Volume 2 - CH 2

I was forced to lay down for two days.

It was the price of ignorantly flattening out my own powers.

Drinking water alone did not restore my body strength.

I heard that the priest, who had previously treated the man, has not yet come to his senses.

My fingertips were still trembling, but I forced myself to wake up because tomorrow is the semifinals.

“The Fire Moths will win, right? Last time I saw The Berserker, he was already like a corpse with a red flag hanging on his neck.”

“I think The Berserker will win tomorrow. I heard that his body has recovered.”

“How can that be?”

There was astonishment in the muffled voice, as if it was unbelievable.

‘Of course, it’s because I treated that guy’s body everyday.’

I don’t know if the final victor would change because of me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t take that into account.

I just couldn’t pretend not to know the man who was dying.

‘Maybe there’s a possibility that the guy is Valhail, isn’t it?’

People naturally predicted the victory or defeat of The Fire Moths and The Berserker.

“Maybe he’s really not a human…?”

Same goes for The Fire Moths, there have been much such as rumours followed.

Especially regarding the man in the quarantine room.

“I heard that he uses black magic.”

The muffled voice suddenly lowered even more.

“Because he doesn’t die and he doesn’t get old.”

“Is it okay for such a person to join the Holy Knights? We don’t even know where he’s from.”

“Isn’t that the reason why everyone in the Holy Knights is scary?”

It was not an exaggeration for the man to call the Holy Knights a “fanatic group.”

Because the Holy Knights were never holy.

Everyone in the Holy Knights were close to executioners specialized in torture, intimidation, and killing.

‘How did Shannon bring Valhail from there? It was said that he was bought with money.’

The process was not described, so it was unknown.

Selina, who is about to get married, was given an escort (more like a watchman).

Jealous of this, Shannon brought Valhail from the temple one day.

Until then, Valhail had no name. He was just called as an escort.

Shannon used to call him “Lowly Toono” as if it was her habit.

How much did Valhail love Shannon to endure such insults and stay by her side?

‘Is Shannon’s face his type? Because I couldn’t imagine him falling for her because of her personality.’

Whether it was The Fire Moth, The Raven, or even the man in the quarantine room, all three of them did not seem to be able match her personality.

‘Hmm, I wonder who will win?’

While I was measuring who Valhail was, I reached the door of the quarantine room.

I brought my lantern well today.

Squeak!

When I opened the door carefully, I saw the man sitting with his knees bent and leaning his back against the wall.

He turned his head toward me, but there was no other reaction.

He just stayed still.

Whether he knew that the intruders did not mean any harm, he did not show extreme vigilance today as before.

But I didn’t move one more step at the entrance and only reflected the lantern here and there.

‘Where’s the knife?’

Ah, it was in the corner.

In half.

The knife split in half.

‘What the?’

Judging from the bloodstains on the blade, the man must have held it with his hand and broken it.

Furthermore, broken glass was scattered nearby.

It was a medicine bottle with poppy juices.

‘Is he protesting? Saying that he didn’t want to take the medicine?’

Was he angry because I forced him to take the medicine when he didn’t want to?

Well, in the first place, it was said that he was put in the quarantine room because of his temper.

‘But he was gentle to me…’

Did his pride get torn late?

While I was thinking what the man thought, the man did not move at all.

After swallowing my saliva, I put the lantern down by the door.

This could also be a weapon.

As I moved carefully, I felt his gaze catching up with me.

“I guess you’re not in pain anymore.”

It was a stinging question of why he did such a mean thing, like breaking the knife and the medicine bottle.

“… Thanks to someone.”

The quiet answer seemed to ring the quarantine room.

The man’s voice was small but deep.

“I don’t know if you know tomorrow is your match. It’s the semifinals.”

There was no answer back.

Most of the Toono, which goes back and forth between life and death, cannot count the dates.

Even if they slept and woke up all day, they have no way to know if it’s day or night.

Furthermore, if they were put in the quarantine room like this man, there was no one to tell them the date of the game.

“Your opponent is… Everyone calls him The Fire Moths. Have you heard of him?”

“……”

“He always rushed to his opponents even before the whistle rings. So, you’ll have to be careful.”

The man was silent until I took a step forward.

The lantern was on the floor so he could only see up to my waist.

While I could see him clearly sitting there.

‘Does he need more treatment?’

I couldn’t believe that his torn body recovered so quickly that he could sit down without difficulty.

‘He was like a living corpse just a few days ago.’

Didn’t his shoulder and abdomen get pierced with a knife?

In particular, I remember that blood did not stop from his abdomen.

As I was looking around his shoulders and chest which looked as hard as iron, I paused at the moment.

His brown hair looked quite soft.

While still looking down at him from above, my hand reached out on its own.

The texture between my fingers was so fine that it didn’t look like hair from a person who was just lying down like a corpse.

Even so…

‘It’s softer than Tori. Why?’

It was amazing to me that it was soft to the touch, it was not dry or greasy at all.

The moment when I was relieved by the smell of fragrant herbal ointment from the man.

He gently moved his head.

“……!”

I raised my hand.

It was because of the experience of being bitten while touching Tori because I thought we became close.

‘I must be crazy.’

What a crazy thing to do.

Of course, that man won’t bite me, but something more could have happened.

My heart fluttered at the fact that I had committed a dangerous act.

“In the match tomorrow… You’d better drop out.”

If this man wins the game, he would meet up against The Raven in the final match.

Everyone guessed that The Gladiator would not appear, and The Raven would go up by default.

“When you go to the finals, you’ll go up against a cannibal. Then you could die without your body intact…”

“You.”

The man asked something completely different.

“Is it the priest of the western temple?”

In his sharp tone, there was still a boundary toward strangers.

‘Have you ever listened to me?’

I sighed.

“I told you. I’m a trainee.”

“The trainee treated me with a magic stone.”

“……..”

“You wanted me to believe that”

Did he think that he could interrogate me now that he’d let me touch his hair as much as I want?

On the other hand, I could understand his mind.

Of course, it is suspicious that a stranger, who is not a priest, treats him and tells him how to live and survive.

“Did the Holy Knights send you?”

As expected, he thought the Holy Knights sent me to treat him.

It seemed that he’d ever come in contact with someone from the Holy Knights.

“I don’t belong to the temple.”

“Then do you belong to a noble who bets money on me?”

Yeah, it might look like that.

Because this Martial Arts Competition itself is a big gambling game.

“Well, if I was sent by a noble who bet his money on you, I wouldn’t have told you to be dropped from the match this time, would I?”

It was a time when we continued to play with our words like a riddle.

The man raised his body.

I faltered at his strong shadow that looked like a giant.

Exactly as much as I stepped down, he came up.

“Then, who are you?”

An alarm rang in my ear.

It was a danger sign that I had to leave the quarantine room before he asked me more questions.

“You even treated me? Why…”

“Anyway, this is the only chance you have to save your own life. In the final, only the winner will survive.”

As soon as he approached me, I stepped backwards, but before I knew it, my back already leaned against the door

“You were lying when you said you’re a trainee.”

“But it’s true, I’m a trainee”.

“And you’re not belong to the temple, so…”

“There’s no law that says that a trainee belongs to the temple.”

As I leaned down, I quickly lifted the lantern to my face.

Between him and me, there was a strife of light.

The man frowned as if he were blinded and covered his eyes with his big hands.

“Don’t you think so?”

My eyes met with his through the gap between his fingers.

His eyes widened as he met mine.

He had beautiful blue eyes reminiscent of the blue sea.

His eyes were staring straight into my eyes and his thick lips that were slightly opened were engulfed in surprise.

‘Wow, look at his face. Should I just kidnap him?’’

It’s a waste for that face to be rotten in a place like this.

I quickly swept through his body.

His skin, which was torn and seen through the ragged top, was smooth.

“You don’t seem to need any more treatment. Fortunately.”

I had no intention to treat him without poppy juice anyway.

There’s no way I could handle him when he’s in his sane state.

“Keep in mind. It’s better to lose this game. So you could survive.”

I reached back and eagerly found the doorknob.

Until then, he looked at me with a blank face.

He only approached me hurriedly as I opened the door and turned around.

“If you remain in the temple, you…”

He seemed to have something he wanted to tell me.

I was curious, but a little scared, so I quickly closed the door because I was afraid that the man wouldn’t let me go.

* * * * *

Finally, it was the semifinals.

“Who do you think will win? The Berserker? The Fire Moth? I vote for Fire Moth!”

“The Berserker’s condition looked really good today.”

“He was really handsome. I was so surprised that I looked at him for a long time. What crime did he commit?”

“I don’t know. Some say he was sold to a slave trader, and what’s certain is that he wasn’t originally in prison.”

“As expected! His face doesn’t look like he could commit a crime.”

Some trainees secretly went up to the stadium and watched the match.

I didn’t watch it.

My heart was heavy when I witnessed a person called The Fire Moth praying several times before going up to the match.

He was a person who wanted to survive so badly.

‘I hope the man in the quarantine room loses and comes down safely.’

When I felt sorry for The Fire Moth, a trainee told me.

He was in prison for killing a farmer’s family and stealing their money.

Hearing those words, I could lessen my sympathy.

Like the audience outside.

‘I’m not sure about The Raven though.’

Confused by what if the man in the quarantine room died, I filled the empty potion tray.

It was then.

“Woooooooooooo!”

There were so many boos that the ceiling rang.

‘What happened?’

The trainees hurriedly brought the man in the quarantine room on a stretcher.

“I guess The Berserker won. But why were they booing?”

The apprentice priest closed his ears and asked.

“It’s because the game is not fun.”

The trainee who came from watching the match replied.

“The Berserker didn’t fight back and was stabbed, but at the end, he took the Fire Moth’s head at once.”

What?

On purpose… He let his body be stabbed like that?

As soon as I turned my head, I saw the man with bloody packs all over his body.

At that moment, I put a lot of strength into my hand holding the medicine bottle.

‘Is he crazy? How did I heal that body?’