Blackness. An empty void sat there, unmoving and indomitable. Suddenly Leon's eyes opened and a stream of light rushed at his eyes, he wanted to move his arms to block the light, but the moment he tried a pain assaulted him.
His shoulder felt like it was currently being continuously stabbed every time he even remotely moved it, while the rest of his body had its own issues. Even his back felt like it had been snapped in half and glued back together, with thousands of needles poking at him.
Unable to move, Leon could only groan in pain, but then he suddenly heard a scuffling sound that came near him. With his senses and thoughts dulled from the abundant amount of pain assailing his nervous system, he couldn't tell what it was and suddenly became worried that it was some sort of monster or animal.
'Please be friendly. Please be friendly.'
Expecting some sort of animal or monster that wanted to eat him, Leon closed his eyes, but after not being attacked he slowly opened his eyes. A little girl's chubby face met his eyes and Leon squinted his eyes as he tried to remember everything.
All at once, everything hit him like a tidal wave. The job, the attack, and the aftermath of the marble he crushed. Remembering the little girl's name, Leon muttered in a very horse and rough voice.
"Aurora?"
Just saying the name made Leon cough a little, his chest felt like someone had smashed it with a giant hammer and his throat also felt parched like a blazing desert. Seeing Leon awake, the little girl looked a bit more bright and started to celebrate.
"You're alive! You're alive!"
The girl's cheery attitude took a complete 180 as she started to cry and rubbed her eyes with her small hands.
"I-I thought you were gonna die like uncle Paz and sister Beaudu…"
Leon wanted to comfort her, but he felt like his mouth was filled with sand and could only croak out a few words.
"Water...need water."
Aurora grabbed something out of Leon's and poured some water into Leon's mouth. After greedily drinking every single drop he was given, Leon gasped and finally spoke normally.
"What happened?"
He asked the question because he remembered everything that happened up to the point where he entered the giant crack into the earth. Aurora sat on a flat rock near Leon and kicked her legs out energetically like a kid, but answered him.
"What do you remember?"
Groaning, Leon tried to move his body but stopped after trying due to the intense pain.
"I remember everything up until the point we entered that crack."
Leon could barely see the girl in his peripheral vision and could see her look up like she was thinking before she spoke again.
"Well I couldn't see too much since you essentially covered me, but once we entered the crack. You tried to stop our fall with that sword of yours, in the end, it worked. However, you messed up your shoulder pretty badly."
Before Aurora could continue, Leon suddenly remembered and started frantically asking.
"Where's my sword? Where's my sword!?!"
Aurora looked startled, but went out of sight for Leon and came back with Ensis where she plopped him on his chest.
"Your sword fell down with you, but I fished it out of the water."
Aurora continued speaking, but Leon temporarily muffled out her voice as he focused on communicating with Ensis.
'Ensis are you there?'
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out in Leon's mind
「I am.」
On the inside, Leon gasped a sigh of relief.
'Are you okay?'
The sword instantly replied.
「I did not take any damage as nothing present could remotely injure me. However, you sustained some very heavy injuries. In fact, even with the momentum you killed by essentially breaking your shoulder. You would have normally died, but luckily your boost from your passive helped you live the impact with the water.」
Taking Ensis's words to mind, Leon's eyebrows scrunched together as he faintly remembered something alerting him when he was in the middle of falling.
'Huh, now that you mention it. I think I did hear something that alerted me that passive activated. What happened afterward?'
「Well, you instantly passed out from the impact as the pain completely overwhelmed your brain and since your will is rather weak. You could not sustain consciousness. Luckily that girl dragged you out of the water.」
Raising one eyebrow in surprise, Leon asked Ensis another question.
'She dragged me out? But I have to weigh quite a bit with this armor?'
「Well, I did help her out by making you lighter with mana, however, it doesn't deny the fact that she is quite strong. In fact, if it is quite weird how strong she is. Even though she is a child. Her strength is abnormal for her age.」
Aurora spoke repeatedly and broke Leon out of his trance.
"Have you been listening to me?"
Leon looked a little embarrassed and tried to laugh it by, but each laugh felt like someone was punching his chest with brass knuckles.
"Sorry, the pain and fatigue made me a little out of it. Can I ask you something."
Aurora nodded so Leon continued.
"How did you carry me from the water to the land?"
Putting both her tiny little fists on her hips, Aurora puffed out her torso a bit like she was trying to exude confidence.
"Not to toot my own horn, but I'm quite strong for my age. Papa tells me, it's because of mother since other girls my age couldn't even shine a candle to me."
Leon once again raised his eyebrow in confusion and curiosity.
"Your mother?"
What he what hear next would make Leon raise both his eyebrows in surprise, Aurora looked proud and smiled.
"Yep, my mother. Papa tells me many things made me strong, but my physical strength came from my mother. After all, she was a barbarian."