Hidden in the woods

Despite his heartbeat having considerably calmed down, it still beat faster than normal. Covered up in sweet, Ian's body trembled nonstop. Even the cloak wrapped around his body didn't help him feel any warm. Underneath him, the grass was covered in short and small strands of light blue hair, soaked in blood. He kept rubbing his hands together, ridding himself of any impurity.

"Huuuuuu...."

Bushes rattled around him, indicating people gradually walking his way. They were conversing with each other, arguing whether to look for Ian together or let Raven take care of things.

Ian curled his body further, hiding beside the tree trunk. 

It'd be good if no one found him here. 

"My lord."

But of course, that couldn't happen with Kieran around.

Tap

As Ian watched the swordsman's boots stop across him, something warm wrapped around his body. Kieran's cloak was heavy, thick, and all-black. A spark contrast to Ian's taste. 

Yet it was kind of comforting. The thick and heavy cloth helped his trembling body to warm up a bit. 

Seeing this, the boots moved to the side. The man stood beside him silently. 

It was unknown how much time passed like that. What dragged Ian out of his daze was a sudden outburst of cheers coming from the village. 

Once he raised his head from his knees, a childish face came into his view. Lior lowered his head instantly and jumped at him. Without exchanging any words, he stationed himself inside Ian's shirt, rubbing his head against the man's chest. 

"We've got to tend your wounds." 

Raven finally shattered their long lasted silence with a sentence that was more like an order. 

Glancing at his body, his clothes were soaked in blood indeed. Despite its bleeding having stopped to some extent, his right arm burned with pain and small wounds and cuts stung all over his body.

Ian didn't respond.

"Eleen will be mad."

"..."

Why, his wound wasn't that bad. 

"...Yeah."

But he agreed with that. 

'Did I push her away back there?'

He couldn't remember it clearly, but he probably did. 

It was so rude of him. 

"I could've killed all those things by myself," Raven added, somewhat disgruntled. "There was no need for your interference."

He huffed, as if seriously offended. 

Ian doubted that statement.

"Sorry."

But if he'd offended someone, he needed to apologize. 

His voice, despite faint and weak, was loud enough for Raven to hear.

"....huh?"

Despite not looking at Kieran, he could sense the man snap his head to the side. A pair of eyes stared at him for a second.

"No. Your Highness doesn't need to apologize-"

"DON'T call me that."

His words were interrupted by Ian's loud retort. It was so sudden and high-pitched that Kieran jolted up, being caught off guard. With his mouth wide open, he glanced at Ian's face, only to find an agitated, disgruntled expression on his face.

Kieran flinched before hastily bowing down.

"I apologize-"

"Stop!" Once again, Ian raged. "Don't treat me like that. Be normal. Be normal!"

As he repeated, Ian dragged his body back, distancing himself from the puzzled man. 

"Normal. I'm a slave. I-I'm just a slave."

Huuuu. He sucked in some air as he repeated. His chest fluttered once again. 

"I- Uh..."

Not knowing what to do, Kieran raised his hands up with a stiff face, shutting his mouth for the good. He watched as the pale prince gasped for air once again.

It seemed it would've been better if someone else had come instead of him. 

What was happening?

A side effect of using his holy power?

Kieran didn't remember ever seeing this boy show such symptoms even after fully using up his Aether in the past. Well, that was more than a decade ago so a lot of things must've changed...

'But still...'

This wasn't normal. 

Just then, he noticed the man attempting to get up. He hesitated to support him, but Ian pushed him away just like before. He stumbled a bit before finding his balance and then returned Kieran's cloak back to him. 

-M-master, are we going to eat? 

Lior shifted his body a bit, tapping his master's chest with his soft paws, and rubbing his fluffy head against his skin. The next instant, the once racing heart started to calm down a bit, and a brisk answer could be heard through their link. 

-...Yeah. Let's go eat. 

Even the words spoken through Aether carried an exhausted tone.

-Yaayyy~ Lior is so hungry. Let's go eat. Let's go eat.

-.....

Aether creatures live off of Aether. They don't need to consume human food. 

Ian clenched his teeth. 

'So pathetic, in all the ways possible.'

To the point that his child needed to act and lie to cheer him up. 

So truly pathetic. 

Stomping his feet and stumbling from time to time, Ian dragged his body out of the woods. The village, once he entered, was filled with cheers and joy. Ian passed the elves and walked straight to where the elder and his daughter were.

Not just the two, but everyone who spotted him jolted up. Some watched him in awe while some ran to thank him, which all were perfectly stopped by Kieran. Even when Alaric and the rest rushed to his side, Raven gestured at them with his eyes, using one hardly comprehensible sign language to tell them to stay away from his lord. No one understood his words, but seeing his strange actions was enough to scare them away. 

Standing right before the village chief, Ian stared at her and her two family members as if waiting for them to read his mind. 

"Uh... Good sir." The Elder searched for words, but no proper sentences could form in his mind. The elf couldn't focus on the situation because his eyes were glued to the man in front of him. A tattered and bloody cloak and a haggard face. His eyes were swollen, his face pale. He looked completely different from the man he spoke to not 30 minutes ago. 

Was he in such a state because of helping them out?

A sudden guilt struck the old elf. Shame dawned on him, lowering his head.

"We'll pay you accordingly as we agreed."

Instead of the elder, it was Amelia who spoke. 

"Is this enough?"

Brisk and cold. 

"Pardon?"

Ian pointed at the surrounding elves. They were all gathered to listen to their savior's words. 

"Will the village be fine after this?" He didn't wait for Amelia to respond. "For how long?"

The elves began to murmur among each other. For how long would they be fine?

"Are you talking about the World Tree's condition?"

"Yes." Ian paused for a brief second. "The sick are fine, and the danger is gone, but the main problem still remains."

He didn't purify the whole jungle. There were Elementals out of his reach that could move around and once again corrupt this land. In addition to that, there was another problem. 

"Our food and water sources too, aren't in a good condition."

The reason why a strange sickness spread among the elves. The main problem that was gradually destroying the village and the race.

They had to keep consuming the very corruption they had to fight in order to survive hunger. They fell into the corruption by simply living on this land, and would once again fall, soon.

"Do you intend to say that you can purify the world tree as well?"

"Yes."

The man didn't hesitate nor take a second to think. The elves surrounding them gasped. Such a thing could be done? This saint was capable of saving the World Tree?

"What do you want in exchange?"

Amelia got straight to the point. That was what Ian liked about this village chief. She was sharp and efficient. 

"Hey, are we really letting a mere human approach the World Tree-"

"Shut up Anton!"

And straightforward. 

"Don't think I've forgotten what you did while I was sick," The girl's eyes shifted to the bulky man. Her gaze, too heavy and fierce to match her cheerful face, bore down on the elf. A faint aura clad her body, pressing down on the others. "Everyone's actions will be judged soon enough, Anton. I'm just waiting for everything to sort out first."

After the initial surprise, Anton scoffed at the girl. "Yeah. You have to judge everyone, miss village chief." The man's eyes shifted from Amelia to the young elf standing beside her. "All and every sinner."

"...."

The joyous atmosphere suddenly shifted. Silence filled the area as everyone turned to look at Claus, who was standing stiff in the middle of the crowd. 

"Yeah." The village chief broke the brief hush. "Everyone will face the consequences of their actions. With no exception."

"...."

Once her words ended, murmurs rose up. Elves began whispering among each other, expressing a variety of ideas in that short span of time. What caused their voices to die down was once again, Amelia.

"So, what do you want in exchange for purifying the World Tree?"

"You'll sign an agreement."

"An agreement?"

Amelia scrutinized the human with interest. Despite being a young human, appearing to be of poor status according to the way he dressed and addressed himself, he seemed to have long thought about what he wanted to gain out of this conversation. It was as if he'd foreseen every one of their interaction. 

"What kind of an agreement do I have to sign, human?"

Ian closed and then opened his eyes. 

"I'll write it down and hand it over to you."