RGS Volume 1 Part 12

Truyde carefully examined the reports that came up every day for a week. Although the contents were similar each time, there were slight differences. What kind of bird did they see, how many eggs did they steal from the nest, what fruits did they pick from the trees, how they search for footprints near the animal’s excrement, how they manage to catch a caterpillar and put it as a gift in the nest where they stole the eggs, and so on.

After reading every last word, Truyde raised his head after a while. Then, as if waiting, the attendant opened his mouth.

“Currently, the Regas, who is receiving His Majesty’s favor, has obtained permission. His Majesty guaranteed that he would personally enter the Dragon Forest. However, His Majesty dislikes the Dragon Forest, so it seems difficult for him to go twice. Moreover, His Majesty’s Regas is also afraid of entering the forest, so Lord Norhox has agreed to resolve this issue. That child also knows well what he needs to do, so there is no problem confirming whether Abel’s report is true or not.”

Truyde had read the reports, but he was lost in thought and did not raise his eyes.

“Do you think this report is false?”

“Of course, isn’t it? Abel has no choice but to report because it is a condition of this job to orally describe what he has done every day, but he cannot tell the truth about everything. Moreover, look at this pathetic content. Haha, who would believe that he went all the way to the Dragon Forest and just threw worms at the birds?”

The attendant’s voice was filled with mockery. Truyde was the first to receive the reports and checked the contents. Every single one of them was useless.

“Then what do you think Abel did in the Dragon Forest?”

In response to Truyde’s indifferent question, the attendant answered as if he had been waiting.

“He would have done nothing. He just wanted to let everyone know that he went into the Dragon Forest with the prince. That way, they would think he was an amazing person. He wanted to claim that he went into a place where no one else would dare to go and that he always came back safely with the prince. So, it didn’t matter what he did inside, as long as he held onto the prince and didn’t get trapped in the fog.”

Truyde nodded slightly in agreement with that thought. The confidence spread across the attendant’s face at his reaction.

“It’s been a week since they entered the Dragon Forest, and there has been no change in the prince. It’s clear that he can’t do anything.”

“Or maybe he’s actually purposely doing these things.”

Truyde looked up at the attendant, pushing the report aside.

“It doesn’t matter if there is no change in the prince. Hold off on His Majesty going to the Dragon Forest for now. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity. As you said, if Abel accidentally lets go of the hand holding the prince and he’s left alone, the only person who can save him is the king.”

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Thud, thud, thud.

While diligently digging the ground with a branch, Abel did not forget to explain to the prince.

“Do you see that shady, damp ground? It’s a good place to find animal footprints. It’s hard to find them in the autumn when the leaves pile up, but on summer mornings before the sun rises, there are still footprints. The morning frost makes the ground damp. The footprints there are from a dormouse. I’ll teach you how to find animal footprints later. The faster the animal, the fewer toes it has. So, a deer with only two split hooves is the fastest.”

His hand, which had been digging the ground, paused for a moment as if he was tired. Even for someone as physically fit as Abel, carrying the prince around for a week was not easy. Moreover, the wounds inflicted by the prince all day became worse by evening, to the point where the flesh was hanging loose.

Pus formed on his neck and shoulders, and his skin, which had turned black and dead like the bark of a dead tree, stretched. Even if he treated it every night, the wounds were still painful, and Abel’s complexion worsened. However, he still did not release his arms holding the prince. He was still on his knees, holding the prince and digging the ground with one hand.

As a result, his breathing became rough, and his heart pounded. From his shoulder, a new wound caused by the prince’s teeth dripped fresh blood down his neck. The wound was quite painful, enough to leave an impression, but Abel moved his rested arm again and continued digging the ground.

People insulted Abel behind his back, calling him a fool. Some even said he would die because of the prince and mocked him. A week had passed, but there was no change in the prince, so everyone thought Abel would get tired and run away first.

Abel safely coming out of the Dragon Forest on the first day was no longer a surprising event, but rather became a subject of ridicule. He was called a pitiful person who clung tightly to the prince while his flesh was being torn apart and endured in the forest all day long. Only Abel was not disappointed that the prince’s condition did not improve.

“So, it’s not easy to catch fast animals. Fortunately, creatures like field mice can be caught by setting traps by digging the ground and disguising it with branches and fallen leaves. Oh, of course, just digging the ground is not enough. Field mice are creatures that dig the ground and make caves, so even if they fall into a trap, they dig through the soil and escape. So, what do you do? Are you curious? Hehe, I’ll teach you from now on.”

Abel got excited alone while explaining and raised his voice.

“The important thing is this moss. Do you remember that I picked moss over there earlier?”

He picked up the moss he had left behind and placed it deep inside a hole he had dug.

“No matter how well a field mouse digs the ground, it has a habit of hiding in a safe place when it becomes dangerous. And the place it likes is right under this moss. Now, if you lay moss like this in a trap corner, the caught field mouse will hide underneath it. Then, when you come back later and lift the moss, if there’s a field mouse hiding underneath, it’s a sure thing. Then you just have to catch it! Field mice are delicious when fried!”

Abel’s chest shook as he laughed at the thought of field mice, and as a result, the prince’s body also shook. Of course, the prince didn’t raise his head, but Abel continued to talk enthusiastically about field mice. It was his master who taught him these things. Of course, it was the same with other things.

When the night tree’s fruit starts to ripen, he goes to the forest and gathers the fruit to extract the oil. When he was small and young, there were times when he couldn’t gather as much as the competing squirrels. But even so, if he diligently gathers and extracts the oil and stores it, he can use it for various dishes for a year until the fruit ripens again.

When he puts the lump on the fire-heated pan, it gives off a savory smell and provides a feast that is no less than a royal meal. Everything in the forest is gracious. If he occasionally finds a green mesh mushroom under an old tree, he feels blessed that day.

His master, who especially liked mushrooms, would open his eyes wide and search around whenever he found traces of wild boars digging the ground while walking with Abel in the forest. The wild boars, with their keen sense of smell, were geniuses at finding pine mushrooms underground. Thanks to them, Abel became an expert at chasing wild boars. Of course, the master emphasized that all of this was part of the training.

“I’m not telling you to chase after wild boars so that I can eat pine mushrooms. Do you understand?”

He seemed like a person who was going crazy to eat pine mushrooms. Nevertheless, Abel laughed and risked his life to chase after the wild boars for his master.

“My master was especially good at catching them. Even if I found traces of wild mice, depending on where I set the trap, I couldn’t catch them at all. But my teacher never failed. Hehe, I liked wild mice, you know. I used to eat them when I was young…”

Abel paused for a moment, his hands that were refining the traps stopped. After following his master and traveling a long distance, he couldn’t sleep for a few days upon arriving at their destination. During the journey, he was always tired from walking tensely every day and slept well by sticking close to his master.

However, now that they had a new home and there was no longer any hunger or fear of strangers with knives coming in every night, young Abel couldn’t sleep. It was the first time in his life that he had his own room.

After several days of not being able to sleep and feeling tired, his master silently cooked and brought back wild mice every morning from wherever he went. There was only one time during the journey when he mentioned wild mice, and he didn’t know if his master remembered it.

The meal his master made tasted different from what his mother made, but strangely enough, Abel slept very soundly that night. He was always rough and never knew how to speak kindly, always saying it was training and making him suffer, but what came to mind was his master’s blunt kindness.

“My master hated wild mice, but I later found out that he deliberately caught them because of me. I didn’t even know that the people here don’t eat wild mice. But… he caught them without saying anything.”

Abel’s staring silently into the air, grew quieter.

“When I was young, I never experienced a severe illness in the winter, but there was one time in the spring when I had a high fever. My stomach hurt, my body had a fever, and I kept vomiting. My master took care of me by my side. Even though I was young, I thought I might die like this. I was so scared that I cried a lot and fell asleep, but when I woke up in the morning… Haha, well, there was a bowl full of mice stew next to me. There were so many of them. It was as if they had caught a lot of mice and put them only for me.”

Abel was surprised and just stood there with his mouth open, but the master appeared with an indifferent face and scolded him to get up if he wanted to eat it, telling him to endure a little even if he was in pain because he could eat all of it if he got up quickly.

Despite the drowsiness caused by the fever, Abel nodded his head. He closed his eyes, thinking that he should get up quickly and eat all of it, as the teacher said.

“Because I wanted to eat it… I really woke up the next day. Haha, so I ate something delicious until my stomach was about to burst…”

Abel’s voice, staring silently into the air, grew quieter.

Thud, thud, thud.

At some point, tears continued to flow from Abel’s eyes. There was no sound of crying, but thick tears streamed down his cheeks and constantly fell to the ground. A month has passed since his master passed away. It was fine during that time.

Even when his master left, he didn’t shed a single tear, but now he couldn’t control his tears as if something had burst inside of him. He just realized that he would never be able to see his master again.

He couldn’t hear his scolding anymore, and he couldn’t see his wrinkled hands that used to mess up the kitchen, claiming that he was the best. He had become the real Regas that he wanted, entering the Dragon Forest, but he wasn’t happy.

Abel lowered his head, placing his hand on the ground with the hand that was used to prepare the traps.

A small sob came out of his mouth, but compared to the flowing tears, the sound was very small. His shoulders trembled, and the movement of his throat swallowing the sound indicated the growing sadness. As a result, his arm holding the prince became weak, but Abel didn’t notice.

His entire face was covered in tears to the point of being a mess, and he didn’t even notice the prince moving his small body. The prince lifted his head from Abel’s shoulder, removed his nails that were stuck in Abel’s body, and slowly moved away from Abel’s knees.

The prince had completely fallen, but Abel still couldn’t lift his head because he was still shedding thick tears. While the prince, who had sat down on the floor, silently looked up at Abel, the sky of the forest covered with leaves was gradually turning red, as if indicating the time to return.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Ashler was the first to notice something strange. Abel, who appeared a little earlier than usual, was still holding the prince, but his expression was strange. He looked dazed and his eyes were swollen. Ashler immediately noticed that he had been crying. However, because of what he noticed right after, he couldn’t say anything.

“Sir Ashler, I’m back.”

Abel greeted with a weak voice and made a sorry expression as if he had just remembered something.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t bring anything as a gift today. Hehe, instead, I found a mushroom today, so I’ll pick it up for you tomorrow.”

“……”

However, instead of returning the greeting, Ashler stared at Abel with a stern expression. Startled, Abel stepped back and muttered.

“Mushrooms are delicious….”

“What happened to the prince?”

“What?”

With a firm voice, Abel quickly lowered his head and looked down at the prince, as if he was worried that the prince’s body might be stained with blood like last time. However, today, they didn’t encounter any animals, so there was no blood on the prince. Abel discovered that there were no bloodstains and smiled, wiping his chest with relief.

“Today, no animals died or anything.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Ashler pointed at the prince with a look that seemed to say, “You don’t really know?”

“Isn’t the prince no longer biting Lord Regas? It’s a good thing, but….”

Pausing the end of his words, Ashler looked down at the prince again, who was even stranger for being so quiet. And only then did Abel also lower his head with a puzzled look and realized the situation.

The fact that the prince was just leaning quietly without scratching or biting his own body. He was clearly not asleep. Ashler doubted whether he was really not a fool while looking at Abel, whose surprise slowly turned into shock.

“Today, you don’t have to receive treatment right away. Then, let’s go to where the record keeper is waiting first….”

“Ah!!!!!!!”

Startled by Abel’s sudden scream, Ashler also quickly raised his hand to his sword. He quickly looked around, thinking that an attacker might have appeared, but the only people he could see were the soldiers behind him.

“What’s happening?”

“Uh, oh no! The prince isn’t biting me! Why, prince? This Abel won’t die just from a little bloodshed! My skin is thick! I’m not weak enough to collapse from this level of injury! No wonder something felt missing! I’m fine, so if you want to bite, you can bite more!”

Fool.

Ashler turned his back, restraining the urge to draw his sword. As a result, he didn’t see the slight movement of the prince’s lips.

The child’s lips, leaning against Abel’s chest, curved ever so slightly.