At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 285
Once they were close enough, Jiwoo placed a hand on each of their shoulders and kissed them both on the cheek.
The two brothers stared at her in stunned silence, clutching the spots her lips had touched as though they had just been slapped.
“You can simply ask me for things like this.”
“Ye, yes.”
“Yes.”
A kiss was something she could give them freely. Treatment, however, was another matter entirely.
“And you said you were hurt. Let me see.”
Narkreed had already left, but now that Jiwoo was standing close to them, she understood why he had told her to examine the two.
There were scratches and cuts all over their bodies.
That was only natural if the fight had not been entirely one-sided. Still…
Lancet and Arven were among those who regularly handled physical work within the group, and although something seemed wrong with his eyes, Narkreed had been there as well.
As Jiwoo slowly healed their injuries, a thought crossed her mind.
‘I absolutely must not run into that underground group.’
Even tribes that normally liked one another would become tense when their territories overlapped, yet these men had already caused a considerable incident.
‘Even if the other side started it…’
Some part of her had still hoped there might be a way to resolve the situation through conversation.
It appeared she had been mistaken.
***
Unexpectedly, Jiwoo saw Narkreed again soon afterward.
He had tried to avoid her, but once he heard that Jiwoo was looking for him, he could not bring himself to refuse all the way to the end.
“You aren’t doing this because you want me to die of embarrassment, are you?”
When he returned, Narkreed had fashioned a blindfold from a strip of black cloth.
Even with his eyes completely covered, he moved as though he could see perfectly well. Judging by the way he looked directly at Jiwoo while complaining, it did not seem to inconvenience him at all. He had even made his way there alone, without assistance.
“Are you embarrassed because you were hurt?”
“No. I’m embarrassed because someone picked a fight with us and we lost.”
But Arven had said they won. When Jiwoo tilted her head, Reed bared his teeth in a crooked smile.
“If three men get beaten around by one, that counts as losing. Those children are so innocent. They chased him off and decided that meant they won.”
By children, he meant Lancet and Arven.
Since there were often considerable age gaps between brothers in El Ragneil, the older ones occasionally spoke about the younger ones that way. It was not common, but it did happen.
“And I wasn’t injured. I already told you, yet you refuse to believe me.”
“You should explain yourself properly, then. Of course El would misunderstand.”
Lugarmel scolded Narkreed for his grumbling.
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
The three of them were currently sitting in Lugarmel’s laboratory.
Jiwoo had gone to Mel because her worries had left her restless, and their conversation had eventually led her to summon Reed.
The situation was simple.
Jiwoo had hoped to avoid becoming involved with the aggressive underground tribe, yet the two groups had already provoked each other and engaged in a serious fight.
Someone appeared to have been injured, despite three men accustomed to outdoor work facing only one opponent and now Narkreed was even lying by insisting that he was unharmed.
As if that were not worrying enough, Helka had still not returned after leaving with Marron and Night.
Marron, Night, and Helka.
Why had they arranged the teams like that?
The more Jiwoo thought about it, the more that particular combination seemed designed to make her worry.
Had she gone with them, she could at least have treated them immediately if anything happened. With no news at all, however, she could do nothing but pace anxiously.
That concern naturally strengthened her desire to make portable medicine as soon as possible. Returning to Lugarmel, who had offered to help her develop it, had been the obvious next step.
“Before, it didn’t matter because I could treat all of you myself. But after something like this, I think I’ll only feel at ease once each of you has some medicine to carry.”
“Mmm. Who would you like to give the first one to?”
From there, Jiwoo had ended up sharing the rest of her concerns as well, and Lugarmel had immediately suggested a solution.
“Ah, then shall we call him here at once?”
The moment Narkreed was told that Jiwoo wanted him, he came straight over.
He might complain after arriving, but he had not refused. He had even known exactly where Jiwoo was.
Despite having avoided her so firmly before, he changed his attitude the moment she called for him again.
‘It always feels strange when this happens.’
Jiwoo had only ever lived in worlds where a woman’s voice was rarely considered important.
That had been true in her original world, and it had not been much different in Caranazion, not even in countries where women enjoyed comparatively decent status, or at the Temple where Jiwoo herself had held more than an ordinary position.
She had grown up expecting her words to be ignored. That was why even small things like this still felt unfamiliar.
People with rank and pride, in particular, had never obeyed Jiwoo the moment she spoke. To be honest, Narkreed had looked so unwilling that she had assumed he would not come.
“I thought you wouldn’t.”
“How could I refuse when you personally summoned me?”
Jiwoo surprised even herself by recognizing the habitual resignation that still lingered within her.
“Well… I heard you wanted to make medicine. I suppose it makes sense that you’d think of someone who looks injured.”
Reed scratched the back of his head, apparently a little embarrassed.
“But will it actually work?”
“Were you injured so badly that even my power won’t affect it?”
“No. The problem is that this isn’t really an injury. That’s why I’m not sure it’ll work.”
Come to think of it, Narkreed had refused because he thought her power would be ineffective. He had never objected to her using the Akarna’s power itself.
He had simply told her to treat Lancet and Arven instead.
“What do you mean?”