An hour after the treatment, Seven finally opened his eyes and the madam immediately served him a cup of herbal tea.
Seeing the grumpy expression of the old woman, he realized he had no choice but to finish the entire cup, having no window to pour the liquid out.
He braced himself.
Gulp!
To his surprise.
"Blu— no, wait. It doesn't taste bitter?"
Seven stared at the tea. It shared the same aroma as his daily morning tea, but the flavor was entirely different. It tasted like matcha of a high quality.
Madam's face folded into a scowl.
"Bitter, you dare? Watch your mouth, lad. These herbs taste the same no matter who brews them. They only taste bitter once I shove them up your ass."
"...Eh?"
Seven had his mouth shaped like a small letter o.
It wasn't the old woman's vulgarity that shocked him, but her "no matter who brews them" words. The bundles in the manor's kitchen looked exactly the same, so Iria's tea shouldn't have tasted that bitter.
'Perhaps, Iria could learn a thing or two from this grumpy hag here in terms of tea preparation.'
The madam snorted, waving a hand toward the door.
"If you're all healed up, move your feet out of my house. I shall mark this appointment as free of charge. Be thankful for the efforts of that lady over there. I don't care about your relationship, but this is a repayment for her saving this village a few nights ago."
Iria bowed her head slightly.
"I appreciate your thoughtfulness, madam Cheng, but I believe it is improper to receive a treatment without giving a proper payment."
"No matter. Shoo!"
Seven placed the cup back to the saucer and hurried out, the old woman shooing them away like stray sheep.
Step, step.
"How are you feeling now, my lord? I apologize for my lack of skill to properly help you. I am truly unfit to—"
"Forget it. I'm doing fine."
"I am glad to hear that, my lord. Regardless, I shall make myself more useful in the coming future."
"Suit yourself."
Step, step.
Seven spotted twice the usual number of knights as they walked, patrolling the village— and keeping an eye on him. It made sense after the recent attack.
Heinrich was among them.
According to Iria, the horses outside the apothecary house would arouse suspicions from the villagers, thus Heinrich patrolled the perimeter on horseback while conversing to locals along the way.
Seven's mind raced, recalling the bout with Lythian.
'How did the skill activate at that last moment? Does it only trigger during life-or-death subconscious moments? What a pain.'
'Status.'
Ding!
A system interface appeared.
[Basic Information]
Name: Seven Hart (Yoon Seojin)
Age: 15 (19)
[Skills]
[Self-proclaimed Genius] Temporarily slows down time, granting omnipotent perspective in a limited area.
[Inactive Debuffs]
[Skibidi] / [Sigma] / [Rizz] / [Sus] / [Gyatt] / [Ohio] / [NPC]
It was still that same asinine and retarted system, showing no real progress of the character. The only difference from back then was the description of the skill.
'Activate skill.'
'Activate self-proclaimed genius.'
'Skill.'
As expected, nothing happened.
"Damn it all. Why do you need to make things hard for me?"
"Pardon, my lord? What do you—"
Bump!
Seven bumped into someone.
Looking down, he saw a little girl clutching the rabbit plushie close to her chest. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but the little girl wiped them away using the back of her wrist.
"Mister…"
"Sophie? Hey, don't cry. I didn't mean to hit you."
"Mister. Iori is… Iori is…"
Sophie hid behind and pointed toward the group of children walking toward them: Kara and Tobin, and Mutya who was dragging the reluctant Iori by the ear.
"You! Apologize to Sophie right now if you don't want your skull bashed open."
"But I didn't— ow! Stop. That hurts— ow!"
Mutya ignored Iori and pinched his earlobes harder; Seven watched the two with a blank and confused gaze.
Iria crouched down and gave Sophie pats on her head before she pulled her face against her soft chest, her voice calm and composed.
"It's okay, Sophie. You're doing fine. There, there~"
Iria then looked at the children.
"So, would you all mind telling me what is up with the commotion this early in the morning?"
""Iori wouldn't stop scaring Sophie, lady Iria. He kept on teasing her that a ghost of the forest would take away quiet kids if they won't tell their dreams.""
Mutya and Kara explained at the same time. Tobin with his chubby and big body only nodded.
Iori retorted.
"H-hey! She could just say it in one word. There's no need to get so worked up over such a little— ow!"
Bonk!
Mutya struck the back of Iori's skull with her knuckles.
At this point, Seven wasn't sure what would come first: tears to finally fall from Sophie's eyes, or a crack appearing on Iori's skull from being constantly hit.
"It is because you keep sticking your ugly and stupid face too close to Sophie while wearing that stupid expression."
"You—"
"Alright, that's enough."
Iria interrupted the two's argument and talked to Iori, perhaps scolding him. Seven didn't hear the contents very well, his mind stuck in that dream and a ghost story.
If he still was a kid their age, then he'd be taken by that ghost in an instant. That is because he didn't know what his dream was in the first place, meaning he would have nothing to tell.
Seven crouched down and patted Sophie's head, taking Iria's place. He may be bad with kids, but not entirely ignorant.
"It's okay, Sophie. Ghosts are not real. They only exist in bedtime stories."
It was a lie, but it was a lie she needed.
Ghosts very much existed in this world, but they're mostly plot related and are bound to a specific place.
Sophie pointed a trembling finger toward the dark treeline of the forest.
"But there have been strange noises at night ever since the beasts came that night, and also the sound of… a child screaming for help…"
"..."
Seven frowned.
Those noises Sophie mentioned might not belong to the ghosts, it could be the remaining beasts still lingering in the area, or perhaps those same perpetrators that were after his life.
Still, he forced a smile.
"In that case, tell us your dream, Sophie. That way, even if the ghosts are real, they wouldn't take you away."
"Y-yes."
Sophie gulped, and the other children leaned closer.
"I… I want to be a healer like lady Iria. Or maybe a magician. I want to stay here in the village and protect everyone… and light the lanterns with magic."
Sophie held her plush tighter.
"I want Papa and my big brother to stay home and stop fighting those scary beasts… and I want Mama to smile more and go outside with me. I also want Grandpa and Grandma to live together again, and I want to read big books and see dragons flying in the sky…"
Sophie looked down.
"...I want everyone to be safe."
Sophie continued for another three minutes, a kid full of wants and dreams, no one interrupted her. The other children watched her mumbling with beaming eyes.
Finished, Seven turned around and faced the rest of the children with a smirk on his face.
"Aight. It'll be unfair to me and Iria to only hear Sophie's dream— dreams rather, don't you think? Why don't you guys tell us your dreams too now that we're here?"
Iria nodded.
Iori volunteered first.
"My dream is to become a strong and dependable knight! I am already learning how to slash a twig like a sword, and my mother said I could open my first ring in a few years. That is all so I could be lady Iria's— ow!"
Bonk!
Mutya was next after she bonked Iori.
"I, too, have a lot of dreams just like Sophie. But, if I were to choose one among them, I would like to also become a knight and watch over this idiot's back."
"That's—"
"Shut up, Iori."
Kara was next, flexing the slingshot on her waist.
"I want to become a legendary archer, but of course only with my little baby right here. Mind you, bows… are quite not like my style."
Tobin was next, picking up a rock that fell down from his pockets.
"Uhm. I want to become a rock collector. My older brother first discovered this as a hobby and said some rocks can be sold for a gold cito, but he is now busy as a cadet of the knights serving the bastard young lord over there."
"..."
Seven blinked, and again.
'Bastard…? Fudge. Who the hell spread those rumors about me? Besides, how could they say that if they haven't met me in person, nor did Seven Hart leave the manor?'
"Bastard young lord…?"
Still, he asked Tobin about that part.
"Yes, mister. A rumor is going around, saying the young lord is better dead than to bring harm to the village."
"Oh. But isn't it because of him that most men here get to become a knight and strength to protect the village?"
Seeing the children's reaction, Seven took a deep breath as Iria shook her head, telling him to stop. As cliche as it was, it seemed like he was in the bad spot of the village.
Thus, he just went along with Tobin and the other children, talking bad about the lord, though that was himself, for at least five minutes.
He had confirmed that Tobin's big brother was Randolf, Tobin's chubby physique, although bigger than his peers, lacked the giant-like features similar to his brother.
Seven stood up, ready to leave with Iria but Sophie tugged on his pants. The other children gave a unified pout, their gazes said "no fair, no fair. mister and lady iria should tell their dreams too."
"..."
"..."
Iria and Seven exchanged glances, caught off-guard.
Iria sighed.
"Ah. My dream is quite simple. I simply wish to stay by this gentleman's side for the rest of my life."
The children cheered in response, but Iori looked like his heart had just been stepped on.
Then, all eyes turned to Seven.
"My dream…"
Seven paused, unsure what he should say.
The thing is, he may not be a child anymore, yet he still had no dream to call his own.
"My dream is to go back home."
"...!!"
The children laughed and clapped, thinking he meant returning home and spending his time with Iria.
But they didn't understand that when Seven said "home," he was looking past the sky, past the stars, and all the way back to South Korea.
To go back home, on Earth.