As Salem carried me and stormed off to the house, he took me to the room of our live-in physician. I grimace as the little fat man, jumps up from his desk, where he was doing god knows what.
"Clovis," Salem half snarls half yells at him.
The little fat man wipes a hand across his forehead.
"What can I help you with Master Salem?" He asks his eyes darting between Salem and myself. A perplex expression on his face as he looks at Salem carrying me. Then at the sword that was in Salem's hand and a questioning look appeared on his face.
He looks at me as if I had the answers, I turn my head away.
Pushing his way further into the room, that was set up like a doctor's office, well a doctor's office in this world. A comfortable table, that was covered in a squishy clear material that was color white sat in the middle of the room.
Around the squishy white table, rest a bunch of other materials, that are on a shelf that's full of vials, and in next to that rest another desk that had all sorts of herbs and other stuff resting on it.
The rest of the room had extra beds, and more storage space, it was simple and to the point.
Salem sets me down on the white table, and motions for Clovis to get to work.
Making his way towards me, he wipes some more sweat off his head. Every time I saw him, he looked nervous as hell, something I thought he was going to die of a heart attack. But that didn't seem to be the case since he was still alive.
"What happened to the Young Miss?" Clovis asks, turning his attention back towards Salem.
Outwardly, I did have a great deal of blood coating my body, but there were no wounds to indicate where all the blood had come from.
Salem's emerald eyes looked like they could kill as they stare at Clovis.
"Her muscles are fatigue and almost torn, heal the muscles," he snaps.
Clovis jumps slightly but nods his head, as he reaches out a hand and grasp mine.
All of a sudden a warm and calming feeling passes over my body, and I feel like all the stress that my body was under was being lifted away. If I could compare it to something, it'd be like carrying a heavy box and having someone else carry it for you.
Looking Clovis, I see that his hands are glowing a bright red, and steam is lifting off of my body. This only lasted for about three minutes longer, before he removes his hand, and gives me a small bow.
He opens his mouth, but Salem beats him to the punchline.
"How do you feel?" Salem asks.
Twisting my wrist and swinging my arm a little, I find that the painful sensation of burning wasn't there anymore, it felt like everything was back to normal.
"Like normal," I tell him honestly.
Nodding his head, he looks at Clovis.
"You can leave now," he says rather coldly.
However, Clovis looks rather relieved and gives a nod of his head and hurries out of the room.
Now it was just me and my brother, that for all intents and purpose was pretty pissed off.
But then he cuts loose.
"How could you agree to fight him like that? He's a maniac, a fucking sword maniac when it comes to combat, he doesn't hold back. It doesn't matter if you're a child, he'd fight anything!" At this point, he's moved closer to me and I had a clear view of the expression on his face.
It was a mixture of anger and worry.
I want to open my mouth and respond, but he starts again.
"But that bastard, of a brother, actually went a hit you, not just that he treated you like you were a training dummy! You're not suited to be a samurai, not that you aren't good with a sword, but I don't want you to end up anything like that bastard," he growls as he rakes a hand through his hair.
Ah…
So, he was just worried about me.
I'd never seen him make so many expressions on his face in the past five years, then he was making at the moment. The stoic brother that I'd grown accustomed to was slowly opening up. Who would have known that the stone-faced brother of mine was capable of such detailed expressions and emotions?
I'd almost mistaken him for a golem these past years.
Rubbing my head, I want to say something, but it seems that he had a lot he wanted to get off his chest.
"Then Marigold went along with him and even cast 「Holy Land」. What was Ambrose thinking letting her do that?! He could have at least tried to stop her from going along with the whims of that battle maniac. Or I could have stepped in and tried to stop him… more. It was a mistake to think that he wouldn't go overboard in training you," he huffs as he continues to run a hand through his hair.
That wasn't something that could be considered training, it was something closer to abuse, but I decided that I would keep my thoughts to myself. It seems that he was already really upset about everything that had happened.
"It's not your fault," he says looking at me. "The fault lies with me, it's my job to protect you from harm," he finally finishes as he calms down.
His face is drawn into an expression of sorrow and self-reproach.
What a troublesome brother, clearing my throat I draw his attention.
Reaching my arms out, I wrap them around his stomach, putting my head on his chest. His whole body stiffens for a moment before he loosens up and wraps his arms around me, holding me even tighter.
"It's not your fault, I walked into that myself. You protected me perfectly fine," I tell him lovingly.
"But…" he starts but trails off.
"We can't change the past, you'll just have to help me get stronger so that I can give Clemente a good beating next time," I tell him with a smile.
Pulling back from me, I see a small smile on his lips.
I felt my heart skip a beat, when he wasn't acting like a stone wall, he was handsome. My genetics were a sin to create four beautiful creatures like my brother's, even Grail who looked sickly had a hidden charm to him.
"As your brother, I'll do my best to help you beat his ass," he spoke with a smug expression as he looks down at me.
We locked eyes for a little bit longer before I broke eye contact and look down at my legs. Clearing his throat, I sense Salem also looked away.
"Have you given any thought to a class that you might be interested in?" He asks me to break the awkward silence.
Biting my lip, I suppose I knew that this question would come sooner or later. Indeed, I couldn't say that I wasn't hoping it would be later. Because I wasn't sure what the best class was for me. The fact of the matter was that if I could only have one class, then I'd have to be picky with the one that I choose.
I needed to get the best one for me.
"I'm not sure," I tell him honestly.
Looking up, I find him nodding his head slowly. He looked like he was in deep thought.
"There are a lot of different classes, however, there are a few trash classes that a lot of people don't pick. As you know our family is a mix of different classes. You already know that all of our family's classes are the advance version of the starting class. Auntie Sorina is an assassin, which starts as a thief and advances as you master it," he explains to me.
That would explain why she was silent. It felt like she was seldom there most of the time, almost like the wind. I knew it was there, but I couldn't see it.
"You're a mage that specializes in Take Over Magic," I say to him.
"Yes, there are two types of mages that use take over magic, those that sign a contract, and those that eat the beast," he explains. "However, I'm neither of those, I can both sign a contract and eat a monster, I've got the unique skill 「consume」, that allows me to ingest a monster and take some of its power," he continues.
That was a little bit different than my skill 「Devour」. But it seems that the premise was the same.
I felt a blush crawl over my face, this was the first time that we'd exchanged this many words in one sitting. It was pleasant and felt comfortable, so far it seems that he was the most collected and levelheaded out of all my brothers.
He was a sweetheart.
"I'm sure that you'll come into a special skill, that suited to you, you're very special already," he says as he raises his hand and pats my head.
Ba-dump!
Ba-dump!
My heartfelt like it would explode at any moment!
He was a born lady killer; those words were enough to stop anyone dead in their tracks. I would have to teach him a lesson, not to speak those words so easy to just anyone.
Reaching a handout, I grab his hand that was patting my head and look him dead in the eyes.
"Salem, I want to marry you when I get older!" I tell him with a small tilt of my head and a sincere smile.
His calm and collected face turn a bright red as he opens his mouth and closes it and opens it. He looks like a fish out of the water, he repeated the motion a few more times, as he tries to process what I told him.
I struggle to keep a straight face, my stomach hurt, I was laughing so hard on the inside. It took everything I had to keep it together.
"Hollis! You can't say that!" He coughs into his hands and tries to cover up his ears and cheeks that are a vibrant red.
I smirk to myself, that'll teach him to make my heart skip a beat like that!