It turned out that the obstacles weren't over once we set foot out of the mysterious forest. I reflexively ducked when a bird with unusually wide outstretched wings flew from the direction of the ravine. I then implored the four young men behind me to crouch down and remain motionless to avoid the bird of God knows what. It was enormous, and I was sure that its talons with their curved pointed nails would be able to tear my neck apart in a single stroke. This seemed to be the predator that was making the corpses lie in the depths of the abyss. The bird was still flying in the sky, matching the color of the dark sky. Before long, I was startled as the bird, instead of clucking or tasting, giggled like a woman's voice. Strange and creepy images immediately flooded my mind. What other strange animals was I going to witness today? Hydras were already more than bad. "It's a harpy. Oh, God, how is this?" Fang grabbed my shoulders from behind. "Harpy?" I squinted to get a better look a
"Well, apparently that's the story," said Lord Crys as he sipped a cup of tea. After the villagers were excited by our arrival, we were bombarded with questions about why the exploration time was so short. I had nothing to say, the four young men were also silent, so the villagers immediately took us to Lord Crys' residence. I told him everything, his forehead wrinkled, and he was much better than the last time I saw him before leaving with the elves. When I looked back, at the windows and doors, many citizens were trying to peek in and eavesdrop on our conversation. Now I was indeed in Lord Crys' living room. "You must have thought that their intention was to use us as bait, right?" I said. Lord Crys paused for a moment, then he said, "I'd be surprised if they didn't do that. Well, it's a bad turn of events and you guys have another side to the bad view of the elves. However, this is how we live alongside supernatural beings. We can live peacefully because this is a very remote v
"Celine!"I came out of my hut quickly to catch up with her, but the child immediately ran and slipped between the crowd of people in the market. I groaned in frustration. It had been two days since I'd returned from the forest and seen Celine battered, but as far as I'd gotten to talk to her and check on her, she'd always run away and not open the door when I knocked. When I purposely waited for her to come home from work, she would avoid me while quickly locking the door. This must have been doctrine from her mother, Anne must have told her to stay away from me. At this point, I wanted to hit her, but she was nowhere to be seen, not even in her house. Celine always came home in a dazed state and the bruises hadn't disappeared from her face, I was sure she had been beaten by Anne. This can't go on any longer. I considered following Celine to Mr. Nick's stall since she was still working there, in addition to Mr. Shuan's residence. However, I didn't want to be seen as a man chasing
It seems like today is lucky for me too because it's very quiet, not at the market, not with my neighbors' houses, everything is quiet. I don't know where people have gone, even though there are usually still people walking around during working hours like this, considering the number of housewives here. I scrunched my waist as I watched Anne who was still hissing out the word "lie". Never before had I cared about other people's problems, even if they happened in front of my eyes. However, I couldn't close my eyes anymore after the series of events I had experienced. I felt sorry for her and for Celine, even though I had never made a habit of feeling sorry for others. I followed Anne to sit on her knees so that she wouldn't feel intimidated. From this distance, I noticed that the skin on her face was unkempt with many small wounds, her hair was also like a broomstick presumably because she rarely washed it. Her lips were bleeding because she was always biting them, and her fingerna
As the days passed since the incident, I felt that the burden on my heart became a little relieved because I could express my understanding to Anne. On the other hand, that woman was still the same as before, she still worked at Mr. Shuan's house, got drunk at the pub and went home late, but I rarely heard her scold Celine even in her drunken state. If we crossed paths, Anne would still give me a disapproving look, but she didn't say anything. I also often saw snide looks thrown at Celine when they were talking. However, I took that as good progress. It's not easy to heal trauma, so I took it easy on Anne, as long as she wasn't violent anymore. "Celine! Are you going to work?" I caught up with the child who was walking ahead of me. Her expression had brightened up recently, and she smiled and nodded. "How about that novel? Wasn't it fun?" I asked, referring to the novel with the theme of a story about a golden laying goose and a farm boy. It wasn't thick in pages, and was suitable
My mind wandered to various things; about my fate at the hands of the elves who were chasing after my mission to help Celine. The teapot of hot water kept pouring out until I shuddered as the water hit my hand. I then took the cup of lemon balm flower tea and sat under the window. It was already late and I had been idly daydreaming in Mr. Gunter's deserted stall. Several times the man had tempted me to break off his invitation to the city, but that didn't seem to be happening. I also thought it was useless to tell him that an acquaintance of his could remove the power of elves in humans; because the problem was not just with that power, but with myself! Duke Nephim had been targeting me from the start, thinking of me as his toy. He must have had a thousand tricks up his sleeve to trap me. I can't imagine if that happens, I'd rather fight with rebel ghosts than with the elves. Oh, don't forget, I don't want to meet the dragon shapeshifters either! I sipped the tea, the liquid warme
"A-Anne, I don't understand. You're okay, right?" My mind turned blank at once. Anne looked healthy, well, even with her thin, dry body. However, I couldn't have predicted that she was suffering from a chronic illness. Apparently that's what the healer had kept secret when I asked yesterday. Anne cried silently, she then wiped her tears and looked like she was trying to be strong. "I did fall sick a few times, but I always treated it with medicine that can be bought at a stall and there was no problem whatsoever. However, in the past few days, my body condition has weakened so much that I can't even get out of bed. It didn't go away as long as I took the medicine, so I went to a healer. And, yes, he told me that I had a chronic disease in my intestines, and it had spread everywhere," she explained. I then sat beside her in frustration. "If it's chronic, then the doctor should have detected it when you collapsed at the party. But he said you were just tired! Are you sure he didn't m
I lounged in front of Mr. Gunter's deserted stall, there was only one customer who came to buy a dagger this morning, after which the shop was empty. The man who owns it was indifferent and chose to take a nap after leaving the stall to me. Ever since hearing yesterday that Anne won't be around much longer, I've been fretting every second. I don't know, I'm just afraid that if it happens in the near future, while I will definitely leave this world and Celine will be alone. I then sat down on the chair in front of the stall while pondering, I had tried to ask the omniscient Mr. Gunter how much the treatment for chronic diseases would cost, he said that it would require a lot of money because treatment was not enough just once. I considered exchanging some more gold coins to pay for Anne, because I was sure she didn't have much money for that, to the point of letting herself be gnawed by the disease all this time. I also didn't see Celine all day yesterday, more like I avoided her be