The Return of The Saintess

The nymph froze at these words, and not even a shiver made her tremble. Eiji, fascinated by the course of events, slowly approached her. When he was within sword range of the dryad, he could read her mana flow in detail. The mana in her roots was converging on her heart, swirling freneticly.

Her body changed again, becoming thinner and thinner, almost human in stature. On her face were two eye sockets, empty at first, but quickly filled with magnificent irises of deep blue, a few tears dripping from them.

"I remember... I'm back."

Her crystal clear voice had changed as well. Just as bright, but the tone was more human. Suddenly, an even stranger phenomenon occurred: his bark crumbled and fell off in pieces, revealing an epidermis almost as pale as the walls above. The process accelerated until the naked body of a young woman of rare beauty was exposed. Her extremely long hair flowed down to her ankles, while her cerulean eyes were probably capable of enchanting any being in the world. Her face showed a large smile, contrasted by the tears that kept streaming down her immaculate cheeks.

Seeing her like that, Eiji naturally took off his leather coat and approached to put it on her. But when he was only halfway there, the young woman lost consciousness and slowly collapsed to the ground. With a deft movement, he rushed to her and caught her before she hit the ground. Carrying her in his arms, he covered her body with the cloak and turned his gaze to his mentor.

"What happened to her?"

He smiled back at him.

"I am not sure. We will discuss that later. But don't worry. She seems fine. She just used too much mana. We should leave before things get out of control. Take care of her. I'll ask Irina to find a place for you to stay while I ask around town."

Eiji gently took Ophelia in his arms and followed him as he headed towards the city gates. They passed by many soldiers, but none of them dared to say anything to them. The creature was no longer hostile, and more importantly, they were all too frightened by Tahrren's magic to say anything to them.

They passed through the doors, Irina waiting right behind them. She immediately noticed the woman in young Higashito's arms.

"Who is she?" she asked, a little taken aback.

Tahrren approached her, put his hand behind her shoulder, and whispered in her ear:

"I'll explain later, but he's someone important. Both to our fight against the Immortals and to Ophelia as a nation. So you'd better find her a comfortable place to rest."

Irina chuckled slightly, hiding her smile with the back of her hand.

"I see, I see. So that's it. I'll find you a nice roof right away!"

As she walked away from him and led Eiji into the city, Tahrren couldn't help but worry and scratched his head.

"I hope she didn't misunderstand."

Finally, he smiled at them as he watched them walk down the main street. Although they attracted some attention, he didn't worry about them. After all, Eiji wasn't that weak, and Irina was with them. Finally, he turned back to the soldiers, who were still recovering from the battle they had just fought. The few bodies lying on the ground were carefully picked up and placed on wooden planks. Priests were sent to perform the first funeral rites. They covered the bodies with a white sheet, regardless of rank or origin.

Since he no longer belonged there, Tahrren moved away from the area and headed for the great temple instead, hoping to learn more about the legends and stories of the region. Especially those that mentioned the First Saintess, Ophelia. Although he knew the basics, he was no expert on this region's history.

Meanwhile, Irina took Eiji and Ophelia to their new apartments. It took her less than fifteen minutes to find a place for them to rest out of sight. Although it was only one room, there were two beds, a kitchen, and enough furniture to make life comfortable.

Eiji approached one of the beds to place Ophelia on it. Ophelia had not yet woken up, but she was showing signs of recovery, especially her face, which was getting more color.

He gently laid her head on the pillow and removed the few hairs that covered her face. He stood and walked over to Irina, who was still waiting at the door.

"Thank you, Irina." He greeted her quickly with a nod. "If there's anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate."

She smiled slightly before answering him.

"Come on, come on. You've already helped us enough by keeping the monsters at the city gates! It's more like I should be thanking you. Anyway, I have to leave you now, I'm busy. The others always take advantage of my absence to dawdle!" she said, shaking her fist.

Before she left, she put her hands on Eiji's shoulders, causing him to lose his balance. Irina was a true force of nature!

"Take care of her, okay? If you make her sad, you'll have to deal with me!"

She walked away laughing loudly. Eiji preferred to ignore her last words. After all, she had misunderstood!

He took a basket and looked behind him to see if she was all right before leaving and closing the door behind him. He had some shopping to do, so he decided to go to the market. First, the poor girl had no clothes. She would also surely be hungry when she woke up. He had a nice kitchen, but no ingredients!

On his first trip through the city, he noticed a few stalls on the main street and the adjacent alleys. Although his atypical features attracted attention, he didn't care and continued on his way. First, he visited a tailor.

Although it was about buying women's clothes, this area was not foreign to Eiji. After all, he was the one who mainly took care of his sister, and clothes were part of his regular shopping.

Unfortunately, his wallet was close to empty. He didn't want to buy expensive clothes, so he settled for a simple but elegantly cut white dress and underwear. He folded them and put them in the bottom of his basket before leaving the store. On his way back, he bought some ingredients for a simple but nutritious meal.

When he came back to the apartment, Ophelia had not moved, and Tahrren had not returned. He placed the ingredients on the kitchen counter and the dress in the closet by the bed. As he walked past Ophelia and saw her sleeping peacefully, he was reminded of the years he spent helping his sister, who was often bedridden due to her illness.

Then he went again to the kitchen and began to prepare dinner: the sun was about to set, and the sky was turning red. Tahrren would surely be home soon, and he was getting hungry himself. It had been so long since he had prepared a meal, and he had managed to find some rice!

He began to peel the vegetables: some would be used to make a soup, while others would accompany the Nixian meat, which had been marinated in a sweet-salty preparation made from seeds and plants.

The strong smell of the cooking ingredients spread throughout the room until it caressed the nostrils of the sleeping girl. She smelled it for a few seconds before suddenly standing up. She looked around, a bit lost.

"Where am I?"