Reflection 2

{For this arc MC would be a Saint, and for that, the pure Golden flames need to return, so let the Healing begin.}

"Oh, you're the new neighbor, I have been wondering who it was that moved here." A young man said with a friendly smile while walking over to his neighbor, who was me. I had just stepped into my new home, a simple house in an area for the common people, this is where I wanted to live.

"Yes, I have been busy for the past few weeks. So I only moved in now… I'm Ryu by the way." I said kindly while holding out a hand, 

"I'm Tom, man you look like you haven't slept in days," Tom said to which I nodded awkwardly, I indeed needed some sleep.

"I was just coming to say hi, I will leave you alone to get your rest." He said to which I nodded, before saying goodbye and entering the house I got weeks ago thanks to Irene's help, but I have not bothered to come here.

I looked around for some time, before going to my bedroom, where I jumped on my bed. I lay on the bed, lost in my thoughts, rethinking my whole life and everything that led to what I was today… as for what I was, I was lost.

'That's right, this was an anime. I didn't realize this was a world until then.' I thought while closing my eyes. When my parents died, it was my first slap to the face that this isn't an anime. When Irene made me realize I killed people who had loved ones, it was another slap to the face.

It was this realization that left me in shock, and the fact that in The Holy Light Empire, someone could be in pain like I was hurt… I knew the pain of losing your loved ones, yet they very thought that thousands of people were suffering that pain thanks to me… well, I was sick with myself.

I closed my eyes, where I was hunted by those I killed and their loved ones. I faced them all for some time, Irene's words playing in the back of my head. I chose to walk the path of dirtying my hands, and I wasn't going to take a step backward.

"I made a mistake, a huge one!" I said softly, taking in all of their cries and curses. This was all a creation of my mind, I needed to face this head-on.

"Sorry, I will remember you all, a lesson that all life is precious… I shall never act again without deep thoughts. I fight to bring peace, not to spread pain. I forgot that… no, I never knew the weight of my actions. I never thought of how hard my task is, I thought of myself as some main character, so I couldn't be wrong… yet I have been proven wrong again and again." I said while looking at all of them, before bowing deeply

"So watch me, when I make more mistakes, hunt me, torture me, and throw me back on the right path," I said to which the souls all slowly disappeared, they were there, showing I had yet to forgive myself… but with this, I instantly fell asleep…

I slept for a full 24 hours, it was the best sleep of my life. But upon waking up, I went out and headed off to the store to buy something to eat.

I walked through the busy streets, looking at the many humans. Some had baby dragons they were going on walks with, some had stores run with dragons, to even shops run by only dragons. It was such a unique place, leading me to stop by every place to see what they sold or were doing.

"You're a new face, looking for something?" Entering a store that sold chairs and many other things, I nodded lightly at the woman who was missing an arm, which she replaced with an ice hand.

"Yeah, I just moved, so I kind of need chairs, pans, and other stuff," I said to which she smiled while leading me around the store, showing me around.

"Do you have a dragon?" She asked to which I shook my head lightly.

"Do you plan to have one?" She asked to which I scratched my chin unsure about the thought. Should I have a dragon?

"I'm not sure," I said lightly. In the past, I would have said no since I had no plans for looking after a dragon, but I wanted to start thinking of the future,

"Then if you have a dragon, you should buy this high-quality chair. They can withstand the might of dragons until they become teens. But if not, normal chairs are not only cheaper but they can also come in all shapes and forms." She said to which I nodded while looking around, before realizing I had forgotten to get money from Irene… no I didn't forget, I was too embarrassed to ask after the fuck up I made.

"I don't have money, I will go get a job first," I said calmly leaving the woman speechless. Out of shame, I was about to leave but she stopped me while looking at my refined muscles 

"I could give you a job if those muscles are not for show." She said to which I looked at my body in slight confusion, she pointed towards a chair, wanting me to pick it up. I did just that with such great ease she blinked 

"… what do you eat?" She asked in shock, to which I said nothing as I hadn't eaten in the past few weeks, and I was starving.

"What type of work do you need me for? By the looks of things, it's heavy work." I said in confusion. That chair I picked up felt lighter than a normal chair to me, but I wasn't normal. It took a lot of focus just not to damage the chair with my physical strength. I had to walk like I was on eggshells just not to level the whole empire with a careless stump of my foot. 

"Thanks to the war, we are low on manpower. Jobs that only could be done by dragons fall onto our hands, but it costs more to hire humans compared to dragons, a job that would take just 1 dragon to do would need 10 or more mages." She said to which I nodded in understanding, we walked to the back of the shop which was a forest created by a dragon.

"For every tree you could cut down, I will pay you 10 silver, and if you can turn it into chairs, beds, and other such things, that would more than double." She said to which I nodded while going over to get to work.

The money system of this era was around coins, copper, silver, and gold coins. 

1 gold equals 100 silver and 100 silver equals 1,300 copper.

Each coin is marked by the empire it comes from, which would greatly affect its value in other empires. 1 silver was enough for someone to buy a meal. A whole gold coin was enough for the normal citizen to go a month without worry.

10 silvers per tree, and even more if I could create furniture out of them. As for how much she was selling this furniture, the cheapest was priced at 95 silver. 

"Leave it to me," I said calmly seeing the opportunity for me to get better mastery of my physical strength. So, I grabbed an ax and got to work. To say the least, I went through many axes until I could better control my strength, something which left the store owner's eye twitching nonstop. She of course took a cut out of my paycheck for every destroyed ax. So I had to work to pay them all off,

"That should be enough to pay off my debt to you," I said after cutting down my 100th tree. I whipped away the sweat from my forehead, controlling my strength was harder said than done.

"Yeah, are you not going to try and build anything?" She asked with a faint smile, to which I quickly shook my head in fear of falling into more debt.

"My strength is a problem, I shall go get it under control before I start that off," I said with a sigh, to which she laughed while pulling out 4 gold coins, which left me confused.

"You made 10 gold coins today. The debt you owe was only 6 gold coins. It's a discount for you." She said stunning me for a moment, before I slapped my chest.

"Shop owner, this kindness will not be forgotten," I said seriously. She was being nice seeing I was broke, adding how my stomach was killing me, and she saved my life. I had to repay her,

"A soldier I see… retire or on break?" She said with a faint flash of sadness in her eyes.

"My name is Elsa by the way," she said to which I nodded lightly, remembering her name.

"I'm on break, out of shame, I didn't ask for my pay," I said with a sigh, causing her to look at me, wanting me to spill the beans, but I was too ashamed to say.

"I was also a soldier, but after losing my arm, my magic was crippled. I used Ice Spear magic," she said lightly, to which I nodded in understanding, there were 2 forms of magic, caster and holder magic.

Caster magic could be cast with the body, but holder magic needed an item. Card magic needed cards, and Ice Spear Magic needed both hands since a spear was a 2 handed weapon.

"Sorry to hear that," I said to which she shook her head,

"This is nothing compared to those who were traumatized or didn't even leave the battlefield." She said lightly, to which I nodded, not knowing what to say after hearing that.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to destroy the air like that... I guess I got lost in the past seeing another soldier." She said with a sigh, to which I shook my head.

"If it's not too much of a problem, then I would like to hear your story. I will be heading off soon, my first time facing the dragons." I said lightly, to which she paused for a moment before speaking of her experience in the war.

Her time on the battlefield was filled with countless battles, with her magic not being that effective against a dragon, she had to use magical items to get around this. She used her magical spear, one which channeled her Ice magic through.

She had managed to bring down 5 dragons in her time on the battlefield, it wasn't so easy to kill dragons, but although she killed 5 dragons she had managed to injure dozens. This wasn't much since there were dozens of thousands of dragons, even so, that was impressive.

She lost her arm against a Disease Dragon, its magic had got onto her arm, forcing her to quickly cut off her hand. Even so, the Disease affected her body, leaving her suffering great pain whenever she tried to use her magical power. Adding the form of magic she used, she stepped away from the battlefield and began running her family business.

"Thanks for listening, I guess I missed the battlefield, this feeling of being so useless..." She said with a downcast look, to which I shook my head seriously.

"You're not useless, you sacrificed enough," I said lightly, losing one's magic was something that was considered a fate worse than death. For those who never had magic, they wouldn't understand. But picture being born with billions of dollars, having the potential to get just about anything you want, but for all of that wealth to suddenly disappear overnight.

"..." I looked at Elsa's hand for some time, before saying goodbye, and went on with my day. Holding the 4 gold coins in my hands, I thought deeply about how useless I was.

'She is strong, to endure her pain and create an Ice hand... meanwhile, I'm so weak.' I thought, annoyed with myself. She suffered a huge loss, yet she was up through it all and was doing her part. She had created that Ice hand using her magic, and the longer it stayed, the more magic she was using, and it of course hurt her. Yet she was enduring that pain without even a flinch. She had a part-time job where she cooked and helped those affected by the war... what was I doing? I reached my breaking point, which is why I was here and not on the battlefield. I needed to get stronger. I needed to do better.

I walked through the streets for some time, looking at both the rich and poor parts of the empire. I saw many homeless people, and with my sharp senses, I saw a few who were soldiers. So, I bought a few meals, and I went over to sit down with one of them whose soul was just in pain.

"Hey," I said while holding out a bag of food. The man who had a dirty beard, and such a dirty smell it hurt my soul looked at me with some confusion, before his eyes brightened seeing food.

"Thank you." He said while taking the bag, to which I waved it off while sitting next to him.

"I haven't eaten in a while, I'm sure I can't finish all of this on my own," I said lightly, to which the man with a beard nodded while holding back his tears.

"No disrespect, but you're a soldier, how did you end up here?" I asked in a light voice, to which the man lowered his head.

"My wife cheated on me, it crushed my spirit, which in return destroyed my magic." He said through tears, causing my eyes to turn cold. This man's soul wasn't dark, and adding the fact he was a soldier, I quickly pictured the image of her cheating on him while he was out putting his life on the line to protect this Empire, yet the bitch cheated?

"You want me to go beat her up," I asked stunning the man who quickly stopped me.

"It was all my fault, she was right, I was away for so long. I gave her zero attention, forcing her to find love elsewhere." He said to which I stood up, looking at him in disbelief.

"You were putting your life on the line for this empire, I bet she was on the front of your mind through it all. Was she not the reason you fought? Instead of waiting for you, she betrayed you. This is gaslighting. She is avoiding taking any responsibility and making you think it's all your fault," I said stunning the man, I looked deeply at him for some time before speaking.

"You took on the weight of the betrayal, while she walked away like she did nothing wrong. Brother, you did nothing wrong. If you were not going to the battlefield, then who would? It's not your fault, heal your spirit, and get back on your two feet. This isn't your fault." I said while handing him a gold coin, he looked at the gold coin for some time, not knowing what to say for some time.

"Y-you're right." He said the pain in his eyes dying down slightly, while his soul grew lighter. I looked at him with a faint smile, before sitting down... and so like that, I made a new friend, Levi.