episode_0020

I finished crushing the fruit to squeeze out the juice Killua had requested.

I filtered the juice that flowed from the crushed fruit with a sieve, neatly sealed a glass bottle filled only with the liquid, and placed it on the table. Then, I looked at the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Ugh… Ahh…”

From the second floor, Killua’s suppressed moans occasionally flowed out, accompanied by the creaking of the bed.

Unable to bear Killua’s moans echoing so clearly in the living room where I sat alone, I eventually had no choice but to go outside.

“Whoosh!”

Like the practice I always did, I gathered magic in my hand and threw it towards the target I had set up.

The magic bullet, shot swiftly in a straight line, suddenly lost its trajectory and wavered like my heart, then slammed into the ground next to the target.

“……”

Staring at the traces of the vanished magic bullet, which had created a small dirt crater next to the target, I slowly turned my head to look at Killua’s room.

Enough time had already passed.

However, the two shadows illuminated by candlelight through the window showed no sign of stopping their intimate movements.

“Damn it.”

Staring blankly at those shadows, I frowned harshly and kicked an innocent pebble rolling on the ground.

Killua was the White Mage-nim whom I had personally served, captivated by her absolute strength and unfathomable wisdom.

Even if treatment was the reason, I could not easily accept that such a Mage-nim was embraced in the arms of an ordinary man.

Moreover, that man was someone the Mage-nim felt great affection for.

It wouldn’t be strange at all if anything beyond treatment was happening in that room.

“No… I also wished for her to settle down…”

As a hot heat boiled up in my chest, rising through my throat and pricking the top of my head, I calmly took a deep breath to quell the emotions seething within me.

When the White Mage lost her power and became an ordinary girl.

I wished for her to settle down normally in a safe and peaceful village.

It was repayment for Killua, in her White Mage days, having saved me and taught me magic.

“It’s the process of Killua, now an ordinary girl, finding a lover and settling down. I have no reason to be jealous, do I…”

As I muttered fleeting words to myself, as if brainwashing myself to calm the emotions boiling in my chest.

The image of Killua when I removed the slime from her body appeared before my eyes.

That moment when she was undefended and disheveled, and reacted honestly to my touch, came to mind, and my jealous breaths grew rougher and rougher.

Having attended the witch for several years, I thought I knew more about her than Rai, at the very least.

She had a taste for common sweets and preferred plain wooden furniture over gaudy decorations or flashy jeweled items.

In particular, she liked fox-shaped dolls and ornaments made of soft fur.

But now, that Killua was in the arms of Rai, whom she had only known for three days.

Rai, who was more skillful than me, saved Killua’s life…

He, smarter than me, appropriately treated Killua’s severe injuries.

Furthermore, he had made all preparations to help Killua escape the village, even at the risk of drawing blame upon himself.

Crucially, he knew the only way to treat Killua, who had been poisoned.

“Damn it…”

Chewing over each clear fact and comparing Rai and myself, I felt even more insignificant.

What good was it that I had spent a long time with Killua and knew a lot about her?

Compared to Rai, who was versatile and prepared for everything like a protagonist, I was merely an incompetent supporting character.

Yes. Literally, a presence that highlights the protagonist or hero. Nothing more than that.

“Heh… Are you okay?”

Just as the hot jealousy boiling in my chest began to transform into endless self-loathing and consume my body.

The Hero, who had approached me without my notice, let out a foolish laugh and placed his large hand on my shoulder.

“Wh-What?!”

Startled by the Hero’s sudden appearance, I took a sidestep, shook off his hand from my shoulder, and put distance between us.

Then the Hero, still letting out a foolish laugh, scratched his wobbling belly with the hand that had been on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Rai is a man of pure heart.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

Feeling like my inner jealousy towards Rai had been exposed, I broke out in a cold sweat.

But the Hero handed me the large double-handed logging axe he always carried on his back.

“When your mind’s troubled, exercise is the best.”

Still unable to understand the Hero’s words and actions, I alternated glances between the axe he held out and the Hero himself.

Then the Hero grinned and made me an offer.

“If you swing this axe just ten times, I’ll tell you Rai’s important secret.”

It was such an absurd offer. I had no interest at all in Rai’s secrets or past.

“Fine.”

But to me, now filled with jealousy towards Rai, the Hero had thrown out a tempting offer that I couldn’t ignore or reject.

With no intention of giving the Hero a chance to change his mind, I snatched the axe he held out.

My body swayed slightly under the axe’s weight, which was considerably heavier than it looked, but I deliberately acted nonchalant, looking at him with a serious face as I spoke.

“The secret I want is…”

“First, swing it ten times.”

Without listening to my question, the Hero gestured as if telling me to just swing the axe.

I frowned, showing my displeasure at his one-sided communication, but the jealousy boiling towards Rai fiercely demanded a secret that could somehow diminish Rai.

In the end, I swung the axe up and down as the Hero demanded.

“Ugh!!”

It was an axe that was considerably heavier and more awkward than it looked. Especially, its center of gravity was excessively concentrated in the axe head, causing my whole body to shake greatly with each swing.

*Thud!*

However, the center of gravity, so heavily biased towards the head that it was difficult to swing, transformed directly into immense physical force.

The axe, swung from top to bottom, plunged deeper into the ground than expected, making it difficult to pull out.

“Phew… Damn it.”

I had only swung it about three times, but it was not as easy as it looked.

It was the first time I had ever tried swinging an axe with such an excessively heavy head.

Moreover, since I wasn’t a combat operative accustomed to physical exertion, it was bound to be even harder.

“Argh!!”

But my jealousy and tenacity towards Rai made me completely forget such fatigue and pain.

Gritting my teeth, I almost forcibly pushed my screaming body, which didn’t want to move, to lift the axe again.

Five times, six times,

As the number of swings increased, the sweat flowing and the pain and cramps felt in my arms, shoulders, and waist grew progressively worse.

But as I approached the number 10, the thought of getting closer to Rai’s ugly secret made the pain and fatigue fade even more.

“Ten times!!”

*Slam!*

The tenth and final swing. I squeezed out every last ounce of strength, using the recoil of my entire body to bury the axe deep into the ground.

Then, my body too fatigued to stand any longer, I collapsed onto the ground and looked at the Hero.

“Heh… All done?”

But the Hero wasn’t looking at me, who had swung it ten times.

He, who had been staring at Killua’s room window the entire time I swung the axe, only turned to me after I shouted “ten times.”

“Ten times. I definitely did it. Don’t try to change the subject.”

I frowned harshly and warned the foolish-looking Hero, who probably couldn’t even count properly.

Then the Hero, as if trusting my words, still nodded exaggeratedly with a foolish laugh.

“Heh… And it’s over.”

The Hero raised a finger and pointed to Killua’s room window.

Just as he said, perhaps Killua and Rai’s intimate time had ended, the candle illuminating her room was already extinguished.

But to me, who was filled with jealousy towards Rai, that matter was already of no interest.

“Don’t change the subject, tell me. Rai’s secret. What other secret does he have, besides the fact that he’s a murderer?”

Perhaps it was because of the terrible jealousy towards Rai. As if feigning a slip of the tongue, I brazenly revealed to the Hero that he was a murderer.

But the Hero didn’t even twitch an eyebrow at my words, merely continuing to let out a foolish laugh.

“Heh… Rai, you see… he’s an incredibly pure-hearted man.”

Immediately after, the Hero raised both his thumbs as if it were a huge secret, and revealed the secret he knew about Rai.

“…….”

At the Hero’s utterly absurd behavior, I wanted to just break both of his thumbs that he was raising so proudly, so he could never raise them again.

Did he sense my hostility? Small beads of cold sweat formed on the Hero’s forehead.

“Heh… Your eyes are scary. But will you still listen?”

The twitching movements of my fingers, preparing to break his thumbs, barely stopped at the fact that the secret he was speaking of wasn’t over yet.

The Hero, glancing at my hands, still with a foolish laugh, told me Rai’s secret in detail.

“Rai has a fiancée he promised his future to. But she went missing five years ago.”

“Fiancée? No way…”

At the Hero’s mention of a fiancée, the magic stone necklace around Rai’s neck, which Killua had explained, came to mind.

A magic stone, refined from one’s own magic power for the first time by someone who has become a mage.

Giving such a monumental magic stone, which could officially prove one’s status as a mage, to another person meant they were either a lifelong best friend… or a lifelong partner.

“Yeah, yeah. Rai still can’t forget that friend. He probably never will.”

“No… Even so…”

A sunflower-like love, looking only at one person, is certainly admirable.

However, the other person was a fiancée who had been missing for five years, as good as dead.

No matter how charming and beautiful someone was, a living person, even if ordinary, was more attractive than someone who could never be seen again.

“Rai will absolutely never forget that friend. Because thanks to that friend, Rai and this Eaton Village, which Rai loves, survived.”

“Ah…”

When I couldn’t accept it, the Hero emphasized Rai’s fiancée and their relationship, adding a bit more to the facts.

His fiancée who had saved his life. Furthermore, if Rai truly was as pure-hearted as the Hero said, then Rai would absolutely never forget that fiancée.

“No… But that doesn’t explain this?”

I pointed at the window of Killua’s room, where the light was off, and asked.

Even if it was just treatment, the two of them had been in close contact, tumbling on the bed together for a considerable amount of time.

No matter how positively I thought about it, I couldn’t help but conclude that something beyond treatment had taken place.

“Heh. Don’t overthink it. Rai, worried about Killua, truly only performed treatment. He didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives at all.”

With a foolish laugh, he effortlessly pulled out the logging axe I had buried deep in the ground with all my might, using just one hand.

And then, as if knowing Rai very well, he defended Rai with a voice full of conviction.

However, filled with jealousy towards Rai, I couldn’t easily accept the Hero’s words.

*Creak…*

While talking with the Hero. The front door of the house opened cautiously. Rai, peeking his head out through the crack, looked around as if checking if anyone was nearby.

“What’s going on?”

I, who had been looking at Killua’s room, naturally didn’t miss Rai’s face peeking out from the door crack.

When I recognized him suddenly showing his face and called out to him, he was so startled his whole body trembled.

“Wh-What? Weren’t you sleeping in the room?”

Ultimately, realizing his secret late-night stroll had been discovered, Rai let out an awkward laugh, opened the door, and walked outside.

“With all that ruckus, how could I sleep?”

Still harboring jealousy towards him, I tightly crossed my arms, as if showing him the wall I had put up in my heart, and glared at him, aggressively asking a question.

However, as if understanding my question, Rai let out a bitter laugh and scratched his head.

“What happened? Weren’t you sleeping together?”

I pointed towards Killua’s room with my chin and asked.

“No… What are you talking about! Don’t say things that cause unnecessary misunderstandings.”

But it was Rai who was startled by my question.

He shook his head vigorously, expressing strong denial, as if he had no ulterior motives at all.

I noticed that Rai was unnaturally hiding one hand behind his back.

“What are you hiding?”

There was no way I would miss a clue that appeared before my eyes, as I was looking for something to pick a fight about.

I pointed directly at the arm he was hiding behind his back and asked my question.

“Ah… this…”

When I pointed to the arm he had hidden behind his back, Rai let out a groan mixed with a sigh. After a brief hesitation, he brought out the hand he had been hiding in front of me.

“Cloth?”

What Rai produced was the cloth he had taken with him, thinking he would need it before entering Killua’s room.

Inside the cloth, which he unfolded slightly to show me, were a few fingernail-sized specks of slime-like mucus, presumably slime tissue.

“This was the toxin remaining in Killua’s body.”

“Ah…”

The small lumps wrapped in the cloth still had saliva clinging to them that couldn’t be wiped away even with the cloth.

It seemed Rai had also extracted the toxins with his mouth, his face buried in Killua’s chest, much like I had done.

As the situation from that time resurfaced in my mind, my face turned bright red.

“It was an unavoidable medical procedure. There was no other way.”

Rai, as if knowing exactly what I was thinking, tightly wrapped the cloth again so its contents wouldn’t be visible.

“Did you… truly only treat her?”

Still unable to trust him, I frowned slightly and pressed him.

Then Rai, scratching his cheek with a reddened face, closed his eyes for a moment and pondered.

Soon after, as if having made up his mind, he took a small breath and answered, looking into my glaring eyes.

“Yes. I unavoidably saw some of Killua’s bare body and had a lot of physical contact with her… but I definitely focused only on the treatment.”

“Y-You expect me to believe that?!”

I couldn’t believe Rai’s words. When I saw her bare body to remove the slime that had crawled onto it.

I felt a desire so strong I couldn’t even believe it myself. If that moment hadn’t been an emergency, I might have pretended it was an accident and ambushed her.

“Of course, it won’t be easy to believe. Killua is certainly an attractive woman. Honestly, I was shaken a lot too.”

As if understanding my distrust, Rai nodded and honestly admitted that he, too, had been swayed by desire.

At his honesty, I glared at him with an “I knew it” look, merely waiting for his next excuse.

“But I don’t want to throw this village into chaos.”

“Huh?”

However, the excuse that came out of Rai’s mouth was completely unexpected.

“Killua is a fairly high-ranking noble, right? She must be a promising noble, trusted by Her Majesty the Empress.”

Rai was convinced that Killua was a high-ranking noble, one who even held the trust of the Empress, the current ruler of the empire.

“I don’t want to get involved with outsiders like that. Entanglements with high-ranking nobles have always brought great commotion and chaos.”

Rai paused his words for a moment and turned his gaze towards Eaton Village.

As stars began to twinkle one by one in the sky, the candles illuminating the houses extinguished one by one, and Eaton Village began to sink into deep darkness.

Looking at Eaton Village like that, deep sadness began to well up in Rai’s eyes.

“I want to protect this village, which my friend defended, so that it remains peaceful.”

From his voice, I could feel an unwavering conviction and will.

The magic stone necklace around Rai’s neck seemed to glow mystically, catching the starlight.

“Was it because of that that you felt uncomfortable?”

As I stared blankly at the swaying necklace around his neck, Rai turned to me and asked a question.

Startled by his question that hit the mark, I belatedly shook my head vigorously, expressing strong denial.

“Ahahahaha. Sorry for making you unable to sleep late into the night for nothing. I’ll finish up the aftermath and go inside.”

He still left with a good-natured smile and a greeting, shaking the cloth in his hand that contained the toxins.

“Heh. Then I’ll be going too…”

The Hero, who had been listening to our conversation and was relieved that the misunderstanding had been resolved, also waved his large hand and tried to leave.

“Hero. I need to see you for a moment.”

But Rai glared strongly at the Hero who was trying to leave, beckoning him with a finger as if telling him to follow.

Then the Hero, with a sullen face, waddled his bulky body and followed Rai, who was walking towards the workshop.

“……”

Watching Rai walk away, I laboriously dragged my body, heavy with fatigue from swinging the axe, and entered the house.

Throughout the house, small scented candles Rai had lit glowed softly, as if trying to remove the stagnant smell inside.

As I walked towards my room. My feet naturally stopped in front of Killua’s door.

“…….”

Her door was slightly ajar, as if tempting me. I carefully pushed the door with my fingertips, without making a sound, opening a crack wide enough to see inside.

“Killua…”

Inside the dark room. Killua’s form was faintly visible in the faint starlight seeping through the window.

She was sound asleep, utterly exhausted, unaware that her sweat-drenched silver-white hair was tangled against her cheeks and neck.

“……”

As Rai had said, there seemed to be nothing more than just treatment, as her pajama bottoms were not removed.

However, the thin blanket covering her upper body, soaked with her sweat, clung to her form, clearly revealing her gentle curves without obstruction.

In other words, beneath the blanket, she was so utterly exhausted that she hadn’t even been able to put her top back on after removing it for treatment.

Quietly gazing at her form, I carefully pulled the door shut, making sure no sound was heard.