Chapter 160: Return

There was no saying whether the commander would accept the proposition. Miser went through the hours wondering with anxiousness deeply implanted into his face.

Thankfully, he no longer had to keep Mia's secret. She now understood her history and the history of her mother.

Aric was beyond bored as he stared outside. He was waiting for any sign of conflict outside to try and get his blood boiling.

These past few days had been too calm and collected, as if they were at the center of a storm.

Hugh sat down on the chair and closed his eyes. This was a rare moment that he could relax, so he took advantage of it any way he could.

"Ruff! Ruff!" A barking sound disturbed his sleep.

Then, Hugh felt a slimy feeling in his leg. As he looked down, he saw his trusty old dog, Beru. However, Beru was more of a wolf than a dog.

Beru continued to lick Hugh's leg as if he wanted to get Hugh's attention. Hugh had nothing for the afternoon, so he played with Beru for a little while.

Hugh rubbed Beru's black fur, but it seemed that it was not enough. Beru but his pants and tried to pull Hugh towards a direction.

With Hugh's weight, Beru couldn't move him. Feeling that it was impossible, Beru snapped at Hugh and barked at him some more.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Exhausted and ignored, Beru decided to run out of the house. He sprinted like a cool summer wind that opened the door wide.

"Wow! What a cute dog!" Mia exclaimed as she saw the cute black fur dog.

If she saw the fangs of Beru, then she would not think that Beru was cute.

"Is that yours?" Mia asked.

Hugh nodded.

Hugh looked out the window and saw Beru running out into the outside. It looked like he was running after something that was in the distance.

Weirded out by this behavior, Hugh decided to get up from his seat and go after the dog.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Even though Hugh and Beru were far away from each other, Hugh could still hear the dog's incessant barking. It was as if they were connected in some way that made them inseparable.

Hugh ran after the dog with all of his strength. As he ran through the distance, he finally saw Beru again.

Beru reached the end of his goal as he stopped right in front of a man on a horse.

Hugh activated his eagle eyes and inspected the man in the horse. Once he got a close look, he realized that the man was bloodied and tired.

The man wore dented armor and a rusty steel sword. Hugh could see that the man was old enough to have grey hair.

The man was bleeding from his right arm, and he was barely sitting in his horse.

Beru barked back at Hugh as he Beru wanted Hugh to approach the bloodied man.

Without waiting any longer, Hugh ran towards the bloodied man. Just as he reached the man, he saw the man start to way and lose control of his balance in the horse seat.

Hugh rushed over to him and coached him in his fall. The man was half-asleep and grabbed Hugh in the collar.

"Get me to Miser."

After the bloodied man said that, he passed out in Hugh's arms.

Since it seemed as if the man knew about Miser, then Hugh decided to bring him back to the house.

Serena and Jane both saw Hugh carrying someone home. They were both curious to see who it was since the man seemed like he was bloodied and dirty.

"Haugh!" Mia shrieked as she saw the bloodied man.

Miser looked out of the house to see what the commotion was about. Then, he saw Hugh carrying someone in his arms.

Squinting his eyes, he saw a familiar face in the bloodied man. It was a face that he had not seen in a long time, not since his wife had died.

Miser stepped out of the door one step at a time. Then, it turned into a full-on sprint as Hugh and the bloodied man got closer and closer to see.

As Miser sprinted towards the man, his suspicions were proved correct. This was a man he knew from way back, Darren.

"Hey, I think this guy knows you," Hugh said as he carried the bloodied man over towards the couch.

Miser nodded his head with melancholy and nostalgia on his face. "Yes. I knew him from back then. He's Darren, a noble knight from the Cheroque kingdom."

Miser quickly went through his cabinet and prepared some herbs and medicine to use.

The man called Daren seemed to be beaten up pretty badly. There were bruises and cuts all over his body, and his body was also filled with scars from his previous battles.

Hugh was surprised that Darren could even last that long of a journey without passing out.

Miser tended to Darren's wound, but Darren's wound was pretty severe.

Then, Miser suddenly saw less and less movement from Darren. He put his arm on Darren's wrists and checked for a pulse.

He was mortified to feel that Darren's heartbeat was getting weaker and weaker. It was only a meter of time until his body gave up on him.

Miser put his hand over Darren's nose and felt that there was no air coming out.

"Don't you dare die on me!" Miser screamed as he performed chest compressions on Darren.

Even with the artificial heartbeat, it did not seem like Darren would regain his breath.

With every pump, Darren was getting less and less hope for survival. Miser was in denial that Darren would die a death like this.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Jane stepped in and put her hand over Darren's mouth.

"Serena, use your brute strength on the count of three!" Jane commanded.

Serena did not know what was going on, but she knew that the situation was serious. She did what Jane asked her to do.

3…2…1…

Serena used her pink smoke power to multiply her arm strength as she struck Darren's chest.

At the same time that Serena struck Darren's chest, Jane used her air pressure to circulate air through Darren's body.

With their cooperation, Darren's body was redirected back from the dead. He started to breathe normally again, and his heart started to pump blood as it normally did.

"Hoh! Thank the gods!" exclaimed Miser as he got a wave of relief over him.

"It's not ever yet," Jane said. "We have stabilized him for now, but the underlying problem is still there."

Miser put on a serious face and faced Jane. She seemed like she knew what she was doing and he would follow her every move.

"Aric, be useful for once and lower his body temperature for a while," Jane said as she stared at Aric.

Aric easily complied with Jane. She was strangely serious and helpful in this matter.

Then, Jane took out a blade from the kitchen and started to operate on Darren's body. Miser was worried at first, but seeing her steady hand gave him a steady heart.

With her skills and technique, Jane was able to operate and remove a strange reddish object from Darren's stomach.

It was the size of a big grape, but Jane knew that it would have caused the death of Darren.

Once she had safely removed the hazardous object from Darren's stomach, she patted away her sweat and faced Miser.

"Dispose of this away from us, make sure not to put it anywhere near the drinkable water."

Miser furiously nodded his head. He made sure to use a glove to handle the object as it seemed as if it was poisonous to everything it touched.

Then, Jane faced Hugh and spoke to him.

"Burn his injuries. We don't have any sewing kit, and it's the best way to disinfect."

Hugh nodded towards her and did as she told. Hugh could not forget the kind of calm and poise that Jane had as she saved a man's life like it was nothing.

She did not even hesitate to order someone around. Her skills as a doctor proved her genius and capability to everyone in the room.

"He'll be okay, right?" Mia asked Jane.

Jane nodded. "He just needs to rest for now. He'll probably be awake a two to three days from now."

Mia breathed a sigh of relief as she heard that. She did not know who this Darren person was, but she knew that he might have known something about her true origin.

Since it seemed like Miser knew Darren as a friend, she was curious to know why he had come here in the first place.

Darren continued to sleep and recover for hours. Miser continued to stay at his side and monitor his well-being.

"Guhhhhh!" Darren took one big breath.

Miser was surprised to see Darren suddenly awaken. He was supposed to still be asleep for days, but he woke up only after a few hours. 

"Get out, now!"