Nothing eventful happened to the man while walking on the road with a beat-up apothecary on his back. The apothecary seemed to be more relaxed than expected, even though she got hit real hard in the face. She is still able to nibble the man and list out random names while unconscious.
As time passed and the sun already set, they finally reached a village. Throughout the last hours of walking, there was only one road and the apothecary came from that direction, this might be the village she mentioned.
The entrance of the village is lit up by a few torches with some guards with swords out front.
All of them draw their sword and point it at the man, like they are about to interrogate him.
Guard: Who are you traveller and why do you have our apothecary?!
Man:…
Guard: Answer! Don't force us to use violence on you!
Man:…
Guard:…
Apothecary's weak voice: don't hurt him… please stop.
Guard: My apothecary, what did he do to you?
Apothecary: h-he saved me from th-that person
Guard: He is here already! We must fortify the defense.
Apothecary: that won't be a-a problem for a-a while. My sav-vior managed to injure him qui-i-ite a bit before he ran away.
Guard: That's a relie-
Apothecary: can we…talk…later? I…need treatment… he needs rest. You, escort us to… my apprentice's house then escort him to an inn.
Guard: I'm sorry, let's us go now. All of you be on high alert!
The guard took them to the apprentice's house with the direction help from the apothecary.
Apothecary: here we are… place me down, please.
The man carefully placed her down.
Apothecary: thank you, you two can leave now.
Guard: Do you still need any help?
Apothecary: I'm good *walking up to the door*. *bang her head on the door* I need treatment.
The door then immediately swung open and a girl came out, carefully escorted the apothecary in, and shut the door.
Guard: She has always been an odd one.
Man:…*nod*
The guard took the man to the inn and left.
The man orders some food from the inn for dinner and then gets a room to rest for the night. He got a good night's sleep as nothing happened to interrupt him, except in the morning.
Next morning, when he was leaving the inn, the owner gave him a piece of paper and told him that the apothecary wanted to meet him.
After getting out of the inn, he takes a look at what is written on the paper.
Paper: Thank you for saving me yesterday, you must have gotten hurt after fighting with that person. I wasn't able to treat you but now I'm better, visit my apprentice's house and I'll take care of those wounds for you.
"How shameful of me to stay at my apprentice's house, but she is the only person that is good enough to take care of me."
Man:…
Putting the paper inside of his outfit and decided to not visit the apothecary. Instead, he takes a walk around the village and gets some food at the market.
Walking around and exploring this village, nothing out of the ordinary, just a village that has people that know water sword skills living among the normal people.
The market is buzzing with food aroma, you can even smell it when you aren't close to the market. The man walked around the whole market to see all of the food there, before backtracking to buy what he wanted.
Some of the food did catch his attention. When he backtracked to one of the shops that he wanted to buy from, and after waiting in line for his turn.
Shop owner: Sorry young man, we just sold out.
Man:…
Shop owner: This morning we are selling less than usual, to prepare for tonight's festival. So I hope to see you again, traveler.
The man walks away while the shop owner closes down the stall. Before walking to other shops, he felt a tug on his outfit. When he turned around, it was the apothecary and her apprentice.
Man:…
Apprentice: Master, he looks mad, I don't think he wants to see us.
Apothecary: Well, you did buy the last 2 two portions from that stall. He probably hasn't eaten anything yet.
Man:… *reaching for one of his sword*
Apothecary: You probably want to stand back, he might hurt you.
Apprentice: B-b-but he saved you. Why would he hurt you now?
The man reached for one of his swords, tossed it at the apothecary, and she successfully caught it.
Apothecary: Thanks *munch on food*
Apprentice: Eh?... Master! Don't joke with me like that!
Apothecary: *munch*munch* you mind if we tag along?
Apprentice: why are you ignoring me?
Man:…*walk away*
Apothecary:*munch*munch* fowow wim.
Apprentice: He really doesn't talk at all… is the saying true? Strong people don't talk.
Apothecary: Take him to bed and you'll see how strong he is~
Apprentice: Eww master, don't talk about that in public.
The two of them continue to follow the man while he getting food and they also buy herbs at some of the shops near where he just got his food.
When the man got to sit down and eat his food, the sound of the two girls was gone and what was left next to him was the apothecary's sword. Which he keeps a close eye on while eating his food and when he is done, the two of them return with a basket full of different herbs.
Apothecary: That's everything. *grabs her sword* Well see you when you need treatment, traveler.
As the two of them walk away, the man gets out of the seat and follows them. After walking for a bit, the apprentice turned around with a horrified look on her face.
Apprentice: w-wh-why are you following us?!
Man:…?
Apothecary: I know you don't want to talk but you have to explain yourself… do you… oh my… maybe you somehow attracted him, my apprentice.
Apprentice: what-no-what-no-what-no-what-no-
The man reached for his sword and smacked the sheath on the apothecary's head and reached inside his outfit.
Apothecary: Ow, you can't do that to a patient.
Apprentice: no… (He interested in her?)
The man took the paper out of his outfit and gave it to the apprentice.
Apprentice after reading the paper: This…this is your doing. He was following us because he didn't know where we would be.
Apothecary: Well, half of it is. I didn't know that he would follow us back. I thought he remembered where I was left off last night.
Apprentice: It was night and he probably didn't pay attention.
Apothecary: You got a point. Ok then, follow us and I'll treat you.
Apprentice: Will that be ok? Is one night's sleep enough for you to get back to work?
Apothecary: Oh my naïve apprentice, I'll be fine, plus he doesn't look that injured.
Apprentice: Ok then.
*At the apprentice's house*
Apprentice: I'll be in the back preparing the batches. Do you have everything with you?
Apothecary: I do, I'll see you in a bit.
*apprentice left the room*
"Ok, let's get to work."
The apothecary unsheathed her sword and placed it to the side. Then she fidgeted with the sheath for a moment until it opened up, showing many small powder and liquid bottles.
While the apothecary looking and grabbing bottles from her sheath, the man is sitting on a chair with his injured leg placed on another chair.
Apothecary: ok, that will be all. Before we start, I need to stab you with my sword. Are you… ok with that?
Man:…
Apothecary:…
Man:…
Apothecary: You need to speak or something. It's starting to get annoying when you aren't saying things.
The man took off his outfit and showed her his bare chest.
Apothecary:… Have you ever heard of me?
Man:… *shake head*
Apothecary: How do you know I need you to remove your clothing?
Man smacks his forehead with his palm, then holds up a part of his outfit and pierces it with his sword, leaving a hole in it.
Apothecary: *smack her forehead* of course, that. I'm getting too used to this. How did I forget the common detail, my ego is getting big.
"Ok, you have given me the permission. Let's start."
The apothecary grabs her sword, infuses it with water element then stabs the man right in his heart. There was no pain, no blood coming out, nothing that he could see or feel, only silence. After a few seconds, she pulled the sword out and there was no wound on his heart.
Apothecary: Ok, that's done… So, you are totally fine, except for the leg part… Let me take care of that first then move on to whatever is wrong with you.
The apothecary starts treating the wound in the man's leg with her medicine, then she sews up the open wound and bandages it.
"And that's it, you are fine now… well, you were fine before but now, your wound won't get infection."
Man:…
Apothecary: *sigh* ok, you are definitely not mute but for some reason, you are choosing not to talk and it's not because of your condition.
Man:…
Apothecary: What with that face?... You don't know what conditions you have?
Man: *nod*
Apothecary: tch tch, it's not a medical condition either… I'll try my best to explain. Your soul, it's stagnant and not vibrant like everyone else. Usually, this means the person will die, soon.
"This only shows up in people that have incurable disease or old age, but, you're young and perfectly healthy. Which only leaves out one possible outcome… you planning to kill yourself."
Man:*gesture his hand in agreement*
Apothecary: And you are being very blunt about it… why? Are you traveling around and then ending yourself at a random place?
The man holds his finger in front of his lip, implying it's a secret.
Apothecary: You, you are a strange one, traveler… but is there a way for me to stop you from killing yourself?
Man:…*point his finger at the apothecary*
Apothecary: Me?... You want to know something about me?
Man:*nod*
Apothecary: I guess every little thing helps… I'm the apothecary of this village, my father is the sword master of this village and that's everything about me.
Man: *points at his heart then points back at her*
Apothecary:… you want to know about my condition? Well, my condition, it's complicated. If I do something that breaks my body's limit, it feels like my soul is breaking at the same time.
"Which is kinda silly, we are born to break the limit of our body, but I have to suppress it if I want to live. The two pills that you saw me consume the other day, one is for opening my limit the other is to close it."
"But sometimes, when it's close, I can feel my soul breaking so I have to take the pill to open it, but that just makes the condition worse. So I have to close my limit and only open it when necessary."
"That's all. Does that help you at all?"
Man:…*shake head*
Apothecary: I thought so too… well, since you going to die anyway. Can I use you?
Man:…*disbelief*
Apothecary:… that sounded weird, I didn't give you a reason… I want you to hang out with me during tonight's festival. Is it ok with you?
Man:…*sigh*nod*
Apothecary: That was more simple than I thought… I guess, you can leave?
The man stood up, got close to the apothecary, and grabbed her arm.
Apothecary*slight blush*: What are you doing?
The man lightly squeezes her arm.
Apothecary: OW! I'm not fully recovered yet.
Man:*giggle* *free her arm*
Apothecary: The only time you made any sound was to laugh at me.*giggle* you are a horrible person.
Apprentice walked into the room: Master! I'm don-e… Did I interrupt anything?
Apothecary: Oh, it's nothing. Come on, bring the batches to me.
Apprentice: oh, ok.