TDAA Ch 33

On the bed, Siol’s ears twitched. His ears, turned toward the window, focused on a sound, as if carefully searching for something. After his tilted ears twitched several times to identify the sound, Siol’s eyes snapped open.

In the moonlight filtering through the small crack in the window, Siol’s eyes glinted strangely.

“A strange… smell.”

No, strictly speaking, it wasn’t a strange smell. He could smell something like this near a fireplace anytime. What was strange was the direction and concentration of the smell.

A strong smell was coming from a strange place. He himself couldn’t understand how he could sense it. It wasn’t even clear if this sensation was a scent or a premonition.

But something was definitely different from usual.

Something is happening, Siol was strongly convinced.

But he couldn’t cause a commotion without any proof. Siol put on his coat and was staggering out of the research lab when he stepped on something strange.

“Heok…!”

“Ah. Luber. Sorry…. You can keep sleeping.”

“Ouch…. Master Siol, you’re, cough, heavier than I thought….”

“Go back to sleep, Luber.”

Luber followed Siol, who had given a brief reply and was trying to leave the lab. Luber, who had woken up dozing, brought a thick shawl, wrapped it around Siol’s body, placed a fur hat on his head, and then yawned while scratching his head.

“Where in the world are you going at this hour….”

“I told you, you don’t have to follow.”

“But I’m still your guard, how can I not….”

Siol wondered if he knew that trying to sound cool like that while still half-asleep just made him look like a cute dog, and simply nodded.

Outside, a blizzard was raging. As soon as he stepped out of the mansion, his hat was blown away by the blizzard. Siol looked around the area, where he couldn’t see an inch in front of him, and began to move, searching for the source of the strange sound and smell he had been hearing since earlier.

“By the way, where are we really going?”

Luber, now wide awake from the cold, asked, shrinking into himself.

“Don’t you smell something strange?”

“Umm…. I don’t think so.”

“There’s too much of a wood-burning smell.”

“Well, that’s because it’s so cold. Everyone must be burning a ton of firewood so they don’t freeze to death, right?”

He could feel something else, something dangerous. Siol pushed through the snow and walked for a long time toward the outskirts of the domain.

“Ugh…. It’s cold. There’s nothing here, can’t we just go back?”

“The smell is getting stronger.”

As Siol instructed, Luber held him and jumped over the castle wall, avoiding the guard dogs.

The direction Siol was heading became clearer and clearer. It was hard to get his bearings as the blizzard obscured his vision, but the smell only grew stronger.

The two of them managed to climb to a spot where they could see Siol’s target. An orange light was flickering through the snow.

“Fire…. There was a fire in the forest.”

“No.”

Luber, his face pale, replied in a flustered voice.

“That’s, that’s the lumber storage!”

“What?!”

Siol and Luber scrambled through the snow, running toward the blazing fire. The closer they got to the source of the fire, the stronger the heat became, to the point where they could feel the heat on their faces.

Dashing into the clearing visible through the trees, Siol and Luber witnessed the lumber storage engulfed in flames. The blaze was vivid amidst the thick, wildly blowing snow. The fire, hidden by the snowstorm, had already grown immense by feeding on the fuel packed in the lumber storage.

“Luber, go.”

“Yes, yes? Where?”

“Go and tell the lord there’s a fire!”

“But, what about you, Master Siol?”

Siol scanned the surroundings. The flames were dancing spectacularly, their hem swinging out to find new sacrifices.

What he had to do in this place was clear.

“I’ll keep the fire from spreading to the forest. Go to the domain and tell them the lumber storage is on fire.”

“But!”

“Luber! Go!”

At his shout, Luber, who had been looking back and forth between Siol and the burning lumber storage, bit his lip and started to run back.

“Don’t get hurt!”

Siol hurriedly began to circle the lumber storage to inspect it.

The Meric domain was already short on firewood. The firewood was almost gone, and they were even splitting lumber meant for sale. The fire at the lumber storage was a painful loss, but there was no way to save the already burning lumber storage.

For now, he had to stop this fire from spreading to the forest. If the fire spread to the forest, there was no telling how large it would grow. It might even engulf the domain in flames.

Siol quickly spotted logs scattered sparsely from the side of the lumber storage toward the forest. It seemed they had done the logging but had no more space to store it, so they had just left it there for the time being.

To prevent the lumber storage fire from spreading to the forest, he had to destroy the path connecting the forest and the lumber storage. To put it simply, he had to remove the fire’s food in advance and starve it to death.

Siol rummaged through his pockets. If he had known this would happen, he would have stuffed his pockets with something. The only thing he had on him now was Eorzen’s scale, which he always carried in his bosom. He took out the dragon scale, then put it back into his bosom and took off his shawl and coat. It was hot enough with the blaze of the fire, so it was better to have them off anyway.

He quickly scanned the area, grabbed an axe and a saw, and sighed softly as he looked at the piled-up snow.

The Delivery Man liked flowers. If he had even a single flower, he would have been treated more generously, but unfortunately, no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find a place where flowers might be. If Ryufen had been here, would he have told him where to dig to find flowers or herbs?

The one fortunate thing was that Siol’s coat and shawl were high-quality items, carefully made by a skilled artisan using expensive fur.

So, this should be enough….

Siol slammed his hands on the ground with a desperate heart. A light bloomed from his fingertips and ran across the dirt floor, drawing a familiar magic circle. The magic circle soon accepted the offering Siol had prepared. A part disappeared into the order of the world, a part was devoured by the Delivery Man, and only a very small part popped back out onto the magic circle.

It was an earring with a blue gem on it. Siol quickly pushed it into his earlobe.

“Good.”

The earring greedily absorbed Siol’s magic. It recklessly stole an amount of magic that would have made a normal person faint and collapse. Siol willingly let the earring feast on his magic until it was full, and in return, he took the power held within its blue light.

A huge power filled Siol’s body.

Siol took a slow, deep breath and began to lift the logs scattered around the lumber storage and move them far away. The large logs, which would have been difficult for four or five strong men to move, were lifted up in a flash by Siol’s hands.

Dong— Dong—

“…What is that?”

Siol, who had been clearing the area for a while, heard a strange sound. Something different from the sounds of nature reached his ears, which had been muffled by the sound of the howling blizzard.

The direction was from inside the lumber storage.

Finding it strange, Siol tilted his head, then felt another sound and a vibration in the ground and turned around. The feeling of the ground shaking and the sound of horse hooves pounding the ground were getting closer.

After waiting a moment, the Lord of Meric and several knights on black horses galloped over. Most of them were human knights. It seemed Ladie’s beastman knights had left with her today to rescue another domain.

Dismounting from the black horse that was snorting roughly, the Lord of Meric approached Siol and asked.

“What’s the situation?”

“It seems the lumber storage is a lost cause, so I was preparing to prevent it from spreading to the surrounding area.”

“Knights! Clear the rest of the trees near the lumber storage!”

The knights, who had rushed over wearing only their leather armor, heard the command and swarmed over to start clearing the logs that Siol hadn’t finished clearing yet. They too seemed to be in a hurry, as if they knew they would be out of options if the fire spread to the forest.

The Lord of Meric was staring at the burning lumber storage with a grim face.

His head must be aching, wondering what to do now that they had lost so much lumber in a domain already short on firewood. If they didn’t do something about this problem, there would be a flood of casualties as the domain’s residents froze to death.

Dong— Dong—

“A bell… sound?”

As Siol muttered blankly and turned toward the lumber storage, the Lord of Meric roughly grabbed his shoulder.

“What did you just say?!”

“Pardon?”

“What did you say!”

“I thought I heard… a bell ringing….”

At the question, which came with the force of a volcano, Siol answered in a timid voice.

“You really hear a bell?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but probably.”

“Damn it…!”

The Lord of Meric spat out a curse as if chewing on it and stared at the lumber storage. Anguish and torment were entwined in his eyes, swirling wildly. But he soon seemed to have made a decision, and he threw off the heavy armor and sword he was wearing.

Siol blocked the Lord of Meric as he took a step toward the lumber storage.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

The Lord of Meric tried to push Siol’s body away, but no matter how much of a burly knight he was, he couldn’t push away Siol, who was enhanced by the power of an alchemical tool.

“Move! I have to go in there!”

“What are you going to do in that inferno? The wood is a lost cause anyway!”

“That’s not it….”

“No!”

Siol firmly blocked the Lord of Meric, who was suddenly acting foolishly.

He was Ladie’s most important supporter. Even if they had fought over a difference of opinion, that relationship hadn’t changed, and Siol couldn’t let such a Lord of Meric commit suicide.

Seeing the commotion the Lord of Meric was causing, several knights ran over.

“My domain’s people are in there!!”

“…Pardon? People, you mean, inside that burning building?”

Dong—

“There is an underground shelter inside the lumber storage. It was made so people could hide in case of a monster invasion. And there is a bell there to signal that there are evacuees.”

So the ringing of the bell was a signal that there were people inside the underground shelter.

Siol felt his breath catch in his throat. To think there were people inside the burning lumber storage that he had just thought should be left to burn. And a living person, at that, who was still hoping for life with a call for rescue.

“My cape is magically treated so it won’t catch fire. So, move!”

Siol looked back and forth between the burning lumber storage and the Lord of Meric who was trying to push him away. Everything around him seemed to flow in slow motion.

The burning lumber storage, the snowstorm that raged so the fire couldn’t be seen from the domain, the knights trying to clear the nearby trees, and the Lord of Meric who was about to walk into the ball of fire himself to save his domain’s people, relying on nothing but a single cape, and the human knights who were flustered and at a loss.

Life and death, and something that connected them, was shaking his heart at this very moment.

“Step back, my lord.”

At the command in his chilly tone, the Lord of Meric retorted as if grinding his teeth.

“You move out of my way! Damn it, this damn strength is…!”

“If you’re not here when Ladie returns, she will lose her family again.”

“…What does that….”

The Lord of Meric would never have dared to think such a thought. That was the Lord of Meric’s nature. Even if he considered the king a close friend, he would never have failed to show the king proper respect. A man who fulfilled his duties as a subject and would not serve a new master with loyalty from the heart.

The reason the current king hadn’t come to suppress him with force even after stripping him of his title as lord might be because the current king had a desire to break this rigid man and place him under his command, Siol thought. Because the Lord of Meric was a loyal knight and lord whom one could trust with their back once he was under them, he wanted to have him.

But because he was that kind of person, there was a part that the Lord of Meric was mistaken about himself.

“How could I… Her Highness the Princess’s….”

“It seemed Ladie thinks of you like family.”

Siol recalled the time he had spoken with Ladie alone. She had asked Siol to understand the Lord of Meric. That he had lost his reason in anger but would soon return, that it might take some time, but he would surely be fine.

Recalling the things she could say because she had affection, Siol continued.

“And, in fact, it’s the same for you, my lord.”

Just as the Lord of Meric was to Ladie, to the single Lord of Meric, Ladie was his only remaining precious family.

If that hadn’t been the case, there would have been no reason for him to try so hard to stop Ladie from going to dangerous places, or to be hurt by Ladie’s mean words and get angry, saying things he didn’t mean. If the Lord of Meric truly thought of himself as just a subject, would there have been a reason to be hurt when Ladie asked if he wanted to ‘raise the king’s blood like livestock’?

“Do not, change the subject….”

“When Ladie returns, tell her you love her. That you love her like a daughter, like a niece. That it’s not because she is of the king’s bloodline, but because of that, you can’t bear to see her in danger.”

“……”

Siol left the Lord of Meric, who had a dazed expression, behind and faced the lumber storage.

Dong— Dong—

The bell was desperately calling for rescue.

Siol took out the glittering blue scale from his bosom and left a final kiss on it. Sadness settled on Siol’s face, but it soon turned into firm resolve.

“I will resolve this matter.”

The blue dragon’s scale was precious.

But it was not more precious than Ladie’s life, nor was it more precious than the life dying before his eyes.

This might not be a wise choice. In the long run, it might have been a better choice to let the one dying in there die and create something to save Ladie.

But Siol did not know how to ignore a life he could save right now. He might be able to if he closed his eyes and plugged his ears. But, still, he didn’t want to know.

“How on earth are you going to…!”

Siol dropped the scale and slammed his hands down in front of it.

A streak of light, shining even more strongly with a powerful will, shot across the ground. It was so large that the startled knights staggered back. It drew a large circle that included the lumber storage and began to crisscross the inside of it without restraint. The aura of magic flowing from within it pressed down on everyone standing nearby.

Only the Lord of Meric managed to hold his head up properly and look at Siol.

The Lord of Meric stared blankly at Siol, who stood firmly before the streak of light rising from the ground and the tremendous wave of magic. He couldn’t help it. The sight of the wolf beastman standing resolutely before the blazing fire, calmly facing something like a gate to another world filled with light and magic, looked like a scene from some myth.

His hair flew about wildly, and Siol’s eyes glowed a bright blue.

The huge power seemed to be rampaging violently at a glance, but in reality, Siol could tell that it was only gently brushing past his cheek. The identity of this being, which wielded a huge influence on the world just by revealing a little of itself, was obvious. The being Siol had been arbitrarily calling the Delivery Man, the one who had always only taken the offerings and ingredients Siol offered from inside the magic circle, had come out.

Why? What was different from before?

In fact, it didn’t matter what it was. He was just grateful that he had appeared when needed.

Siol looked up at the lumber storage.

Fire dies out without oxygen. But he didn’t know where the shelter was inside the lumber storage. If he eliminated the oxygen where the people were, it would defeat the purpose.

So, he had no choice but to offer the most primitive prayer to put out the fire.

He had never wished for something like this before. How great a power it was to cause a natural phenomenon compared to changing the shape or structure of an object.

“Let it rain.”

At his whisper, black smoke billowed up from within the magic circle and began to pile up in layers in the sky right above the lumber storage. The mass of clouds, which formed in defiance of the surrounding temperature and atmospheric pressure, tangled and clumped together, then, unable to bear the weight, fell.

“In this weather… it’s really… raining…?”

The Lord of Meric muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

Some of it froze while falling and became hail, but most of it crashed into the flames, reducing the fire’s momentum by that much. The drizzle, which was not so strong at first, gradually began to pour down as intensely as a squall, and the flames, which had been dancing until just a moment ago, stopped their dance, curled up, and curled up again and again, and finally disappeared, leaving only black smoke behind.

It was a miraculous moment.

To think that the flames, which had been raging as if to burn everything, would disappear in an instant, leaving only a trace.

The rain, which had not yet completely stopped, quickly froze, turning the lumber storage into a place full of icicles. The strange sight, where rainwater, ice, icicles, and smoke coexisted, looked like a witch’s ice castle.

The people, who were also soaked to the bone, were looking at Siol, who had created this result, in awe.

Dong— Dong—

The sound of the bell broke the silence among the people who were frozen, not daring to move.

At that signal, the knights began to move. The lumber storage was half-burnt, soaked with rain, and freezing solid. They hesitated, unsure how to enter the lumber storage, which looked like a frozen waterfall, but eventually, they broke the wall with a mace and went inside.

Siol was staring blankly at the dragon’s scale, which was slowly disappearing as if melting in the light. Following that, the Delivery Man, who had kicked up a storm-like wind that messed up Siol’s hair, disappeared into the magic circle. The Lord of Meric, who had been watching his dazed back, cautiously approached him and asked.

“Was it… a precious item?”

“…Yes.”

“…I’m sorry.”

The Lord of Meric, who had been choosing his words several times as if he didn’t know what to say, finally brought out an apology. Siol found the apology unexpected and at the same time bewildering, and he looked up at him. The Lord of Meric was looking down at him with an expression he had never seen before.

“No, I was going to use it for Ladie anyway. Ladie would have wanted me to save the people living right in front of me rather than hide it for myself while I could save them. And no matter how precious it was to me, it’s not more precious than someone’s life.”

Siol turned his head to look at the knights coming out of the lumber storage and continued.

“Especially if they are such young children… even more so. Rather, I’m glad I could save those kids.”

The children were trembling and clinging tightly to the knights’ arms. One could tell just from their pale complexions how terrified they must have been, trapped inside the burning building. It seemed the shelter had a separate ventilation shaft. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to come out so unharmed.

Siol felt a sense of relief for some reason and watched them with a smile. The knights were flusteredly soothing the children, who were busy crying, then laughing, then crying again. He didn’t know how these young children had ended up trapped in the fire in a place like this, but it was truly a relief.

If he had chosen the option of not saving them, he wouldn’t have been able to feel this joy. He felt as if all his worries as an alchemist until now were being cleared away just by the sight of the children’s smiling faces.

“Huh…?”

It was then that a thick cloak was draped over Siol’s shoulders. When Siol turned his head to look up, Lord Meric, with his usual stoic expression, was fastening the front of the cloak snugly, buttoning it up properly, before abruptly turning his body and walking toward the knights.

Only then did Siol realize he had been shivering violently from the cold. Having been soaked by the rain that poured as if a hole had been torn in the sky, without a coat or a shawl, there was no way he wouldn’t shiver in the weather where the rain froze as it fell, turning into hail. It was absurd that he hadn’t even noticed he was trembling due to his nervousness.

The cloak, said to be magically treated to not even catch fire, was incredibly warm. He felt as though a comforting warmth was seeping not only into his body but into his heart as well.

Siol slowly scanned the forest, the sky, the land that was soaked with rainwater and freezing over again, and the knights moving about in between, vividly feeling this very moment.

He had done it.

A sense of euphoria filled him completely.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

Lord Meric first went to the children who were shivering and clinging to the knights to find out what had happened.

Now that the children’s lives were no longer threatened, he, as the lord, had the duty to grasp the details of the incident and take various measures to minimize its aftermath. He thought that, in the worst-case scenario, there might have been an attack from the king.

After all, firewood was directly linked to survival in this terrible winter.

“No, that’s not it…. We, we were just…. Hiccup.”

“Calm down and tell me.”

“I’m sorry, my lord…. We just… came out to pick winter strawberries since the snow had let up a bit….”

A child, whose face was a mess of tears and smeared soot, stepped forward with a frightened expression and confessed the story.

Recently, the children’s old grandmother had been spending her days dozing off by the fireplace. A few days ago, she had suddenly said she wanted to eat winter strawberries. The children, wanting to grant the wish of their grandmother who didn’t seem to have much time left, came out to find the winter strawberries as soon as the snow stopped. They couldn’t return in time and ended up here, in the lumber storage. And because it was so cold they felt like they were freezing to death, they had piled up some firewood on the ground and started a fire.

Up to that point, there was no problem.

The floor was made of earth, so starting a fire itself wouldn’t cause a blaze. It was also unlikely that a child born and raised in this domain wouldn’t know how to safely start a fire. Finding it hard to understand, he questioned further, only to receive the answer that while they were warding off the cold, the floor of the nearby second story suddenly collapsed. The lumber stacked there came pouring down, causing the fire to spread.

Hearing this, he could roughly guess the reason.

Because the trade routes were cut off, lumber that should have originally been sold to other domains had been piling up for a long time. They had likely kept stacking it without considering the weight the second floor of the lumber storage could bear. The structure had become unstable due to the overload, and when they lit a fire inside, the sudden change in temperature must have caused a support pillar to collapse.

Come to think of it, the children were a mess. They must not have had a moment to worry about the soot on their clothes or the scratches on their bodies while trying to escape the sudden accident.

Seeing the child covered in scratches, Lord Meric gestured with his chin for a knight to take him.

“My lord! I was wrong. I’ll pay it back even if it takes my whole life, so please, please forgive me!”

He couldn’t hide his troubled feelings as he looked at the child, who was sobbing and pleading.

The child’s life was, of course, precious. He was a lord who cared deeply for his people, so there was no way he wasn’t happy that the child had survived. But at the same time, as the lord, he couldn’t help but think about the damage caused by the child.

There were two lumber storages in Lord Meric’s domain. One was this one, now half-burnt, and the other was in the south, where high-quality lumber was mainly stored. The wood in this storage was now unusable, which meant only the high-quality lumber storage in the south remained. It was impossible for the entire domain to get through the winter with just that.

Even if they got more wood right away, they would now lack the space to dry it.

“You’ll have to perform a very great service, little one.”

Lord Meric said in a low voice and turned away. The little one, frightened by his tone, burst into tears, and the knights consoled him. “He’s telling you to pay it back by performing a great service someday, why are you crying, little one,” they said.

The time they could last with the firewood moved within the domain was about a week. After that, people might start freezing to death. How on earth should he solve the firewood shortage?

Groaning as he glared at the lumber storage, Lord Meric spotted a person he had momentarily forgotten.

It was the man who had just offered up something precious to create a miracle that was hard to believe. He was standing there blankly with a flushed face, looking around. At the forest, the sky, the ground, with a sense of wonder, like someone discovering something they had never seen before in their life.

“…Master Siol.”

When he approached and called out, Siol turned to Meric with a somewhat dazed expression.

“Meric, my lord.”

“…About… about that thing of yours…”

“That thing…? Ah.”

With clumsy hands, Siol undid the cloak’s button, then quickly took it off and held it out toward Lord Meric.

“Thank you for lending it to me, my lord.”

He offered his thanks calmly, but his body was shivering violently. His drenched body was freezing instantly in the cold wind. Yet, Siol was trying to return the cloak without hesitation. Faced with an attitude so polite it bordered on self-destructive, Lord Meric felt a surge of irritation.

He snatched the cloak as if taking it by force and draped it over Siol’s shoulders again. After he had once more fastened the front of the cloak snugly and buttoned it up, Siol looked up at him with dazed eyes.

“…I’ll send some mana stones to you when we return to the mansion.”

“Mana stones…?”

“It won’t compare to the item you used to make it rain earlier, but…”

It had been a day with a blizzard raging like a storm. For rain to fall in this weather could only be called a miracle. What’s more, that rain fell straight down amidst the swirling wind, without scattering to the sides. It had completely ignored the surrounding weather and truly just ‘rained.’ Just as this man had wished.

The item sacrificed to produce such a wondrous result could not have been an ordinary object. And Siol, who had created such a wondrous result, could not be an ordinary person either. Lord Meric looked anew at the small young man before him.

“Mana stones…! Really? How much? How many will you give me?”

Siol asked back, his eyes sparkling.

“What, what should I make? Just tell me anything and…!”

“No, what I’m giving you is compensation for the item you used earlier, so there’s no need for that…”

“But I want to make something helpful!”

“…You are…”

“I want to make something helpful, be acknowledged, make Ladie the king, and after that, punish Nathaniel and the king, and, and… the blue… dragon…”

Siol, who had been excitedly rambling on with flushed cheeks, his words began to slur, and then he suddenly pitched forward.

Lord Meric, who caught Siol by reflex, finally realized that Siol’s cheeks, which he thought were red from the cold, were actually burning with fever. Siol’s entire body was boiling hot. It was a wonder he had been standing upright without collapsing until now with such a high fever.

Lord Meric froze for a moment, holding the man who had stood without showing a single sign of being sick until he finally collapsed at his limit. The surprisingly light body was so thin that bones could be felt here and there.

Does he even eat properly? What has he been eating at the mansion to end up like this? He recalled that he had never given an order to the cook to specifically look after Siol’s meals.

“My lord, we must move Master Siol to the mansion.”

A knight who had approached in shock after seeing Siol collapse urged the frozen Lord Meric. Only then did he startle and begin to move. They had to return to the mansion as quickly as possible.

When the lord and his knights galloped back to the mansion, the one waiting for them was Luber, who was restlessly pacing in a figure-eight, looking anxious. He rushed to the dismounting lord and took Siol away as if snatching him.

“My lord, you liar! I asked you earlier to bring him back safely!”

Luber cried out tearfully. Luber had asked him to bring Siol back safely, but Lord Meric had not answered and had ignored him. So, strictly speaking, he had never made a promise, yet Lord Meric couldn’t find an excuse for being called a liar.

“Luber! What insolence!”

“I told you Master Siol is as fragile as a rabbit and needs to be treated with care!”

“Luber! If you don’t stop right now…”

Instead, Lord Meric held up his palm to stop the angry knight and looked back at Luber.

“Luber, move Master Siol to a room on the second floor. I will call for a doctor.”

“No.”

“Luber!”

“Master Siol may seem dense, but he has a sensitive personality. He’ll definitely be anxious if he wakes up in a place he doesn’t know. It’s better to let him be treated in his own room in the basement.”

“But that place is…”

“It may be a basement, but it’s not damp or cold. It’ll get warm quickly if we put a lot of firewood in the fireplace…”

Luber sniffled and adjusted his hold on the feverish Siol.

“I’m going to nurse him. I promised my master I would take good care of Master Siol…”

Lord Meric couldn’t stop Luber as he spoke resolutely and turned away.

It was unfamiliar to see the mansion’s little troublemaker, the little dog, crying and sending such a resentful gaze for the first time, but more than anything, he could feel Luber’s sincere affection for Siol. Did he, who had until now regarded Siol as an ominous being, the Alchemist of Death, and had unpleasantly neglected him, have the right to push Luber aside and decide Siol’s resting place?

“My lord, I will scold him. And I will have Master Siol moved to a room on the second floor, so please…”

As the knight tried to subtly side with Luber, Lord Meric shook his head and gave an order.

“…No, it’s fine. Send a maid to the basement to prepare the things needed for nursing, and send the doctor.”

“Understood.”

“And as for the lumber storage issue…”

Letting out what sounded like a growl-like sigh, Lord Meric shook his head again.

“No, let’s continue this conversation tomorrow. Everyone, get a proper rest tonight. There will be a lot to do starting tomorrow.”

To avoid seeing his people freeze to death throughout the winter, he had to solve the firewood problem somehow.

But it was now a flesh-biting winter; the ground was slippery and the trees were frozen solid, making it difficult to even swing an axe. At best, the amount of lumber they could get would be incomparable to that of summer. Perhaps they would have to risk their lives crossing monster territory to buy wood.

No, there was no other way.

Lord Meric, faced with a sudden disaster, gazed with sunken eyes at the smoke rising from the fireplaces of his domain outside the mansion, before finally turning away.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

Luber, sniffling and crying, hugged Siol tightly and ran down to the basement.

When he had run to Lord Meric to report the fire, the lord had led the knights out, ordering Luber to wait at the mansion. He had said that Luber lacked the composure to be of any use in a still-dangerous scene, so he couldn’t be trusted to come along.

He shouldn’t have listened, Luber thought over and over again.

If he had known Siol would return soaked to the bone as if he’d been plunged into icy water, he would have never obeyed that order. He should have resisted, saying he couldn’t follow the lord’s command in order to fulfill his master’s order to protect Master Siol.

Luber entered Siol’s laboratory-slash-bedroom, laid Siol on the bed, and then, restless, began to move the furniture in front of a fireplace. He pushed the small table, chair, and sofa all into a corner and dragged all the rugs to the floor, stacking them layer upon layer until it was reasonably soft. When he carried Siol over and placed him on the rugs, Siol groaned and curled up his body.

Knock, knock-

Luber threw another log into the roaring fireplace and ran to the door.

“Who is it!”

“Luber. I’ve brought some blankets and towels.”

“Ronia noona!”

When he opened the door, a woman dressed as a maid entered, carrying thick blankets, towels, and a large basket. She looked at Luber, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying, with a worried expression, then glanced toward the silhouette by the fireplace.

“The lord said to give you whatever you need. For now, I’ve brought blankets, towels, some food… and a basin. If you need anything else, just say the word.”

“Why the basin?”

“You said he has a fever, right? You need to soak a towel in cold water and place it on his forehead…. Heavens, don’t you know how to nurse someone? Should I do it instead?”

“No. I’ll do it. My master ordered me to protect him, but I… I…”

The maid patted the head of Luber, who was starting to sob, and comforted him.

“Don’t worry too much, Luber. The lord told me to fetch the doctor. While you’re taking off Master Siol’s clothes, wiping him down, and putting new clothes on him, I’ll go get the doctor. He’ll be fine once the doctor sees him.”

“The doctor! Yes, please hurry back.”

At Luber’s urging, the maid left the laboratory. The doctor lived in a house not far from the mansion. With the heavy snow, they couldn’t take a carriage; she would have to go on foot to bring him back, which would take quite a while.

He had to quickly undress Siol, wipe him down, and put him in fresh clothes, and then cool his forehead with a towel soaked in cold water….

Muttering his to-do list one by one, Luber ran to Siol’s side, only to find a mouse standing by his head, touching Siol’s cheek. Siol called it a cute harvest mouse, but to Luber, it was just a shameless tenant, nothing more than a dirty wild mouse.

“Hey, you, Master Siol is sick so… get away… get…”

Luber, who was about to scold and shoo the mouse away, suddenly lost focus in his eyes. He stood there blankly, straightened his bent back, and turned to walk away like a ghost. The harvest mouse watched impassively as he staggered out the door and closed it behind him, then slowly rose to its feet.

The tiny body, no bigger than two fingers, instantly grew in volume with a faint light, soon taking on a human form. He bent over worriedly, caressed Siol’s hot cheek, and pushed the hair stuck to his face back.

“Siol….”

Siol, who was exhaling hot breaths from his feverish body, clung to Eorzen’s cold hand as if seeking comfort.

Eorzen sat beside Siol and pulled him into an embrace. Then, he unconsciously checked the beat of the heart he held in his hand. It was beating a little faster than usual, but thankfully, not to a dangerous degree.

Siol’s body was no longer as small as it used to be; when he lay with his back against Eorzen’s chest, his legs stretched out long.

Eorzen looked at Siol, who had grown taller but whose limbs seemed to have become even thinner, with a pained expression, and began to remove his wet clothes.

“Cold…”

“Yes, it will be warm soon.”

Because Siol was dressed in thick layers and soaking wet, his clothes clung to him, making them difficult to remove. Eorzen grunted with effort, coaxing and soothing the shrinking Siol, who whimpered that he didn’t want to, whispering in his ear that it was okay, that he would make him warm soon, as he took off the clothes one by one.

Siol’s skin, covered in freezing cold clothes, was so hot that Eorzen feared something might happen to him.

“Lord Eorzen…?”

Siol called to him, his eyes hazy and unfocused. Eorzen pulled Siol’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it in reply.

“Yes.”

“Am I… sick…?”

“Yes. But you’ll be fine soon.”

“I see…”

Nodding blankly without a hint of disbelief, Siol huddled closer to him.

“I’m cold, Lord Eorzen….”

“…Yes. I will make you warm right away.”

Eorzen replied, holding Siol tightly.

He reached out and pulled over the basin and towel the maid had brought earlier. Water welled up from the bottom of the basin, filling it completely, and the towel went in on its own, soaked itself thoroughly, and then wrung itself out. Eorzen began to wipe Siol’s arm with the towel.

“It’s cold…”

“You’ve sweated a lot, so we have to wipe you down. I’ll do it quickly and make you warm, so just bear with it for a little bit. Okay?”

“…Okay…”

To the feverish Siol, even the lukewarm towel must have felt cold. Although Siol nodded obediently and was enduring it, Eorzen quickly wiped down his body, which flinched every time the towel touched him. After wiping his arms, legs, back, chest, and stomach, Siol was shivering and curled into a ball.

Eorzen hurriedly dressed Siol in fluffy new clothes, laid him down on the rugs, and covered him with a blanket. After that, Siol, lying on the thick rugs under a heavy blanket, had a somewhat dissatisfied look on his face.

“What’s wrong? If something’s bothering you, tell me.”

“……”

“Hmm? I’ll do anything for you, so just tell me.”

“…Really?”

Siol’s fever-flushed face lit up with anticipation. Eorzen quickly caressed Siol’s cheek and nodded.

“Yes, I will do anything. If… if you want to go back, even right now…”

However, Siol seemed not to understand the blue dragon’s words, which whispered, revealing his own desire. He tilted his head, then slightly lifted the blanket and pleaded.

“Lie down with me. Please…?”

Eorzen did as his mate commanded without a word. As Eorzen slipped under the blanket, lying half on his side and propping himself up on an elbow to look down at Siol, Siol grinned and snuggled into his embrace.

Looking at his feverish mate pressed against his chest, he felt an unbearable desire surge within him. But it was not yet time for that. It was not right to desire someone who was sick. Eorzen slowly stroked Siol’s hair, swallowing his desire back down.

Instead, he whispered a greater desire, a wish, to Siol once more.

“When you’re all better, shall we go back together?”

“…Together?”

“Yes, let’s go back together, you and I. Hmm?”

“…To where…?”

Toward Siol, who was clearly hesitant, Eorzen began to speak seductively.

“We can go to my castle and live as we did before, or if you wish, we can go to the land of dragons. Or how about we travel the continent together? We could leave the human lands and travel through the lands of the beastmen, then stop by the land of dragons, and after that pass through the land of monsters to the north and wander the northern countries. A completely different culture is thriving there, so it would be fun to travel. It will be fun wherever we go. Hmm?”

“But…”

The more he whispered about how fun and interesting it would be, the more Siol’s expression fell, making Eorzen anxious.

“Please, Sizool.”

“I have… things I have to do…”

“…Sizool…”

“I have… so many things I have to take responsibility for…. I can’t… I can’t just leave like this.”

“I see…. Well, as I’ve said many times, I am always by your side. I will always be waiting for you, so…”

“Yes.”

At the gentle whisper, Siol nodded dazedly and smiled faintly. He was unable to read the sorrow the blue dragon hid behind it.

“But… why am I sick…? Earlier… with Ryufen… we were picking mushrooms on the mountain…. He said he wanted to eat meat, so flowers and fragrant wood…. But the ice lake was so pretty….”

Siol rambled, talking about memories from his time at Eorzen’s castle as if they had just happened. It seemed Siol’s fever was so high that he had forgotten when it was and where he was.

Eorzen gently patted Siol’s back and voiced his complaint.