Chapter 64: Brothers and a Cold (5)
Rurin didn’t know what to do. She simply stared at El.
It took her a long while to gather herself enough to cautiously check his pulse.
By this time, Rurin’s face was already contorted with worry.
Thankfully, El was still alive. He wasn’t dead!
Realizing this, Rurin managed to calm down.
If there had been any humans in the restaurant at that moment, they would have collapsed instantly from the dragon’s terrifying aura.
But Rurin ignored that and carried El upstairs.
“El, El, El?”
She called out to him several times after laying him down, but there was no response. What kept Rurin from losing her mind was that his breathing was still steady.
How could she wake him? Rurin pondered for a long time, but no answers came to her. Growing more anxious, she bit her lip fiercely.
Her soft pink lips split, and blood began to drip.
Her clenched fists trembled uncontrollably. She stamped her feet and just kept staring at El.
The one who always brought her peace was now just lying there.
She hated this.
Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it.
Tears welled up in Rurin’s eyes.
Then, a loud noise came from outside the restaurant.
Rurin immediately stormed downstairs and kicked open the back door with a bang. There stood two humans, who immediately dropped to the ground and bowed as soon as they saw her.
She hated humans.
She hated dragons too.
She hated all living things.
The world that tormented her.
The world that took her mother away.
This wretched world.
But Rurin clenched her teeth. She couldn’t kill humans recklessly. El always emphasized that.
When El truly got angry, it made Rurin incredibly sad.
So, she desperately suppressed her rage. It helped that the two humans had immediately prostrated themselves. If they had acted arrogantly, things might have turned out very differently.
That’s how unstable Rurin’s emotions were.
After dealing with the noisy humans, Rurin returned upstairs, but El still showed no signs of waking.
“El…”
Then, Rurin remembered the dish El had asked her to make. Maybe if she made it, he would wake up. With that thought in mind, she rushed downstairs and began cooking again, throwing the entire pallenque into the pot along with the scallions.
Rurin followed El’s instructions exactly, then carried the chicken soup to the bedside and knelt in front of him. But now, she was at a loss. She had no idea how to feed it to him.
He wouldn’t wake up, no matter how hard she tried.
At that moment, she recalled something one of El’s former companions had told her.
With that in mind, Rurin took a mouthful of the soup herself.
“It tastes awful…”
It was genuinely awful. She couldn’t taste anything. That was her verdict on her own cooking. But since El had said it was a dish that gave strength, she decided to feed it to him, even if it tasted bad. Some of the soup spilled from her mouth as she murmured.
Then, Rurin gently opened El’s mouth and let the chicken soup flow into it.
Suddenly, her chest tightened. Her face grew hot, and her ears turned red.
“El… Something’s wrong with me. So, wake up!”
But, as expected, there was no response. Rurin clenched her hands tightly. Her racing heart and the warmth that had built up quickly faded away.
The fear that El wouldn’t wake up overwhelmed the fluttering in her chest.
Terrified, Rurin gripped El’s hand tightly and kept watch over him. She yawned but refused to sleep.
She was afraid that if she fell asleep, El might disappear when she woke up.
The dragon heart has the power to revive all living things. But El had already consumed her dragon heart once.
If he were to eat another, his body wouldn’t be able to handle it. That was certain.
Rurin remembered joking once about feeding him her heart if she ever self-destructed.
But even so, if El were to stop breathing, she would have no hesitation in offering her heart again.
Even if it meant she would die.
Even if it meant they couldn’t stay together.
A world without El held no meaning for Rurin.
It would be nothing but endless darkness.
“El…? Don’t worry. With the mana boost you got from the dragon orb, you might be able to handle my heart again. I won’t let you die!”
Rurin stayed like that for a long time, only realizing in the evening that she had forgotten something: a healer.
Humans had doctors who treated the sick. Elves, too, were deeply connected to healing magic.
Rurin cursed herself for only realizing this now.
“El, El, El! Where is that elf?!”
She asked El, though she knew there would be no answer.
That meant she couldn’t use teleportation. She would have to find the elf herself.
Rurin dashed down the hill.
This was the first time she had gone into the city alone, without El.
When walking with El, the scenery had always felt natural, but to Rurin now, everything was cloaked in darkness. The whole world seemed dark.
She couldn’t see anything. All she knew was that the elf had to be nearby, and that thought pushed her forward.
All she needed was the elf.
She needed the elf.
“What the hell is this girl?”
As Rurin rushed through the city, sniffing the air to the best of her ability, she bumped into a gang of thugs on the street.
“It’s you!”
Mate, who was being dragged by the gang, recognized Rurin and shouted. She was the woman from the restaurant at lunchtime. Rurin recognized him too.
“Where is the elf?”
“The elf? If you mean the one from the interview, Miltein said he works as a healer over—”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
A thug kicked Mate in the stomach for speaking without permission. Rurin, showing no emotion, simply stared at him.
“Where is this place?”
“Run! These guys are bad news!”
“Bad news? I don’t care! Where is this place?!”
“What do you mean you don’t—ugh, who is this girl?”
The thugs looked at Rurin, but as they felt the overwhelming pressure radiating from her, they found themselves stepping back. Rurin briefly scanned them with her eyes.
“Hmph. I promised El I wouldn’t kill humans without permission. But you’re noisy!”
At her glare, the thugs were crushed to the ground by an overwhelming force, trembling violently.
This was the power of a dragon. A being capable of killing humans with just a glance.
Moreover, Rurin’s mana had been massively amplified recently, thanks to the dragon orb, making her powerful enough to destroy the entire human world if she wanted to.
“What… what is this…?”
“I hate noise. I hate humans. Now tell me, where is this place?”
“T-that way. That way!”
After Mate pointed in the direction, Rurin nodded and took off running. She was even barefoot. Her feet were covered in dirt, but she didn’t notice.
Mate, still trying to understand what had just happened, watched her leave.
“Hey, wait!”
Freed from the thugs, Mate glanced at the fallen gang members, who were trembling and foaming at the mouth.
They were still alive, though.
***
When I opened my eyes, I realized I wasn’t on the first floor of the restaurant but in my bed on the second floor. I had no idea how much time had passed.
Rurin was asleep, holding my hand. She wasn’t lying on the bed but had slumped onto the floor, gripping my hand tightly as she dozed.
Next to me was a bowl of chicken soup, presumably made by her. I tasted it. She had followed my instructions exactly, but she hadn’t seasoned it at all.
Even with just a pinch of salt, chicken soup can taste good. But with Rurin clinging tightly to my left hand, I couldn’t even get up to grab the salt.
Still, for a dragon’s first attempt at cooking, this wasn’t a failure at all. Sure, it wasn’t seasoned, but honestly, it was touching.
It was touching, so it tasted good.
Rurin herself was still nodding off, though.
“Mmm? El…?”
“You’re awake?”
“El!”
Rurin’s eyes suddenly shot open, and she jumped onto the bed, hugging me tightly. Her face lit up with joy.
“When did you wake up? El! I was so worried! So worried!”
“Yeah, I’m awake. I didn’t die, so calm down.”
“El, El, El, El, El, El!”
Rurin clung to me, calling my name over and over with a bright smile. Even though I wasn’t fully recovered from the cold yet, I couldn’t help but worry for her.
I tried to push her away gently, concerned she might catch my illness.
But Rurin resisted fiercely.
“Rurin, you’ll catch this!”
“I don’t care. If you’re sick, I’m sick too. I’ll get sick with you. It’s not fair if only you’re sick. We’re one and the same.”
“One and the same? Ugh, putting that aside, if you catch this, it’ll just make things harder for you. Go sleep in your room tonight.”
“No! Roarrr!”
“Making growling sounds isn’t going to change my mind.”
“I don’t care. I actually *want* to catch it, so I’m not leaving. I even cooked for you for the first time. Though it didn’t taste like much, isn’t it better than earlier?”
“Yeah, I’m going to finish it all.”
“Really? Somehow, it feels weird to have you eat my cooking. Is this how you feel all the time when I eat your food?”
Rurin spoke while closing her eyes. It was impossible to make her let go.
“Anyway, since your illness is mine too, don’t get sick! Oh, and the elf came by earlier and said you’d be fine by tomorrow. I threatened to wipe out the entire elf race if they lied, so I’m sure it’s true!”
Rurin fidgeted as she clung to me, wrapping her arms around my waist as I sipped the chicken soup.
I couldn’t believe it. The elf race nearly got wiped out because of me?
But strangely, I didn’t feel the need to scold her.
I found myself patting Rurin’s head with one hand. I couldn’t help it. I just felt like doing it.
She was so endearing that I couldn’t resist.
“By the way, your birthday is coming up soon.”
Without realizing it, I found myself thinking about waiting until Rurin’s birthday. Something inside me was holding on until then… until her birthday.
What would happen once that restraint was gone? Even I didn’t know.
“Birthday?”
“No, I just meant your birthday is soon.”
“You’re so weird, El!”
Rurin’s birthday was in spring. It was late autumn now, nearing the start of winter. It wasn’t too far off.
Anyway, after finishing the nutritious chicken soup, I felt a bit better and lay back down.
This was the time to sleep.
Soon, the sound of Rurin’s soft purring mixed with my breathing, filling the bedroom.
When I woke up, it was morning.
Sunlight streamed through the window. For once, Rurin was already awake, her face red as she mumbled in my arms.
“El… Something’s wrong. It feels like the ceiling is spinning.”
“What?”
Startled, I touched Rurin’s forehead. She was burning up. Though we had joked about it yesterday, I hadn’t seriously thought she’d catch my cold.
