Chapter 31: Reunion in the Room
Clang—
I easily dodged that strike by sidestepping. The candle smashed into the wooden rack next to me with a loud noise, sending it tumbling down, and the candlestick flew out of hand. In the dim light, a figure lunged at me, but their movements were a bit stiff, making it easy for me to grab their right arm and twist it hard!
“Ah!”
He let out a yelp of pain as I twisted his arm behind his back, making him tiptoe in agony. Right after, I swept his legs out from under him, and he faceplanted with a loud thud, landing like a wrecked doll. I quickly pinned him down and, while scanning the room, kicked the door shut with my foot, making a solid thud.
The room was empty…
The bed was also vacant.
The guy I had pinned down had his palm facing me, and there was a nasty sword wound on his hand. It had reopened from all the thrashing and bl**d trickled out from under the makeshift bandage.
“…Barry.”
I called out softly, pulling down my hood.
“Let go—”
The boy pinned beneath me tried to struggle again, but as soon as he heard my voice, he froze like a statue, suddenly stiffening up and lying on the ground.
Crack.
Feeling him suddenly go silent and still, I gradually loosened my grip on his arm, gave his broad back a couple of gentle pats, and stood up quickly, taking a few steps back.
“It’s me.”
I said, looking at him.
“……”
Barry, the young knight, remained sprawled there, even after I had released his hand. He was still in the same position I’d put him in—tense, breathing heavily, and not saying a word or daring to turn around.
I shrugged and picked up the two packages that had fallen during the scuffle. I walked over to the bed, placed the larger package on the bedside table, opened the smaller one, and poured some dried herbs that had gone a bit stale into my palm. I then grabbed the cup I had used last night, poured out the leftover tea, and tossed in the handful of herbs. My eyes shone with a blue glimmer as the ice began to crackle ominously, and a delicate little ice hammer appeared in my hand.
“That girl named Lilith sent you some ganoderma… do you remember? Back in the village, I used to go with… Aili, my older sister, to the woods to gather these and sell them to merchants to help out at home.”
Knock knock knock knock—
In the still room, aside from Barry’s heavy breathing, the sound of grinding herbs was unusually loud and clear.
“…Your hand is bleeding again.”
After a moment, I turned back with the cup in hand. Just as my ice hammer let out a loud pop, it shattered, sending bits of ice flying, some of which fell into the cup along with the crushed herbs.
In the next instant, my hand holding the cup was suddenly flushed with a warm red, and the color vanished just as quickly, but the ice in the cup melted at a visible speed. As I walked towards Barry, I shook the cup, mixing the herb residue with the melted ice water into a paste.
Then I squatted in front of him.
“It’s not a serious wound, and with proper care, you shouldn’t have any lasting effects. It won’t affect your sword-swinging speed… but we can’t find a Cleric or Nun to help us with miraculous healing, not you or I, so we have to deal with it like this for now…”
As I spoke, I grasped his hand, unwrapped the bl**d-stained bandage, and used a relatively clean cloak to dab away the bl**d. My fingers dipped into the cup of paste, and I applied it evenly to the wound.
“Though it might take longer to heal, it’s really not that different. You just can’t use the sword or make any big movements with your right hand for at least a month. Watch out for the wound so it doesn’t reopen and get infected.”
The whole process didn’t take long. The boy remained face down, his body occasionally trembling, but he didn’t say a word, didn’t move, and was as quiet as if he were asleep.
However, if I listened closely, I could hear the muffled sounds of him trying to hold back tears.
“Ha…”
I sighed softly.
“Why have you turned into a little crybaby after not seeing you for so long? Huh?”
I quickly finished applying the paste, and Barry’s wound stopped bleeding. I tore off another piece of the cloak to bandage it up neatly, shook off the remnants of the salve from my hands, and was about to stand up with the empty cup.
Just then, Barry suddenly turned and seized my wrist, shooting upright like a spring!
Clang!
The cup slipped from my hand and rolled away, and I couldn’t help but feel exasperated as I looked at his face, wanting to tease him a little more, but nothing came out.
Barry, the young knight, was now in tears.
His grin revealed an expression dripping with pent-up emotions, as if he were gasping for air after being dehydrated in the desert, strands of shimmering snot trailing down his nose and his eyes, red from tears, widened in disbelief as he looked me up and down, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he saw. He reached out with trembling hands, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“Ugh…”
The hug was so intense that I let out a grunt.
“B-Berry…”
This was too much…
My legs twisted uncomfortably beneath him, my head tilted back to avoid breaking my neck, and I was running out of breath…
“Wah…”
But Barry didn’t care at all.
He pressed his head against my face, tightening his grip around my waist, and I heard muffled words prickling my ears: “I… this isn’t… I’m not dreaming, right…”
“You’re… crushing me…”
“How are you still alive…”
“Let go…”
“Why are you still alive…”
“Be careful with the wound…”
“Little Shay…”
“I’ll bite you, you know…”
“You… ah!”
I actually bit him.
I opened my mouth wide and playfully nipped at his shoulder, of course, I didn’t bite down hard—I wasn’t sure if my current bite force could really take a chunk out of him. But even so, it was enough to make him bounce up from the ground, and his grip on me naturally loosened.
“Phew…”
I took a deep breath, relieved to be free, and immediately twisted my waist to retreat, just in case he lunged at me again.
“Next time you hug me like that, don’t blame me for getting serious.”
As I said this, I raised a fist menacingly at him, patted my clothes, and walked a few steps to the bedside. I bent down, picked up the cup, and placed it back on the nightstand. Turning again, I raised a finger to my lips, signaling Barry to shh: “Don’t cause a ruckus, and don’t scream. This is a tavern on Jasmine Lane, and I’ve brought you back to the city; otherwise, it’s going to be hard to deal with your wounds. Who would’ve thought you’d wake up so quickly… Hey, stop looking at me like that, you creep.”
Barry slumped on the ground, one hand covering his shoulder, his tear-streaked face still wide-eyed and staring at me like a lovesick fool.
If it were nighttime on a deserted street and someone dared to look at me like that, they’d be in trouble.
“Get up.”
I rolled my eyes and said impatiently, “I’m not dead, you’re not dead; we’re both alive and kicking! That means we need to eat. Your pretty girlfriend just happened to bring you a ton of food… here.”
I gestured towards the big package made of cowhide paper on the bedside, then casually picked it up: “Hope you won’t mind if I sample a bit…”
Creeeak, creeeak—
Suddenly, I heard sneaky footsteps outside the tightly shut door, creeping up the stairs cautiously.
