"Um... I was just worried about your hand." Clair said looking at the ground.
Looking at my palm, I realized that the improvised cloth bandage did a poor job of concealing the wounds. The cuts and bruises had dried off but were still visible and I had slight calluses forming.
"I'm okay." I said as I tried to leave.
"Wait! I promise it won't take long to heal; those scars will only get worse with time." She said to try to stop me from leaving.
The other members of the Church were smiling as if they were used to this, but they weren't trying to stop her.
"Please?" She requested.
Undoing my bandage, I place my hand on the table palm facing upwards, revealing the cuts that had dried to form red gashes. Looking at the injuries completely Clair furrowed her brows before placing her hand above my palm.
Soon, a warm golden light enveloped my hand, as the scars began disappearing at a rapid rate and after some time, it was as if the palm was never injured to begin with. She stopped casting and looked back up to me with a smile.
"It's a low tier healing spell but it should be better now."
"Thanks." I said before leaving and taking the food back up to my room.
I wasn't trying to avoid the main cast, but I wasn't planning on meeting them so soon. This one was unexpected; I knew she was a member of the Church of Preservation but due to the academy exam recently ending, I didn't think she would be here. After all, every student had a week off to settle down in their new homes before they began studying. I should have anticipated that with her character she wouldn't take this time for leisure and instead volunteer work.
It didn't matter, I had no business with her for the time being. As I was beginning to prepare for the trip to the city, I heard a knock on the door once again but when I went to open it, there was nobody there just a box that had the royal seal on it.
'Already?' Opening the box, I found several forms of identification but most important of all was the awakened identification which had my name picture on it but a portion of the card under the words "mana rank" was empty.
I was aware of how this worked and willed my mana to flow into the conductive material of the card and soon the empty space was replaced with 'G' being an average evaluation of all my stats. Placing the identification back inside the box along with some Credits, I put it in my bag with other necessities and got ready to leave. I had 15 minutes before the 10 AM bus arrived but as I walked towards the bus station, I noticed a figure already sitting there.
It was Clair again, not minding her I simply put the bag on the bench as I sat on the furthest bench away from her because judging by her character from the novel she would try to-
"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened earlier."
Looks like attempting to distance myself from her was pointless, as she began apologizing anyway.
"It's alright, it's my fault for overreacting." I said.
"No! I should have at least asked you before or just left you alone, my seniors told me that I shouldn't try to heal somebody without them asking, especially with minor injuries."
"I don't mind, please don't worry about it." I said trying to calm her down.
I thought that was it as the next few minutes, I was able to wait in silence but shortly after.
"Uh... If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you get those wounds?" She asked.
I sighed before saying "Training."
"I thought so! I have seen those types of injuries with people who practice with weapons too long. You shouldn't push yourself that far, it's important to take a break every now and then." She lectured.
She said as if she was reciting the words of someone else rather than her own, but I just nodded in response.
"Ah! I forgot to tell you my name, I'm Clair Alistair. You are?"
"Ajax."
"Nice to meet you Ajax, I hope we can be great friends!" She said with a beaming smile.
Even if the novel vouched for it, it was hard to believe that there really was someone this innocent. I didn't know what I should reply with but thankfully it didn't look like I would have to as the bus had arrived.
I simply nodded in response before climbing into bus and taking a seat in one of the middle rows. Clair got on as well, but it didn't seem like anybody else was going to join, as those that wanted to leave early would have already. She took a seat adjacent to mine which worried made me a bit worried that she would try to talk to me again.
"Why are you heading into the city Ajax?"
"Sightseeing. What about you?" I lied, trying to stop her from asking questions.
"Ah! I'm going to be moving into the academy dorms! I still can't believe I get to attend, some of my favorite heroes come from this academy like Master of Flame Gideon or Lionhearted Leo Arlan and of course the Brilliant Blade Adam Kane." She began excitedly.
Those titles were ... questionable but I knew that heroes were basically idols or celebrities to the people of this world, looked up to and admired by many, especially children. Clair continued speaking.
"I had posters of a few of them back in my old home and I was really hoping I could bring them with me to the academy dorms, but my dad said that I probably wouldn't be allowed to put them up. Anyway, I can always buy the plushies they sell at-"
For the next few minutes Clair talked nonstop about her plans about decorating her dorm and also how excited she was about attending the academy with the only thing stopping her being the screeching brakes of the bus, signaling that we had reached our destination.
"I'll meet you back at the shelter, I still have a few more days of volunteer work before academy classes start." She said as she got up to leave.
Getting off I finally had a moment of silence as I recovered from the one-sided information dump that was the bus ride. She really was far too trusting, something a lot of people took advantage of in the novels.
However, I didn't have the luxury of worrying about a stranger as I looked at the map at the bus station to find the Mercenary Association headquarters and began to trudge through the crowded sidewalks of the city.