Enigma of Sin

Smiling, Est looked at Kayn with a gentle expression, "There's no need to repay anything, just focus on healing up. It may take a while before you're able to travel to get looked at after all. You and your sister are welcome to stay here during that time."

"If it's not too much to ask, would I be able see Lara? I'm kind of a worrywart of a brother." Kayn gave a half smile that showed his slight embarrassment.

Est only smiled before leaving the room and returning shortly after with a small child wrapped in a blanket between her arms. She handed the child over to Kayn, after which he immediately looked down to notice that Lara was awake.

Her eyes were looking back up at him and she looked as healthy as could be. Kayn couldn't help but tear up when he saw his sister recovered to this extent. Just to make sure he covered his bases and used Void Eye on her, and after finding nothing amiss, he sighed in his heart.

"Thank you, thank you so much for taking care of my sister and I. I can't help but want express the gratitude I feel towards you both. As for staying here, I would also greatly appreciate that as well. It should only take me a day or so to heal most of my wounds though, so we will be in your care until then." Kayn smiled as a renewed determination seemed to be shining in his eyes.

Horace looked at Kayn with a pitying look, "Kid, it's a miracle you even survived with the wounds on your back. They're healing up plenty fine, but it's still going to take some time, a day or two won't cut it."

At those words, Kayn gave an embarrassed look as he removed one hand from holding Lara and started to scratch the side of his face. "Ah, yeah, about that…I'm actually a healer myself…so it really shouldn't be more than a day or two assuming everything goes right."

Est and Horace stared at Kayn with dumbfounded and stunned looks. If he was a healer, why didn't he heal them beforehand? Not to mention, if he was confident in healing his wounds, he was a somewhat powerful mage. That much they understood, yet he just looked to be a young boy from their perspective, barely even an adult.

For normal non-mages, mages of any stage brought upon a certain amount of fear instinctively, but also respect and reverence as to what they were capable of doing. Looking at Kayn, they didn't feel a hint of fear though, his eyes were far too gentle at the moment as he looked at his sister. If he could really heal himself, that would only help them feel more relieved.

Meanwhile, after hearing and seeing to Lara's well-being, Kayn began healing one of his arms secretly under the bandages to prove it to them after he explained he was a healer. And indeed, the time had come when they were skeptical of him.

"Here, look." Kayn set Lara on his lap momentarily to unwrap his right arm from the bandages they had placed on it. Once the bandages were removed, Est and Horace could clearly see the new skin and perfectly unharmed arm that at one point contained many cuts and what looked like road burn.

Though, the oddity with his arm that they noticed while wrapping still remained. He had four long scars that ran the entire length of his arm from shoulder to finger webbing. They decided not to pry into it though as it could be some other trauma he had, or maybe it was just a race thing.

Meanwhile, as the couple was staring at Kayn in astonishment, he had returned to paying attention to his sister. He was currently rubbing her cheek with one of his fingers causing her to giggle. A relieved and happy smile appeared on Kayn's face as he looked at Lara's innocent eyes.

'She really does look just like Mom.' Kayn couldn't help but remember his mother looking into Lara's bright golden-purple eyes and her head adorned with a small tuft of snow-white hair, just like his own.

At this point, Kayn's stomach growled particularly loud. It kind of sounded like a beast growling if one didn't know where it came from. Est and Horace came out of their reverie at that and both laughed lightly. They left the room together with their son, who they finally introduced as Titus, before saying they would make something to eat.

Just like that, a few days went by. During this time, Kayn was able to fully heal himself, though it took longer than he expected due to the state his back was in. The broken ribs and small fractures on his vertebra and scapulae weren't awfully hard to deal with, but the flesh around his scapulae was.

Something about the arrangement of muscles and tissue in general had changed in those areas, and healing it with his recollection of how they used to be wasn't the best idea. Rather than rush the healing process, he just decided to use purely the light element to stimulate the area to heal itself quicker as this was the safe play.

Once he was fully recovered, he offered to help out however he could and even offered to act like a personal healer to the family during the time before he and his sister left.

Horace and Est were almost put to tears being offered healing services for free as for people like them it was unheard of to have this opportunity. They both immediately asked for a checkup for Titus before Kayn looked at either of them.

Kayn's initial speculation was correct, Est was an elf and Horace was a human, thus Titus was a half-elf and half-human. This made the checkup easy as Kayn was familiar with the combination after the time he had worked at Elder Loren's clinic.

After using Void Eye on Titus, Kayn informed them that he was a perfectly healthy child and they had nothing to worry over. Though in reality, he had corrected a deformity of his heart. Kayn justified it by thinking that it was better if they didn't know as no problems would arise in the future due to it anymore. So, in reality, he was now a perfectly healthy child, just as Kayn stated.

Est was indeed perfectly healthy and there was nothing Kayn could find wrong with her. She had the lithe frame of an elf and seemed to keep herself somewhat toned working on the farm. She didn't even really have much scar tissue anywhere that he needed to remove.

Kayn was quite astonished as he almost always found scar tissue somewhere, especially in mothers. Though he never had the opportunity to examine a pure-blooded elf, so he assumed it might be a benefit of their race's natural healing. He guessed it might have been a trait which was more active when they were younger, thus leading to less scar tissue from their early years.

Horace on the other hand, had a lot of scar tissue from injuries he had accumulated over the years. Kayn slowly and gently removed it all with darkness magic and used light, water, and earth magic to fill in the areas with new, healthy flesh.

After Kayn stepped away, Horace was staring blankly at his wife. He felt as if he had returned back to his teenage years. He was currently 33, so having a body that didn't have any of his accumulated pain was a miracle to him!

Kayn glanced at Horace's left hand, specifically at his partially missing index finger. "If you would like, tomorrow we can spend the day regenerating your missing finger. I don't quite have the mana to use normal spells you would see at big healing clinics, but I can probably finish up half a finger in about a day. Though, I will warn you that it will probably be pretty itchy and even quite painful as I'm creating new muscles and connections."

Est was the one who spoke up in a hurry, "No, no, we can't possibly ask that of you! We know how much something like that cost, we've asked a healer about it before and it's just something we simply could never afford. I know you're offering to do it for us for free, but we just wouldn't feel right about it."

Horace looked at his wife as if he had been wronged. But upon her glaring eyes staring back at him, he hung his head and agreed with what she said.

"Nonsense! You and your husband saved my life, and more importantly my sister's life. I honestly can never repay the gratitude I feel towards you both, no matter what I do. A little mana and time to help out one of our saviors is nothing compared to what you've done for us." Kayn's voice was firm, he wouldn't take no for an answer on this.

Tears of joy began to fall down both of their faces. Kayn firmly believed that you should treat others how you wanted to be treated. Both of them had done so much for him, so he would do everything he could to pay it back tenfold. Good deeds beget good deeds and bad are met with bad, that was how Kayn decided to think about it.

…

Kayn successfully healed Horace's finger the next day, and proceeded to assist with farm duties for the following few days. He had even offered to heal the injuries their farm animals had sustained, which was absolutely unheard of. What healer would waste their time healing animals?

However, having a horse that no longer limped as it walked due to a previous broken leg, was another miracle for the family as it would allow for easier farming and travel to the nearby town to sell their crops during the next season.

During this time, Kayn was finally able to figure out where he was. He had traveled inside of the Great Forest and was located about 6 days' time from the Carnet Empire border. If he wanted to get to the capital of the Mancean Empire without stepping foot into Carnet, he would need to travel west through the forest before turning south.

He estimated that by foot and carrying his sister, it would take him roughly three entire months of travel. If he could get a horse or something to ride though, the time could probably be reduced to two months.

He explained his plans for departure to Horace and Est, and Est quickly rebuked him. "Kayn, winter is coming soon, and the Great Forest is not an easy place to travel during the winter. Not to mention the drop in temperature at night. Think about it, you may be able to withstand the cold, but what about your sister?"

Kayn was certain that he could keep them both warm without issue. Thinking about his sister did bring up a good point though, she was still breast feeding, so how was he supposed to feed her?

Seeing the pondering look in Kayn's eyes, Est continued, "So, how about staying here through the winter season? Your sister hasn't weaned off breast milk yet, so during these few months I'll teach you how to make mushed food for your sister while we wean her off of milk.

"You said she's over 6 months old now, correct? While learning about raising a child during pregnancy, I read that age is typically when most races will begin adding solid food into the child's routine. When winter is over in 3 or 4 months, I should be able to wean her and switch her to solids even if it's a bit early to completely stop breast feeding, I think she'll be okay."

Truly, Kayn did neglect thinking that far. He figured he could ask for some milk to take with him and mash food up for her after he ran out. But he'd truly never raised a child or even read much about it other than what he learned in class. He had no experience raising a child, and it would appear that once again a motherly instinct on child rearing was astounding.

Kayn just sighed as he was once again being naïve in his thinking, a habit he promised to himself that he would correct one day. "In that case, we will be in your care. Please feel free to ask anything of me during this time as I won't accept free-loading off of your family." Kayn bowed as he spoke.

It appeared he had found a safe haven for the next few months and he was inwardly relieved. He didn't really want to leave yet, but he also didn't want to be a burden. This grace period before starting his travels was exactly what he needed.