I was in a good mood. I had managed to save the chief’s daughter when all hope had been lost. It was a nice feeling to have helped someone like this.
It was the first time, actually. The only times I had helped people in my life had been by killing others or protecting them. This was the first time I had saved a life, and it was a feeling I would remember for the rest of my life. However, at the moment, it was quite difficult to think about Phoebe and her recovery as I was fighting yet another match in the tournament.
As of now, things were going extremely well for me as I had not lost a single fight against anyone. The main reason for that was the aether energy I could utilize. The tribe members could not sustain their special ability for more than thirty seconds, which made it quite easy for me to win every single time.
The fact that I could see the attacks before they were launched made it almost too easy for me to win those fights.
And while my body was still weaker than before, with this ability, I believed that I was stronger. I could defeat stronger enemies than before; after all, the fact that I could defeat the tribe members without facing injuries was already a pretty good sign that I was getting stronger.
There was only Zoe, who I was truly worried about. She was the most powerful of them all, and she could be considered my final test before I went to face Zero.
About my fight with Zero, I had already thought about it, and I would leave my students here in the meantime. I couldn’t bring them with me because they would make things a lot more complicated when I faced him. I also didn’t want them to learn that demons were still roaming around the world. It was information that needed to be kept secret, after all.
However, I wanted to ask Phoebe for help…but I didn’t know if she would be in good shape by the time I left.
After all, she still hadn’t woken up from the looks of it, as I turned to look in the direction of the chief’s house. But just as I did so, two shadows were slowly walking out of the house. It was Phoebe and Zale, both with smiles on their faces.
The tribe members still hadn’t noticed them yet as they were all focused on the fight before them. However, a simple cough from Zale was all it took for them to look in his direction.
“P-Phoebe?!” Zoe shouted like a madman. “Is that really you? W-When did you even wake up? What happened?”
Hearing the name Phoebe, everyone snapped their heads sharply in Zale’s direction. All of them couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“Did she wake up on her own?”
“But how? We all saw how affected she was by that bad energy!”
“Maybe the chief did something?”
“But he told us that it was impossible to wake her up without blood from the one who had injured her.”
“He probably found a way.”
I thought most of them would have guessed that I might have played a hand in her recovery, but none of them believed so, which was strange since I had left with the chief to go to his house earlier today.
Nevertheless, I didn’t say a word as I simply watched to see how the situation would play out.
“I just woke up…I’m still not too sure what happened; my head is still dizzy,” Phoebe answered, currently leaning somewhat onto her father.
After all, her body was bound to be pretty weak at the moment, even weaker than that of Zale, who already had one of the weakest bodies I had ever seen.
“Then, chief!” Zoe said, turning toward Zale. “What happened? How did she wake up?”
Zale didn’t answer; he simply looked in my direction with a soft smile.
I was currently sitting all alone, minding my business, but the moment Zale looked in my direction, it was as if Zoe understood everything that had just happened right away. After all, she knew better than anyone how my powers worked.
“How didn’t I think of that beforehand?!”
“It was the outsider who saved her?”
“The chief trusted the outsider to save his daughter?”
Many looked around in confusion. It was only natural, since most of them didn’t know who I really was. I had only spent time with Zoe and Zale. I had barely spoken to the rest of them, and when they had seen me, it was when I had fought against Alexandra and threatened her. So, it was obvious that most of them would have terrible opinions of me and how I generally acted.
The chief nodded and confirmed what Zoe had just said. “Yes. Caedrel was the one who saved Phoebe with the power he acquired from our God. Without him, she would have died, tomorrow at the latest, so please do not be rude to him. He is part of us; he is Phoebe’s savior.”
Most of them still looked at me with a frown, but it wasn’t as bad as before. It seemed they realized that maybe I wasn’t as bad as they had thought.
“How did he do it?” Xander asked.
“Ask him. I will not reveal his secrets.”
I smiled at those words. It was a nice feeling; after all, both Zoe and the chief hadn’t told the village that I could use aether. All of them merely assumed that I had managed to harness their power. However, they didn’t realize that what I was using was superior in all ways.
Still, when they looked over at me, none of them opened their mouths. They didn’t have the guts to ask me from the looks of it or even to approach me.
There was only a single person from the tribe who was currently walking in my direction, albeit slowly: Phoebe.
