Chapter 4
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“Hmmmm….”

I studied the map in front of me. Viewed from another person’s eyes, I would go as far as to say that my dashing and handsome figure had a rare troubled expression on my face.

The usual southern path which connected the capital of Wisteria in the east to the rich farmland and agricultural sector in the west had been disrupted by an unprecedented attack. Reports were scattered because of the Imperial Guard’s efforts to keep the matter quiet, but news still trickled out. Some people said it was bandits who had attacked; others, wild animals.

I, however, knew the real cause.

“This is the third demon attack in the past five years, isn’t it... “ Three attacks over the span of five years didn’t seem like much, but the last time demons had formally been sighted in Wisteria had been a thousand years ago, when the demon king had risen and led an attack on the continent. The legends of those days were distant stories, and only the aristocrats and nobility of Wisteria ever learned of the exact events as history. To everyone else, there wasn’t any point - it was enough to know that a great evil had once threatened the land, only to be sealed away by a mysterious girl sent by the gods.

Sitting back in my chair, I turned my face up to the ceiling and let out a sigh. Aaah, what should I do. Because of the demon attack, the Imperial Guard had temporarily closed the road. They weren’t even letting a single mouse through. But I couldn’t just stay here in my office. I had to go check on the situation…

“...In that case, should I go through the forest?”

Once I said that, I had already decided. Everglace Forest used to be the primary road for anyone wanting to travel between the east and west of the country, after all. Berry wouldn’t be so cruel as to stop me from passing through, right?

Well, he might be surprised to see me transporting actual goods this time. But I was confident that as long as he didn’t have some weird complex where the sight of a caravan threw him into a rage, it should be fine.

I packed my goods and supplies, left my assistant in charge of the office, and set off.

 

 

By the time I arrived at the entrance to Everglace, the sun was shedding its last rays of light. Ah, I had to hurry to make it inside the forest before the sun set, or else it would be difficult to see the path. I ushered the horse past the mess of warning signs planted in front of the forest.

The fog which normally hung high up in the air had now settled low on the forest ground, making it even more difficult to navigate the forest. “Berry?” I called out. “It’s me. Sorry, but I need to use the road tonight and tomorrow. I’ll be imposing on you…”

I stopped talking. Berry usually knew as soon as I stepped foot in the forest, and I could usually feel his presence hanging around. Tonight, however, I felt only an eerie silence. Maybe he was sleeping. It was nighttime, after all.

“Well, let’s go a little further in before we settle down,” I told the horse. Unlike the outside roads, the inside of the forest was clear of bandits and thieves. It seemed safer to me to stay in here than anywhere else.

For a while, the only sounds in the forest were the clip-clops of the horse’s hooves on the ground, the rumble of the caravan wheels, and a few insect chirps. The further into the forest we went, the thicker the white fog grew, and the quieter the insects became.

“...This is bad, isn’t it.” Ah, I had been a bit naive.

I undid the reins connecting the horse to the caravan, then smoothly climbed on the horse’s back. Once on, I spurred the horse into a gallop.

“Go!”

The horse shot away from the caravan, running as fast as it could down the road. Behind us, shadows flitted through the fog, a glint of red eyes piercing through the air.

I really should have realized. The presence of the silverwort, the rumors surrounding this forest. The reason why Berry always encouraged me to go home quickly, and always hovered around me, quietly protecting me.

A black blur jumped in front of me. The horse reared with a whinny, spooked.

“Crap!” I hadn’t had the luxury of climbing onto a saddle, so as soon as the horse rose up, I slid from its back and fell to the ground in a heap. Moments later, I heard the swift gallop of the horse running for its life. Ah, great. I looked up at my doom with a troubled smile. This was a bit worrying.

Several low growls sounded around me, the loudest coming from the inky black wolf which slowly padded my way. Its eyes glowed red, and were inscribed with a demonic mark. So, this was the true monster of Everglace Forest: a pack of demon wolves. The real culprits of the attacks that Berry had been blamed for.

It’s too bad that I realized this so late. If I had known, I could have made more preparations. The wolf in front of me stalked forward, but there were two more approaching behind me. I was fully surrounded to the point where I couldn’t even escape.

Would I die here? No, I hoped not. There was still one last hope for me, after all.

“Berry!”

I called out his name just as the wolf lunged for me, its jaw opened wide and aiming toward my throat. But before I could even react, and before the wolf even reached me, another black blur swept through my vision.

A deep, rumbling snarl, low enough to shake even the earth, sounded in the air. It came from Berry, who wrestled the wolf into the ground. In the dark and dim lighting, I could only see flashes of teeth and streaks of red.

A hand suddenly gripped my shirt. Berry pulled me toward him, and I collided with his chest. The two wolves who had been behind me had leaped forward, intending to tear me apart if Berry hadn’t saved me. In an instant, Berry’s enormous hand pushed me to the ground. “Stay.”

He leaped away, his claws flashing in the moonlight. In the dark forest, the sounds of howls and the tearing of flesh lasted for only a few minutes - but those minutes I spent with my face pressed to the damp dirt, shaking every time Berry let out a grunt of pain, felt like an eternity.

 

 

The sounds eventually stopped. I heard a heavy impact as if a body had fallen, and immediately climbed to my feet. “Berry?”

I rushed to the battlefield. Berry had slumped over by a tree, his back leaning against the bark. Even in the dim light, I saw the sheen of blood and wounds all over his body.

“Berry, you…!”

Berry was breathing heavily, strained by his injuries. I couldn’t say something as stupid as, ‘You’re hurt!’ or ‘I’m sorry you were injured because of me’. His wounds needed to be treated.

“Point toward the nearest river. We need to wash your wounds.” I tried to lift his arm and sling it over my shoulders, intending to carry him over. But, no matter how much force I used, I couldn’t even worm my way under his arm. Berry just looked at me in a daze, probably not understanding what I was trying to futilely do.

“It’s… fine. I’ll heal…”

“Look at how severe your injuries are. Are you saying you can heal from this?”

Berry’s head was always lowered, making it difficult to see his expression when I stood across from him. Now that I was at his side, however, it was easy to see the soft hesitance of his gaze when he looked at me. “Yes,” he said, without any doubt.

I observed his wounds in silence. So he’s been injured like this before, has he. The demon wolves… this wasn’t his first encounter with them. It probably wouldn’t be his last, either.

“...It must hurt,” I said.

“I’m used to it.”

That was such a sad answer.

I got to my feet. Berry watched me with confusion in his gaze. “Wait here,” I said, reaching up to stroke his head.

“Wait…” Berry reached out a claw to pinch the hem of my shirt. “You can’t…”

“Are there still wolves out there?” When Berry shook his head, I softly laid my hand on his and pried my shirt from his grip. “Then it’s fine. I’ll be right back. I promise.”

Though the forest was dark, I could still recognize the paths. I made my way down the usual trails, rushing so quickly that I tripped several times. Still, I made it to the silverwort in one piece. How much did I need? Eight leaves… No, double the portion. Proportions, and all. Berry was twice as large as an average man; the normal dose of medicine would be like giving a child’s amount to an adult.

I took out a small pocket knife and sliced off the silverwort leaves. After gathering them in my hands, I ran back to the main road and returned down the path I came from until I saw my abandoned caravan. I climbed up and quickly threw all of the supplies I needed into a rucksack. Slinging the heavy bag over my back, I ran back to where Berry was still sitting.

His breathing was uneven. The wounds were surely burning him up. I pulled a towel and a bottle of strong wine from my pack. “Bear with me, Berry.” I uncorked the wine and poured it over the wounds, using the towel to clean him. Berry’s muscles twitched in pain beneath my hand. “Sorry.”

Once the worst of the bites were cleaned, I set down the towel and wiped my hands. I then took out the rest of the supplies from my pack and set to work.

A long time ago, when I was a child, I had read a book. The adults around me had always laughed at how I carried it around with me everywhere, obsessively reading and rereading it over and over again. “My, if you enjoy reading so much, wouldn’t you prefer a storybook over such dull history?”

To me, the history of the demon invasion was the furthest thing from dull. The suffering of the people, the ways they struggled to survive, and the joy they must have felt when all of their efforts had paid off, were more vivid to me than any storybook. I had always been fascinated by what it must have felt like to live through such interesting times - to regularly fear monsters, to worry over the safety of your life, and to have to put in the greatest effort to find a way to live.

I had memorized every page of that book, and so, I didn’t hesitate to follow the instructions I had read so many years ago. I gathered the silverwort leaves and ground them using a mortar and pestle. The book had said to break them up until the silver essence leaked out. Then, I had to combine it with essence of sage, cloves… I refined and mixed the medicinal ingredients until they came together and formed a silvery ointment that glowed like moonlight.

“What is… that…?”

“The silverwort medicine. I told you it can help clear the poison from a demon’s wounds, right?” Using my fingers, I smeared the ointment over the bites and scratches covering Berry’s body.

“Magic…?”

“Wouldn’t that be nice? Unfortunately, I’m just ordinary.”

The skin around Berry’s wounds had risen from inflammation. The silverwort medicine would help counteract the poison, letting him heal smoothly and with less pain. I applied it to all of the wounds I could see on his upper body, but there were still some on his lower body.

“Excuse me... “ I reached for his hip, and Berry jolted, almost falling over in his attempt to jump away. He was still too weak to move, so all he did was make it easier for me to reach him. Aggrieved, I scolded, “Stop moving around. I’m not so depraved that I’ll take advantage of someone who’s injured, you know.” I pulled the cloth around his hip down, granting me better access to the wound there. Ah, it was really such a well-defined hipbone… One day I would be able to appreciate it, I thought - and then I saw the mark.

My hands froze, and my face went blank. Seeing my reaction, Berry nervously asked, “...Klue?”

“A-ah. Sorry about that.” My hands acted on their own, steadily applying the medicine to Berry’s wounds while my brain raced at miles per second.

That mark on Berry’s hip, like a golden feather…

I had seen it in the book, too.

It was the mark of one of the servants of the Maiden of Light.

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