Lumberjack

Anthony's headache had forced him to stop before he could fix his hearing and escape the noisy torment. But his suffering wasn't for naught. His ears were still compromised.

It wasn't constant, deafening noise anymore. Instead, Anthony's ears went from picking up every single sound and magnifying it to absolute silence before gradually starting to pick everything back up again.

However, Anthony wasn't so sure it was good for him to fluctuate repeatedly between blissful silence and ear-shattering noise. The bouts of quiet weren't long, but they were long enough for him to get used to the silence, even if he couldn't even hear when Thomas and Vira entered his room.

But as soon as he was used to it, the booming drumbeats, hurricanes, and earthquakes would return in full force. When compared to the absolute silence moments before, the sounds were even more overwhelming than they had been the first time. That, in turn, only made the ensuing silence all the more pleasant.

For now, there wasn't anything Anthony could do about it. All he could do was try to catch as much sleep as possible using the short breaks. His first order of business was letting his mind recover so he could gain control over his hearing as quickly as possible. After that, he could resume his training while thinking about why Thomas and Vira were so worried about his well-being.

Anthony had noticed that the two had noticed that he didn't hear them. He didn't even frown when they entered the room or talked to him, which had only happened when he searched his soul for knowledge.

Thomas and Vira didn't know that Anthony had searched his soul back then, so when he grew unresponsive, their first worry was that the mysterious illness had returned. They were two steps away from the door on their way to the doctor when they noticed it wasn't the same as last time.

"Thomas, wait a minute."

Vira stopped Thomas, who was about to carry Anthony out the door. Since Thomas held Anthony in his arms in a way that positioned Anthony's head on the former's shoulder, Thomas couldn't see his son's face. Vira, who was one step behind Anthony to pick up a couple of toys, blankets, and bottles, saw Anthony frown in displeasure at being carried by Thomas.

"Honey, now is not the time to wait. We need to go to Clemence at once!"

The calm, collected, doting, and loving air around Thomas when he entered Anthony's nursery had disappeared in a matter of seconds. Instead, he was frazzled like old rope.

Vira sighed and put a hand on Thomas' shoulder to calm him down.

"Butternups. Two deep breaths and a shallow one."

Thomas instinctively obeyed the commanding tone in Vira's voice.

"Clemence couldn't do anything last time. And last time I checked, he's still the same ordinary physician as last time. Besides, Anthony is fine. Look at him."

Vira pointed at Anthony's scrunched-up face, which almost never changed. His eyes were lively and darting from Thomas and Vira before sweeping around the room and observing everything around him. He was nothing like last time when his eyes had been hollow, and he had been nothing but a doll.

Thomas grabbed Anthnoy by the armpits and held him in front of himself to take a good look at his son. Anthony glared threateningly at Thomas, clearly displeased. But Thomas didn't shy away or get upset at Anthony's frown. His face softened with a loving smile.

"Aww… Our little baby is alright, isn't he?"

Vira nodded.

"He is. But let's bring him to Clemence for a check-up anyway."

"Yeah."

With that, Thomas hugged Anthony close to his body again and prepared to leave.

"Ahem."

Vira cleared her throat before Thomas could leave, and he looked back with a questioning expression. He couldn't understand why she stopped him when they were about to go and make sure that their son was okay. But when he followed her gaze moving up and down his body, Thomas realized he had forgotten his clothes.

Leaving the house in only his underwear would only be acceptable if Anthony was in immediate danger. But since he didn't appear to be in any pain or suffer any harm, they had enough time to at least put on pants and shoes.

Vira also wanted Thomas to put on a shirt since they weren't in a rush and to protect him from the lecherous gazes of the women in town. Thomas was her piece of eye candy to savor.

Vira took over carrying Anthony, and as soon as Thomas had dressed himself, they headed to Clemence's house, where he both lived and practiced medicine.

It was the first time Anthony had left the building while aware of his surroundings, so he made sure to take note of all he could see. He wasn't sure what he would gain from that. But maybe knowing where on the Mytriman Continent he was could help him gather resources and materials he could use to strengthen his body. But he already knew they were in a village and that the mana in the air wasn't very dense, so he didn't have high expectations of finding anything like that. Besides, even if he did find or discover anything, he couldn't walk, and Thomas and Vira wouldn't leave him unsupervised long enough for him to do what he wanted.

Instead, Anthony focused on the architecture to see if he could recognize it.

Unfortunately, all the buildings in the village that he could see were log houses, much like the one Thomas and Vira lived in. The only difference was that Thomas and Vira lived just outside the village, close to the forest.

Based on how cheerfully the other villagers greeted them, Anthony didn't think they were outcasts. It was more likely that they liked the privacy. As he looked at Vira's muscular body and callused hands, he was also reminded of the axe and piles of chucked wood outside the house.

Thomas' and Vira's house was probably located closer to the forest than the rest of the village so that Vira could do her lumberjacking whenever she wanted. That was probably also why the other villagers stopped tending their gardens or stalls just to greet Vira. She had helped get the timber for their houses. And Thomas, as a teacher in such a small village, was naturally close to the other parents, even if there weren't that many.