episode_0210
by fnovelpiaKarami didn’t sleep.
I couldn’t sleep.
The sound of bugs crawling on the ground. The sound of something flying. The sound of something howling, whether it was an animal or a demon, in the forest far away.
Is it because Arpia is next to you?
Aren’t the spirits that have revealed their presence rather than hiding, gathering around a campfire and singing?
Even Karami is protected by the World Tree.
Even though I’m lying still, spirits come and bother me.
“Hey! This human is emitting the energy of the World Tree!”
“What? Hey, hey. Usodaro?”
“Koitsu. Not ordinarywwww.”
Even the illusion of hearing such hallucinations.
I was thinking, ‘I have to convince Arphia to stay at the inn tomorrow no matter what.’
“Master. Okay?”
Arphia asked right away.
I was awake, but I was still playful. I thought that if I pretended to sleep, Arphia would do something strange.
That’s when I wake up and discover the scene!
I thought so, but contrary to my expectations, Arphia left the tent without doing anything.
I thought he was just going to do some business, but Karami had become very perceptive while living as a slave trader.
If you were just doing your normal business, there was no need to check if he was sleeping. That was the behavior of someone who was plotting something secretly, and who had to make sure Karami was sleeping.
So Karami followed behind secretly.
Arphia entering a dark place.
It was dark so I couldn’t see what was going on.
But soon the lights came on and Arphia was seen holding it in her mouth.
“What are you doing now?”
***
“Miss Arphia. Are you smoking right now?”
“Huh, huh?”
Arphia was startled.
In the process, the tobacco leaf he was holding fell to the ground.
At the moment when Arphia was flustered, Karami quickly picked up the fallen cigarette.
“What is this?”
“That, that’s… a normal World Tree leaf! It’s like a health supplement for elves, but I brought a few because I didn’t know how long I’d be gone.”
Arpia doesn’t think he did anything wrong when it came to self-harm. In fact, didn’t he succeed in capturing Karami thanks to it?
But cigarettes were a different story.
Let alone drug cigarettes.
It was a dirty job that he never wanted to be caught by anyone but Karami.
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Karami, with his eyes narrowed, looked at the cylindrical leaves and the arpia alternately, then brought the leaves to his nose.
“No!”
As Arpia tried to snatch the candle, Karami pulled his hand back. Arpia’s hand cut through the air.
Karami pretended not to know and spoke calmly.
“Why is that? If it’s a leaf from the World Tree, it wouldn’t be bad for humans to smell it.”
“That’s… .”
“I think there’s something in here that I shouldn’t be in charge of, Miss Arphia.”
I’ve already kind of figured it out.
“It’s drugs.”
“It’s not drugs… .”
“How can you lie with your shaking hands?”
“Wow… !”
Arphia grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her into her arms.
Karami sighed.
There was something strange about it. Arphia’s face, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, looked strangely haggard.
It wasn’t just that she looked tired from not being able to sleep or from traveling. She had dark circles and her hands were moving around restlessly.
An anxious gesture that makes even the onlooker feel uneasy.
Karami has met many of those types of people. They are the kind you see on the streets, drug addicts who are soaked in drugs.
Arphia was on the verge of crossing the threshold, though not to that extent.
“What’s in it?”
“Pollen of Lacnea… .”
Paralyzing or hallucinogenic powder.
Inhalation of the powder is fatal to the human body.
There is no need for a detailed explanation, as even Karami, who is not interested in medicine, knows this.
“When did you start doing it?”
“Half a year… . Well, it was only recently that I started using Lacnia’s pollen! At first, it was just a normal magic herb, but it gradually became less stimulating… .”
Arphia, whose feet were numb under Karami’s gaze, shut her mouth on her own.
Karami lets out a complicated sigh.
Not only did he commit suicide, I never thought he would even touch drugs. If this continues, it won’t be any different from before he liberated Arphia.
Is this the Oedipus paradox?
I thought I escaped fate, but fate eventually came back to me?
Of course, I have no intention of being convinced.
“Give me everything. Everything related to medicine.”
“But… .”
Arphia hesitates.
Karami recited, lowering the mood as much as possible.
“What are you to me?”
“Slave land… .”
“What am I yours?”
“… Master.”
Karami waved her outstretched hand.
The meaning was simple, so Arpia, who had been looking back and forth between Karami and Son, had no choice but to hand over the entire pocket.
“This is confiscated. Don’t even think about getting it back. If you want to end our relationship completely, you can take it.”
To treat drug addiction, you have to stop touching the drugs. Sudden withdrawal can be difficult, but it is inevitable.
Because there are things in this world that we will compromise on and things that we will not compromise on.
Karami held out his hand once more.
“Why. It’s not there anymore.”
“Not that. Hand.”
“Hand?”
“You’re shaking. I have to catch you.”
Arphia opened her eyes wide.
He just stares blankly.
“Aren’t you angry?”
“What right do I have to scold you? It’s the master’s fault for not being there for his slave when he’s having a hard time.”
“You don’t like me?”
“Where in the world is there a master who dislikes his slave? Of course, as long as Miss Arphia is my slave.”
When Arphia, who had been staring blankly, tried to grab Karami’s hand as if possessed, Karami gently pulled his arm away.
Arphia, who always makes mistakes, is suspicious.
Karami answered the question with a blank face.
“The moment you take my hand, you are my slave. Your body and mind are not yours, but mine. No one should hurt you without my permission. Even if it is you, Arpia.”
Karami continues speaking after a pause.
“Let me ask you, are you my slave?”
Arphia, who can’t take her eyes off you.
It was a question that didn’t even need to be asked.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times.
The answer will be the same even if you ask ten, a hundred, or a thousand years later.
Arphia took my hand with a refreshing smile.
“Yeah. I’m your eternal slave. My body and mind are all yours. You can do whatever you want with me.”
***
Four doctors, four doctors.
The sound of grass rustling in my ears.
The footsteps of two people echoed through the forest.
Two people returning to the campsite.
Their hands were still held tightly.
Arphia’s cheeks were flushed.
Compared to other slaves, Arphia didn’t have much skinship with Karami.
Even when we were together, the only thing that stimulated our relationship was sleeping in the same room. Even then, we each had our own bed.
Even holding hands was provocative to such an Arphia. The opponent was even Karami. A man who was eagerly waiting for the thousand-year-old oath, a tradition of the elves.
It was perfect for hammering the heart of an Arphia girl who had never felt romantic feelings in hundreds of years.
‘It’s so amazing.’
The tremors and anxiety that would not stop no matter what I did unless I took the medicine disappeared like a ghost.
But my heart was still pounding.
Maybe even more than that.
Back to the campsite.
It was late at night, but it wasn’t a good time to go to sleep.
“Let’s solve them one by one. Let’s start with the wound on the arm.”
The only thing that could be done right away was the wounds caused by self-harm.
“Would you like to be treated by the water spirit?”
“… … .”
“Arpia Miss?”
Arphia asked with anxious eyes.
“You’re not going to say, ‘The pain is gone.’ and leave after getting all the treatment done, right…?”
“You weren’t intentionally not treating it because of that, were you?”
“Yeah… .”
Karami covered her eyes with her hands.
The beautiful elf has returned as Menhera.
“I’m not leaving. Even if I go, I have to take what’s mine with me.”
“Remove… . Yeah, it’s mine. Hehe. ”
Arpia smiles brightly as if she has never been depressed.
Meanwhile, Karami felt a seriousness proportional to her smile.
‘It seems like all the kids are becoming masochists?’
No matter how high the favorability rating is, it’s still the same. They laugh and say that they’re happy to be treated like objects rather than slaves, even if they’re not chained up.
The only good thing was that he listened well even without the chains.
A water droplet floats up and wraps itself around Arphia’s arm, and bubbles start to bubble. The wound is healed cleanly without leaving a scar.
It is restored to its original state of white and smooth elf skin.
“I’m done.”
“Well done. But doesn’t the spirit also cure withdrawal symptoms?”
“I never thought about it. I never thought it needed to be treated.”
Rather, as the wounds grew and the symptoms worsened, he felt relieved. At this point, he thought that Karami would not be able to leave him behind.
Of course, it was Arpia who hid her true feelings.
“The water made by the water spirit also has significant healing effects. If you are a servant of Arphia, you will see even greater effects. Drink it whenever you remember.”
“Yeah. But… .”
“Don’t think weird, I’ll hold your hand if you ask me to.”
“Yeah! Hehe.”
“Oh my. It’s late at night. Let’s go in and sleep.”
I went back into the cramped tent.
The scent of Arphia.
A space filled with the unique forest scent of elves.
It has a calming effect on the mind and body. Karami must have been quite tired because he quickly fell asleep.
On the other hand, what is happening this time is on Arpia’s side.
Even while I was sleeping, he didn’t let go of my hand.
Unlike Arphia, who had grown callouses from holding a bow, Karami’s hands, who was a man, were softer, as she had lived a comfortable life.
A hand that wasn’t thick or strong, but still bigger than Arpia’s.
“… … .”
A quiet space.
The perfect environment to lose yourself in your imagination.
As he held Karami’s hand tightly, a bad feeling began to flow into Arpia’s head.
A twisted way of thinking that is not broken, but cannot be cured even by the water spirit.
If you hit my cheek with this hand.
If you put this big hand around my neck.
‘What would that feel like?’
Wouldn’t it be a feeling so good that it can’t be described in words?
clearly.
The sensations in the imagination influenced reality.
A sensation of electric current running through the spinal cord.
Arphia fell asleep when her body began to sag from exhaustion.
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