Jade looked up in surprise at his suddenly taller face, but he didn’t look at her. The man’s firm jawline was tense.

He seemed to listen to the surrounding sounds for a moment, then grabbed the sword that was placed by the fireplace. His large hand gently wrapped around the sword handle before gripping it tightly. The bones and veins on the back of the man’s hand stood out firmly.

Jade also held her breath in response.

He soon walked to the door and opened it abruptly. Then he asked in a low voice.

“What’s the matter?”

Jade lay face down to hide her body and then peeked out only her eyes over the chair. Although Axel’s broad back blocked most of the view, she could clearly hear the sound.

“I am Pavel, who lives near the lake over there. I’m sorry to disturb you.”

The visitor spoke with a rough voice and a very strong accent. The man continued carefully, sensing Axel’s wariness.

“I first visited the old man’s house, and he said there would be wound medicine here. I brought some small compensation…”

Soon after, there was a rustling sound. Axel reached out his hand to stop the man’s movement.

“Old man? Do you mean the house near the white tree over there? He told you to come here?”

“Y-yes. If the compensation isn’t enough-”

“Wound medicine, huh. What did you get injured by?”

After a long silence, the man said in a tired voice.

“A monster. The wound is deep. I didn’t want to come here, but…”

“Wait there for a moment.”

Axel closed the door and made eye contact with Jade, who had only poked her head out. His purple eyes, with long corners that drooped slightly at the ends, were already sparkling.

“Are you thinking of giving him the medicine?”

“Of course.”

“Are you also thinking of going to see for yourself?”

“That too, of course.”

Axel nodded slightly and said.

“Put on your outer clothes.”

Jade rushed over, put on the hat she had become accustomed to, and wrapped a thick cloak around her body. Then she swept the green wound medicine she had made and various dried herbs into her leather bag and slung it over her shoulder.

When they went outside, the person waiting for them was a short man with a very frail body.

He was standing there bareheaded, directly facing the wind, and as soon as Jade and Axel came out, he turned around and led the way. Jade didn’t even have time to greet him due to his hurried pace.

Meanwhile, Axel stopped her.

“Tie your hat strings properly.”

“But he’s waiting…!”

“It flew off and got caught in a tree branch last time. Let’s not climb trees in this situation.”

Jade grumbled inwardly as she properly tied the strings under her chin. Only then did Axel start moving again.

This kind of nagging is a first since I was eight years old.

Jade sniffled embarrassedly and caught Pavel’s eye as he glanced at them furtively.

“I-I’m sorry for the urgency.”

When Jade smiled awkwardly, Pavel shook his head as if to say it was fine.

“You two seem close.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Not really.”

When the two people denied it simultaneously with serious faces, the man rather smiled faintly.

“That’s right. The wind is strong near the lake, so if you don’t want your cheeks to freeze, it’s better to wear your hat well. This way.”

The path following Pavel was very unfamiliar.

Judging by the fact that neither Axel nor Ollie had ever introduced this place, it seemed that the people living in the Athanase Forest generally kept to their own territories.

Jade glanced sideways at Axel. He was still staring ahead with an indifferent face, but he hadn’t let go of his sword the entire time they were walking.

The place they arrived at after walking for a long time was a house that looked very peaceful on the outside. Although it was small, a well-tended space that had been made into a small vegetable garden caught the eye.

It was desolate due to winter, but it seemed to show the man’s meticulous and diligent personality.

“It’s messy inside.”

“That’s okay.”

Axel grabbed the back of Jade’s neck as she tried to enter first and pulled her back.

“What!”

“Why are you so careless?”

He said irritably and stepped into the house first. Jade whispered to Pavel, ‘His way of speaking is always like this…,’ gossiping about him before following him inside.

Perhaps because the house was small, the bed appeared right away as soon as they entered. The young girl lying on it looked really unwell, with her face turning yellow. Jade rushed over.

The girl, sensing their presence, opened her flickering eyes, but they were unfocused.

“D-daddy…”

“Hello. I’m Jade. Can I take a look at you for a moment?”

Jade was shocked even before hearing an answer, placing the back of her hand on the girl’s forehead. It was like a ball of fire everywhere she touched. It was amazing that the girl could maintain consciousness at this level.

When she pulled back the blanket, the wounded area was on the hand and arm, and the parts wrapped with cloth were already dirty and damp with something that had flowed out. The fingertips seemed slightly cut, but fortunately, the bleeding had stopped.

“Water! Water! Warm water! No, cold water too!”

Pavel rushed to the fireplace in surprise, and Jade emptied her bag onto the floor. There was enough wound medicine made from Loroa root. If they could just prevent the wound from worsening, there was hope.

“Axel, can you grind this and extract the juice?”

“…Me?”

“Who else? I’m busy!”

Given the situation, Jade was now taking the lead inside the house.

Axel walked over languidly and started grinding the herbs as she had said. There wasn’t much juice, but when diluted with water, the color actually became darker.

“Please feed her this. I’ll apply some medicine to the wound.”

As soon as Jade applied the medicine to the wound, the girl started kicking and crying loudly. Both Loroa root and swallow-wort had disinfecting effects, so it was very painful when applied to wounds.

“Oh, it’ll be over soon. Really! You’ll lose all your water through tears. Stop crying! This is water. Would you like to drink some?”

As soon as the girl drank what her father put to her lips, she writhed even more violently. She must have believed Jade’s lie, but it was a bitter medicine.

Pavel, at a loss, separated the girl’s hair strands that were stuck to her forehead with sweat.

“L-look here. The child is in so much pain-”

“I may not be an expert in potions, but this child will die if we don’t bring down her fever quickly. Feed her.”

At the firm answer, Pavel, with a hardened face, soothed the girl and finished feeding her the medicine. Meanwhile, Jade scraped off the pus and applied the medicine thickly.

“Don’t wrap it with bandages, just leave it like this. Have you stopped the bleeding on her fingers?”

“As much as possible…”

As tears finally welled up in his tired and weary-looking face, Jade looked at Pavel with pity.

Even if she was lucky and the fever went down and the wound healed well, the innocent girl who should be playing carefree had lost a knuckle of her ring finger. How heartbroken her father must be!

Jade’s heart ached as she thought of her parents, whom she had lost to a fever. That’s why she did her absolute best, doing everything she could.

Finally, when all the treatment was finished, it was already deep into the night. The girl fell asleep as if she had fainted. Fortunately, her breathing was not as labored as it had been at first.

“I don’t have much of the fever-reducing herb left either. I’ll search around and try to get some more. For now, make sure to feed her this antipyretic until it’s gone, and reapply this ointment whenever the dark green color becomes transparent.”

“Will, will she be alright then?”

“I can’t promise anything.”

Jade regretted not consistently continuing her studies in herbology and potion-making.

Since the Earth mages took charge of healing, she felt less need for it and gradually neglected it. It was fortunate that she had made some medicine with what little knowledge she had.

Looking to the side, she saw Axel standing still, quietly observing the girl. Jade was about to suggest that they go out together to look for aspen trees. That was until his lips parted.

“So.”

Axel’s ash-colored eyes were indifferent.

“That fingertip. Where did it go?”

Pavel finally let tears fall down his wrinkled cheeks. After sobbing for a while, he stammered out his sorrow.

“The, the monster ate it…”

Unable to finish his words, he curled up and sobbed. Jade and Axel’s gazes met over the weeping Pavel.

A monster that had recognized the presence of prey and eaten a part of it would not leave the vicinity of this house. That was a common habit of monsters. Not leaving the area of prey they had once eaten.

If they wanted to help Pavel and the girl, they would have to catch and kill that monster.

After telling Pavel to absolutely not leave the house and never respond to any sounds of knocking on windows or doors at night, Axel and Jade left the house for now.

Returning home, he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his face deep in thought.

Jade couldn’t hold back and spoke first.

“Are you going to help?”

She hoped he would, but there didn’t seem to be much reason for him to do so.

Even if the monster continued to target the girl, it had nothing to do with Axel. In a forest where resources, time, and leisure were all scarce, it couldn’t be helped.

But unexpectedly, Axel nodded readily.

“Oh…”

“Why that reaction?”

“No, it’s just… Of course, Axel, you are very, very kind, but…”

Axel frowned in annoyance.

“It’s not for that kind of reason. If you leave a monster that’s tasted human flesh alone, it becomes really troublesome. There’s a high chance it’ll grow bigger too. Then it’ll come to eat you, the mage, first, and I’d have to kill it anyway.”

Isn’t that too far in the future…?

But Jade swallowed her words. She shouldn’t provoke him any further. What if he gets annoyed and refuses to help?

She just giggled inwardly.

Between accepting Ollie’s persuasion to take care of a burden like me, and this, he’s really softer than I thought.

But seeing her cheeks tremble with suppressed laughter, his face was becoming increasingly displeased.

Jade quickly cleared her throat and asked.

“Do you know where the monster’s habitat is?”

“As far as I know, there are no large habitats in this forest. Probably because there isn’t enough food. Just small ones like the ones you’ve encountered occasionally roaming around.”

“Is it too unreasonable to search all around Pavel’s house…?”

Axel slightly furrowed his brows, then soon sighed.

“That can be done, but to be honest, it’s difficult for me to help in that aspect.”

“Why?”

“Because monsters avoid coming near me.”

Jade could immediately understand what he meant.

Some might describe monsters as cursed beings consumed by instinct, but those who have participated in monster subjugation often disagree with that statement.

This is because monsters were smarter than people thought.

Monsters knew how to set traps or be patient, expecting more prey later, and they accurately identified which prey to target.

So they also knew which opponents to avoid.

Probably in the Athanase Forest, Axel was clearly recognized by monsters as an opponent to be avoided. Not prey that they dared to eat.

The logic of power was clear.

“You mean they’ll hide when they see you?”

“Yes.”

Jade spoke without much thought while stirring the firewood with a poker.

“Well, that’s easy. I’ll be the bait.”