episode_0039

As consciousness returned, the first things Asher felt were a terrible headache and a foul smell that stung his nose. A pungent, dizzying smell, as if he had held it directly in his mouth. Attributing it to motion sickness, he let out a tired breath. “Ugh.” “Are you feeling a little better?” Perhaps sensing Asher was waking up, Shif’s voice could be heard. But still plagued by nausea and suffocating stuffiness, Asher spoke in a hoarse voice. “Are we still running?” “It seems like we’ll stop soon, but I can’t be certain.” According to Shif, the coachmen driving the carriage only stop and set up camp to prepare for the night when they judge that they can operate outside. “Don’t the coachman ahjussis rest?” He was still dizzy and suffering, but he asked with a mixture of admiration and worry about the coachmen driving the carriage continuously. Looking at the color of the sunlight slanting in through the window, it was already late afternoon as the sun was setting. Considering it was sunrise when the carriage departed, it meant they had been running without rest until now. “It’s not that they don’t rest at all. They’re mostly sitting anyway, and they say boredom is more of a problem than the heat.” Besides signaling to slow down considering the stamina of the Hildisvini pulling the carriage or setting the direction to follow the road, they said there wasn’t much else to do. “Coachmen are amazing.” To be able to handle the intense heat so casually and even remain still for a long time… Asher thought he could never do something like that. “Well, I guess it’s natural since they’re people who’ve undergone rigorous training.” Hearing Shif, it seemed you had to undergo special training to become a coachman. He was contemplating whether he should just fall back asleep in the carriage, which showed no sign of stopping even though he had woken up. “Looks like they’re going to stop now.” He felt the carriage slowly decreasing speed, then moving sideways, unlike how it had been running in a nearly straight line until now. The carriage, which had been continuously slowing down, eventually stopped its movement with a slight tilting sensation. Asher barely managed to raise his exhausted body. It felt like he had been sleeping all day. Far from feeling rested, he felt even more fatigued. What he wanted most right now was the air outside. “Can I get off now?” “Wait!” Shif yelled that he had to wait until the coachman opened the door, but Asher wanted to get out of this stuffy carriage right away and breathe in fresh air. The foul smell he felt when motion sickness began was too intense to bear. The moment the door was finally opened. As the stale air inside the carriage escaped and humid but fresh air entered, along with a feeling of… -Clang! “Ack!?” He bumped into something hard like iron, and with a clear ringing sound, the impact on his forehead made him shed a little tear. Still, having escaped the stuffy carriage and taken in fresh air, Asher belatedly came to his senses and assessed the situation. In front of him, the surprised-looking coachman was looking down at him, the one who had bumped into his chest. “I’m sorry!” As a bonus, there was Shif, who was holding her head as if she knew this would happen, and Trus, suppressing his laughter. “Hahahaha! So that’s why you were apologizing to Shalbi?” And that was Donar’s reaction, who arrived shortly after the carriage stopped and witnessed the scene. “Please stop laughing!” Asher flared up and shouted at Donar’s teasing tone, but he didn’t care. Instead, he slung an arm around the coachman’s shoulder. “So, Shalbi. How was that kid’s headbutt? It was amazing, wasn’t it?” “Oh, was it just amazing? It felt like bumping right into a dragon’s head.” Birds of a feather, perhaps. The coachman, dressed identically except for a red, sandy-colored cloth draped over his armor, also laughed along with Donar and spoke with exaggeration. Having gotten out of the carriage, his motion sickness had almost disappeared, and the lingering aftereffects were negligible. Asher felt so embarrassed his face was about to explode. How much longer would he be teased by them? “Ah! Be quiet! You’re disturbing my sleep!” From inside the carriage, among the patients, a rough man’s voice was heard, silencing the voices of the laughing people. While it was good that Donar and Shalbi stopped teasing him, Asher was startled by the voice and recoiled his neck, Shif frowned heavily, and Trus crouched behind a bed as if scared, holding his breath. He instinctively realized that they didn’t particularly like the owner of this voice. “Pan, are you awake?” Donar’s voice, calling out the name presumed to be the man’s, sounded unusually low. “Ugh, is that Donar? You sure come often to a place with only patients.” He was one of the patients who had been continuously sleeping in bed until now. As luck would have it, he was in the bed at the very end, right next to Belka’s, causing Asher’s heart to sink. He seemed unusually large, and staggering as if high on medicine, he got up and then… “Is it because Shif often comes here to nurse?” “Ugh! Get away!” He pretended he couldn’t control his body and tried to fall and bury his face in Shif’s embrace nearby. But when Shif recoiled in disgust and moved away, he clicked his tongue and said. “What a finicky woman. I got hurt fighting off those attackers last time. Couldn’t you at least give in once?” “Ha, don’t talk as if only you suffered. And there will never be such a thing, even if I die trying.” Shif got up as if avoiding something dirty, shot a contemptuous glare at where Trus was hiding, and left the carriage. The man, who had clicked his tongue at Shif’s retreating figure, soon laughed unpleasantly and said. “Or is it because of your half-witted friend?” “Hweuk?!” He went specifically to where Trus was hiding and openly stomped his feet loudly to threaten him. When Trus trembled with fear, he snickered. “He’s the guy who treated you. Why don’t you show some courtesy?” Donar said in a voice that was suppressing a lot. He had looked angry ever since the man tried to hug Shif under the guise of an accident, but it seemed he had barely held back because Shalbi, the coachman, was restraining him. “Ha, this guy is a doctor, isn’t he? He just did what he’s supposed to. What? Oh, I should say thank you? If he didn’t have even this one skill, I would have abandoned him halfway.” “You bastard!” Unable to bear it any longer, Donar went up to the man who was tormenting Trus and grabbed him by the collar, but his mocking jeers showed no sign of stopping. “Trying to hit me? Go on, hit me! Beating up a patient! Get him!” It was such an irritating display that even those watching felt provoked. Shalbi approached to stop him, but Donar’s fist had already swung and struck the man with a thud. What followed was one-sided violence. After all, the man wasn’t wearing armor and was a patient. Donar was wearing armor. Not using the sword at his waist might have been thanks to the minimal patience he had left. More than that, it wasn’t for nothing that he was wearing armor; Donar was good at fighting. And very good at it. When kids fight, they just grab each other’s hair or clothes and have pride battles saying ‘Let go first!’ or ‘I don’t want to!’, then when adults come and stop them, they pretend they can’t help it and make up. But he was clearly landing solid blows with well-trained movements. Compared to kids’ fights, it was almost exhilarating. The man named Pan also made such a terrible first impression that seeing him get beaten wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. But Asher felt uneasy looking at the patients near where they were fighting. He worried if the girl nearby might get hurt. While he was fretting. Behind Asher, from the carriage door, a young boy’s voice was heard. “Hey! There’s a fight he— Keck!” The boy’s voice, which had been excited as if he had found something interesting, cut off as if he had discovered something he shouldn’t have. “Huh? You.” “You! Why are you here?!” The boy was Roki, the one who had tripped Asher and gotten a harsh experience. As they stood bewildered by each other’s appearance, the scolding voice of an old man was heard. “What is all this commotion in a place with patients?!” “Eoreushin.” Donar stopped punching and let go of the man, and the beaten man, Pan, snickered. “Oh dear. Old man. There’s someone here beating an innocent patient!” Seeing Pan sitting leaned against the carriage wall, the old man frowned. “Tsk, you again? Both of you, come with me.” Just like that, the two men were called away by the old man, and Shalbi followed behind them, so the only people left in the carriage, besides the sleeping patients, were Trus, Asher, and Roki. An awkward atmosphere hung for a moment, but Asher opened his mouth first. “Does Donar ahjussi and that ahjussi fight all the time?” “Huh? Yeah, it’s rare for them to punch like that, but most of the time Pan ahjussi picks a fight.” “I see.” And then silence again. It was even more awkward because their first meeting wasn’t good at all. “Ah, seriously! But where did you…!” Unable to bear the awkwardness, Roki shouted and was about to say something, but Asher was no longer listening to him. “Belka!” Because in his eyes, he saw the figure of the girl whose eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly’s delicate wings, revealing transparent, sweet golden light like honey. As soon as Asher spotted her, he ran and hugged her as if to pounce. “Asher.” “I’m sorry! I didn’t even know you were overexerting yourself!” At his tearful apology, the girl, still half-asleep, gave a wry smile as if troubled, hugged him back, and gently patted his back. As if unable to be satisfied with just looking at a fragile craftwork, she carefully stroked him, pleading for him not to cry. The affection-filled touch, as always, felt so good that Asher didn’t realize there were others whose gaze was captured by the scene. “More importantly, what about here?” “Well, Belka collapsed. While I was asking for help from passersby…” It was while he was telling Belka about everything that had happened so far. “Hey, why don’t you explain it instead of just talking amongst yourselves?” That was Roki butting in with a somewhat displeased expression. “What?” Because of this, Asher, whose conversation with Belka was cut off, answered curtly, and Roki looked annoyed but then glanced at the girl. When Belka tilted her head at his gaze, Roki, with a slightly flushed face, whispered to him. “Who is she?” “Belka?” “Yeah!” From the moment he faced Belka, who seemed close to Asher, Roki felt his heart pounding rapidly. The sight of the beautiful girl, who gave a sweet impression just by looking at her, was too fatal for the boy’s heart. Furthermore, despite her sickly appearance as if not well, her benevolent look, embracing a boy his own age with affection, had conquered the boy’s heart. It was the beginning of first love, with only the suffering remaining. “Why should I tell you?” While you tried to trip me. Asher, who had no way of knowing the boy’s feelings, just found his behavior strange. Roki made a frustrated expression at his words. And then he seemed to think hard about something. “How long have I been here? No matter how I think about it, I’ve never seen kids like you before.” “We just hitched a ride halfway.” “Then don’t do it anymore. There’s no place around here suitable for people to live.” Asher was starting to find his persistent questioning annoying and irritating. He could explain if he wanted to, but somehow Roki’s gaze towards Belka bothered him, so he didn’t want to take the time to explain. “So why should I explain such a thing to you?” “That is!” Seeing him speechless as if he couldn’t think of an excuse himself, Asher decided to ignore him and turned his head away. “Aish!” Roki eventually got hotheaded and stomped his feet as he left the carriage. Roki wanted to talk to Belka directly if he had the heart, but unfortunately, his chest didn’t allow it. Just being in the same space made his heart pound non-stop, and he felt like it would explode if he were to talk to the girl directly. Moreover, his first impression with the person closest to the girl was the worst. Roki thought he had no choice but to retreat first and talk later. “What exactly was his problem?” As he expected, Asher thought Roki was a strange and unlucky fellow from their first meeting until now. Then, when Asher looked at Belka again, he saw her touching her lower abdomen with a puzzled expression. Had something gone wrong? “Does your stomach hurt?” “I’m not sure, but perhaps.” When he asked out of worry, he got a vague answer, as if she wasn’t certain. Used to Belka’s way of speaking, he didn’t think much of it, but… “Then maybe we should tell the doctor ahjussi?” “Doctor?” “Yeah, over there.” Their gaze turned towards Trus, who had been quietly hiding until now. He hadn’t moved a single step from where he had hidden when the man named Pan got up and caused a commotion, only peeking his head out. He thought he was an adult who seemed a bit lacking, but was he also very scared? He even thought it was amazing that he had been doing doctor’s work all this time. “Doctor ahjussi?” “….” Asher called out to him, who was staring blankly as if out of his mind, but he didn’t react and just kept looking this way. Could he be so scared that he had lost his mind? “Doctor ahjussi!!” “Woah?! D-d-d-did you call me?” When he shouted out again in a bewildered state. He sighed at his appearance, who only reacted then. Moreover. “Where did the ring you were wearing go?” “R-ring? What ring… Ah, I-I must have dropped it by mistake. I’ll look for it later.” Could he really trust this person who easily lost even his own belongings? He thought about it but still spoke. “Belka says her stomach hurts. Could you take a look?” “Uh, yeah! Your stomach, you mean?” At Asher’s words, Trus hurriedly got up and picked up the stethoscope that had fallen during the earlier commotion. Trus couldn’t take his eyes off the girl from the moment she woke up and opened her eyes. He had already thought she was a beautiful girl, but when he saw her golden eyes directly. His head felt dizzy. The urge to pounce on the girl right then tormented Trus. “Th-th-that. N-now, could you undo the front of your dress for a moment?” He knew this was wrong, but he used the stethoscope as an excuse to ask Belka to undo the front of her dress. At his words, the girl’s golden eyes wavered as if embarrassed, but… “It’s okay. He’s just examining you.” At the sight of the girl’s golden eyes calming down as if reassured by Asher’s words alone, Trus felt a little jealousy stirring from deep within his heart. He was terribly envious of the way they trusted each other without any impurities, and of Asher having such a relationship with this sweet girl. The girl’s clothes, except for something like a white shroud, were a dark red dress that was easy to put on and take off if you just undid the front. When the girl undid the front herself, unlike when she was lying down, the dress slipped down as if she was wearing ill-fitting clothes. The girl held the dress to prevent it from slipping down further when her delicate shoulders and the area around her chest, where her underwear was precariously visible, were exposed. Feeling a sense of regret, Trus nevertheless placed the stethoscope near the girl’s chest. -Thump-thump. He couldn’t tell if the heartbeat he heard in his ears was the girl’s or his own. He had barely managed to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the girl. “N-next, I need to check your stomach.” But to place the stethoscope on her stomach, he had to either pull the front of the dress down completely after undoing it or lift the skirt. He knew there was no real need to place a stethoscope on the stomach, but they wouldn’t know that. Belka’s lips were tightly shut, hesitating in a situation where she had to show her bare skin and underwear no matter what, but seeing Asher watching calmly, the girl seemed reassured and released the dress she had been holding to prevent it from slipping further. At that moment, his gaze, as if by instinct, swept over the elegant curves her body traced, here and there. Just as he was about to place the stethoscope, regretting that he couldn’t savor this small fruit… “Hey! When are you guys coming out!” With a loud bang, the closed door flew open. When they looked with surprised eyes at the place where the door had opened. They saw Roki standing blankly, looking utterly dumbfounded as if he couldn’t comprehend the scene that met his eyes as he was about to express his anger. “Huh?” Roki, who had first opened the carriage door himself and walked out, regretted it. “Ah, seriously! Why did I do that!” He had kicked away the chance himself, when he might or might not have spoken to her even if he had stayed longer. Roki resented his emotions, which seemed uncontrollable today. He was a boy who had seen many kids his age, but here there were mostly just kids he thought of as younger siblings. Just then, the sudden appearance of a strange boy named Asher was enough to make him curious. He had only played a prank, thinking he would be easy to tease because he was small. But contrary to his gentle appearance, he had a temper. He had never dreamed he would be counterattacked. And that’s when he realized he had buttoned up wrong from the very beginning. “Please, I wish I could turn back time.” But Roki knew that even if he used magic, which he had only heard about in rumors, he couldn’t turn back time. The country Roki lived in was a place that was at war with monsters who used magic, which was truly rare among humans, as if they were breathing. So, the chance for him to talk to Belka… “Should I apologize?” But there was a big problem with that. If nothing else, Roki could tell. Asher was the same kind of person as him. When he was counterattacked by that small boy. He realized it instinctively. “He’ll definitely seize on my weakness and exploit it.” If you were to ask how he could be so sure, it was precisely because he himself was like that. More than anything, Roki had never played a prank and apologized. His prank targets were mostly adults, and things would pass with them forgiving him or scolding him. So, instead of apologizing, he decided to face the situation confidently in a familiar way, and that’s what created this incident. And Asher, who was the quickest to grasp the situation in that moment, was furious and lunged at Roki. ‘He’s completely a furious dragon…!’ Before Roki could even finish his thought, his vision turned black along with the impact on his forehead.