Ch.444The Targeted NPC. (8)

“I need to go on patrol… Cough!!”

“Uncle! Stay still!! Jack went instead, so it’s okay!!”

Ira’s expression was darker than ever as she held back Forest Keeper Setan, who was struggling to open the door of the old cabin and staggering outside.

“Cough, cough…! I see. I’m sorry. I ended up disturbing your housework…”

“Don’t say that. How could you be disturbing anything? Come back inside with me and rest. Jack said he’d stop by the village today to buy medicine.”

It’s been over half a year since Uncle came home, suddenly coughed up blood, and collapsed. Recently, Jack has been taking over the forest keeper duties, but sometimes Uncle forgets this and tries to move around himself.

The village doctor said he couldn’t identify this illness at all, and Jack and I saved even more money to call a doctor from a bigger city. And Jack has actually been gone since last evening to fetch a doctor from another city. I just wish this man, who is no different from a father to us, wouldn’t suffer anymore.

“…Ira, I’m sorry. I wanted to, cough!! Take care of you both until you grew up.”

“What are you saying? We’re all grown up now! Jack and I are already 10 years old! And thinking so weakly will only make your body worse. So, please stay strong.”

“Yes, I should…”

After laying Uncle down on the bed—no longer the strong, dependable figure he once was, but weakened, emaciated, and frail—I took care of him until he fell asleep, then went back outside. The sun is starting to set now.

“Jack. Hurry back…”

“Oh, I’m back.”

“Eek?!!”

Startled by the familiar voice suddenly answering my quiet mutter while looking at the sunset sky, I turned to see a gray-haired boy with orange eyes tilting his head curiously and pointing behind him. Where he pointed stood an older-looking man with a bag, watching us.

“This is the doctor. I brought him from the nearest big city.”

“Ah, hello.”

“Hmm. Where is the patient?”

He immediately entered the cabin and began examining Uncle, even using some magic, and earnestly provided treatment until sunset. And then.

“It’s hopeless. This is too late.”

“…What?!”

“W-wait a minute! You said you’ve seen this illness before…!!”

We cried out almost screaming at his words as he shook his head after finishing the treatment and coming outside the cabin. However, despite our reaction, he continued speaking calmly.

“Yes, I know this disease. And if caught early, it could have been treated. Even in the middle stage, though it would have taken time, we could have somehow saved his life with treatment. But based on my examination and treatment now, it’s already terminal. No, he’s literally at his limit—today or tomorrow.”

“That can’t be.”

“Please!! Don’t say that and treat him once more…!!”

Despite Jack and I pleading desperately, the doctor just shook his head. Moreover, he said he didn’t need the treatment fee we would have normally paid, asking only for the house call fee—much less than we expected. He left only with the advice to prepare for Uncle’s passing, then descended the evening mountain.

“…This can’t be happening.”

“If only I had saved money faster…!!”

“Cough! Cough!”

“”Uncle?!!””

Uncle, who had been resting in bed after receiving treatment, had come outside again while we were seeing the doctor off and was sitting in a chair in the living room. Jack and I rushed to support him and tried to return him to bed, but Uncle gently smiled, shook his head, and instead asked for a glass of water and requested that we sit with him.

“…Jack, Ira. Thank you. That I, unmarried, could meet you two—I believe it was surely God’s arrangement for me.”

“W-what are you suddenly saying?!”

“Uncle! You’ll be fine!! That person was just a quack!! Tomorrow I’ll find a better doctor…!!”

“No, it’s impossible. That person’s treatment helped me move on my own and understand my condition, when I couldn’t even think straight before. At the end like this, I was even given time to talk to you. Don’t speak ill of that doctor.”

Hearing the word “end,” Jack and I simultaneously shouted that it wasn’t so, but Uncle just smiled contentedly at our reaction and reached out to stroke our heads.

“Jack. Do you want to continue living as a forest keeper?”

“Of course!! I’ve worked so hard to learn so I could work alongside you!! You told me it was something even someone stupid like me could do!! So…!!”

“I see. Haha, well. I’m happy, but also a bit sad that I can’t help you achieve that. Jack, when I die, you don’t have to be a forest keeper. What I wanted to give you was the skill of a forest keeper, not the profession itself. You’re still young, and you definitely have talent for physical work. So I hope you won’t be bound to being a forest keeper.”

“Uncle…!!”

“Ira, what do you want to become?”

“I don’t know. I just want to live here together with you and Jack…!!”

“Yes, that makes me happy. But now I can’t walk the path ahead with you. Ira, you’re smart, so you know that doctor wasn’t a bad person or a quack, right?”

“Ugh…!!”

The feeling that the hand stroking our heads lacks its former strength, that it seems to be weakening—it’s certainly not my imagination. I realize too painfully that what the doctor said is true—that Uncle is at his limit today or tomorrow. Finally, unable to hold back my burning eyes, hot tears begin to flow, and Uncle gently reaches out to wipe my eyes before continuing.

“Ira, you’re smart, well-behaved, and kind-hearted. You’ll surely make a fine wife someday.”

“…What?!”

His words suddenly washed away my surging emotions, and I unconsciously opened my eyes wide in surprise. He smiled brightly as if he’d planned it and stroked my head a little more firmly.

I turned my head in surprise, concerned about someone who would be in big trouble if they understood the meaning of these words, but there was only one insensitive fool who didn’t understand what Uncle meant, just tilting his head in confusion. Sigh. I don’t know whether to be relieved or worried that he’s such an idiot.

“Jack, protect Ira. You’re still young too, but you’re definitely stronger than your peers. And stronger than mediocre adults.”

“…Yes. Yes!!”

“Well, that’s all I wanted to say. Would you tell me how you’ve been living while I was unconscious?”

Uncle, who seemed to be wrapping everything up with his heavy conversation but in a light tone, continued talking with us, laughing loudly, getting angry, or comforting us as we told him how we’d lived for the past half year. And as we continued our trivial but joyful conversation, losing track of time, we noticed the sky outside beginning to brighten dimly.

“Oh my, I’ve kept you too long… Cough! You must be tired by now. Go to sleep. I need to… rest a little now too.”

“…Yes.”

“…Ugh! Yes!!”

After seeing Uncle off as he returned to his room before us, we remained in the living room, sitting and sobbing silently.

Uncle peacefully fell asleep on his bed like that, and never opened his eyes again.

*

“You bastard, that’s crossing the line with your bullshit. You killed my father by resurrecting him just to die again? You’ll seriously pay for this.”

“Is that what your twisted memory says? Resurrection, hmm. I don’t think I did anything that severe? This is your soul’s memory…”

“Bullshit. You think I don’t know you’re trying to mess with my head?”

“…You’re quite suspicious.”

The death of my father he showed me was completely different from what I remembered. My father didn’t get to say everything he wanted to say like that, and there was no excellent doctor who suddenly came and temporarily revived him. Moreover, from around the time my father collapsed, my and Ira’s living expenses started getting cut because of those pathetic bastards, so we never had money to show father to a doctor, nor could we even think about saving up. I don’t know what his intention is in showing this false vision, but one thing is certain in my mind: this golden-eyed lizard needs to be torn apart. When this illusion ends, I will truly use all my strength to turn this bastard into snake wine.

“Ha. Good, I wonder how long you can direct that hostility. Now I’m getting curious. Well, before we see the next memory, look at this.”

“Don’t read my thoughts, you son of a—?”

I was about to hurl insults filled with hostility in response to him reading my thoughts, but my thinking stopped midway. Not because the memory he suddenly showed was strange—I already thought everything he showed was an illusion and a scam. Just because.

“Ugh… *sob*. Uh, I-Ira?”

“Hic, ugh… Huh? Jack? What’s this…?”

What made me pause was seeing “divine power” visibly flowing from Ira’s body as she buried our dead father with my younger self, making it seem like “the game’s protagonist” was awakening.

That’s what crossed my mind.