"What do you think?!"
"Do you think he can do it?!"
Dal repeatedly asked, perturbed about the situation as they gathered in the room, while his gaze fixed on Khalid, whose attention was stuck on his freezing cup of tea.
"But he was just a kid! Are we just going to let the people rot on our watch?! "
This time Dal's voice was convincing, but Khalid remained unspoken, an opportunity for Agnette to speak for her mind.
"Trust me, he knows what he's doing."
She opposes making Zev to roll her eyes.
"He's not talking to you~"
"Neither do I! I'm just convincing myself that he would not let those extracts go to waste!"
Seeing Zev's attitude, Agnette flicks the hair from her shoulder, rolling her eyes back to Zev who's flaring red in anger.
Meanwhile, Erwin, who's been silent for awhile suddenly remembered something he shouldn't have, though it seems like Erwin himself can't inure the fact that the boy will leave a stain in his mind.
"Nonsense! How can a mere kid do it?! When no one can!"
Erwin affirmed with a flaring nostril doubting Naine's ability to an extent.
"What no i-
-You're just a boy; what do you know?!"
He then paused, looking at him with pair of judging eyes from head to toe.
"What possibly can you do, huh?!"
Hearing it almost made water trickle from his eyes, but clenching his fists held it.
Feeling tired that not himself or even anyone believes in him makes him frustrated as he abruptly ticks off like a bomb leaving Erwin too stunned to speak.
"You know what?! How can you judge me so easily without knowing my story...when...when in fact you know nothing about me!"
He shouted as if he were also trying to reach for himself.
And to not make things heated between the two, Khalid interferes, though his word seems to affect them both differently.
"I've heard enough."
He states it bluntly, causing Erwin to protest even more.
"Milord, no way! You can't just...he...he's just a kid!"
He convinces repeatedly that hearing it makes Naine grit his teeth.
"Is he?"
He paused before turning his back on Naine.
"Erwin. Let him; he's got some story to tell."
He didn't reply, but neither his expression can even be painted.
When Khalid left, Erwin didn't follow, he stared first at the kid, whispering in his ears before he chased after Khalid.
"Make sure not to lose your head."
As he affirmed it, Naine almost lost his breath for holding it from fear. He did not know that a human could be so petrifying as the monster he faced from the forest. He was even clueless whether what Erwin states is a threat or a word that will give him motivation.
Days passed, and that every second that turns to minute and hour lot of things happened.
While people stayed at the temple, and while the others and Khalid busily worked on the kingdom's affairs. Naine never took a step outside the laboratory. He couldn't count how many times he failed nor how many cups of coffee and sleepless night he took.
He was even on the brength of giving up to the point that negatives thoughts is slowly devouring his mind, almost taking away his sanity.
"You can't do it."
"How can a kid like you do?"
Hearing it, made his head hurt as if it were about to burst while covering his ears, making a mess inside inside his head.
"You're just a kid. A kid."
"Arghhhhhhhh!"
As he was about to lose his mind, seeing the plenty bottle of the holy extract from the basket gradually decreased Erwin's voice ring in his ears.
"Make sure not to lose your head."
Remembering it, he couldn't help but laugh at himself and sigh.
"Ha- Hahahahahahaha!"
*Sigh...*
His eyes then flared with fire.
"I will not!"
Naine loses track of time and keeps working, then failing, but then continues to work unknowingly that morning had already passed; he did not even think that the moment he dropped and mixed the extract.......This time...
"No way."
His puffy eyes with a pair of dark circles around them widen when the golden extract finally kills the virus inside the tube, though he only puts a single drop of it.
"I did it!"
Meanwhile, Erwin who's marching towards the hall, passing the laboratory, hears no signs of Naine, making his doubt take him.
'Ha- Impossible.'
He thought, but as soon as he reached the altar of the temple, seeing countless people drink the Natus, not only did they feel better, but just like magic or miracle, the people immediately and effectively got up on their deathbeds.
It made Erwim smirk, but it changed to frown seeing his unwell feature in the crowd before he started wailing like a child.
'Mom, I finally did it! '
Naine continuously wipes his tears that seem impossible to stop, especially seeing the people he saves cry happily with the arms of their loved ones, making him remember the special person he failed to save, that at that time he couldn't do anything when it was his mother who needed him the most.
"I... I finally did it, Mom, but why?...why now?"
He whispers in the air, though it leaves them unspoken as they hear it.
They didn't know how many minutes he bawled his eyes out before passing out in Khalid's arms, gently wiping his tears where he put the child on the bed to rest.
The day they thought that the problem had been resolved, when they were just infact blindly knows that it was just a calm before the storm.....
"I hope you would love the gift that I sent...little brother."
His voice was as gentle as a breeze while caressing the flaming family picture of them that was slowly burning into ashes.