(General POV)
Lyze opened the door to the small guest room carrying a tray with a bowl of soup on it, still steaming fresh from the pot and a mug of water. The room was small and tiny, with the walls being grey and the small window high up on the wall.
The room was so small that it was only able to fit in a single bed with a small dresser on the other end under the window and a small, coarse rug in the middle of the room. The room was after all meant for temporary guests after all. But he supposed it would be a good room for a Pallum child.
Lili sat up in bed, her eyes a little puffy from fatigue and she blinked from the glare of the light that shined into the room from the corridor. Bandages were wrapped around her head and her top had been taken off for the resident healer to examine the various scratched and small wounds she'd had from her time of abuse in her Familia.
So her torso was completely wrapped in ointment soaked bandages that also had the side-effect of making her sleepy. When Lyze enquired as to why magic was not used to heal them and why they did not allow him to do so, the higher-ups had explained that it was a custom amongst adventurers.
The Familia healer was not required to use magic to heal an adventurer from another Familia as that responsibility lay with them, and so the appropriate help in this case was the general application of medicine. The only Familias in Orario that tended to outsider adventurers with magic were those that were dedicated to healing arts, in which case the Dian Cecht Familia was the only one performing such a thing.
Magical healing also seemed to encompass healing potions and magical items, so Lili really had just been given the conventional means of healing. It would have been another matter if Lyze had given her a healing potion of his own but the problem was that he'd never had a mind to buy any. He was able to heal himself just fine with Light Magic, so he never really found a use for potions.
There was no point in crying over spilt milk however. The important thing was that the little Pallum was at least being treated to, and she hadn't been turned out onto the streets. Lili's eyes widened as Lyze set the tray on her lap as he crouched down beside her.
"Eat it while it's still hot." He encouraged. "It will help you sleep better, and good sleep will help you heal faster."
Lili stared at him, her eyes flickering between him and the bowl before she murmured her thanks in a tiny voice. Gingerly picking up the spoon, she drew a spoonful and popped it into her mouth. Immediately she spluttered and choked as she stuck her tongue out with her expression drawn in pain.
"AH! T-too hot!" She yelped as she bled out of her open mouth along the burnt part of her tongue.
"That's because you're supposed to blow on the spoonful to cool it a little bit before you have it." Lyze chided as he picked up a handkerchief from the tray and helped her wipe of the bits of soup that was stuck to her chin from the spluttering. "Have you not had soup before?"
Lili gave him a complicated look before she looked down to avoid his gaze. "No." She said dejectedly.
Lyze nearly cursed himself. He'd forgotten the scarcity of food you found in the Daedalus slums. You were lucky if you even found a morsel of mouldy bread, or if Maria the orphanage director had some old scraps to spare for street children she couldn't take in. He doubted conditions were much better in the Soma Familia.
Seeing as her hand was shaking a little, unable to hold the spoon straight, Lyze took it upon himself to feed her. One by one, he blew on each spoonful of soup and fed it to her until the it was empty and Lili had a satisfied expression. She drowned the cup of water instantly in such time that Lyze decided that he'd have to be on guard in case she choked.
After she was finished, she looked up at him with eyes that held gratitude in them but at the same time great amounts of wariness and reservation. He supposed it was to be expected as she was in the home of one of the most influential Familias in all of Orario and she was being tended to by a stranger she didn't know. More than that, it was the legendary rookie rumoured to have levelled up in a single day, a feat that would probably never be surpassed in the future. It was understandable that she felt a little intimidated, or at least a little overwhelmed.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"You're welcome." He nodded in reply as he stood up. She gave him an unsure smile, her eyes bouncing from side to side as her mouth was open a little, trying to decide her next choice of words.
"I-if you don't mind me asking..." she said a little breathlessly. "...why are you helping me?"
"What do you mean?" He raised a brow.
"I mean why are you helping me, and feeding me? I've never met you before...and I'm from a different Familia as well. Why did you help me in the bar?"
Lyze folded his arms and tilted his head, appearing to be in deep thought about the answer. Lili waited anxiously as she watched him drum his finger on the space between his biceps and his forearms.
"I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders while his arms were still folded. "I guess there are a multitude of different reasons why."
"Hn?" Lili gave him a confused look.
"I mean you're a little girl that was kicked on the stomach by a grown man just because he liked to do it. That alone would be enough of a reason."
"So...you saved m-me...because I'm a girl?"
"...I guess that's one reason." Lyze himself was trying to find the exact reason why he did it. His rage had been so great to the point of being potently palpable, he didn't assign himself a proper reason and motive to fry those three bastards alive. The sadistic part of him told his brain that he'd longed to do it ever since he'd seen it happen in the anime. And Lyze would not lie to himself...he felty immensely satisfied with the result. In fact, he regretted that he hadn't the opportunity to finish the job.
Lili turned her face away from him, her face a mix between an attempt to understand and one of caution. The lack of a sure and definitive answer was putting her on edge a little. It was no fault on either party, but a life in Daedalus made people think a certain way. A sentiment Lyze immediately understood from her actions, which spurred him into realizing a fitting explanation on why he did it.
"I guess...I did it because we are alike, you and me."
"Huh?" Lili said confused. "A-alike. You? And me?"
"Yup."
"How?"
Lyze leaned forwards on the bed, resting his elbows on the side of it.
"I'm assuming that as a runt of the Soma Familia, you would have spent some time living in Daedalus' underbelly, right?"
Lili nodded in confusion. "Yes, but how do you know that?"
"If you lived in Daedalus, then I suppose you've heard of the Cursed Child, right?"
Lili nodded frantically. "Oh, yes I have!"
"What do you know about him?"
Lili raised her arms in the air dramatically. "They say he's a monster in the form of a young child that went about the deepest slums of Daedalus, killing children wherever he could find! And that if they fought back, he would try to eat them and in doing so, completely rip them apart!" She shivered a little.
Lyze was stumped a little, before his shoulders began shaking subtly as he reigned in his laughter.
"What's so funny!?" She asked a little upset and pouting to emphasise her displeasure. It really just looked adorable to him honestly. Her size made her appear as a human toddler, consequence of her Pallum status and currently, it looked to him that he was staring at a small baby throwing a silent tantrum.
"Nothing." He waved his hand. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"They say he disappeared one day. Fell into one of those giant holes in the sewers while out on a hunt. He was never seen again."
"Would make sense to be honest." Said Lyze as he placed his chin in his palm. Lili scrunched her eyebrows.
"Why?"
"Because he didn't go back there. He escaped Daedalus, and had no intention of ever returning to those filthy conditions."
"How do you know?"
"Because the Cursed Child..." She nodded at his words, unsure of where this was going. He pointed to himself with his other hand. "...that was me."
Silence settled between the two as they stared at each other before she frantically scooted over to the other side of the bed, her back and hands pressed against the wall as she stared at him in fear.
"Did you bring me here to eat me!?" She half-screamed in panic.
"Relax you silly little Pallum. I've never eaten anyone nor am I going to."
"Really?" She asked doubtfully.
"Really."
"Swear it!"
Lyze put a palm on his heart. "On my life, my powers, my Familia and my Falna." He said as convincingly as he could. Lili stared at him a little a longer before she slowly sunk back into the body although still a good distance from him.
"So you really were the Cursed Child?" She asked tentatively.
"That's what I just said."
"...So how did you escape? They say you fell into the sewers. Anybody who goes down there die and are never seen again."
"Somebody helped me out of there before I could die." Lyze sighed. "After that, I decided to become an adventurer and managed to find a place in the Loki Familia."
"Wow." Lili breathed. "That's amazing. You... you actually escaped."
"Yes."
Lili pursed her lips before she sighed. "Well I can't go back now. If I do, they'll probably kill me or worse." She clenched her fists as tears began to form. "I appreciate your help master Lyze...but I can't go back. I have nowhere to go now thanks to what happened."
"Actually, I've been wondering about that for a little." Lyze said, catching her undivided attention. "There is a way you can stay here and not go back."
"Really?" Her eyes brightened, before they grew suspicious again. "How?"
Lyze smiled.
"How would you like to be my supporter?"
---
Lyze carried the tray out of the room and closed the door behind him. He came face to face with a pouting Ais who was standing in the corridor with her eyes switching between him and the door.
"What?" Lyze asked. Ais 'hmphed' and folded her arms.
"You haven't sparred with me for days. And now you've brought a strange girl into our house and you're going into her room with food."
"I'm tending to her because she's injured and sick."
"You're going in her room alone! A boy can't be alone in a room with a girl!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's indecent." Ais pushed as she pouted even harder, her tiny fists balled up. Lyze gave her an empty look.
"...Can you shut up?" He said to her, causing her eyes to widen.
"Wha-"
"Stop spending time around Loki, and then you won't sound dumb to other people." Lyze said as he began walking away. "That girl's in this house because I'm responsible for her life." He turned back to her for a brief moment. "As the one who endangered her life, it's fitting that I be the one to care for her. That is all there is to it."
Ais gaped at him. He continued.
"If you just want to spar, then simply say you want to. Leave unrelated matters out of it." He said firmly before walking away briskly.
Ais stared after him, confused and a little bit hurt as her little sword rattled in it's scabbard with her quivering.
"Wh-what did I do wrong?" Came her sad little voice. Had Lyze heard it, he would have had the mind to perhaps comfort her. But there was too many angry thoughts weighing on his mind which clouded his senses.
And so he left a little girl who admired and looked up to him feeling hurt and a tad bit betrayed. Needless to say, the red string of fate saw fit to tighten around his neck, ready to spring retribution upon him later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Understand that I'm trying to make people unhappy with the MC right now! Please stop blasting me about it.
Comment and Review!
Read 6+ chapters ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi