It had been a while since he’d slept so well. Until now, because of the apothecary troubles, even when his body was exhausted, he couldn’t sleep deeply and had nightmares, which had been quite an ordeal. Even as Naro rubbed his eyelids, he habitually groped for the spot beside him. Then his hand stopped abruptly at the lack of body heat he felt.
It was because he remembered what happened last night.
As Naro slowly sat up, he resolved that he should make up with Ray today. They couldn’t keep going on like this.
Maybe he’d try starting a conversation while making Ray’s favorite corn soup for breakfast.
“Ray, today I’ll make corn soup… Huh?”
Naro, who had naturally turned toward where the blankets were to speak, ended up flustered. Inside the blankets he’d set up as Ray’s bed by the fireplace, there was no one. Naro jumped out of bed and lifted the blankets.
“Ray!”
After that, he searched every corner of the house. But Ray wasn’t visible in the food storage or the bathroom either. Ray had disappeared.
“R-Ray.”
He frantically called out his name, but the quiet stillness with no response only confirmed that Ray wasn’t home right now.
“Wh-where did he go…? Ray, where did you go…?”
Naro grabbed his outerwear and quickly approached the door. Maybe he’s at the apothecary? Just as he grabbed the doorknob thinking he’d go check there, he noticed something strange.
“Why is the door…?”
The door that Naro had roughly fixed as a temporary measure yesterday had been restored to its original state, clean and neat as if it had never been broken.
Could it have been Ray?
“Ray!”
Naro flung open the door and ran to the apothecary, urgently throwing open its door. And before Naro’s eyes, an amazing sight unfolded.
“……”
The apothecary that Anton had left in disarray had been neatly organized. Even when Naro had been cleaning up yesterday, there had still been quite a bit left to organize, but the back workroom, the storage, and even the space where medicinal herbs were displayed for sale were all maintained in a more orderly state than ever before.
“…Ray.”
But Ray wasn’t there either.
The door and the apothecary had both been restored, but only Ray was missing. Naro helplessly sank to the floor.
Strangely, tears began to well up. Each time the fact that Ray was nowhere to be found gradually hit home, each time the sense of reality rose to his throat, it felt like tears would force their way out and come pouring down.
During his time at the hospital, there had been someone his age who briefly shared his room. They weren’t close enough to call friends, but that kid would sometimes lie in bed and strike up trivial conversations with him as he just read novels.
But at that time, Naro had been depressed about his own situation—unable to live a normal life while fighting illness for so long—so he hadn’t engaged much with that friend’s talk. For someone who had envied other patients who constantly had people—friends, family—visiting them, it was an incredibly ungrateful thing to do.
Then one day, when the constant attempts at conversation started to feel bothersome, he spent the whole day avoiding and ignoring that friend. And not long after, that friend’s condition suddenly worsened and they were moved to a different room.
After that, he neither knew what happened nor ran into them again. Even though it was the same hospital and he wanted to ask, he was terrified he might hear bad news, so Naro died a lonely death with only the desire to apologize kept in his heart.
“……”
Naro let out a breath and got up, brushing himself off. He didn’t want to repeat the same mistake as back then. He hadn’t been able to apologize to that friend for ignoring them, but with Ray, he still had a chance to convey his feelings.
So he had to move. To find Ray.
Naro went straight outside and started running toward the plaza. If Ray had gone outside, there might be someone who saw him. After all, he wasn’t from the village to begin with, and he had striking looks that stood out anywhere.
Just then, someone suddenly approached Naro.
“Oh my, isn’t that Naro?”
It was Andel, the owner of the shop where he’d bought lots of meat for Ray last time.
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
“Haa… A-Ahjumma, by any chance, by any chance.”
Naro worked hard to catch his rising breath.
“Have you seen an incredibly tall man?”
“Tall?”
“Yes. He has black hair and green eyes, and he’s really big… and v-very handsome.”
“Hmm…”
Perhaps flustered by Naro’s unusual behavior but sensing the situation was serious, Andel fell into thought.
“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that.”
But Andel, who had been searching her memory, shook her head. When the answer he wanted didn’t come, Naro’s shoulders drooped gloomily.
“But was there someone like that in our village? Who is it?”
“I’ll explain later. Then I’ll be going…”
Leaving behind Ahjumma Andel’s worried gaze, Naro moved desperately again. Every time he ran into someone he knew, he asked, and he grabbed strangers to ask as well. But from all their mouths, he only heard that they hadn’t seen anyone like that.
“…Haa.”
Naro swallowed his breath and looked around the bustling plaza. Had Ray not come down toward the plaza? Then which way did he go? Did he go toward the residential area?
But there would be no reason for that. If it’s not that either, then…
“……”
Naro’s gaze turned toward the mountain behind the village. Ray had been picked up from that mountain. What if Ray had gone back there? But that cave was gone, wasn’t it? No, Ray was a dragon. He might be able to use special powers. His becoming human in the first place had been thanks to that power. What if Ray, who had been a dragon from the start, had left entirely for somewhere he could live comfortably rather than a human village?
“…I shouldn’t have said that.”
Ray had just done that in front of Garnet ahjussi because he didn’t know anything. Why couldn’t he have understood that then?
People’s voices buzzed in his ears and his vision swayed dizzily. He thought he shouldn’t give up, that he could still find him, but that resolve felt like it would crumble immediately. Even though he didn’t want to imagine Ray leaving his side forever, he kept doing so.
Naro was standing there in a daze when someone approached from behind.
“Oh my, Naro? What are you doing here?”
“Eila Ahjumma.”
“Look at you sweating. What on earth is going on? Hm?”
Eila grabbed Naro’s forearm with a worried look and asked. She was Garnet’s wife, and she was someone who looked after Naro as much as Garnet usually did.
“Well, I’m… I’m looking for someone.”
“Someone? Who?”
Naro rattled off everything he could remember about Ray’s characteristics, just as he had told everyone else he’d met. If Ray hadn’t come to this plaza, there was almost no chance Eila would have seen him either, but still, Naro was desperate.
“Big build, green eyes, black hair… Ah! Are you talking about that young man by any chance?”
“What?”
But Eila showed an unexpected reaction. As she clapped her hands together and brightened, Naro’s eyes went wide.
“Ahjumma, what do you mean…?”
“This morning a young man came to our house. Looking for him. I thought it was strange since he was someone I didn’t know, but my husband greeted him warmly like he knew him. That young man looked exactly like what you just described. Isn’t that him?”
“Th-then is he at your house right now?”
His heart pounded. It felt like he’d finally found a clue to finding Ray. At the thought of being able to see him again, anticipation naturally welled up. But Eila shook her head. Naro’s heart felt like it was sinking to the ground again.
“He’s not at the house—he talked with my husband outside for a bit and then they went out together.”
“Where to?”
Eila smiled and pointed in one direction. It was such an unexpected place that Naro couldn’t help but be surprised. Because there was the location of a small academy that taught letters and provided basic education to the young children living in this village.
“You know there’s a library next to the academy, right? He said they were going there, so he’s probably there.”
“Th-thank you, Ahjumma!”
Naro bowed his head toward Eila. Not forgetting to offer his thanks, he quickly ran toward that place. He didn’t really know why Ray had gone to find Garnet ahjussi. But right now, he didn’t have the luxury to ponder such things.
The academy was located at the edge of the village, so it took quite a while to get there from the plaza. Naro arrived after running that distance in one breath, his breathing rising to his chin.
Though it had the grandiose name of academy, compared to the prestigious academies that existed in the capital Central, its scale was woefully small and its environment rather poor.
This place was mainly attended by children living in Rodelus and Hines villages, but being young children in such small villages, their numbers weren’t large.
And next to the academy’s main building was a small library. It was a place created so children could comfortably study and read, but anyone from the village could freely use it.
Naro threw open the library door in one motion. This place wasn’t very spacious either, so the interior was clearly visible from the doorway.
“……”
In the area with tables gathered where people could sit and read books, he saw a familiar figure from behind. Naro bit his lip hard and moved his trembling legs. Perhaps noticing the sound, Ray raised his head.
