CHAPTER 80: HEALER

With Gara giving him the courage to practice more, and after countless failed attempts, this was the first time Fian had managed to summon a small ice spike from the air.

There was a spark of admiration in Fian’s eyes as he looked at Gara.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he had just realized the extent of Gara’s strength and smartness, or because he understood now that this young man would go to any lengths to protect those dear to him.

The next morning, Wina returned from the fields and told Gara that Albin hadn’t shown his face once.

"If he dares, I’ll make him regret it," Gara muttered, his gaze sharp.

Wina was deeply curious about what those two young men had done to Albin, but since Gara refused to talk, she let it go.

She had more pressing matters today, heading into town to get the reports from the manager of their Merchant House and accompanying the healer who would examine Gara’s condition.

She needed to know why his belly was growing faster than it should. That was far more important than worrying about Albin.

Meanwhile, Gara stood before a pile of fruit that looked like coconuts, known as shieldfruit. The name came from its rock-hard shell, said to be a hundred times harder than a coconut from his previous world.

Few people ever bothered eating it because of that. Gara wouldn’t have cared either, if not for his experiments.

Unfortunately, even with the shieldfruit water, the resulting concoction still retained its toxic content.

Now, he had absolutely no intention of cracking them open, but it would be a shame to waste it since Madha had gone all the way to the next county just to bring him this hard-shelled fruit.

"Might as well make it training," he murmured, settling into the rattan lounge chair in front of the house.

He dropped one of the fruits into a clay basin with his water. Raising his hand, his face grew serious, eyes locked on the fruit.

Shasshh! A water slash struck the shell, slicing it cleanly in half. Gara repeated the process with the rest of them.

Beside Rea’s house, Fian was hard at work, practicing control over his ice. He had already mastered forming it from thin air. Now he had a new goal, the one Gara had given him:

Ice cubes.

Gara wanted to drink lumora soda with neat little cubes, not crushed shards. And that was now Fian’s mission.

Before long, Gara had finished splitting all of the shieldfruits. Fian took over, storing the shieldfruit water in the ice room they had built three months ago, then scooping out the flesh inside.

Gara, meanwhile, headed to his bedroom to lie down, hoping Wina would return soon with the healer.

Little did he know, that her trip would be far less smooth than expected.

...

At six in the evening, as the setting sun painted the sky in shades of red, a carriage—far finer than any passenger carriage—rolled to a stop in front of their bamboo house.

Wina stepped down first, followed by an elderly man with silver hair and beard, pointed ears, and a long white robe that gave him the look of a holy figure.

Gara, who had been sitting on the rattan lounge chair and worrying over his mother’s late return, exhaled in relief. He waved at her, and she smiled back. The healer didn’t even notice him.

It wasn’t until he passed through the low gate that his gaze landed on the young, pregnant man sitting outside the house.

Though a flicker of surprise crossed his face, the old elf said nothing. He didn’t know the story of the expectant young man from this village, but since Captain Tristan—the man who had once saved his family—had told him not to ask anything, he would follow that request without question.

Wina and Gara led the healer into Gara’s bedroom, its lantern casting a warm reddish-gold glow across the walls. The softer light made it easier for the healer to examine him.

"Sir Healer, please check my condition," Gara said politely.

"Just call me Sir Idris," the elven healer replied, taking a seat on the wooden stool beside Gara’s bed.

"All right, Sir Idris."

"How far along are you?" he asked.

"Six months, sir."

Idris began by checking Gara’s pulse. He nodded at first, then his brows knit together in thought.

Wina and Gara exchanged anxious glances, studying the healer’s face as if trying to read hidden meaning from every twitch of his expression, though neither was particularly good at it.

"Your belly is larger than average for this stage because..." Idris looked between the two of them, both clearly on edge, and offered a small smile. "You’re carrying twins."

"Twins?" Wina gasped. Her face quickly shifted from surprise to joy, though there was still a flicker of worry in her eyes.

Gara just blinked, mouth half-open. Wait... that means I don’t have to give birth ninety-nine more times. Only forty-nine, if they’re all twins?

That thought alone was enough to light up his whole face with a bright, triumphant smile.

"I’ll check more thoroughly," Idris said.

At that moment, Gara felt a warm flow of energy course through the veins in the area Idris touched. The warm energy then traveled up his arm, descended past his heart, and continued to flow downward.

It’s the same feeling he had with Langga back during the awakening ceremony.

But just as the warmth was about to reach his stomach, Idris winced sharply and jerked his hand away.

At that exact moment, a faint blue translucent panel appeared in front of Gara:

[Intruder detected! Activating Advanced Protection!]

Gara instantly understood. The system had flagged Idris’s probing magic as an intruder threatening his babies. And once Advanced Protection was up, there was no way Idris could examine the inside.

Which was a shame—Tristan had told him this healer had the rare ability to see unborn children as if through a crystal-clear, living image—like an ultrasound, but far more vivid.

...