Mother

After that he waited a bit, and when he saw that the road was clear and there was no one around, he came out of his tent. The atmosphere outside was serene, almost all the people were in their own tents sleeping.

With slow steps, careful from every direction, and confirming that there was no one who could see him, he went toward the tent where Rania's mother was.

The bad thing was that the tent was not located in the corners or a bit detached, but right in the middle, surrounded by others.

So Hiroshi had to calculate every small possible thing, but to make matters worse, in front of the door there was a guard keeping watch.

Hiroshi had no other choice but to enter from behind by cutting the tent.

Hiroshi's heart was calm, no fear or senseless agitation, but he knew very well that one wrong move and he was dead.

Once he arrived behind the tent, he made a small cut with the knife and entered through it.

In the room there was no one, only a bed on which that woman was lying.

Hiroshi slowly approached, without making noise, his steps were light and well planned. The woman was sleeping but not deeply, so even a small noise could wake her up.

Hiroshi arrived close enough to the woman and put his hand on her cheek to wake her up.

The woman's eyes slowly woke up thinking it was her daughter, but then once she saw a masked figure staring at her, she panicked and tried to scream, but Hiroshi put his hand over her mouth.

"Stay quiet or you see this knife, you know very well what will happen. And if you think that since you have to die anyway you'll scream, you're gravely mistaken, because I have explosive powder on me, and if you scream I'll run directly to your daughter and blow myself up killing her. So stay quiet and cooperate with me, I didn't come to kill you."

The woman was in panic, she wanted to do something, but due to the illness she had no strength, and then the coldness of the figure in front of her was unmistakable. So she decided to do what he said, and nodded her head in approval.

Hiroshi removed his hand from her mouth.

"Good, now tell me, since when have you had this condition?"

"What?" asked the woman perplexed.

"Don't you understand? Since when have you had this illness?"

"For 4 months."

"Okay, specify for me the symptoms, where it hurts, when? How much? Tell me everything."

"Why are you asking me this?"

"DO WHAT I TELL YOU, I DON'T WANT UNNECESSARY QUESTIONS!"

"Alright, I sweat all the time, my back hurts, and I have fever. The resistance in my body is finished, I have no strength."

"When does your back hurt, and where?"

"All the time, maybe it's because I'm always lying down, and it hurts everywhere."

"Hmm, why couldn't the doctors cure you?"

"I don't know, they say it's an unknown disease. They did different tests on me but without success, even high-level doctors came."

"Very well, the situation is more complicated than expected. Now turn around and lie on your stomach."

"What do you want to do with a woman in this state?" she asked with a less than neutral expression.

"Do what I tell you and don't worry, I won't do anything bizarre to you."

She turned around slowly.

"Now I'll put my hand on your back and tell me where it hurts."

"Alright."

Hiroshi put his hand on her shoulder. "Here?"

"No."

Then he touched her sides. "Here?"

"Not here either."

Then he touched her spine. As soon as he touched it, a small cry came from her mouth.

"It hurts here then?"

"Yes, it hurts too much."

"Good, you can turn around. I already understand what you have."

"What do I have?"

Hiroshi looked directly into her eyes, without any kind of fear or confusion, and told her directly and coldly: "You don't have an illness but rather a curse. Someone has cursed you, because even if you're a humanoid lizardman, you still have traces of lizardman in your blood. Lizardmen have cold blood and don't sweat, but you sweat badly, and then your sweat has a very strong smell like acid. And then lizardmen have strong and resistant backs, stronger than humans, and it hurts you right there. It's not a coincidence, it's a well-planned scheme. Someone wants to see you dead but slowly so they can savor your suffering."

The words were without mercy, as if he didn't care whether the person in front could handle it or not.

Hearing this, Rania's mother became speechless. She couldn't understand anything of what the man in front of her was saying, she couldn't understand.

"But why would someone want to kill me? I haven't hurt anyone."

"I don't like to tell lies or give false encouragement, so there's a high probability that maybe it's a woman who wants your husband, or a person who wants to see your husband hurt so they can take advantage of the situation. In all cases they want your husband, so they targeted you, because you're a normal woman. I don't think anyone has conflicts with you."

Rania's mother quickly asked: "Is there any remedy to remove this curse?"

"I don't know much about curses, because they're not a physical thing that you can see with the naked eye, but a magical thing, and I don't possess anything about magic. But I'll try to do something, wait for the next time I come with some news."

Hiroshi paused and then said: "No one must know about this meeting, if you want to stay alive for a bit longer, okay? Because around your husband there are snakes that will be ready to strike you, and then about the cut you see in that tent, make some excuse and don't say anything, and figure out how to fix it yourself."

"Alright."

So Hiroshi left and returned to his tent.

In the tent, the woman, still perplexed, thought: What was all of this?