish to know the name of this world, but commoners don't know its name." Ester apologized as she felt terrible for not being any help.

"Don't let it bother you. This is an adventure where our destination is to find a place to call our home. If I can find about the child of my friend Kevin and the locations of the otherworldy Heroes deaths, then my journey can peacefully end." Vincent stood up while scratching his cheek. He felt a bit embarrassed about his next choice of words, "Having both of you by my side is enough to chain me to this world for a hundred years."

Vincent paced inside the cave to cool his head. Ester saw him leave while her body froze from the sudden strange proposition.

Ester's heart fluttered, yet she didn't know what to say. Vincent felt different than when they first met. He seemed older with strangely longer hair. His actions and how he handles Lupa felt more mature. Even his words had a mysterious charm.

After waking up, Ester felt that Vincent became more attractive while Kazumi's words kept repeating in her mind.

Ester said while gazing at the slowly appearing moon, "Mother, Father, I think I can become happy now. The person who everyone says should be the end of us saved me. Gave me a new purpose in life and made me happy."