RTTFW CH 3.2

Ent spoke in a slightly subdued voice, “Izel, you brought those potions, right?”

“What are you thinking, Lord Ent?”

Izel swallowed a sigh secretly. What on earth was going through that head of his? Why was he making that face just because he saw a beast on the road?

Despite Izel’s question, Ent gave no answer, simply rummaging through a bag he’d pulled from inside the carriage. Before Izel could stop him, he pulled out several bottles of the potions he’d brought.

Izel was about to put down the dog she was holding to block Ent when…

“Hold it.” Ent said in a voice firmer than usual.

Somehow, the sheer force behind his words made Izel sigh briefly before lifting the dog back up straight.

“But Lord Ent, using potions like this when we could face an emergency at any moment?”

Izel felt like slapping his own forehead if he weren’t holding something. These weren’t ordinary potions. He was going to use high-grade potions, unattainable for commoner families, not on a person but on a beast.

Even if they were common, cheap potions, no one used them on beasts.

“Lord Ent, it would be best to stop. There’s really no need for this, is there?”
“Yes, young master. Listen to Izel.”

To begin with, Izel didn’t even understand why they had to treat a beast they’d encountered on the road. If their carriage had collided with the animal, he might have understood. But that wasn’t the case, was it?

Whether this little creature had been abused or not, it had absolutely nothing to do with Ent. They should just keep going on their way.

Despite their words, Ent quietly opened the potion lid. Ent understood perfectly well why the two were acting this way.

Ent understood, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“If we just leave it, it might recover if it’s lucky.”
“And if it’s unlucky?”

At Ent’s words, Izel fell silent. Paladin looked awkwardly between the two, gauging the situation.

Ent bit down hard on his lip. He didn’t want to get into some childish argument with Izel. It was just that, even though he didn’t want to, he found himself gasping for breath, trapped by memories he couldn’t escape.

“I fucking hate that life is dictated by luck.”

Why should the fate of someone who fought desperately to survive be tied to mere luck? Couldn’t they just… just survive?

“Izel.”

Ent Harbilta, utterly useless. Park Jaeyoon, utterly useless.

Ever since arriving in this world, he had lived solely through Ent Harbilta’s eyes. Yet now, as Park Jaeyoon’s life surged deep within him, he had no idea what to do.

“Just… help me.”

Even though he could have acted like a haughty noble young master, demanding he just do as he said, Ent had no choice but to beg Izel. The corners of his mouth, straining to smile, looked pitiful.

“It hurts. He’s suffering right now.”

A pained growl emerged from within Izel’s embrace. Ent’s mouth felt bitter. He knew how to use potions from books, but he feared his clumsy hands might hurt the small life even more.

Feeling infinitely pathetic, Ent handed the potion to Izel.

‘…Why that expression.’

Izel met Ent’s gaze and couldn’t bring himself to refuse any longer. Handing the puppy to Paladin, Izel accepted the potion from Ent.

Izel felt strangely dirty inside. Using this potion, barely enough for himself, on some random animal he’d encountered on the street?

No, that wasn’t it.

‘Why?’

Izel couldn’t understand.

Alright, he didn’t know when exactly Ent Harbilta had started loving animals so much, but let’s say he was always like that. Let’s say he was the kind of person who couldn’t leave a passing creature alone and would freely give away his own medicine.

But what was with that face? Why, upon seeing this dog, abused and collapsed from running away, did he wear that expression?

Why did he make people feel so frustrated?

“… It’s a relief.”

He pulled out a handkerchief, soaked it in potion, and dabbed it on the small wounds. For the larger wounds, he poured the potion directly onto them. Visibly, the wounds began to heal rapidly. Ent clenched both fists tightly and watched him.

He muttered for a long time.

Thank goodness, he’s alive.

“… A-ong.”^[1]

The small beast’s eyes fluttered open, trembling slightly. Ent somehow felt their eyes had met. A small whimper, then the eyes closed again.

Thankfully, its breathing was gradually stabilizing.

‘Good job.’

Even though they couldn’t understand each other, Ent wanted to say that.

There is no such thing as a being abandoned by the world. If you want to survive, you will find a way to live. Ent had lived through countless eras as Park Jaeyoon with that mindset.

How does one go through life when there’s no one to help you struggle to survive? Ent was already all too familiar with that situation. It was like being thrown into the world with a death sentence.

He’d almost used up all the potions, but Ent didn’t care. He had set aside a separate supply for Paladin and Izel anyway. Ent himself didn’t matter.

‘Maybe meeting me was just your lucky break.’

Ent extended a finger and tapped the little puppy’s nose. Warm and moist. The unmistakable touch of a living being.

“Are you taking it with you?”
“Just until it gets better.”

Izel nodded without further comment to Ent’s words. Ent felt almost foolish, wondering if he’d been too arrogant.

‘There’s no way I could be anyone’s good luck.’

What kind of luck could someone like him possibly bring? Even after it healed, there was no way this puppy would stay by his side. Of course, Ent didn’t even harbor such greed.

“… It’s just… I haven’t been lucky either.”
“Huh?”
“No, no.”

Could his life really be described in such a simple, light phrase as ‘unlucky’? If so, Ent could confidently say he’d lived a life more unlucky than anyone else’s. If only a small bit of luck had found its way into such an unlucky life.

“You don’t look well.”
“Hmm, guess I got motion sickness out of nowhere.”

Ent answered nonchalantly and smiled as usual. It didn’t matter anyway.

That wretched life, where luck never followed even a speck, was still ongoing, wasn’t it?

He wasn’t happy enough yet to dwell on past misfortunes.

Due to the relentless nagging from Paladin and Izel, Ent finally decided to turn the carriage around on the way to the capital and make a brief stop at a nearby village.

He hadn’t encountered a single band of thieves or a horde of monsters so far, and he doubted anything would happen on the road ahead, but the two completely ignored his words.

“Young master, what if a monster horde really does appear and I get hurt?”
“Then we’ll heal you with the remaining potions.”
“But what if we run out of potions and you get hurt?”
“Me?”

At Paladin’s words, meant to make Ent realize the need for restocking, Ent paused briefly in thought.

“Well, then, what can you do? If we leave it be, won’t it work out somehow? I may look like this, but I don’t die easily.”

Ent uttered those words from the mindset of ‘If you want to live, you’ll find a way to survive.’ But Paladin’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor at his flimsy, flippant answer.

Izel was so irked by the utterly sincere answer, devoid of even a hint of hesitation, that it bordered on irritation.

“Paladin, turn the carriage around and head for the nearest village.”

Izel dismissed Ent’s opinion outright. It was simply unbearable. The words “Did you drink the poison yourself?” nearly slipped out, but he managed to hold them back.

This was the first time he’d met someone who treated their own life so lightly. Swallowing a sigh, Izel scanned the distant tree through the carriage window, watching the movements of the dark shadow perched there.

Of course, it was the Harbilta family. Though, as Ent requested, only the coachman Paladin and his attendant – himself – accompanied him without any escort guards, was that really all?

Izel already knew the identity of those who had been pursuing the carriage for a week. They were the top-tier assassins of the organization Moffit, led by the Harbilta family.

‘… They’d likely eliminate any ordinary bandit gangs or monsters anyway.’

Therefore, judging solely by the result, there was no need to deviate onto another path and delay the journey to the capital, as Ent had suggested. There wouldn’t be much danger.

‘But…’

Izel frowned, looking at Ent, who he now recognized as his young master. The mountain range leading to the capital had some quite treacherous sections. Even without monsters, sudden natural disasters or other problems could easily arise.

“… Huh? What is it, Izel?”

No wonder he felt goosebumps all over – Izel was staring at him with eyes so chilling, it seemed like he could kill several people at any moment.

“Nothing.”

Watching him return to his usual expressionless self as if nothing had happened, Ent hesitantly backed away. Of course, it wasn’t very useful inside the relatively cramped carriage. Ent silently mulled over thoughts like ‘Izel is also a servant of the Harbilta family…!’

‘… Even if it’s just for the defenseless young master, we do need time to reorganize.’

Izel turned his gaze out the window. He was preparing for the worst. From what he’d seen so far, Ent seemed to care little about his own safety.

Izel didn’t even want to imagine facing such a situation because he hadn’t prepared for that worst-case scenario.