"How about that meal?"

“Ahhh.” I let out the sound while stretching my arms.

Finally, after spending a full day in bed unable to do anything but sleep and be fed, I think I’m once again able to move. It feels so good to finally be able to move again. My legs feel as though they had forgotten how to stand on the day they had spent taking a vacation.

I made my way over to my sundress, which had gone through a great cleaning in order to make sure all the stains from the other day were gone. It looked as though it was replaced by a replica from how clean it was. Picking it up, for some reason it felt heavier than before.

While I was finally able to move, I guess I still needed a bit more time to recover until I was completely back to one hundred percent. I decided to test something just to be sure I was ready to leave.

Holding out my hand, I started summoning ice in front of me which cooled both the room and myself. I then released a bit of fire, warming the room up once again to where it was originally.

I headed for the bathroom to clean myself up. While it was helpful to have Requa reach all the spots which were far harder for me to reach, it still felt a little awkward to have her help. This was not to mention that today I had to leave really early. I didn’t want Requa to be alerted about the risky maneuver I was about to pull.

Cleaning myself off, I dried myself with a mix of fire and wind magic. After that I, made my way back to my polished dress. Putting it on and pushing my hair out from inside of it, I was finally prepared to go. But I think I should probably grab a quick bite from the kitchen. While no one would be awake there, they would always leave snacks out since I normally wake up so early.

Grabbing the map that the boy in the village had given me, I made my way through the large estate whose layout, after a lot of work, I had memorized. Well, mostly. At least I got down the parts I needed to walk through. The rest were parts I never had to go to, so I never bothered learning where and what they were. To be honest, I don’t quite know where the front door was.

At least I knew where the courtyard was since it had been right in front of Clauffer’s room. I could just make my way out from there since it would be far easier than trying to hunt down the missing exit. Reaching the kitchen, I saw that the usual cookies were left out on the table. However, it seemed as though they left out some peez for me as well!

Disregarding the cookies, I instead chose to scarf down the peez. In mere seconds, the gooey food was entirely removed from the outside world, instead now existing in my stomach. The peez tasted familiar, as though it was Requa who had made it. Ah, that must be it. Requa probably left it out for me.

The thought of Requa preparing the peez for me had started to make me sad as what I was about to do would cause trouble for her instead. Well, it’s too late to rethink it now. After all, I would have slept in longer if I wasn’t going to do it. I was already awake, so it would’ve been a waste of time to wake up so early just to do nothing but eat.

Resolving myself further and giving an apology to the image of Requa I created in my mind, I made my way towards the dungeon. I decided to increase my pace as I didn’t want anyone to wake up and catch me before I was able to get out. With this increased pace I made short work of the hallways and stairs leading to the dungeon.

When I reached downstairs, I had to try and remember which cell the boy I was looking for was held in. However, there had been so many it only made it harder and harder to remember. I guess I had to check every cell I passed by.

It shouldn’t be that hard considering his unique pine green hair and the fact that he was strapped to a wall, unlike most others who had only been held down to a table. But to make sure, I hurried through and did it as fast as possible. The more time I spend, the less likely we’re to get out of here.

I also needed to go heal the girl today. Even though she doesn't know I’m coming, keeping her waiting any longer would be far too cruel. I needed to do this for her. But for now, I have to start looking.

I briskly walked through the dungeon, looking into each cell. The silhouette of the prisoner I was looking for had been held in a unique part of the cell. After checking about fifteen, I finally found the one I was looking for. I unlocked his cell and quickly entered it.

It seemed he had been asleep, however, I had to wake him up quickly as wasting more time wouldn’t be the best. I know! I’ll use ice magic, it’s bound to wake him up. If it doesn’t, I think I’ll just settle for punching him. Actually, thinking about the two options now, punching him seems far easier.

I decked him in the face, causing him to immediately wake up. He had been very confused and panicked. He looked around from side to side as quickly as he possibly could, trying to take in everything around him. In his haste, he had somehow not seen me even though I was standing right in front of him.

While it was entertaining to watch, it was wasting far too much time. I grabbed him with both my arms and placed them on both his cheeks, focusing his eyes into my own. Seeing me, he began to relax a little, but he was still wincing at the pain. I took a moment to heal his cheek and my hand which had also started to hurt from when I punched him.

“Are you ready to go?” I questioned him with urgency in my tone.

“Y-yes!” He responded.

“Ok then. Let me get you out of your restraints then.”

“T-thank you.”

“Yeah, just be prepared to get going quickly.”

“Why?”

“What, you think I got permission to get you out of here?”

“Wait, did you not?”

“Of course not! Now let’s hurry!” I expressed to him the need to stop asking questions.

We quickly ran in the direction of the exit from the dungeon, the boy being much slower than I had hoped. He’s probably been hungry after all this time, and not to mention he was probably still tired since he didn’t sleep in a proper bed. Well whatever, we’re finally reaching the stairs.

We reached the stairs and began climbing, the boy's pace only slowing more and more. Seriously, this is taking far longer than I’d like. People are going to start waking up soon, we really need to hurry. I needed to do something, anythi… wind magic!

I quickly cast wind magic on him, lightening the weight of each step he took, allowing him to move much quicker than before. With this, our speed had finally increased to an acceptable pace. At speeds much faster than I had ever scaled these stairs before, we burst out the door, ready to go.

I guided him towards the complex maze of corridors heading for the courtyard. All the guards at this time tended to slack off or sleep since Clauffer wasn’t awake to scold them for doing so. This made it easier to sneak him all the way to the courtyard, even encountering a couple sleeping men on the way. However, since I didn’t want to take any chances, I also decided to use a bit of wind magic to help me detect their movements.

“All right, get on.” I told him as we made it to the courtyard.

“What?” He asked, confusedly.

“Get on my back, we need to go now!”

“But what would that do?”

“You can either keep asking now and get captured or you can get on and find out!”

“O-okay.” He said, getting on my back.

He had been fairly light, not surprising for how incredibly skinny he was. Clauffer likes to give his prisoners meals that keep them teetering on the edge of life and death, making it harder for them to ever try to escape. He would essentially deprive them of energy entirely. This works especially well for anyone who could use magic, since without energy, they wouldn’t be able to use any.

Quickly using wind magic with a simple thought and nothing else, we took off into the sky without being noticed.

“Wow, you can do this?” He asked.

“Well, this is the first time I’m trying it.” I explained to him.

“What?”

“Well yeah, I didn’t get much time to test it out.”

“So this could’ve failed at any moment!?”

“You ask far too many questions! Just be happy it worked.”

I gazed at Clauffer’s domain beneath me. Even the inside, which was a large complex maze, didn’t do the size from the outside justice. It looked as though the estate was three times bigger than what the inside made it out to look like. Since the boy was holding onto my shoulders, I had my arms free, allowing me to pull out a map.

“Alright. It looks like we can go this way and get there soon.” I spoke aloud to no one in particular.

“Where are we going?” The boy asked.

“Huh? Well this village is right here.” I pointed to the map.

“Wait, what about going to the Capital?”

“I never said I’d take you there. Just that I would get you out.”

“I need to go there.”

“Once we reach the village I will get you food and give you this map. After that, you can go to the Capital on your own.”

“O-okay.” He reluctantly agreed.

We took off at light speeds towards the village. The boy on my back had been holding onto dear life and screaming as loud as he could. While the speeds had scared him, I could only tune him out and enjoy the nice winds coming to me now. Come to think of it, I’ve only really referred to him as ‘boy’ and not with his name.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Uh, Galem.” He responded, taking a break from his exhaustive screaming.

“I see. I’m Celestia.” I told him.

With this, I picked up our speed, causing him to resume his screaming. Within approximately ten minutes we had reached the village. It looked to be about the same as when I had first gone there. Nothing had really changed.

I slowed our approach and carefully landed in the village center, making sure not to accidentally break my legs while landing. Although even if I did, I guess I could just heal them. My breathing had started to quicken as we descended. This was most likely still due to the effects of being tired.

The sight of the flying person landing in the village had caused all the villagers who had seen it to come rushing to my landing area, even bringing people who hadn’t seen me. As we landed, I got Galem to release me. As he did, he quickly fell to the ground on his bottom, still a little scared from the flight we had gone through.

Pushing through the crowd of people, the village elder and the grandson came into view. While the grandson had a look of amazement and gratefulness, the village elder had a look of disgust. Her expression had caused the memories of last time I was here to begin resurfacing for a moment.

Galem grabbed hold of me at the sight of the angered people around us. Him doing this caused me to snap back to my senses, discarding the useless memories that had decided to come back to me. I was not back here for these rabble, I was here to keep my oath and heal someone.

“Why are you back here?” The village elder asked, angrily.

“She’s obviously here to heal Sally!” The grandson spoke on my behalf.

“That’s right.” I chose to respond to what the boy had said instead.

Ignoring the murmuring and comments of everyone around us, the boy quickly guided me to the girl named Sally. We entered her home and as we began to walk through it, the parents of the child had begun rushing towards us to stop us. While the boy covered his face in order to avoid what he thought was about to happen, I easily pushed them to the wall with wind magic, keeping them there until I was finished.

Seeing this, the boy continued guiding me. Finally, we reached Sally who had been lying there asleep with both her arms cut off. I only remembered her losing one, and I had already healed that one. What was going on?

“Hey, shouldn’t she still have two arms?” I wondered.

“Well, some of the guards had decided to cut the other one as well.” He replied with a miserable expression.

“What about the arm I had reattached?”

“The villagers said that the magic you healed her with would corrupt her, so they cut it off.”

“Those stupid idiots! I should go out there and…”

“Please don’t. Just heal her, please.”

“Won’t they cut it off again?”

“If they see her arms working properly, it should be fine this time.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Don’t worry, this time I’ll protect her.”

“Fine then.”

I started by shocking her served area to see where her nerves were. I hadn’t done the process on a child as small as her before, so I was hoping it would play out the same. The shocks caused her body to jerk over and over, causing the boy’s face to show some worry at the sight.

I began healing her the same as I did with all those test subjects. It seemed Galem had finally caught up to us, but could only watch my work in amazement as he had not seen it the first time. With a few minutes of concentration, we watched as the arms began to build themselves anew in front of our very eyes.

Once I had finished it, the girl's new arms looked as though they had always been there, that everything was just a frightful dream. The sight of this almost caused the grandson and Galem to begin crying. However, having seen this pretty often now, I was essentially used to the sight. Now to test to see if it really worked.

I had asked the grandson to shake her awake. Complying, he began to shake her and call her name to have her wake up. As she got up, almost instinctively she rubbed her eyes with her arms. However, when she rubbed her eyes, a shocked expression came across her face at what she had just done.

Everyone else in the room also had a big smile as well, but all I could feel was relief at the sight of it working. Deciding to release the magic on her parents, I let them enter the room. They rushed in to see what I had done, but were met with the surprising sight of their daughter intact.

Seeing this, they rushed towards her to embrace her at the sight. Deciding it was probably best to leave them alone for the time being, I stepped out of the home. Galem followed me but the grandson chose to stay behind to tend to Sally.

“Should you really have healed her like that?” Galem asks

“Seriously, more questions!” I responded, slightly annoyed.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. But I made an oath to heal her, that’s all. I didn’t really care for anyone else here.”

“I see.”

“Anyways, let’s get you a meal so that you can get goi---”

“Please help! They’re running away with my money!” A woman cried out, cutting me off.

Being cut off randomly had slightly annoyed me, but nevertheless, I decided to look over in the direction it was coming from. As I did, five ruffians passed by me with what looked to be a coin purse.

“Hahah, no one can ever catch us! We’re far too fast for you!” One of them yelled out.

“Just think of this as a contribution to the cause!” The one in the lead had also decided to weigh in.

Suddenly, they all began screaming as they fell in unison.

“Hurry and get back up.” The only woman in their group yelled.

“Won’t that be a little hard with these?” I asked.

Looking back towards where my voice had come from, they saw their legs frozen to the ground, detached from their bodies. I approached them slowly and meticulously. The sight had caused them enough confusion to look towards their own legs to confirm if what they had seen before them was really true. When they had confirmed it, they all began screaming out in agony.

Two of the men started to crawl away, opting to try and escape as fast as they could even attempt to.

“Oh I’m sorry. That won’t work.” I spoke.

As I said that, from right underneath them icicles came up, impaling them through entirely. The sight had caused the other three to start trembling, with one of them even crying.

“WE’LL KILL YOU!” The one on the right of the leader threatened.

“THAT’S RIGHT WE’LL MAKE YOU PAY!” The one on the leader's left joined in.

Getting quite bored of their empty threats, I used wind magic to create wind blades which removed their heads from their necks. Seeing as I didn’t even move my hands to do this, the leader couldn’t help but soil his pants. The embarrassing sight even caused me to look away for a couple of moments.

“Damn you!” He cried out.

“Ha, how unlucky can you be to run into someone like me.” I goaded above him.

“People like you who use their powers so terribly are just like the king! It’s no wonder we need a revolution!”

“I think you’re quite mistaken. But none of what you did could even be considered acts of a revolution.”

“You wouldn’t understand our motives.”

“You’re all fools. Or I guess, were fools.”

“Damn it! Just wait until our leader, the demon, hears about this.”

“You’ve begun to bore me quite a bit. Tell your friends ‘hello’ for me when you see them in the afterlife. It’s time for you to burn to ash.”

“Our leader had weapons you haven’t ever seen before! And he has an amazing green ri-”

Before he could finish, a pillar of flame erupted from underneath him, causing him to burn away inside of it. As the flames died down, his ashes had settled onto the ground nice and snuggly.

However, something he mentioned had caught my interest. I would have liked to ask him more about this ‘demon’ with an amazing green ring. The thought that that ring could be Fae’s had caused me to clench my fist. Fae swore to protect Milarch. It would be worse than death to know that it was her ring that this so-called ‘demon’ was using.

As the thought went circling in my mind more and more, I had begun to draw blood from the palm of my hand at the intense grip I had.

“C-Celestia!” Galem’s voice cried out.

Turning back to him with a smile, he saw the blood dripping from my hands. It seemed he was already fearful from the display which happened in front of him, but seeing me with a smile as blood fell from my enclosed fist seemed to terrify him more.

“How about that meal?” I asked him.