At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 219
Even as Petar kept letting out dry chuckles, it was clear this topic still felt trivial to him.
“Well, whatever. Before we go, someone here wants to give you something.”
Petar introduced someone Jiwoo didn’t recognize, though she noticed he wore clothes similar to Enci’s.
He approached Jiwoo discreetly and pulled out a small box.
“Take this with you.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing much… just a box containing sixteen doses of antidote. You can use it as a neutralizer…”
Hearing the words “antidote” and “neutralizer”, Jiwoo immediately recalled the previous incident. Of course, his attire made it easy to guess his role.
“Ah… this is for that last time, isn’t it? You’re the alchemist, right? Thank you.”
Jiwoo thanked him, thinking he was being thoughtful, worried the same thing might happen again.
The alchemist jumped at the thanks, glanced nervously at Solmih standing behind Jiwoo, bowed his head, and hurriedly backed away.
Jiwoo handed the box to Solmih, who insisted on carrying it.
“The people here are really kind, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are.”
Only Lanset and Arven, knowing the whole story, shivered in secret, feeling a chill down their spines.
After gathering a few more gifts, Jiwoo was finally ready to leave.
Petar gave the farewell on behalf of everyone.
“You seem to like it here. Feel free to come visit and rest anytime. And if, by any chance, there’s ever anything you need, just call. I’ll come.”
“Take care and stay healthy.”
“Come again, Seo Jiwoo.”
Petar said goodbye plainly, tapping her shoulder like a friend seeing her off.
“Definitely.”
Glancing back quietly on the way, Jiwoo saw Petar standing there, watching them leave until he was out of sight.
Thinking back, this was the first and last time Petar had physically touched her despite always approaching casually but straightforwardly.
***
Though they could retrace their steps, the shapes of the terrain and forest weren’t made for humans, so they had to navigate by the stars.
It was a rare similarity between the forest and the sea. Two places that seemed so different otherwise.
Jiwoo had heard that winter in El Ragneil was fiercest just before it ended.
So Solmih packed carefully for the journey home, and the group prepared thoroughly just in case.
Maybe Solmih had chosen the timing well, because the way back was much calmer.
In fact, it was far more comfortable than the path toward the beach.
No snow fell, and even though it was midwinter, the weather wasn’t nearly as cold as expected.
Jiwoo almost thought that the sea tree that warmed the beach was somehow watching over them here too.
She had heard that natural miasma sometimes flooded El Ragneil periodically, but she was lucky never to have experienced it.
‘Of course, with me around to purify the miasma right away, there shouldn’t be any problems.’
There were times Jiwoo disliked being Akarna, but in moments like these, when she could feel her husbands fully relying on her, it made her feel good.
It was while they were passing through the forest for several days.
As she diligently followed her husbands’ guidance, Jiwoo suddenly heard a faint sound.
Jingle.
“What’s that noise?”
It was like the ringing of a bell, almost like an auditory hallucination.
There was no way such a sound could be heard in the middle of the forest.
Jiwoo stopped and looked around.
Through the trees, she spotted a shadow moving.
It hid behind one tree, then leapt to another, shifting rapidly. Its form was strange and hard to make out.
Whenever it moved, the bushes rustled with an eerie sound.
“Hey, Solmih.”
Sensing something odd, Jiwoo called out. It was strange that such sharp-eared people hadn’t noticed it.
“Yes?”
The moment Solmih turned around, something pitch black brushed past right in front of Jiwoo’s eyes.
“Huh?”
But no one else seemed to notice.
“Did something just pass by?”
“What do you mean?”
“No…”
Surely something dark had passed right in front of Solmih.
Had she imagined it?
Frowning and shaking her head, Jiwoo heard Solmih ask.
“Are you tired, by any chance?”
Only then did Jiwoo suddenly realize a wave of overwhelming fatigue crashing down on her.
“Yes, I feel… very tired. I think I’ll rest a bit.”
Jiwoo staggered as she walked and tried to sit down beside a tree that looked comfortable to rest against.
“Seo Jiwoo, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just… my head feels a little…”
Jiwoo reached out to Lanset, who was moving to support her, but her hand grasped empty air and she wobbled.
“Huh?”
Lanset had approached from Jiwoo’s right side to offer support.
“Seo Jiwoo? Why…?”
It was only natural to be puzzled. Jiwoo stretched out her right arm to lean on Lanset.
But she staggered.
It wasn’t that Lanset intentionally didn’t catch her. What Jiwoo thought was her right arm had actually been her left.
“Seo Jiwoo, are you alright?”
“Yes… huh?”
The hand she meant to extend to Solmih was her left arm, but the one that went out was her right.
It was strange.
Suddenly her sensations became completely mixed up.
After helping Jiwoo sit down, Solmih carefully examined her body all over with a serious look, then asked,
“Has Akarna’s power vanished again?”
“No… not that. It’s not time for that yet.”
The ability outage would manifest as the Akarna’s power to remove threats suddenly disappearing, but it didn’t cause physical damage.
Recently, during a trip elsewhere, it had turned off once, and not much time had passed since.
And judging by the sounds Jiwoo could hear, the Akarna’s power was still functioning properly.
However, the strange sensation of feeling left-side sensations when Solmih touched her right arm had been confusing. Sometimes, the sensation even jumped down to her leg.