34-The Aujiro was bitter

Unfortunately, my fever didn't go down by the next morning. No, well, it did. It did, but I still had a slight fever, so Krish-san forbade me from getting up from the bed.

"I can do this much," I insisted.

"Don't make light of your contusions," Krish-san replied. "You'll just prolong your recuperation."

It seemed I had contusions all over my body. I was glad there wasn't anything like bone fractures or breaks. I didn't want to even think about being unable to move for months when I had to look after Pochi and the others.

Contusions were the same thing as the bruises that you get when you hit something, right? So you didn't really need rest for them to heal, was my thought. And I told Krish-san that I wanted to get back to working on the farm, but he didn't allow it.

"If the doctor gives you permission after the examination, then I won't stop you, but you need to rest before then," he told me, while at the same time presenting me with a green-colored juice. I'd been wondering what he was doing since earlier, but it seemed he was making this. "It's the medicine the doctor prescribed. He said to drink this three times a day."

Krish-san inserted an arm between my back and the bed and helped me sit up. I could probably have gotten up myself, but my stomach hurt from being kicked. So I just gratefully accepted his help.

That refreshing-looking green liquid, at a glance, looked like aojiru. It was something that grandpa had often drank, and he would occasionally make me drink it for my health too, so I knew its taste.

Though it had a faintly bitter taste, it was surprisingly delicious, so I would end up guzzling it down.

So thinking this was the same thing, I took a huge gulp with absolutely no preparation whatsoever and immediately regretted it.

"Nuohh!!"

Bitter! So bitter!! The aojiru I knew didn't taste like this!!

It was so bitter I wanted to stick my tongue out and wash it with water!!

"Do your best to drink it all," Krish-san said.

I looked around desperately, trying to find a place I could spit it all out. But Krish-san took tight hold of me and didn't let go.

No way, was this the reason that he'd helped me sit up, because he'd predicted this would happen?

As expected of Krish-san! But this kind of consideration was just too cruel to me!!

Realizing that holding it in my mouth was just prolonging my suffering, I forced myself to swallow, trying not to gag all the while. And right after, I grew teary-eyed as I was pressed to continue drinking the more than half-full glass of medicine.

I closed my lips tightly, looking up at Krish-san and shaking my head vehemently. No way, this was impossible for me.

If I opened my mouth I knew he would just pour the bitter medicine into my mouth, so I silently pleaded at him with my eyes.

Krish-san didn't even blink. "Drink it all. Or I'll feed it to you mouth-to-mouth."

I grabbed the arm that was holding the glass and resolutely turned my face away, hiding into Krish-san's chest. My stomach hurt, but I preferred that to having to drink this bitter medicine. "But if you did that, you'll have to taste this too, right?"

"I'm already used to it so it's fine."

I see, as a guardian knight, getting injured was nothing out of the ordinary for Krish-san.

"But even if you're used to it, you'd still hate things that tasted bitter, right?"

"While it's not exactly delicious, it'll help you get better sooner so just bear with it."

I groaned. So Krish-san wasn't being malicious in trying to make me drink this bitter medicine.

If I really had to drink this stuff, then it was better for only one person to have to suffer.

Decided, I stopped turning away from the glass and opened my mouth. Krish-san tipped the glass forward. If I'd had to do it myself, I might have never gone through with it, so I was grateful for his help.

"That's it, do your best," Krish-san encouraged. "Just a little more."

I drained it all to the last drop. As I was in agony from the bitterness, a spoon was thrust in front of me. Wanting to do something, anything, about this bitter taste, I chomped on the spoon without even looking at it closely. Sticky sweetness spread in my mouth.

This, this was honey.

The sweetness coated my tongue, making everything infinitely better. However, I could still taste the bitterness in the back of my throat. "Krish-san, do I really have to drink this three times a day?"

"It's alright. Once the pain from your injuries subsides, you won't have to keep drinking it anymore."

Did that mean that if it doesn't, I'd have to keep drinking this stuff? It might be good for my body, but I think my mind would probably suffer.

"Alright, lie back down until the doctor comes," Krish-san instructed.

At the end of my strength, I fell back down onto the bed, exhausted.

In the end, I didn't receive permission to leave my bed from the doctor. He told me there was nothing else I could do to heal my contusions quickly except rest and icing the affected parts.

If I moved too much and blood ended up collecting in my bruises, I would only end up making things worse. Then he prescribed me some cooling ointment.

It seemed that the reason I'd felt cold last night wasn't only because of my fever, but also because of this ointment.

"Krish-san, I can apply the medicine myself."

"Even though you're having a hard time sitting under your own power? Besides, we have to put some of it on your back, too."

Inside the jar Krish-san was holding, was what looked like the cream that my mother would use on her face.

The doctor had already left, and we now had to apply the ointment.

"It'll be faster if I do it," Krish-san continued.

That was true, but it was just too embarrassing for the well-muscled Krish-san to see my stick-thin body...

I always felt that I had put on a little muscle, but it was so slight that I might have just been imagining it.

"Once I finish applying this, I'll take you outside for a bit. You've been worried about Pochi and the others, right?"

"What, really?!"

"Yes. But only for a little while."

I'd been disappointed when I was told to rest, so I was really happy with Krish-san's offer.

When I bit the bullet and obediently held still, all of my clothes were taken off except for my underwear.

This was the first time that I'd gotten to see myself since I was injured. I was all red and blue—I'd become really colorful.

The bruises weren't pretty things. Now I understood why I was hurting so much.

Krish-san commented, "I had this thought yesterday too, but you're really white, Shinobu. It's a shade of skin I've never seen before."

The people of this world all had dark and healthy-looking skin, so I guess it was rare to see someone with skin color like mine.

I usually wore long-sleeved shirts with the sleeves rolled up to my shoulders, so my arms were tan and didn't look much different from the people here, but the parts of my skin that remained hidden from the sun were still really pale.

Whenever I took a shower and looked at myself, I would always end up laughing at how I looked like a panda, but did Krish-san think I had a weird color scheme too?

"Hm? 'Yesterday too'?"

Ah, I see. I'd been half-naked when Krish-san had arrived to help.

"I was the one who'd changed your clothes, wiped you clean, and applied the medicine yesterday."

"Is that so......"

Then Krish-san had already seen my stick-thin body a long time ago. My whole body had been covered in mud so it must have been a lot of working cleaning me up.

......Could it be that Krish-san also changed my underwear... Aaaahh, why did I fall asleep so quickly...! I should've at least stayed awake until I could change my underwear myself.

"I thought it would be better for me to do it rather than a subordinate of mine who's a stranger to you. Was I wrong?"

"No, you weren't. Thank you."

That's right, I'd forgotten to thank him. It wasn't enough for me to say it while I was half-asleep.

I really wanted to thank him with the proper posture to convey my sincerity, but he'd probably get mad at me if I got up.

"Krish-san, thank you very much for coming to my rescue. I'm sorry that I'm thanking you like this."

It was a little disgraceful to be thanking someone while I was on my back and having ointment applied on my stomach, but I felt better now that I was able to properly thank him.

"No, I didn't do anything. I wasn't there when you most needed me, after all."

"That's not true; if you hadn't arrived when you did, I wouldn't have been able to give Pochi a drink. Besides, I was really relieved once I saw you. I thought, 'I'm saved now.'

"But, why did you come?"

It was really strange. My home was a long way from town, so how did he know that something had happened? It couldn't be that it was just a coincidence?

"Firks-sama sent a messenger, saying that there was a huge wave of power coming from the direction of your house. He ordered us to take a look and see if something had happened, so I took my subordinates with me to investigate.

"I'd intended to arrive as soon as possible, but I was still too late."

So he'd rushed for my sake. It seemed like it hadn't been my imagination that the sound of the horse galloping was more intense than usual. He'd been in such a hurry that his sweat had been visibly evaporating, after all.

Somehow, my heart felt full. I'd experienced some scary things, but just knowing that there was someone who'd been rushing to help me made me feel incredibly grateful.

"Okay, your back is next."

After he'd finished putting the ointment on my front, I flipped onto my stomach. It was great timing; I was feeling a little weepy. Fortunately I could now hide my face.

"Your back looks worse, huh."

"Oh, really? It's my stomach that hurts the most, though."

"There's extensive bruising on your shoulder. Did you crash into something?"

Maybe it had been when I was protecting the barn where I'd hidden Pyonkichi?

"I think it was probably when I got slapped and I smacked into the barn door? I was so shocked when blood started gushing out of my nose then."

Krish-san's hand which had been putting ointment on my shoulder froze for a split-second. "......I should kill those guys."

I thought I heard Krish-san mumble something in a low voice, but I couldn't hear exactly what he said. I'd forgotten about it, but my back was sensitive.

I knew I had to bear with it since Krish-san was so seriously applying the medicine, but it was taking my all not to twitch.

When Krish-san's hand slid down to my hip, I finally couldn't stop myself from jolting.

"Sorry, did that hurt?"

"N-no. It tickles." I shoved my face into the pillow, embarrassed.

"I'm almost done so just bear with it."

This time, he applied the medicine starting from my ankles. My legs weren't supposed to be that sensitive, but now that I was conscious of it, I felt ticklish no matter where I was touched. It had my back shivering.

Especially my soles. Just when had I hurt those, I wondered. Maybe when I'd been getting beaten up by those two people. I could feel a dull pain there when they were touched, just like when I poked on a bruise, so maybe they were bruised too.

For some reason, when I felt that slippery ointment on my skin, an unspeakable part on my front started tingling. Hyaaahh...

This was bad. Why was I reacting to this?

Wait wait, calm down. If Krish-san were to notice, he'd think I was a pervert for reacting when he was just applying some medicine on me.

I was trying so hard to hold it in, but when Krish-san's hand went past my underwear and stroked my butt, I couldn't stop a strange noise from coming out my mouth. "Hyaah!!"

"This is the last spot, but it's a little hard to get to."

Suddenly, my underwear was pulled, exposing my butt. "Nyaaa!!" I let out a weird yell as I felt the greatest panic in history. "Nyaa?"

I could feel Krish-san snickering, trying to hold back laughter.

I despaired. Yelling out something like that, I was such an idiot. I was so struck from being laughed at that the tingling in my front subsided a little. Which was great, but this was so embarrassing.

"It's done. Don't put on your clothes before the medicine dries. I'm going to wash my hands."

As I listened to the sound of his footsteps going down the stairs, I turned to my side, pulled at my underwear and looked inside.

"It got a little hard......"

I was so glad that Krish-san hadn't noticed. Now, I should get back into my pants while I had the chance.

I wriggled around like a caterpillar until I was finally able to pull my pants back on just as Krish-san returned. Then I got scolded for not minding what he'd said.

But if I were to react again, I wouldn't be able to hide it with just a single, thin blanket. And it would be too terrible a sight if I showed a reaction while he was putting my clothes on for me.