Vol 2 Chapter 8.2 (1/2)

Translated by mranon

Edited by OnionRings27

2nd Volume, 8th Chapter 【Backs of the Two Conversers】 2nd Part

Doorey, who felt that his prank had crossed the limit, looked at the shattered cup with a faint smile. After offering an apology to the owner of the food stall, he handed over several copper coins.

「――O-oh well, it was just a joke. From what you said, Seiji-kun seems to be a nice boy. It’s alright.」

「A-aah, right.」

As if trying to dispel the unrest, Arnold raised the cup, which had nothing but the handle left, to his mouth with a trembling hand.

Observing his state, Doorey’s gaze rested on the other party’s ear.

「――…Hey, that wound…」

「N? This? Aah… It’s not a wound that I received during the invasion by demons. It’s an event that happened after you left the village.」

「Ah~… Sorry for the joke just now… Are you okay?」

Doorey asked, while observing his friend’s expression.

After learning of Millay’s death, Doorey received quite a shock. However, his biggest concern was her family: Arnold and Lim.

That he reunited with his dear friend, there would surely be many inquiries of the past events during the conversation.

He wouldn’t be able to bear the burden of making his friend, who had lost his wife, talk about the past anew. Therefore, those words made him worried.

「Don’t worry… I’m alright now. I recalled those days when I talked to you, who was a close friend of Millay as well.」

「……」

「…」

「It’s a little difficult… But I’m glad at the same time.」

「That again… Why?」

Doorey, who couldn’t understand the meaning of those words right away, had a wondering look about his face.

「I knew her… knew Millay well… However, there may be something about her which I’m unaware of. By talking to you, I recall her. Maybe I will be able to discover a completely new aspect of her.」

「……ああ」

「… Aah…」

「I know I won’t be able to meet her again――Still… I’m glad…」

Doorey put the raised cup on the table and uttered these words with a downcast face.

「Millay-san was truly lucky…」

He lost his parents early, but he didn’t leave his village because of the lingering affection. The partner who he yearned for tied the knot with his friend. Albeit slight, it was a push on his back.

He spent more than ten years to succeed as a merchant. His feelings were stable because he wished for them to live happily from the bottom of his heart.

Still, upon learning of Millay’s death, he couldn’t keep the acc.u.mulation of 『If only she had married me and left the village…』 thoughts from leaking through his face.

However, such a thought flushed out of his heart.

With this, he was glad――――

「――As for this wound… It was when Lim was 7 years old. Millay was on bedrest due to an illness. It was 《Red Fever》.」

Red Fever was an endemic disease of unknown cause that tended to occur in the region where Arnold and his family used to live. Upon contracting the disease, one would suffer from high fever.

It was an incurable disease wherein fever would persist for 7 days and 7 nights. If one had weak resistance, they could even lose their life.

There were extremely few people amongst beastkin capable of using magic, and there was no one who could use healing magic.

Even if there were, they would have no chance of healing it via magic if they didn’t know its cause.

However, there was a makes.h.i.+ft solution. If you boiled and drank the moss which grew on the sh.e.l.l of a tortoise esque monster 《Meditortoise》, that could be found in the village they used to live in, you could bring the temperature down.

「Indeed… Ordinary antipyretic herbs would be ineffective.」

「Aah, although Meditortoise isn’t an aggressive monster, it attacks if approached. Moreover, it’s quite strong.」

「I have seen it, too… Picking its moss is equivalent to putting your life on the line.」

Nevertheless, it could lower the temperature. When Arnold was about to venture into the depths of the forest, Millay stopped him.

‘Don’t try anything reckless,’ she said because she knew he would keep at it even if there were no such moss.

Arnold was troubled for a moment but nodded to Millay’s words in the next. He then devoted himself to nursing her.

――Three days pa.s.sed. The one who couldn’t bear to watch Millay suffering from fever was her daughter, Lim.

『Papa is a coward. I will save Mama.』

Leaving that note, she left for the forest in the night by herself.

Early in the morning, when Arnold read the note, he darted off to the forest.