“Don’t move. I’m borrowing your clothes for a bit.”
Under the boy’s bewildered gaze, she suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of his hem. With a “rip—”, she tore off a strip of cloth that looked as if it had been chewed by a dog and began bandaging the wound on his shoulder.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Aurelia didn’t stop her movements as she pressed the strip of cloth torn from the boy’s lapel firmly against the bleeding wound on his shoulder, attempting to wrap and knot it.
“The fabric on me that could be used… cough, anyway, there’s nothing left to tear. You’re a boy, so being half-naked is fine, but for me… absolutely not.”
She spoke with righteous confidence, but the tips of her ears felt a bit hot.
As a “former shut-in” who had been a man for over twenty years before transmigrating and hadn’t yet fully adapted to her new identity, she found herself forced to tear a stranger’s clothes.
[Why does it feel like I’m about to cringe so hard my toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment…]
There was no other way; the situation was dire. She couldn’t very well contribute the remaining few rags on her body, or she truly wouldn’t be fit to be seen.
The boy seemed even more dazed by her blunt yet somewhat awkward explanation.
His pale face remained full of bewilderment, followed by a soft gasp of pain as his wound was touched, which managed to dampen his fear slightly.
He had likely never encountered a situation like this.
A beautiful girl who didn’t look much older than himself, equally disheveled and possessing a strange Force, was bandaging him with somewhat practiced movements while complaining about the lack of fabric.
Although the process was rough due to the poor conditions, it was quite efficient—much better than her clumsy attempt at bandaging her own neck earlier.
Soon, a Bandage that was meager in material but structurally sound and sufficient to apply pressure was wrapped around the boy’s shoulder. The rate of bleeding slowed visibly to the naked eye.
“For now… it should hold for a while,” she exhaled, her voice weary.
“Tha… thank you.”
“Don’t be so quick to thank me.” Aurelia waved him off, cutting off whatever else he might have said.
Her gaze quickly swept across the dark, dilapidated Warehouse as she alertly pricked up her ears to listen for any movement outside the door.
“Save your strength. Your name and what happened—we’ll talk about that once you can get out of here alive.”
The boy was stunned again, then gave a very slight nod. He made no further movements, and his breathing gradually stabilized.
Aurelia didn’t look at him again. She supported herself against the edge of a rough wooden crate and slowly stood up.
***
The restorative effects of absorbing the Power of Calamity were still ongoing, and some strength had returned to her limbs. While she wasn’t in good condition yet, she could at least manage some physically demanding activities.
However… the wound on her neck was still a major problem. Every turn of her head or even swallowing brought sharp, stabbing pain, a constant reminder of her injuries.
This Warehouse looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. The air was thick with dust, rotting wood, and an indescribable musty smell.
The light was dim, with only a few slivers of brightness filtering through the gaps in the broken door panels and the high clerestory windows, which were boarded shut and covered in cobwebs.
Decaying wooden shelves stood askew, while broken ceramic jars and wooden barrels were piled randomly. Coils of hemp rope lay scattered across the floor, and a corner was heaped with rusted iron parts and unidentifiable junk.
[All this junk… none of it is useful. That kid’s injury needs medicine and a proper dressing at the very least…]
She glanced back at the boy leaning against the wall. Underneath the extremely crude Bandage, blood was still slowly seeping out.
“Creak—”
A sudden creak of a door hinge shattered the oppressive silence within the Warehouse.
On the other side of the Warehouse, a side door that had been partially hidden by collapsed shelves and debris—one Aurelia hadn’t noticed before—was slowly pushed open from the outside.
[Holy crap! Where did that door come from!]
She instinctively raised her right hand, prepared to use her Dragon Claw for defense or a surprise attack. But after seeing who it was, her racing heart relaxed slightly.
***
It wasn’t that she was completely at ease, but the person before her didn’t look like a pursuer. Furthermore, she had met him once before.
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, appearing slightly stout.
He wore coarse linen clothes that were faded from many washes and stained with spots, covered by a deep brown leather apron. Various cleaning tools seemed to be stuffed into his apron pockets.
His hair was somewhat thin, and his face was ordinary, bearing the weariness and numbness typical of someone who had worked in the service industry for a long time.
One of his large, powerful-looking hands carried a heavy burlap sack, while the other casually brushed dust off his clothes.
Having transmigrated only recently, she was still unfamiliar with the place and its people. Back then, before she had joined the Sword of Saint Radiance, this man had ensured she didn’t starve to death on the streets.
He didn’t express much surprise upon seeing Aurelia and the boy beside her. Instead, he asked in a low voice, “Didn’t you… join the Sword of Saint Radiance? What’s going on? How did you end up hurt like this?”
Aurelia was choked up by his words.
How should she answer? Tell the truth? Tell him how the Captain she once trusted, Laurence, had discovered the Disaster Source within her and nearly killed her with his sword?
Tell him that an old bastard wanting to destroy the world was currently taking up residence inside her body? Or that the half-dead boy on the floor was being hunted by an unknown force?
[How am I supposed to explain this… Lie? No, no, if I get caught in a lie later, I’ll really be stabbed to death on the spot. But if I tell the truth… will this uncle tie me up and hand me over to that damn Red-Haired guy?]
After hesitating for a moment, Aurelia decided to reveal part of the truth. At least… she would try not to make anything up.
“I… was expelled by them…”