The Laughing Swordsman

Chapter 6 - A Strange Kid

Roughly a week passed by.

Ivy did not come back to visit Apollo anymore, leaving Willow to interrogate Apollo as she wished.

"So what did your mother do before?"

Apollo giggled.

"You taught me how to use a sword before, right?"

Willow's face twitched.

She had already asked many different questions to probe for more information. However, Apollo would either give an answer that didn't make any sense or one that didn't tell her anything new.

Willow sighed and held a small piece of a baked potato in front of Apollo.

"Here you go."

Apollo greedily bit into it.

As the week passed, the sensations of his body gradually came back to him. He found he was terribly hungry and spent most of the day either eating or sleeping.

The moment any food reached his stomach, he could feel it dissolve in a few minutes, leaving him on an empty stomach again.

Despite his excessive eating, he had lost weight and had no need to use the bathroom.

He couldn't be considered fat before, but still had baby fat on his cheeks. Now, however, he almost looked emaciated.

Willow frowned.

"How have you lost so much weight? I have already fed you so much food."

Willow had eaten some of the food herself. Although she wasn't a glutton, she still ate a decent amount. Despite that, after eating a small portion of the vegetables in the village, she would already feel full.

Somehow the vegetables were more filling than meat.

That's why she was so confused as to why Apollo appeared to be starving. She couldn't even imagine how many people could be fed by the amount Apollo had eaten this past week.

Apollo looked down at his body.

"I've lost weight? I don't remember having any weights."

Willow sighed.

"Nevermind. Can you move at all?"

Apollo tilted his head. After putting strength into his arm, it moved up.

"Oh yeah! I can!"

Willow sighed.

"Then why didn't you tell me sooner!"

Apollo pouted.

"Sorry! I didn't check."

Apollo got out of the bed and stood up.

Willow looked at him, then walked to the door.

"Come on, let's get out of this room."

Suddenly, there was a bang that resounded from behind Willow. She turned around to see Apollo on the floor.

Apollo twisted his head so he could look at Willow.

"I can't move Willow!"

Willow's eyelid twitched.

"If it's really that hard to move, don't force yourself."

Apollo blinked innocently.

"But it wasn't hard!"

Willow sighed.

"Whatever, let me help you back on the bed."

Willow picked up Apollo. His body was like a sack of potatoes, but also trembling. Willow frowned when she touched Apollo's skin.

It was abnormally hot.

Once she brought Apollo next to the bed, she felt the sheets. It was as though the bed was on fire.

Willow furrowed her brows.

"Are you ok? Do you have some sort of rare disease?"

Apollo looked at Willow with big beady eyes.

"No, why?"

Willow shook her head.

"Nevermind."

Willow placed Apollo on the other side of the bed and above the blankets.

She then looked intently at Apollo, as if she wanted to see inside his soul.

Apollo looked back and giggled.

"Hmm... Mommy..."

The corner of Willow's mouth twitched.

"It's Willow."

Apollo nodded.

"Willow..."

A sigh escaped from Willow's mouth. She pulled out a small yellow bead with her thumb and forefinger.

"Here, eat this."

Apollo looked at it curiously, before nipping it out of Willow's hold. He swallowed the tasteless thing without much hesitation.

The bead did not dissolve immediately like the other foods. Instead, it lingered there and temporarily made him feel satiated.

Apollo gasped in awe.

"Wow, where did you find this Willow? It feels really nice."

Willow shrugged her shoulders.

"It's compressed food. That bead had enough for me to last a week."

Apollo smiled.

"Wowww."

Apollo suddenly looked down at his body.

"Mommy! My skin feels itchy!"

Willow frowned.

She ignored Apollo's method of addressing her and lifted up his shirt.

His body was previously emaciated, but right now he looked like nothing ever happened in the first place.

Willow's eyes narrowed.

She saw tiny red scars appearing on Apollo's skin. In particular, there were many running across the sides of his chest into his arms.

Apollo tilted his head.

"What are you looking at?"

Willow looked up to Apollo.

"There are stretch marks all across your skin."

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, sounds cool."

After Willow put back Apollo's clothes, Apollo swung his head from side to side. Apollo then started to swing his arms up and down.

Willow blinked a few times.

"You can move?"

Apollo stopped moving his arms, then looked at one arm, slowly lifting it.

"Ah, yeah I can!"

The corner of Willow's lip twitched.

"Will it be a repeat of last time where you fell over?"

Apollo shrugged his shoulders and got out of the bed.

"Maybe!"

Willow sighed.

"Whatever, I'm tired of sitting here all day. Why don't you walk me through your normal life?"

Apollo tilted his head.

"Well, normally I swing the sword. Then I swung the sword, after that I swung the sword, then I would-"

"Nevermind."

Willow was rubbing her forehead with her hand.

"Why don't you follow me?"

Apollo nodded.

"Ok!"

Apollo got his bokken, then ran over, walking shoulder to shoulder with Willow.

Willow was determined to figure out how such a young kid was able to learn his swordsmanship skills. She was still confused about how Apollo used a wooden sword to fend off her two daggers.

Not only was he lacking overall strength, but also there was also the fact he didn't have a single previous scar or callus.

In fact, Willow had already done her research. She found what Apollo's general routine was. She had dressed up as one of the passersby and asked around about Apollo.

She originally tried to ask who Apollo was but got a strange look. She quickly found that everyone in this village had quite an extensive social circle. On top of that, practically everyone knew about Apollo.

She learned to rephrase her questions, as though she knew about Apollo but was just curious.

At first, she refused to believe the people she talked to.. However, when the same story kept coming up, she knew it couldn't be too far off from the truth.