Thoma was sitting up in bed wearing a dumbfounded expression. He had woken up this morning only to realize that something completely unexpected had happened to him: more specifically, to a part of him. He could no longer feel his legs. Upon trying to stand, he quickly discovered that they had also lost their strength when he staggered and fell to the floor. His head hit the ground hard, and he groaned in pain. However, it wasn't just his head that hurt, it was his entire body.
"… It's completely stiff?"
In his current state, it was extremely taxing just to flex even a single finger. It felt as though his skin had finally turned to stone. Was this what it was like for those who were turned into statues in the fairy tales he used to read? Thoma smirked faintly before clenching his teeth as he began forcing his body to move.
'Move! I'm telling you to move! Go on…!'
He could hear creaking noises coming from his body. It sounded like his bones were being crushed by his muscles. He was drenched in sweat from overexertion, but through his continuous efforts, his muscles started to relax. Albeit slowly, he was regaining control over his body.
"Get up! Get up!" he yelled, as if ordering his body to heed his commands. "Endure it! Isn't there still time? It's not time yet!"
Finally, he began to rise up off the ground. He barely managed to stabilize his trembling knees by leaning on a wall before letting out a sigh of relief.
"…Hah… Haha…! Surely this is enough exercise for today?"
Just getting up was as tiring as facing a hundred demons back when he was younger. Thoma dreaded the thought of having to go through this every morning.
'Yes. It's dreary, but what can I do? At least today is not the day I die.'
Thoma wheezed once he started trying to walk. He quickly turned back to the wall as his legs began to falter once more.
"… I'm done. It's exhausting to just walk. Damn, Oskal and Akareal are here too," he muttered to himself disparagingly. "I can't let them see me like this, right?"
He had once proudly held the title of Hero; the Hero of humanity who defeated the Demon Lord. That kind of Hero could not show such weakness to his fellow companions, and more than anything…
"I can't make a fool of myself acting like this in front of the kids."
Thoma looked to his side. There, he saw a staff he'd made from a tree branch.
"… I brought this in just in case. What a relief."
Thoma supported himself with the staff and barely managed to stagger forward. After leaving his room, the first thing he heard was Oskal's loud voice reverberating through the halls.
"… You know, I'm not a horse!" Oskal protested.
"Eeehh?! You said you'd play with us, uncle!"
"That's right!"
"You said you'd be our horse!"
"O-of course, when I said horse, I meant I could let you guys ride on my shoulders… Don't you think this kind of thing is a bit too embarrassing? I am still the Captain of the Royal Guard…"
Oskal was playing with the kids while down on his hands and knees. They were swarming over him, with kids hanging on his neck, back, and waist. A few of them were even doodling on Oskal's face.
"Ah! What are you guys doing!" he exclaimed. "Drawing is too…"
After he shouted, the children paused in shock and began to tear up. Oskal was surprised by their reaction and groaned.
"Ugh… O-okay. Draw just a little bit."
"Ah! Thank you, uncle."
Watching Oskal being roped in by the children, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"I apologize that you had to play with the kids so early in the morning." Thoma said, finally making his presence known.
"Oh? You're finally up, Mr. Lazy Priest…"
Oskal's eyes were on Thoma as he spoke, but he couldn't help but peek at the staff in his old friend's hands. Oskal could see that his legs were trembling, and the staff that he held looked ready to snap under his weight.
'… Is he barely managing to stand?'
Thoma noticed that Oskal was observing him, so he quickly sat down on a nearby seat.
"Now that I look around, where is Akareal?" he asked, hoping to change the topic away from himself.
"Hm? Ah… W-well, I'm not sure?"
Oskal looked away with an awkward expression on his face.
"Where did she go?"
"Probably back home. If not, somewhere else to research magic like she always does."
'I-it's not a lie! It can't be that Thoma can tell, right?'
If Thoma found out that the two had secretly checked on him, he would get mad. He was hiding the truth in order to make sure nobody would become concerned for him.
Thinking of Akareal, he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. She had looked distraught as she left the abbey last night.
'Why… did she look so sad? I couldn't offer any help because of it. Shit.'
Also…
"Yes, the responsibility… will be on me."
What did she mean by that? Oskal crossed his arms as he considered her words. He struggled with this question internally, ignoring the children grabbing at his hair and kicking him.
'Akareal was acting strange. Yes, very strange! Why was she so hesitant?'
There was no way that she would have refused to study magic related to saving Thoma because of her conservative personality. She had to have been so resistant because of some restriction.
'Could it be something like being completely expelled from the mage community? No, she's not the type of person who'd unwilling to bear that level of sacrifice. If so… then why?'
He had to think about this further. He regretted not having asked her why she was so hesitant before she left, struggling with the fact that he hadn't taken the opportunity to do something as simple as hear her concerns.
'Aaack! This boulder of a brain! This is why people keep calling me muscle-headed! What good is it that I'm a renowned knight in the Kingdom of Lome!?'
"Are you worried about something?" Thoma inquired.
Oskal crossed his arms again and nodded in response to Thoma's question "Yeah, there is something."
"What is it?"
"Won't say." Thoma looked at Oskal, dumbfounded. "I won't tell you even if you ask. Even if you try to ask me leading questions, it won't matter. I won't say anything at all since you know how to tell truth from lies. Hmph!"
"… Are you a child?"
Thoma broke into laughter seeing Oskal huff through his nose. Once morning and then noon passed, Oskal began to don his armor. He turned to Thoma as he put on his helmet.
"Then, I'll be going."
The children spoke sadly when they heard Oskal's announcement.
"Eeh?! Already?"
"Let's play a bit longer, uncle!"
"Yeah! You promised! You said you'd take us to the festival!"
Oskal smiled as he looked toward the kids and spoke confidently.
"Ah, don't worry! I'll play with you guys some more after my work is done!"
Thoma stepped forward to say his farewell. "Good luck on your diplomatic mission."
Oskal nodded at his friend's words. "Ah, there's Salem, who I want to avoid, but I'll just ignore him even if I see him."
"Haha…"
Oskal grabbed Thoma's shoulder.
"Take care of yourself."
"I understand."
Thoma nodded, and bid Oskal goodbye.
He turned to the kids after seeing Oskal off. "We should go and eat now, right?"
The childrens' eyes lit up at the mention of food.
"Yes!"
"I'm hungry!"
"We'll go prepare it!"
Thoma smiled warmly watching the children rush to the kitchen. In that moment, one of the children grabbed Thoma's hand.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
The child looked around to make sure that the other children left and then spoke quietly.
"Um… Brother monk."
"Hm?"
"It's… Sister Ellie told me not to tell you, but… Sister Ellie… she's very sick."
"What!?"
Thoma hurried to Sister Ellie's room in shock. He'd been holding onto the abbey's keys as of late, in order to prevent prying eyes from getting where they didn't belong. Luckily for him, this also meant he could enter Ellie's room despite the door being locked. Upon entering, he found Ellie sprawled across her bed. She was groaning in her nightgown while breathing heavily. Her pain was plain to see with her crimson face sweat-drenched body.
"Dear God!"
Thoma quickly approached Ellie and placed his hand on her head in an attempt to activate his magic, but…
"Ugh!"
He ended up on the floor with his hand over his mouth. Managing to stop himself from coughing and potentially waking Ellie, he hobbled over to the window using his staff and flung it open, immediately vomiting outside. Alongside the food and alcohol he'd consumed yesterday was coagulated blood, all of it being expelled from his mouth with great force.
"Ooooouuugh… Aah…"
Thoma suppressed his moans of pain and watched Ellie from the corner of his eye.
"Uuuugh…"
'She's also in pain. She's suffering! Just what happened…? She looked perfectly fine yesterday?! I was told she was just a little anemic!'
Thoma tossed his staff aside and picked her up with both arms. He could feel the muscles in his body twisting in all the wrong ways. Thoma groaned in pain, but forced himself to not give in to the pain through words of self-encouragement.
"Ugg… Ooh t-this feels so refreshing. Yep, refreshing! It doesn't hurt at all!"
He wanted to ask one of the other monks or nuns for help, but none were here at the moment. They had all left to assist with the preparations in the capital for the coming diplomatic meeting with the Kingdom of Lome, and the festival that would take place after.
Currently he couldn't even use magic, so there was only one thing left to do! He had to find a pharmacist in the capital! The distance to the capital from the abbey was two hours on foot.
***