Chapter 284 - The Encounter And Beginning

A warm feeling embraced her as she regained her consciousness. As her eyes slowly opened, she took a slow look around. 

A small flame was lit in the bonfire in front of her, trees surrounded her and the blizzard was still rampaging, however, she felt warm, warmer than ever. 

Her body was tired, and so was she. She barely had the strength to move. But before even properly assessing or adjusting to her surroundings, she sprung up from the ground before reaching to her knife on her waist. 

However, right when she did so. She noticed that her knife was missing. And it was only then when she remembered the situation she was in. 

Confused, her eyes widened as she finally noticed what was beside her. There stood a young man. Long spiky black hair which looked uncared for yet unnaturally clean, a figure which couldn't be seen through the dark cloak. A black blindfold covering his eyes. 

He carried a strange long dark wooden staff with sinister looking patterns carved into it. His arms which poked out from the cloak held on tightly to the staff, they were heavily wrapped in bandages and made one wonder just what could be hidden beneath. 

But above all was the silence, he didn't let out a single sound. He just stood there staring at the bonfire which was somehow still burning in the middle of the blizzard around them. 

She had been so distracted by him that she had even forgotten they were in the middle of the blizzard, once that thought sunk in, she snapped out of her trance and quickly moved her hand away from her waist. 

It was the same young man who she had encountered earlier, the one she had spent what felt like hours chasing. The wandering devil. 

In that moment, she felt a surge of mixed emotions. Fear, worry, nervousness and joy. 

Unable to handle such feelings, slight trembles could be heard from her voice as she asked 

"U-Um... Are you... really the wandering devil...?" She asked 

However, contrary to what she had expected, there was no reply. The young man simply continued to stare at the bonfire. He watched as the flames moved around. 

As she turned to the flames to see what exactly it was that he was staring at, his figure suddenly disappeared from the corner of her eyes. 

As this happened, she quickly turned left, only to see him walking away. Once again, not a spec of sound could be heard. Worried that he had taken it badly, she quickly got up only to stagger due to the lack of balance. 

She was still disorientated, but it was only now that she realised. The cold feeling and pain which she had felt right before losing consciousness disappeared. 

As she looked down to see what had happened, she couldn't believe it. Her frostbite, the skin which had turned reddish from the overwhelming cold. The cuts formed from the skin being peeled as she fell over. It was all gone. 

'He healed me?' 

As she watched his back slowly drift away throughout the blizzard, she began to notice the temperature around her dropping. 

It was all starting to add up. There was no way the bonfire could have heated the area as much as it had done. Despite it still being lit, it was getting colder yet the blizzard was still rampaging as hard as usual. 

It was already hard enough to believe that the fire managed to stay lit with all of the cold wind pressure and now this. 

He was the one, he was what she was looking for. His abilities defied one's understanding itself. It was just like the rumours she heard. 

'On top of it all, he seems kind, so maybe he won't kill me for asking... I can't turn back after coming all this way...' She thought to herself 

Quickly, before he could get further away, she began to chase after him. He walked at a moderate pace so it was rather easy to catch up. 

Without showing a sign of being bothered he continued to walk as she ran right past him. He also showed no signs of concern as she stopped a few meters in front of him with her arms raised and stretched out. 

"W-Wait." She said hesitantly 

"I... I need your h-help with-" 

She slowly opened her eyes only to see that he had walked right past her. She turned and saw him a few feet away, still heading in the same direction as before. 

"W-Wai..." 

As she tried calling out to him once more, she wondered what would happen if he would start to find her persistence annoying, he could probably feel like getting rid of her. 

As she stood there and watched him get away, she felt conflicted. She was both scared and glad at the same time. She was happy that he helped her but didn't know what to do avoid incurring his wrath. 

Anyone would get angry at someone nagging at them. Realising this, she clenched her fist before taking a moment to look at the sky. 

Heavy Snow continued to fall from the blizzard and some of it landed on her eye as she did so, causing her to quickly squint. But as she stared at the sky, through the pure white clouds she could see the moon. 

As she stared at it, she could feel herself calm down. She let out a deep breath before the nervous expression on her face turned into a resolved one. 

"Alright... I can do this..." She muttered to herself 

Despite being resolved she was still worried of incurring his wrath. Thankfully, he showed no signs of caring. And just like that, she continued to follow him.