Chapter 60
Kaon finished speaking and charged straight into the swarm of monsters. Then, starting with the ones in sight, he began cutting them down one by one. Appearing like a flash of light, he turned the tide of battle in an instant with overwhelming force.
His movements were stripped of all excess, his blade striking precisely at the spots where the cores were, slicing through them as if carving out their weaknesses. Monsters struck in a single blow let out shrill screams and writhed in pain. A fireball seized that opening and pierced a core, and the creature ended its life with a howl.
Kaon did not hesitate to strike down the next monster. His eyes, able to perceive the flow of mana, could easily spot the cores that pulsed like hearts pumping blood.
Thanks to his efforts, vigor began to spread through the knights as well. Yvonne, who was steadily holding the front line and making full use of her skill, quickly sensed the shift in mood and shouted to rally their morale.
“What are you all doing? You’re knights—don’t go down so easily!”
“Back at it!”
Kaon glanced behind him. A monster, thrashing wildly and flailing its twisted limbs while letting out a strange cry, collapsed to the ground. The foul stench of burning flesh and fur announced its death.
You’re doing well.
It had been so long since they’d faced such a fierce battle that he’d been worried, but Alesia was calmly doing her part. Though she couldn’t weave an array of different spells into combat, her keen focus allowed her to accurately strike the cores the moment they were exposed.
Kaon pushed deeper into the forest where thick fog clouded his vision. Guided by his sharpened senses, he dashed toward a monster trying to hide after sensing danger. His fearsome speed and unexpected strength gouged deep holes where his feet landed, and death followed wherever his sword reached.
He would wound a monster’s core so severely it could not recover, then hurl the writhing creature out into the open where Alesia could see it. Crippled and barely able to move, they were easy targets for her flames.
Victory was gradually tipping to their side, and Kaon intended to make sure it stayed that way. If they delayed any longer, night would fall, and the fight would surely turn against them.
The process of slashing and felling enemies repeated without pause. The reek of blood and the grotesque stench of death mingled so heavily that his sense of smell felt numb, yet he did not stop. With nowhere left to hide, monsters either fled or were struck down by his hand.
Just a little more…
The monsters’ ferocity was visibly waning. Sensing instinctively that the end was near, Kaon was chasing a fleeing creature back into the darkness when—
“My lady!”
Morris’s desperate cry rang sharply in Kaon’s ears. In an instant, he abandoned the chase and dashed through the fog—only to freeze where he stood.
“…Alesia?”
“The lady was struck by a monster!”
The reality before him was something he could hardly believe.
“She—she jumped in to save me. I couldn’t finish off the monster that was relentlessly attacking me in one blow…”
The knight, his face drained of all color, stammered as he explained. He was one of those guarding the area around Alesia, who was striking down monsters by targeting their cores.
While Kaon was tearing through the enemy’s center, fighting continued on the outskirts as well.
The man was capable of handling a monster on his own, but the battle had dragged on far longer than expected, and his stamina was running low. A sudden shift in the monsters’ strength made them more than he could manage. The one that came at him was the size of a small house, making things worse.
Even so, he hadn’t been on the verge of defeat. He had fought desperately to shake it off and land a blow. But he wasn’t unscathed—blood from a gash on his forehead was blinding him.
Still, he won. Seeing the monster collapse with a loud crash and struggle weakly, he let out a breath of relief. Though he felt he might collapse himself, he gripped his sword again.
That was when something shoved him aside.
With his vision narrowed by the blood in his eyes, he didn’t understand what was happening at first. But when he turned in confusion, the lady he was sworn to protect—the mage, the young noblewoman—was lying on the ground beside him, blood pouring from her.
“It was my… my incompetence… She tried to save me…”
His whole body trembled as he began to sob. He could not believe what had just happened.
“I understand the situation—just get out. Right now, treatment comes first.”
Kaon dismissed the panicked knight and looked down at Alesia.
Her left arm was soaked entirely red. A wolf-shaped monster’s claws had raked across it, leaving four deep gouges. Through the shredded fabric, he could see torn flesh and the pool of blood beneath. Each mark was as big as a grown man’s fist.
And that was with her twisting her body to lessen the blow—her left side had a shallower tear, proof that the knight’s account was true. But that small mercy was still a terrible injury.
Would it heal at all? Even if it did, could it possibly heal without a scar? He could promise nothing.
“Uhh…”
Even unconscious, she kept letting out pained moans, unable to bear the agony. He couldn’t even imagine how excruciating it must be.
The physician quickly sprinkled a medicinal herb powder with numbing and coagulating properties over the wound. On her already slender, fragile arm, the gash looked even larger. The powder fell onto the blood like fresh snow, only to soak in and vanish—leaving the pale skin once again awash in red.
Kaon looked around slowly. The bed’s white sheets were drenched in crimson where she lay. Her silver hair, usually luminous, was flecked with blood, making her seem entirely red. Only her face, drained of all color, was ghostly pale.
The scene felt unreal. Only moments ago, Alesia had been calmly helping him fight, her flames a steady reassurance whenever he caught glimpses of them.
“There’s no poison, so that’s one relief. The wound’s location is at least…”
The physician trailed off, unable to finish. The words fortunate and wound did not belong in the same sentence here. He poured more powder onto the injury, which still looked like a pool of blood.
“It didn’t pierce through the torso, so her organs weren’t damaged—that, too, is fortunate. If they had been… it would have been dire.”
Which meant she would have died. Kaon understood the unspoken words easily enough.
Die? Alesia Ingellos? And while saving someone else? Impossible.
“First, we’ll need to cut away the clothing around the arm. If leather and blood clot together, it’ll be disastrous. We’ll have to cut the coat and the inner dress along the line from shoulder to underarm. There’s also a tear near her side, so we’ll cut only that area as well.”
“…”
“Normally, I’d call in a maid, but winter coats are thick, so it would go much faster if you helped, my lord.”
“…”
“My lord?”
Snapping out of his daze, Kaon quickly moved to assist. The physician skillfully cut away the fabric without disturbing the wound, and Kaon handled the parts the scissors couldn’t cut. Since they couldn’t remove the whole dress, they cut a circular hole over the torn area of her side.
Kaon gathered the scraps of cloth one by one, then, following the physician’s instructions, began wiping the area around the wound with a clean cloth. When the physician moved to summon a maid, Kaon refused and did it himself. He could no longer entrust Alesia to anyone else.
He kept wiping—over and over. With blood soaking even her clothing, it was easier to simply clean everything around the wound.
After changing the water several times, Kaon froze mid-motion.
The skin revealed beneath the blood bore old scars.
“Good heavens, these scars…”
The physician also fell silent at the sight. The marks were numerous and varied—some deep, some shallow—but all bore the same feature: twin rows of teeth.
“Judging by the bite marks, it was a dog. No… more like she was mauled. And not just once—by several, perhaps many more than that.”
The physician’s face tightened as though picturing the scene, then tilted his head in puzzlement.
“With injuries like these, her face and neck should be just as bad, yet they’re unmarked. She’s hidden it well.”
He examined the scars with interest. Kaon suddenly remembered—she always wore dresses with long sleeves. Even in the blazing heat of midsummer.
“Most of the wounds are on the outer side… She must have curled up to shield her front. That wouldn’t have been easy to endure.”
The physician kept talking, unable to stop himself from explaining, even as he sympathized with her suffering.
“But it’s strange. Defensive wounds like these are rare. Usually, when chased by a dog, people turn their backs and run. If they fall, it’s over—there’s no time to curl up neatly like this. Even then, they’d get injured elsewhere.”
“What are you suggesting? That she walked into a room full of vicious dogs on her own?”
“Well, perhaps… but it’s more likely she was forced into such a room. You see, it’s much easier that way. Not that anyone would do something so cruel—heaven would punish such an act.”
He brushed it off as absurd speculation and returned to treating the wound.
“…I-it’s fine. No need… for a physician.”
“Sorry, I must have startled you. I… I’m just a little afraid of dogs.”
“You won’t bite me, right? I’ll come say hello every day, so you mustn’t bite me.”
But Kaon couldn’t brush it aside. Memories surfaced—layering themselves over the old scars—as if each one corresponded to another mark on her body.
“When I go back, I’ll die.”
“Bad things? Like being thrown into a frozen lake in the dead of winter? Or tied to the castle wall to see if I can climb down? Or having fireballs hurled at me to see if I can sense magic?”
“I see… I only ever wanted to live a little better.”
“What I hate… is knowing you’ll never understand why I despise you.”
“It’s not that I hate you. I just…”
“You hate me.”
At last, Kaon looked back on every one of those moments and let out a sigh.
Ah… just what kind of life have you lived?
