Ersia: Raven Dawn

"They possessed red eyes due to worshipping the wrong god. Infidels, to simply put it."

Randia took a bottle of clear solution and put it on the table alongside his mortar and pestle.

"So you despise them?" Randia asked Lisabelle.

"Despise? If anything, I feel bad for them. Can you imagine getting a target mark on your face just because you have a different faith than most people?"

The medicinal herbs and minerals are put one by one inside the mortar and Randia begins to grind them. It doesn't take long for the ingredients to merge into a single mixture. After that, Randia heats the bottled solution with magic after pouring some into a separate metal container.

"I thought you and the madam were deeply devoted to Aine."

"Grandma is devoted since faith is her last string to keep her sanity when she lost herself back then, but don't count me in."

Randia can guess her motive. Lisabelle will not give her heart and soul to something that can't even prevent the tragedy that befell her family. At this point, he realizes that they are the same. That is precisely why he doesn't ask further about this topic.

"People can do whatever they want and believe whatever they want. If they are nice to me, I will do so too, and vice versa. Whether your eyes are red, black, or blue, they don't matter. Whether you are a Mistari or not, they don't matter. On the contrary - The Mistari - I actually want to know if they see just like we do."

The medevist pours the boiled solution into the mortar and stirs everything until it cools down. Now, the salve is finished. When Randia tried to apply them to Lisabelle, she refused, saying that she could do it herself. Then, after everything was done, they called it a day and went to their respective room.

---

 

Last night, Viena isn't sleeping with Randia in his room, rather she sleeps with Lisabelle after telling Randia that she wants to learn to read with her. To his knowledge, this is the first time this has happened, while actually, it was the second time for Viena.

Now, it's three in the morning and he goes to check on them, slowly opening Lisabelle's door and peeking from the slightest gap. There he saw Lisabelle hugging Viena, putting her head on her chest. They looked like sisters, and they were perfect with each other. Randia, who witnessed this, feels a lot of relief until his other thoughts kick in.

'This is a good house for Viena.'

'Everyone here will undoubtedly take good care of her.'

'Even if one day they found out she was a Mistari, they will accept her as their own.'

.

.

.

'Then, doesn't that mean that my role has come to an end?'

Randia closes the door and grabs his cloak. In the midst of a chilling autumn morning, he sets out to the outskirts of Fleurein. He walks far for an hour until he stops at a well in the middle of a field. Using his magic, he draws the water out from the well and washes his face again and again and again.

"Wow, your magic looks so convenient!"

A woman's voice startled Randia who was deep in his thought. He immediately jumped to the side, before realizing that it was just a plain farm girl with two buckets in her hands.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

". . . I'm the one who should apologize. Am I trespassing a private property?"

Randia walks up to the girl, and she is so shocked by his two-meter stature that she ends up falling.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay. You were crouching all the time so I didn't realize you were so huge."

The girl grabbed Randia's hand and pulled herself up. She then cleans her clothes before bowing to Randia.

"Greetings, mister. My name is Olga. It's not like we own the land, but many families, including mine, got permission from the authorities to graze our cattle here."

"Is that so? I'm sorry. I should have known better."

When Olga looks into Randia's blue eyes, she can see deep depression brewing inside - like someone standing at a crossroads of life. She doesn't know why, but she feels instant empathy when she sees him although she doesn't even know his name yet.

"May I know your name, mister?"

". . .! I apologize for the late, introduction, Lady Olga. My name is Ran, and I am a medevist."

"Just Olga is fine! I'm a commoner after all! Calling me like that will make it get into my head!"

Olga asked Randia to help her fill her buckets, before washing her face with ease. Despite with a stranger beside her, she strangely feels safe and can do whatever she wants without fear of being harassed.

"Fuah! Morning water just hits differently, right?!"

"Yes."

"So? What are you doing here, Ran? And what gets you so down?"

"I'm not feeling down."

The round-faced girl with a side braid laughs before sitting down on a big flat boulder nearby. It's as if the boulder was just coincidentally, perfectly shaped for people to sit on it while either waiting for their turn to use the well, it just simply resting their legs. Randia was invited by her to sit next to her, and he accepted.

"Listen here, Ran. Only two kinds of people are wandering in the field at this hour; Either someone who is turning a new leaf after years of wrongdoings or someone who is super duper sad. Since you certainly don't look very inspired to me, I guess you are the latter one."

"What about you then?"

"Me? Uh . . . I'm the third kind!" said Olga with a silly confident face.

"Hah. So what does that make you?"

"A bad insomniac."

Randia laughed a little, and somehow that made Olga overjoyed. She laughed loudly and slapped Randia's shoulders repeatedly.

"What is it with you!? You are pretty handsome if you wipe off those sad brows, aren't you? No, no, you are even better now that I take a closer look. You can practically bag any girl with that look!"

"Look is the most fickle and unreliable quality you can seek in a man. You should perish such thought."

"But it's a quality, ain't it!? Ahahah! Are you single? Wanna date me? I don't mind a full-grown adult, you know? Ripe fruit is the sweetest they said!"

Randia waved his hand and shook his head calmly to respond to Olga's antics.

"No. I'm not a fruit and nor I'm seeking such a thing."

"Eeh? That's too bad. Alright, so, what's on your mind, Ran?"

Instead of answering her question, Randia look up to the blue galaxy and the millions of stars. The supposedly dark curtain doesn't seem dark for now as the sky is now showering them with brilliant light. Fifteen years of isolation is getting messed up by a red-eyed brat he took to lunch on a whim. Never did he think that he would have his heart stirred into such a clutter by the most insignificant and impetuous thing.

"I have been traveling with someone for months now, and . . . I don't think I can spend any more time with her."

"HER?! I knew it! Of course, you had been taken! Grr . . .! Why are all the good ones already plucked!? It's so unfair!"

"I'll take my leave."

"Nha! Wait wait wait wait! Okay-okay! I'm sorry! I'll listen properly now! Come on, don't just leave like that!"

When Randia was about to leave, Olga held on to his cloak and put him back down to sit on the boulder again. After letting out a sigh, he unexpectedly continued the conversation.

"I took her to my travel to find a cure and a better place for her in mind. Now that we have arrived in this land . . . this place, this country . . . everything suits her so well." 

"But you have grown so attached to her," Olga cuts in.

Olga is waiting for Randia's response, but he doesn't say anything. She then hugged her legs and looked up to the stars just as Randia did.

"If it's a thing between two people, then wouldn't it be better if you listen to what she has to say?"

"I don't think I should. She's terribly irrational when it comes to such a discussion. I can't even imagine what she would do if-"

"But even if she is all that, that part of her is also what makes you drawn to her, isn't it?"

". . . ."

"You said you were looking for a cure and a home for her, right? But what if the cure is not any magic flour made by the doctors, and the home is not those which are made of wood and stones?

"Whatever do you mean-"

"What if her cure and her home, is you, Ran?"

A chilling morning breeze blows on the two. The icy moon stares solemnly and the grass and crickets sing a symphony to glorify the atmosphere that brings faint glitters to Randia's cerulean eyes that are wide open. However, he immediately shakes off such thoughts and stands up. He insisted to himself that he should be careful of such wordplay and not be carried away with it.

Before he leaves, Randia digs into his pocket. He takes out a somnifacient he used to take when he was traveling alone. He hands three of them to Olga's open hands.

"What is this?"

"It's a medication that helps you sleep. Use only one per day - though I hope you won't need them often," Randia tidying up his cloak.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes."

"Was I being helpful?"

". . . Yes."

Olga smiled and nodded. Then, she also stood up to get her buckets which Randia had filled with water.

"Let us meet again, Ran!"

"I don't make promises I can't keep . . . But maybe someday."

"Yeah, that's good enough. I will pray for you and your companion!"

"Thank you."

With everything settled, Randia leaves for the city, while Olga sees him over as she carries her buckets back to her place until he vanishes to the trees. It doesn't take even three minutes for him to be out of sight.

"Ooh, he's so fast. I guess that's what long legs do," Olga talks to herself being impressed.