Hold Me

Diether ran away from home after he realized that he was being a burden to his family especially to his beloved sister.

He even learned that her sister was someone so amazing that she received an Arcana that hadn't been seen for more than a decade. She will soon be heralded as someone with a lofty identity and he will only be a disgrace for her.

He has a weak body that he always had to skip physical education classes to avoid straining his body too much. He was easily bullied and didn't have the strength to protect himself.

Although he focused on studying Spiritual Energy, body strength could not be easily compensated just by learning how to utilize the Energy.

After all, the Spiritual Energy can only be maximized if the practitioner possesses an Arcana or a Magic Weapon. If there was no such weapon, this Energy can only be used as a Shell Protection that could cover the practitioner's whole body. But this was still very weak and would consume a lot of energy and concentration.

With all that in consideration, Diether decided to leave their house as he left a note telling not to follow him and not worry about him as he will take care of himself.

Unfortunately, on the first day of his run, his few savings were stolen from him leaving him unable to fend for himself and had to live under the bridge away from the town they were living at.

The bridge was safe since the travelers and merchants were always using this bridge to reach the Wailing Forest located at the far south of their Rosen Town. It means that there will be no stray evil beast visiting him while asleep.

But he couldn't live like this, he had to prove not only to his family but to himself that he can live alone.

On the next day, he met some good-natured people offering him a job as a garbage collector.

"Really? You would accept me?" Diether was glad to hear such an offer. He almost gave up finding honest people ever since his money was stolen by some old men guarding the gates of the town.

"Of course... We are all homeless here. We ought to help each other..."

"Hey! I have a home. I'm only a beggar!"

"Hahaha! Anyway, what's your name, kid?"

There were three old and dirty men in front of him and they don't seem to be bad people.

"I'm Diether... Seniors, may I know how to call you?"

"Of course... You are now part of the family, I'm Vic, this is Wally and Josh. All of them were skinny and their face was blacken not just because of the color of their skin but due to the thick dirt. Who knows how long had passed ever since they took their bath...

Many days had passed as the three learned about his weak body. They didn't mind it and made considerations for him.

"You only have to take care of the Summer Sun District. It's the nearest district so you can easily collect the trash and dump it here. How about that?"

"T-thank you, Uncle Vic!"

"Don't worry about it... Just don't forget us if you grew up strong someday..."

"That's right... Anyway, by letting you participate in garbage collection, you will earn some money and leave here someday. Although it lessened our earning, you have to think of your future."

Diether was touched by their kind words as he even decided to give a portion of his income to them telling them that he was still young and didn't need to spend a lot. Of course, the three of them happily agreed on that.

Every garbage collection in a district earns them 5 copper coins. Since Diether was only tasked at a single district, he was only earning 5 coppers in every collection. The others were working on 2 or more districts earning more than twice his income.

During the first day of his garbage collection, he had noticed a weapon that was emitting a mysterious aura. Based on his study, it was most likely an Arcana but...

Why would an Arcana be thrown in the garbage?

Then, Diether remembered the books he read. There was an article telling that there were Cursed Arcanas before that eats not just the Spiritual Energy of a person, but also their Soul Energy. If someone touched them, they could no longer get away with it as they will have to be the slave of such Arcana. It was a scary rumor about an Arcana. He didn't want to be its victim.

This made him very cautious around the bamboo sword. He even made sure not to hit it with the trash he was dumping since he was afraid that the sword would curse him. He didn't tell his seniors about this as he was afraid that they would be blinded by money and try to take for themselves and sell it to the black market. They might die if they do so.

After many days had passed, Diether had gotten used to his current job. He no longer had to study at school and he could practice his Spiritual Energy alone. He even noticed that he was improving faster than when he was at school.

Unfortunately, the happy days didn't last long as the new family he treated had betrayed him and were now planning to take his head off.

"Who ordered this?!" Diether asked as he was looking cautiously at the improvised knife that Vic was holding.

"It is none of your concern..."

"Just stay where you are and let us kill you. I promise that it won't hurt."

"You--- I trusted you!"

Diether was saddened and angered at the same time by learning this reality. He was really too young and could not even identify the good and bad people. If only he had the strength to protect himself, if only he had grown even like a normal person, if only his body was not this weak--

Diether was on the verge of breaking.

Luckily, he learned a bit of Shell Protection so he was only wounded twice before he managed to put up a defense. It stopped him from excessive bleeding and getting wounded again. The madness of this world made him realize that he can only trust himself.

He runs away and he didn't know what direction he had taken since he was only running by instinct. Soon, he was feeling weakened as he was starting to lose control of his Energy. He wanted to live but it seems that it was already his time...

'I want to go home...' Diether thought but there's nothing that he can do now. He will die here unbeknownst to his sister and mother.

This was what he thought until his eyes saw a light coming from the mountain of trash.

His hopes were ignited!

'If it is the Cursed Arcana... Maybe...'

His left shoulder and right thigh had a gaping wound as he struggled to reach the trash mountain.

He crawled not caring about the additional bruises and wounds due to the pieces of shattered glass and sharp metals.

'I can do it! Curse Arcana! Please! Give me the strength to kill these disgraceful people!'

Diether grabbed the bamboo sword as he put all his hope in this Arcana.

***

As soon as the shinai was grasped by the kid, Reiji quickly realized how heavy his injury was.

"Guide! Is there any Skill to heal this kid?!"

[ Heal and Rejuvenation Lv 1 ]

[ The user can spend 1 SP to provide treatment to any target. The higher the level, the higher quality of healing and rejuvenating. ]

[ Price: 35 SP ]

"This--"

'What a robbery!' He complained but there was nothing he could do.

"Fine! Take it!"

Reiji quickly used the Skill for the kid.

[ You have spent 1 SP to use Heal and Rejuvenation Lv 1]

[ The target's health had improved by 5% - Health is now at 30/100 ]

[ Target is still unable to move. ]

"W-what? Then spend all of it! I won't let him die on my watch!"

[ The target's health had improved by 45% -Health is now at 75/100 ]

"Alright, that should be enough... use [ Sense Link ]"

"Ehem... Ehem... Kid! Do you hear me!"

"Uh? Yes... Are you the Cursed Arcana? Thank you for healing me. I can exchange my life as long as you help me defeat them..."

"What? Shut up for now... Allow me to use [ Take Over ]. Don't resist, okay?"

"Y-yes.."