Petrified and Alone

Ruti had yet to set off on her journey.

"Ngh." A pained cry escaped the girl's lips. A tomahawk thrown by a goblin had hit her

arm. Ruti's face twisted as she put pressure on the wound to staunch the flow of

crimson.

"Ruti!"

Immediately, I leaped in front of her. Knocking aside two more hurled hatchets with

my sword, I grabbed Ruti and quickly retreated back behind a rock.

"Sorry, Big Brother…"

"Don't be. It's only been a day since you first picked up a sword."

I smiled to put her at ease and readied my knight's blade. Breaking into a dash, I moved

back out from behind our cover. A few more tomahawks came flying, but I dodged

them handily and cut down the group of goblins that had thrown them. Only one of

the creatures remained—the goblin chief with an Axman blessing who'd hurt Ruti.

The creature picked up the two-handed battle-ax sticking out of the ground in front of

it and readied itself. While it exuded the sort of confidence one only had after having

seen countless battles, I didn't hesitate to ready my own weapon and move in. Ruti

was behind me, and I had to protect her, after all.

Just as the goblin's ax came hurtling down toward me from overhead, I firmly slammed

my front foot down, bringing my sprint to a sudden halt. With a whoosh, the heavy

thing whistled past before slamming into the ground. Taking advantage of the opening,

I ran the goblin chief through with my sword. After making sure it was dead, I went

back to check on Ruti.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"It just hurts a little…" Ruti groaned as she tried to stop the bleeding.

Retrieving some medicine and water from a pouch, I washed the wound and applied

a poultice made of henbane and coca leaves that'd been crushed into a paste. That

done, I wrapped the spot in a cloth bandage.

"It should be all right now," I said.

"…It stopped hurting…," Ruti observed as she shifted her arm a bit to check.

"We'll have to reapply that stuff in another three hours, but the injury should close up

by nighttime."

While not quite as potent as magic, medicine prepared using a skill could be incredibly

effective. Curatives I prepared could even restore skin and muscle, closing a wound

that would normally require stitches.

"You're amazing, Big Brother."

"Try not to take unnecessary risks. Seeing you get hurt is painful for me."

"Really?" Ruti seemed to be thinking about something for a moment before staring

straight into my eyes. "…But it doesn't hurt when you put medicine on it."

She had a gentle smile as she touched the bandage on her arm.

Before our eyes stood a dust dragon with dark scales. It was a deadly monster whose

mere presence brought decay upon the surrounding land.

We'd come to hunt the dragons that nested near the Torch Mountain Road because

there'd been word that a few travelers had been attacked, but this was beyond what

we'd prepared for. At best, we'd only taken out an ash dragon of maybe twenty years.

This dust dragon looked to be an adult of perhaps a hundred.

"Watch out!" I called, but my warning was too late.

The scaly thing's maw opened, and a blast of its deadly breath shot out. Fragments of

things the dragon had consumed over the years sped through the air, coated in toxic

bile. Ruti took a direct hit and, in an instant, was riddled with cuts and scrapes. Were

it not for her Immunity to Poison afforded by her Hero's blessing, Ruti's whole body

would've been hideously burned by the acidic attack.

Even with so many fresh wounds, Ruti pressed forward, undaunted. The dragon

appeared shaken to see that she hadn't even flinched in the face of its deadly breath

weapon. In a panic, the great beast readied another blast, but Ruti sprang forward and

thrust her Holy Demon Slayer up through the dragon's jaw and into its brain. Gurgling

caustic liquids all the while, the monster slumped to the ground.

"Are you all right, Ruti?!"

I made to dash over to my younger sister, but she used the Healing Hands spell to mend

her wounds. In the few seconds it took me to reach her, she was already good as new—

there wasn't ever a chance for me to help.

"That's the Hero for you."

Ares and the others gathered around Ruti, praising the way she'd fought. Clearly, even

a hundred-year-old dragon was no longer a challenge for her, yet I was still standing

outside the little circle our party members had formed around my sister with a hand

at my medicine pouch.