------------------------------------------------------
------Panel------
-Name: Riwall Madec
-Age: 0
-Level: 01 (0%)
-Mana purity: 100% (Prismatic)
-----BLESSES-----
---Temelth`s Bless---
-Languages MASTERED
-Unknown (locked)
-Unknown (locked)
-Unknown (locked)
-Unknown (locked)
-----ATTRIBUTES-----
--- Mental Attributes---
-Intelligence:1
-Wits:1
-Resolve:1
--- Physical Attributes---
-Strength:1
-Dexterity:1
-Stamina:1
--- Social Attributes---
-Presence:1
-Manipulation:1
-Composure:1
-----SKILLS-----
--- Mental Skills---
-None
--- Physical Skills---
-None
--- Social Skills---
-None
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{Friday, elaborate on each aspect of the attributes.}
[No data available, apart from necessary information, the system provides nothing else. From what I can assert, it seems likely that most people would not even have access to this much information. The very way you can see all this information is a result of our connection.]
{Judging by the fact these people are all carrying swords and spears, we need to get our hands on books ASAP.}
[Agreed.]
Erika attentively looked at the baby in his mother's arms while using a |Diagnosis| spell. Luckily, he was perfectly healthy.
"Congratulations! The gods have really blessed Riwall, I have never seen such a healthy and well behaved newborn. My name is Erika. I'm a hunter from the village of Marsastor. How are you feeling? Can you tell me your name?"
Only after Erika spoke did the mother noticed her presence. Between her grieving, Riwall`s birth and the aftereffects of the |Petrify| spell, she was unable to focus on anything else. With her baby safe in her arms, she could afford to think more clearly.
"My name is Hellen, my husband and I are from the Ilex Kingdom. We were following the road to Marsastor when we found this hut to rest, but bandits ambushed us. You know better than me what happened after that." Hellen took a few seconds to gather the courage to ask what worried her more at this moment. "Did you find any corpse using a dark green breastplate?"
"Hellen, let's make a deal here. I will tell you all I know about what happened, but before that, you will have to tell me the truth. Not only all the deads have Ilex Kingdom's ring insignia, but their weapons and armor are of high quality. Do we have a deal?"
Hellen did not even have to think much, she was too debilitated, and she needed Erika's help more than Erika needed the information.
"My husband is the infamous White Bear, as he was a noble, and I, a commoner, our union was forbidden. After we discovered that I was pregnant, we run from the kingdom. If he were just a noble, they would have let us escape and not give chase, but he was also a general of their army. Because of his extense knowledge about Ilex's strategies and training regime, they sent the White Ghosts squad to either bring us to them alive or just our heads. As months went by and the pregnancy proceeded, we got slower. The battle outside was the result of them finally catching up."
"You omitted a lot of information in there, how did you get here all the way from Ilex in just seven months? How did you cross the illusion forest? Why not going for Azurehall for asylum?"
Hellen bit her lips as she pondered about what to tell Erika, she was afraid of revealing too much and putting her savior in danger. Erika broke her thoughts as she noticed Hellen's reluctance.
"Ok, I guess you have told enough for me to know you are not criminals, not in this kingdom at least. As for your husband's whereabouts, he is not among the dead. There are trails of someone being dragged for a few meters, but they seem to have escaped using horses. The only thing that does not matches the dead's equipment is a white halberd, is that your husband's wea..."
Erika stopped talking when she noticed that Hellen shed silent tears, she hugged her baby close and just let the tears flow with her eyes closed.
A few minutes went by with no one speaking a word. Edward broke the silence by opening the old door.
"Sorry to interrupt girls, but we need to move, the sun is about to set, and the wagon is ready."
"Thanks, Ed. Do you mind helping Ms. Hellen and her baby? I will cast a heating ward to keep them from freezing."
"Sure."
Erika quickly chanted a ward spell, and Riwall felt the temperature rising around him and his mother. He had been listening attentively to all the conversation but could not understand anything apart from the fact that his parents were runaways from a kingdom that was pretty far from here.
Mother and son sit at the comfortable wagon surrounded by all pieces of equipment and possession of the dead soldiers. Meanwhile, all other hunters got on their horses and deftly organized in a formation around the wagon.
-------------------------
The journey back was quick and uneventful. The village was really close to the hut's location, which made Hellen feel even more guilty because if she were a little stronger, they would have reached a safe haven.
Unaware of her regrets, Riwall was fighting a losing battle against his body, his fully developed soul and mind put a massive strain on his newborn body, according to Friday predictions it should take about a year for him to be able to hold his consciousness for more than a few minutes every day.
Before drifting off to sleep, Riwall had Friday do whatever she deemed necessary to help his body develop to the full extent of his potential. He was not yet sure of what he wanted to do in his life, but with an AI with him, he wanted to be sure of being able to face whatever his new life throws at him.
-------------------------
Erika was the only one who got to hear Hellen's tale, and both agreed that, for the sake of Riwall, it was better if they said that Geralt died fighting instead of being captured. Otherwise, Riwall would either resent Hellen for doing nothing to rescue her husband or try to find him in the future, which would spell troubles for him.
While Riwall was sleeping, Hellen met with Marsastor's Fiefdom Lord, a man named Kester, and got authorization to live in his lands if she agreed to become a serf. As a serf of the Marsastor family, Hellen would have to work as a healer and farm mage. In exchange, she would be entitled protection, justice, and, should she demand, land for her subsistence when her son got older.
According to Erika, the Marsastor family was honorable and would not abuse their position. They were more worried about safety than pleasure or wealth, so they would spare no expense or effort to make everyone safer and well-fed.
The truth is that the Marsastors were not saints, life in their fief was full of dangers, from orcs and goblins raids that threatened the survival of the serfs responsible for food production, to harsh winters that ravaged the farms itself. Should they abuse their position, a single rebellion would be able to throw a wrench in their structure and kill everyone. Many other Lords did not face such harshness, so they were laxer on their responsibilities and grew up to become conceited, often treating the serfs as cattle and doing as they pleased.
Erika managed to convince Hellen to move to her house. She was already set on this idea after felling pity of Hellen's circumstances, but when she heard Hellen telling Kester about her healing and earth magic prowess, Erika had to get close to the woman. As a healer and a hunter, Erika worked double shifts. In the morning she would hunt in the forest and the afternoons and evenings she would need to work as the village solo healer.
Healing magic was extremely taxing and required multiple sessions to be useful. Basically, the healer would pour vast amounts of light mana in the patient's body, boosting his natural healing capacity and speeding up recovery. The major flaw of this method is that severe injuries and sickness would require the healer to work on a patient for as long as his mana pool allowed. So every day after a tiring hunt, Erika would come to her home to find a line of people waiting for her to perform healing magic on them.
As her home doubled as the village's infirmary, having Hellen living with her would ease her burden by a lot. Should Hellen be proficient in healing magic, it may even be the case where Erika could finally retire from being a healer altogether.