I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 63

 

Kyle grabbed Brody’s shoulders and shook her, but she remained unconscious.

“Hey! Come on!”

Then suddenly, he noticed some unknown wounds between Brody’s open collar.

Kyle’s face hardened.

He immediately lifted her collar and was shocked when he saw her exposed skin through it.

“What the heck is this…”

A red rash covered her neck and collarbone.

Kyle rolled up her sleeves and checked her arms and legs too.

And after checking them, he was even more shocked.

The rash covered her entire body.

Moreover, it had been scratched so much that parts of her skin were peeling and scabs were forming.

He was so shocked by the sight that he couldn’t speak, however he quickly came to his senses.

Clearly, this rash didn’t come on suddenly. It seemed to have been going on for at least a few days.

If he knew what was causing it, he could fix it. So he continued to wake Brody up who was still sweating and in pain.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Come on and talk to me!”

Did she come to her senses because of that high voice?

Brody’s mouth, which had been groaning, moved.

But it was difficult for her to speak, and even though she opened her mouth slightly, she soon swallowed with difficulty and was unable to make a sound.

Kyle’s heart sank when he saw that sight.

He had to find the cause somehow and get medicine… but it was impossible to get medicine in this deserted area where no one came or went.

And when Kyle was in a panic.

He finally heard Brody, who had been breathing hard, say something.

“K…yle..”

She said, barely opening her eyes.

“I… am okay…”

She said ‘it was okay, let’s go quickly’, and slowly tried to get up leaning on her arms that couldn’t even support her.

Getting up in this condition, it really felt like she was out of his mind.

Kyle urgently grabbed Brody, who had her mouth open, and asked.

“Is this a rash? What’s wrong? Did you eat something bad?”

“I got bitten by bugs…”

“What nonsense are you talking about! Say something more believable!”

Kyle got angry and lost his temper at her, who blamed the bugs.

He was upset at Brody’s attitude of talking as if it was no big deal when it was actually a skin disease.

If bugs had been the cause, Kyle should have been bitten as well, but Kyle had never seen or been bitten by a bug during his travels.

He tried to press Brody further to tell him the truth.

But then suddenly a memory came to his mind.

‘As you know, when you go to the wilderness of Rubinus, you will start to get rashes and hives on your body due to the magic that the red foxes have cast on foreigners.’

That’s what Shiloh once said to Brody.

Kyle had been nervous about this fact when he entered the wilderness.

However, since nothing unusual happened even after entering the wilderness, he thought it was just a rumor meant to scare foreigners and erased it from his mind.

Remembering that conversation, Kyle naturally recalled what Shiloh had said next.

‘Of course it’s not a fatal spell, but even so it’s a painful condition to have on such a hard journey. This is a medicine to prevent it in advance. It’s made from a herb that grows only in the wilderness. Be sure to take it before you go there.’

Yeah, and then Shiloh definitely gave Brody the medicine.

Brody probably took that medicine, so it shouldn’t have caused any harm to his body.

But why?

Why did this rash appear on her body?

He couldn’t understand it.

If Shiloh was right in saying this, then the rash should not be on Brody’s body but on Kyle’s because he didn’t take the medicine.

But he was absolutely fine.

Kyle couldn’t find an answer no matter how much he thought about it, so after much thought, he decided to make a move.

There was no use in just standing here and twiddling his feet.

First of all, they had to keep heading south and find someone or something that could help them.

After making up his mind, Kyle helped Brody up and carried her on his back.

After carrying her, he picked up Ron, packed their bags, grabbed the goat and set off.

As Kyle carried her, he felt his strength draining away at noticeable speed.

Brody’s body would have been light under normal circumstances, but it was quite heavy now because it was completely limp.

Moreover, his body was weak because he had not eaten proper food for several days.

At night, the forest was warm and comfortable as the bushes and rocks blocked the cold wind, but during the day, the forest was quite hot and humid, unlike the fields where the wind blew from all directions.

Because they were accustomed to cold weather, the heat became more and more painful the further south they went.

Kyle walked down the path, carrying Brody on his back, who was rambling incoherently and coughing, sweat pouring off him like rain.

But no matter how difficult it was, he never stopped.

Even though his vision was dizzy and he felt tired, he held on with his mental strength and walked on, looking only forward.

But there was something he didn’t notice because he was so focused on getting ahead.

It was Ron’s presence in his arms.

Ron, who had been sleeping oblivious to the world despite being held uncomfortably, woke up in broad daylight and began to cry.

“Waaaah-!”

Of course, Kyle, with an indifferent expression as if ignoring a barking dog, didn’t even glance at the baby nestled in his arms.

He was consistently indifferent, as if he was following what he had once told Brody, “leave the baby be, whether he cries or not.”

But no matter how much he ignored it and walked on, he couldn’t help but hear the crying that didn’t stop.

Moreover, in the forest where you had to be sensitive to the surrounding sounds, the baby kept crying so loudly that it was difficult to pay attention, and he was starting to get annoyed.

Only then did Kyle lower his gaze to Ron, whom he had never even glanced at.

And the moment his eyes met the baby’s, he was completely captivated.

Ron was crying with the end of the blanket wrapped around him in his mouth.

Kyle realized it only after he saw Ron fumbling with the hem of his blanket.

It’s way past baby’s feeding time now.

“Ha.”

A sigh escaped his mouth.

‘I can’t even take care of my own food, and now I have to take care of this little thing’s feeding.’

He really felt like he was carrying his boss around. He wanted to act irresponsibly and tell him to starve too since he was starving himself. But Kyle steeled himself to endure it for the sake of Brody, who cared terribly for Ron, and found a shady spot.

He planned to put Brody down in the shade and feed Ron.

Kyle slowly laid Brody down on a cool surface and checked her condition.

Brody was still struggling with no sign of improvement.

“Kyle…”

Brody had been mumbling his name without saying anything else since earlier.

Her body temperature seemed higher than this morning. If there was any water nearby, it would help bring down the fever.

His face was distorted with regret at not being able to do anything right away.

When Kyle was wiping her sweat with his sleeve…

A few minutes after he was put down, Ron let out an irritated whine, asking for food.

“Oh, that’s really….”

Kyle gritted his teeth and got up from his seat. He needed to feed him quickly to stop that annoying whining.

Luckily, Brody had some goat milk that she had pasteurized and stored the night before, so he took it out and gave it to the baby.

As soon as he put the bottle of milk in Ron’s mouth, he stopped crying and drank it hurriedly.

The baby looked up at him while drinking milk, tears hanging from his eyelashes.

Kyle, who met Ron’s eyes like that, suddenly felt embarrassed.

“…You must have been really hungry.”

When he saw him holding the milk bottle tightly with both hands as if it were the elixir of life, he felt a little sorry for him.

He wondered if he cried so much so that he could live.

He didn’t know what to do with the small and fragile baby.

As Kyle was about to give in to his weakness, he quickly came to his senses.

‘Once I start caring, there will be no end to it. I will not waste my emotions on such a burden.’

The only person he had to worry about right now was Brody.

After giving Ron some milk, Kyle went straight to Brody.

Although he was tired and his movements had become slower, he still tried his best to move his body to take care of her.

He brought some goat’s milk in a small tin cup, helped Brody up, and gave her some to drink.

However, Brody, who seemed to be drinking what was put into her mouth little by little, spat out more than half of it.

She had been having trouble swallowing saliva for some time, and now her throat seemed to be so swollen that she couldn’t swallow at all.

Brody vomited the milk she had just drank and then started scratching her arm like crazy.

“Don’t scratch it. It’ll bleed.”

Kyle, who had been watching it with a heavy heart, took her hand away himself.

A scab of blood sat on the skin where her hand had been pulled off.

Seeing that a scab had even formed, it clearly meant that she must have scratched it frequently.

Still, the fact that he had only just discovered today that there was something wrong with her body weighed heavily on his mind.

He felt resentful and regretful of the past days when he was only absorbed in his own suffering.

If Brody’s condition worsened further, he really wouldn’t be able to endure it with his wits about him.

Somehow, Brody had to be restored to her original state.

Kyle held Brody’s arm as she struggled to her death.

“Brody.”

“Hmm….”

“Wake up. We have to move again now, so when I turn around, you should jump on my back. Got it?”

In the morning, Brody was only able to lean on his back after a lot of difficulties.

However Brody now couldn’t gather strength even after hearing Kyle’s words. And even if she sat up down, she kept falling to the floor.

As she continued to fall down without being able to sit up, Kyle tried to get her up several times, and eventually grabbed her arm and screamed.

“Get up! We have to continue the journey!”

He couldn’t contain his frustration even though he knew Brody couldn’t move her body as she pleased.

And as he grew angry in frustration, Brody slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

She then finally opened her mouth with difficulty, and let out a few words with her breathing becoming rougher than before.

“Kyle..”

“…”

“I… don’t think I can go…”

Drops, whether sweat or tears, flowed down the corners of her eyes and down her temples.

“My body… won’t listen to me…”

Brody, who had been struggling to spit out each word, muttered her last words while looking up at Kyle with sunken, bloodshot eyes.

“Just… leave me… and go by yourself…”

The author seems to quite like the readers, so many cliffhangers😂. Good news though, 5 more chapters were sponsored by cupoftea.

Thank you so much for the Kofi, cupoftea 💌