Volume 1 - CH 4

How did this happen?

In the morning, after cleaning the shop, I went out to put up the “open” sign out front, feeling refreshed and happy to start my day.

As soon as he came into view, my face was taken by surprise, and I’m sure my emotions were on full display. I thought to myself, “…this is bad”. I’m not sure what to do. That kind of feeling.

Beneath his hood, the man had a faint fake smile on his face. After flipping the “Open” sign back over to “Preparing,” he pushed forward into the doorway which forced me to step back, while blocking any change of escape, and locked the door behind him.

(This is a bad situation…)

If a man broke in on me, I would probably feel that my chastity was in danger, but I didn’t feel that kind of danger because I was dealing with this man. However, I feel a different kind of danger, and I keep my distance from the cloaked figure, breaking out in a cold sweat.

I would like to accuse him of trespassing or breaking and entering, but since the person I am accusing is a knight, I am sure the charges will be dismissed. What an unreasonable world we live in!

(Is there no way out of this…?)

Of course I can’t use the entrance of the shop, and even if I run towards the back door, I’ll be caught in the middle anyway. It’s not a situation where I can escape.

I have no idea why this person came to my shop, but I can’t understand it, or I didn’t want to understand it.

“Hi, thank you very much for the last time. I came to express my gratitude.”

He gave me a radiant smile as he bounced off his hood, and I gently averted my eyes. His face is sweet and gentle, but the color above his head is honest, with a stretch of gray that indicates distrust and wariness. I can still see the pain in his eyes, so I guess he hates female creatures even more. I can see people’s emotions, so I am not fooled by any expression on their faces.

Or rather, there is no way I could be deceived after he forced his way into the shop. Only a few people would forgive everything from just one look at that too-perfect, devilish smile. I think I could be forgiven if I have a good face like this. It is a headache.

“I asked the ‘butterflies’ if there is a famous prophet in town.”

Again, I’m not a fortune teller, much less a prophet. I am just an pharmacist’s daughter and the descendant of a wizard, who can see a few special things, nothing more, nothing less.

But still, when the women of town hear the word prophecy, they think of fortune-telling. And most women would have remembered me…involuntarily.

“Everyone told me that there is a woman named Cyril who can tell fortunes. She has hair as white as snow and eyes as red as apples. I remembered you, so I came to visit.”

My hair and eye color are both unusual. After such an impressive encounter, there was no way he would forget me right away even if I wanted him to.

It was an unbecoming act for a shopkeeper, but I averted my eyes, even my face, wishing that the dazzlingly smiling customer would leave. It’s not because I’m embarrassed or ashamed.

I am afraid because what I see are a parade of negative emotions such as gray (distrust), bluish purple (pain), and dark blue (loathing), despite the sweet and gentle smile on his face. His expression and emotions don’t match at all.

“…This is a pharmacy, so if you’re shopping, please take your time.”

“I’ll buy something. If I do that, you’ll read my fortune, right?”

Is it a declaration that I had been thoroughly investigated? It is unlikely that I will be able to ignore it. Hector, also known as the Flower Knight, walked around the shop and after a while comes to the counter with a painkiller in hand.

Then, with a sweet smile on his face, he begins to talk about the incident at the port, “It was you, wasn’t it? He asked the question he had just posed. “You’re the one who said the prophetic words, right?”…How did this happen? I don’t know.

“It was the same when you stopped me before, I wonder if you can see the danger. Listening to the butterflies and the others, it doesn’t sound like that’s all there is to it.”

The other party has a kind face, but because I know he distrusts me, I feel as if I’m being interrogated.

No, in fact, this may be an interrogation from the Knights, but I have done nothing wrong. So even if they wanted to interrogate me, they couldn’t take me to the guardroom, so he had to come here incognito.

“Can I take your silence as affirmation?”

“… I didn’t know the pirates were coming. Even if you were about to be crushed by a carriage, I didn’t know.”

I am not lying. I can’t know exactly what is going to happen. I can only see the general future and emotions of others, and I make predictions based on what I see.

Perhaps, as a knighthood that often confronts danger, they wanted my crisis-sensing abilities and came to solicit me? Even if that is the case, I would like to decline. My ability is not that reliable.

(I don’t know what you came here for, so how should I respond…)

Both the interrogation and the solicitation are only my imagination, and I don’t know what Hector really came here for. I am sure he is investigating my power, but I don’t know what his purpose is. If it is for personal reasons, fine, but if he is trying to uncover something for the sake of the country – I have to hide the fact that I am a healing wizard.

Perhaps the tension and anxiety were showing on my face, but he showed a more gentle and warm smile as if to reassure me. It’s obvious that his smile is fake because I can’t see that gentle emotion above his head… normally I might have been fooled. It was a perfect expression that didn’t feel unnatural.

“So, what do you know?…Can you tell me?”

Surely, most women in town would. With that sweet face, whispered in a gentle voice, and an outstretched hand caressing her cheek, she would talk about anything.

The man in front of me is so violently charming that it was enough to convince me that he uses enchantment magic. Hector must have used his charm to gather information, and I think he tried to do the same with me.

However, my eyes were drawn not to the left hand that was extended to me, but to the right hand that was placed on the counter as he leaned forward, and I involuntarily grabbed the hand.

The other person was frozen with a smile on his face because of this unexpected action, but I was too surprised to care. Thanks to this, my anxiety and nervousness were all gone.

(……How can you smile in such a condition? This is the reason why there has always been a tinge of pain in your eyes for the past six years.)

I stare at his right hand. It’s an amazingly beautiful hand. No sword calluses, no small scars, no thick skin on his hand. The hand, which is so beautiful that it would be impossible for a knight, has invisible scars on it.

The most important thing to remember is that the hand is not only beautiful, but it is also very well protected. It was injured by a…demonic beast, and the injury was so severe that it received a magical handicap.

(I was distracted by the color of death, but come to think of it, I think the color of pain was there at the time of the accident,…… I never thought it was a magic handicap.)

He is always surrounded by women and there is always the color of pain. So I thought he hated women and that it was painful to be in contact with them. I assumed that spending time with women was mentally painful because mental pain and physical pain are the same color, so I just assumed that spending time with women was mentally painful for him.

I couldn’t believe that he was enduring the pain all the time with such a natural smile on his face.

(Even though it shouldn’t be such a pain that you can make a natural face… anyway, where did you meet the demon?)

Unlike animals and magical beasts, demons have no fixed form, no intelligence or reason, they are just monsters that attack any other living thing. Because of their unique birth, no new demons are born, and as a result of continuous hunting, their numbers have dwindled to the point of near extinction.

However, since they don’t have a long lifespan, there must have been very few individuals that weren’t subjugated…Unless you are very unlucky, you won’t meet them in the first place.

Wounds inflicted by monsters can be imbued with magical power, and even after the wound has completely healed, the magical power remains in the body, causing various harms–that is called magical handicap. His right hand still has those magic remnants.

In his case, the magic power seemed to cover the nerves in his right hand. Therefore, his right hand is difficult to move, and he has a beautiful hand because he cannot even hold a sword. And the demonic obstruction that harms the nerves must also continue to cause strong pain all the time.

The first time I saw Hector was six years ago, and by then he was already tinged with pain. There is no doubt that it has been left in this state for more than six years…There is a limit to patience.

“To leave it like this… that medicine isn’t what you need, so please wait a moment.”

“Eh, ah, yes?”

“If it hurts, make a painful face. It’s hard to tell.”

I said something that sounded like I was taking it out on him, but if he had expressed his pain, I would have noticed it earlier, and I wouldn’t have allowed him to leave it for more than six years. But still, I couldn’t help but say it like that.

This is something that the doctors probably didn’t know the cause of, and nothing was done about it. Well, it is natural. It can not be helped because the magic obstacle is not something that an ordinary person can see and understand. Only a wizard with a keen sense of magic would have been able to recognize it.

Thinking it was just an after-effect, he must have been taking painkillers all the time. It’s a misguided symptomatic treatment.

There is a medicine that removes the magical power that remains in the body as a foreign substance, although it is not lined up on the shelves of the shop. I’m glad that I followed my parents’ advice to make any kind of medicine that I might need suddenly.

I had wondered if I would ever use such a medicine of limited use, but it seems that my father was right when he said, “If you are prepared, you will never be afflicted.”

I took such a medicine from the back shelf and applied it to Hector’s hand without his approval, who was frozen with a smile on his face, unable to understand the situation.

Taking advantage of the fact that he remained confused and motionless, I carefully bandaged his hand. It would be a shame if the medicine I had applied came off.

“It’s an expensive medicine, but I’m sure a knight can pay for it. Apply it once a day like this, and wrap the rest in a bandage or something. A week’s supply will cost you 10,000 bells, and you should keep using it until the pain goes away.”

“…Is this medicine 40,000 bells for a month supply? It’s not impossible to pay, but isn’t it expensive?”

Considering that 50,000 bells is enough to live on for a month, it is no exaggeration to say that it is an expensive medicine. However, knights are highly paid. They should be able to afford this amount of money.

Since this medicine also includes hazard pay, it is impossible to make it any cheaper. If I am not careful, I have to gather materials that could kill me.

Besides, a demonic obstacle is something that takes longer to treat as time goes on. The more medicine needed, the more expensive it would be.

“It’s your fault for neglecting it…If it hurts, you don’t need to force yourself to smile.”

That was the first time he removed the smile he had pasted on his face and looked at me as if he was truly surprised. I just told him the obvious, but why was he surprised? If he had looked like he was in pain, I would have noticed it sooner, too, so I shouldn’t have said anything strange.

“It will take a year for the pain to completely go away, and after that you will need functional recovery training and rehabilitation. Please persevere.”

…The truth is, with my healing magic, he will heal faster. I am a little sorry to hide it from him. But still I don’t want people to know that I am a wizard.

Hector, who silently offered me 10,000 bells and received the ointment, looked at me in confusion and gave me an awkward smile.

“…Thank you. But please keep my right hand a secret.”

“Only if you keep my secret.”

“…I will. Yeah, I promise. I’ll come by again.”

I won’t tell anyone about his right hand and he won’t tell anyone about the fact that I know something. I was sure that he will keep the mutual promise.

Hector put his hood back on and walks out of the shop, looking shabby, not like the flower knight that all the women long for. As soon he left, I plopped down on the counter.

It’s not that I could have fooled him, but it’s not like he’s going to let the Knights know my best kept secret either. I’m sure, maybe…in exchange, the Flower Knight will be a regular customer for a while.

(…but just I couldn’t leave it alone…)

I don’t know if he has gotten used to it or what, but his right hand, should be in constant and strong pain due to the demonic interference. He is known as a knight with a sword in his left hand, not because he is left-handed but because he cannot hold the sword with his right hand.

While he is applying my medicine, the pain should ease and the magic that is causing it should gradually disappear. It is a right hand that has been inhibited in its movement for many years, so it will take some training to regain the muscle strength it is losing – but it is something that can be cured. There was no way I could see that and leave it alone.

(A limited-time relationship between a shopkeeper and a customer until he heals. I don’t think it’s necessary until training, and it should only be for about a year.)

In the meantime, would he be able to keep the women in town from knowing that he frequents this shop? Thinking that, I let out a deep sigh.