“What?”
Only then did Naro, held tightly in Ray’s arms, come into view. Seeing Naro’s condition, wrapped up tightly in a blanket, Garnet’s face also became serious. Eila was startled as well and examined Naro all over.
“Please, do something quickly. I’m begging you.”
Ray gripped Garnet’s clothes tightly. Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Garnet came out wearing his coat.
“Eila, I’ll go to Wooter’s house with Ray.”
“Alright.”
Wooter was a doctor who ran a medical clinic in Rodelus Village. Garnet headed to his house together with Ray.
When he knocked on the door vigorously, fortunately Wooter, who hadn’t gone to sleep yet, appeared. Instead of Ray, who could only anxiously hold Naro tightly in his arms, Garnet explained the whole situation. After quickly examining Naro’s condition, Wooter said they should look at him at the clinic rather than at home and moved there.
With all the lights out, the square was swallowed by pitch-black darkness, except for one single window where a light turned on. Entering the clinic, Wooter quickly prepared for the examination and asked them to lay Naro on the bed.
Ray was still breathing heavily. With Garnet’s help, Naro was laid on the bed, his face looking like a dead person’s. There was still no vitality in it at all.
Ray clenched his fists tightly. The fragments of memories that had surfaced earlier kept overlapping with Naro’s appearance.
This feeling was a first for him in his life. The anxiety eventually transformed into regret. If he had noticed earlier that something was wrong with Naro’s condition, if he hadn’t fallen asleep and had kept watching over Naro continuously, perhaps they wouldn’t have reached such a dangerous situation.
Why had he been sleeping? Why had he been lying so carelessly next to Naro? Just as Ray’s eyes were sinking coldly, Garnet approached and patted his shoulder.
Ray flinched and turned his head at the sudden contact.
“Ray, Wooter is a skilled doctor, so don’t worry too much. Let’s go outside for now.”
Garnet barely managed to bring Ray, who wanted to stay by Naro’s side, outside and sat him down on a chair in the hallway. If left alone, Ray might have collapsed too. Even now he was sweating like this and had such a pale face.
“Naro’s body… was cold.”
Ray muttered while looking down at his own hands. The body that had seemed about to burn up had rapidly cooled again on the way to Garnet’s house.
“Humans are weak. Why on earth…”
“Hmm, it sounds kind of strange hearing you say that when you’re human… Ray.”
Garnet placed his hand on Ray’s shoulder with a tap.
“Humans are weak, but on the other hand, they’re also incredibly tenacious and strong. Naro is the same.”
Garnet nodded his head while gently curling up the corners of his mouth.
“So just wait a little.”
“Ugh.”
At that moment, Ray clutched his head again.
“What’s wrong! Are you feeling unwell somewhere too?”
“No. It’s just that my head hurts when I hear what you say.”
Garnet tilted his head, wondering if he’d said something strange, as he looked at Ray saying his head hurt.
Fortunately, Ray’s headache didn’t last very long. As time passed, Ray, who had been anxious, gradually regained his composure little by little. Whether Garnet’s words had helped or not, his unstable appearance had decreased significantly compared to before.
Not long after Ray had calmed down, Wooter came outside. Ray almost reflexively jumped up and approached him.
“Naro, how is Naro?”
Ray grabbed Wooter’s shoulders and asked urgently.
“Fortunately, he’s regained stability. There’s no need to worry anymore.”
Ray’s shoulders dropped. All the strength completely drained from his body that had been so tense until now. Ray passed right by Wooter and rushed into the hospital room. The face of Naro, lying in bed making soft breathing sounds as he slept, definitely looked much more at ease.
Ray sat down right next to the bed and looked at Naro. His complexion had returned, and most importantly, he could feel his body temperature. That warm body temperature, which was proof that he was alive.
“But Wooter, why did Naro collapse in the first place?”
Wooter and Garnet also followed Ray inside.
“Well, regarding that, I have something to ask you, Ray. Ray, may I ask how the wound on Naro’s hand happened?”
While holding Naro’s hand tightly, Ray explained what had happened in the mountains. He said that Naro had been near a stream when his hand was unfortunately cut by a hard, sharp blade of grass.
“Do you happen to remember what that grass blade looked like? Could you draw it?”
Receiving the paper and pen Wooter handed him, Ray drew the grass blade shape in quite some detail. Since he was confident in his memory, it wasn’t a very difficult task.
Wooter stared intently at the paper, made a “hmm” sound, then nodded his head.
“As I thought, this seems to be a poisonous plant.”
“Poisonous plant?”
When Ray sharply asked back, Garnet added an explanation from the side, saying it meant grass that contains poison.
“When you look at it from the outside, this is no different from ordinary grass blades. But look at this part here. See how this front part is slightly bent like a hook? If what I know is correct, it should be a poisonous plant.”
“But Naro runs a medicine shop. Would someone who knows about plants and medicinal herbs inside and out not have known this was a poisonous plant?”
Garnet expressed his doubt.
“As I said earlier, when you look at it from the outside, there’s no difference from regular grass. Moreover, even for someone like Naro, there’s a high possibility he didn’t know. That’s because this poisonous plant is hard to find within the Empire. It’s not well documented in books either. If this really exists in the mountains behind Rodelus Village, there might be more victims like Naro… Garnet, it would be good to take some people and go check it out as soon as it’s light.”
Garnet nodded, saying he would do that. Ray stared at Naro’s injured hand. Now that Wooter had treated it, a new bandage was wrapped around it.
“Fortunately, the poison didn’t penetrate deeply into his body, so it looks like detoxification will be possible with just medication. If he sleeps soundly like this and wakes up, he’ll get better quickly.”
As he said this, Wooter comforted the weakened Ray, saying that if they had been just a little later, the poison would have spread more and treatment might not have been easy.
The urgent situation had fortunately come to an end. Naro was safe and nothing dangerous had happened.
“Garnet.”
Ray briefly stopped Garnet, who was about to return home.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, Naro lived.”
“That’s not thanks to me but thanks to you, Ray. You heard what Wooter said earlier. He said it was fortunate that you took quick action. And see, I was right, wasn’t I? That humans are tenacious and strong.”
Garnet grinned. Ray quietly mulled over those words before nodding his head.
“Well then, I’ll be going now. I have a lot to prepare if I’m going to climb the mountain tomorrow.”
Ray waved his hand at Garnet, who was waving his hand, in the same way. And after seeing him off, he came back into the hospital room. Inside the room, Naro’s soft breathing sounds were gently resonating. He didn’t know that such a trivial sound of breathing could calm his heart like this.
Ray settled down sitting next to the bed where Naro lay. Wooter had recommended he rest in the break room that had a bed, but Ray refused. He was too anxious to leave Naro’s side.
He knew in his head that Naro was okay, but he couldn’t help it.
“Haah…”
In the early dawn when everyone had fallen asleep, Ray let out a heavy sigh, looked at Naro once, then turned his gaze to stare at the moon floating beyond the window. Tonight the sky was particularly free of even a single cloud, and thanks to that, the moon was especially visible.
Ray suddenly looked down at his own hands. Until just a while ago, he had seen the illusion of blood on these hands, but now it was fine again.
Ray leaned on the bed and clasped Naro’s hand tightly. The long night was passing just like that.
Naro slowly opened his eyes. At first his vision was just hazy, but it gradually became clear and he saw an unfamiliar ceiling. Instinctively sensing that this was a completely different place from his own home, Naro sat up abruptly. But the moment he moved his body, tremendous pain followed.
Naro furrowed his brow and quickly looked around. Looking closely, fortunately it wasn’t an unfamiliar place after all. This was Wooter’s clinic located in Rodelus Village square. He was retracing his memories trying to figure out why he was here, when he sensed a presence beside him.
Ray was asleep leaning on the bed. In a rather uncomfortable position at that. The moment Naro touched Ray’s hair, Ray’s eyes snapped open. When he raised his head sharply, Naro’s shoulders flinched as if startled.
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?”
Ray just stared at Naro intently without saying anything. Feeling awkward under that persistent gaze, Naro tried to avoid his eyes, but Ray suddenly pulled Naro into an embrace.
“R-Ray?”
There were many things he wanted to ask, but Ray just focused solely on embracing Naro without saying anything. To be precise, he wrapped his arms around him without any gaps, as if trying to feel his warmth.
Not knowing what to do, Naro patted Ray’s broad back several times. Naro and Ray’s embrace only ended when Wooter entered the hospital room.
