Her skin was damaged with a burn like bruises and instead of it being charred it was purple. She didn't move her body as she only moved her head to the side and turned her gaze unto us, her dead cold eyes sent chills down my spine but she still mustered up the strength to smile at us when she spotted Celene.
"Grandma! I'm back! I brought a friend with me!" she bragged
She smiled silently back at her granddaughter. Celene hugged her and gave her some tablets blue tablets which I'm assuming is her medicine. I found a chair and sat on it while Celene served her grandmother some water.
"Grandma, meet Tarus! A friend I made yesterday!"
I awkwardly smiled and waved my hand and she also did.
"How long have you been living here?" I asked
"Hmmmm...maybe about four or five years?"
"That sure is a long time..."
"Well, Sir Willsword is a kind person! Oh yeah speaking of Sir Willsword we need to get going to do our daily duties! Bye for now Grandma!"
We waved at her and we left the room as Celene dragged me again to who knows where. We ran through the carpeted floor and at the end of the hallway we found some stairs that led up and so Celene still dragged me...how much energy does this girl have? After getting up on the second floor Celene let go of me and she headed for a small room in a corner, she got out two brooms and towels. We proceeded to clean the hallway and wipe down the windows, it lasted a few hours and by the time we finished a bell rung outside.
"It's lunchtime!" she shouted happily as we wiped our sweat
"So that's how they tell us when it's time for lunchtime."
"Well, we better hurry up before people start flocking in the cafeteria!"
"Can you please not dra-"
As I was about to say not to drag me, she grabbed my left arm and dragged me away. She went down the stairs we came up a few hours ago and she ran through the halls and into the main lobby and into the cafeteria on the right-wing of the manor. The cafeteria was crowded with maids, butlers, and cooks. Celene guided me to our table which is on the far left corner of the cafeteria. Chandeliers lighted up the whole room and the walls were covered with wooden brown paint while the floor was tiled with black and white squares alternating, the atmosphere of the cafeteria was similar to that of a marketplace because of the rowdy and noisy people eating and chatting as they please. I plopped on the wooden stool and placed my hands on the wooden table.
"Wait for me I'll get our serving!"
"Thanks!"
Celene skipped onto the crowd while I waited for her to come back with the food. A couple of people were staring at me but I didn't mind since I'm a new guy here.
"OUTSIDE! EVERYTHINGS FROZEN AND COVERED IN SNOW!!" somebody shouted
People rushed to the glass pane's and peered outside while I sat calmly and waited for Celene with our food. Celene came back with some hot steaming food served on a platter, she held the two dishes in both hands while humming as she was walking to our table. A person then suddenly moved backward and he bumped into the humming Celene, I swiftly dashed over to her to catch the food and to support her up.
"Are you okay?! That was dangerous!" I asked
"Y-yeah..."
"You should look into where you're going!" I shouted at the person who bumped into her
Furious that the guy didn't even bother saying anything to her, I helped Celene up and went to our table. People then stared at us and started to murmur negative things like "Who does he think he is?" "Why is he with that freeloading girl?" "Isn't that the girl with the cursed grandma? She should just die instead of being a burden!" I paid no attention to it but it seems that it was affecting Celene as she cast down.
"Don't even bother to think about them, just regard them as mere ants. C'mon, let's finish eating before the food gets cold."
"Sure..."
She still seemed to be down as we quickly ate our meals and after that, we headed for her room not bothering to look outside as it was just raining snow. It was warm in her room as the fireplace was burning warmly and her grandma just slept on the bed. She's still down and I'm not sure what to do to cheer her up. Now I remember something interesting! I showed her my crown and it seems that people here don't have one for some reason.
"Let me show you a magic trick!" I caught her attention
I used the white flames by pointing my palm to the fireplace and it overrides the regular flames. Surprised Celene quickly checked my hand for something.
"Your not hurt are you?!"
"You really are a kind girl..." I patted her head as she was still in a state of confusion over what happened
"Let me check your body for other wounds!"
"Listen, there's no need to go that far! I'm alright!"
"Then explain why you spewed out white flames from your palm!"
"Well, this is kinda confidential...I trust that you will not tell anyone?"
"I promise with my full heart I won't."
I revealed my crown as it floated on my head, for some reason it kinda disappeared after Zeichi pushed me here and I wasn't able to contact her anymore after that, but now I can summon it at will and I can fully access it but it still disappears after not using it for some time.
"I-Is that a crown?"
"Yeah."
"Those are ancient tools that people used to wield and it helped in their everyday lives and only those of royal blood can acquire or use one..."
"This sure is weird..."
"Are you royal blood?"
"Nope, the people where I came from used crown's as they pleased and we were all given one."
"Don't tell me....you came from the other side?!"
"Is this even the same planet?"
"Did the other side have the tree of life called 'Yggrasil'?"
"Yeah it did and it was swarming with demons."
"D-demons..." her eyes suddenly darkened and she starting shaking
"They've massacred so many people and one almost even got me..."
"Mom...dad..." she wept
"Somehow I made it here and I appeared in that forest we met...I don't even know what my purpose for being dumped here alone is...I still have people I love and people I have to save..."
"Sorry for showing you my pathetic side...mom and dad were sent to that war on the other side of this planet...I bet they've passed on..."
"I guess we're just alike, no parents and the ones we love, we failed to save them..."
"Yeah..."
"Did you also say 'ancient device'?"
"The last time that a crown was used freely according to the history books is about a century and a half ago..."
"So does that mean either I traveled to the future or time passes differently here?!"
"It's possible..."
"Oh yeah, let me try something on your grandma."
"W-wait!"
"No need to be nervous, I might be able to remove her curse and I want to do this for you as a way of saying thank you for saving me and giving me food and shelter."
"T-There's no need to go that far!"
"Don't worry, it's a quick fix and it's harmless."
She stood silent as I pointed my arm at her sleeping grandma. I spewed out the white flames and I tried to heal her. The bruises on her body started to disappear and she was still asleep peacefully...the room shook and some thick dark miasma appeared in front of us.