Xiao was sitting in a room, on the ground, cross-legged. Sitting opposite him was the village head of this Dark Elf village. The local called him the elder. And standing beside the elder were two of his trusty, eager to run through Xiao with their spear the moment Xiao made any suspicious movement.
("No chair and table is still one thing, but no window? No wonder the air feels so gloomy the longer I stay, and to think that this is the elder. How the hell did these guys live here normally?")
Xiao looked around the place as he provided his critique in his mind. Maybe because he designed and created everything in his home, he started to pay attention to the design of a room.
While Xiao was analysing the room with a designer mind, the guards thought that Xiao was trying to break the place, which made them tighten their grip on their spear.
"Chill down, people. I just want to talk. And besides, you guys took away my weapon. I am literally armless now," said Xiao to the guards as he was getting irritated from their threatening stares.
A few minutes ago, Xiao was still exchanging heated arguments with the elder. Still, in the end, the elder let them into the village.
The elder didn't get convinced by Xiao's words. He doesn't want any more ruckus and attention. So he plans to let Xiao continue ranting in a quiet space and send them away after that.
Of course, the elder won't just let Xiao and Iva casually walk into his village. He set two conditions for Xiao before allowing them in. The first one was that Iva must be waiting at the appointed house, which was quite far from here. So technically speaking, Iva was already in the village, far from others.
And the second condition was that Xiao had to hand over all of his armament. The elder may allow Xiao to enter, but it does mean that he trusts him. In fact, he wants Xiao to leave as soon as possible.
Seeing how this was the best the elder could give, Xiao accepted the given terms. Xiao's goal was not to persuade the elder or the villager to let Iva back into their society again but to take a breather from all the running.
After Xiao handed over his weapon and was about to enter the village, he took a look at Iva, who was obviously feeling anxious.
Xiao walked to her front and crouched down to meet Iva's eyes.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay. I will only be gone for a while, and then we will leave this place. So try to recover your strength as much as you can, okay? Then we will go home."
The moment Xiao mentioned going home, Iva's expression lightened up.
"Okay, I will be waiting." She nodded as she said it.
Xiao gently caresses Iva's hair, like a brother showing affection to his younger sister. Yet the moment he looks at the guards who would bring Iva away, his expression turns into a cold-hearted killer.
"Nobody lay a finger on her while I was away. If I see anything wrong with her when I am back, let's just say that I won't be able to hold myself from tearing this village apart." Xiao warned the guards before they escorted Iva away.
As Iva follows the guards, she turns around and looks at Xiao. He then gives a thumbs up to Iva, reassuring her that he will return for her. Iva responds with a thumbs-up as well.
One thing leads to another, and Xiao ends up in the elder house, weaponless.
("At least that is what they thought. They don't know that I still have two miniature smoke bombs and one paralysing bomb. Let's just hope we don't come to the point where I need to use these babies.")
The elder took a sip of his drink. Xiao looks at him and waits while wondering how come they didn't serve him anything, not even a simple cup of water.
"So." The elder finally speaks.
"You are saying about stopping the cursed child. Mind explaining how you will do that?" the elder asked.
"Stopping the curse, not stopping the cursed child, and Ivaru is NOT a cursed child." Xiao refutes the elder statement. Iva being called a cursed child just doesn't sit well with Xiao.
The elder didn't respond to Xiao's statement as he continued to look at Xiao with a dull expression.
Xiao shakes his head a bit as he sees no point in arguing with the elder. He then went to his pocket and grabbed something out. The guards observed carefully what he was trying to pull out.
"This." Xiao placed down a bottle of dark particles. This one was a spare that Xiao prepared in case something happened to the one Iva possessed.
"So this ominous...thing will stop the curse?" the elder asked while sceptically looking at the bottle.
"Yes. And I am going to explain why and how. Do you want the short version or the long version?" Xiao asked.
The elder did not answer Xiao. His eyes were fixed on the foreign object that Xiao had bought out.
"Alright, the short version it is then." Xiao sighed before he started explaining.
"To put it simply, this ominous thing, as you called it, can suck out any excess mana that Ivaru's body has absorbed. And that's it, problem solved."
Xiao thought his explanation was simple enough for everyone in the room to understand. And he was wrong, for he overlooked one crucial factor that differentiated him from the people here. Still, he hasn't noticed yet as he presses on.
The people in the room looked confused as soon as Xiao finished his explanation. Seeing how confused they were, Xiao sighed once more before he presented his explanation again, the long version this time.
Xiao gave a lengthy presentation about Ivaru's sickness, including the symptoms, the solutions, the possible outcome, the treatment and the remedies.
When it was over, Xiao was already panting for air from all the talking. He also regrets speaking so much as he was out of saliva, and they still didn't serve him any drink.
"Question? People," Xiao proudly asked the people on the floor, thinking that his doctor-like explanation should at least convince them that Ivaru was not a cursed child. She just has a rare body condition, and it was treatable."
Silent at first as no one in the room answers. And after a few more minutes, the elder speaks.
"Tell me, human. Is this the ritual that you speak of acceptable by our great goddess Bastet?"
Upon hearing what the elder had said, Xiao had a dumbstruck look on his face. He has so many questions. Still, he kept his composure and voiced his thought.
"Alright, I think you have mistaken something. First of all, what I proposed is not a ritual. It is a treatment, a plain and simple solution to a problem. And secondly, please call me Xiao, my name, tell me yours too if you don't mind. And finally, this may sound offensive, but I am unfamiliar with your goddess.
("Not to mention that I don't even know what god or goddess the human race in this world worshipping.")
Xiao took paused before he continued.
"I may not be familiar with your goddess, Bastet. But I don't think I am doing anything scandalous or blasphemy. This is just a purely logical approach to the problem...."
"Enough."
The elder interrupted Xiao before he continued on.
Xiao thought his tireless logical proof and concrete explanation finally got through to the elder. When he heard the elder respond, he was utterly disappointed and realised how pointless it was for him to bring in logic and reason in the first place.
"Don't you dare speak of our goddess! Human. A cursed child is a cursed child. Nothing can change that."