Chapter 19: Chapter 14: Aftermath Pt.2

[Alex POV]

"Cleric get over here now!" Alex roared out.

Damian was lying at the base of the tree he had been sent into earlier, his jaw had been completely unhinged on the right side, and if not for the fact it was still connected on the left, it most likely would have fallen off.

He was also missing teeth and the right side of his face was covered in blood, be it Igor's or his own, not to mention half of his tongue had somehow gone missing.

Elise had fixed as much of the damage to his jaw as she could, but with such little Mana she couldn't do much.

After Igor had died the rest of the bandits either fled or wound up dead as well.

"I-I'm here!" A young woman, who was only in rags that barely covered her private parts arrived at where Alex, Elise, and Damian were. Once she saw the sight the girl released a surprised shriek.

Suddenly Damian's finger twitched and his eyelids fluttered a bit.

"Shit he's waking up! Heal him! Now!" Alex screamed at the startled young woman. She had been one of the hostages the bandits kept, but luckily she hadn't been touched yet.

"R-right." The girl placed her hands just over Damian's broke jaw. "O sacred light..." She chanted her magic and soon Damian's jaw lifted itself up and reattached itself to his skull properly.

Damian had started making noises that consisted of indiscernible grunts, before his eyes slowly opened.

Alex looked into his eyes, on his left and her right a beautiful bright blue iris made it's home in the center of his eyeball, but on the right side a nasty tear had taken all color and shape from the iris that should have been there.

"W....w..." Damian tried speaking, to which Alex told him, "Shut it. You're too injured to speak. Just close your eyes and sleep, all will be fine soon."

A moment later Damian's eyes closed. At this point the young woman was sweating and breathing heavily. Damian's jaw had been fixed, a few of his missing teeth were regrown, and his tongue had regained it's shape, but the woman couldn't do anything about his broken ribs, which he had many of, not to mention the internal bleeding that had started due to them.

"I-I'm sorry. This is the most I can do..." The woman was at a level higher than Elise, but even she couldn't heal so many injuries.

"... Leave." Alex said, to which the woman did.

[Damian POV]

'Pyra... Are you... Are you there?'

(Damian! I-I)

'Elise... Magic...'

It took a second for her to put together what I was trying to say, but then she suddenly spoke up.

(Right! Just wait a second! And... Done!)

I could barely keep my thoughts together. My head felt fuzzy from all of the pain I felt surging through my body.

I suddenly felt a warm light on my body. I knew this was Elise, since increasing the magic stat not only made magic stronger, and raised MP, but it also refills it a bit too. Elise probably felt she gained some MP and decided to use it on me. I had no way of telling how much she regained, or if it would be enough. I could only hope.

I could feel the agonizing pain wracking my body slowly go away, until it was almost all gone.

I opened my eyes again, and saw Elise looking straight into my eyes with a concerned look. I then remembered one of my eyes didn't work and closed that one.

"Well ain't this a way to wake up?" I said chuckling a bit, and then coughing my lungs out, actually spitting out some blood.

"Damian!" Both girls said, and then proceeded to re-break all of my ribs as they hugged me with a force a bear would be terrified of.

"Can't... Breath." I choked out, and honestly it was almost worth it. Almost.

The girls both jumped back from me, and I gasped for the air my lungs were pleading for.

Before I could say anything else, Alex had started trembling. I furrowed my brows before an "Oh shit." escaped my lips.

"You bastard... You promised me..." Alex had her fists clenched so hard I swore I saw blood leaking.

"Uh Alex let's be reasonable now..."

Alex glared at me, but I could see a deep anxiety contained within.

"Bastard. If you ever do something like that again I'll kill you."

I chuckled wryly before looking at Elise and saying, "So uh, like the gift I gave you?"

"You mean you refilled my Mana!?" Elise shouted out to God and everybody. Despite being quite dumb sometimes she seemed to have known exactly what I was talking about.

"Elise quiet!" Alex immediately reprimanded her.

Elise made a show of covering her mouth and nodding her head.

"Yeah, that was me. But I didn't do just that, your magic should be a bit stronger and you should be able to carry more Mana as well." I said laughing a bit while trying to stand up.

I felt I had some strength, yet I couldn't put any of it into my legs. If not for the rain beating down on me, I might've thought I had been paralyzed.

"Help me up, and don't give me that 'rest' bullshit." 

The girls reluctantly helped me up. I could barely stand on my own two feet, so they had to walk me to my destination.

"How many men are left?" I asked Alex. If everything went according to plan, then Alex would be even more willing to join me.

"Twenty-one..." Alex said. It sounded almost like she couldn't believe it herself.

"Would ya look at that... Ah by the way where's that bastard that sided with the bandits, I don't think we killed him during our little escapade."

"We've taken him into custody. He will be tried and convicted in Yale, where he will be sentenced to death." Alex almost sounded happy, and well I couldn't blame her. Alex had spent the last few days thinking all of her men, and friends, had died and she thought she would be next. Even if she cared more for her knights then her life that didn't mean she didn't care for her life at all.

After a moment the girls walked me into a tent, where Gareth was laying on a bed.

"He overused his power fighting Igor, and this is what happened." Elise told me. "Uncle Gareth will be fine in a few hours."

"... Uncle?"

Elise nodded her head. "He is my uncle, and the reason I joined this squad. I love him a lot but he can be very dumb sometimes."

I turned my head towards Alex, since she seemed to like to stay on my right side.

"What the hell happened when I was out? Why is Elise throwing insults at people?" 

Alex sighed and hung her head low in an overly dramatic fashion. "It seems the childish Elise is no more." Alex sighed again.

'W-what the hell happened to her!? She's joking with me!? The ever serious Alex is going along with my joke!?'

I shook my head to both go along with the act, and shake off my thoughts.

"Sigh. What a shame... I'm going to miss her..."

"H-hey n-n-no I-I-I-"

I looked back at Elise, who looked as if she was going to cry at any moment. "It's okay Elise, I accept you no matter what! Even if you start calling me names I'll never abandon you!"

"E-eh... Eeeeeek!" Elise then ran away. With her sudden disappearance I suddenly remembered I couldn't stand properly, and with that I fell. I tried to hold myself up, but that only brought Alex down with me.

I turned my body to catch her and then hit the floor. It was quite painful since at least two of my ribs were still broken.

Alex landed on my chest, and speaking of chests have I ever mentioned Alex's, while relative small in size, were incredibly nice to the touch? I mean perfectly soft yet firm at the same time. Alex looked into my eyes from on top of me.

"Well hey there beautiful. I think I could get used to having you so close."

Alex didn't say anything, but a blush crept up her healthy olive skin. She leaned in closer to my face, to my lips.

'Well this is a pleasant surprise.' Just as our lips were meant to touch a voice rang out in the air.

"Ye youngins 're too loud." Suddenly Gareth spoke up.

Alex immediately tried to bolt up off of my body, but I held her there. I wasn't about to be blue balled, or well blue lipsed? Lip balled? I'll figure out a name later.

I closed the small distance between us and pressed my lips against hers. Her lips were incredibly soft, but surprisingly springy. Alex made a small yelp-esque sound and her eyes widened a bit. I held the kiss, not doing much else for only a few seconds, then I let her get off of me.

Alex stood up with a vengeance in her eyes. If not for her Title, she would have stomped on my family jewels.

I used Mana Enhancement and Martial Arts Mastery to lift myself up as well. It was a bit difficult but nothing I couldn't handle.

Once I fully stood up I saw Gareth with a very satisfied grin on his face. "Do ye two childr'n h've a thing goin' on?" He asked, to which Alex started stammering and trying to explain that it was all just a misunderstanding.

I wrapped my hand around her shoulder and brought her close to my chest. "That's right old man. I pulled the hottest girl in the entire squadron, whatcha got to say about that?" I returned a smug smile of my own. 

"Ahahaha ye remind me o' me old days lad. Don't break too m'ny hearts now ya h're?" 

Alex was glaring at me so intensely she might have burned a whole through my injured eye. I couldn't tell since, well, it was injured already.

"Eh don't worry gramps, I may be a playboy but I'll treat all of my girls with the respect they deserve."

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I made a fist with my free hand and put it to my chest.

"Aye lad, ye bett'r treat Elsie with th't same resp'ct." Gareth said, causing me to tilt my head a bit.

"Elsie? You mean Elise? Oh right she did mention you are her uncle..."

Gareth nodded his head, "Elsie tis but a n'ckname for the lass."

"Well then, I promise I won't bring her any harm. You have my word." I said cracking a slight, but genuine, smile.

"Aye lad, t'would be a shame if I had to c't ye down." Gareth said with such conviction I almost believed he could. Almost.

"R-right... Uh well now that you are okay we'll go do some couple things or something. See ya later!" And with that I walked out of the tent, a fuming Alex in hand.

"Kids these days..."

"What the hell is wrong with you!? We are not a c-couple!" Alex screamed out at me, but made no move to walk away from me.

"Let's go somewhere private first, we have a bit to talk about."

"Y-you... Very well. We will go to my tent."

Heh. The lady screaming that she wasn't my partner just invited me into her room? 

Upon entering the tent I noticed it was much smaller than the one she previously had, back when I first woke up.

"Alright set me on the bed- hey wait isn't this my bed?" Everything from the sheets to the frame looked exactly identical to the bed I had slept on when Alex and Elise saved my life.

"W-we didn't have a spare bed! So I just l-lent you mine..." Alex sat me on the bed and looked away from me. It was hard to believe this was the same girl that was beating up trees to relieve anger.

I believe they had a word for this in Japanese fiction... Uh Tsundere was it? Kuudere? Eh who cares?

"You didn't do anything weird like sniff the bedsheets did you?"

"What!? How dare you accuse me of such a thing!?" She totally did.

"Right, right, my bad." 

I took a quick look at my status. Pyra told me that, even though Alex had killed Igor, I got all of the EXP from it, which made me feel kinda bad.

[Name: Damian Solace]

[Soul Strength: Mortal (Damaged)]

[Race: Human, (Sealed 1%)]

[Title: Prodigy of Flame]

[Level: 45]

[HP: 150/220]

[MP: 4300]

[Strength: 57]

[Constitution: 104]

[Magic: 146]

[Resistance: 103]

[Agility: 83]

[Remaining Stat Points: 55]

I had gained a few things from leveling up so many times. The first of which was a new conversion rate for constitution to HP. It too was now x5, but since I didn't have any special title to boost it's growth it would still grow much slower than my magic.

The second thing I gained was the HP guage. This let me see exactly how much health I had through my status screen as well as giving me a HP bar on the lower right side of my vision. It was a bit wonky to see, since I didn't have my right eye, but it was manageable.

But the third thing I got... Was the Inventory function. This was great news, since I currently had no easy way of storing anything. Right now it was limited to twenty spaces and each of them could hold 99 items. What's more is that items of a certain category, like clothes, compiled together in the same spot even if it consisted of different things like pants and shirts. I could then go through my clothes spot and find any article I wanted and directly bring that out. Or so Pyra told me, I actually hadn't had time to test it yet.

The last thing I got was a bit of information. Once all of my stats reached 100, I would start gaining another point for each of them per level, as well as two more allocatable stat points. This meant I would gain two points in every stat that wasn't magic or resistance, since I would be getting three in them.

"Alright let's keep this simple. Do you want to be stronger, more durable, or faster? Please keep your questions to yourself for now, I promise to explain more once Elise calms down a bit."

Alex squinted her eyes at me. She had always been quick on the uptake, but how was she meant to answer?

"... Stronger." She said after a moment.

"You have 55 'points' of sorts, how many should I put into your strength?" I asked, an innocent smile on my face.

Alex didn't ask any questions like I had asked, despite desperately wanting to. "Twenty." 

'Do it.' I made a show of snapping my fingers.

[Party Member Alexandra Hart has gained 20 points in strength]

Alex's eyes widened in an instant. I couldn't help but applaud how well this girl knew her body.

"H-how!? This- this shouldn't be possible!" I'm fairly certain this was the loudest I had ever heard Alex being. She generally spoke in a much more quiet and serious tone, but this was to be expected.

"What did I say about questions? Just think of this as a reward for the amazing kiss." I said with a devilish grin spreading across my face. I could see it in her eyes, the 'If I kiss him again will he make me grow stronger'.

"Ah but don't grow used to this, I won't reward you for spending quality time with me. I'll explain the actual reason when Elise is here with-" 

"I-I'm here..." 

"Gah! Wha- Elise!?" Somehow this girl had snuck up on me again. I swear she would make a better thief then cleric.

"S-sorry! I d-didn't mean to scare you!" Elise shouted out, bowing forward, her breasts swaying in the air. Perhaps I should have her bow for me more often...

Elise had gotten a change of clothes in her absence, probably from the wagon or her tent. A shame, I enjoyed seeing her in only my shirt, that had grown drenched because of the rain.

"Ah well nevermind that, just get in here. We have some taking to do." I looked back at Alex, "35 points left. Choose wisely." Alex's eyes went round. It seemed she had forgotten she still had points to spend.

Alex looked at her feet with a hand on her chin before speaking up, "Speed. Put it all in speed." She said.

"Making up for your weakness ey?"

I snapped my fingers again and Pyra put the remaining points in agility. This wasn't as easy to notice, since you had to be in motion to notice it, yet Alex still seemed to immediately tell it had worked.

She started trembling a bit before she launched herself at me. I was sitting at the edge of the bed, and Alex had wrapped her hands around my waist with her head just above little Damian... Really brings back memories of a certain awkward encounter.

Suddenly, and incredibly unexpectedly, Alex started sobbing into my gut, mumbling something about 'Father'. I looked towards Elise as I pat the sobbing Alex's back, but she just shook her head with a sweet smile on her face.

After almost ten minutes of just awkwardly patting the crying girl I finally spoke up. "Well I guess I owe you girls an explanation." During those ten minutes it took everything I had to keep little Damian at bay, and he was finally starting to get the upper hand on me.

Alex nodded her head and pulled herself away from me. She looked in my eye for a moment and then smiled.

Her eyes had become red and she still had tears and snot trailing down her face, but her smile... It made me feel some kind of way I hadn't before.

I could feel my own face heating up, which was incredibly surprising to me, so I looked away from the girls with a hand scratching the back of my head.

"Jeez it's too cute... Ahem anyways where to start..?" There was a moment of silence while I tried to piece together my thoughts. "Well when I kill monsters, or even people, I gain this energy I call 'EXP'. Once I gain enough of this energy I grow a bit stronger." I paused and let my words hang in the air, but the girls didn't say anything. Instead they were looking at me with a certain seriousness I had never seen before. "And well I gave you girls this ability too... Only thing is I had made it to where I gained your EXP, and so when you killed Igor I grew stronger instead of you..." I looked at Alex, who seemed to be in a state of confliction. It wasn't because I had stolen her EXP, but instead because of the existence of it. 

"But there is another thing I can do for you girls. I can give you pieces of my strength in the form of points, which is what I just did for you Alex, and what I did earlier for Elise.

Her face lit up at my words, "You mean... I stole your power?" She said slightly shifting in her place.

"You were the one to beat Igor, not me, so it's only fair. Besides you would have grown stronger if I hadn't accidentally hogged all of the EXP."

"I don't get it..." Elise suddenly spoke out. I had almost forgot about her.

Elise had her head tilted and she had one finger on her cheek as she looked upwards.

"Ah well think of it like this, when any of us beat a monster we all get stronger..."

"Wait really? But I thought that was impossible?" She said.

"Me and common sense don't like each other much." I chuckled slightly, before trying to stand, and landing back on my butt.

"Still can't walk huh?" I muttered under my breath. To be fair I was lucky to be conscious. "Alright Alex I hope you haven't forgotten your side of the deal. I'm fairly certain this counts as improvement." I smiled towards her and beckoned the two girls to help me up.

"Of course. I am no longer fit to be a Commander regardless." Alex said as she and Elise brought me to my feet.

"Don't be so harsh on yourself. It's not your fault you are a good person." And with that we walked out of the tent, and would resume our march towards the Dukedom of Yale.

Once the rain cleared up that is.

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