The past ends, and the future begins

A while later, Ester calmed down.

She was forced to run away from the back door of the house with the promise that her parents would soon follow.

However, the items they gave her meant otherwise.

As she circled the house to see why they sent her away, a familiar flag caught her eyes.

It was the flag of the Barron her father made a contract with.

Ester stopped in shock and hid in a bush. With a frightened expression, she took a peek.

The Barron himself stood in front of their house. Besides him were a few guards and a horde of villagers with pitchforks behind.

They seemed enraged for some reason, and the cause or the instigator was soon about to found out.

Her parents argued with the Barron, and after a few words, the situation escalated.

The guards drew their swords with one nod from the Barron. Her parents nodded at each other and rushed inside.

Barron "Kill the traitors that have invaded our kingdom. They need to die for their sins and for the pain they bought with them."

Barron "I, the Barron of our mighty nation, will not stand for this. I will need help to protect our land."

The baron rallied everyone to believe his words. Like a snake, he was spewing poison for one thing. If he can't have the scribe mage for himself, then no one can have him.

Guards and villagers rushed to attack the house while the Barron had a greedy sly grin.

It was enough to send a chill down Ester's spine as she froze from fear.

Suddenly the house caught fire from inside. A plan her parents devised to allow their daughter to live in their stead.

Ester ran away as fast as she could, far away from those monsters.

She visited the nearby Lusterfall Kingdom, but she thought it was too close and might get caught.

The Barron's sly grin is still engraved in her heart. Ester even shivered as she mentioned this.

That's when she arrived a the edge of the Selos Kingdom, found Trek, made a contract to be her guardian, and in exchange, she would share her healing scroll for funds.

However, her life was still bad. Trek kept all the money with the guise of being an adult and keeping them safe.

Year after year, the food and water that Trek brought started to decrease.

Even after selling the healing scroll for a lot of money and building a cabin, they should have enough money to last for at least twenty years of normal living.

Five years later, Ester tried to find a job as a dancer.

However, her dancing got her a nickname she hated the most. Like in the last place she lived, they started calling her a monster as she moved like no one could.

No one wanted to give her a job, and the village doesn't have a guildhall.

Adventurous visited this village to hunt, but the closest place with a guildhall takes days to arrive.

Ester was even approached by perverts ready to please their masters, but she refused.

After that, she always wore a cloak and simple clothes when visiting the village.

Sometimes she would fish and forage to store for a rainy day. The fish they ate was from her last catch.

That's how she lived until Vincent arrived and told her she was pretty. A word she thought no one would ever say to her again.

Her story was very emotional.

Vincent saw Ester with a few tears welling in her eyes. He couldn't help but feel the same.

Unlike him, Lupa fell asleep. It seemed the second part put her to sleep. Well, her life was hardcore as well.

"Thank you for revealing your past. No matter who says you are a monster, I will say you are pretty. Its human to move, so why should I detest it?" Vincent warmly said at the teary Ester.

She was wiping her tears while trying to understand why he could see her differently.

Even if Vincent told her about his past, that many people could do what she does. Some things need to be experienced to be understood.

Ester stood up, brought a handkerchief, and said, "Don't misunderstand. Seeing your tear would make me cry again."

Ester gently wiped his face with a slightly trembling hand. She was shy, after all.

Ester then picked Lupa and dragged her onto the mattress. Even then, she was still in her deep sleep.

"Ester, you said there might be a problem with the inherence of this property. Since Trek was a gambler, then why don't we forge an inheritance document. " Vincent felt like he was saying something he never thought of saying.

Anyone would be able to tell he was scheming something.

On his face was a faint grin. With one glance, anyone could tell he was thinking of doing something shady.

Vincent never thought of breaking the law on Earth. But in this world, he now knows how corrupt the nobles are.

With this realization in mind and the previous fight against death, Vincent started to change his actions and ideals all for the sake of surviving in this harsh world.

Two people can play this game.

To scam a noble could be a great win both physically and emotionally. However, it had to work.

"But... But... " Ester stared at Vincent with a puzzled frown. It was a dangerous thing to do, and she didn't think it would work.

"Can your magical contract be detected? If so, then we say Trek gambled his half of the contract inheritance to you. We could say that this formal contract was written by a noble as they witnessed everything." Vincent had a plan in mind while he let out a faint chuckle.

But for him, it was physically impossible to do.

Ester crossed her arm and stroked her chin. This idea gave her something to ponder on.

A few strokes later, her crimson eyes had a hint of confidence.

"This house was built from my parent's money so... I will try it. I have learned to read and write; however, it's been years since I last wrote something. I need some time to practice." Ester had the urge to listen to her savior. So she decided to try this plan and keep whatever remains of this cabin.

"As for the magical contract. There is a gemstone that the guard lord should have in his office to track the contract. The magical trace lasts around a week if one dies before it completely vanishes." Ester gave this plan a time limit.

The truth of him being an otherworld person was soon put to rest as she never showed any hint of being wary of his presence.

It seems she accepted him.

Vincent had explained enough in his story. How it all started by a jealous king, and it was all a lie.

Vincent had an idea of why Ester accepted him this quickly. He didn't try to take advantage of her, and the choice to wait was the best option.

Ester had learned to tell if a person was honest or not. She had seen the first person to fluster in nervousness, and boy did his face shine.

Ester went to find a quill, ink, and a piece of wood, then said, "Only nobles are taught how to read and write. A Noble would act as a guard lord and would be in charge of village guards. It's him we will need to meet"

Vincent understood. Now he identified the person they had to outwith for the property.

Ester sat on a chair and said, "Looks like it was a good thing to learn writing and reading from my father since my mother didn't know."

Ester wrote something, but it was chicken scratch. Vincent squinted his eyes, trying to understand what she wrote.

At least it seemed to be written in English, a language Vincent spoke, read and wrote his entire life.

"Hi meEE NamE iS EsTer. dO yoU unDaRStanD?" Vincent read the piece of wood with great difficulty. He gulped as he caught a glimpse of Ester feeling proud by what she wrote.

"Looks like you can read our language. It's not that bad, right? " Ester revealed a bright smile discouraging Vincent from pointing out her fault.

"Not bad. But you better try harder. We will need to fool a noble after all." Vincent tried to say this in the kindest way he possibly could.

Ester nodded with a light blush.

She remembered how much technological advanced his world was in his story.

How children from young ages would know how to write like an adult in this world.

Commoners only need to know the most basic and essential words. The written names and numbers of things to buy and sell.

Ester quickly removed the piece of written wood from his face and threw it somewhere in the cabin.

With the urge to get an honest compliment, she started practicing her writing skills.

The ink was old, as only Trek used to practice his writing. He always gloated how much better he was than his drinking and gambling mates.

More than half a day passed, as sharing their stories took time to tell. In the remaining time, Ester spent it alone practicing her writing.

Vincent felt bored. He was a prisoner to his own body. He couldn't move an inch, and time passed slowly.

It was a time for him to reflect. To plan and to also understand minor heal. Maybe after his soul power refreshes, he could learn the spell.

Lupa woke up. She franticly turned her head to look for Vincent. As her predatory eyes spotted her immobile prey, she rushed to sit by his side.

The sun hid, and the moon took its place.

The three of them didn't sleep. Vincent used inspection on his body from time to time while the two beauties stared at him.

Every time he let a sigh, the two spectators would sigh as well.

Hours after hours of waiting, a chuckle broke all the worry.

Vincent said with a happy smile, "Yes. My soul power stat has become twenty again."

"Soul power?" Lupa asked with a pair of curious eyes.

"It's my power. I spent twenty to make the retainer bond and twenty with a ton of pain to learn inspection." Vincent explained what he experienced.

Lupa and Ester both nodded in unison as if they understood his explanation. But to understand, they had to see.

Vincent closed his eyes.

He tried to image a scene where he was an injured game character.

Next, he imagined healing himself to tip-top shape as if he was never hurt.

The more times he imagined this, the more he felt like reversing time.

However, it wasn't enough. He had to imagine more.

Then he came to a conclusion. It wasn't to reverse time but to fast-forward the time. More specifically, the healing cells alone.

If not, then the healed person would grow old or young, depending on how a person thought time could heal the pain.

It was common knowledge that medicine could promote the cells to heal, grow, or evolve.

So by combining the time altering and medical knowledge into one, Vincent understood better how the healing spell might work.

Vincent opened his eyes.

The pair had a faint glow as if they knew his intention. With all the idea of how a heal could work, he said, "Learn spell."