Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Tarhan rummaged through the lunchbox she had brought a couple more times, picked up a large chunk of meat, and patted his stomach as if he was full. Then, he muttered to her as Enya glanced up with a nearly crying face, looking really helpless.

“You packed a lot, it’s a waste.”

She gazed at him with shaky eyes. He must have been lying when he said he hadn’t eaten.

Tarhan, who was looking down at her, who was staring at him, lost for words, gently brushed her hair over her ears with a somehow hesitant hand.

“…Are you very lonely these days?”

Enya looked up at the man in a blink of an eye.

‘…Lonely? What does that mean?’

As he examined her expression, he lightly swept her cheek with his index finger and murmured, avoiding her gaze.

“…These days, I can’t even come home early. I can’t even take a meal with you.”

Saying so, he looked down at her with a regretful face.

Enya soon realized that he had taken to heart what Reyhald had said earlier. There was an inexplicable emotion in his expression as he looked down at her. Her image was reflected in the eyes that contained emotions that could not be defined, such as anxiety or impatience.

She eventually realized that she was making the same expression as him.

Soon, she understood the reason for that feeling.

So far, everything in her world has been Tarhan. From the very moment when two young boys and girls who did not belong anywhere shared a hut to survive, they had been relying on each other for a long time. They each held each other’s life, avoiding the cold at night and digging into each other’s arms to seek warmth.

There was no other person in the strong castle of only the two people until now.

Tarhan was her only conversation partner, friend, lover, and family. It was the same with Enya… each was that kind of existence to the other.

His keen senses sensed that someone was trying to squeeze through the gap. The relationship between the two, which seemed to never be broken, was about to crack, and Enya wasn’t the only one who was terrified by that feeling.

“It’s…”

Not knowing what to do, she was about to answer no, but he quickly covered her mouth.

“It’s okay. As long as… you’re not like that.”

As his large hand cupped her cheek, groping her soft cheek and touching her lips, Enya’s thumb touched his as she naturally opened her mouth slightly. However, contrary to what she thought that would come with his body, he was satisfied with just gently brushing her lips with his finger.

She just closed her eyes for a moment at the touch before opening them slowly.

She couldn’t read the expression on Tarhan’s face anymore.

The Nervana people actually came to meet her at the entrance of the village when their purification ceremony began. As promised with Tarhan, she waited for them with Rigata and joined them.

“What? I’ve never seen this man before.”

Yaru glanced at Rigata and teased him with a sweet smile. Then, Nihitan looked down at Yaru and said a word as if to warn her.

“It is an escort sent by Aquilea. Don’t think he’s human.”

Hearing that, Rigata frowned, but he immediately glanced at Enya on a gerpan and then closed his mouth again. Enya looked at Rigata’s uneasy face and mouthed.

‘There must be a lot of work to do, but they came with me because of Tarhan’s order…’

It was her who had a hard time with Rigata, who was usually serious and taciturn. Although he received Tarhan’s infinite trust, he was not that close to her. So, without even knowing in his dreams that he had received Tarhan’s trust, Enya opened her mouth to please Rigata.

“Have you ever heard of the purification ceremony in Nervana Forest, Rigata?”

“Of course, I’ve heard of it. I have heard rumors that the creatures in Nervana Forest have low vitality, and they wriggle out of the forest.”

Reyhald, who had been listening silently, screamed loudly.

“Hey, brother! That’s too much to say! Do you really want to test if we’re just words? Nervana forest warriors are always ready…!”

While doing so, he waved his muscular arm, and Enya hurriedly turned her head when she saw the scene where the huge forearm made entirely of muscles moved flexibly, and the tattoo on his skin twitched.

Indeed, the warriors of Nervana Forest who were taking them somewhere as if escorting them all had sturdy and strong physiques, one by one, just like the chief hunters of Aquilea. Unlike Enya, who was a little intimidated by that, Rigata just stared straight ahead without loosening his arms, despite Reyhald’s provocation.

“…They say it’s an ancient tribe shrouded in mystery, but that imagination is completely shattered. It would have been better if we never met.”

Enya bit her lip to hold back laughter at Rigata’s words.

As expected, he was a high-ranking warrior as expected of the limbs of the Aquilea tribal chief, and he had an attitude showing that he was no match for a kid from another tribe who had just completed the coming-of-age ceremony on Reyhald’s level.

Yaru sighed strangely from behind as she watched Rigata move forward without hesitation, driving the gerpan like a stone statue without paying attention to Reyhald.

“Oh wow. So cool, it’s my taste.”

Nihitan, another Nervana warrior with long hair hanging silently behind Yaru, glanced at it with strange gaze and replied bluntly:

“What is your taste?”

Yaru snorted back.

“Oh? A handsome older man who gives off a serious and reticent feeling.”

Reyhald then shouted from behind.

“How about a tough and intelligent man younger than you, Yaru. Huh? Don’t mess with only one man every day, and look for a new mate in the spring season when you come back. Like me, huh?”

Yaru, with a suddenly twisted face, stuck out his little finger at Reyhald.

In the midst of Nervana-style profanity, they soon reached the forest where the purification ceremony was to take place. Every time their feet dug through the weedy forest path, a nearby bug chugged.

Come to think of it, the sounds of wild beasts that she couldn’t usually hear were echoing faintly.

‘…Weird. Was the forest always this noisy?’

As Enya thought it was strange and looked around with a slightly uneasy expression, Kiyan, who was slowly driving her gerpan in front of her, explained to her without turning her head.

“It’s just that the forest is in an uproar because of the energy of the members of Nervana. For them, it’s like we’ve invaded their territory. So they’re a little surprised. It gets better with time.”

She was startled to hear Kiyan, who hadn’t even looked at her, answer a question she had been wondering in her mind. Despite her seemingly nonchalant appearance, she had the uncanny feeling that all the Nervanas around her seemed to be paying attention to her.

And so, they walked for a long time along the forest road with thick trees.

In the small empty lot, they arrived in time, they began to unpack their things. Enya did not participate in the ceremony herself, as they had initially promised. She stood in a corner with Rigata and watched them.

First, the ceremony of Kiyan’s tribe’s, which consisted of only women, began.

The procedure was very unfamiliar to her. In fact, it didn’t even look that grand. They painted their white skin in various colors and drew round circles with ornaments that looked like they were crafted from monster bones around their necks, arms, and ankles.

Then, each paired in two, cut each other’s hair very short with a dagger, reaching just below the ears. Some of them were burned and blown away.

After that, holding hands in a circle together, with Kiyan in the center, they stood still for several minutes, turning her face to the ground and being silent. It looked as if they were praying to the forest god.

“…If you really look at it that way, they really are a primitive tribe.”

Rigata, who had been watching them, snorted at her and muttered with his arms crossed. Enya watched the Nervana’s ceremony with her arms around the Gerpan’s neck as she listened to Rigata.

However, there was something a little strange about it.

All they did was draw a circle and stand still, a considerable amount of sweat was seeping from the temples and napes of the neck of all the women performing the ritual. The forest wasn’t hot at all, and even though the temperature was low enough to make them feel slightly chilly, their bodies were heating up as if they were standing under the scorching midsummer sun.

Rigata, who saw this, also loosened his arms, he tried to move closer to them as he frowned.

Soon, someone around them put a hand on Rigata’s chest to stop him.

It was Nihitan.

Nihitan, who was as big as Rigata, usually wears his long hair loose, but today it was well braided and placed naturally on top of his muscular upper body.

“Don’t come close. I am not responsible for anything that happens.”

As if he was warning, he murmured to Rigata.

Rigata, who had been trying to get closer to the women, stopped and glared at Nihitan, and then he crossed his arms again.

Enya confirmed that their little squabble had subsided and returned to the ceremony. Still, it was a strange thing. Just watching the women sweating ceaselessly, as if hot, gave rise to a bizarre sensation as if her body was heating up as well.

‘Strange… why is it so hot?’

Enya took off the outerwear she had brought, fearing it would be cold, and fanned her hands as she glanced around. The men in Nervana Forest were fine, but she didn’t know why she was sweating at such a hot and humid feeling.

Rigata, who was looking at Enya, frowned at her and asked.

“Enya, are you hot?”

Enya waved her hand, saying it was a little, before continuing to fan her hand while answering as Nihitan was watching them with narrow eyes.

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