Chapter 21
“I-I’m not hurt.”
Ah, idiot—why did he stutter?
Ray clicked his tongue inwardly at his uncharacteristic mistake. Of course, Perea didn’t even notice such a small slip-up.
Even though Wulphira looked like wolves, they were still monsters. Their attacks were far more dangerous. Even for someone like Ray—who could destroy a monster bomb in one swing with aura on his sword—fighting several of them at once wasn’t easy.
So it was natural that Perea’s attention was completely focused on whether Ray was safe.
“You didn’t get bitten or anything, did you?”
“Of course not.”
Ray gave her an incredulous look. Being treated like some clumsy fool who’d get hurt from just fighting three Wulphira made him feel oddly offended.
Honestly, he’d rather she paid attention to the monster stones he had given her.
“I told you—they’re monster stones.”
He repeated himself, pointing at the stones again.
Only then did Perea finally look at them properly. What she had thought were just black rocks turned out to be rare and precious monster stones. Suddenly, they felt heavy in her hands.
She cupped her palms carefully, afraid she might drop them.
“Um… why are you giving me something so valuable—ah! You want me to study them?”
From how he kept emphasizing “monster stones,” she figured he wanted to show off what he’d collected. And honestly, she couldn’t blame him. Out here in the frontier, even seeing monster stones was a rare experience.
Even the academy Perea graduated from didn’t have any real samples. Since her school focused mainly on medicine, there was very little material on magic, combat arts, or enchanted weapons. So even though she’d minored in monster studies, everything she’d learned had been purely theoretical.
In fact, the first time she’d ever seen a real monster stone was just a few days ago—inside the monster bomb and tracking device. Naturally, she hadn’t expected Ray to actually give her one.
Meanwhile, Ray was getting increasingly irritated. He couldn’t believe how slow she was to catch on. He’d long since forgotten how, not too long ago, she’d begged him to give her a monster bomb and he’d flatly refused.
“Nuh-uh! Ray gave them to Perea! Right, Ray?”
Theo suddenly spoke up, unable to watch any longer. The boy took Perea’s fingers one by one, folded them over the stones, and even helped her tuck the hand into her pocket for safekeeping.
Silently praising his little brother’s sense, Ray forced a calm expression and nodded briefly.
He made sure his body language said, ‘Yeah, found it on the way. You can have it.’
“Really? I-I can have this precious thing?”
“It’s not that precious. They’re just Wulphira.”
Feeling pleased, Ray rubbed the side of his nose and thought that maybe next time, he’d hunt an orc and bring that monster stone for her.
If she looked this moved over a simple Wulphira stone, she might even cry tears of joy at an orc one. Maybe she’d even hug him tightly, like when she praised Theo—
Ray’s ears turned slightly red as the image of Perea hugging him flashed in his mind.
Unfortunately, Perea was far too busy examining the stones with Theo to notice.
After the short commotion about the monster stones, the three of them quickly hit the road again. They needed to move the wagon’s load into the Lium Forest before sunset.
Even though Ray had stayed alert all night and fought monsters that morning, his driving was still smooth and fast. Thanks to that, they arrived at the forest earlier than expected.
Lium Forest was gloomy—so dark it was hard to believe there had once been a thriving village here.
Even though it was still daytime, the air felt heavy and dim. The buildings around them were burned down, leaving eerie black marks everywhere.
Theo, who had been cheerfully chattering until now, grew quiet and clutched the hem of Perea’s skirt tightly. His once-perky ears drooped back flat against his head.
Perea gently stroked his soft hair. “It’s okay. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“But, but—what if a ghost goes ‘Heeheehing!’ and jumps out?!”
“Mm, no, there are no ghosts here.”
If a ghost did make that strange noise, it would probably be more funny than scary. Still, Perea replied seriously to reassure him.
Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if ghosts did appear here. After all, someone had destroyed an entire village just because they didn’t like it.
The thought made chills run down her spine—especially since the same could happen to Timi Village someday. She didn’t understand how those in power could be so cruel. And she didn’t want to understand.
The frightened boy in her arms was the very same prince who stood at the top of the Amur Empire—but that thought was pushed aside for now.
When she picked Theo up to comfort him, he clung tightly to her neck. His small, warm arms wrapped around her, and his soft body pressed close.
“I’m scaaared. Theo’s too scared to open his eyes!”
Hearing his whiny baby-talk, Ray let out a small, incredulous laugh. This was the same boy who, in front of the Empire’s finest knights—and even the Emperor himself—never flinched or showed fear.
He hadn’t gone to battle yet because of his age, but Ray had read all the reports. Even the bloodiest descriptions didn’t faze the boy back then—he would just lazily flick his tail.
And now he was scared? Couldn’t open his eyes? What a performance.
Back in the rabbit village, Ray had thought Theo’s trauma came from the carriage accident. But now he realized the truth—Theo wasn’t scared, he just wanted an excuse to cling to Perea.
With a sigh, Ray began unloading the wagon.
“Wait! I’ll help too!”
Apparently, she wasn’t that distracted by Theo. The moment she saw Ray moving, Perea gently set the boy down and hurried over.
Theo pouted and whined, not wanting to be put down, which made her hesitate for a moment. But remembering what was most important, she soothed him briefly and ran to the wagon.
“You don’t need to. I can handle it. Go keep an eye on Theo.”
Ray’s voice came out a bit grumpy. Perea turned to glance at Theo.
The boy, clearly upset that she’d left, was poking the ground with a stick. His fluffy tail was thumping the dirt, showing exactly how annoyed he was.
It was the cutest form of protest she’d ever seen, and without meaning to, her lips curved into a smile.
“If I go over there now, I think I’ll get hit by his tail.”
“So what? Getting hit by a tail isn’t a big deal.”
“How can you say that? That’s Prince Theo’s tiger tail you’re talking about!”
She puffed up in mock outrage. Ray ignored her grumbling and handed her a pile of wagon debris.
Caught off guard, Perea took the load and immediately went back to work reconstructing the accident scene.
“No, no, that piece doesn’t go there!”
And soon enough, the problem began.
Ray was tossing pieces everywhere like he just wanted to get it over with, while Perea insisted on placing each one exactly where it had been before.
Naturally, their differences in work style caused tension. Ray wanted to finish quickly and go home; Perea wanted the setup to look perfectly authentic so that no one would suspect anything.
Still, Ray was secretly impressed by her memory. She remembered the exact position of even the tiniest fragment.
He’d tried scattering them around at random, but every time, she rushed over and moved them right back to their correct places.
“You seriously remember where every piece was?”
“Of course I do. It’s not like there were that many pieces.”
“‘Not that many’? There were hundreds!”
When exam season came, Perea could recall even the tiniest comma from her thick textbooks.
Compared to those endless pages, this reconstruction was far more important — it involved the fate of an entire village.
Naturally, there was no such thing as “good enough” for her.
Taking even the pieces from Ray’s hands, Perea worked tirelessly — fitting each one together like she was solving a giant puzzle.
