Julia Tisdale, a former royal guard. A person who never thought of herself as someone who would be in her current situation as she was currently carrying cheap-looking sleeping bags that she had brought from the village head's home.

She was born and trained as a n.o.ble. Julia had never thought that one day, she would be under the care of such commoners which was why she never really put them in her eyes. This situation was caused because of the new master she was forced to serve.

She looked at the night sky as the village head and herself went back to the orphanage with the stuff they recovered. With the things that happened just on her first day of service, she had yet to really reflect on her current situation.

The hero Kazuya was an enigma to her. He was clever and ruthless yet, he had surprised her with his demeanor ever since he had arrived in this village. Julia subconsciously thought about it but tried to immediately deny that he and the princess were kind of similar.

"(Is this the real him… or?)"

A shooting star drew a line as she gazed towards the sky.

"(May the princess remain in good health.)" she sighed. This was the only thing she could do for her former liege now.

"Are you alright miss?" Gain saw the melancholic look Julia was showing as she gazed at the night sky.

"My apologies, I am just feeling a bit anxious over the unknown future." She hastened her pace to catch up to the village chief.

"You're still too young to be agonizing over the future. From my own experience, life always has its ups and downs. I know that the events that happened to you and your companions had been quite hard on you, but you'll never know when tragedies turn out to be blessings in disguise. I experienced that myself." He gave a meaningful laugh.

Though Julia wanted to scoff at his remark, she couldn't. If her intuition was correct, this man indeed had the right to say those things.

"Are you really someone from the Valentine family?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Oho… it isn't every day that my last name gets recognized. Which Valentine family are you speaking of?" the village chief was intrigued.

"The line of one of the great sages from the past. The family that established the lost kingdom of Bathara." Julia replied.

"You're quite knowledgeable. I haven't heard someone ask me about that in years." Gain smiled. "What do you think?"

"I think it is a guess that is farfetched. I don't sense any strong mana that would make you related to the line which was once known for dominating over a nation that had been once comparable to the Zweifel kingdom." Julia honestly replied.

"Your a.s.sumption would be the same as every person who had come to me after hearing of my name. This is why my family has been left alone in the midst of the era where the church of light is as powerful as it is." He smiled.

"Then why keep this name?" Julia asked curiously.

"For the same reason why you might not want to abandon yours." He immediately laughed after seeing Julia's reaction.

"Don't look at me like that missy. An experienced eye could tell that you had been raised as a n.o.ble. I won't ask for your circ.u.mstances or why you seem to serve the boy who doesn't seem to be in your circle but I would appreciate it if you wouldn't spread the name of my family lightly."

"I…" she could only frown.

"No need to think too deeply about it. I'm just merely an old village chief." He laughed. "We should hurry back. The injured lad needs these cus.h.i.+ons to recover well."

Julia silently followed Gain back to the orphanage. However, the scene they encountered as soon as they entered was something that both of them didn't expect.

"This…" Gain's eyes immediately fell on the hands of his daughter whose hands were holding the boy whom he had just met this evening.

Gale had been concentrating so she had yet to notice the return of both her father and Julia, smiled as she stared at Kazuya. Never in her wildest dreams would she have known that there could be a person who was swiftly learning what she took a few years to achieve.

"You're really a fast learner like you said! I wouldn't have believed that you weren't a healing magician if I hadn't seen your improvements firsthand!" she grasped the hand that was healing the injured person and excitedly shook it.

This was the first time she had met someone in her age group that did not give her a strange look and even shared the same interest in support arts. Though she had been suspicious of him at first, Kazuya's reasons for learning healing magic from her was so that he could prevent his party members from suffering from the injured man's current state.

Initially, she had doubted she could teach this strange boy. Even though one had the desire, it didn't mean that one necessarily had the talent. Healers were even more scarce than magicians because they have to meet specific requirements.

Who would have thought that the boy who was asked to try out support arts would suddenly learn at a pace that could potentially, surpa.s.s Gale in a few weeks at most. How could she not show interest and surprise at such a talent?

"Ehem…" Gain cleared his throat loudly and made sure that the two were aware that they had come back.

"Dad!" she let go of Kazuya's hand in a hurry. "Why are you sneaking around!?"

"Sneaking around…" Gain couldn't help but sigh. "Listen here, you were the one who didn't notice our return. You were too busy holding hands to even…"

"Holding hands? Wrong! Dad, you didn't know this but this guy is actually even more talented than I am in healing magic! I didn't believe it at first when he asked if he could learn some healing spells from me but with his help, their friend could recover in just a few days."

"What!?" Gain looked at Kazuya in shock. "You know healing magic!?"

"I learned a few things from your daughter just now. She told me that she would help me learn in the next few days so that I could heal my companions when they get injured next time." Kazuya explained.

"Healing magic…" only Julia's reaction was different.

For her, it was the farthest role that would fit someone like Kazuya who didn't even blink at the loss of life. Yet, it sounded like one of the things a person who cared for his own life more than anything else would take the initiative to learn.

"Thank you for the equipment." Kazuya helped Gain organize the stuff and placed the injured trainee on one of the sleeping bags.

"Think nothing of it. You can make use of this place for the time being. You should rest up because I'd be expecting your help tomorrow uh…" Gain felt embarra.s.sed as he continuously forgot to ask for their names.

"You can call me Kazu. This one here is Julie" Julia's eyebrows twitched after hearing her nickname from Kazuya's mouth.

"We are grateful for your kindness." Julia followed up.

"Think nothing of it. I will be counting on your a.s.sistance early tomorrow morning. We start gathering an hour after sunrise."

The father and daughter duo excused themselves. Gale was a little reluctant to leave and hesitated but after seeing that Kazuya had put his attention back to their injured comrade and started to cast the healing spell he learned from her, she followed her father out.

"Not bad." Kazuya turned to Julia as soon as he sensed that Gale and Gain had left. "I thought that you would have acted like a spoiled n.o.ble." He smiled.

"What do you know about me? Do you really think that I'm in a position to be looking down on commoners?" she retorted.

"At least, that was how you acted until you returned with the goods. Did something happen?"

Kazuya felt a little confused, the Julia he knew had always looked down on commoners. The events that happened today should not have been able to change that part of her which he hated when they had interacted with commoners in the past.

Though there was no way he could learn more about it now, Kazuya's curiosity about the period of time which should have pa.s.sed before he had arrived had increased more. Though Alicia's nature seemed like it hadn't changed, Julia, in contrast, was like an entirely different person in comparison. What had happened in just a few months that made this girl different from the person he once knew?

"I asked if Gain-san was part of the lost Valentine family who had been lost in history." She answered truthfully.

"And?" Kazuya's interest was tugged.

"He neither confirmed nor denied it. He did notice and was convinced that I was a n.o.ble though."

"Well, that's pretty obvious to anyone who has been around n.o.bles long enough." Kazuya scoffed at her last remark. He was more interested in the fact that he had learned something that he hadn't about Gale's family in the past.

"Is it really that obvious?" she talked as she took out the food she had bought from the town. They hadn't had a single bite since they took a break in the afternoon, so she was quite hungry.

"Yes. Take your choice of food for example…" Kazuya pointed at the meat Julia bought from the villagers.

"What about it?"

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"Do you think that regular adventurers could afford to buy so much meat just for a single meal? We may not lack any funds at the moment but, you probably didn't even think about saving funds when you buy stuff. This is a common trait among young n.o.bles. I don't think I even need to mention the way you carry yourself." Kazuya barraged her with facts that made her frown as they continued to eat.

"I got it already! Geez!" this was probably the first time she had ever felt embarra.s.sed about being raised as a n.o.ble.

"I don't think I need to remind you, but if you have any thoughts about looking down on people based on their statuses, you should remember the crest that is ingrained in your body first and foremost. I may not have met beast races or demons yet, but I have no intention of looking down on them."

"…" Julia remained silent.

His reminder of her status as a slave made her a bit gloomy. Though he had yet to treat her as such, the fact remained that it was her status. No amount of sugar-coating can change that fact. She was under his beck and call and will always be under those around Kazuya who do not bear the same status as her.

"It has been a long day so you should rest after the meal. As promised, we would be helping Gain starting tomorrow." He noticed her gloomy expression and changed the topic.

"Help out? What are you planning?"

"We currently lack information, so I want to wait for this guy to wake up." He pointed at the unconscious trainee.

"Besides, I've taken an interest in learning about healing magic now that Gain-san's daughter said that I had the talent. That should save us some time in case we end up with injuries." He replied.

"We…?" she was a little surprised as he had included her.

"What are you so surprised about? You're my subordinate so of course, I would treat you if you were injured. Who would protect me if I overuse my soul weapon?" he grinned. Kazuya felt a little strange about unintentionally comforting her, so he immediately took it back.

"I'm not your meat s.h.i.+eld!" she was immediately annoyed.

"Oh, but you are!" he laughed. "Don't worry, after I learn what I can from the girl earlier, I'd be able to heal any injuries you may suffer while protecting me."

"Annoying! Still, who would have thought, a hero like you would turn out to be interested in healing magic."

"What about me? I think it suits me perfectly. I can provide ranged support with my weapon and with the help of this new skill, my support prowess would increase even more."

"Whatever! I'm going to bed!" she buried herself inside her sleeping bag and turned her back towards Kazuya.

"(Would this count as torment?)" Kazuya couldn't help but wonder as he reexamined his current relations.h.i.+p with this woman. "(Whatever… I'll decide what to do with her when the time comes.)"

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