5: Chapter 5: The Aftermath

Chapter 5: The Aftermath

'Where am I..? My head is killing me...' John thought.0

He opened his eyes to find himself staring at a ceiling. He looked around the room to try and find out where he was and had no luck. 

John got up from the bed and felt that most of his pain was gone from his chest. 

'How long was I asleep? How did I manage to recover from all those broken bones? What happened after I fainted?' John wondered.

All these questions filled his head as he tried to guess what had happened. 

As John was stuck deep in thought, Ariel woke up. 

She stared at John and he smiled back as she jumped onto the bed to give him a hug. 

Tears flowed down her face as she tightly hugged John saying "You're finally back" with a teary happy expression. 

'It hurts... I still haven't recov- GAH!' John thought to himself. 

After a few minutes passed Ariel quietly let go. Perhaps she had realised after how embarrassing what she had done was. 

"So, what happened while I was out?" John asked. 

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Apparently John was out for 3 days. After he shot his icicle at the boar, in a split second the entire boar was frozen, not only the boar but even the trees in the direction that he had shot. 

Shortly after John's icicle hit, it went through the boar and continued to Propel itself through the forest, breaking down and freezing the trees in its direction. 

Luckily, since Ariel was quite distant from it, she wasn't affected by the freeze. John did well, not choosing fire, or he could have started a forest fire. 

Shortly after the bear was frozen, Ariel picked him up and dragged him to the gate, explaining what had happened to the gatekeeper. Luckily they managed to get in contact with healing mages in time and John's life was saved. Or at least that's how the story went according to Ariel. 

"If I remember correctly, we were 30 minutes away from the gate.. Did you carry me that far all by yourself..?" John questioned.

She nodded in response to his question 

"Thank you. I acted all cool saying I was going to protect you, yet I was the one who needed protecting..." John said with a little embarrassment.

"That's not true! You were really cool and if you hadn't pushed me out of the way I'm sure I wouldn't have been alive by now.." Ariel replied.

This was the first time John had ever seen her speak with such conviction. 

"John, do you have a fever? Your face is red.." Ariel spoke. 

"N-n-no.. I-I'm fine.. I just felt a little tired.." John hurriedly replied.

"Then get some more rest." Ariel said with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, more importantly. Where are we?" John asked with curiosity.

"We're in an inn." Ariel answered.

"You said I was asleep for 3 days right..? How were you able to get us an inn to stay?" John questioned.

'And why would the healers waste their time to heal a random orphan? What happened while I was asleep?' John wondered. 

After he had asked Ariel, she explained everything that happened after he fainted. 

She carried John from the scene to the capital in a trip which originally took us 30 minutes by walking. After she got there, she explained what he had done to the boar and how he ended up in this state and begged them to save him. They summoned healers which had started to treat me. 

'What kind of gate-keeper can summon healers like that?' John thought with surprise.

After the mages started his treatment, the gate-keeper asked Ariel to take him to the scene, and she did. The man looked around and seemed as if he understood what happened. He walked up to the boar and melted the ice which enveloped it. He also offered to drag it to the capital for her, which was very helpful. 

After she arrived at the capital, the healers were pretty much already done with their jobs. So they helped carry John to a nearby inn while she went to sell the boars parts to the guild. They ended up ranking up as that boar was a Rank D monster called Big Boar and got 2 Gold Coins (200 silver) in exchange for the parts. Ariel then came to the inn and had been looking after John for these past 3 days. 

"I see.. So in other words, you worked really hard to save me.. Thank you." John said with a smile 

It might've been John's imagination, but it looked like Ariel's cheeks turned red however, before he could confirm it, she turned her head. 

"Thank you, too" She murmured under her breath. 

"Hm? did you say something?" John probed.

"Nothing." Ariel said with a slight giggle and smile.

On the next day, they got up and decided to head to the adventurer's guild. 

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