Bacha and Dillie sat by Paley, who slept peacefully on Madella's bed. Dillie's parents came over to the orphanage too. Her father used to work as a nurse in Dijin, so he took care of Paley, bandaging his legs and applying a pack of ice on his face. He had to remove the swords stuck in his thighs and shins, hoping to the Moon that he didn't bleed out internally.
By some miracle, Paley was okay. He was breathing fine, and they could see through the gaps in the bandages on his feet that he wasn't losing color in his legs.
"I can't believe he won a magic duel against a noble. Who was cheating too!" Hiruyo talked to Madella and Shun at the other end of the room. The orphans were scattered around, praying in an uncomfortable silence that Paley woke up soon.
"Yeah..." Madella watched his chest rise and fall, "He's incredible." She smiled.
"Is Paley a Quimnia?" Shun suddenly asked.
"Huh!? No, what?" Madella panicked, "What makes you think that?"
"Dillie told us he uses air magic, but he used advanced Earth magic at the duel. And Amasha told us he's a Quimnia." As she mentioned Amasha's name, he tried to escape upstairs.
"Amasha!" Madella called him back.
"Yeah, mom?" He came down the stairs guiltily.
"Did you tell anyone else?" She asked, and he shook his head, letting her sigh in relief, "That's fine then. Paley trusts Dillie with this secret, so can I trust you two with it too?" She asked.
"Of course. Though, it is a bit shocking." Shun laughed and held Hiruyo's hand, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with us." She said.
"Thank you," Madella smiled.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Teerom opened it, and Libon's father shoved Libon into the cottage.
"Hello," His father greeted and walked in with his mother, who wore a wide dress and mask to protect her from peasant fumes as she called them. The air in the cottage became hostile, the orphans glaring at Libon, who had been healed completely by an expensive doctor. Paley won the duel, but he was the one lying in bed with holes in his legs and a swollen face. They resented that.
Madella isn't a hateful person, but she definitely disliked Libon and his family.
"Hello," She greeted politely. Shun and Hiruyo watched awkwardly from the table. They were grateful to Paley for clearing their debt through the duel and could tell that Libon's father was not particularly happy with that.
"I came here today to apologize to Paley for my son's actions." He said half-heartedly.
"Too bad. He's asleep," Adimia said bitterly.
"Libon. Apologize to them all then." He ignored Adimia and pushed his son forward. Libon bowed slightly and gritted his teeth.
"I'm sorry, Paley!" He hoped that Paley would wake up if he shouted, but he didn't. Libon felt genuinely guilty for his actions but was more concerned about his family's reputation.
"I need a favor from you," Libon's father turned to Madella, "I need you not to take this to court. My son does not deserve to be enslaved because he cheated in such an insignificant duel." He clasped his hands lazily.
"Insignificant?" Shun stood up and walked up to his face, "A peasant orphan boy beat a noble's ass in a magic duel. Your son even cheated and still lost. It's not insignificant. Everyone should know how weak and pathetic you all are." She smiled victoriously.
Libon's father clenched his fist with rage, but he couldn't do anything. If he attacked Shun or behaved in any immoral way, he would be punished severely. Paley humiliated his family name. They no longer had any social power.
"Paley will decide what to do when he wakes up. Now let him rest, please?" Madella politely kicked them out of the cottage. Outside, Libon's father gave him a look of pure disgust and disappointment.
"I cannot believe you." He walked off with Libon's mother.
"No, father! I'm sorry!" Libon grabbed his hand but received a quick slap from his mother.
"How shameful! We were ordered around by a bunch of cretins. Because of you!" She said, playing the victim, "I refuse to call you my son." She took her husband's hand and continued walking, leaving Libon to follow a few meters behind them, depressed.
"Man, I just wanted to give them a piece of my mind!" Adimia punched the air in frustration back in the cottage.
"Madella, we really are so thankful for what Paley did. We thought we would be stuck with that debt for the rest of our lives." Hiruyo held Madella's hand.
"Thank him, not me." She laughed.
"Why doesn't healing magic work on Paley?" Rauba approached the adults.
"I don't know, kiddo." Hiruyo ruffled her hair.
"There has to be a reason!" She insisted.
"Well... there *are* strange cases of people who don't respond to Healing magic. They had all been in contact with a demon- physical contact." The word 'demon' reminded them all of the Watchman and made them shudder.
"And some investigators used magic scanning devices and colorized the scans to see if there was anything wrong with the victim's mana. They found splotches of some sort of pitch-black essence. They call it Dark Magic. It's a sort of magic that nullifies other magic. And, they found that it mostly nullifies magic types closer to Light Magic such as Healing Magic." He bit his bottom lip hesitantly.
"...Paley's a Quimnia, meaning he's fated to fight the demons soon. But what if he's already come into contact with one?" Shun asked for him.
"That might also be why he doesn't remember anything." Jurie began, "What if he was attacked by a demon which ate his memories or something? Then, he escaped and wound up on our river. And, that Watchman has been looking for him since." She theorized.
"Watchman?" Hiruyo asked.
"I'll explain later," Madella said.
"Wait," Adimia approached them, "if you were to get rid of this dark magic somehow, would they be cured?" He had a desperate look in his eye.
"Probably." Hiruyo realized that Adimia was asking about himself, "But in your case, it doesn't make any sense, because magic still works on you, you just can't... use it." He felt bad for saying it out loud.
"Okay..." Adimia retreated to the stairs gloomily.
Paley woke up to Dillie sleeping with her head on his chest.
"Morning," He teased, making her jump and hit her head on the ceiling (Madella's bed is halfway under the stairs).
"Oww," She checked the back of her head for blood. Paley laughed lightly, "Were you waiting for me to wake up?" He asked, trying to sit up to no avail. His legs were completely unresponsive.
"Since five hours ago!" She pouted. The orphans heard the commotion and ran downstairs, excited to see him.
"Paley!" "How are you feeling?" "Does it still hurt?" They all asked.
"Everyone, he's tired. Let him rest." Madella told them off, making them disperse around Paley, "How are you?" She caressed his cheek. It was still swollen slightly, but it was less purple now.
"Better. I can't feel my legs, though." He replied, shifting to a more comfortable position with his arms.
She began to tear up, "This is why I told you not to duel that noble. They're horrible people! Look at what he did to you..." She cried.
"Don't worry, mom. I'm fine- ack!" He felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen and held it down until it stopped.
"Are you okay-"
"Paley!" Bacha interrupted and stormed into the cottage with Dillie's parents angrily.
"That's me," He sighed, looking down to see Bacha pouting in frustration.
"You said my healing potions were good, but healing magic doesn't work on you!"
"...Sorry. I lied." He gave her an awkward smile.
"Mmargh!" She stomped to his side, "Liar! Liar! Liar!" She hammered at his chest, punching the air out of his lungs.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop! Stop!" Paley grabbed her hands, stopping her onslaught. She began crying and hugged him. He realized that she must've been worried sick about him the whole time he was asleep. After all, it was evening outside now.
He hugged her back, "Yeah, I'm glad I'm okay too." He said quietly, trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
"Paley," Dillie's parents approached, "Thank you so much for clearing our debts. How can we ever repay you?"
"You don't need to repay me. It wouldn't make sense for me to get rid of your debt then give you another one, would it?"
"Of course not..." They smiled, "Everyone whose debts you cleared is here to see you," Hiruyo said.
"Huh? Can you tell them to go away?" Paley asked, dropping his head back on the pillow.
"Come on, Paley," Madella stroked his hair, "You don't have to get up. Just let them see the one who helped them." She suggested.
"Fine," Paley groaned, and Teerom opened the door.
"Come in," He said to five families waiting outside. They all hurried in and gathered around Paley. Luckily, there were only teenagers and no children apart from a reserved toddler. The adults all thanked Paley and insisted they repay him someway for about ten minutes.
"You have to let us do something for you. Otherwise, we'll die from guilt!" One of the women said. Paley grew frustrated and came up with an idea to get rid of them.
"Alright, fine. How about this; when I become a mage, I want you to spread the word about me." Paley's suggestion finally bought some momentary quiet.
"We shall spread your name to the ends of the world! Everyone shall know Paley, the great mage of Gouon." An enthusiastic man exclaimed.
"Of course," Paley nodded, pretending to agree. He would hate getting a lot of publicity, but if it would make them go away quicker, then he was all for it. They all left after another round of thank yous, letting him finally rest.
Though, he only managed to catch about forty minutes of sleep before waking up.
"Mom?" He called out to Madella, who was reading a book by his side.
"Yeah?" She put her finger where she stopped reading to mark it.
"Can you take me to the mana zone?"
"Why?"
"I'm assuming your plan right now is to find a way to heal me. You haven't been saying anything about my literally broken legs, so..." He explained.
"Yeah, we were going to look for a way to cure you of any Dark Magic inside you." She admitted guiltily, "But why the mana zone?"
"Dark Magic?" He raised an eyebrow, but then shook his head, getting back on topic, "Anyways, I feel like there's something there that can heal me. When I was fighting the Weynsoo, something healed me when Bacha's potions didn't. I think it was the fireflies. After the giant rabbit attacked Adimia, we were both injured, but those fireflies healed us. I want to see if those fireflies can heal me this time too."
"Okay. I'll take you tomorrow."
"Take me now, please. It hurts." He begged.
"Alright, come on." She sighed and walked over to the table, quickly writing a note for the orphans. She walked back to him, carefully picked him up, and carried him outside. Paley held his hand out to the side and Picked up a rock with Air magic, turning it into a runestone.
"What're you doing?" She asked as they crossed the river reflecting the starry night sky above.
"Making a runestone so that you can get back safely." He finished making a Fire runestone and gave it to her.
"I'm going to stay with you, Paley"
"It's dangerous, though." He argued.
"I'm your mother. I don't think you'll let me get hurt." She smiled.
"...Thank you..." Paley rested his head against hers.
"For what?" She asked expectantly.
"For being my mom." He said quietly, trying to ignore the pain of her forearms pushing against his hamstrings as she carried him.
"You're very welcome, and I love you too." She replied. He watched the stars through the thickening canopy of the forest to distract himself from the pain.
They arrived at the mana zone fifteen minutes later. Paley asked Madella to take him to the lake near the Fulguron's nest, where she set him down on the shallow waters.
"Aren't you going to get cold?" She asked.
"I'll be fine. Leave me here. Hopefully, by tomorrow, something heals me." It was nearing the end of April, so it wasn't cold at all.
"I can't just leave you out here in the dark. What if something eats you?" She rolled up her already wet light green dress slightly, "I'll sleep here with you tonight." She lay down next to him on the water. They were in half in the moonlight and half under the shade of a tree.
"Mother and son bonding time?" He asked cheekily and raised two Earth Golems to protect them during the night. The spell's burden on Paley could be lightened if he set a condition for activation, meaning that they acted more like runestones than spells.
"Mother and son bonding time." She smiled and watched the stars with him until they fell asleep.
Further into the night, when they were sure to be asleep, a flutter of fireflies slowly approached them. Now and then, they stopped cautiously when Madella or Paley would shift in their sleep. Strange translucent white essence gathered under the tree's shade, taking the shape of feet and a pair of slender hands.
The fireflies landed on Madella and Paley as the hands began to hesitantly feel his swollen cheek. He shifted again, making them accidentally poke his nose. The hands jerked away in a panic, fading away slightly, then came back composed. They pressed their palms against Paley's face, creating a cold yet warm sensation on the swollen cheek.
All traces of swelling disappeared from his face and the hands moved down his body, healing his stomach and taking slightly longer on his legs. They began to fade away as they healed him more, so they rose about a meter above him and extracted a multi-colored essence that turned white as soon as it left Paley's body, absorbing it.
It regained its whiteness. Smooth forearms and calves also faded into view as it continued healing Paley. In about three minutes, his legs were completely healed. Flesh and bone grew back where the swords pierced through his body and any other internal injury was completely fixed.
The forearms clapped quietly and excitedly before disappearing into the moonlight. The golems around Paley disintegrated as well; barely any mana was left to keep them up. Paley turned toward Madella, hugging her in his sleep. Unaware that he was completely healed in just a few minutes.