Flames of Fate

The magician of the invisible house (2)

He removed all of Marie's robes, even the cloth around the wound in her leg that I had put on, which made me look away from embarrassment.

Then, the old man raised his walking stick and brought the metal knob towards the woman's body.

Then he muttered something and the woman's body, previously dirty with mud, dust, and blood, was thoroughly cleansed.

'MAGIC!?' He too, like the old woman who had welcomed me into this world, was a magician. Well, maybe I shouldn't have reacted so surprised, after all, just before, he had opened a door out of nowhere.

'I still can't get used to the idea that magic exists in this world ...'

Now that the woman was completely clean, I noticed how beautiful she was.

The old man took out of the ampoule some of the healing ointment he had created and spread it over all the wounds, abounding in that on the woman's leg.

"Good!" The old man said, "Now we have to let her rest for at least one night..."

"Will she be cured?!" Asked the agitated innkeeper.

"EHHH ... I can't say for sure, but it seems to react well to the ointment ..." he replied.

I looked at the woman lying down, I didn't understand how he could tell.

Lilya, at the old man's words, gave a forced smile, then lowered her head and thanked him warmly.

The old man grunted something, turned, and placed the cruet on a shelf behind him.

Subsequently, the old man took us to the door and let Lilya out, I was about to follow her when the old man blocked my way with his walking stick.

"You stay here ..." He said.

"..." I greeted Lilya, who thanked me warmly too and then left in the direction of the inn.

The old man directed me to sit on a chair, next to the massive dark wooden table. Then, he covered with a thin cloth, which did not show underneath, almost the entire body of the unfortunate.

Rivorio then walked towards a wall without doors, between the shelf where I had previously taken the cruet and the olive tree, created a door out of nowhere on the wall, and opened it.

He went into another little room, which, from where I was, I could only glimpse it. It looked like a kitchen.

While the old man was away, I looked around.

'it's really all messed up in here ... who knows how he finds what he's looking for here ...' This waiting time also brought me back to thinking about what had happened that day.

'It all seems too real to be a dream ... will I really have to live here from now on? ...' I was gradually becoming more and more convinced that what was happening to me was real.

The thing that surprised me the most was that I didn't miss my old world at all and, for now, I didn't miss my parents that much either.

'After all ... my life has never been "special" ...' 'Maybe here ...' I immediately shook off these thoughts, after all, where I was now there were bloodthirsty monsters in every corner and death was common.

Finally, the old man returned from the kitchen with a cast-iron teapot decorated with floral bas-reliefs and two white porcelain cups, placed them on the table, and then sat down opposite me.

He snapped his fingers and the teapot flew up and then filled both cups with what looked like tea.

He snapped his fingers again and one of the cups levitated, settling in front of me.

"MMhh, are you hungry?" He asked me.

In fact, I was hungry. I nodded.

He created a saucer in front of me with homemade biscuits placed on top, they looked like almond paste.

We were silent for a while, I ate some cookies and sipped some of the contents of my cup. It was a red fruit-flavored tea.

Hunger made that unusual dinner seem like the best dinner of my life.

"Good!" He started to speak after a while, "Finally you have arrived new alleged hero ... you too will prove useless like the others ?!" He said bluntly.

After those words, Rivorio made a pipe appear out of nowhere on his right hand, it seemed to have been made from a horn of some animal, carved around the bowl with rhomboid motifs. He put the bit between his wrinkled lips and lit it with what looked like fire magic.

"H-how do you know I'm… well, I'm a hero?" It made me strange to ask this question, I had not yet accepted the fact that I had to be a hero, after all, I did not even consider this my world yet.

"EHH, you are not the first hero to have visited me ... by now I have the callus to recognize you heroes, hmm ... it is Tsinzia who sent you here, right? "

'Tsinzia ?! hmm ... who is he talking about ... ' I probably made a confused face because the old man sighed and added "That old witch ... she never tells anyone her name to anyone ..."

"Oh ..." ' So he's talking about the witch who gave me the clothes and compass, right ?! Hmm, so it's called Tsinzia… but then…' "So you two know each other?"

"Of course we know each other, what a stupid question ..." He replied muttering. This attitude of his was starting to tire me a bit, he seemed to be angry with me for something, but I didn't understand what.

'So that old witch tricked me into going to this place by showing me the location of the inn with the compass to meet this guy ... or maybe it's just a coincidence ...'

"Hmm ... so I'm not the first hero that Tsinzia sent here ... why is she doing it? " I asked doubtfully.

"EHH ?! don't you understand by yourself?! She wants me to train you ..." *Sigh, Rivorio sighed loudly, "same story every time … it's since she found out I live here that she keeps sending you here…"

"Oh ... so I was right ..." I whispered, "But if you don't like that, why haven't you moved somewhere else? I mean ..." I asked curiously.

" EHH ?! Are you insinuating something?! ... Umpf" the old wizard snorted, "it's just that I can't leave this place, I've built this house many years ago, even before the construction of the Brown Bear Inn, and this house is special, do you know why?" He asked me.

"Mmh ..." I tried to think of a reason and the first and only one that came to my mind was: "Why, mmh... does this house keep monsters away?"

The old man snorted some pipe smoke.

"Mmh, then you are not completely stupid ..."

'Oh, so even if his manner is brusque ... after all he is a good person ...' I thought.

For a while both the old man and I were silent. It seemed to me that the old man had lost the thread of the main discourse.

The old man frowned and took a few puffs of his pipe.

"So are you going to train me?" I asked. Not that I wanted to, but if I was really going to live in this world I had to get stronger. 'The dangers here are around every corner'. Rivorio nodded in surprise.

"Right, I will train you, but I don't want to train you without anything in return, so, you will hunt and collect things from the forest that I need and I will teach you some magic in return.… Anyway, are you really convinced that you are becoming a hero?"

I couldn't answer him.

I looked down, I was undecided. The old man, seeing me in this state, sighed loudly, got up from where he was sitting and began to walk around the room.

"You know, your reaction is normal ... besides you, I have met three other heroes, and all three were just arrived in this world ... Mary the salt mage, Samuel the inflamed blade, and Gobert the devourer ... I know that it is not easy to decide whether to be the hero that destiny wants you to be, especially knowing the fate of those before you …" These words of his somehow made me feel a little better.

"For tonight you can sleep here, think about it tomorrow… or maybe even another day, however make sure you won't regret your choice ... " he said the last words in a lower voice.

These were the first kind words I heard from that man. I was relieved to be able to postpone this decision but at the same time a little cowardly.

The old man went to a wall of the room and opened a door that appeared out of nowhere, this led into a room with a stately bed that seemed too comfortable to be real.

I gladly accepted his good gesture and entered the room.

{TO BE CONTINUED ...}