Sharti quickly moved into the shade, carefully fastening her robe.

Though she was covered from head to toe in a long, thick robe, she had to be prepared for anything. It would be disastrous if someone recognized her appearance.

‘Even though it’s a remote mountainous region, this village is quite large. I must be careful.’

After all, it was the sanctuary she had finally found.

She had to live as inconspicuously as possible, drawing as little attention as possible.

‘Fortunately, they don’t reject outsiders here.’

Usually, mountain villages are not friendly to outsiders.

Luckily, Sharti had been granted special permission to come and go from the village.

Despite her suspicious appearance, it was a result of considering Sharti’s profession.

‘But today, I’ll have to return empty-handed again.’

Sharti swallowed her disappointment as she left the store empty-handed. Due to the crowded store and uncomfortable conversation topics, she failed to make a purchase again today.

‘The war has already ended.’

Starting with the destruction of the Kingdom of Krianet, the Newyton Empire declared a large-scale war against other countries.

And at the forefront of that war was Leodelt Gwendhill.

Five years ago, he was the owner of the military boots Sharti had seen.

‘The War Ghost…’

A war ghost without blood or tears. There were many rumors about the man who was said to be fitting for a ghost without emotions. They said he cut down a hundred soldiers in a day, mercilessly beheaded a woman who sneaked into his bedroom, and enjoyed burning down the palaces of defeated countries, and so on.

The tags and rumors that followed the name ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ were gloomy and bizarre, but he was still a hero.

[I heard he’s handsome. They say he’s well-built too.] [His personality is terrible. Does the Emperor of the Empire have no eye for people? To keep such a war ghost by his side.] [I heard he’s the master of the Gwendhill Grand Duke family that has shared the history of the Newyton Empire.]

Rumors about high nobles could be heard everywhere.

Sharti rubbed her throat, which was particularly stinging today.

‘…It has nothing to do with me.’

Sharti stopped her useless thoughts.

Sharti Krianet no longer existed anywhere in the world.

She had even abandoned the name ‘Sharti’ just in case.

‘I should just sell herbs and return.’

Her right ankle and leg were aching more than usual today.

‘Is a typhoon coming?’

She slightly lifted her hood to check the sky. The wind was ominous, and the sky was cloudy. It seemed she should return home quickly.

Sharti turned around.

“Sha! Sha, is that you?!”

Sharti, her face hidden under the hood, flinched at the urgent voice calling from behind. Soon recognizing the familiar voice, Sharti turned her head.

A woman with orange hair full of freckles was sobbing.

“Sha, what should we do?! Tein is nowhere to be seen. I think he went up the mountain, but he still hasn’t come back!”

“…!”

“Huuung… Sha, what if Tein is caught in a hunting trap and can’t come down? Or, or what if he’s been captured somewhere?”

Sharti quickly grabbed the orange-haired woman’s hand to comfort her.

Birena sniffled at the message conveyed through her palm.

“Thank you, Sha. If you happen to meet Tein in the mountains, please tell him to come home before the typhoon hits. I’ll contact grandmother just in case.”

Sharti nodded under her hood.

Leaving the worried Birena behind, Sharti left the village.

‘The path Tein might have taken is…’

Sharti surveyed the mountain path.

Then she checked the location and direction of the grass that had been recently stepped on. Turning her back on the small village nestled between the rugged terrain of the foothills, Sharti climbed the steep mountain.

Ignoring the pain in her throbbing leg, she climbed for a long time until she saw an old log cabin.

‘There’s no sign he stopped by the house. Where could he have gone? He usually visits my house first when he comes up the mountain.’

Sharti confirmed there was no presence inside her house.

It was then that the raindrops, which had started falling little by little since she began climbing the mountain, began to turn into a downpour.

‘This is bad. It’s going to be a typhoon.’

Remembering the sobbing Birena, Sharti once again stepped into the undergrowth.

Shwaa-. The rain gradually intensified, and the wind blew stronger.

‘A place nearby where Tein might go…’

She wanted to call out Tein’s name, but it was useless in the typhoon. It was almost impossible for her to make a loud sound with her throat condition, but instead, Sharti was familiar with the mountain terrain.

Sharti put strength in her legs.

The child might have fallen into the valley stream near the foothills due to the typhoon.

“Hey! Teacher!”

It was while she was checking around the valley stream that was about to overflow.

A child with short orange hair was waving his small hand vigorously from atop a tree.

“…!”

As she rushed over, Tein jumped down from the tree with his small body. Sharti spread her arms to catch the child.

The child’s small body was all dirty with rainwater and mud.

As Sharti hurriedly took off her robe to cover the child, Tein shouted urgently.

“Teacher! There’s a beast that looks like a person!”

“…?”

Tein’s words were hard to hear over the sound of the rain.

Tein, with a flushed face, guided Sharti somewhere.

“It’s in the cave, Teacher!”

Following the valley stream, the place Tein guided her to was a small cave she had made in the cliff.

Sharti quickly entered the small cave with Tein to escape the typhoon.

“…!”

Sharti, who had entered to the very back of the cave, took a sharp breath.

Just as Tein had said, fierce glowing eyes were flickering in the dark cave.

It was literally the eyes of a beast. Moreover, it was a raw gaze, brimming with rough and incomplete killing intent.

“It’s awake.”

At Tein’s words, who was tightly holding onto the robe, Sharti came to her senses. She first hid Tein behind her body.

‘…It’s not an animal.’

Despite her heart pounding rapidly, Sharti’s mind was cool.

She had to think rationally in this place.

‘I had sprinkled poisonous herbs around here to prevent predators from approaching.’

The cave Tein had taken her to was a kind of hideout she had made. It was a cave she had created as a place to temporarily hide if she ever needed to run away again.

‘Now no beasts with such a large body approach this area.’

Because tigers, bears, and other beasts had already fallen victim to the poisonous herbs Sharti had sprinkled, predators no longer approached the cave.

“Teacher…”

Facing the fiercely glowing eyes in the narrow, dark cave seemed to have scared him.

As she was about to hold his hand to reassure him, Tein muttered.

“If it’s a beast, I’ll give you the hide, Teacher.”

“…”

Indeed, Tein was an extraordinary child. It was fitting for ‘her’ grandson.

Sharti swallowed dry saliva once and entered further into the cave.

She felt a chill due to being soaked by the downpour that came with the typhoon.

“…Huff, ugh… urk-”

The breathing sound coming from the deepest part of the cave grew louder and louder.

Tein quickly pressed himself against the cave wall.

“…Teacher.”

Ignoring Tein’s gesture to come here, Sharti took a deep breath and moved forward step by step.

They couldn’t go out of the cave and return home through the typhoon anyway. This small cave was the only place nearby to shelter from the rain.

‘It’s okay.’

Sharti steeled herself.

Seeing the fierce glowing eyes gradually dim, it didn’t seem to be in a normal state either.

She quietly moved to the side and felt along the cave wall with her fingertips.

‘If it threatens, I’ll stab.’

Sharti grasped the long staff hanging on the wall.

The tip of the staff was coated with paralyzing poison, making it a sufficient threatening weapon.

Drip. Drip.

“…!”

‘Sha’ had to stop.

The pungent smell of blood was pooling in the farthest corner of the cave.

Its source was not a beast, but a person. A very large one at that.

“Huff… urk…”

The intermittent groans were getting weaker and weaker.

“Teacher!”

The 7-year-old child was clever.

Tein handed Sharti bandages and herbs he had taken out of a small drawer in the cave.

“…”

Sharti received the treatment tools Tein handed her, hiding her trembling heart. She approached the figure before her with unsteady steps.

The smell of gunpowder and blood mixed and wafted.

‘Is it someone caught in an explosion?’

Sharti bent down first. It was to check the wounded area.

At that moment, the black figure stirred.

Whoosh-!

“…Who, are you…”

Before Sharti could reach out her hand, something sharp grazed the side of her neck.

Startled by the attack that came in the blink of an eye, Sharti stumbled back. Her hand tightened on the staff.

“You’ve, huff… followed me… urk, all the way… here… You must… ugh… really want… to get rid of me…”

The figure before her, rising unsteadily, was truly enormous.

To Sharti’s eyes, he looked even more rugged than a bear. Sharti touched her stinging neck.

‘But I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before…’

She had a strange sense of déjà vu.

Her gaze gradually moved upward.

Short hair and a black top torn and charred. The muscles visible in between. Among them, the most striking were the blue-green eyes stained with blood that had flowed from his forehead.

“…Why don’t you… try to kill me…”

The man, still not letting go of the sword in his hand, raised it while staggering.

Even with such a small movement, blood gushed from the wound in his abdomen. The pool of blood at his feet had been deepening since the moment he stood up.

‘He’ll die at this rate!’

Sharti squeezed her eyes shut. She swung down hard with the long staff she had been holding.

Thwack! She successfully struck the man’s left knee.

“…!”

It was enough to make even such a large man lose his balance for a moment.

Clang. At the sound of the sword falling, ‘Sha’ opened her eyes.

“…Urgh… haah…”

The man, already unconscious, had collapsed onto the thin bedding.

Sharti stood up, forcing strength into her trembling legs, and checked the man’s condition.

‘He’s lost too much blood.’

The body visible through the tattered clothes was a sight to behold. The man was covered in large and small wounds from being cut and stabbed by swords all over his body.

‘He’s not dead, is he?’

Sharti leaned down to check his faint breathing.

Up close, the man’s features were distinct even in the darkness.

Sharti carefully wiped the blood from the man’s forehead with her sleeve.

“…Ungh…”

At the touch of the cold, wet cloth, his furrowed brow twitched for a moment, but showed no signs of opening his eyes. He seemed to be losing consciousness gradually.

“Teacher! I brought water!”

Tein, who had thoughtfully collected rainwater in a gourd without being told, was already sitting beside her.

In the current situation, they had to use even rainwater to check his dirty body.

Sharti patted Tein’s head and then placed her hand on the man’s top. There was no hesitation in touching the patient’s body.

“I’m tearing it for quick treatment!”

“…”

The man’s top tore easily at ‘Sha’s’ touch, so worn out it had become.

“More! We need to tear more, Teacher!”

The belated embarrassment was Sharti’s to bear.