Later that night,
Aldo is still lying on the bed without being able to move much because of his injuries, it has been more than half a day since the beating he took.
Surprisingly, the Cleric told him that he was not that injured from the beatings.
The pain he felt around his body is not from his bones being broken as he originally thought, his stomach area that got hit by the soldiers wearing armor the most only got bruised heavily.
But even after getting checked by the Cleric, none of his bones broke.
His most fatal injury lies on his head where he got a severe trauma from getting kicked by the soldier wearing sabatons, this is the cause of him not being able to stand up properly.
In just a couple of hours, the bruises started to get better.
'At this rate, It'll take a week or so to recover fully, much less than I expected', Aldo thought.
The Cleric has gone out since the afternoon and hasn't come back yet, Aldo is left inside the house of the Cleric that is not way bigger than his own house in Pendle Village.
For a profession such as a Cleric that is money-oriented, this house can be considered humble.
Aldo looks around and finds that there is nothing that screams fancy in this house, on his right, there is another door just by the fireplace, and there is also a cabinet where many kinds of herbs that gives off a strong scent can be seen through the glass covering it.
On his left side is much simpler, there's a chest, a table, and a couple of wooden chairs to eat.
It's a place that Aldo never thought housed a Cleric,
While lying on the bed trying to recover, Aldo grunts lightly as he raises his right arm which has some bruises on it to see the colorless tattoo that magically appeared on his arm.
Looking at the colorless tattoo, Aldo tries to decipher its shape.
The tattoo is detailed but abstract at the same time, it makes the skin of his right arm red.
Squinting his eyes to see the shape of the tattoo, Aldo finds that there's somekind of a tree, a thin tree stretching from his shoulder all the way to his wrist and something is coiling at the tree, it's definitely a creature because Aldo can see its eyes on his wrist.
But since it's colorless, it's very hard to recognize the shape, 'What is it? Is it a serpent?'
'That can't be right...', he thought in confusion.
After trying to decipher the tattoo for a bit longer, Aldo finally gives up as it's impossible to decipher what the creature is since the shape of the creature merges with the tree thanks to its colorless color.
He then tries to touch the tattoo with his other hand,
The feeling of the red skin of his right arm is smooth, but the smoothness is instantly gone when Aldo's fingers started to touch the colorless tattoo, it feels more like a crack in his right arm that resembles a tattoo.
'Hmm... just what is this thing', Aldo thought inside his head.
Just as he's thinking,
Brak!
Aldo's attention was attracted by the sound of the door opening and closing, the Cleric hurriedly went inside with a worried look that makes Aldo curious, "What happened?"
"The soldiers are searching for you, they're checking the houses right now!", the Cleric replied.
Hearing this, Aldo was taken aback.
But soon the surprise started to shift into anger instead, "Is it not enough?! He already took my sister away now he's still going after me as if I'm a criminal?!"
"Fine! I'll deal with them!", Aldo said before forcing himself to stand up.
Seeing this, the Cleric looks at Aldo in confusion, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Either way they will find me if I stayed here and they will also make trouble for you, I won't let that happen. You already helped me so much", Aldo replied standing up while holding onto the wall and slowly walking to the door.
He took his coat that is put on the chair before he wore it,
"I failed to protect my sister even after I become an Ego Fighter, there's no way I'm going to drag you into my problem", Aldo added while taking a step at a time.
The dizziness on his head is still there as he hasn't even recovered fully yet,
But the Cleric who is standing by the door while looking at Aldo's resolute expression trying to get out of the house to surrender himself to the soldiers not intending to trouble her makes her bit her lips, she seems to be swayed or deliberating something.
Just as Aldo reaches for the door beside her, the Cleric suddenly grabbed his hand.
Aldo looks at the Cleric in confusion,
The Cleric is looking down on the wooden floor in thought, she then slowly raises her eyes to meet with Aldo's before she suddenly pulled him to the other door on the other side of the house, "Come with me!"
Brak!
Without waiting for Aldo to even react, the Cleric pulled him outside of the house.
Upon getting out of the house from the other door, Aldo saw a couple of soldiers on the streets knocking on houses before checking the insides.
But he didn't inspect the soldiers for long as the Cleric pulled him in a direction.
The Cleric supported Aldo by the arm before her eyes darted left and right, she's looking around the place making sure that no soldiers can see them.
From the side, Aldo saw the Cleric's body emits a faint red aura again.
It's the same faint red aura that appeared when the Cleric mistook him for a thief barging into her house, 'This is the same thing just like Ivor's', Aldo thought in thought.
After going past the street silently, "Wait here", the Cleric whispers.
They're currently on the back of a building that from the looks of it should be a stable house where people kept their horses, Aldo nodded his head before the Cleric left.
Aldo is hiding in between a big barrel while cautiously looking around,
Some of the soldiers can be seen walking around the street but thankfully none went in his direction, but his heart is thumping right now since he didn't expect to be hiding like this.
'Why is she helping me? I'm a nobody', Aldo thought in confusion.
For the Cleric to go to such a length to help him is not something he expected.
At first, he thought that he will just get beaten again before getting thrown out of the village, he will probably survive and will just live in the wild for some time.
But who would've thought that the Cleric will be helping him,
Although Pendle Village and Arkney Village are two separate neighboring villages, both of the villages are still under the government of Lord Arter which is why the soldiers can even search for Aldo here.
It's just the powerful influence of a knight, someone like him is nothing compared to a knight.
While waiting for the Cleric to come back, Aldo looks at the wooden wall he's leaning on and saw a crack on it that he can use to peer the inside.
Peeking through the crack, Aldo saw a couple of city guards sitting around a bonfire.
The Cleric just walk inside the stable,
Acting normally, the Cleric walk past the city guards who greeted her upon seeing her walking inside, "Madam, Are you going somewhere?"
"Oh, yes. I need to resupply my Sunrise Moss", the Cleric replied.
Hearing this, the city guards nodded their heads before they all went back to chatting.
While looking inside the stable, Aldo jolted when he suddenly heard a voice so close to him which caught him off guard, "Hey you!"
The voice greatly stunned Aldo as he's frozen in place,
But just as he started to sweat, "Go to the south side of the village!"
"There are some houses there that are still not checked, go quickly! Sir Ivor wouldn't be happy if we didn't find that person!"
After saying that, a couple of city guards ran in Aldo's direction.
Seeing this, Aldo hurriedly grabs some of the snow on the ground before rubbing it on his face and clothes, he then hugs his legs acting like an obvious peasant that has no home.
The soldiers glanced at Aldo briefly while running before they avert their gazes away.
Hearing the sound of their armors thudding away, Aldo sighs in relief as he thankfully manages to act fast so that the soldiers will not check him.
Sitting on the side of the street between barrels,
The person they're searching for wouldn't do something like that, but Aldo did exactly that and thankfully the soldiers manage to be fooled and thought that he's just another peasant.
Not long after, the Cleric came back with a horse pulling a small wagon.
"Get on", she said stretching her arm to help.
Although it's not the time for dazing, Aldo looks up at the Cleric who is stretching down her hand at him, and he can't help but be grateful that such a person exists.
She's like an angel sent from above just to help him get out of this situation,
For any peasant in villages, getting their kin kidnapped and be used or even sold by the knights or other high-ranking people is no rare occurrence.
Many unfortunate ones will not be able to see their kin ever again,
Even though Aldo already steeled his will to keep on searching for his sister even if it takes forever, for someone to help him without a reason that he understands is not something he thought was possible.
"Hey! Get on quickly! What are you doing?", the Cleric's voice snapped Aldo out of his daze.
Reaching for the Cleric's hand,
Aldo gets up from the ground holding in the pain and gets onto the small wagon strapped on the horse, the Cleric then covers the small wagon with a black cloth to hide Aldo on it.
Just after the small wagon is covered, Aldo can feel they are slowly moving.
Each and every stumble of the small wagon hurt his body that hasn't recovered, but it's way better than getting caught by the soldiers sent by Ivor.
The least if it were to happen is more beating, but it may also result in death.
Back when he was inside the house, the Cleric said that his sister can wait and although it troubles him, the time he spent lying on the bed lets him think reasonably.
Whatever Laziah is going through, she can definitely wait.
It's a way better outcome to wait rather than him dying here and Laziah will be stuck forever.
'Don't worry Laziah, I swear I will save you!', Aldo mutters inside his heart.
A moment later, the small wagon suddenly stopped as Aldo can hear the Cleric is being stopped by a city guard, 'This must be the gate'
"Madam, you're resupplying your stock again?"
"Yes, I forget something and it's urgent. Can you let me pass?"
"I'm sorry madam, but the soldiers are checking the houses and don't permit anyone from leaving. It will be done in a bit, why don't you wait for some more?"
Hearing this, Aldo's heart started to thump faster as the city guard wouldn't let them go.
The Cleric then swiftly replied with a soft voice, "Randa... You've been the sweetest guy! Can you please make this an exception, please? I really need to get something, it's urgent!"
There's a moment of silence after the Cleric said that,
Aldo's heart began to beat even harder as the silence is killing him, he can't really look outside much less move as he might attract the city guards' attention.
But eventually, "Alright, but don't tell anyone about this"
"Thanks, Randa! I'll let your son take the Ego Awakening ritual for free", the Cleric replied.
After saying that, the small wagon began moving again.
Feeling that they are already outside of the village since there is no other noise aside from the moving wagon, Aldo peeked from underneath the cover and saw Arkney Village getting further away as the wagon moved.
"You can come out now, we're clear", the Cleric said.
Aldo poked his head outside of the cover after the Cleric said that, he then looks at the Cleric with an unreadable look, "Thank you... I don't know what will happen to me if you didn't help me"
"Don't mention it", the Cleric replied while slowly driving the wagon.
Even after thanking the Cleric, Aldo kept looking at the Cleric from the back with the same look.
The Cleric can feel his gaze on her back until he finally asked, "I'm really grateful that you helped me, but why did you help me?"
"If we're caught, you will be in trouble too", he added.
Although they manage to leave the village without any mishaps happening, the act of helping Aldo who is clearly someone who offended the son of a knight will be punished heavily even though she's a known Cleric around here.
No matter how long he thought about it, he can't really think of the reason why the Cleric helped him.
"Isn't it obvious? You said that you wanted me to teach you to become stronger"
"That means I'm your teacher and you're my student. Of course, as a teacher I wouldn't leave my student to die", she replied without even turning her head to the back.
The answer surprised Aldo as he didn't expect such an answer,
But the surprise was soon replaced by doubt, "That's a lie, tell me the real reason"
Hearing this, the Cleric chuckles sweetly while driving the wagon through the woods, the chuckle slowly fades as she finally mutters, "Who knows..."