Cashew was done in the Village for now and started to head his way back to the house he killed those bandits in. Thinking about the Girl and what the guards are doing to her. Will they drag her away? Are they leaving her alone? Cashew wondered what they were doing to her. The one guard seemed to know her, so maybe she's opened up?
As Cashew approached the gate, a large guard Wielding a Halberd dropped his Halberd down, blocking Cashews path.
The guard in question was massive, Easily the same size as Tarhil, Simon and those Royal Knights. He was wearing full guard armor and a helmet that his his face, he had a very deep voice that sounded like an Earthquake was happening.
Massive Guard: Sorry, Kid. Turn around, and go, back to, your parents.
Cashew: I thought this was the North Gate, not the south Gate.
Massive Guard: This is... North Gate. You're too young. You'll die, out there. Turn around. And leave.
Cashew: I'll be fine.
Massive Guard: No. You'll. Die. I'm not... Asking. Again. Turn around. And go back, to your mommy...
Back at the Cabin, the there were 3 guards there originally and Stilh had just arrived. The guards dragged the bodies of the 3 bandits out before Stilh arrived and they were talking outside near the bodies. They saw Stilh approach, Stilh looked surprised at how gruesome the 3 bandits were killed. All 3 of them had an Ice Spike In their heads while one of them had an Ice Spike in its right thigh, the ice was melting slowly.
Stilh: What happened here?...
Guard #1: It was like this when we got here. Seemed like a magic user did this.
Stilh: I see ... How about Mita, the girl? She here?
Guard #1: Yeah, there is a girl, she's hiding in a corner. Whenever any of us tried approaching her, she cowered even more, crawling farther back in the corner with tears in her eyes and frantic breathing. We decided to stop trying and just moved the bodies outside quickly and left her alone.
Guard #2: You said her name? You knew her? Maybe you'd have better luck, being a familiar face and all.
Stilh: Yeah, Maybe I'd have better luck... I'll go try now, can one of you go back to the village and get the cart and Donkey. These bodies would be annoying to transport without it.
Stilh started walking towards the house while one of the guards left, presumably to get a donkey and cart from the village.
Stilh: Hey... Hey Mita? You remember me? It's your Uncle Stilh. I'm gonna open the door now.
Stilh slowly opened the door and peaked inside, seeing the area Mita was hiding in, she had the Wolf pelt still around her body, Looking at Stilh with a scared look in her eyes. She doesn't appear to be crying, like the other guards said she was, but she still seems absolutely terrified.
Stilh: I'm gonna step a little closer to you, ok?...
Stilh softly said to her, doing as he said and taking a step closer, Which Mita Crawled farther away in response.
Stilh noticed this and Sighed backing away entirely and coming back outside, approaching the two remaining guards.
Guard #1: Any luck?
Stilh: More luck than what you two had, but she's still scared of me.
Guard #1: Damn... What do we do then?
Guard #2: The kid said that the bandits abused her, maybe she's scared of men now? Why don't we get a girl here?
Stilh: that's a good idea, actually. Shame that one guy left already, we could have asked him to bring one of the women guards when he came back.
Back to Cashew...
Cashew tried stepping around the Halberd that was blocking his way, but the massive knight kept moving it to block Cashews path.
Cashew: Come on, you glorified Ape, Let me through!
Massive Guard: Insulting... Me... Won't work.
The Massive Guard said as he used the Halberd to nudge Cashew back.
Cashew was getting impatient with this guard and decided to Cast a Fireball in his hand, aiming straight for the handle of the Halberd, hoping the Fireball is hot enough or strong enough to melt through the metal, which it was not, the Halberd didn't even budge, the metal is fine, the blade Is fine, the guard holding it is fine, it's as if Cashew threw his body at the Halberd instead of a fireball.
Cashew was surprised at the durability of the Halberd, the Guard was also caught off guard by the sudden use of magic.
Massive Guard: Attacking a... Guard? What a. Young age... To be, arrested...
The Massive Guard said while reaching down to grab Cashew, Which Cashew dodged backwards.
Massive Guard: Resisting. Arrest?... If you, were... Older. I could. Kill you, for that.
"My Mana isn't fully recovered yet... The fireball seems to cost the same as Ice Spike, I can cast maybe 3 more Ice Spikes before Mana Exhaustion..." Cashew considered his options and what he could do.
Cashew realizes he has the Mana crystal and the Mysterious Rock that's apparently a makeshift Mana Crystal, but they are either empty of full of not his own mana, Cashew doesn't know what would happen if he uses another person's Mana, but he doesn't wanna find out in live combat.
Cashew shot a Water Ball at the Massive Guards face, hoping to blind him enough so Cashew can Run past, which he was kinda able to do. He was able to make it past the Halberd, but right as he made it past, the Halberd went flying into his side as the Massive Guard Swung it in shock of getting water in his eyes, Sending Cashew flying in the other direction, Towards a bush on the other side of the road.
Clutching his side in pain, feeling blood start to trickle down his side, Cashew held his side tightly and disappeared into the woods.
The Massive Guard ripped his helmet off to try and get water out of his eyes, only to reveal a grotesque and scarred face, several stitches running down his bald head to his lack of a chin, a missing eye and the other being seemingly permanently bloodshot. His face was covered in scars and poorly done stitches which made kids who were watching start crying after seeing his face and a few people scream "MONSTER!"
The Massive Guard ran into the guard tower crying over all the reactions people are having.
Back to Cashew, he is running through the forest, clutching his side in pain, he collapses behind a tree and lifts his shirt up to assess the damage.
It's bad, but it could be worst. It's a shallow cut on his skin going from his hip to the bottom rib on his ribcage. Deep enough to cause pain and blood, but not deep enough to be lethal, assuming no infection.
Cashew quickly grabbed that one Spellbook with no consistency in the spells inside it and started searching.searching for a Restoration spell. Something to heal this cut up.
After what felt like hours of searching, Cashew finally found a small healing spell, the book says it's only useful for small cuts, Cashew had a large, but shallow cut, so he hoped that this would be enough to heal it.
Cashew started studying the spell, attempting to cast it, but having a hard time because of his Injury.
23 Minutes. It took Cashew 23 minutes to learn and study the Minor Restoration spell that was in the book. He didn't study it completely, just well enough to kinda cast it and start to slowly heal his injury.
Cashews preferred method of using magic, Imagining what he wants the spell to look like and forming it with Mana, then using a little more Mana to launch it, is not compatible with Restoration magic. It's not impossible, but it's not compatible. Cashew has to imagine his cut shutting and use Mana to replace the tissue and hold it shut.
The Method Cashew is using works, but it's very inefficient and Cashew can tell he's doing it wrong and it's not inefficient because of lack of experience.
Cashew has very little knowledge on the human body and he's basically ignoring any potential internal damage and focusing primarily on what's on the outside.
An hour has passed and the injury is healed enough to not hurt badly, Cashew is also running on very little Mana, he's surprised he hasn't suffered Mana Exhaustion yet, but he can't stay here too long. So Cashew slowly got up and started heading back the way he came, the injury hurts every time he takes a big step over something and he can feel the injury reopening itself as he moves.
Finally making it back to the road, Right where the Cobblestone and dirt meet up, Cashew is finally in an easier to walk area. Flat ground with no roots or bushes to step over, no potential animals to accidentally step on, just a nice and flat road with the occasional small hill.
Finally reaching the side road to head back to the cabin, Cashew was getting closer to a safe area... Assuming the girl doesn't stab him in his sleep... That's assuming she's still there. The guards may have dragged her away for all Cashew knows.
Walking up the hill was decently painful, but not as painful as walking in the middle of the forest with no roads or paths or anything.
After about an hour of walking, Cashew is back to the house, the door was shut, so Cashew knocked on the door and said he was coming in, He doesn't know if the girl is still there, but he's gonna act like she is until proven otherwise.
Peaking into the House, Cashew doesn't see her in the spot she was when he left, his wolf pelt isnt there. After peaking around, Cashew came to the conclusion that she's not here. Cashew took his two shoulder bags off and sat on the ground next to the bed, using Restoration magic to try and heal his wound again.
3 hours earlier...
Some Guards were loading the dead bandit bodies into a cart being pulled by a donkey, Stilh and another guard were talking to each other.
Stilh: Im gonna stay here, when you bring the bodies back, could you have a woman guard come up here? I feel like Mita is just afraid of men and she'd be more open to a woman. We can't leave her here, so we gotta find a way to get her back to the village.
Guard: What's your plan when she's in the village though? You're family and she's still scared of you from what happened.
Stilh: I have a Wife, you know. I didn't last time I saw Mita, but I'm married now, I'm sure my wife could help Mita out in whatever ways she needs.
Guard: I see... Well, I'll be sure to tell a woman guard to come here once I'm back in the village.
Stilh: Thank you.
An hour later, an unnamed female guard approached Stilh, who was standing by the front door of the house looking off over the hill before turning his attention to the Female Guard.
Stilh: Hi, My long lost Niece is in the house, but she must have been heavily traumatized by her male kidnappers and she gets scared when I or any other men approach, any chance you could try and approach her? Maybe since you're a woman, it would be different?
Female Guard: I'll see what I can do...
She approached the house and entered it, Looking around inside before spotting Mita in the corner, covered by a wolfs pelt. She crouched down by the door and said some things Stilh couldn't hear, Mita eventually got close to the female guard and they hugged, after a few minutes, they lead Mita away from the Cabin and to the Village.