episode_0004

“Huff… huff… Damn it!!!”

Even as I frantically ran down the steep slope, the Magician-nim’s screams only grew fainter.

“Magician-nim!”

Fortunately, my desperate efforts weren’t in vain; the slope gradually began to flatten.

But at the same time, the Magician-nim’s bloodstains on the ground were getting thicker.

It seemed her tough cloak hadn’t entirely stopped the wolf’s teeth.

“I’m not too late, am I…?”

Forcibly pushing away the ominous thoughts swirling in my head, I strained my trembling legs, following the bloodstains splattered on the ground.

Seeing the bloodstains scattered on the ground, it seemed the Magician-nim had desperately tried to escape the wolf, getting up without even stopping her bleeding wound.

After taking a few more steps, following the Magician-nim’s blood trails on the ground, I felt the scent of blood stimulating my nostrils grow stronger.

“Are you alright, Magician-nim?!”

Realizing I was close to my destination, I called out to the Magician-nim and hastily pushed through the blood-soaked bushes.

“Ma… Magician-nim?!”

The moment I parted the bushes, where her bloodstains were thickly entangled.

I saw a wolf perched on the back of the collapsed Magician-nim.

Seeing the wolf burying its snout near the Magician-nim’s nape, it looked as if it had already bitten her neck and ended the situation.

To think that the White Magician-nim, who once swayed the world, had been defeated by a mere starving female wolf…

Unable to believe such a futile and pathetic end for her, I could only stare blankly at the scene.

“Haa… Uuugh…”

At that moment, the Magician-nim’s small, faint whimpers softly brushed against my bewildered ears.

Snapping back to my senses at the whimpers that seemed to prove she was still alive, I clutched the wooden stick I’d picked up nearby – instead of my sword, which was stuck in the wolf’s maw and couldn’t be pulled out – and charged at the wolf.

“You bastard!!”

I rushed towards the wolf on the Magician-nim’s back, intending to swing the wooden stick with all my might.

But before my stick could even touch the wolf’s body, the wolf collapsed weakly to its side, in an almost anticlimactic way.

“What?!”

I checked the wolf, which had fallen absurdly easily without me even striking it.

It had its jaws wide open, as if it was about to bite the Magician-nim’s nape at any moment.

But before it could bite the Magician-nim, an arrow flew from somewhere, striking it precisely between its eyebrows and instantly ending its life.

From its widely opened jaws, as if it hadn’t even registered its own death, drool, expectant of a meal, dripped down.

“Th… Thank heavens!!”

Who shot the arrow was something to be checked later.

First, I pushed the wolf off the Magician-nim’s body. Then, I checked the Magician-nim’s condition, who had been pinned by the wolf, and the wound on her shoulder where she had been bitten.

“Oh my goodness…”

Although the sturdy cloak had reportedly blocked it, the wolf’s sharp fangs had pierced through the cloak and directly torn into her flesh.

On top of that, rolling roughly down the slope seemed to have ripped and widened the wound even more severely.

To make matters worse, dirt and leaf fragments had seeped into the torn flesh and muscles, and the blood gushing out from the gaps showed no sign of naturally stopping.

“Magician-nim!! Ma… Magician-nim!!”

I urgently checked her complexion.

She wasn’t swallowing her cries.

She had lost consciousness from pain, bleeding, and the shock of terror at the moment the wolf climbed onto her body, and her faint breaths were merely mixed with whimpers as if reacting to stimuli.

No matter how much I called her, she showed no sign of regaining consciousness, leaving me to stare at her wound in a panic.

“So… um… first aid is…”

The first aid I remembered was merely stuffing back any protruding contents and tightly wrapping the wound with a strong bandage or cloth.

That level of first aid was enough because the Magician-nim would later come and heal almost all wounds with a simple gesture.

But looking at the horrific wound on her shoulder now, even I, with no medical knowledge, could tell it wasn’t a wound that could be solved by simply wrapping it with a bandage.

“Hey!! Are you alright there?!”

At that moment, a tall, brown-haired man emerged, pushing through the bushes from what seemed to be the direction the arrow had flown.

Seemingly the owner of the arrow that had instantly pierced the wolf’s brow, he slung the bow he was holding over his shoulder and approached me, checking the injured Magician-nim’s condition.

“Oh! The wound is severe!”

After checking the wound on the Magician-nim’s shoulder, he frowned and rummaged through a small leather pouch hanging from his waist.

Soon after, he pulled out a paper packet containing herbal powder, a bottle of viscous liquid, and a rolled-up clean bandage from the leather pouch.

“Put something in her mouth so she doesn’t break her teeth!”

“Huh?!”

The man, who had unilaterally given me instructions, unceremoniously poured the viscous liquid from the glass bottle onto the Magician-nim’s wound.

Then, the sticky liquid slowly began to seep into her wound.

“Hurry!!”

Skillfully, he pressed down on the Magician-nim’s back with one knee and forcibly held down her injured shoulder with his other hand to prevent her arm from moving.

“Ah… alright!!”

Only remembering the instruction to put something in her mouth, I fumbled in a hurry from his urgent prompting and, for now, shoved my left hand into her mouth.

“What in the world!!”

The man was flustered by my action. As I, having not properly understood the purpose of his words and instructions, stared blankly at the flustered man.

“Agh!”

As the viscous liquid deeply permeated her wound, a sharp cry erupted, and the Magician-nim’s body began to convulse as if she’d been electrocuted.

“Agh!?”

As the Magician-nim’s entire body began to convulse, her weakly open mouth clamped shut with all its might.

At the same time, her teeth dug into the back and palm of my left hand, which I had placed in her mouth.

“Damn it! Just hold on a little longer!!”

The man, who had anticipated her convulsions, nervously watched the liquid seep into her wound.

“Ugh… Mmm… Mmm…”

Her breath, hot with pain, tickled the back of my hand as her teeth dug deeper and deeper into my hand.

My face contorted in agony from the immense pain, but I somehow swallowed my scream, gazing at the horrific wound etched on her shoulder.

“That’s enough! It’s done!!”

Confirming that enough of the viscous fluid had seeped into the wound, the man hastily grabbed and pulled off the sticky substance with his hand.

Then, the sticky fluid that had permeated her wound came out, bringing with it contaminants like dirt and twigs that had been embedded in her wound.

“Aghh!”

As the man forcibly pulled off the fluid, the Magician-nim let go of my tightly bitten hand with another desperate scream.

Seizing the opportunity, I pulled my bloodied hand out of her mouth.

“Stop the bleeding with this for now!”

From my hand, deeply marked by the Magician-nim’s teeth above and below, blood began to gush out.

Judging that the Magician-nim’s condition was more severe than mine, the man merely tossed a bandage to me.

“Ma… no, is the young lady alright?”

Thinking I shouldn’t reveal her identity, I hurriedly changed the title I called the Magician-nim to “young lady” and asked the man about her condition.

“The most painful part is over.”

After removing the contaminants that had seeped into the wound with the viscous fluid, the man began to carefully apply a mixture of herbal powder and clear sap to the wound.

Each time his hand unhesitantly delved into the wound, the Magician-nim’s body intermittently trembled.

However, the man, who seemed accustomed to such emergency procedures, meticulously applied the medicine to the wound and then began to tightly wrap her shoulder with a bandage.

“This takes care of the immediate emergency.”

I, too, awkwardly wrapped the bandage the man had thrown to me around my hand, where the Magician-nim’s teeth marks remained, just enough to stop the bleeding.

Meanwhile, the man, having finished the Magician-nim’s first aid, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his hand, which was heavily stained with the Magician-nim’s blood.

“Th… Thank you.”

I expressed my sincere gratitude to the man who had saved her life and even provided first aid on behalf of the Magician-nim.

He flashed a friendly, bright smile, as if he had simply done what was obvious.

“Let’s discuss the details once we get down. It’s not safe here.”

Hooowooong…

As if to confirm his words, an ominous reverberation echoed behind me, as if the entire forest was resonating.

At such a distinct resonance, the man’s expression darkened considerably.

However, perhaps not wanting to instill excessive worry or fear in us, he forced a smile with his eyes, as if it was nothing.

“Then I’ll lead the way. I’ll leave the young lady to you.”

In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, the man gripped the hilt of the dagger strapped to his thigh and walked ahead, leading the way towards the village.

Supporting the unconscious and fainted Magician-nim, I got up and cautiously followed behind the man.