Sharti glared at the man.

The letters trembled slightly.

“I……”

The man furrowed his brow. He could not clearly express his conflicted feelings.

It was when the man was about to rub his face in frustration.

‘……Shh.’

Sharti put her index finger over her lips.

Not far away, the sound of fluttering wings echoed. A flock of birds was flying into the sky as if fleeing.

‘They’ve already closed the distance this much?’

Sharti quickly rummaged through her bag.

Small pouches familiar to the man appeared.

“Surely you’re not planning to throw those at the soldiers? If you do that…!”

The man said in a hushed voice.

Sharti shook her head and spread the contents of the pouches around the spring.

“……A sweet scent?”

Immediately, Sharti grabbed the man’s hand and started running.

‘Ugh!’

Her precarious right leg finally sent a signal. Sharti gritted her teeth and ran as fast as she could.

At this moment, the man’s gaze was fixed on Sharti’s right leg.

‘Please!’

Sharti threw and scattered the small pouches with opened mouths on the ground.

Traces began to appear on every patch of ground they passed.

“- There!! Chase them!!”

Sharti gritted her teeth at the clear, resounding shout.

As they were running, their footprints were messily imprinted, making it easier for the soldiers to chase.

The only consolation was that the ground was all wet and muddy.

“……I can’t see well!”

“I’m not sure, but it’s huge!”

“Just catch them and check!”

The voices of the soldiers grew closer.

At the same time, she had used up all the pouches she had.

“Hold on tight.”

As soon as Sharti gasped, the man picked her up and ran quickly.

Soon the muddy ground ended and a grassy field appeared.

‘There! Hide there!!’

Finally, they arrived at the place Sharti wanted. It was a place with large boulders scattered about, as if a huge stone wall had collapsed.

Rustle-. The man hid behind the largest and sturdiest-looking boulder Sharti pointed to.

Sharti hurriedly took out a fruit jam from her bag and prayed with both hands.

‘It has to work!’

Sharti threw the fruit jam with all her might behind the boulder.

Crash-. Luckily, the fruit jam jar broke as it hit a stone among the grass.

“……!”

The man was startled by the sound of the breaking jar, but only for a moment before Sharti pounced on him.

‘Bear with it even if it’s stifling!’

Sharti took off her robe and covered herself and the man.

As her hair suddenly came close enough to touch his face, the man drew in a sharp breath. At the same time, the soldiers began to appear one by one.

“Squad leader! The trail ends here!”

“Wh-what? Where did they go?!”

Perhaps because it was a place full of undergrowth instead of trees, the soldiers’ shadows lengthened under the moonlight.

The long shadows covered the boulder.

“Search! They couldn’t have gone far-.”

Crunch…… Dodint, the squad leader of the soldiers, checked what he had stepped on.

It was a piece of glass from the jar Sharti had thrown and broken.

“What’s this?”

“Isn’t it a bottle?”

“Hmm? There’s some sticky liquid mixed with bits of something……”

“It’s covered in dirt, so I can’t tell……”

The soldiers murmured.

Sharti, eavesdropping on their conversation from not too far away, felt like her heart was about to burst.

The man’s heart was also racing, albeit for a different reason.

“Forget it. Search the surroundings immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

At Dodint’s command, Sharti squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Hurry!’

The man held Sharti’s trembling body tightly.

Rustle rustle.

“……!”

“……!”

“Squeak……”

Sharti and the man held their breath at the crying sound coming from right beside them.

Something was nudging the robe they were covered with.

Sniff sniff. Then it sniffed and gradually moved away, passing the boulder.

“Sq-squad leader. That…… isn’t that a bear?”

What had touched Sharti and the man and come out from behind the boulder where they were hiding was a black bear.

“It looks like a cub……”

It was indeed a bear cub.

The bear cub was burying its nose in the undergrowth, sniffing continuously.

“Could what we were chasing be this bear cub?”

One soldier asked with a dumbfounded expression.

The bear cub was now lowering its body and sticking its nose near several soldiers’ feet.

“How could that be! It was definitely something huge!!”

“But the direction this bear came from was ahead. If what we were chasing was human, why would this bear come towards us?”

The bear cub was fearlessly sticking out its tongue to lick the soles of their feet.

“Damn it…… It was definitely a person.”

Dodint gritted his teeth and looked around.

The man hiding behind the boulder was in agony.

“……”

In a situation where he had to be careful even with his breathing, he felt heat rising not only in his body but also in his head.

Her curly hair tickled the tip of his nose and cheeks, and her soft exhales brushed against his neck.

‘This is maddening.’

The man repeatedly curled and uncurled his finger joints in an awkward posture.

Sharti, who had suddenly taken off her robe before the soldiers appeared, was now sitting on his thighs. She had unhesitatingly taken up this position on top of him to hide under the spread-out robe.

‘Why is she pressing so close……’

With every breath he took, the strong scent of herbs emanating from Sharti’s body stimulated his sense of smell.

All the medicines she made had various distinct smells. However, from Sharti’s body, which must have absorbed all those scents, he could only smell a pleasant fragrance.

‘I thought I’d lost my memory, but have I lost my sense of smell too?’

But there was another problem.

‘I may be strange, but this woman is just as strange.’

Although they communicated through writing, Sharti had readily grabbed the hand of an unfamiliar man whose identity was unknown. Moreover, she showed no sign of embarrassment when examining his body for treatment.

‘It’s the same now.’

Although he was wearing the robe Sharti had provided, his upper body underneath was bare. Yet Sharti, who was clinging to him in a position that looked like she had pounced on him, showed no reaction.

He was truly treated as just a patient. Nothing more, nothing less.

‘……No, what am I even saying?’

The man reflexively suppressed his displeasure.

Sharti had no unnecessary contact or unpleasant intentions. Rather, it was a welcoming and fortunate situation.

If someone who meant him harm had been in charge of his well-being, he might have come to his senses while being tortured instead of treated.

‘Get a grip.’

The man closed his eyes.

He tried his best to ignore the sensations focused on Sharti.

‘……Come to think of it, I couldn’t see her face properly when she took off her hood earlier.’

Sharti had her back to the moon, casting shadows on her face.

Still, thanks to his keen night vision, he could vaguely make out the contours of her face.

‘There were no scars.’

He vaguely knew but was curious.

Why Sharti was covering her face like that.

‘Haah……’

He hesitantly clenched and unclenched his hand with protruding veins, continuing his useless thoughts. If he didn’t, he might bury his nose between Sharti’s neck and shoulder and sniff madly.

Just like the bear cub that had been nudging the robe earlier.

“Then, squad leader, what should we do? Keep searching?”

“Of course we continue the search since we haven’t found anything!”

“But if we go deeper into the mountain, it’ll be dangerous. Isn’t there a saying that mountains are more treacherous at dawn than at night? It might be better to come back during the day……”

“Are you scared?”

Ching-. Dodint drew his sword and pointed it at the subordinate soldier.

His eyes reflected in the blue blade were fierce.

“There’s something at stake in this search worth more than your lives, and you want to leave like this?”

“N-no! I just meant we should come back when it’s light……”

“If you’re a soldier, listen to what your superior says!!”

Having already climbed the mountain once, the target might smell them and run away.

His eyes glittered with impatience born from his ambition for promotion.

“Sq-squad leader!”

As the soldiers hesitated, Dodint gripped his sword tightly.

“What’s the big deal!”

Dodint swung his sword down towards the bear cub.

“……Squeak-!”

The bear cub, barely avoiding the strike, cowered in fear. The pitiful cry of the bear began to echo through the mountain.

“In the mountains!”

The soldier who had been skeptical about the search cried out with a pale face, his eyes tightly shut.

“If there’s a bear cub, of course there must be a mother bear!”

“……What?”

Dodint, who had been smirking at the trembling bear cub, flinched.

Rustle-.

“……!”

The gazes of all the soldiers opposite Dodint turned towards something behind his shoulder. It was the direction they had come from, pushing through the undergrowth.

“Why suddenly……”

With a chill running down his spine, Dodint slowly turned his head.

His gaze, along with those of the soldiers, gradually moved upward.

“Grrrrr……”

A giant bear, twice the size of an adult man, was approaching with its sharp teeth bared.

“Oh, no!!”

“Draw your swords now!”

“Aaaaah!”

Just as the soldiers, backing away from the bear, placed their hands on their sword hilts, the bear’s roar engulfed the mountain. The soldiers turned pale at the ear-splitting roar.

“……!”

In that moment, Sharti quickly lifted the robe. Simultaneously, the man who had been holding Sharti picked her up and fled with his back to the boulder.

Sharti silently marveled at the man’s quick-witted action. The man laughed as if sighing in response.

“You erased our scent, and used the sweet smell as bait.”

The man frowned incredulously as he ran quickly.

“I didn’t expect it was to lure such a large beast though.”

He had already recognized Sharti’s reckless and dangerous planning from the cave onwards.

Since Sharti had been sprinkling beast-repelling herbs in front of the cave each time, the man could also anticipate the dangerous beings in the mountain.

“……”

Sharti hit the man’s arm as if asking to be put down, but the man turned his head away completely. At this clear show of disdain, Sharti made an exasperated expression.

“How many of the soldiers do you think will face the bear? They’ve certainly scattered and fled.”

“……”

“Hah. Just guide me on the way from here. I don’t know how far you can run with that leg.”

As his gaze moved towards her leg, Sharti quickly pulled down her robe.

Watching Sharti meticulously close her robe, the man first checked her breathing.

‘It’s a bit better now.’

Sharti had been limping and gasping for breath throughout their escape from the soldiers.

She seemed to be trying not to show it, but the man strangely noticed the other’s condition keenly.

Besides that, it was strange how he fluently predicted the simple action range of the soldiers, but the man didn’t delve deep into it.

He could slowly piece together things about himself later.

‘Now I need to get this woman to a safe place first.’

The muscles in his arms supporting Sharti’s back and the back of her knees tensed.