——-
Tattered clothes, bandages wrapped around the body, a terrible stench…
Moreover, his expression was dirty, and his eyes were strangely glazed, giving the impression that his mind was somewhat unstable.
At first, Yerna frowned and glared at him.
‘What’s a homeless person doing at the children’s playground?’
The only reason those words didn’t escape her mouth was that she was afraid Luke might overhear them.
Yerna quickly shifted her gaze away from the man and asked Luke.
“Luke, is our friend not here yet?”
Luke rubbed his eyes as if still tired, stretched, leisurely scanned the playground, and pointed to one side.
“Oh, there he is.”
The person Luke pointed at with his small hand was…
The same man who had just made Yerna scowl.
“W-What? That person…?”
Yerna felt her consciousness fade.
The confusion in her mind was mirrored in the man’s thoughts as well.
“…Ugh, was it a trap after all? I can’t believe the Forest Keeper was brought along….”
His condition was already terrible; holding onto his sanity could be considered a limit in itself.
And yet, the Forest Keeper?
Was taking the Forest Keeper as a Guardian not just a simple disguise?
The ‘Circle’ assassin and the Forest Keeper really lived together?
…I’ve been deceived.
“Could it be you planned this from the beginning?”
The man murmured to Luke while sweating heavily.
Though his voice was dark and sinister, more fitting for someone much older than a mere ten-year-old child, Luke responded casually.
“That temperament is the same as ever… Don’t worry, Yerna is on our side.”
“I-Me?”
It was absurd.
She never agreed to get involved with such a dangerous man.
‘But…’
Considering the atmosphere, they seemed to know each other.
“Ugh, it doesn’t matter. It’s a life I’ve already discarded, anyway. Cough…!”
Suddenly, as the man coughed, blood mixed with the cough splattered onto the ground.
“W-What is going on?”
It was just a cough, but the amount of blood was considerable.
At this rate, it seemed that internal bleeding had already begun.
Yerna’s mind raced with numerous questions every second, but for now, those were all things she could only ask if they survived.
She immediately took out her phone, intending to call an ambulance.
“Get to the hospital right away…”
“No!”
However, the man managed to rise and shouted while coughing up blood.
At his desperate cry, Yerna had no choice but to stop her hand.
“The hospital… No, cough!”
“Then what are we supposed to do? You’re dying right now!”
“…You said you could fix me.”
His gaze was directed at Luke.
As if having already accepted the situation, the girl still wore a lazy expression.
“…What? Luke, is that really true?”
What kind of ability did Luke possess to save someone who was on the brink of death?
“…First, step aside.”
———-
The man’s symptoms were typical of a Circle Overload.
Although typical symptoms didn’t mean that the situation was at the same level as a normal overload.
The man’s Circle was, indeed, a complete mess.
Even calling it a mess might be an insult.
It could hardly be referred to as a Circle (Ring).
It was more like a chaotic, tangled net.
It was clear that tremendous strain had been placed on an already strained Circle.
Why on earth was there a need for that? Were there really people still living this savagely in the back alleys?
Thinking it would take too long to unravel the details, Luke made a decision.
He would cut away the knots that couldn’t be untied decisively and make new ones instead.
Luke delicately destroyed the man’s Circle.
As he did, he felt not just the erratic pulses of the Circle, but also a complete sense of Mana.
‘This is…’
Although it was significantly lower quality than his own work, that heart was undoubtedly a ‘Dragon Heart.’
So that was why he had felt an unexplainable sympathy toward this man all this time.
If that was the case, it would be even easier.
Luke made rough calculations of the necessary Mana required based on the man’s Mana sensitivity and shaped the Mana form.
With a Dragon Heart, there was no way it could exceed its ‘capacity’ in this regard.
Luke smiled slightly and re-knotted the man’s Circle.
There was no need to think about the aftermath…
Any consequence would be far less serious than death.
And if he really didn’t want to live through such agony, he wouldn’t have contacted Luke in the first place.
Thus, he could only do his best to save him.
With that, Luke finally shattered and rebuilt the man’s Circle.
“Phew…”
Luke finally removed his hands from the man’s heart.
“That’s the first aid done.”
Luke mumbled in a fatigued voice.
Already tired, Luke had become completely drained from using his Magic.
“L-Luke… What was that just now?”
Yerna was significantly shocked by what Luke had just demonstrated.
It was not something he had done only a couple of times.
The emergency measures were carried out without the slightest hesitation, as if he had experienced similar symptoms countless times before.
It appeared that it wasn’t just a mimicry of a childhood game; there were actual effects, considering the man’s expression had transformed into a calm one, free from pain.
Thinking that they had made it through a critical moment, Yerna couldn’t help but think again.
‘What kind of life has Luke been living to learn about such ‘first aid’?’
Even Yerna, a veteran Forest Keeper with over 20 years of experience and knowledge of various magical phenomena, had no medical knowledge concerning Circle Overload.
In the first place, there was hardly anything that could be done as first aid for Circle Overload.
The options available were to pour in suppressants and pray it wasn’t too late, or hope that one could withstand the Circle Overload on their own.
If not, one would be exceptionally lucky to have a Level 4 mage nearby who could cast spells to stabilize the Mana itself.
But such mages were difficult to find unless they were in high-grade magical workplaces like hospitals or power plants.
Moreover, those mages couldn’t carry around artifacts that enabled them to use such spells all the time.
Yet Luke spoke about it as if it were no big deal.
“Now that I’ve newly stabilized the heart’s Circle, it should be fine for a while.”
Luke’s explanation sounded deceptively simple, but Yerna knew it meant that he had handled the very nature of Mana using Level 4 or higher magic.
But it didn’t seem entirely impossible either.
Actually, Luke had a Circle in his heart and had experience in handling Mana by sheer willpower.
Though she hadn’t wanted to think much about it, this incident had surprisingly clarified things.
“L-Luke… You’ve used Circle Magic before, haven’t you?”
“…”
At Yerna’s question, Luke merely knelt beside the man, breathing heavily, without giving an answer.
Yet no one present was unaware that silence could also be a form of agreement.
Luke, being a mage, felt embarrassed about having ‘lied’ and avoided Yerna’s gaze.
He didn’t want to explain the incident in detail either.
Wouldn’t it sound childish to say he lied because he didn’t want to be scolded?
He admitted that he had no composure back then, considering he had ‘only’ engraved a Level 1 Circle at that time.
Yerna also wanted to scold Luke for not mentioning it earlier, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to blame the boy who looked so somber.
As Yerna looked down at Luke, who was avoiding her gaze, she helped him to his feet and asked, “Are you okay? Are you very tired? Should we go home?”
It was apparent that Luke was struggling to suppress his drowsiness.
…Yeah, no matter how many questions she had now, it would be best to let up for today.
Not every day had to be filled with pressing matters.
From now on, Luke would continue to live with her.
Luke awkwardly scratched his cheek and smiled, seemingly feeling somewhat relieved.
“Just a bit.”
——-
“Are you feeling a bit more awake?”
“Where is this…?”
The man, who had awakened, first looked around with an anxious expression.
Yerna simply conveyed the facts calmly.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a hospital.”
“What about that kid?”
“He was tired after fixing your Circle and fell asleep right away.”
“…”
The man let out a deep breath as he felt his own Circle quietly swirling.
Could it be… had he really been fixed?
“Excuse me, I have a mountain of questions.”
Yerna, looking down at the man clutching his chest, asked with an indifferent expression.
“What’s your name?”
The man actually had no name.
There was no one to give him one, nor was there a suitable environment for it.
Communication was merely sufficient under the nickname ‘Third’.
“…Third.”
“Ha, good. Third. What is your relationship with Luke?”
The man carefully regarded Yerna’s cold, steady eyes before cautiously speaking.
To avoid anything that might be risky, he chose to conceal direct phrases, fine. Let’s do that.
The words the man carefully selected were as follows.
“…I can say I’m a human from the same world.”
Yerna’s eyes widened in realization, and she began to fidget at the implication of his words.
“…No way, really…? Excuse me, I had no idea.”
Yerna jumped to the conclusion that he was likely in a similar situation to Luke.
So, a ‘victim’ of human experimentation like Luke.
She reacted strongly to the phrase ‘same world.’
The man silently rejoiced.
‘It was just a test remark, but it seems to have worked out quite well.’
It seemed that protecting the assassin child indicated she wasn’t just any ordinary Forest Keeper after all.
Or perhaps she had some situations of her own?
However, probing too deeply might arouse suspicion.
His heart instinctively told him not to ask any further about that.
So he decided to stop paying attention to that topic.
He was already accustomed to disregarding information he knew.
‘Well, as long as I’m not immediately antagonized, that’s enough.’
Engaging with a Forest Keeper while in such a poor state was not something he desired either.
Moreover, that Forest Keeper of Luke Forest…
Even under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t want to be involved.
Especially if it was a 20-year veteran Forest Keeper whose past was unknown.
The man rose from the bed and put on the clothes he had arrived in.
They were a bit damp, as if freshly laundered… but this was something that would dry out with wear.
The weather was hot, so it felt good and refreshing. Reflecting on such trivial thoughts, he fully sat up and spoke.
“I should be going now.”
“You’re leaving already? You should rest a bit more…”
Yerna’s tone had shifted dramatically, sounding almost like a different person.
From the man’s perspective, her sudden change in perception after exchanging just a few words seemed overly abrupt.
“If I stay here any longer, it will become dangerous as well.”
“What are you on guard against?”
“I’m being hunted; therefore, I can’t stay in one place for long.”
“…What do you mean? Who is hunting you, and why?”
The man hesitated before opening his mouth.
“Proyton.”
Yerna’s gaze sharpened.
