Chapter 838: A Special Day
Broken Sword was already fully awake when the sky was still just turning from black to pale grey.
She lay still for a moment, then rose and crossed to the window, pushing it open. The morning air moved through — barely chilly, carrying the mineral bite of melting snow, the faint green suggestion of spring pressing up through the cold. The sky was thin blue, clouds sparse enough to read. Today would be clear.
She dressed and went to the living room, where she found the table already set for four: roasted nuts in a dish, a pot of vegetable soup still steaming. Annie had been up before her, as usual. Annie not only rose first and finished washing before anyone else stirred, she occasionally made breakfast, and did so without being asked. In the first month after she began receiving her salary, she had gone to the convenience market for firewood, butter, and salt, and now went foraging for wild fruits and vegetables once a week.
Broken Sword had asked about it once. Annie’s answer was plain: survival in the wilderness was a skill, and a skill left unpracticed would eventually be forgotten. If it ever came time to flee again, she wanted to be certain she hadn’t lost it.
Broken Sword didn’t entirely understand why Annie always held herself ready to run. But the wild fruits were good, and she ate them without argument.
“Good morning.” She pulled out her chair and reached for the nuts. “Are you going to the factory today?”
“Yes.” Annie finished the last of her soup and set the bowl aside. “There are some large components the workers can’t move manually — the machines can’t fit the connectors either, so they have to be joined by small iron pieces. Miss Anna handled it all before. Now that’s my work.”
Beneath the economy of her words, Broken Sword heard something else: a quiet, private satisfaction. That small note of accomplishment — barely there, almost embarrassed to exist — was the most significant change the four of them had undergone since arriving in Neverwinter. Their abilities were no longer meaningless. Working for His Majesty and being paid for it gave what they did the weight of a trade. The feeling of being self-sufficient rather than dependent on the charity of strangers, or on their own wits run against other people’s trust — it was something Broken Sword could not name precisely but felt in her chest every morning she woke here. She believed Annie felt the same, or Annie wouldn’t be first through the factory doors each day, without anyone to push her.
But today was not an ordinary day.
“Don’t forget — today is Hero’s—”
“I know.” Annie’s expression changed, sharpening to something more serious. “I’ll finish my work early. I’ll be there in time.”
Broken Sword relaxed slightly. “She’ll feel better with you around.”
“I’ll go, then.” Annie stood, and left without another word.
The hot water’s in the kitchen. Those were her last words, spoken over her shoulder. The rest is up to you.
Broken Sword ate her share, then went to the kitchen and filled a basin with hot water. She carried it carefully down the short hallway and eased the door to Hero’s room open.
Hero slept in Annie’s room still — a choice, not necessity. There were enough rooms now that she could have had her own, but old habits of proximity held. During the day, the other three took turns with her care; Iffy and Wendy came to help sometimes too.
What Broken Sword hadn’t expected was to find Hero already awake.
The girl was sitting up in bed, turned toward the window, watching the light coming in. Her lilac hair was soft in the morning brightness. Her complexion clear. Under that light, against that stillness, it was almost impossible to imagine the kind of treatment that had been done to her.
But Broken Sword caught herself and read the stillness more carefully. Hero had woken earlier than usual. That told its own story.
“Good morning,” she said.
Hero came back from wherever she had been. “Ah — good morning.” The apologetic note in her voice arrived almost before the words did. “Sorry to trouble you again.”
“No one thinks it’s trouble.” Broken Sword stuck out her tongue. “And maybe after today you’ll be able to do it yourself.”
Something complex moved across Hero’s face — tension, anticipation, fear, excitement, all of it together and none of it dominant. She held herself still until it passed, then forced a careful smile. “I don’t know if I can. I’ve completely forgotten the feeling of walking. Even in my dreams — I can only crawl.”
“Then you’ll learn again from the beginning. It’s no great matter.” Broken Sword pressed a hand to her shoulder. “Even God’s Punishment Witches can do it. Come — try to raise your legs.”
Hero drew a slow breath, then folded back the quilt.
Her legs were exposed: thin, almost branch-like, but not what they had been. The stumps that had once ended at the knees were longer now — reaching almost to the ankle, the skin smoother where the worst scars had been. They looked fragile. Crumpled, slightly, as though the bones were still negotiating their shape. They looked like legs that could snap at a wrong angle. But they were there, and they were longer than they had been three months ago.
This was what the Witch Union had built together.
At the start, Nana’s ability had been limited to smaller wounds — severed fingers, tears and cuts. The regrowth of an entire limb had been beyond her, even with Leaf’s help. The breakthrough came when Broken Sword arrived and Roland suggested combining their abilities: with Broken Sword transformed into a blade that Nana held, her strengthening ability passed directly into Nana’s healing, expanding what Nana could attempt. The test with an injured hunting dog — which grew new claws — had confirmed it.
This discovery opened the door to Hero’s recovery. But the door led to a difficult passage.
The first problem: Nana’s healing worked on wounds. Hero’s stumps had already healed. To encourage new growth, they had to be cut again. The second problem: even with Broken Sword’s amplification, treatment could sustain for only a few dozen minutes at a time, meaning recovery had to proceed in stages, across many sessions.
Hero had to let her broken legs be cut, again and again, so that they could grow. Nana had to perform that cutting herself, as many times as needed.
It was Wendy who saw what was being asked of them and mobilized the entire Witch Union. For the first time, Broken Sword truly understood what sisters meant here — not a form of address, but a fact of how they treated each other, extended without hesitation even to four witches from the Kingdom of Wolfheart who had arrived not long before.
Leaf cultivated sleeping fern into unconsciousness herbs — consumed before a session, keeping Hero under for hours, insensible to pain.
Anna performed the cuts. Under Blackfire, a new wound opened instantly, flat-edged and precise. Nana only had to direct her healing.
Marquess Spear Passi delayed her return from Fallen Dragon Ridge to be here, linking Leaf’s vitality to Broken Sword through her ability as a Carrier, allowing them to work in combination for longer stretches. Each session, Nana’s power was brought to its limit recovering sections of leg as short as half a finger’s length. Once her magic was spent, the open wounds had to be left to heal naturally before the next round could begin.
With Spear’s involvement, recent sessions had made greater progress. If today went as expected, Hero would recover her full feet by nightfall.
Chapter 838: A Special Day
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
When the sky was just turning white, Broken Sword was already completely awake.
She stood up, walked to the window and pushed it open. The slightly chilly morning breeze suddenly poured into the room, bringing with it a chill of melting snow, with the fragrance of the coming spring. The faint blue sky was not yet completely illuminated, but from the sparse clouds, it could be seen that today would be a good day.
After putting on her clothes, she walked to the living room and discovered that a plate of roasted nuts and a can of vegetable soup were already laid out on the table for four people—amongst them, Annie always got up early, and would not only be the first to finish washing, she would also occasionally make breakfast.
After they officially joined the Witch Union, they moved from the Foreign Affairs Building to the Witch Building and could have their meals anytime at the castle, but Annie still chose to prepare breakfast herself sometimes. In the first month after receiving her salary, she went to the convenience market to buy cooking materials such as firewood, butter and salt. She also went to the wild to collect some wild fruits and vegetables every week.
Broken Sword curiously asked why she did so, and Annie’s answer was simple. She said survival in the wilderness
was a skill, and if not practiced for a long time, it would be forgotten. If it was time to escape again, how could they ensure survival?
Broken Sword could not understand why Annie was always ready to wander. But having said that, occasionally tasting these wild fruits was not bad.
“Good morning.” She sat at the table and pulled at her nuts. “Are you going to the factory today?”
“Yes.” Annie nodded and finished the remaining hot soup in the bowl. “There are some big objects that can’t be pushed out by the workers. The machine can’t plug in that big thing, and it can only be joined by small iron pieces. Miss Anna was doing it all before, but it’s all up to me now.”
From her voice, Broken Sword could hear a trace of vague satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, which was probably the most significant change since the four came to Neverwinter—their ability was no longer something meaningless. Working for His Majesty and getting paid was like a craft. The experience of relying on oneself instead of swindling or relying on the charity of others gave Broken Sword a sense of being reborn. She believed that Annie had the same feeling, or she would not get up early every day and be the first to head to the factory, even without any pressure to survive.
But today was a special day.
“Don’t forget that today Hero…”
“I know.” Annie looked a lot more serious. “Rest assured, I’ll finish my chores earlier and come in time.”
Broken sword became more relieved. “Well, she can feel more at ease with you around.”
“Then I’ll make a move first.” She got up and left.
“Go, I’ll take care of Hero.”
“The hot water is in the kitchen and the rest is up to you.” Annie did not speak much and quickly left home.
Broken Sword went to the kitchen to get a basin of hot water after eating her share. She crept lightly into Hero’s bedroom. As Hero had lost her legs, she would still sleep with Annie even if there were enough rooms. In the
daytime, the other three witches would take turns to take care of her. Miss Iffy and Lady Wendy would also come to help sometimes.
What was surprising to her was that Hero was already awake and sitting on the bed. She was looking out at the brightness through the window. The soft shimmer of her lilac hair and fair complexion made her look extremely pleasant. And under this light, it was hard to imagine how brutal a treatment she had been subjected to.
However, Broken Sword quickly regained her senses and realized that Hero might not be as calm as she looked on the surface. That could be why she woke much earlier than usual.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Ah… good morning,” said Hero, as if she was recovering from a daze, and said apologetically, “sorry to trouble you again.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” said Broken Sword, sticking out her tongue. “No one would think so. And maybe after today, you’ll be able to do it yourself.”
Suddenly, Hero’s eyes flashed a very complex look of tension, anticipation, fear, and excitement… After a while, she managed to control her emotions and forced herself to smile. “I don’t know if I can—I have forgotten completely the feeling of walking, even if in a dream, I…” She bit her lip and continued, “I can only crawl forward.”
“So you can learn from the beginning. It’s not a big deal,” said Broken Sword, pressing on her shoulder. “Even God’s Punishment Witch can do it, and surely you can as well. Come, try to raise your legs.”
Hero took a deep breath, opened the quilt, and saw two thin, branch-like legs exposed—they were different from a few months ago. Her legs which had been severed from the knees grew much longer, almost to the ankle position, and the ugly scars had also become smoother. They looked crumpled and different from normal legs and seemed as if they could snap off at any moment. But at least, they were much better than before.
This result was the joint effort made by the Witch Union.
At first, Nana could only recover minor wounds such as severed fingers, and the regrowth of the whole limb could not be achieved until the four witches joined the Witch Union. Broken Sword followed the instructions of His Majesty Roland to complement Nana with her strengthening ability and achieved a breakthrough—holding a sword which Broken Sword transformed into, Nana’s healing ability had been fully upgraded, and even a hunting dog with broken feet could grow new claws.
This new discovery brought a ray of hope to Hero’s recovery.
However, the test that started later was not that easy.
First of all, Nana’s healing effect only took effect on the wound, and Hero’s broken leg had already healed. If they wanted to recover her legs, they had to create new wounds in them. Secondly, even with Broken Sword’s magic, treatment could only last for dozens of minutes, which meant that the recovery process had to be carried out in several stages. The combination of these two points posed a formidable challenge to both the healer and the patient.
Hero had to repeatedly suffer the pains of wounds in her broken legs, and Nana had to cut her legs several times to make them grow. This treatment program was problematic from the beginning.
Fortunately, Lady Wendy noticed this problem and mobilized the entire Witch Union.
Broken Sword realized for the first time that they called each other sisters and this was not just a term, but they felt like a family from the bottom of their hearts. Though the four of them came from the Kingdom of Wolfheart, and joined Neverwinter not too long ago, they were not stingy about their affections for each other.
Miss Leaf used a special plant called the sleeping fern to cultivate unconscious herbs that when consumed, one would not wake up for hours. Thus this helped to relieve Hero’s suffering.
Cutting was carried out by Miss Anna. Under the sharp Blackfire, the formation of a new wound could be completed instantly, and Nana only needed to focus on her ability.
Finally, Marquess Spear Passi, the lord of a city, did not return immediately after the meeting at Fallen Dragon Ridge because of Hero. The previous treatments had been cautious—Nana’s magical powers had been depleted every time to recover sections of legs which were as short as a half of a finger. Once her ability had been exhausted, the open wounds would have soon become lethal. Therefore, the recovering process had been extremely slow. With the help of Marquess Spear, recent treatments had made considerable progress.
If everything went smooth, Hero would regain her full feet after today.