Rebirth Lives Up to the Stars

【1】

I walked up with Ryan and observed the stele at close range, and found that although it had no characters, it was carved very delicately.

"This is……"

"This is the tombstone erected for you eight years ago when I thought you died in the fire."

"Because you are a commoner, I didn't engrave your name on the stone tablet in order to inlay Morsu gemstones on your stone tablet and to prevent people from disturbing you."

"I was still a little depressed at the time, but now that I think about it, I feel a little lucky."

As he spoke, he squatted down.

I stared at the tombstone for a while, and suddenly a strange thought came to my mind: "When you erected the tombstone, did you bury any bones or something like that?"

"Yes." Ryan sighed lightly: "I knew that something like this happened to Pan Sen, so I hurried back. The picket guards told me that they found two burnt bones in the hospital hall of the orphanage. I heard that you and Master Buzz are very close and often visit him, so... I found the skeleton of the young man and buried it here."

"It's just... since you escaped the fire, the one I buried here may just be an unfortunate child in the orphanage."

Some...unfortunate child.

Ryan's voice was very calm, but... Following his narration, I felt my brain buzzing, and all the strength in my body was instantly drained. Suddenly, the sentence that made me feel so sad again sounded in my ears. If you can't forget...

——"Kroll, you stay here, I'm going to save others, listen, you must wait for me here."

He said he was going to save other people.But never came back.

And the person he went to rescue was most likely Master Buzz who was still comatose in the medical hall.

Xavier...

His flaxen messy hair and bright smiling face appeared alternately in my mind, and then... together with the endless fire in my memory, and the densely packed tombstones at the former site of Pansen Welfare Institute...

Together...into ashes.

I seem to feel... feel that the answer to something... is ready to come out.

"Kroll?" Someone grabbed his arm and felt some pain.

"..."

"Kroll, what's wrong with you?"

"Yes...it's him..."

"Kroll?" Ryan's voice seemed a little anxious, but I could only stare at the stele raptly.

"I thought... I thought he was still alive..." My throat seemed to be choked by something, and there was a strange pain in my heart. I stretched out my hand, held Ryan's shoulder tightly, and repeated in vain——

"I thought he was alive...I still plan...plan to find out his whereabouts after a while..." I said every word, and the whole sentence was broken.

"Kroll..." Ryan supported me, and patted my back with his hand: "Is this someone you know?"

"..." There was an illusion that I couldn't breathe, my eyes were sore, but I couldn't shed a single tear.

After a long silence, I could only let out a long sigh: "...I think...the skeleton you found...has a very high possibility..."

"...is my friend, Xavier."

"..." Ryan took a deep look at me, then frowned slightly: "Why are you so sure?"

I let go of the hand holding his shoulder, trying to calm myself down, then slowly walked behind the stone tablet, looked at the small grassy slope, and said, "Ryan, what happened at the Pantheon Orphanage There was a big fire, did the picket guards in the city give any explanation at the end?"

"—Because of the dry weather, the wood stacked in the firewood house caught fire, and because the wind was strong and the direction of the wind was very suitable, the fire was fierce, and almost no one escaped from it."

"It means...was it an accident?"

"Yes."

"..." I was a little dazed: "But... that was not an accident."

"I remember very clearly that day, Master Buzz and I were drinking, and we were so drunk, but before the fire started, I smelled a sweet fragrance in the air—it seemed to be drugged" Otto Gram' taste."

"Then... Xavier, who was soaked all over, broke into the hospital and took me out. Then, he turned back to the orphanage to save others."

"So, after I left the hospital, there should be only Master Buzz left. But you told me...that there were two corpses there."

"I have seen Master Buzz's tombstone at the former site of the Pantheon Orphanage, but Xavier's is not."

"It's because of these that I feel that the people you buried here in my name..."

"It's very likely...it's Xavier who returned to rescue Mage Booth."

After finishing the words, Ryan strode towards me: "...What if someone else went to rescue Master Buzz and died there too?"

Hearing this, I was stunned for a moment, and then smiled wryly: "...It's not impossible, but the hospital is the closest to the forest outside the orphanage. Xavier has always been fierce and brave, and has countless wounds on his body. As the healer of the orphanage, Master Buzi took great care of him on weekdays."

"He is a very moral person. When he said he wanted to save others, most of the time, he was going to save Master Buzz."

After hearing what I said, Ryan stopped talking, just stretched out his hand, and gently patted my shoulder and back.

"Sorry, I was a little emotional just now." I raised my hand and rubbed the center of my eyebrows: "I know you want to comfort me."

"Since it's your friend, it's normal for you to be unable to accept it for a while." Ryan said, "It's just... what you said just now is still guesswork after all. The corpse buried there was burned in the fire long ago." He's scorched black, you can't see his appearance clearly, besides, after so many years, he may have already turned into dust, and you have no way to prove his identity now."

I understand what Ryan meant. He meant that Xavier might not be buried there. He wanted me to have a glimmer of hope and not to be so painful.

"I want... I want to investigate the fire at the Pansen Orphanage by myself." I turned sideways and looked at Ryan firmly: "In this case... If Xavier is not buried there, if he is still alive , Maybe in the process of pursuing this matter, I can find clues about him."

"Kroll..."

"I remember that before the fire broke out, the orphanage was very uneasy." I said to myself: "First, I received many threatening letters and some disgusting things sent with the threatening letters. Then, the orphanage happened. There have been many cases of missing persons.”

"But all of these have been uncovered by the picket guards following the burning of the welfare home and the deaths of everyone in the home."

After hearing this, Ryan's face became more serious: "How do you want to check?"

"It should have been investigated a long time ago. I was too procrastinated." I sighed: "These things happened after Pan Sen changed the dean. I think we should start the investigation from the new dean."

"Okay." Ryan smiled at me slightly: "You go and check, I will try my best to help you."

"……thanks."

Ryan shook his head, with a slightly annoyed expression on his face: "You don't need to say thank you to me."

The grief that spewed out just now eased up a little bit. I was very upset when I heard Ryan speak like this, but suddenly remembered something: "Then we originally planned to go to the northern forest..."

"It's okay, you can stay in the Eastern Continent and do what you want to do. I'll go and have a look first, and try to clean it up within a month." Ryan shrugged and made a relaxed look.

"Okay, you have to be careful."

After talking to Ryan, I dragged him around the small slope to the front of the stele, and then bowed deeply to the stele.

Regardless of whether Xavier is buried here or not, it must be someone from the Pantheon Orphanage, and I may have met him once.

The dead are the greatest. Since I don't know how to pray, I should also bow and express my heart.

But... if it is confirmed later that this is indeed Xavier, I...

Not wanting to think about it any further, I took one last look at the stele inlaid with the Morsu gemstone, and then turned around.

"Let's go..."

【2】

It has been three days since he came back from the tomb that day. Tomorrow, Ryan will go to the northern forest.

I haven't been in a good mood these days. All I think about is the old case of the orphanage, and I think about the aristocratic dean.It wasn't until I was pestered by Ryan on the bed at night that I realized that I had indeed neglected him these days.

It's just that he will go to the northern forest tomorrow, and the journey is long and difficult.If he follows his wishes today, he will have to suffer for several more days, I really can't bear it.

"Okay, you're going on the road tomorrow, why bother making yourself uncomfortable." I held his teasing hand and said to him helplessly.

But he frowned, and said in a rough voice, "You really know that I'm leaving tomorrow..."

Seeing his stern look, I couldn't help but laugh. I didn't expect him to be so eager for that kind of thing...

I suddenly remembered that in the letters he wrote to me back then, there seemed to be a lot of topics about doing this kind of thing, such as "sometimes I really can't help seeing strippers" and the like.

However, in the past two or three years of being close to him, he has always been ascetic, and he is completely different from the letter.No wonder I never thought about the "Berner is Ryan, Ryan is Burner" thing.

"I said, Ryan, do you ever get overwhelmed when you see a stripper?"

He froze for a moment, as if he hadn't thought of why I asked him so suddenly.

But after a while, he laughed loudly: "You mean the letter I sent you back then? I was not very prudent at that time. I wrote these stupid words because I was thinking of you when you were young, just to tease you."

Think, tease, me, play.

"Are you boasting that you are stable now?" I looked at him with a smile, and squeezed the muscles on his arm fiercely: "Then, Mr. Benar, who is stable, there are still very important things to do next." Do it, please be more calm now."

He seemed to be choked by my words, and he couldn't make a sound after opening his mouth for a long time.

I thought it was funny, but I could only put on a serious face and let him sleep peacefully.

While he was tongue-tied and very quiet, I said, "Okay, I'm going to sleep." Then I turned sideways and closed my eyes.

After a while, there was a rustling sound of cloth rubbing against each other, and then I felt a warm and wet feeling on my face.

"Kroll..." Ryan's hoarse voice was heard, and his neck was rubbed by his hands.

So stubborn.

I was a little annoyed that he insisted on making such a fuss despite my consideration, so I reached out and groped for my crude magic wand by the bed, and then urged the magic.

The pale green light lit up, and the rope-like light belt instantly bound the dishonest Ryan tightly.

"Kroll..."

I sat up, wanting to see what else he could do when he was tied up, but was surprised to find that he had already taken off his clothes in just a short while.

——A light green band of light wrapped around his strong muscle texture, and he looked at me with his dark and bright eyes again, and there seemed to be a bit of reproach in his eyes, matching his upright and resolute face, I I suddenly feel that he is like an elder who is teaching me, and I am an ignorant young man.

This guy, why can he still put on such a serious and dignified look when his limbs are tied up in such a lewd look.

"...You really... haven't changed at all." I said while shaking my head.

Ryan put away the expression just now, and smiled at me, ignoring that he was still bound by the light belt, and just lay down like this: "I haven't changed at all."

"...When I corresponded with you in the orphanage, I sometimes felt that you...well...are more...relaxed." I thought about my words, trying to make my expression more tactful.

"Well, I understand, it's just obscene."

"..." He was frank.

"After I joined the mercenary group, I felt that although you may appear ruffian sometimes, you are still very stable and reliable." I ignored him and continued: "Unexpectedly, my understanding of you is still the same as before. Be more precise when communicating."

"Hey." Ryan started to laugh silly, I shook my head, felt a little pain in the forehead, and felt that his childish appearance was very difficult to see, which made my gloomy mood a little better these days, so my mind froze Twitching, leaning down, kissing his lips firmly.

His lips and tongue were hot, and between tossing and turning, a rush of hot blood seemed to rush into my brain. I kneaded his tight shoulders, licked and kissed his lips, and then grabbed his The tongue sucked hard.

There was wet and sticky body fluid flowing from the mouth to the chin, and the kiss deepened unknowingly... It wasn't until Ryan let out a few muffled grunts and straightened up his lower body to rub against me, that I didn't go back from the passion just now Waking up in a start, he propped up his body violently, stepped aside, panting heavily.

There was a clear sense of discomfort from the lower body, and I pulled off the messy quilt with some embarrassment, covering Ryan's naked body.

"Haha..." Ryan laughed twice, and then said: "Okay, I'll listen to you, untie me."

I saw that his serious appearance did not seem to be fake, and I also felt that I was too aggressive just now, so I responded and waved away the magic imprisonment on him.

"I've never seen you use a magic wand before. You've become more proficient at using it after you came back from Dragon Island." Ryan moved his arms, as if he was very uncomfortable being bound by the light belt just now.

Seeing that he seemed to have calmed down and started talking to me about other things, I followed his words and explained to him: "I thought the magic wand was useless."

"It's just... after experiencing some things, I thought about it and thought... since there is a magic wand, it has uses that I don't know about."

"Although... I haven't found a greater use for it now. I just use it to guide the magic elements, so that the magic elements can change into what I need... It's a convenient life."

"It's really convenient..." Ryan chuckled twice: "I was tied up tightly just now, and even when I tried to break free with fighting spirit, I found that it was restrained and it didn't work."

The band of light wrapped around his body has gradually faded away, and his naked body is also covered by a thin blanket. I looked away, tried my best to calm down the burning desire just now, and turned my attention to what he said.

Hearing him say that he couldn't display his fighting spirit, for some reason, a sudden light flashed in my mind, as if I had solved the confusion I had been having for several days.

"You said...you can't use fighting spirit?" I was excited and reached out to hold his shoulder.

"Yeah..." He was a little puzzled: "What's the matter?"

"……No no……"

The ecstasy came suddenly, and I felt that my chest was about to be exploded by the beating heart.

"It's my fault..."

"I originally thought that if we want healing magicians to have a lethality that can compete with other magicians, we should start by improving the healing elements and make the healing elements poisonous, or go further and find out the poisonous and non-toxic elements. A method to freely switch between the two elements.”

"But... I never imagined that the light belt formed by the condensed healing elements would have the effect of suppressing fighting spirit."

As I said that, I lifted the quilt and wanted to study this huge discovery, but Ryan held my hand.

"……Hey."

There was some helplessness on his face: "I'm going to the northern forest tomorrow."

"You don't want me to sleep with this quilt tonight."

……

Well, I'm so excited.

"Sorry." I lay back on the bed again, stretched out my arms and hugged him tightly: "Let's sleep."

"..." He still seemed a little unwilling, but after all he kept silent and fell asleep in my arms.

【3】

In the early morning of the second day, Ryan and three or four members of the mercenary regiment set foot on the road to the northern forest.

Because I know he will come back soon, and I have too many things in my hands now, so I don't have much sentimental feelings about parting.

Knowing the benefits of magic wands last night, I was already itchy. After seeing off Ryan, I went to Morton Street in the city, where magic utensils are sold. I wanted to buy materials for carving magic wands, and carve a good one magic wand.

There are many kinds of magic utensils in Morton Street, and there are countless materials for carving magic wands, including gold, silver and jade.

But knowing that healing magic is inherently wood-loving, I forgo the beautiful gold and silver and opt for only a few topaz and a few sections of lacquered wood.

Topaz jade can carve magic circles and magic spells, while lacquered wood can guide healing magic elements to maximize its effectiveness.

These things are not cheap, and they almost used up all the marks I had saved over the years.

However, I don't feel distressed.

The most urgent thing is to go to the pharmacy of the mercenary regiment earlier to get a new magic wand.

I walked towards the place where the mercenary group was while imagining the magic circle that would be engraved on the topaz later in my mind.

However, when I walked to a place not far from the gate of the mercenary regiment's station, I suddenly found a tall man in clothes made of old animal skins at the side door, peeping furtively inside. .

It's noon now, the sky is clear and the sun is high, it doesn't seem like this person is here to do evil.After all... I don't think many people would choose this time to single-handedly come to the mercenary group to pick trouble.

Siding, I slowly walked behind the man: "Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man seemed to be taken aback by me, and turned his head hastily.

When I saw his face, my thoughts froze and I was stunned.

"Alva..."

…The hunter who lent me a house in the forest of the Western Continent, the one that Ryan asserted, because he was saved by Chelsea, was ordered by him to be the culprit who caused the meridian congestion of me and Ryan...

"It's you……"

Recovering from the shock, I took out the magic wand almost without thinking, intending to bind him with the light belt.

"Keolo!" He gave me a big hug, "That's great, I knew you wouldn't die so easily."

"I was awakened by thunder that day...but I didn't have the guts to go out. When I got out, I saw that your house had been smashed to ashes by thunder..." Alva even wiped his eyes with the back of his hand emotionally: "At first... I thought there were no bones left of you."

"In a few days, Earl Chelsea sent me some money, saying that he wanted me to live in seclusion in another place." Alva looked puzzled: "It was so sudden and strange, I was thinking of Earl Bernard You and I are both capable people, and probably escaped before the thunder, so I came to the Eastern Continent to see if I can find any news about you."

"Seeing you now, I finally feel relieved." Alva let out a long sigh of relief: "You know, I'm just an ordinary person. The distance between the east and west continents is so far away. I'm really afraid that I won't be able to survive the journey."

"..." After listening to his rapid-fire speech, I suddenly felt that my brain couldn't keep up with the rhythm.

Didn't he poison me and Ryan to make us suffer?

Why... he has such a calm attitude, and said that he has been looking for us across the continent...

But he just mentioned that Chelsea later gave him a sum of money to let him live in another place.

What exactly is going on……

My mind was in a mess, and I tried my best to calm myself down, trying to find something wrong with what he just said.

"...Okay, don't talk about it here, let's go in." I led him into the pharmacy, let him sit down and rest, then poured him a glass of water, and asked, "Say, Earl Chelsea has someone give you Did you send some money?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the man who sent the money?"

Alva shook his head: "I don't know."

...Although it was as expected, I was still a little disappointed to hear what he said.

"But it's from your mercenary group." Alva pointed to his chest: "There are also the badges of the mercenary union and your mercenary group's own badge printed here."

Hearing what he said, I froze: "What did you say?"

"It's from your mercenary group... the money..." Alva seemed to be frightened by me, with a puzzled expression on his straightforward face.

……impossible.

This is absolutely impossible.

Chelsea went to the Western Continent with us at that time, in order to return to the family to handle some affairs, so after arriving in the Western Continent, he left the mercenary group alone and did not take anyone in the group.

Besides, after collecting St. Louise flowers, everyone in the mercenary group returned to the Eastern Continent, and only Ryan would visit me in the forest every once in a while.

And according to Ryan's tone, in the past six months, the mercenary group did not accept any missions that needed to go to the Western Continent.

So, how could there be people from the mercenary group around Chelsea, and he was instigated by him to send money to Alva?

A terrible idea suddenly popped up in my mind, my heart sank, I quickly extinguished it, and raised my head to ask Alva about something else.

"Does the person who gave you the money have any obvious facial or physical features?"

"...Well..." Alva raised his head to look at the roof, and scratched the back of his head in distress: "Does it count as being very strong?"

"..." Of course not.

"Well, I really didn't think of anything special... ah! If I have to say it... that is, when he gave me something, I found that the tiger's mouth on his right hand was wrapped in a bandage, and blood was oozing out. From my experience, when the wound there is healed, there will definitely be marks."

Hearing what he said, I settled down a bit, but felt that if I simply believed what he said, it would be a bit rash. I thought, I should keep him first and let him live in a place not far from me. This will make things easier for me later on.

"What are you going to do next?"

"Me? I want to stay here for the time being. It would be best if I could see Count Bernard and Chelsea." Alva said cheerfully.

Didn't he know Chelsea was dead?

"Kolo, can you help me and let me see the Earl of Chelsea? I want to thank him in person, he has always taken care of me too much." Alva suddenly held my shoulder, and I frowned: "Alva watt."

"what happened?"

"...The Earl of Chelsea has passed away." I said, "You may have been on your way, so you didn't notice it, and you don't know much about it."

"What... what?"

I saw that his expression suddenly became very shocked, so I stretched out my hand and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly: "Beina is currently in the northern forest, and he will not be back in about a month."

"You can stay here temporarily." I said, "Although you won't be able to see Earl Chelsea, you can wait to see Earl Bernard."

He nodded dumbly, as if he couldn't accept what I just told him for a while.

After I settled Alva in a rented house, I returned to the mercenary group and began to carefully consider what to do next.

Those who gave money to Alva may have left traces on the tiger's mouth.And this person is likely to be a member of the mercenary group.

Find this person, maybe I can find the real murderer who poisoned me and Ryan.

How can we check every detail of the mercenary group?

Preoccupied, I knocked down the potion under my hand, and the crimson potion flowed down the smooth wooden table, and dripped on the dark brown ground, staining wet spots one by one.

I quickly took a cloth towel to wipe.

The smell of the potion is very strong, even a little pungent. I sniffed the smell and suddenly realized.

I'm a healing magician, so it's okay to use the physical examination for everyone as an excuse?

Recently, my brain is really not very bright. It took me a long time to come up with such a simple, clear and easy-to-implement method.

Just do what you say, things tend to change after thinking for a long time, I tidied up the messy potions a little, then left the pharmacy, and went to the resting place of the healing magicians in the mercenary regiment.

I roughly explained my suggestion to several other healing magicians, and they all thought it was very good, so we began to discuss how to carry out the inspection.

The bearded wizard Eugene said: "Of course we divide the members into four rows, and each person checks one row."

In this case, wouldn't I be unable to see everyone's hands?

I frowned, and saw that the other two magicians had no objections, so I said, "Will this be too slow? Master Eugene, you are good at treating foot injuries, and Master Rachel is good at treating chest and lungs, and conditioning the head." If there are any diseases, Master Egbert will do his part."

"Why don't we each check only one item? In this way, we can not only match the strengths of each other's treatment, make the diagnosis result more accurate, but also speed up the speed so that we won't be too tired."

They listened to what I said, thought about it for a while, and seemed to think it was quite reasonable, so they all agreed, and asked me to write a parchment on this matter and post it. It is tentatively scheduled to be in three days. Soldiers undergo physical examination.

I mentioned this matter first, not to mention that I have other plans in mind, so I am naturally happy to do these trivial things.

So, I just waited three days to find out who... the person who sent money to Alva.