88 Ymir

"Hah..hah…hah…" A girl was running in a great forest, everything around was nothing but massive trees. The girl had a haggard appearance as if she was running endlessly for hours now.

Wounds in her body were visible, and a single arrowhead was stuck in her shoulder, unable to move due to excessive blood loss.

Yet despite looking like she won't make it until the end, the will and determination to survive burned in her eyes.

"Everyone she's here!"

The hunters that were chasing after her saw her, tears started to form in her eyes, but even though the situation seemed hopeless she didn't seem to give up, as if her will to survive resonates in her very soul.

In a pathetic way, she ran like there was no tomorrow, she couldn't care less about appearance now, nor bothered to begin with.

She just ran and ran, until her last breath.

Because this girl, more than anything else she wanted freedom, the very thing that was robbed from her when she was young, a slave.

But it was as if the world was against her, the hunters caught up with her, with a mocking laughter and sick amusement fired their bows to her direction and hit her behind the back.

"Ack..!" Ymir fell into the ground helplessly.

With this fatal blow, her fate was sealed or at least what should have happened, with nothing but sheer will to leave and a hopelessness of being 'free' with great difficulty, she stood up miraculously while trembling.

Her entire body was screaming at her to just lay down and rest, but she couldn't because she can't afford to, she dragged her body in difficulty.

More tears fell from her eyes, while she thought with despair and anger. 'Why! Why! Why is my life like this?! Why does the world hate us?! I just wanted to be free and live peacefully. Is that too much to ask?!'

Those thoughts were filled with bitterness, but despite the impossibility of getting out of this alive, she continued to move, in a pitiful, yet at the same time pathetic way.

The hunters saw this and they laughed in amusement, as if her suffering was some sort of entertainment to her, and worse it was, after all to them this was some sort of 'sport', in their eyes they weren't hunting a person, a human being like them, but an animal that needed to be hunted down.

They don't see her as equal, but beneath them, although they could finish her anytime they wanted, a single arrowhead could kill her for good, but they didn't because they wanted to see her struggle and suffer for their own enjoyment.

Because if she died now, they would lose their source of entertainment and they would go back to the tribe and go back to their usual daily life, which was boring.

That's why they milk this as much as they could, to break the sense of normalcy in the tribe.

Unaware of their thoughts, Ymir continued to run away from them, hopelessly, as she was dragging herself toward a seemingly endless forest.

She reached a certain tree, unlike other massive trees around this particular one that seemed to be a dozen times bigger than the rest, as its branches reached the sky, she couldn't even reach its top or maybe it's just her losing too much blood and can't see clearly.

Ymir then saw a hole beneath the tree, it's size is bigger than an adult, then she thought that if she was there, she might be able to hide for sometime and rest, as she knew that this body of hers wouldn't last if she waited a minute later.

With all of her will to live, she dragged herself toward the massive tree, hoping for a sanctuary, a place to rest even for a bit.

In another timeline, Ymir would go inside the massive tree and would fall beneath it and would soon contact what was known as 'The Source Of Life' or whatever that parasitic creature is.

But in this timeline, there's one major factor that in this timeline and perhaps other timelines altogether, is a door that leads to what later Ymir would know as her heaven and true sanctuary.

In this timeline there would be no titans, no eldians, the canon even won't happen because of a single thing that caused a butterfly effect.

As she was about to step inside the tree, she saw a path that was so bright, that it was more binding than the sun itself, but unlike the sun, this pathway of light is gentle and doesn't seem to harm her.

With a degree of misunderstanding, Ymir thought as she saw this path. 'Ah, is this it..? I'm seeing the afterlife isn't it? Which means I'm dead…well, it doesn't matter anymore…I just wanna rest.. mother…father..I'll see you soon.'

With one last push, her body went toward the binding light and went inside the shop and right there, she collapsed as the last of her strength left her body.

The last thing she heard was.

"What the hell…"

Thud*

Her body hit a solid surface and blacking out for good.

—

As soon as I arrived at the shop, the first thing I saw was Emiya was carrying a frail body of a young girl, and it looks like she had multiple injuries in her body, including major and minor wounds.

There's even 2 arrowheads stuck in her body right now, honestly if it wasn't for the fact that I could hear her haggard breathing I thought Emiya was carrying a corpse.

Either way, this girl needed to be healed as soon as possible because from the looks of it, she won't last any longer.

"Archer, let me take a look at the girl." I ordered him, which he complied as he understood that if he waited for a minute more, this girl he was holding would soon become a corpse, not that it was a problem since I could easily revive her but still I would have to use points to do that, but It's rather pointless if I know I could heal her in a perfect condition before she's going to die.

I took a closer look at the girl and noticed that she looks really familiar, but I will think about that later after I heal her. With my first magic I denied reality, and the girl's earlier injuries were nowhere to be seen, as if her condition before was just a mere illusion.

Now that she's healed…I noticed one thing, I couldn't help but pinch my nose as I smelled something terrible. "Ugh..this girl smells like pig shit…what did she do before coming here anyway..? Oh well, put her in the bed Archer and also after she wakes up take her to a bath because she really smells bad…"

Emiya looks at me with a wary look. "Why don't you use your fancy magic to cancel the smell?"

I stared at him with a deadpan look. "Are you seriously asking me to use magic first to solve a problem that could be solved with water and soap..?"

Emiya paused for a moment, before sighing. "I see your point."

"Alright, chop chop…!" I said and he left to find the bed, and left me here by myself and thought.

"Seriously.. that girl is very familiar, where did I see her…?"

After a minute of thinking, I still haven't gotten a single clue after all, you forget that fiction and reality tend to be different, if I saw her in some sort of anime or manga, there's a very little possibility that I recognize her because her face drawing in anime is vastly different in real life, where things have more details and life to their appearance.

Unless she says her name, then I would most likely recognize her.

But still though, when did my shop become some sort of medical center…?

Injured people seemed to stumble as often as I could remember…

There's Summer Rose, then Celestine and that girl just now, and I have a feeling that she wouldn't be the last.

Either way, I won't discriminate after all, who am I to judge?

While this place might now be a medical center, it is natural for me to help the injured, whether I have ulterior motives or not, while I am not a good person, helping someone in need doesn't necessarily mean you need to be a good person, because I'm the type of guy that will help someone if I have the means to help them.

Anyway, based on her appearance it doesn't seem like I could get a lot from her, but it doesn't matter, it's not like I need more credits after I obtained hundreds of millions yesterday.

It seems like it's a false alarm, and hmm..?

I noticed that someone entered the door and it was someone he was familiar with. "Summer…?"

—

On the other side of the shop, Ymir slowly opened her eyes, seemingly confused as to where she is right now, then she heard someone's voice beside her.

"So you're finally awake."

—

AN: Yeah, it's Ymir if you read my other story I added her in that particular fanfic too, but the difference is that I did a bad execution of how I introduced her and her interaction with the MC is somehow forced, but that's just my opinion, but I like the way I wrote her here as it's more natural and less forceful.

A/N: What a mess, but that's exactly why I like this, it's a chaos! The truth is revealed.

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