Chapter 9

Chapter 008: Sharik's Cloak

Muye unknowingly vibrated her life force until she fell asleep, focusing on Sharik.

Muye had no way of knowing whether her life force was being absorbed by Sharik or not. She simply believed what Ariel had told her and did as instructed.

After completing such an important task, Muye drifted off to sleep.

She felt a faint vibration inside her body, but she was too exhausted to pay attention to it.

Muye fell asleep quickly due to her fatigue, snoring slightly and enjoying a deep sleep until she suddenly woke up.

It was because the hut had become cold.

She didn't know how many pieces of wood she had added to the hearth before falling asleep. She shivered and fell back asleep, only to wake up again, add more wood, and shiver some more. After repeating this a couple of times, something seemed off when she finally opened her eyes.

It was warm and cozy.

The hut was still dark, and the cold winter wind continued to blow through the cracks. Despite this, Muye felt warm, cozy, and soft, all because of Sharik's cloak that was covering her.

‘Huh? Why is this…?’

Even though she was half-asleep, Muye was so surprised that she quickly turned to look at Sharik.

Although it was dark and she couldn't see Sharik clearly, the firelight revealed that Sharik was lying on her back, facing away from her.

‘Did she cover me with this…?!!’

Muye's heart started racing. She had rarely seen women in the mountains, and the thought that Sharik had covered her with a cloak that carried her scent made her face turn red.

– Rustle

Muye gently rubbed Sharik's cloak against her face, feeling its soft texture. The touch was indescribably good, and she could even smell Sharik.

This strange and pleasant feeling made Muye's heart flutter.

She had never felt such warmth and comfort before. It melted not only her body but also her heart. And she felt grateful… Just as she was about to become extremely happy and lose all sleep,

She suddenly remembered her grandfather's voice.

“Muye, you brat! If you take all the blankets I'm using and cover yourself, what will I do? I almost froze to death last night because of you, you brat–!!”

– Startled

That's right.

Whenever it was extremely cold, Muye would unknowingly take the fur blanket her grandfather was using and cover herself with it.

This had happened more than once, but she never remembered doing it. When she woke up, she would find herself wrapped in the blanket, including her grandfather's.

Muye had a habit of stealing blankets that she couldn't remember.

‘Could I have… taken Sharik's cloak… again?!!’

This wasn't something she could just get away with a scolding the next morning, like with her grandfather.

The leader of the elite knight squad, who led the lord's best knights. If she had taken the cloak he was using to cover herself…

– Rustle

Muye vividly recalled the sound of Sharik drawing her sword from its sheath the previous evening. The happiness and gratitude she had felt a moment ago were now replaced with fear and worry.

‘I have to return it now! If she hasn't woken up yet, I might still have a chance to survive!’

In such a cold winter, how could anyone survive without a blanket, even if they caught a severe cold?!

Muye sat up and carefully gathered the cloak with both hands.

As she was about to stand up to return it to Sharik, she noticed the burning embers in the hearth between them.

‘Wait… Even if I was so cold that I rolled over and took Sharik's cloak… wouldn’t the heat from the hearth have woken me up? Hmm?!”

No matter how she thought about it, it was strange.

While it was possible to steal a blanket from someone sleeping next to you, it seemed impossible to roll over the hearth, take the cloak, and then roll back over the hearth to return to her spot and cover herself.

That was simply impossible.

‘Then…’

It was strange.

Muye didn't think she had stolen Sharik's cloak in her sleep.

‘Then, did Sharik really cover me with it…?’

‘…Why?’

Holding the cloak in both hands, Muye was lost in thought for a while before making a decision.

‘I must have sleepwalking…!’

Although she still didn't understand what had happened, she felt she might have sleepwalking.

She must have woken up suddenly, boldly taken the cloak the knight leader was using, and covered herself with it. So, she decided to return it to Sharik.

‘It's cold, but I have no choice. If I really took it in my sleep, how angry would Sharik be? And in such cold weather…’

– Crunch, crunch, crunch

Muye carefully approached, sat next to Sharik, and tried to cover her with the cloak.

Even though Sharik was facing away from her, the firelight faintly revealed her sharp profile.

‘She's so beautiful…’

Although she couldn't see clearly, Muye's gaze kept being drawn to Sharik's profile. She quickly snapped out of it and spread the cloak over Sharik.

Then, she carefully returned to her spot, added more wood to the hearth, and sat there for a while, basking in its warmth before slowly curling up and lying down.

The winter night in the mountains was long, and everything outside the hut seemed frozen.

The cold wind howled fiercely through the forest, and the savage, eerie sound echoed everywhere, causing clumps of snow to fall noisily from the frozen branches.

The winter night seemed to stretch on endlessly, as if time itself had frozen.

However, while Muye curled up and slept through the long, cold night, dawn gradually broke over the trees in the mountains, and the dim light slowly brightened.

– Rustle

– Hiss

A hot breath rose from deep within her chest and escaped through her nose.

But something was strange.

Like an echo that bounces back when you shout in the mountains, her hot breath was bouncing back.

And strangely, her body felt warm and cozy.

This was…

– Flash

“…!”

She was covered with the cloak again.

Curling up on her side, Muye was completely covered from head to toe with Sharik's cloak. She quickly lifted her head and looked around.

The light of dawn was seeping through the gaps in the wood, and Sharik was not in her spot across the hearth.

It was clear that Sharik had gotten up, gone outside, and covered Muye with the cloak. Muye finally realized that she hadn't taken the cloak in her sleep and sighed in relief.

Feeling relieved, Muye dropped her head onto her backpack and covered herself with the cloak again.

‘Phew… That's right. I can't have sleepwalking! But why did Sharik cover me with the cloak?’

Lying under the cloak, Muye thought about this for a while before stretching and getting up. She wanted to stay in bed, but she couldn't stay there forever.

The embers in the hearth were almost out.

Muye carefully rolled up the cloak she had been using and tucked it under her arm before opening the wooden door of the hut.

– Creak

It was still cold outside.

Although the light seeping into the hut indicated that it was morning, it seemed to be later than she had expected.

“Hey, you're up? It's a cold morning, isn't it?”

Sharik, who was roasting something again at the spot where she had cooked meat the previous day, greeted Muye with a fire poker in her right hand.

“Yes, Lady Sharik. Here… the cloak.”

Muye approached Sharik, who was roasting something, and handed her the cloak.

“Hmm, did you sleep well? I covered you, but you returned it? Did you not like it?”

Sharik's eyes, which were slightly raised and playful, caught the cloak with one hand and placed it aside.

“No, no! I thought I had taken it in my sleep because I was so cold… I didn't mean to.”

Muye hastily explained, feeling flustered. Sharik could be terrifyingly unpredictable, but she was also grateful.

“Haha, thanks to you, I slept very warmly. Thank you, Lady Sharik.”

Muye bowed her head in gratitude.

For a brief moment while Muye was bowing, Sharik's face broke into a wide smile before quickly returning to its usual expression. It was a seamless change.

“I have to guide you through the mountain and carry your luggage! When I saw you last night, you looked like you were about to freeze to death! So, I was worried you might really die and covered you.”

Sharik answered with a strained voice, poking the fire with a branch.

‘It's true, but something feels off… What is it…?’

Muye felt something was strange, but the sight of the meat made her lose her train of thought. She immediately sat next to Sharik and stared intently at the roasting meat.

Sharik was roasting four large birds, each bigger than her palm.

The meat was already well-cooked and the fat had dripped off. Despite having eaten a lot of meat the previous day, Muye's mouth watered at the sight of the roasting meat.

“Wow, did you catch these this morning?”

“Of course. Early risers get the early roast.”

She had found the birds in their nests using a subtle mana presence before dawn and started preparing and roasting them as the sky began to lighten.

By the time Muye woke up, the roasted birds were perfectly cooked.

“Wow, they must be delicious. Oh, let me get some water…”

“It's already boiled.”

Sharik pointed to a dented pot on a nearby rock, which was already steaming.

“Oh, even the water!”

“Haha, early risers also boil water. Haha! Here, eat. They're done.”

Sharik laughed proudly and handed a roasted skewer to Muye.

Muye and Sharik sat side by side, tearing into the meat.

Although it was early morning and a cold breeze occasionally blew, the warmth of the fire and the hot meat, along with the warm water they sipped, made them forget the cold.

“Phew, phew, Lady Sharik, where are we going today? I think we were supposed to meet the other knights somewhere, right?”

“Phew, hmm? There? It's not that far. If we walk diligently after breakfast, we might arrive by evening. But we agreed to meet the others at noon tomorrow, so we can take it easy.”

As Muye listened to Sharik's response while eating, she became curious about something she had been wondering about since yesterday.

“Um, Lady Sharik.”

“Hmm?”

Sharik turned to look at Muye while chewing.

A small piece of meat was stuck to her lower lip due to the oil.

– Lick

Sharik, still looking at Muye, licked the piece of meat off her lower lip.

“The knights seem to be spread out too far. The mountains are so vast, and if they're searching for two days, aren't they too far apart? They might not see if the witch sneaks through the gaps.”

Muye understood why the knights were divided into pairs to search the mountains, but the wide gaps between them were incomprehensible.

They weren't just surrounding a single large mountain from morning to evening, but covering a vast area with several rugged mountains, using only twenty knights to narrow the perimeter over two nights and three days. Honestly, it didn't seem effective.

From her experience hunting with her grandfather, Muye knew that it was impossible to find any prey without a trail, no matter how much they wandered from mountain to mountain.

“Ah, that…”

But Sharik, understanding Muye's curiosity, responded nonchalantly, sucking the meat oil off her fingers.

“Knights have a much better ability to detect mana than ordinary people. People, animals, and even insects and trees have their own subtle mana vibrations. Knights can sense and distinguish the mana of people and animals.”

“Hmm…”

Muye listened intently, forgetting to eat.

This was more interesting and fascinating than the stories her grandfather used to tell.

“But my knights are much stronger than ordinary knights. They have even better mana detection abilities. That's the difference in skill!”

“Wow! I see! But isn't the gap between the knights still too wide?”

“It's because we're dealing with a witch.”

“A witch?”

The mention of a witch made Muye worry about Ariel, who was desperately fleeing from the knights' pursuit.

“Witches, having mastered black magic, are easier to detect. They give off a very unpleasant, bad feeling. It's like… in a crowd of people, one person is emitting a foul odor.”

As Sharik explained, using gestures with her fingers, Muye recalled whether she had felt such an unpleasant feeling from Ariel.

The first thing she felt when Ariel suddenly appeared in the middle of the night was fear.

The burned and twisted face, the blood-soaked robe, the pale hands and face—

The scene was a shock that Muye might never forget, perhaps even a trauma.

Apart from the fear, the feeling that remained from her encounter with Ariel was… sadness and compassion.

The story of Ariel's past that she told Muye after she woke up.

The reason she was being chased with such severe injuries, even though she had taken most of her life force, leaving only about three years. Muye didn't resent her. Instead, she felt pity and concern for her.

‘I didn't feel any unpleasant or bad vibes from Sister Ariel… Maybe it's because I don't have the ability to sense mana like the knights. But do witches really carry such dark and bad mana? Even Sister Ariel…?’

Muye thought deeply about the unpleasant and dark aura Sharik described while recalling Ariel's appearance.

“Still, as you said, they are spread out too far.”

To Muye, who was lost in thought, Sharik tore a piece of meat from her skewer and handed it to her.

“But they have to run like crazy. If the distance is too great and they can't detect mana, they have to run like crazy to fill the gaps. Hahaha!”

Muye suddenly felt very, very sorry for Sharik's knights.

But thinking about it from another angle, if such skilled knights were desperately searching, the chances of Ariel being caught would also increase.

As this thought crossed her mind, Muye couldn't even eat the piece of meat Sharik had given her.

‘This is bad. What if Sister Ariel is caught?!’

The more confident Sharik seemed, the more anxious Muye became.

“Lady Sharik, why do you have to catch the witch?”

Muye asked cautiously,

But at that moment, Sharik's eyes flashed.

Once upon a time, the owner of the Harem Knights

Author: Shinnaeja

Cover: Bbal

Planning/Editing/Proofreading: Shinnaeja/Jeong Jae-hoon/Jeong Jae-hoon

Publication Date: August 17, 2020

Publisher: Cheongha Books

ISBN: 979-11-970944-0-8(9)

E-mail: [email protected]

Price: Non-commercial

Copyright 2020. Shinnaeja. All rights reserved.

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