(A little earlier)
Even now Hannah was trying to make some sense of what had just happened, even minutes after everything was over it still seemed surreal, like something out of a dream... or a nightmare.
In an instant, the most beautiful and kind young woman in the village or even in the surrounding area, was almost deflowered in front of everyone in the village by a disgusting nobleman (pig) while her escort (bastard scoundrels) just laughed, deciding who would be next after her The Lord got tired of it and prevented anyone from getting closer but leaving enough space to see.
Soon after her brother appears and knocks out 3 of them before being killed, but before being killed she herself got into the trouble and before things got worse the nobleman (pig) started screaming out of nowhere, turning red in the face and falling down, with black veins protruding from the skin.
Shortly after dying with an expression of pure agony on their faces, each one of his escort was also hungry or showing the same "symptoms" and fell one by one like flies in the summer, leaving only the captain of the knights (bastard scoundrels) who started tremblingly letting his sword fall and begging for mercy from everyone present, saying he was just following orders, etc.
However, moments later, their laments turned into screams of agony, interspersed with threats if they didn't do anything, followed by screams even worse than the previous ones, amid pleas of apologies and terror.
For Hannah, he took longer to die than the others, but that could just be her impression, the result of wanting him to feel more afraid than most. Hannah had no idea why or how someone had helped them or more importantly who, but she couldn't help but ask why help now and not before, but now that didn't matter, for now she was just grateful that her friend was safe.
The others had their own thoughts and concerns, while some shared Hannah's exact feelings, others were simply terrified.
"Aahhh, ughgg"
It was only with the groan of pain that everyone was able to snap out of the stupor of shock and disbelief.
In the blink of an eye, another person appeared next to the fallen young man, a woman who almost seemed to materialize out of nowhere, Sofi, the village herbalist, who many believe to have witch blood because she still looks young despite being one of the village's elders. but nothing was ever proven in that aspect, not that anyone cared as long as she helped the villagers even if she had demon blood in her veins they wouldn't care.
While Hannah was frozen (partly amused by seeing the "knights" falling like flies) next to Constance and Agatha, the other three, Gerard, Ivan and Sofi, had gone to the young man's side and were trying to stop the bleeding, obviously without very successful.
"Hey, hang in there kid, that's just a scratch, remember the cut you got from that wolf on one of your first hunts, that was bad and you took it, so hold on to that too!! That's just a knife cut, right?! If you If you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your sister, it's better to put up with it, you know?!!!"
Ivan said to the young man while using a wet cloth to try to clean the wound, while his father held his head and tried to slowly give water. With Sofi's arrival, the men believed they had a little more hope, but the herbalist's look wasn't good at all.
Gerard looked at the woman who was older but still as beautiful as when he himself was still young and asked with his eyes.
'He's going to make it, right?'
This look also came from Ivan, Constance, Agatha and Hannah, but even though everyone wanted to hear something positive, reality did not bow to the desire of mortals, so the herbalist said in a voice as low as a whisper but which was heard by everyone from the tavern.
"He's not well, the cut was deep enough to crack some ribs and rupture some organs, and it took us a while to get here. Even if I manage to close the wound he's already lost a lot of blood."
Hannah saw Ivan's face turn pale and he became silent, in contrast Gerard's face darkened and she could swear she saw the glow of an anger she had never seen in the most affectionate man she had ever met, Constance and Agatha in turn could only close your eyes and cry more.
Agatha asked, her voice full of plea and desperation.
"Isn't there anything we can do?"
The young man's mother asked, to which Sofi responded in a serious tone.
"No, his only chance would be a potion, and a very potent one at that."
Gerard practically started screaming holding his son's head, Ivan remained silent with his jaw clenched and his hands clenched. Matt was the hunter's apprentice but the man considered the boy as a son and Gerard as a brother, a feeling shared by him, now the son they both loved was dying in front of them and there was nothing they could do, all because of a damned thing. nobleman coming from who knows where.
Everyone in the tavern shared the pain of losing the young man. Like Constance, Matt was well known and loved in the village and the region, being considered one of the best candidates for marriage by young women.
Having a great sense of duty, loyalty, humor and a small touch of childishness combined with always useful good looks, resulted in a trustworthy figure for everyone and made him what could be considered the older brother of every young man in the village.
Including Hannah, who in this situation did the only thing she could, something that just moments ago she would never even dream of doing because she was sure it wouldn't result in anything, but now maybe it would be different, she prayed. She prayed to the entity that had brought about the disaster that had arrived in the village to save her friend.
She wished, begged and cried out with all the conviction she could muster, even offering her soul if necessary. Obviously she wasn't the only one, Constance was the one who received the most help in this whole situation so she was certain that whoever or whatever had helped could help her brother, but having already been helped she still asked for more help, help for his brother and did not hesitate to offer his soul if necessary.
Agatha, Gerard and Ivan also begged the entity to offer whatever they had to try to help the young man. Sofi, in turn, before asking for help with something that might or might not happen, preferred to be grateful for what had already happened and ask that it still be possible. help she would do her best to help the entity if she wanted to.
Several other villagers did this too, in desperate and clumsy prayers due to lack of practice.
So many people praying together is something that has never happened in this kingdom, with religion being gums that the nobles had more access to as well as magic, but still they tried to do even something for the brave young man, and all they could do was ask for more help without having thanked them for the help they have already received. Pretty pathetic isn't it.
But even knowing this, even knowing this, several people still tried, and the ones who cried out most for help were the five in the middle of the tavern.
For a moment nothing happened, as many expected to happen but were still disappointed. When one of the villagers approached the group to try to console them for their failed pleas, a very unexpected thing happened.
No, not unexpected, impossible, above Matt who had unfocused eyes and his breathing was getting slower and slower, a fetish of light appeared, simply out of nowhere and from that beam appeared an ornate crystal bottle with a bright red liquid inside.
Even those who had never seen it knew what it was, a potion.
But what shocked the most, and rightly so, wasn't even the potion itself, but how it appeared there in front of everyone by a beam of light in the middle of the night. If not a miracle what else would it be?
The villager who had come to try to console them didn't even take three steps before kneeling on the ground and saying.
"God... God really exists..."
He said in an incredulous whisper followed by more thudding sounds as more and more people knelt down looking at the potion on the young man's chest as he breathed slower and slower, but now they were sure he would make it and with a true blessing of God.