‘It’s creepy.’
If we find out that our neighbor is a nuclear power plant, we might want to move far away from it immediately.
And if it was a nuclear power plant that could leak radiation at any time, even more so.
The control of the cursed sword depended entirely on the mental state of the wielder.
It was difficult to stay sane while being with the cursed sword.
In short, it meant that radiation was slowly leaking out from Khunak.
‘So, he’s like a madman walking around with an uranium necklace.’
“Why did you make a contract with the cursed sword?”
“I did it to survive.”
At Khunak’s words, Doah nodded, saying, “I see.”
There was nothing more to say.
“So, will I also get exposed, or rather, contaminated?”
At that question, Khunak looked into Doah’s eyes and whispered,
“Ms. Doah, since you are Azure Nazac, you won’t be contaminated.”
“That’s a relief.”
Doah muttered.
Khunak shrugged and said,
“I’m surprised that Ms. Doah hasn’t noticed until now. Black hair and black eyes are the characteristics of the cursed sword wielder.”
“Oh.”
She had no idea.
As she added this new piece of knowledge to her head, Doah suddenly thought it was funny.
‘But isn’t this kind of like a cliché from early 2000s genre novels?’
Black hair is a special color, so it is despised and discriminated against, but because the female protagonist is an Asian, she doesn’t care about the male protagonist with black hair and black eyes…
Something like that.
Or being revered as a saint because of black hair, and so on.
There was a cliché about black hair and black eyes, right?
Reflecting on the cliché, Doah said honestly,
“I thought Khunak’s eyes were really pretty. Like the night sea sparkling in the moonlight.”
At her words, he gave a languid smile and said,
“I know.”
“Huh.”
“Someone has already told me that.”
“Really?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Someone used the cliché line before me!
‘Darn, did I miss my chance at the first love gimmick.’
Grumbling a joke to herself, Doah laughed.
‘Is a joke that no one understands still a joke?’
But if it were Rakshasha, she would answer, ‘It’s a joke,’ so Doah decided to enjoy her joke by herself.
“Then what about Ms. Doah?”
“Me?”
At Khunak’s question, Doah pointed to herself.
Khunak continued.
“Why are you in this forest? Weren’t you here for a reason?”
“Ah, I got lost.”
Doah scratched her cheek.
Khunak smiled, finding it very interesting, and asked,
“You got lost? In this forest?”
“Yes. Is it a place where I shouldn’t get lost?”
“There is no place where you shouldn’t get lost, but it’s just strange that you got lost in such an odd place.”
“The truth is, I haven’t been here long since I came from the southern continent.”
At those words, Khunak made a ‘hmm’ expression.
Doah continued,
“And I don’t know how to read a map.”
“You don’t know how to read a map?”
“Sadly, yes.”
“Even though you want to be an adventurer?”
“I’m planning to learn from now on.”
“That’s a wise decision.”
At Khunak’s words, Doah cleared her throat and said,
“So, I have a favor to ask. Could you take me out of this forest? Just to a village where there are people. Then I can manage the rest.”
At Doah’s words, Khunak thought for a moment and said,
“I can’t just send my benefactor like that. I will guide you to the adventurer’s guild. I’ll help you with the registration too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thank you!”
“Thank you too.”
Khunak smiled and stood up to clear the dishes.
But before he could clear the dishes, the utensils floated up and flew to the sink.
“Thank you, Mrs. Danvers.”
Khunak smoothly greeted as if he was already familiar with her.
“Yes, thank you very much, Mrs. Danvers. Thanks to you, we survived.”
Doah also greeted.
If it weren’t for Mrs. Danvers in the past few days, Doah would have been very busy.
Mrs. Danvers was amazing.
She cleaned and dried the bed sheets and towels that came from nursing Khunak to be soft and fresh.
Sometimes, when Doah was tired, she even made simple meals.
She even mended clothes and cleaned and repaired shoes.
How she managed things made of leather was beyond comprehension!
‘Mrs. Danvers is the best.’
Thanks to her, Doah could enjoy a comfortable cabin life.
Khunak looked back at Doah.
“Then I will be leaving early tomorrow morning.”
“For what reason?”
“My belongings are somewhere in the forest. The horse may not be found, but at least I should retrieve my things.”
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“It’s okay.”
Khunak shook his head and added, looking at Doah,
“Don’t worry, I won’t turn my back on someone who has shown me kindness.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
Doah frowned, and he laughed lightly.
“Thanks to you, I have fully recovered. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Well, if you say so.”
Doah nodded.
Surely he had his reasons for wanting to go alone.
There might be things he didn’t want others to see.
“Then I’ll go wash up and head to bed.”
“Do as you please, Ms. Doah.”
Doah headed to the bathroom.
It was awkward knowing someone was outside, but she didn’t want to miss a rare bath.
The water dispenser contained both a Fire Crystal and a Water Crystal.
The red and blue crystals would gradually become lighter with use until they turned completely transparent, rendering them unusable.
Crystals were also used by wizards to cast spells, but they were also used to make magical products like this.
Items like these could only be obtained by capturing the ‘Elemental’ monsters in dungeons, making them quite expensive.
‘This being 300 points… is it cheap or not?’
It’s hard to tell the value of these points.
Using a large wooden tub as a bath, Doah filled it with water and enjoyed a rare bath.
Someday, when she gathered enough points, she planned to upgrade the bathroom too.
‘Ah, this feels really good.’
The bathroom had a window.
Being in the middle of an empty forest, Doah slightly opened the window.
Hot steam escaped, and the cool forest scent flowed in.
Soaking in the warm tub and feeling the cool air on her heated cheeks was incredibly pleasant.
It was a truly luxurious camping experience.
After soaking until her hands and feet were wrinkled, Doah changed into the new clothes Mrs. Danvers had prepared.
Her body felt light as a feather.
Thinking she should at least say goodnight, she went out to the living room to find Khunak sitting on a camp bed, examining a sword half-drawn from its sheath.
Doah leaned over his shoulder.
“Is this the cursed sword?”
“Yes, it is.”
Khunak fully drew the sword from its sheath and showed it to Doah.
Made entirely of foreign material, the sword was black from the blade to the hilt.
“It looks ordinary except for the black color.”
“That’s how ‘cursed’ is. It looks very ordinary on the outside.”
Khunak said as he snapped the sword back into the sheath.
“Still, it’s quiet around Azure Nazac.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The noisy sounds in my head are quieter.”
“That must be really tough.”
Doah knew how distressing auditory hallucinations could be.
She had researched such mental illnesses when she thought her mother was living in delusions.
If someone turned around at a loud voice and no one was there, it would usually be a ghost story.
But what if it happened all the time?
What if the voice spoke to you?
What if you heard sounds that no one else could hear, or the noise was so loud that you couldn’t hear other people’s voices?
‘…………’
“I’ve gotten used to it and developed my own way of coping.”
Khunak said, turning his head.
As Doah leaned in to look at the sword, their faces were very close.
Khunak asked,
“Or would you prefer that I leave you, never to return, and hope we never meet again?”
Doah’s heart ached at the question.
Probably many people Khunak had met in his life had wished that of him.
And the best thing he could do for those he cared about was to leave them.
Doah squinted her eyes and said,
“I intend to stick around until you repay your debt for saving your life.”
Khunak blinked his black eyes and then smiled softly.
His hand gently cupped her chin and cheek, pulling her slightly closer.
He kissed her cheek and said,
“Thank you again for saving my life, Ms. Doah.”
“You’re welcome.”
Doah rolled her eyes and straightened up.
Well, it could be a cultural difference.
Besides, Josephine had showered her with countless kisses.
Thinking that way made her feel at ease.
“Good night then.”
Doah said, and Khunak replied her, “Sleep well.”
Doah went to her room and threw herself onto the bed.
The soft bed completely enveloped her.
Despite having slept earlier, she felt drowsy again.
Light from outside peeked through the crack in the door.
Doah watched the light.
Footsteps were heard outside, and then the light went out.
It must have been Khunak who turned off the light.
‘That’s nice.’
Sharing the night with someone else wasn’t bad.
The sound of claws clicking and a dog jumped onto the bed, settling at her feet.
“Why do you sleep there and prevent me from stretching my legs?”
Doah grumbled but shifted to the side.
Hugging her pillow, she whispered,
“Good night, Sea King. Good night, Mrs. Danvers.”
A warm breeze rustled the curtains.
❖ ❖ ❖
When Doah woke up a bit late for the morning, Khunak had already returned with his belongings.
He mentioned casually that he had lost the horse.
Khunak assured her they would reach a nearby village by the end of the day, so Doah used up all the remaining food to prepare a luxurious breakfast.
Khunak offered to cook, but Doah refused.
“Unless you can make something tastier than what I can, just sit down. I like eating delicious food.”
After finishing their brunch, Khunak lightly inspected Doah’s belongings and said,
“It would be better not to use this cabin anymore. It attracts too much attention. I’ve never heard of such an item.”
He told Doah,
“Greed invites trouble.”
“I understand. I’ll use the tent instead.”
“Good. In the same vein, let’s make your backpack look as ordinary as possible.”
Doah nodded.
“It’s best not to put random items in a weight-reducing bag. You’ll likely forget about them, and those random items will forever take up a certain amount of weight.”
Doah diligently nodded, organizing her belongings to make the bag look ordinary, then slung it over her shoulder.
For some reason, she found it amusing.
Seeing Doah laugh, Khunak raised his eyebrows and asked,
“What’s so funny?”
“No, this look. Don’t I look like a real adventurer?”
Doah spun around once.
“Not really, you’re still an aspiring adventurer.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be a real one soon.”
Doah straightened her shoulders.
“Anyway, take off that bag and put it on the saddle.”
Khunak pointed at Sea King. Doah took off her bag and placed it on the saddle.
“Now that I think about it, couldn’t we ride together? Sea King could easily carry two people.”
Khunak shook his head.
“He won’t carry a cursed sword wielder.”
“Really? He used to carry you before.”
Meanwhile, he gauged the Sea King’s reaction.
Sea King stiffly ignored Khunak and looked elsewhere.
Khunak said, “It’s fine,” so Doah replied,
“Then I’ll walk too.”
Sea King looked back at Doah with a betrayed expression.
“Whine, whimper—”
When Doah tried to walk, Sea King blocked her path and nudged her with his head.
Khunak laughed.
“It’s better if you ride. Unless you want me to be disliked even more.”
“I’ll just ride.”
Doah sighed and climbed onto Sea King.
Sea King finally looked triumphant.
“Let’s get going.”
Khunak started walking briskly.
Sea King followed quickly behind.
So Doah ended up watching the back of his head.
Just by watching his walking posture, she felt he was a very experienced adventurer.
His steps had a rhythm.
She found herself unconsciously observing his gait when Khunak spoke.
“When we get to the village.”
“Hmm?”
Doah finally looked up.
She still only saw his back.
“When we get to the village, it might be inconvenient because of me.”
Doah thought of the main quest and shook her head, asking,
“Then should we not stop by?”
He halted and looked back, somehow smiling.
“Then it would be very inconvenient. We ate all the food earlier.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“I don’t mind, but Ms. Doah, you might find it uncomfortable, so I’m telling you in advance.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine.”
At Doah’s words, he nodded.
As Khunak predicted, they found a village before sunset.
It was surrounded by a palisade made of sharpened wooden stakes.
It looked more like a settler’s village than a formal one.
A guard holding a spear stood at the entrance, appearing to be part of a local militia.
