Norm was standing in front of the door to his dad’s room, doing nothing for five minutes.
Yesterday, when they found out that his dad was actually getting better, there had been a lot of crying. Tears of happiness, but there were also some apologies mixed in that Norm didn’t fully understand.
Something about not believing me?
But Norm didn’t even believe in himself, so there was nothing to be sorry for.
He was only level 10—level 12 now—so it was reasonable to conclude that he would fail.
No normal person would believe him, so it didn’t really bother him. Besides, they never told him to just give up or that his efforts were pointless. It was only yesterday that Norm found out that they really didn’t believe he would succeed.
Ver believed my dad could be cured, but it was because he knew how powerful he was. It was all his doing, after all. Not me. Victor… would probably believe in me; he always does. Even when I say the most impossible thing, like becoming a sovereign-rank adventurer.
The issue with them not believing he was contracted with a spirit also didn’t affect him as much as he thought. He knew his parents doubted his claims, but that was normal. Norm didn’t always believe his parents either, like when his mom told him it was bad to sleep right after eating.
If it was bad then why am I always sleepy whenever I finish a meal?
Norm wanted them to not doubt him; that was true, but that didn’t mean they didn’t help him when he was feeling down from all the teasing.
They also never insulted him, laughed, or anything like that. So, Norm didn’t understand what they were sorry for.
Apologizing was for when you did something wrong, and he didn’t know what his parents had done to make them apologize to him, let alone that intensely.
Mother always said to apologize for your actions, not your thoughts, because you can’t control your thoughts, but you can control your actions.
Even after thinking it through, Norm couldn’t find anything.
What am I missing?
Sighing to himself, Norm finally opened the door.
“Hey, mom. Hey, dad.”
Upon entering the room, his mother gave him a guilty smile.
“Hey, sweetheart. Is your spirit here?”
“No. He always goes to sleep after creating healthy milk.”
Norm raised the glass of milk into the air for emphasis, before getting close to his dad and sitting down on the chair next to his mother.
“Is he always sleeping?”
“Yeah, I think creating healthy milk made him tired.”
A few seconds passed before his mother spoke again.
“Umm, can I meet him tomorrow?”
“Sure, he always wakes up a few minutes after I wake up.”
This was the most awkward conversation Norm had ever had with his mother. He wasn’t the most social person, but he never had a problem talking with any of his parents, and he didn’t even know the reason why it was so awkward. The atmosphere just felt wrong.
Victor would never have this problem. Where is he when I need him?
“I should be the one to feed him the milk. I have [Applied Remedy]. It should enhance its healing effect.”
“Oh, okay.”
After giving his mom the milk, Norm, not so subtly, tried to leave.
“I’m going to go now.”
Thankfully, no one stopped him.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Ehh, because I believed in you?”
“You’re lucky you’re sick right now.”
Even though this was by all accounts a joyous occasion, a little awkwardness still lingered. They both thought that Norm was imagining it all, so it came with a bit of a surprise and a lot of guilt when they found out Norm was actually telling them the truth.
They apologized immediately, but they didn’t think Norm truly understood what they were sorry for even after they explained it.
The topic of the spirit never really came up all that much the last few weeks, and even though they never fully said that Norm was lying, it was pretty obvious that they didn’t believe their own son.
Hence, the awkwardness.
How could you ask for an apology from someone who didn’t understand what you were sorry for? And was saying sorry enough?
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Honey, I think you’re overthinking it. From now on, we just have to support him more, and maybe make him a cake or two.”
“Norm didn’t really like cake. But you’re probably right, I think I’m overthinking it.”
Being awkward wouldn’t have helped; it would only make things worse. She didn’t need to overcomplicate things. Sometimes, the answer is simple.
“I should make that fried rice Norm really likes; he probably enjoyed it more than eating cakes.”
“Can I have some? I’m sick of always eating porridge, and you only made that fried rice once a month.”
“No, unless you want to choke to death. But I promised to make you one when you can stand on your own.”
“The fear of dying would not stop me from eating the most delicious meal from the most beautiful woman.”
Amelia blushed, but not because of Asher’s flirting—he was never good at it. It was because of the look in his eyes.
Asher had ordinary brown eyes, but the love held in them made them the most beautiful thing she ever saw.
In the past, her first mistake was locking eyes with him.
As they got closer and got to know each other better, the love in his eyes only grew.
Even after getting married for more than two decades, growing old and being less beautiful than when she was young, his love only increased.
Whenever she looked into those eyes, there was no doubt in her mind that Asher would always love her, even when she turned into an old woman.
Without realizing it, both of them were silently gazing into each other's eyes, mesmerized. Amelia hadn’t even realized they hadn’t spoken a word to each other for a few minutes.
The spell was broken when Amelia closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him—
The door slammed open.
“Mom! Dad! Did—eww, yuck.”
Disgusted, Norm immediately closed the door.
Both of their faces didn’t change color, but that was because they were already red before their son arrived.
Norm grumbled all the way until he reached the barn.
His favorite glass was in his dad’s room, but he didn’t want to go back in there; his parents were being lovey-dovey with each other.
It was an orange glass with a picture of a bear on it. The glass was definitely childish, but it was the first thing he bought with his own money, and Norm also liked the color orange.
Whatever, I could always use another glass.
Annoyance turned to dread when he arrived at the barn.
Norm was nervous, or at least he thought he was. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he really wanted to be anywhere but here.
Doing his usual routine didn’t calm his nerves either; it only made things worse. After he was done, Norm wanted to puke.
Victor typically visited him a few hours after sunrise, and while Norm usually didn’t look forward to it, he still wanted to talk with someone; cows weren't exactly the best conversation partners. But this time was different. He had to apologize to Victor.
A simple apology should have been easy; he did it all the time when he did something wrong. But his whole body recoiled at the idea.
Maybe I’m nervous that Victor won’t accept my apology?
His head hurt, his bones felt cold, and his mind was telling him that he should run away. Yet, he stayed.
It didn’t matter what he was feeling; he had to apologize.
A couple of hours had passed, and Victor still didn’t show up. It was getting worse with each passing hour too.
His head was even starting to hurt.
To keep himself busy, Norm checked the fence for any kind of damage, cleaned the barn more thoroughly, filled the bucket with water from the river more than necessary, and washed the clay pot five times to make sure it was clean. When he ran out of things to do, he started picking grass and feeding it to the cows by hand.
It was already midday, and Victor still hadn’t come yet.
Norm's vision started blurring, and he hugged Ber the cow for support. When she started getting annoyed with him, Norm switched to another cow.
Just as he was about to go searching for Victor, he saw him in the distance.
His body suddenly filled with energy, and Norm started to run towards him. Yet, his headache kept getting worse, every step heavier than the last, but that didn’t stop him.
“VICTOR! What’s taking you so long—WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!”
Victor was limping. His clothes were torn and soaked in blood. Both of his eyes were swollen, and there wasn’t a single part of him that didn't have a bruise or wasn’t covered in blood.
Norm kept finding new injuries the closer he got to Victor, and when he finally stood in front of him, Victor immediately fell into his arms. Unable to support Victor’s weight for long, Norm gently lowered him to the ground in a sitting position, keeping his back supported.
“Open your mouth.”
Without hesitation, Victor opened his mouth.
With Ver not helping him, he couldn’t create that much healthy milk, and his mana was nowhere close to full. However, it was still better than nothing.
“Don’t swallow before I say so, okay?”
Victor nodded, and Norm put his finger close to Victor’s mouth.
“[Create Milk].”
Seven drops of milk came out of his finger, and Norm felt nausea when he tried to create another one, so he stopped.
“[Bless Milk]. Okay, you can swallow it now.”
The effect was immediate. Victor's eyes returned to normal; some of his wounds and bruises suddenly vanished, and his complexion turned healthy again.
Norm breathed a sigh of relief, but his job wasn’t done yet. Victor was still injured.
“Wait here, I’ll be back in a second.”
He heard Victor saying something, but he was already running toward the barn.
[Bless Milk] was a Skill that Norm knew little about. However, he could guess what the Skill did.
A Skill was created based on experience, desire, and need. The ratio of it was random, but it would never be zero.
Ever since Norm got the Class [Spirit Contractor], he only used the Class to heal his dad.
It made sense, then, that [Bless Milk] gave milk healing properties. Norm regretted he never tested it; he didn’t have the courage to hurt himself to confirm his theory.
Quickly scooping up a clay pot full of milk under each arm, Norm got out of the barn—
“Victor?! Why the heck are you here!? You're injured for abyss sake! Stop moving around!”
“Relax, man, I think I’m alright now. Whatever you fed me was really effective, definitely better than a healing potion.”
Victor's voice was smooth and calming, and Norm found himself relaxing a little bit. His heartbeat quieted down, and his breathing wasn’t so frantic anymore.
“Alright?! What do you mean all right?! You still have a lot of bruises, you idiot!”
It didn’t take long for Norm to panic again. There was no way he could relax when Victor was hurt.
“[Bless Milk]. Now sit down, and let me feed you this.”
“Norm, I—”
“Sit. Down.”
“Okay.”
Seeing Victor sit down made Norm relax. Who knew how many injuries Victor had opened up because he decided to come here and not wait for him?
“Open your mouth.”
“I can—”
“Open your mouth.”
Victor sighed, but ultimately opened his mouth.
Norm didn’t bother to use a glass; he slowly poured the milk directly into Victor’s mouth.
A lot of it spilled onto Victor’s body, washing away the blood covering him.
When the milk was gone, Norm couldn’t see any injuries left.
If not for the torn shirt, no one would suspect that Victor had been close to dying just a minute ago.
[Milk Saint Level 13!]
Norm dismissed the system message; he didn’t care about it now.
If it didn’t help him heal Victor, then he truly didn’t care. There was no room for joy or excitement in his heart right now.
“Okay, good, now drink this.”
There was still one pot of milk left, and he regretted not stocking up on milk with [Bless Milk] cast on it. He only used the Skill on the healthy milk for his dad, and on the milk he himself drank.
How am I so stupid? Milk spoils quickly, but I can still save some for emergencies.
“No, thank you. I’m quite full.”
“Victor.”
“I’m serious, I don’t have a bottomless stomach, man. I would puke if I drank any more. Besides, Norm, I don’t think I have a single injury left.”
Victor stood up and started to hop around, giving Norm a mini heart attack.
“Stop, you idiot! Sit down!”
Thankfully, Victor sat down, albeit very reluctantly.
“Okay, okay.”
Norm checked for any injuries. He was no [Healer], but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see.
After ten minutes of searching, Norm couldn’t find any injuries on Victor’s body. Victor could be hiding them, though Norm couldn’t find any reason why he would do that.
“I’m fine, Norm, trust me.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Norm looked at Victor’s pants. There could be injuries hiding there.
“I’m not taking my pants or underwear off.”
“There could be—”
“My dick is fine, thank you. I would have noticed if it wasn’t.”
“What—Victor! I’m being serious here! If I couldn’t heal you, you could have died. How did you even walk here? There wasn’t a single part of your body that wasn’t injured. I can’t even imagine how much pain you’re in. What in the abyss happened? Was it a monster? A bandit? Tell me what happened, and don’t you dare lie to me!”
Victor didn’t answer him. He just smiled, and he looked genuinely happy too.
Norm was confused; if he were that injured, he would be trembling in fear for who knew how long. He would want his parents to hug him, to hold his hand, and to say that everything would be alright. He wouldn’t be smiling. He wouldn’t be joking around. He wouldn’t…
I also wouldn’t want to explain what happened right away.
Norm forced himself to calm down. He couldn’t panic; his friend needed him.
“Never mind. Just tell me when you’re ready.”
Victor laughed, and patted a spot next to him.
“Can you hum ‘Victor the Great, Brave, and Handsome’ for me?”
Without hesitation, Norm sat next to him.
Victor still smelled horrible, and right now, he stank really badly. Norm wanted to puke, but he held it in.
Norm's mind screamed at him to get out of here, to punch Victor in the face, to insult him. His heart burned with hatred toward Victor.
Yet, Norm ignored it all.
The feeling was so much worse than the previous times Victor was next to him, but it was only his emotions; he didn’t have to follow them. The hate in his heart was proof of how awesome Victor was.
Then, Norm started to hum.
Victor the Great, Brave, and Handsome was a wordless song made entirely of melody. It could only be hummed.
When he was a kid, Norm asked his mother how to calm people down, and she said that humming was a great way to do it. After that, she started to teach him all kinds of melodies, though he never hummed a single one.
The melody Norm used now was not the one his mother taught him; it was his own creation. It was the very same melody he used in the past whenever Victor was afraid or sad.
He was only eight years old back then; he knew next to nothing about music. He didn’t have any Skill to help him, but he would always reject it when the system tried to give it to him.
The reason he made it in the first place was because Victor asked him, and he promised Victor that he would do it.
Victor wanted a melody that existed only for him, created by Norm without any help from anyone or anything, even the system.
Therefore, it would be a melody for only the two of them. It was unreasonable, but Norm accepted it. Not only would it be cool, but he also wanted it to be his creation that made Victor feel better, not anyone else’s.
Norm even vowed to never perform any song or melody except Victor the Great, Brave, and Handsome.
It only took a few months for Norm to learn music from his mother. He didn’t even take any Class for his trouble. All the level-ups for [Villager] that came from learning music, he immediately rejected.
His vow also made it especially hard, but he persisted.
Then, he spent over a year creating Victor the Great, Brave, and Handsome.
When he was sure he was alone, Norm would secretly work on the melody. He didn’t want other people listening to it; he wanted it to be known only to the two of them.
Two years after Norm made the promise, he finally did it. He finally made a melody that he was satisfied with.
It was not the most beautiful melody, but it was alright. Victor liked it, and that was what mattered. The melody was just for Victor, after all, not anyone else.
Victor the Great, Brave, and Handsome was the only ‘song’ Norm had ever ‘sung’, and it would always be that way for the rest of his life. No one except Victor would ever hear it, and Norm never regretted it. Not even when he hated Victor with every single fiber of his being.
When Norm hummed the melody, everything vanished. There were only the two of them. Nothing else existed, nothing else mattered.
Memories of their time together appeared one by one in his mind. Even memories he didn’t remember having. Places he was sure he had never been to, sights he didn’t think his imagination could conjure up, creatures his brain in the real world couldn’t process, and throughout it all, Victor was always beside him. With a different voice, a different face, and even a different species. Yet, he would always recognize Victor no matter what form he took.
When the melody reached the end, they came back into the real world and forgot all of it. However, the feeling remained.
[Rival Class Removed!]
[Soulmate Class Obtained!]
[Soulmate Level 42]
[Miasma Immunity Obtained!]
[Mental Immunity Obtained!]
Norm’s mind felt clearer, and he only now realized how heavy and restricting it had been just a second ago. It was as if a fog had been lifted from his mind.
There was a system message, but he dismissed it after reading it once. There were more important things to focus on right now.
Turning his head toward Victor, Norm was surprised to find him standing up with a furious expression on his face. His teeth ground together, his jaw clenched, and his brows furrowed. The veins on his forehead looked ready to burst at any second, and he clenched his fist so hard it drew blood.
“Victor! Stop that!”
Victor looked at Norm before immediately hugging him.
The hug was a bit too tight, and it hurt a bit, yet Norm only returned the hug. He didn’t complain or try to get out of it.
After around a minute, Victor didn’t release the hug, but the hug wasn’t painful anymore.
Victor didn’t speak a single word the entire time, nor did Norm.
Another minute passed, and Victor finally released the hug.
The expression on Victor’s face looked better than before. He was smiling now, but it looked fake to Norm.
“I’ll explain everything later, but not now, okay?”
“Okay.”
Victor then looked nervous; he was scratching the back of his head while looking anywhere but where Norm was.
“Can I crash at your place? And please don’t question why.”
Norm bit his lip. He had a lot of questions and would have liked them answered, but there was a time and a place for everything.
So, he sighed, and bumped his fist into Victor’s stomach.
“Sure, my house has an empty room in it. But please drink the milk, Vic. Both of your hands are bleeding.”
“Oh, yeah. Didn’t even realize it.”
"Didn’t even realize it," he'd said. How can he take care of himself if he’s not even aware of his injuries?
It was a good thing, then, that Victor would live with him, at least for a little while. Who knew how many things Victor didn’t realize about himself that were harmful?
“Can I train here?”
Norm stared at Victor suspiciously; a theory started forming in his head.
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
If what Norm thought was correct, then there would be at least one less person in the village. He would ask Victor first; Norm didn’t want to make his friend sad, after all.
However, depending on what he found, Norm didn’t think it would matter what Victor answered.
It would be better for his friend to feel sad now than suffer forever.