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That night, I went to go see Grandpa Will in the impoverished village.
And because it was nighttime, I had no problems getting safely to Grandpa Will’s house this time.
“Good evening,” I say, walking into his home, but then I notice that besides Grandpa Will, there is one other person inside as well.
Laying in the bed is the boy from this morning.
So he was safe…….
Or, mostly. There is a tattered cloth wrapped around his head that is already dyed red with blood.
It seems that not only is water difficult to come by, there are also no proper bandages here either. And now that I see him up close, I notice that the boy, aside from the wound on his head, is covered in bruises as well……
They look so dark and painful……
“He also has a fever,” Grandpa Will tells me.
I go over to the bed and place my hand on the boy’s forehead….. That’s not just a little fever, he’s completely burning up!
I rip strips of cloth from the hem of clothes.
And quickly removing the blood-soaked cloths that are currently wrapped around the boys head, I carefully re-wrap his wounds with the strips I had just made.
While it’s good that he’s stopped bleeding, at this rate his wound will fester and likely become infected.
But there’s nothing more that I can do for him.
“Alicia, come sit over here,” Grandpa Will calls to me with a kind tone of voice.
I walk over to take my usual seat right across from him.
“Did you save that boy, Grandpa Will?”
A lonely look crosses his face as he gives a small shake of his head.
“I just carried him here after that hulking degenerate had left.”
“So nobody tried to help him?”
“People in this village live their lives day-to-day. When you are so hell-bent on surviving today that you don’t have the luxury of thinking about tomorrow at all, there is no room in your head to even consider worrying about someone else.”
So hell-bent on surviving today that you can’t even think about tomorrow…..
“We’re all merely clinging onto our surest path to survival,” Grandpa Will says, smiling sadly.
“I… have never thought about doing anything for the betterment of society nor to save anyone, but I’d at least like you to live to see tomorrow, Grandpa Will,” I say, trying to console him in the only way I can think of.
With a large, kind hand, Grandpa Will gently pats my head.
His hand has an oddly calming effect on me.
“Alicia, I’m going to say this one more time just to be sure: don’t visit here unless it’s nighttime ever again.”
“What happened today…. is that sort of scene normal here?”
Grandpa Will nods.
“Aren’t there any people here who are able to use magic?”
Someone with magical power just might be able to take charge and stop horrors like that from happening.
“At one time, there had been a ruined noble living here, but he’s since died.”
“I….. I see…..”
I hear a noise, and see that the boy has started thrashing about as if caught in some feverish nightmare.
“That young man is extremely clever. A genius,” Grandpa Will says, looking over at him as well.
If Grandpa Will is telling me this, then he must be quite smart.
I wish I could be able to talk with him…..
…….I guess I’ll just have to save him…..
This isn’t some whimsical act of mercy or anything. I’m just helping him out because I want to be able to talk to him, plain and simple. Completely for my own benefit.
It’s not like I’m some saint or anything. I’m a villainess through and through!
I leave Grandpa Will’s house and run back towards my own.
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T/N: Well, would you look at that. Another boy has appeared XD Looks like Alicia really might have mixed up Pokemon with an Otome Game lol
