Chapter 17

Every time I breathe, pain shoots through my throat.

Even the slightest movement of my fingertips sends a sensation like thousands of needles piercing my spine. The skin on my back is torn, and the exposed flesh torments me.

Why am I in such agony? The pain should have been instantaneous, I think as I close my eyes. Or did Barbridge Birdnic decide to make me suffer before killing me? It’s not an unlikely scenario.

As I inhale the stifling air, the coldness of the dungeon seems to seep into my lungs, and pain shoots through my throat once again.

“—What a foolish thing to do.”

Karia Birdnic, I try to form the words, but nothing comes out. Only a faint sob escapes my lips, a trembling voice that sounds like it’s shaking from the pain. My vision is blurry. It’s a struggle to even open my eyes, and they are swollen from being hit by the guards.

“Good, don’t speak. Honestly, you’re a fool. There was no need to risk your life. Fool. Idiot.”

Only my ears are strangely clear, and Karia Birdnic’s voice, which is berating me, comes through clearly. Oh, how I want to argue back, but I have no means to do so now.

“Can’t even open your eyes… Well, you can open your mouth, can’t you? Endure the pain.”

Through a wooden container, a thick, bitter, and nauseating liquid is forced into my mouth. My whole body convulses involuntarily, and the pain shoots through my wounds.

Moreover, the liquid slowly trickles down my throat, leaving a bitter taste that lingers.

“Normally, this herb is used in pill form, but this way, it’s easier to swallow. It won’t completely heal you, but it should prevent your wounds from becoming infected.”

Herbs, I see. I’ve only ever used them in pill form, but when made into a paste, they taste like this. I never want to see herbs again. My tongue is fortunate to be accustomed to bad tastes, but this bitter sensation that crawls and slides over it is something new.

“…Tomorrow morning, I’ll tie a horse near the shed behind the fort. You can use it to return. Your mission is over.”

I feel the sensation of bandages being wrapped around my wounds. I am being treated, just as Alyeno once did for me. It’s strange. I have never experienced kindness from Karia Birdnic. All I have received from her is insults and violence.

And yet, now, I am being treated by her after lashing out at her. I wonder if I have gone mad.

“Taking such risks… But, it’s just as well that you can’t see.”

What is just as well? I can’t ask, but Karia Birdnic’s slender fingertips gently touch my wounds and cover them with bandages.

“I… Ah, I will stay here. As a knight, I have been assigned to the front lines. So, I probably won’t see you again.”

Karia Birdnic continues speaking, almost to herself.

Her words carry both her strength and her sensitivity. I don’t know the circumstances, but she seems to be suppressing something, hesitating to put it into words. Her demeanor is unmistakably noble.

Ah, I see. It’s her nobility that I respect.

Karia Birdnic is far from a good person. She might even be a violent discriminator against the weak. But her heart is undoubtedly noble and dignified.

“Well then. Take care. I’ll remember your name, Ruis. Don’t die easily.”

After finishing the bandages, Karia Birdnic briefly lifts my hair and says:

What are you talking about? Of course, I don’t want to see you. This isn’t a final farewell. The fort is a place you can reach from the capital if you want to. Besides, Karia Birdnic’s glory is far from over. She will participate in the swordsmanship tournament, which will be held to promote her skills and solidify her position in the knight’s order.

I know this, yet why does her parting sound like a final farewell?

—It’s really a good thing I can’t see. I don’t have a face to show right now.

My sore throat can’t even form a question, and I can’t stop her.

Her words echo in the dungeon, and Karia Birdnic leaves with the sound of her footsteps.

*

“You look terrible, but you did well. If you can return alive from this mission, that’s great.”

When I returned to the capital, exhausted and without food or water, Richard’s old man’s praise didn’t resonate with me at all.

The swelling in my body has subsided, but the pain in my back remains. Who said this wasn’t a dangerous job?

“Dangerous jobs are when you’re taken to the middle of a battlefield or told to kill someone. This time… Well, it was a fifty-fifty chance, I guess.”

“I was the fool. I took your words at face value… Oh, by the way, Karia Birdnic said she would stay at the fort. Please send the reward to her.”

Despite being exposed to life-threatening situations twice, I accepted the meager reward in a cloth bag. I owe her for the treatment. It might be dangerous for me to go to the fort, but I can at least send the reward.

But when Richard’s old man heard this, he furrowed his brow and scratched his chin.

“What are you talking about? The Birdnic girl is said to have left the knight’s order and is recuperating in her territory.”

Her wound from slaying a large magical beast had reopened, he said, raising a toast.

Ah, I see. That makes sense—now I understand.

The pain from my wounds temporarily subsides.

I was indeed a fool, a complete idiot. Why didn’t I die? Why did Karia Birdnic, a knight, say she would stay at the fort? And why did her final words sound so fragile, as if they were about to fade away?

I abandoned all these questions and foolishly returned.

“Old man.”

The wound in my mouth throbs. It’s none of my business. I look at Richard’s old man, who raises an eyebrow in confusion.

Karia Birdnic. That woman is a terrible person. Really, a terrible person.

“I’ll prepare the money—I want to request a job.”

I never want to see that face again.