"This can't be..." I muttered, stunned by the tiny detail that explained the situation before I could even get into checking it.
Then, I fell down to my knees.
Pathfinder was the first and the main person that I wanted to save from the apocalypse. Of course, that equation excluded Mia who was above the level of just a person in my mind.
And yet, when I arrived at what appeared to be his place, his hut was ruined. And the one thing that was extraordinary about the place... was a trail of blood.
"Arty..." Mia whispered.
She was smart enough to understand what was going on from just my actions. As such, rather than spewing random bullshit to cheer me up, she simply kneeled right by the side of where I dropped to my knees only to reach out and wrap her hands around my head before bringing it up into her chest.
I closed my eyes, allowing the warmth of Mia's flesh to cover my face and then muddle my thoughts. And for a moment, I could feel as if my regret somehow subsided.
A form of cheering up that only a woman could offer.
"No," I then muttered, gently pushing myself away from the girl. "That's just a hint, not proof," I said, directing my eyes to the insides of the half-ruined hut.
I stood up. I then rested my hand on Mia's shoulder only to turn my head around and look right into her saddened eyes.
"I'm really thankful for it, but I just need to know it for sure," I said, only to raise my hand and turn my face back towards the hut.
And then, I took my first step. And then another. And before long, I stood right in the doorway.
On the left, there used to be a part of the hut where the pathfinder lived. Now, it turned into a bunch of wooden and clay scraps pressed into the ground by some almighty force.
The only part of the hut that remained was the place where I spent some time myself.
I took a deep breath... and then stepped inside what was left of the small, crude building.
The trail of blood led right inside to the very place where I woke up for the first time on this side of the borderlands.
And just like I could tell from the trail of blood, there was a body laying down in the bed that I used to claim as mine.
"Huh?" I then uttered a small cry of shock.
When I first arrived at the scene, I assumed that the trail of blood had to belong to the pathfinder.
He was the only person that would linger around this area, after all.
Yet, the bloodied and mangled corpse that I found inside... didn't belong to him at all.
'It's just a random kid,' I thought.
Even though it was pretty dark inside, my eyes could easily penetrate through the darkness. Sure, it meant I couldn't see all the colors...
But I didn't need to have a perfect vision to confirm that the body on the bed was simply too small to belong to my benefactor.
"It's not him..." I muttered, unable to handle the relief that washed over my soul.
I took a step back.
"It's not him..." I repeated again, only to walk out backward out of the hut and throw a stunned look at Mia's face. "It's not him," I then said, still struggling to process what was going on.
"Thank the gods..." Mia then whispered.
And before I could say or even think anything else, she rushed forth only to slam herself to my side, hugging me with all her might.
"Thank the gods..." she then muttered again.
"Why do you appear to be more relieved than I am?" I asked, puzzled by her unexpected outburst.
"When I saw the face you made when you saw that blood..." Mia muttered, refusing to let me out of her arms. Her entire body moved to and fro as if she wanted to lull me to sleep. "You looked so sad, I felt my heart was going to burst!"
Mia slightly raised her voice. And at the same time, I could feel the top of my head getting wetter when her tears trickled down my forehead.
"Oh, dear..."
For a moment, I simply allowed the girl to cuddle me up.
'I made her sad, didn't I?' I thought, feeling the burn of such a simple even if the unintended thing on my soul. 'How could I make it up to her, I wonder?'
As my thoughts run through my mind, my eyes ended up down on the ruins of the hut. And it was those ruins that put an idea in my head.
"Dear, let me go for now," I requested in a calm, slow voice.
"Huh?" Mia twitched. Then, she instinctively tightened her grasp on me even harder... Only to then relax her arms and pull away.
Yet, as soon as I stepped back, I could see just how sad this request made her.
"Don't worry," I couldn't help but smile when I compared her current look with how I imagined her to be in just a few moments. "You won't regret what I'm planning for the two of us," I then added, only to pull my sleeves up, turn around, and get to work.
First, I dragged the corpse of the unlucky cultivator out of the shack. Then, after praying over it for a moment and wishing it better luck next life, I buried him by simply unleashing my pure mana over the corpse and allowing it to evaporate every last trace of the poor man.
Then, by supporting my flesh with the mana bursting in my system, I quickly got to cleaning the insides of the remaining compartment of the shack. And before long, even I couldn't spot a single trace of there being anything wrong with the place, save for the fact more than half of it was collapsed.
"I'm done," I reported barely a few minutes later as I walked out of the remaining part of the shack only to grace Mia with a cheeky smile.
"Done with what?" the girl asked.
The traces of sadness that I could see on her face were now all gone, replaced with nothing but patience and sheer curiosity.
"Cleaning the place up," I then explained only for my smile to widen. "I know it sounds awfully convenient for me, but when you said that seeing me sad made you sad... I realized one thing," I said, taking a step closer to the girl only to extend my hands toward her.
"That's right," Mia said, stomping her feet on the ground in a fit of annoyance caused by bringing back the unpleasant memories. And yet, she instantly reached out and grabbed my hands, allowing me to pull her towards the shack.
"Then, wouldn't that mean that putting a smile on my face would make you happy as well?" I asked, grinning from ear to ear as I pulled her inside the shack, only to finally reveal what used to be a small living area...
I have now turned into a sizeable bedroom with pillows and bedding covering everything and allowing for... quite the ingenuity when it came to how one could make use of the space.
"You..." Mia muttered, taken aback by what she saw inside. "You beast!" she then called out, failing to hide a blush and a happy smile that flourished on her face.
"Yeah, I'm a beast," I said without even an ounce of shame when I pulled on Mia's hands before throwing her on the bed. I then deprived myself of my robes with a single pull before climbing the bed right on top of the girl.
"And I'm going to devour you right away!"
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