Reinforcements then came and they brought us back at the camp. Dzil on the other hand was carried straight to the village as he had several major injuries. The three of us, including me, the apprentice and the assistant were being treated at our camp. I was lying in bed as I have no strength to stand up, my whole body was numb but I was conscious; while the other two were being held in another tent. My mind was wandering off at that time; all I thought of was that if this was reality or just an illusion, maybe the world is certainly vast.
As I was in the midst of resting, I heard a footstep come close. A stranger then asked for my permission to let him go inside, but I was hesitant as I didn't want anyone to disturb me. "I need my rest, so please come back later." I said. He then left without leaving any words. Slowly closed my eyes, and there I slept.
Hours passed by, and I woke up. It was already night, and I have rested too long. My body was not that numb anymore and could slightly move my limbs. The outside was not loud as I expected, but it was calm. It seemed that they're serving supper to each one of us, and so I waited for mine to come.
I saw a lingering light from a lantern; it was someone who was approaching my tent again. He spoke, "May I now come in? I have your supper with me, I know you are hungry." I then recognized the voice, it was the person earlier. I replied, "You may." He entered, the person had a moustache and a bald head, his height wasn't what I expected, and I presume that he was mildly around 4ft. The person had several kits with him, a kit for surgery, curing sickness, and a kit consisting of potions I had no idea about. As I was about to ask him on who was he, the person suddenly sat down in a straight posture. He then formally introduced himself.
"I will introduce myself. I am Holkins, an expertise of medical practitioner in our village; In short I am an Apothecary. I am the one who'll take care of you and your other friends, and that makes you my patient, right Aston?" He was a formal person, and he seemed to be a good guy but I sensed an arrogant behaviour from him.
"I see, you went here to check up on me." I replied.
"Not just that, I heard from our rangers that you overwhelmed those fishman and the other creature. Was that true?"
"That's for sure."
"With your strength and bravery, we could have someone like you."
"I doubt it. Defeating those fishmen was an easy task as they were same as humans but had no intelligence; they're just mindless savages. Same goes with that catfish creature; he had not much intellect but had a massive amount of brute force. I managed to deflect all of his attacks by sheer luck. If I have not had that shield, maybe I would be gone right now."
"You lived by luck? No, I wouldn't think of it that way. If you have survived that creature, then that indicates that you're capable of it. You had the courage to face your fears, and you have the strength and durability to withstand him. The others admire you, on how you fought against the enemies. They said that you are a skilled mace wielder. By that, are you any chance someone who is used to this kind of situation? Someone who might be a man-at-arms, a mercenary, or what?
"As a matter of fact, I'm just a lumberjack. I usually cut trees day to night back at my town; I also catch the trees when falling. Sorry if you've expected much for me."
"A lumberjack, you say? Maybe that explains why you are incredible with striking with the mace. You daily cut trees mean that has improved your upper strength. You also mentioned that you catch trees that are fallen? So that's where your endurance comes from. The durability of you to catch that, it's impressive! The impact from a falling tree very unbelievable. That explains everything."
I liked how he admired my work as a lumberer, even though he's a high medical practitioner. I never have thought that my works has improved that much leading me to equally fight against fishmen and a catfish creature. I then said, "I'm flattered with your words, I have nothing to say."
"I'm just shocked on how you handled them even though you have no proper training when it comes with combat. Maybe this is a sign that you are given with a gift."
"Are you serious, a person like me would be gifted? I went out to seek for adventure for my own, but what? A tragedy happened and here I am, staying on an island that wasn't even my destination. It literally indicates I am unlucky"
"Aston, this is a path given to you. Everything is destined with something, and what happened to you was one of it. You aren't unlucky; it's just all a challenge for you."
"Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But you know, you're quite a philosopher, Holkins."
"I get that every time, ha-ha. Well, I'm not only a physical apothecary, I also professionalize in emotional or mental problems."
"That's weird; I thought that those are different, but here I am talking to someone who specializes in both."
"Ha-ha-ha-ha" Holkins laughed in a loud manner. "You know Aston; would you like me introduce you to my lovely art work?"
"Art work? What are these art works that you're talking about?"
"Here, these are what I call my masterpieces" He then brought out a vial and potion out from his kit. It was elegant; it both had a vermillion liquid inside it. I presumed it was a potion for healing, though I had not seen one in my entire life.
"These are what I have made from the past weeks; it took me a lot of time to complete these two. It was my first time, and as a matter of fact, I usually just cure those who are in needs with herbs or such things."
"Showing these to me, that means you have used it on me?"
"No, I used herbs and other materials to utilize your injuries. In particular, I haven't used my potions to anyone yet."
"Why is that?"
"I have to let Agia examine it first; she must cast her purifying magic through this potion for it to magically work."
"Who is Agia? I haven't heard about anyone named Agia."
"Agia is our Arcanist. She stays in our village, that's why you had not seen her yet. She has her duties after all."
"So her name is Agia. Dzil and I were actually going to your village for him to fulfil his duties and for me to meet Agia, but the raid earlier happened."
"Would you like to accompany me to our village then? I'll be returning there in approximately an hour."
"I want to, but in my condition, I ca—"
"Try moving yourself then."
With his words, I tried to get up. As I didn't expect, I was able to stand without any problems. There was a mild pain on my body but that'll not stop me from going to the village, "It seems like the numbness has faded away, and my body can move efficiently. I'll be able to join you, Holkins." I said.
"That's great. Pack anything that you own, and when you're ready, we'll be leaving. I'll check on the others so do what you're going to do."
As always, he calmly left the tent. I wanted to find my belongings but I had no idea where I would start. Walking outside to check, I saw several tents and so what I call rangers or maybe some knights.
A large tent was in my sight; there I saw the shield I used back then. I preceded going to that area, then I asked the guard on duty on that tent if he knew where my other belongings could be. He pointed at another tent that has a different structure from the others.
I went and talked to the person staying there; it was someone who maintains our belongings. I asked him he knows where my items were, and then he gave me my knapsack without a doubt. It seemed like he knew everything he was doing.
I then left and saw Holkins leaving a tent. We both got into an eye contact and he walked towards me. He had all his items with him, means he was already ready to go— he was just waiting for me.
Holkins then handed me out a leather coin pouch, I opened it and it had a smidgen of bronze and silver coins in it. "The young man that you saved and brought here gave that money sack as a token of appreciation for you." Holkins said.
"It was a small thing, but thank you for handing it to me." I replied.
"Looks like you have all your belongings with you."
"Yes, though can I bring that shield of Dzil's? I wish to return it to him."
"It'll stay; the others will bring it to the village sooner or later. Now, if you don't have any company here, then we should now leave to our village. Waiting for an hour is not worth my time and I need to return as soon as possible."
"You seem impatient. I have no more needs in this camp, we shall go now." I followed Holkin's way towards our transportation, and then we arrived at a wagon. We both went inside and sat comfortably with the hays surrounding us. The wagoner then applied a pressure with the horse's bridle. The horse facing north makes its move towards our destination—