NoGift

"Master!" Black exclaimed and was about to pounce on her.

But before he could, Aurum stood in front of Argent and then put her forefinger on his forehead to stop him.  "Don"t even think about it.  Brother is injured, you"ll hurt him if you just jump on him like that," Aurum scolded.

Black was about to complain because Aurum stopped him from hugging his master.  But when he heard that his master was injured, he walked around Aurum and looked worriedly at Argent.  Then he saw the bandage on her shoulder and calf.  "Master, are you alright?"

Argent put her hand on top of Black"s head.  "I"m fine, just a few wounds."

"Master, there"s a medicine kit in the shuttle.  Should I clean and put medicine on your wounds?" White volunteered.

"Let me do it," Aurum said before Argent could answer.  "Where"s the medicine kit, White?"

White pressed something on one of the screens in front of her and a small opening suddenly appeared on one of the walls.  Inside was a box which was probably containing medicine.  

Before Aurum could walk, Argent stopped her.  "Let"s do it later once we landed somewhere safe away from here," she said.  The wound on her shoulder was a bit deep.  If she didn"t go to a healer later, the people here who didn"t know about her special const.i.tution might find it weird.  

"But Brother-"

Argent gently shook her head, silently trying to make her sister understand her predicament.  It looked like it worked because Aurum just nodded and bit her lips in frustration.

"Rather than me, I think Viper needed the medicine more," Argent said instead. 

Then she looked back at Lei Feng who was supposed to be carrying Viper on his back.  She was slightly taken aback when he saw his expression.  His face was extremely pale.  Not the pale that a sick person would have but the kind of pale when someone saw something extremely shocking.  She"s not even sure if he"s aware that he subconsciously let go of Viper who was now lying pitifully on the shuttle"s floor.  

"Lei Feng?" she said, trying to catch his attention.

Lei Feng seemed to finally realized what he"s doing.  He looked away and tried his best to sound as normal as possible.  "Sorry.  I seem to have overused my Mana.  It"s making me a little bit dizzy."

"Then sit somewhere so you could rest," Argent said, not asking more even though she felt like what he said was not truly the case.

Lei Feng nodded and sat on one of the empty seats.  He clenched and unclenched his fists.  His heartbeat was still beating uncontrollably.  The shock of seeing a face he didn"t think he would see again in this life was just too much.  It felt like his heart would just jumped out of his chest.  His brain couldn"t even think properly.  His mind was just filled with memories of the past.  Those bittersweet memories that always left him with regret and pain.

It was the time of his life when he discovered that he discovered the true meaning of happiness.  But that didn"t last.  That happiness soon turned into his personal nightmare.  A nightmare that was still wrapped around his subconscious even until now.  There"s only one person who could free him from it.  But he didn"t have the right to ask her that.

And now, he suddenly saw that face.  The face of the girl who gave him so much happiness but at the end, he failed her in every possible way.

Lei Feng closed his eyes, trying his best not to look back the white haired girl sitting at the very middle.

"Lynx, could you look after Viper?" Argent said to Lynx.  If she didn"t, Viper might just stay lying there in such an awkward position.  Which was bad, since the wound on his stomach seemed pretty deep.

Lynx didn"t answer because he was already walking towards the unconscious Viper.  He looked down.  Seeing the bandage on his stomach and his pale face, he couldn"t help but shook his head and sigh.  This reckless guy.  Well, at least he didn"t turn up dead.

He supported him on his shoulder and put him on one of the empty seats.  

"Do you need medicine and bandages?" Argent asked.

"No, thanks," Lynx answered.  

He took out a healing potion that could be sprayed on external wounds from his s.p.a.ce ring.  All of the members of Dreich Gallere were always given a supply of healing potions made by their own alchemist.  With the kind of job they had, it"s important that they didn"t lack those.  Because one way or another, it would definitely come in handy.

Viper surely had one.  Why didn"t this guy used it?  Instead he let himself pa.s.sed out like this.  He would definitely tell this to the others so they could tease Viper about it.  He removed the bandage.  The moment he did, blood started to flow out.  He immediately sprayed the healing potion on the wound on Viper"s stomach.  The wound was surrounded by a green light and it started to slowly close on its own.

Argent looked at everyone inside the shuttle until her gaze landed on the elf sitting at the corner, trying his best to lower his presence.  Ah, she almost forgot about this one.  Looking at him closely, with that blond hair and those green eyes, he definitely resembled Jaxon.  If you take away the pointed ears, no one would doubt that he"s Jaxon"s child.  Or at least someone closely related to him.  

She sighed.  Just thinking of how she should tell this to Jaxon was already giving her a headache.  She"d just think about that particular problem later.  But first…

"The success of our plan was because of all the combined efforts of everyone here." As well as Winter, she"d just have to send a separate message to him later.  "If even one of us didn"t do our part properly, I"m sure the end result wouldn"t have the same effect as we wanted.  So I"d like to express my grat.i.tude to everyone here." She looked at everyone involved in the plan and said with a sincere expression on her face.  "Thank you for your cooperation."

Clay raised one of his brows.  He didn"t expect this indifferent guy to actually say something like that.  "We made a deal, so it"s only natural for me to do my part.  And putting a stain on the Temple"s pristine reputation was more than enough incentive."

Lynx only shrugged.  After all, he"s only doing this because his master asked him to.

Lei Feng was still a little bit shaken, so he could only nod at the end.

"Did Black help Master?" Black asked. 

"Of course.  You and White have been a great help," she said, ruffling Black"s hair.

"Yey!" Black smiled happily, hugging Argent"s arm – the one without the injured shoulder.

Argent turned to White.  "Let"s depart.  Try to look for a small village far from here and then temporarily land near there."

Because, after all, the wound on her shoulder really needed st.i.tching.

"Yes, Master," answered White, starting the shuttle and flying it upwards.

Argent looked out of the window and stared at the tall gate of Victoria City that"s slowly getting smaller and smaller.

[Goodbye, Victoria City.  I hope we won"t meet again.]