Four Mysterious Man (Part 1)

Martha and Ed look at their adopted daughter with a tense look. Half a year went by when they found Anne on the rainbow river. Every day, they could see there was something odd about her. It is in the way of her manner. She was awfully polite, and calm, for a ten-year-old, not to mention, she loves to ponder.

Anne loves to question everything. When they went to a picnic in the valley, she asked about any flowers and critters in the valley. Her questions were endless. Although they never complained about it, they were curious about how deep the knowledge Anne has. When their daughter asked them about becoming a healer, both were excited but concerned at the same time.

The two of them are unregistered healers. The entire village knew about it but never mind it. They needed a talented healer, and only a handful of healers were available throughout the kingdom. Their desire to help beats everything else. They don't want to be successful, which is a straightforward thing to do. Martha has a high level of magic, and Ed's knowledge of herbology is outstanding, on a par with the level of a master of the capital's herbologist.

Ed let out a sigh, and goes to his daughter, "Sweety, are you sure about this? It will be hard for you to become a healer. You need to go to the capital, and take a civil exam, not to mention…"

"Please, father, let me become a healer." Pleaded Anne to her father, Edward.

Martha couldn't stay quiet anymore. She tried to talk about this to Anne. "Dearie, it will be hard work to become a healer. Why not give it more time? Maybe another type of job would be on your liking?"

"No, mother, I am determined to become a healer. Please, support me on this."

Her eyes glinted with hope. As for Anne, becoming a healer is a new passion that she wanted to achieve in this world. In her own world, Anne always becomes the NPC of everyone's life. She purposely shapes her image as the supporting character. She loves to be living in a shadow, being a pillar for everyone around her, but without the need to be visible.

Feeling that this is a second chance at life, she decided it become something more than just an NPC. She wanted to become a heroine in her story. Anne is ready to work hard for it.

"Anne dearie, are you sure?" Asked Martha, once again.

Anne nodded her head. Her face is determined. Ed and Martha could see it. With a heavy heart, they agreed to her request, with some requirements.

"Alright, you can be a healer, if you want, however, you need to study extra hard." Said Ed to his daughter.

As her purple hair grew, she smiled and gave her father a warm hug. At first, Ed is taken aback, but he smiled back and embraces his daughter. Truly, they feel like a genuine family now. Martha gave her a simple task for her, tending to a minor cut, or helping them take care of the overnight patients. Ed and Martha got truer on their words. They give Anne a discipline of learning and never stop learning. After school, Anne will have to begin her herbology lesson and will need to help them in the clinic.

As strict as they can be, they still worry about their only daughter. In the afternoon, they let Anne play with the other village kids; they wanted her to enjoy her childhood as much as she could. After dinner, she read the herbology book and basic medicine and took a rest at ten o'clock. Anne enjoyed her routine. She acts more like her age, however; it was because she doesn't want the villagers to notice something is wrong with her. She is already an odd child to her parents, and that's already troubling enough for her.

Time passes by, and Anne is now a seventeen-year-old girl, a sweet girl, with purple short hair. She was known to be a friendly and devoted daughter to her parents, not to mention her hair color, a color that is so rare that no other people have it. Tomorrow, she will join her father in searching for medicinal herbs. As for now, she was in her bed, reading a thick book about how to treat animals. Martha saw her and smiled.

"Seriously, Anne, you don't need to know about tending to animals. We have the anime healer for that."

Anne's eyes go to her mother. "Mother, we have the responsibility to take care of the animals in this region. Animal healers only work for the city or even in the capitals."

"But they always come when we need them, aren't they?"

Rolling her eyes, Anne handed her mother a note from her drawer. "Look, mother, in just a few months, mister Dennison lost three of his Sheeples just because the animal healer was late."

Martha stared at her teen daughter. After seven years, she knows how passionate Anne is. Besides helping them at the clinic, she also loves to take care of the farm animals, the turkeys, and the chicks in their backyard. Even on their neighbor's farm.

"Dearie, remember to be focused on one subject only. Our capacity to gain knowledge is limited. God gave us a mind to be focusing on one skill only."

"That's ridiculous, mother, surely you couldn't believe that."

"Weren't they teach you about this in school? Our God, gave us magic but at the expense of limited knowledge, magic makes our daily life easier, but to gain a skill, you need to choose, what kind of job you want, and thus, it will become your duty for your whole life."

For her, the limited knowledge at the expense of gaining magic is unthinkable. In Anne's old world, there was no magic, but people lives their life according to what they wanted. Not to mention, what you were dreaming of in your childhood sometimes isn't meant to be what you want in your adulthood.

"Yes, I ask my teacher back then, a simple question that she laughed about it."

"Really? What kind of question that you asked her?"

"What if you're changing your mind after you choose your job?"

"Oh, that's ridiculous!" Said Martha, while she laughed at Anne's words.

"See, that was the same answer that Miss Jemimah gave me."

Martha took a deep breath and embrace her daughter. "I'm sorry, dear, I shouldn't laugh. Look, you need to prepare your bag for the medicinal herbs. Tomorrow, I believe you still hang it to dry in the backyard."

The mischievous Anne immediately jumped from her bed, giving her mother a shock. After seven years, she is already accustomed to her life in the Viora village. Her parents taught her so many things about medicine and healing attributes. She is ready to take the civil exams, but to have the exams, she needs a recommendation from the administrator of her area.

It will be hard to get the pass. After all, her parents still register as the healer, and she is also a girl with a mysterious past. How could she explain she was hit by a vehicle that wasn't invented in this world and got teleported to this world to the administrator?

The next day, Anne and her father were ready to go into the valley through the woods, she wear her straw hat, and put her sickles and her lunch box in the bag.

"Remember to remind your father to eat his lunch, he always forgets to eat." Whispered Martha at Anne.

She nodded and kiss her mother on her cheek. Anne and Ed walk through the forest to go to the valley and pick the medicinal herbs. They saw villagers on their way to the field. Most people in Viora village are farmers and cattle breeders. That's why Anne feels it is important to have a nearby animal healer.

The two of them are inside the forest, walking through vegetation and stopping once in a while for edible mushrooms. Until her father stops her to walk further.

"Stop, Anne!"

"What's the matter?"

"There's a colossal monster up ahead." Said her father, pointing at the destruction in front of them.

All the trees in the surrounding area were in shambles, and there was blood, fresh blood, visible to the naked eyes, but not enough to be smelled from their direction.

"Father… something happened…"

"Yes, I'm afraid so… Sweety, you need to stay here. I'm going to check up ahead."

Anne feared for her father's life, she cling to his arm and said, "No! I'm going with you, and that's final!"

Knowing how stubborn his daughter is sometimes, he rustles his hair and smiles, "Alright then, but if something happened, I want you to run back to the village and seek help."

Nodded her head to her father, she carefully followed him from behind. They crouched and enter the deep of the woods, where the monster was gone. After a while, they heard a fight. They rushed themselves to see the action hiding in the thick bushes. Anne saw three men fiercely fight a Minotaur, one of them using magic, protecting the body of two others. No, there's another man, laying on the ground, bleeding heavily. Anne and her father look at each other, and immediately run into the injured man, while the others are busy fighting the Minotaur.

"Halt! Who are you?!"

Anne turn around to see one of them running away from the fight. A sword was being drawn, and the tip of it was pointing at Anne, her eyes widening, while the man in front of them frowned. A man with long flaming hair and ruby red eyes, a beautiful man with pale white skin.

"I asked you once again, who are you?!" shouted the red hair man to Anne and her father.