Gregory

Olive followed Gregory into the forest. While walking, she observed the surroundings to find an escape, but brigands were hiding everywhere to guard the den.

She still didn’t understand why Gregory was treating her with care; was the person who she reminded him of so important to him?

Gregory walked next to Olive, a little further ahead. He glanced at her. That girl reminded him of Elaine: her brown long hair, her green eyes, her gentle but lively expression… She was so similar.

It was his shift to guard, so he had seen his fellows bringing a girl into the den. Everything was in the norm, but when he had glanced at Olive, he couldn’t believe his eyes: it was like seeing Elaine again in flesh and blood in front of him.

He couldn’t tolerate the way those four were treating her, so he decided to escort her himself to the leader.

"Is there something you’re good at?" he asked.

Olive glanced at him with an interrogative expression. What kind of question was that?

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Just answer."

Olive raised an eyebrow, skeptical, but decided to answer.

"I’m pretty good at cooking and, sometimes, I take care of the sick."

Gregory didn’t say anything for a few seconds. It seemed like her words troubled him.

"I understand" he replied, after some time.

The two of them stopped in front of a tree with a very large trunk: Olive had never seen anything similar. Gregory knocked at it and, after a few moments, it opened, revealing a refuge.

An old man was seated on a chair and was sipping something from a mug.

"Gregory, what do I owe this visit to?"

"Hi, leader. I would like to ask you something."

The man on the chair, who apparently was the leader, placed the mug on a small table.

"Oh? What a surprise, you never ask anything." He shifted his attention to Gregory. "Go on."

"We have a new girl, her name is Olive. She can take care of the sick, so I would like to ask you to keep her as an assistant for those who are affected by Silence" Gregory said.

The leader got up from the chair and approached Olive. He observed her, then looked at Gregory.

"Since you’re one of the best in the group, I’ll grant you that. She wasn’t anything special, anyway."

At those words, Gregory’s expression darkened, but he controlled himself.

"Thank you, leader" he said.

He took Olive’s arm and went away, while the tree closed again.

"You should be fine as an assistant, it’s the best thing you can aim for in your situation" Gregory said.

Olive glanced at him filled with gratitude. If it wasn’t for him, she would have been sold as a slave and ended up who knows where.

"Thank you, Gregory." She smiled.

After all, he didn’t have bad intentions.

Gregory led her to the place where they kept all the sick people. It was an area where all the trees were used as rooms and people were resting inside.

"Our leader’s system is able to manipulate nature, so he built these rooms out of the trees" explained Gregory.

He showed her an empty room with only a table in the center and shelves full of medicines and various ingredients.

"This is where you can stay."

Olive checked all the things that were there and selected some ingredients. She put them all into a bowl and used her system. The ingredients started spinning, then after a few seconds, they vanished; now, instead of them, there was a yellow liquid inside the bowl.

She filled two cups and gave one to Gregory.

"It's ginger tea, it will make you feel better" she said.

"I’m already feeling good" Gregory replied.

Olive was thoughtful.

"It seems like something is troubling you, though."

Gregory glanced at Olive’s eyes and accepted the cup. He sipped the ginger tea: it was good. Its warmth reminded him of the things that Elaine cooked for him.

"When I was a kid, my parents abandoned me" he said.

He didn’t know why he was telling her this, but he felt reassured by her company.

"I was homeless. I went on eating rats or stealing something from markets, until I met Elaine."

Olive listened to him, surprised. She didn’t expect him to tell her about his childhood.

"Elaine was a sweet young woman, she was beautiful and always smiled. She took care of me and other kids everyday: she came to the streets to give us the food that she cooked and played games with us. She was like the mother I never had." He paused. "And she looked like you."

Gregory glanced at Olive, full of resentment.

"One day, one of the kids stabbed her because she didn’t bring enough food and after that event, she never came back. I’m still angry with myself for not doing anything, but I was young at that time. I couldn’t protect her anyway."

"I’m sorry…" said Olive.

"It’s okay, that’s water under the bridge. After I understood that Elaine would never come back, I secretly went to her house to see her, only to find out that she was dead of Silence. The only person that ever cared about me was gone… I was totally lost." His gaze was fixed on the ginger tea. "After that, the leader of this group came to the village and recruited me. I have worked for him since then."

Olive glanced at Gregory with a gloomy expression. She didn’t know what to say. Somehow, she felt guilty for being so similar to Elaine to bring back his pain.

She was about to open her mouth to talk, but Gregory placed the cup on the table.

"I’m still on shift, so I have to go. See you." He got out of the tree without saying anything else, leaving Olive alone.