"Good evening," said Blanc, bowing slightly.
"Morning, actually," said the old woman, watching him intently.
"Yes, you are right. Dawn is soon arriving," nodded Blanc, an awkward smile on his face, trying to appear as kind as possible.
"Come inside," said the old woman, making way so that Blanc could enter through her door.
"Thank you," Blanc nodded gratefully as he entered the woman's cottage.
"Take a seat at the table," instructed the woman, as she looked at Blanc's weapon.
Bow and arrows, a sword, and a well-hidden knife.
This man wasn't an ordinary man.
His hair and eyes looked weird, too.
And the air around him… the way he walked felt graceful yet dangerous, as if he were someone important.
"Tea?" she asked her unexpected guest.
"No, thank you," Blanc replied, sitting on a wooden chair near a table filled with herbs, as he looked around.
Shelves filled with medicinal herbs, ores, cauldrons of different sizes, alcohols, tools for alchemy, books, and potions.
If he wasn't sure before, he was sure now.
This was the right place.
"Are you here to steal?" asked the woman, seeing how Blanc's eyes ran from shelf to shelf. "I gave you potions last time. You promised you would leave me alone."
"Fortunately, I am not here to steal, madame. I am here to hopefully do business," said Blanc, pulling out the coin purse filled with gold and silver coins.
"What do you need?" asked the woman suspiciously, as she looked at Blanc's attire.
He did not look shabby, quite on the contrary.
Even though he wore basic clothes, they were made of an amazing material.
Blanc sighed as she looked at her, "Vita's Mercy."
"By the Vita…" said the old woman as she took a seat at the table, sitting in front of Blanc.
"Yes," Blanc nodded as he began, "We were attacked by Morois. My little sister, brother, and pregnant wife got wounded in the fight. My sister is wounded heavily, and she might bleed to death. And my wife is just as wounded, and the blood loss might not only risk her life, but also the life of her unborn child. I am sorry if I disturbed you earlier, but you are my only hope now."
The old woman sighed after hearing his story.
A sigh of relief that her life was not in danger.
A sigh of pity as she heard Blanc's story.
And a sigh of guilt as she muttered her next words.
"I am sorry, child. I really am. I do have some, but I cannot sell them to you," the old woman replied, smiling sadly at him.
"I'll pay, please, however much you can part with," Blanc replied.
The old woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I need them for my son and grandson. They are living in the Noble Blood An's domain. Their village was attacked by Moroi as well and barely escaped with their lives. I need the two potions of Vita's Mercy. I have to save them for when they get here."
"Please, I will give you all of this," said Blanc, putting the coin pouch on the table in front of the woman, "Buy more ingredients. I'll even search the forest for them as a replacement, just please, give me the potions."
"You know, there is nobody selling anything in these parts now. I do not have the time or the strength to travel all the way to the Imperial Capital to buy the ingredients, please understand."
"I cannot, madame. My family is dying. How can I understand?" Blanc asked, raising his voice at her.
"And so is mine. So sorry, child," The old woman sighed, pushing the coin pouch back towards Blanc, "The world is too cruel for people like us. So much pain, so much suffering. And for what? No person should see their own family die."
Blanc remained silent, looking at the coins on the table.
He was heartbroken.
The only hope was extinguished like a candle flame in a windstorm.
What can he do now?
Go where?
The only place he could maybe get the potions he needed was a day away by carriage.
But there were no carriages either.
He could not run faster or for longer to shorten the time.
Duldera was in ruins. No alchemist was alive there.
And only Vita knows where the Daughter of Blood Denegis was.
He sighed, trying to calm down his trembling and to maintain his composure.
But inside his head, there was a maelstrom.
Damn it all…
My little Lune, Celine, Kael, my unborn child, I am sorry.
I have failed you all.
Failed to care for you, provide for you, and make you all happy.
Here. At the beginning of it all was where I failed.
What a brother I am.
What a fiancé I am.
What a father I am.
What a load of bullshit. I am nothing.
Noble Blood, my ass.
I am nothing.
What can I do for them? How can I save them?
ill.
How, how, how? I am going mad, slowly. I am going mad.
Kill.
What is there left? Should I look for the ingredients myself? Is there any brimstone or obsidian in these parts? I don't know. The chances are slim.
Kill.
Huh? No. I am no monster, I will not kill an innocent just because…
Lune, Kael, Celine, and my unborn child are innocents, too. That would work. It would solve the issue.
No. I will regret it.
But I will regret it if the people I care for die knowing damn well I could have helped them if I just…
Stop this.
No. I need to be reasonable. Her family has two she needs to save. I have three. Four, if you consider Miyanna.
"Child?" asked the old woman, seeing Blanc lost in thought.
I cannot kill an old woman just because. Am I really this mad already?
No. I am not mad. I just know what's most important.
My family is important to me.
Then I should just kill for it, then.
But the woman is no soldier. No enemy. How could I kill an innocent?
Who decided on innocence? Me? No… the Vita decides that.
But…
Kill.
"Child?" asked the old woman again, seeing Blanc's eyes water with tears.
The air around him changed drastically.
He looked heartbroken.
But the old woman felt it in her bones.
She will die today.
"I'm sorry," muttered Blanc.
The old woman got up from the table, moving slightly back as she kept facing Blanc.
"I'm sorry," he kept repeating as he got up, pulling the hidden knife he had.
"Child, please, don't. I have a family to save," begged the woman, hitting a shelf with her back.
His tears began flowing from his eyes as he watched her, "So am I, please forgive me."
"I-I will break them," said the woman, grabbing two vials filled with a dark purple liquid. Vita's Mercy, "I swear to the Vita I will break-"
Her words stopped suddenly as Blanc basically vanished from her eyes, and a sharp pain suddenly made her gasp for air.
But no air came in any longer.
She looked down.
A knife held by a man's hand stabbed her lung.
She dropped the vials, trying to grab the knife, her neck, anything that would allow her to breathe again.
Blanc let go of the knife, catching both vials with incredible speed.
He moved back, placing them carefully onto the table near the coin purse.
He was sobbing loudly by now.
The old woman fell to her knees.
Clasping the knife and gasping for air like a fish on dry land.
Her eyes were locked onto her soon-to-be murderer.
A crying man.
A broken man.
A man who did this not out of malice, but out of love.
Yet that love of his was the knife that stabbed her lung and robbed her son and grandson of life.
All for the lives of his family to survive.
She hated him.
She cursed the moment she opened the door.
The crying man came towards her and knelt before her as she gasped.
"I'm so sorry, I need them. I need them to live. But I promise you this…If- If there is anything left, I will bring it back here for them to find. I promise," said Blanc, through sniffs and tears.
The old woman's gasps did not stop, even as her body began giving up.
But the eyes kept looking in his own teary eyes, as tears of her own flowed outward.
She did not forgive him.
How could she forgive her own murderer?
But as her teary eyes closed for the last time, and as darkness overtook her, she could only hope, enough of the potions would be left for her son and grandson.
The old woman was dead.
And Blanc was her murderer.
The reason?
Love.
Desperation.
Hope.
Life.
Death for Life.
Life for Death.
What would another do in a situation like this?
Will he stand by and do nothing? Standing witness to the death of his own family?
One could not help but wonder.