Ch. 143

“Ha, haha! What a joke.”

Maybe it was the excessive pain, or maybe the heavy blood loss—but that’s when Grak started laughing. It looked like he was slowly going insane.

“How much do you think you’ve really suffered? Victim? You? Ha! I’m the one who should be avenging myself! You were just a prisoner for a short while! Look at my face! You did this to me! Anyone can see the victim here is me! I’m the one who suffered more!”

“Oh, maybe you’re right?”

Grak really did look wronged. Truthfully, the old grudge might have been forgotten after I tore off his nose and ears.

If only he hadn’t decided to get his revenge by kidnapping poor Annie. If only he hadn’t set up such a pathetic trap to kill me.

Because in the end, it was Grak who had called me here.

“You have a point. Since you failed to kill me, you didn’t actually cause me that much harm. Strictly speaking, that makes you… just the loser, doesn’t it? Let’s try the left foot this time.”

I snapped my fingers lightly, and a bit of flesh burst apart. Blood spattered with the scream, accompanied by a torrent of foul curses.

Somehow, it wasn’t as satisfying as I’d expected. I thought revenge would be more exhilarating.

Maybe the gap in power was too overwhelming. Honestly, I was getting bored. Revenge wasn’t very fun, rewarding, or exciting—it was just tedious.

“Why does it feel… off?”

[I remember now! Master, there was another enemy that day! That nasty-looking woman!]

“That’s right. Good memory, Rai!”

[Hehem!]

“One last question. Grak, you had a sister, didn’t you?”

Realizing the source of my dissatisfaction lifted my mood. Come to think of it, she was the one who put a hole in Ash’s hand. Grak’s red-haired sister.

How could I forget? My real revenge should’ve been on her.

“I remember that woman. Your sister. Where is she?”

I asked with delight.

If I killed her, maybe I could finally rest easy. Not that I hadn’t been sleeping well, but the satisfaction would be different.

“Answer me.”

“…”

“Tell me and I’ll spare you!”

I said it generously, though of course it was a lie. Grak wasn’t foolish enough to believe it. Now, instead of screaming, he just clenched his teeth.

Even when I popped one of his eyes with a small gesture, he only chuckled.

“Kill me! Just kill me already!”

“Well, isn’t that odd. Even a slave trader cares about family?”

“My sister will avenge me. You devilish bitch, rot in hell.”

“I told you, there’s no such thing.”

Once you die, it’s over.

Resting my chin on my hand, I sensed a crowd approaching in the distance. The guards had finally arrived.

Grak was stubborn, and I no longer had any reason to toy with him, so I ended it with a single clap.

Clap.

My stomach was strong, but even so, I didn’t think I’d be able to eat meat for a while.

—

Annie was far too lively for someone who had just gone through such an ordeal.

Her timid nature hadn’t changed, but her stamina, fitting for someone from the jungle, was impressive.

The one bedridden afterward was me instead.

“Achoo!”

Struck by sudden fever and chills, I spent the whole day groaning in bed. My limbs were weak, and my head burned like it was boiling.

The likely cause? Endairon.

My body was a kind of medium, linking the middle world and the spirit world. So whenever I wielded great power, there was always a backlash.

Summoning Endairon alone put a huge strain on me.

If I had maintained the summoning using only my own mana, the aftereffects might’ve been lighter. But since I drew on Rai’s mana too, I’d probably overloaded myself.

Or maybe it was simply all the constant overexertion.

Captured by a dragon and barely escaping, then trekking endlessly through the jungle before reaching the city. Just as I thought I could rest, Annie was kidnapped.

Then I wiped out the slave traders. Everything had happened nonstop.

Now that the chaos had finally settled, my body relaxed—and the fever hit.

No matter what spirits I commanded, my body was still just a frail human one. Susceptible to something as mundane as a cold.

Disgusting and unfair. In my next life, I’d better be reborn as a long-lived, disease-free dragon.

[Are you very sick, Master?]

“Ugh… my head… I’d bribe a god… to make me a dragon…”

The headache was brutal, and the fever only made my throat drier. Coughs rattled out of me nonstop.

[You’re even talking nonsense! Did you catch some terminal illness?]

“It’s just a fever.”

[No! You can’t die! Master, what will I do without you? I’ll be so bored!]

“…I said I’m not dying.”

[Humans die from just a cold! They’re so weak, it’s terrifying!]

“Are you cursing me? And don’t act like I’m living just to keep you entertained!”

Expecting sympathy from a spirit that couldn’t get sick was a lost cause. With so much to do, being ill only made me feel more bitter.

According to plan, today should’ve been the day I called the headmaster and entrusted Annie to him.

Nothing was going the way I planned.

If it were a broken bone or an injury, Undaine could’ve healed me. But colds weren’t something water spirits could cure.

Their healing magic only worked on external and internal wounds.

Priests with holy magic, on the other hand, could cure colds, detoxify, practically everything. What was the difference? A matter of specialty? It would’ve been nice if Ash’s group had a priest…

[Master, the brat’s coming.]

I heard footsteps drawing near. Two of them.

“Big sis? Are you okay?”

With a knock, the door opened and Annie peeked her head in.

She gripped the knob, saw I was awake, then stepped inside.

Ash followed behind her with a tray in hand.

We’d decided to keep it simple: Annie had been rescued by chance. When I arrived, the slave traders were already in ruins.

The timely rumor about dark elves spread, so even the innkeepers who’d seen her kidnapped accepted it.

No one suspected that Ash, Lox, Chad, and I had razed the place.

And since I’d generously paid for the inn repairs, the staff treated me kindly.

“This is from the man at the counter. He told me to bring it to you.”

Potato soup with cheese, smelling pretty good.

I had no appetite, but I accepted it out of courtesy.

And since Annie’s effort was touching, I ate a few spoonfuls until the bowl was empty.

Still, the portion was stingy. So lacking in sincerity.

“At least you still have an appetite. That’s good.”

“No, I don’t.”

Maybe not the best thing to say while licking the spoon.

“…I bought some medicine.”

“Medicine too?”

“We worked hard for this! The line at the clinic was huge. The whole town’s full of sick people.”

The village was practically in festival mode.

While I lay ill, outside they sang and drank all night.

With Blood Wing gone overnight, the terror that had loomed over them vanished. No wonder they were celebrating.

People said it was divine punishment, singing in unison. No one mourned its disappearance.

As I ate the soup, Annie perched at my bedside, chattering away.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t the only one kidnapped! The streets are full of rescued people!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Lox said not to get too close. They might be diseased or criminals. And they might cut off my foot to steal my shoes… scary, right?”

“That sounds like Lox.”

“So I stuck close to Ash! And um, the guards were really angry. Why?”

“They just have more work now.”

Keeping Annie’s mouth shut was the hardest part.

Chad and Lox, as adults, buried their suspicions. They probably suspected me, but they didn’t want the army involved. So they kept quiet. I left it to Ash to handle Annie.

I was always better at causing trouble than covering it up.

“More work?”

“They’ll have to deal with the freed slaves. And of course, catch the culprit.”

“Mm… but isn’t the culprit you, Big sis?”

Instead of answering, I just patted her head and handed over the empty bowl. Innocently, Annie asked again as she took the tray.

“They called you a ‘mass murderer.’ What does that mean?”

“Annie, what did I say about secrets?”

“Um… not to tell Mom about the kidnapping, and not to say anything about what I saw yesterday.”

“And what happens if you do?”

“The blue see-through dragon will come after me and eat me…”

Exactly. Nothing scares kids like a giant monster.

Annie shivered, bit her lip, and left the room.

Ash stayed quietly by my side, clearly wanting to talk, but I was too sick to care and just lay back down.

Once again, it was just the two of us.

“Geenie, scaring a child like that isn’t right. Annie’s already timid enough…”

“You the type to nag?”

“…Not exactly.”

“I can’t worry about her feelings when I’m being branded a mass murderer.”

“Hm.”

I flopped over, looking up at Ash with a lazy smile.

I was soft only because I had no strength.

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it? That’s what you want to say?”

My tangled golden hair fell over my face, and I shoved it back as I buried my head into the pillow.

Just from those trembling eyes, I could tell.

Ash was far too kind for this harsh world. Maybe my opposite in every way.

And maybe that’s why I didn’t mind him.

“No. But you should take your medicine.”

“Right.”

I sat up and took the cup of water and powdered medicine Ash offered.

There were no pills in this world. Medicines came as bitter powders you had to mix into water.

The taste was awful, with all sorts of gritty lumps, making me scrunch my face in disgust.

“Ugh, nasty…”

“It’ll help.”

It better. If it didn’t, I’d drag the apothecary over and force him to drink ten cups of the stuff.

If Ash hadn’t been standing right there, I might’ve left some. Somehow, I managed to finish and was about to lie back down when Ash reached out his hand.

I thought he wanted the empty cup, but instead, he took my right hand.

“I wish you a speedy recovery.”

Here, it was tradition to kiss the back of the hand of someone who was ill.

It was something done only between men and women, symbolizing both a prayer for the sickness to pass and, superstitiously, the sharing of one’s own life force.

It was a solemn wish to take on the illness in their place, so they might recover quickly.

In other words, it was just a simple get-well gesture—but because it was so sudden, I was left stunned for a moment.

And damn, he kissed with such elegance. Definitely a prince.

The heat on the back of my hand was purely from the fever.