The more he mulled over the recent situation, the more suspicious the words and actions of the soldier who was the squad leader felt.
‘A reason to search at night. Does it mean their goal isn’t to capture? A search with stakes worth the lives of several people.’
The man anxiously bit his lip, hoping that he wasn’t the sole cause of the search.
‘I’m useless.’
The only thing he could do was carry the physically weak woman and run.
He didn’t know how to do anything else. He had no knowledge, no common sense—just the ability to speak eloquently.
‘Damn it.’
He despised himself for his incompetence.
“…….”
Tap tap. Sharti’s careful index finger touched the man’s chin.
The man, snapped out of his thoughts, hesitated as he looked at her.
Sharti opened her palm and waved it in front of him.
<What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Your expression doesn’t look good.>
Looking at the words appearing on her small palm, he felt his frustration ease a bit strangely.
“I have something to ask.”
“…….”
“……Ma’am.”
Sharti nodded.
The man frowned, avoiding her gaze.
“What were you planning to do if those bears hadn’t appeared at that moment? …..Ma’am?”
The wind blew.
His damp bangs, moistened by his body heat, swayed.
Sharti slapped his shoulder repeatedly as he continued to avoid eye contact.
<I told you this is how we have conversations. You need to look here. At me.>
“…….”
<Do you know what the powder I sprinkled on the ground we passed through was?>
He shook his head.
The corners of Sharti’s mouth, hidden by her hood, turned up slightly.
<It’s an herb that has a stimulant effect that beasts enjoy eating.>
“What?”
The man stopped walking in surprise.
Although he wouldn’t know, it was one of the herbs Sharti always carried when venturing deep into the mountains.
<It doesn’t have strong addictive properties, but it has a sweet taste that beasts eat. They even fight each other to eat it. So I figured if I sprinkled it on the ground and left a long trail, at least one beast would follow.>
“But what if…….”
<We were covered in mud and only sprinkled it on the ground we passed without stepping on it, but the soldiers would have stepped on that powder at least once while chasing us. So the beasts’ targets would be limited to the soldiers.>
“…….”
The man was at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure whether to admire her thoroughness or sigh at her reckless courage.
But his response was the same this time as well.
“How did you collect such herbs? ……Ma’am? Wouldn’t it have been dangerous for you as a doctor? ……Ma’am?”
“…….”
When the man frowned, he looked somewhat intimidating.
She hesitated momentarily, then quickly shook her head.
<There’s a separate method to collect it safely. It’s not dangerous.>
The man’s lips moved, but he didn’t say anything. In the end, it seemed presumptuous for him, who had survived and was protected thanks to her, to say anything at all.
He simply resumed walking silently.
The man supported Sharti more firmly, whose light and small frame felt almost weightless.
‘……It seems she’s only afraid of people.’
So far, people were the only ones the seemingly fearless Sharti showed anxiety toward.
He also hadn’t forgotten her reaction when her hood had briefly come off, exposing her face.
‘This distance between us is probably just right.’
The man, with his good night vision, hurried his steps, moving in the direction Sharti indicated.
And finally, an old log cabin appeared in the two people’s view.
“Is this it? ……Ma’am?”
The man set Sharti down.
Just as Sharti, relieved at having safely reached home, was about to lead him into the house,
“Someone is in the house.”
Just then, a shadow of someone was visible behind the light inside the house.
****
Sharti immediately stopped and turned around in confusion, taking the man with her.
Sharti hastily opened the door of a long, narrow storage shed near the log cabin. As soon as the door opened, the man frowned.
Then the man looked at Sharti with disbelief.
“…….”
With her eyes tightly shut, Sharti moved as the man had expected.
“Wait, wait a minute……!”
Sharti pushed the man alone into the storage shed.
Shh. Sharti urgently put her finger over her lips and then closed the storage door.
With a bang, the man’s facial muscles tensed as he was left alone in the darkness.
“Hmm? You’re back, Sha. Where have you been until now?”
Sharti, with a tense face, slowly turned her back to the storage shed.
Vireta, with a hunched back and wrinkled face, was coming out of her house.
“Why the fermentation shed? Didn’t you say it needs to be aged longer since the fermentation period isn’t over yet?”
Sharti smiled awkwardly.
Only then did she realize the state of the herbs stored in the shed.
“…….”
The man, unintentionally confined in the fermentation shed, once again summoned his patience.
Sadly, his sense of smell, which he had suspected, was not ruined.
The man had to endure a longer and more distant time than when he was hiding behind the rock.
‘But there was nowhere else to hide!’
He belatedly shouted an explanation inside that wouldn’t be conveyed.
Sharti approached Vireta, hiding her anxious heart.
She couldn’t let Vireta get close to the storage shed.
<I didn’t know you were waiting. I’m sorry for being late, Grandmother. I thought you’d left since it’s late at night.>
The old woman clicked her tongue.
“As soon as I told you soldiers were coming, Sha, you suddenly ran out of the house, so I was worried.”
In fact, it was Vireta who had informed her about the soldiers’ mountain search.
If it hadn’t been for Vireta, who visited when Sharti returned home to get her robe and pack her things, she wouldn’t have been able to hide either the cave or the man.
“Yes. You went because of that cave, right? When I went there earlier, it had completely collapsed.”
Vireta tapped her hunched back repeatedly.
Relieved that the man’s existence hadn’t been discovered, Sharti smiled awkwardly.
“But Sha, my child. What’s with your appearance? Did you run into the soldiers?”
Sharti waved her hand at the concern in the rough manner of speaking.
Vireta carefully examined Sharti’s condition.
“Hmm……. Your breathing isn’t disturbed. Well, I guess there’s no way the soldiers could have found you, Sha, in the middle of the night.”
As if finding it admirable, Vireta stroked Sharti’s head inside the hood. Sharti smiled brightly inside her hood.
Vireta’s touch, covered with calluses, was still rough but affectionate.
“…….”
And Vireta glanced towards the fermentation shed, avoiding Sharti’s eyes.
Just as Vireta’s eyes narrowed, Sharti diverted her attention.
<I heard from Virena. Did your request go well?>
“Of course. It went well. Those fools unnecessarily called this old woman all the way there, so I squeezed out a hefty fee. Was the bread tasty?”
<Thank you, Grandmother. But you don’t need to bring me things anymore. Give them to Virena and Tein. They’re in their growing phases.>
“Yes, yes.”
Vireta laughed, lightly brushing off Sharti’s nagging.
“Oh, by the way. On my way down from the mountain, I stopped by that valley village. If someone comes looking for you, Sha, and asks for help, you must firmly refuse.”
“…….”
“Those ill-mannered fools! They cut the price! Make you work hard! Create tasks out of nothing! Talk too much! Ah! I’ll fry those shameless ones!”
Vireta’s wrinkled face became even more fierce.
Sharti wore a troubled expression. As a doctor, a rare profession in the mountain village, she often received requests to visit other villages.
The problem was that unlike the village where Vireta’s family stayed, other mountainous villages were not welcoming to outsiders.
“Sha, don’t go there no matter what. Understand? Those who have no gratitude or thankful hearts need to experience hardship to come to their senses!”
As if there was a lot built up, Vireta got heated.
Sharti quickly nodded.
The longer the conversation continued, the more she felt like she could sense the man’s gaze from inside the storage shed.
“Yes, yes. If someone comes looking from there, let me know. Understand?”
<I will.>
At Sharti’s immediate answer, Vireta glanced towards the storage shed.
“Alright. I’ll be going now.”
As Sharti approached to see her off, Vireta shook her head.
“What danger could there be on a mountain path that even my grandson climbs for an old woman like me?”
As if refusing to be treated like an elderly grandmother, Vireta promptly left.
As soon as Vireta’s back disappeared from view, Sharti immediately opened the storage door.
“…….”
“…….”
As soon as the door opened and he breathed the outside air, the man, who had been pale and stiff, staggered.
Sharti hurriedly approached to support his body.
Her eyes met with his cloudy teal-colored eyes.
“……just…… let’s, let’s go inside…….”
The man, who seemed to have a lot to say, appeared visibly exhausted.
He had endured the loneliness in the dark cave alone, and held his breath at Sharti’s touch while hiding behind a rock, but he had succumbed to the scent of Sharti’s special fermented herbs.
“…….”
Sharti did her best to support the man as they headed towards the house.
Creeeeak……. As they opened the log cabin door and entered, a cozy atmosphere immediately enveloped the two.
<Wait here for a moment.>
Sharti pointed to a small, cozy one-person sofa.
The blanket-covered sofa looked soft.
“The smell will permeate.”
The man was reluctant to sit due to the strong smell of mud and fermented herbs emanating from his entire body.
Seeing the cozy interior of the house, so different from the cave, he didn’t want to soil it.
<We can wash it.>
Sharti wrote casually, as if the smell from the man’s body wasn’t strong at all.
“……I’m more comfortable on the floor.”
The man stubbornly sat on the floor where no carpet was laid.
Sharti left him alone, heading to the bathroom, as if telling him to do as he pleased.
Left alone, the man turned his head from side to side, taking in the interior of the log cabin.
“I can immediately tell whose house this is.”
Herb bundles, papers with mixing formulas, medical books, and medicine bottles were visible throughout the house.
It looked messy and humble, not like a family home.
“…….”
The man tried to position himself to minimize transferring his dirt. But given his large size, it wasn’t very effective.
While drawing water for the bathtub, Sharti, who had washed her hands, saw the sight and couldn’t help but smile a little.
‘It’s good I bought the magic stone.’
She took out the two-week supply of magic stone she had successfully purchased and inserted it into the bathtub frame.
The magic stone gradually became hot and began to heat the bathtub. Sharti dissolved three or four herbs and herbal powder with an aromatic effect in the bathwater.
When the water became lukewarm, Sharti removed the magic stone and beckoned to the man.
<You go first.>
It was a written message via a paper note.
Now that they were back home, using paper and pencil was natural.
“……I will.”
The man, who had naturally extended his palm first, withdrew his hand, hiding his disappointment as he nodded.
Thud. As Sharti left, the man checked inside the bathtub. It was an herbal bath with a subtle scent of leaves.
He took off his mud-covered robe. Just as he was about to remove his pants,
Knock knock.
“……!”
The man froze at the sound of knocking.
“Why…… are you coming back in?”
The man frowned, swallowing his embarrassment as he saw Sharti entering the bathroom again.
<Your wounds might have opened.>
After reading the note, the man’s expression became noticeably disgruntled.
“……So you’re saying you’ll check that and then leave?”
Sharti calmly nodded.
<The back is difficult to wash alone.>
The man put his hand on his forehead.
He was troubled by the lack of wariness in this innocent woman.
To Sharti’s eyes, he was still nothing, just a patient.
“My arm isn’t injured, so it’s not necessary. Nothing is broken open, and I can wash myself sufficiently.”
Hiding his upset feelings, the man quickly refused and turned his back to her, lifting his body.
