While Basil was recuperating and took a quick shut-eye, Sylvia and Chloe were busy cleaning themselves. They had undressed themselves and were covered with blanket all over their body.
As the water provided by Basil was sufficient enough to also clean their clothes, they did just that. They were hanging their wet clothes in the cave in hope to get them dry as soon as possible.
They could feel the body parts where they hurt were heating, and the pain lessened. They didn't know what Basil had given them, however they could deduce it wasn't cheap in the slightest.
Therefore, they looked at the sleeping Basil in nervousness and some expectation. They didn't know who started it, however after some time passed, they leaned onto each other and fell asleep.
Basil opened his eyes by the time his energy and body had recovered. All of the broken tissue and muscles had been healed and got strengthened instead. He stood up and expelled the heat out of his body.
Psst!
Steam was let out of his body. He looked like someone who had just got out of a steam bath. It was the residue energy from self healing. When Qi was utilized to repair one's body, there would always be some unused ones that would then be expelled.
It was no longer usable as it had been tainted by the impure energy that ran through one's body. Qi could only remain pure if it stayed inside the Core. Once it was taken out of the Core, it was morphed to another form.
Basil took off his upper clothes and conjured water out of thin air to wash himself clean. He hadn't cleaned himself for a quite some time, and he felt uncomfortable. He had always been a clean freak, and he wasn't shy to admit it.
Unaware or not, while he was cleaning himself, the two previously sleeping ladies were already awake and watching him in a daze. They ogled every part of his body attentively as if they didn't want to miss any single details.
"Ahh..."
"Huhh..."
They sighed in admiration and slight disappointment. They wanted to see his front badly! It wasn't their first time seeing a bare-chested man, however it was their first time seeing someone as attractive as him bare-chested. Surely, it hit different.
Basil turned his body and looked at them neutrally. They couldn't even register him turning his body as they were too preoccupied by his bare chest.
'There are two Vagus out here.'
'What?! I am offended. How could you compare me to these kids?!'
Vagus replied him indignantly from his mindscape. However, he knew what she was really up to. Truly to his guess, Vagus was as always having her dose of nosebleed for the day.
It was only after he put his clothes on that the two ladies registered the fact he was staring at them.
"Kuhum. I am charmed..."
"Hm..."
While Chloe openly admitted her feelings, Sylvia opted to admit it silently. Basil didn't have any change of his facial expression as he asked them.
"How about your injury?"
"Ah.. I think... They have gotten better?"
"Hm. Same here. The lump on my ankle is almost gone too."
Basil nodded his head faintly and took out another two pills of Crystal Clear Alpha. He gave one to each of them. In turn, they received it reluctantly.
"Umm.. do we have to pay for it?"
As Sylvia couldn't bear the anxiousness anymore, she asked Basil directly. Without changing his expression, Basil answered her.
"If you want to pay, I will accept it."
"Th-that is..."
The atmosphere turned awkward in an instant. Sylvia was conflicted between choosing to tear up or to laugh at his answer. In the end, she chose the former as her eyes quickly glistened. She didn't know why, she started to think that crying was her new hobby.
"I.. I will pay it.. w-w-with m-my body..."
Chloe looked at Sylvia in pity. This girl had been abandoned by her friends, and then she was abandoned by god. Chloe had some money to spare, so she wasn't concerned about paying Basil.
She looked at Basil with a hint of disgust. Although she looked like that, she was quite a respectable woman. She hated men who treated women as they pleased. She was about to open her mouth when Basil spoke.
"You have talent, therefore you could pay me by enrolling yourself to a Knight School."
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
Sylvia stopped her tears as she turned at Basil with a dumbfounded face. Chloe was also the same. She was about to be overwhelmed with her hate toward Basil, however she was proven to be wrong.
'He is quite... nice?"
"Will that be okay?"
"Hm. It is way better than using your body as a fodder to the Beasts."
"Th-that is..."
"You are not ready and you know it."
Sylvia kept silent. She couldn't refute his words. She had only realized she wasn't ready after facing this ordeal. She had thought that as long as one could use Qi, one could face anything.
It was the reason she became an Explorer. Explorer were people who were consisted of Mage and Knight alike who didn't follow their respective principal. These people pursued freedom and leisure. Therefore, they opted to explore the world. Hence, the name.
She learned how to use Qi one day from a visiting Explorer to her orphanage. She hadn't had any formal training on using Qi. The same case was also for Chloe as he had learned it from her uncle.
It was the difference between Mage and Knight. A Mage had to enroll to a formal education to be able to learn Magic. However, a Knight could learn how to use Qi by instinct. There was really no restriction in learning Knight Principal. Anyone could learn it, anywhere, and anytime.
"What would she get by enrolling herself to a Knight School?"
"Many things. You could try it yourself."
"Hmm... I think I'll give it a try too."
Basil nodded and sat on the ground. He took out a beef steak from his Magic Bracelet and ate it silently. When Sylvia and Chloe saw that, they were reminded about his display before climbing Lone Mountain.
"Ah.. you are.. Basil?"
"You are the guy who had a feud with Jester?"
"Hm? Yes, I am Basil. And, a dead man couldn't bear any grudge."
They widened their eyes by the time they heard his words. They gulped in the next moment. Considering his prowess, it was possible for him to kill Jester. They gulped and nodded their heads in acceptance. Surely, they didn't know the truth.
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, so.. I am Chloe"
"I am Sylvia."
"Basil."
"Umm.. if I may know, why did you save us?"
Basil looked at Sylvia who had asked him silently. He looked like he was pondering over something. He was a little bit puzzled with his action too. If it were in the past, he wouldn't even blink his eyes at a mass murder in front of him.
However, ever since he was granted this second chance, he felt a little compassion toward some people. It was the case when he had exterminated the remaining Beast horde for Bradley.
Maybe it was because he was considerably 'experienced' compared to them, or maybe not. He wasn't sure about that, and he opted to throw it to the back of his mind for the time being.
After some times, he fiinally opened his mouth.
"It was a coincidence. I am no more than a passerby. You were just coincidentally on my way, so I had no choice but to carry you along."
"You could have just left us though."
"Would you want it?"
"Of course not."
Basil stared at Chloe and she stared right back at him. She was unfazed by his unamused gaze. She knew she was acting rather childishly, however she didn't care. She hadn't resolved her resentment toward him yet.
"You are hungry."
"..."
"..."
Basil didn't bat an eyelash at Chloe's behavior as he merely presented Sylvia and her two plates of beef steak. The two took each plate silently, and ate the steak in the next moment. At this point, Chloe was convinced that his word held some true.
"We will part our ways here."
"Hm..."
"I.. understand."
They looked at him and nodded their heads reluctantly. They weren't too afraid of climbing down the mountain alone. They were somehow reluctant to not be in his presence. They were comforted whenever they were in his presence.
"Here is the route you can take to climb the mountain down."
"Oh, thank you."
"Thank you very much!"
It was a situation that was worth celebration for. However, they felt nothing to it. Chloe just accepted the paper he gave them and pocketed it silently. The meal continued until Basil stood up. He had finished his meal.
The two looked at him silently and somewhat expectantly. He gazed at the duo silently before moving in front of them and patted their heads. They reminded him of Deacon when he was yearning for praise.
They didn't feel weird by being patted by him, they were comforted instead. They felt warmth they had never gotten in their life. Both of them didn't have any parents, so it made them think that what they felt right then was what those kids who had parents felt.
Basil took away his hands and turned his back on them. He waved his hand silently as a farewell and mounted Deacon silently. The duo gazed at his back silently. They kept watching his back until he disappeared completely from their view.
"Whew..."
"Hmm..."
Both of them held the blanket he had given to them tightly. They felt something that thet hadn't felt for a long time. That was, the feeling of being a child once again.
...
Basil pondered of his earlier action. He was a little bit weirded out by his action. He didn't know that someone like him could express that much care toward people.
"For decades this Lord has lived, however not a time this Lord met anyone with a clean heart. Maybe, this Lord has not opened his blindfold yet."
Human are fickle. They are a simple yet complicated living things. They love, they hate, they favor, and abhor each others. Anyone aligned with their views will get along well with them, while the opposite will be ostracized.
Most of them are selfish, while some are very compassionate. Some make mistakes, while some make justice. They are so varied that human can not be described into one word. Human are many things.
However, to Basil, they looked like a child, immature. He shook his head at that thought. He didn't act like himself just then. He hadn't had that thought for a very long time. He had stopped caring ever since he had become a Mage.
After giving Deacon an instruction to follow a certain scent, Basil closed his eyes to forge his body and cultivate. He had encountered many things that befuddled him for the past day, however he would solve them later one by one.
Right then, he was just concentrating on his practice. He cycled all the Qi inside his body to forge it, while Mana was constantly converted to Qi. Mana was ceaselessly absorbed by his heart and in turn purifying his heart.
His heart twisted whenever he was practicing [Heart Clenching], and he felt he would feel that for quite some time. After some time passed, finally Deacon reached the origin of the scent he was chasing.
He notified Basil through [Link] and Basil stopped practicing. He tensed his body as he was preparing himself for the hardest battle he was about to face since going back in time.
Roughly a hundred meters away from them, Basil could see a gigantic snake with eight heads and equally eight tails. On one of the tails attached a unique looking sword. Basil knew the sword name. It was no other than Kusanagi no Tsurugi.
The gigantic snake was, of course, Yamata no Orochi.