Garan and the rest entered the territory with dark moods. They were greeted by Gill and the others who had the ’slaves’ like Bruce and Aditi with them, ready to reunite with the rest of the territory.
Their smiles dropped when they saw the dark atmosphere around Garan, however, and they didn’t have to ask to know things didn’t go as well as they’d have hoped.
Anyway, their group naturally had a strong sense of presence by virtue of their training and their strength, and as they traversed to the inner wall, they really caught a lot of eyes.
They also shocked everyone by how bloodied they were.
"Shit!" Beanie yelled as he ran towards them, "Are those intestines?"
Garan frowned and looked at one of his boots, which indeed had a piece he missed. He used his ice to pry it away.
Beanie’s eyes twitched, opening his mouth to ask what the heck happened. However, before he could do so another person spoke over him (how rude).
"Garan!" a feminine voice called, tone oozing with concern. "I mean… Captain," she mumbled with a blush, as if just correcting herself.
The woman stopped just outside his private space, looking at him with worry on her face.
It was Vanessa, and she slowly approached him closer in order to check in on him. From various angles, she looked like a shy woman concerned for her lover.
If people didn’t know better, people would think they were really close and were doing some secret relations of sorts.
Vanessa watched Garan turn in her direction, and her heart stopped when she saw his eyes shine. Vanessa’s heart beat wildly until a figure went past her towards him.
"Husband!" Althea eyes became teary as she saw the blood and she immediately took out medicine to help him out. Its effects were limited on someone at his level, but they still did have some effect.
Garan’s eyes were warm as he looked at Althea. In the eyes of Vanessa who was near them, it couldn’t be any more gritting.
Vanessa had actually been waiting in their hiding place throughout the duration of the war. The rationale was that she was a healer and the injured would be brought to her. She waited for hours and hours, with the end of the war getting announced before she did anything!
While this meant she didn’t have to lift a finger, it felt humiliating when she emerged and heard of Althea’s achievements!
She was all most people talked about. Even if there were other topics of discussion, it would always lead to her somehow! ’Did you see how cool Miss Althea was?’ ’She was so strong!’ ’A proper Goddess, that one!’
At this time though, the aforementioned woman just looked like a soft lady in front of Garan, and it gritted her nerves!
"The blood isn’t mine, my love," Garan said, gently pushing the bottle back."Save that for yourself. My wounds are very minor."
"But…"
"I can heal you," Vanessa’s voice cut next to them.
Garan frowned at the interruption but Althea nodded, stepping aside to let the other woman approach closer.
Vanessa held her head high, subtly looking down at Althea. However, neither one of the couple noticed because they were so focused on each other.
"..."
Vanessa bit her lips and stepped closer, "I’ll heal him now," she said, pretty much using all her skills on the man. This was not just to help Garan out, but to show to this other woman who was more ’helpful’ to him.
Vanessa’s thoughts didn’t matter to them, with Garan just going with the flow to calm his wife, while Althea hoping for Garan to heal as well as to possibly gain some more insight to the profession.
Vanessa’s hand lit up an azure light as the water elements surrounded her hands. She raised her hand and put them a few inches from Garan’s skin.
Garan’s jaw clenched in annoyance but Althea held his hand, soothing him, "Don’t mind, husband. Unlike Betty, who is an expert, Vanessa still needs a bit more practice.
"She probably needs her hands so close to do a spell that could be done much farther away."
Vanessa flushed at her comment and it got redder when she heard a few laughers and snickers behind her.
Her hands shook and her ability faltered. However, she refused to be humiliated anymore and did her best to finish the task.
When she did, she was sweating buckets, and she raised her head to look at Garan, who was now just chatting with his wife!
"I’m done…" she said, voice soft in a way that would attract many men’s attention. Sadly, the man she was after was a bit blind to these things, particularly if it wasn’t related to his wife.
"Ah, thank you," Althea said, manifesting a gold to pay for her service.
Vanessa pursed her lips, offended, and wanted to slap it away. Fortunately, she still had some reason not to do so in the end. "No, he is my captain after all, it’s my duty to serve him."
That sounded very suggestive, though Garan (and a lot of the soldiers) didn’t really absorb it.
Althea, however, did.
She narrowed her eyes at the woman, though her face didn’t show any other changes.
"Hmn," she said, as if agreeing, "As a soldier, it is indeed your duty help out your comrades…" she then turned to the many injured people around.
"Don’t you think it’s time for you to do your job?"
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