‘What am I doing here?’ William thought as he gazed at the familiar ceiling of the goat pen.
His memory was a bit hazy and he couldn’t remember much of what happened after he had talked with Celine inside his Sea of Consciousness. The only thing he remembered was closing his eyes to sleep.
Just as he was trying to understand how he ended up in the goat pen, a fluffy Angorian Goat arrived at the entrance carrying a basket in her mouth.
Ella walked towards William and dropped the basket by his side. She was very happy that the young boy was finally awake.
William blinked once, as he looked at the Angorian Goat that he hadn’t seen for more than half a year. His hands slowly reached out to her, but stopped midway.
His instinct prevented him from completing the motion because he felt that if he touched her, he would be staining something pure with his blood-soaked hands.
As if sensing his thoughts, Ella pressed the side of her face against one of William’s hands while bleating softly.
“Meeeeeh.”
“…”
Ella moved closer and rested her head on William’s shoulder. She didn’t say anything else and simply wanted to be close to William.
The red-headed boy, on the other hand, pressed his cheek against Ella’s face as he lowered his hands to the ground. He wanted to hug his second mother, like he always did, but he was afraid that he would make a mistake and accidentally…
William lifted his head. Ella reluctantly stepped back and bleated.
“Meeeeeh.”
“Un. Thank you, Mama.”
“Meeeh.”
William opened the basket and saw some pancakes and a small bottle of honey. The moment he saw the food, his stomach started to grumble, but he didn’t eat right away. He left the goat pen to draw some water from the well in order to wash his hands.
The boy had always been strict with himself when it came to cleanliness. He would always wash his hands before he ate, and even his pang of hunger wouldn’t stop him from performing basic hygiene.
When he was done washing his hands, he returned to the goat pen and began to eat. Ella sat on the hay beside him, and simply watched her baby eat the first breakfast he’d had after a week of sleeping.
William had just finished eating his food when Celine entered the goat pen.
“It’s good to see that you are finally awake,” Celine said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, Master,” William replied. “Do you need me for something?”
Celine shook her head and appraised the young boy that was sitting on the hay. He still had that “standoffish” mood, but it was much better compared to how it was when he arrived in Lont a week ago.
“Since you just woke up, it would be best for you to take it easy for the time being,” Celine stated. “Do you have any plans for today?”
“I don’t,” William answered.
“Why don’t you go back home for a while? I’m sure that your Uncle, Aunt, and Grandfather are worried about you.”
“… Can’t I stay here for a few more days?”
William didn’t really want to return to the Ainsworth Residence at this time. Although he didn’t hate his grandfather, he didn’t want to be around other people right now.
He didn’t want to hear laughter.
He didn’t want to hear kind words.
He didn’t want to feel the warmth of humans.
Seeing his determined stance, Celine had no choice but to give him some space.
“Okay. You can stay here for as long as you want, but you must eat on time,” Celine reminded him. “Understand?”
“Yes.” William nodded. “Should I cook for you later, Master?”
“No.” Celine shook her head. “Sick people should just rest and recover.”
William understood the hidden meaning behind his Master’s words. Celine was indirectly telling him to keep his salad to himself.
Honestly, the boy was also not in the mood to cook anything. The reason why he offered to cook was just to show respect to Celine since she was his Master.
After the beautiful elf left William alone, the young boy laid down once more on the stack of hay. Like he said earlier, he had no intention of going anywhere. What he wanted was to be left alone. He placed his hands on the back of his head as he stared at the ceiling.
For some reason, ever since he woke up, he felt more calm and at peace. This was the first time that he had felt like this since he left Lont to accompany Ezio on his mission.
Suddenly, he felt a slight pressure on his stomach. Ella had laid beside William and used the boy’s tummy as her pillow. The boy’s hand moved unconsciously to brush her head, but it stopped halfway before dropping to his side.
‘Sorry, Mama,’ William thought. ‘I’m afraid that I might accidentally hurt you if I touch you.’
In order to clear his thoughts, he started the breathing exercises that Ezio had told him to calm his senses. William inhaled slowly through his nose, and exhaled just as slowly using his mouth. Ten minutes later, he finally regained his calm and closed his eyes to dive into his Sea of Consciousness.
When William opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that at the center of his world, there was a patch of blue sky. Aside from that, he also sensed that the thick scent of blood in the air had also lessened.
As he was wondering what was going on, he sensed someone entering his Mindscape.
William immediately summoned Stormcaller and took a fighting stance. Lightning crackled on its purple blade as the image of the intruder slowly materialized in front of him.
“I didn’t come here to fight, but I guess this is good as well,” an almost musical voice said as it stopped a few meters away from William. “I’m curious to know how far you have come in your training. If the two of us are going to fight together, I will need to know your current fighting ability.”
William could hear himself drawing a deep breath as his gaze locked on the beautiful lady in front of him. He had thought that his Master was already very beautiful, but the intruder who had entered his world made his heart tremble.
It took all of his willpower to break out from his daze and force himself to ask her a question.
“Who are you?” William asked as he pointed his spear towards the lady with light-blue hair who was making his heart beat wildly inside his chest. “How did you manage to enter my Sea of Consciousness?”
Although he didn’t sense any malicious intent coming from her, the young boy had developed a mild sense of paranoia after everything that he had experienced on his journey outside of Lont.
“I will tell you the answer after you beat me,” The beautiful lady smiled as she summoned a bow made up of crystals. “Come. Fight me with everything you have.”
With her declaration, she fired a magical arrow aimed at William’s chest. The boy used his movement technique, Heavenly Phantasm to dodge and, at the same time, charge in her direction.
Ella smiled because this was the first time that she was fighting against William. She couldn’t possibly do this in the real world because she was afraid that he would receive a serious injury. However, since they were inside his Sea of Consciousness, she could fight to her heart’s content.
After all, she wanted William’s killing intent to diminish and for that to happen, he needed to fight against someone without holding back.
Seeing that the red-headed boy managed to cross the distance in an instant, Ella unsummoned her bow and clenched her fists.
“Taste the fury of the Celestial Heavens,” Ella said with an enchanting smile on her face. “Final Heaven!”
