The first sensation Leon felt upon waking up was a dull ache permeating his entire body. That was followed by the feeling of multiple soft papers caressing his hands and face. As he tried to stretch out his legs, a sharp pain shot up his right leg that had him gasping and sitting up. The action resulted in his face becoming scratched by multiple small pricks. Eyes snapping open only allowed him to be blinded by the sudden light.

  Noting that the light was from the sun, his eyes slowly adjusted. Leon was sitting in a berry bush in what appeared to be the middle of the woods. A glance at his body revealed that he was fully geared while his sword was tightly grasped in his right hand. Gingerly, he began to let go, only for a blooming pain to emanate from his palm that had him squeezing the hilt tighter than before.

  It was then that the memories of the previous day began to come to him. His fight against the goblins had ended, and then he had fallen asleep in his bed. Judging from his surroundings, it seemed that, rather than his bed, he had instead fallen unconscious in the forest, which meant he was now down a leg and lost in the middle of nowhere.

  “Great,” he mumbled as he used his good hand and leg to push himself up, relying on his sword for balance on the ground. Hobbling his way out of the bush, he used his greatsword as a crutch, all the while looking around the surroundings to find any familiar landmarks. The only thing of note he could notice were some goblin bodies by him. Other than that, he seemed nowhere near the cave they had fought, and there were only four bodies that he could spot.

  Had his teammates moved him and the bodies? To what end was the question. Waking up inside a bush would imply he had been hidden. The goblins' bodies could then serve as bait in case any predators came sniffing around him and hopefully end with him being left alone. Looking towards the sky once more, the sun seemed just past or before noon, plenty of time for a rescue party to have found him. Did that mean they had left him for dead?

  Quickly, Leon checked below his chestplate and found his coin purse and training manual intact, and let out a breath of relief. Feeling around a bit more revealed that he was missing the map and the mission posting, however, and his relief turned into rage. They had left him and stolen the mission for the reward. Maybe they had hoped to come back later and find his body for his coin and gear. The only relief came from the fact that the cowards had at least stopped short of murder.

  Anger quickly dissipated and was replaced with a dawning anxiety. Evidently, he was completely lost and no one was coming to find him. It was just his luck to have survived the goblin encounter only to be left to starve in the forest and looted by the cowards who had left him to fight alone.

  A sound somewhere off to his left had him snap out of his anxious spiral. It was low and almost unintelligible, but it sounded like voices, human voices. Opening his mouth to call out, he paused. It may have been a rescue, but it could just as easily have been the very people who had left him here. Stumbling towards the voices, he tried in vain to stay as quiet as possible even with his metal clanking at every uneven step and his sword loudly snapping as it was dragged through the underbrush.

  So busy was he trying to limit his own sound that it left him only aware the voices had stopped when two small blades came out the bush in front of him and had him stumbling to dodge, falling on his back in the process.

  “Oh shit, are you all right?” Feline eyes scanned over him in concern.

  Two ginger cat ears poked over her head while a tail swayed behind. Leon knew this Katiine; she had been in initiation with him. There were memories of her as a good fighter but little else, including her name, unfortunately. As her eyes finished roving over him, they seemed to recognize who he was and the earlier concern was replaced with a vague annoyance.

  “I’m—” He paused as his voice came out coarse and scratchy. Taking a deep breath, he tried again, “I am not doing well. You would not happen to know the way back to the city, would you?”

  “It’s southwest of here.”

  The urge to bite his tongue was powerful, but from where the sun was positioned, it was all but impossible for him to tell west from east.

  “And southwest would be?”

  Rolling her eyes, she pointed off to her left. Following her arm and then looking back to the sun, Leon figured it must be just before noon if where she was pointing was west.

  “Thank you.”

  Making to stand, he stumbled down onto his left knee. Valiantly, he tried again while balancing on his sword before a jolt of fresh pain shot through his left shoulder and he stumbled forward. Thankfully, the Katiine caught him as he tried to steady himself with one good leg.

  “Don’t tell me you’re actually struggling with a monster,” a new voice joined them as Leon felt his strength diminishing.

  Unlike with the Katiine, there were no memories of the new boy standing before them, he did not look too impressive, though. Brown hair framed a pair of deep brown eyes that took on a look of surprise, followed by pity, and lastly recognition, if his sneer was anything to go off.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  Leon was not sure what he had done to earn the boy’s ire, but he could not find the strength to ask. Instead, he felt his right hand forcibly be unclenched from his sword as the arm was draped around the Katiine’s shoulder so that she could support him. It helped him stand just a little taller and look the boy in his face to see his clear disapproval.

  “I dunno, but he looks half-dead,” the Katiine remarked. “Goblins got to him.”

  The boy snorted in response. “What? Were some goblins too much to handle for the noble knight?”

  Unsure why those words had been said with such mockery, Leon was at least somewhat comforted by the roll of the Katiine’s eyes at the comment, even if a small smile did play across her face.

  “I made a mistake,” Leon croaked out, and the boy's sarcastic grin dropped. “I let my guard down.” He neglected to tell them about how his party had abandoned him and hoped they would not ask. One thing he did not need right now was his failure to lead added to the reasons for why these two seemed to dislike him.

  Doing his best to straighten up—an arduous task given the current state of his leg—Leon gave them both a short bow.

  “I apologize if I am interrupting your mission. I need help getting back to town and I can pay you then.” His voice cracked as he spoke the lie. Really, he could not actually pay them anything equal to his life—he barely had coin left. All he could do was pray that their mission was not too lucrative and they would not just abandon him as his last teammates had.

  The Katiine sighed and looked at her teammate. They shared a silent conversation between them, with the boy occasionally holding up a few fingers to signify a number. Leon tried not to let his fear shine through. If these two left him, then he doubted he would have the strength to get very far.

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  In the end, both turned back to him with contrasting expressions on their faces. The Katiine had plastered on an almost comforting face, while the boy merely looked upset.

  “It’s fine, we basically finished our job anyway and would’ve headed back soon enough.” The Katiine gave him a reassuring smile even as the boy huffed and rolled their eyes.

  “I do have coin that I can pay you for the help.”

  The boy seemed unimpressed by the offer, doubt scrawled on his face.

  “There are also some goblins I killed a bit back where I came from. You two may take the reward for them.”

  That seemed to cheer the boy up. Inquisitive, he looked to the Katiine who nodded before he ran off to find them. Meanwhile, she slid a foot under his sword's hilt and kicked it up, grabbing it with her free hand before handing it back to Leon.

  “Thanks,” he murmured.

  They waited there as the other collected the goblin ears, and Leon tried to recover his strength. There was no conversation or an attempt at one. Whether this was from a lack of desire or concern for his throat, he did not wish to consider. The Katiine merely stood there with him, bouncing one foot on the ground as they waited. As the minutes passed on in silence, she eventually decided her boredom was greater than her concern, or disdain. Once again, he chose not to dwell on whatever their true feelings may be.

  “Sooo, what’s with the juice?”

  Leon shot her an inquisitive look, and she gestured a hand towards his person. He looked down and checked his armor. Sure enough, there were patches of deep red smeared across him haphazardly. Using a finger to feel the substance, he noticed it was sticky, and he suspected that if he tasted it, it would have been sweet.

  “I woke up in a berry bush,” he explained.

  Her curious expression only seemed to grow at the statement. “And why’d ya fall asleep in a berry bush?”

  “It was… not a choice in my control.”

  She hummed in understanding, and he prayed she would not press him for more details. The Katiine did not pry but did begin looking him over.

  “You’ll want a healer if you plan on doing any adventuring in the next few days.”

  His spirits dropped at the statement of fact. It was true, he knew; he did not know any healing magic nor any first aid. Standing, even though he was supported, was already an ordeal.

  “Do you know any healers?” he asked, quickly lowering his voice before continuing. “Any cheap healers?”

  One of her eyebrows raised at the quiet request.

  “I woulda thought your family would know a high-class healer?” she confessed before then answering his question. “If you want cheap then the Guild’s got the best, but they don’t do nothing for the pain.”

  Leon was unsure whether to feel relieved or mortified at the revelation. Having never been to the healers himself, he could not know, but he had heard that the pain of healing a wound was almost twice as painful as receiving one. In his past, he had always assumed that those were just scare tactics from his mentors so that he would avoid injury. He was less than keen on revealing the truth now.

  “Do you know how much they charge?”

  The Katiine shrugged in response. “Wouldn’t know, haven’t been.”

  An exasperated sigh escaped him at the less than useful answer. Before he could probe her further, her partner emerged from the thicket with a bag dripping blood onto the dirt below. The boy glanced at Leon and then carefully skirted around his partner, making sure to keep the Katiine between himself and Leon.

  I suppose the goblins were not a pretty sight.

  It was somewhat humorous how the boy eyed his greatsword warily; at another time, he might even chuckle at the expression. Now was not that time, however, not with his throbbing headache or his crippled leg or the hole through his shoulder.

  “You wanna carry the knight or the herbs?” the Katiine asked her teammate.

  Judging from their expression, it was a needless question, something she evidently knew as she readjusted him to a more comfortable position for walking.

  “I’ll carry the loot,” he responded, and the Katiine rolled her eyes

  “Such a gentleman,” she drawled, adjusting Leon slightly, and they began their trek back to Torid.

  ~

  The trip was largely done in silence. Truthfully, he did not mind too much and was simply content for a peaceful trip to rest. The other two seemed unwilling to speak too much around him, a fact he attributed to being nervous in front of a stranger of his caliber.

  My previous caliber, I suppose. I am not exactly striking a very impressive pose with regards to my current condition. Would that I could walk on my own at the very least, somewhat humiliating to be lugged around by someone else.

  As much as it galled him, he had to concede to it being a nice sensation. There was a pleasant warmth provided by the Katiine’s body along with the support given by her arms. He had never really had anyone help him in such a manner, someone who did not force on him all the burden to walk or who would take all the burden by carrying him. She gave him the strength needed rather than make him find it himself or have him rely wholly on her own.

  Leon chose to ignore the warm sensation that was settling in his stomach. She was doing it for the coin, and he doubted she would have been able to carry him regardless. Really, it was just her carrying him as easily as she was able to. There was no doubt that they were not trying to be his friend, despite the treacherous part of his mind reminding him that she had picked him up before any offer of a reward was given.

  Shaking his head, he cleared himself of the thoughts and focused back on the walk. Occasionally, the Katiine would stop and point something out—a herb, he assumed—that the boy would quickly go to gather, or the boy would stop and inspect their surroundings before disappearing for a minute and returning with a more full basket.

  He would not begrudge them trying to collect more herbs on the trip back to Torid, especially not after the boy had spotted some strange herb and crushed it up before applying to Leon’s wounds. The pain had dulled considerably afterwards. Altogether, it was thankfully a fairly uneventful trip.

  Shortly before reaching the gate, he removed himself from the Katiine’s side, having recovered the strength to limp along on his own. In truth, he had felt strong enough to do so almost an hour beforehand, but had decided against it to preserve his stamina, certainly not because he had enjoyed the support. They walked together the rest of the way until they reached the gate.

  “I thank you for your assistance.” Leon bowed to the commoners; it would not do for them to misunderstand his gratitude. “I shall turn in the goblin ears and receive the reward, then you shall be able to find me at the Guildhall for your compensation.”

  The boy gave him an unimpressive glare at his words. “How are we supposed to trust that you’ll pay us back?”

  “You have my solemn word.” It was clear that his guarantee did not impress the boy who just let out a frustrated groan.

  “I was thinking more in terms of collateral.”

  This time it was Leon’s turn to glare. “I would not go back on my word.”

  He neglected to mention how little he had in terms of usable collateral. There was his sword and breastplate and then the rest of his mostly leather gear that would undoubtedly now need repairing. He also had his father’s training manual, but that was much too precious to use as collateral for a mere one and a half silver.

  Technically, he had the coin to pay them now if he included the bounty, but that would require showing himself to the guildhall in his current state to collect the coin before his visit to the healer. Parading himself before the Guild in such a state would do nothing but start rumors, and his image was far too important to risk in such a way.

  The boy remained unimpressed but did look over to the Katiine for support. She eyed Leon sharply with a gaze that told him he was being evaluated. Trying to meet her gaze confidently, he attempted to not give off the pathetic state he felt. Eventually, she found whatever it was she was looking for and shook her head.

  “He’ll pay us back later, Rayne. It wouldn’t do for a noble to be in debt after all.” She gave him a small teasing smile, but he just nodded along.

  “I am at the guildhall every morning to check missions. If you approach me tomorrow, I shall have your coin. This, I swear.” Bringing a fist over his heart, he made the promise.

  The gesture caused the Katiine to hide a small laugh behind her own fist while the boy’s glare deepened. After a few seconds, he let out a groan in resignation before tossing the bag of goblin ears to him.

  “Fine, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  With that, the boy and Katiine walked off with their loot. Neither turned to look back at him. Burying the disappointment he felt, he looked towards the various shops dotting the Adventurer district for the healing house and made off.