Chapter 6
Chapter 6
We’re going to the moon!!!
“Ugh…!”
As I barely forced my heavy eyelids open, the first thing that entered my vision was a familiar, shabby wooden ceiling.
The sharp smell of bitter herbs stung my nose.
And then—
A crushing, twisting pain flooded my entire body without giving me a moment to breathe.
“Ggh—! Damn, it hurts like hell… guess that means I’m alive.”
Blinking blankly, I slowly lifted my head.
Sunlight quietly settling by the window.
The warmth from a worn-out blanket.
The faint earthy scent soaked into the walls.
Old, but strangely comforting…
There was no mistake.
This was our home.
“…Haah.”
Just as I was about to sigh in relief, the events of last night came rushing back.
The dark mountain.
The massive wolf targeting Camellia.
My precious emergency magic scroll.
And then—
“Don’t die. Not again! Not in front of me… not like this… leaving me behind…!”
Her desperate sobbing ringing in my ears as I hovered on the brink of death,
and that warm light wrapping around my face.
“…That was definitely Healing.”
There was no doubt—that was what barely kept me from being delisted from life.
But just as relief set in, a strange sense of unease crept over me.
“…Wait. How did I even get back home?”
I looked down at my hands.
Sure, I’d been malnourished and coughing up blood lately, but my base was still that of a healthy adult man.
Two years of hard labor, hauling cargo, even smuggling—my body was packed with practical, compressed muscle.
And Camellia?
Even after two years of feeding her properly, she was still fragile—like she’d be blown away by a strong breeze.
Sure, her future talent might be “archmage-tier,” but right now? Physically, she was weaker than an average village girl.
“There’s no way… she carried an unconscious grown man down that mountain at night. That’s physically impossible.”
Just as I was turning this mystery over in my head—
Creak.
The old wooden door opened, and Camellia stepped in carefully, holding a steaming wooden bowl in both hands.
“…Huh?”
She froze mid-step upon seeing me sitting up.
Her slender hands trembled, making the brown liquid in the bowl slosh dangerously.
Her wide eyes shimmered with tears that looked ready to spill at any moment.
“N-Nasus! You’re awake! Thank goodness… thank goodness…!”
She hurriedly set the bowl on the table and rushed to my side, collapsing beside me.
Her eyes were swollen from crying all night, and her once-clean apron and sleeves were a mess of dirt and stains.
“You cried? Because of me? More importantly… how did you even bring me back here? Did you get hurt?”
At my barrage of questions, Camellia shook her head while wiping her tears.
“N-No… I didn’t carry you… You remember the herbalist I visited yesterday?”
“…That old herbal geezer?”
“Yes. When I didn’t return by nightfall, and then he saw you running toward the mountain… he got worried. He followed us with a torch. When you collapsed, he carried you down.”
…That old man…
Even after I grabbed him by the collar and accused him of sending her into the mountains, he still came to help.
“…Huh. I should go thank him later.”
Camellia carefully handed me the bowl from the table.
A thick, dark brown medicinal brew—its bitter smell stabbed my nose.
“These are herbs I gathered yesterday… He selected the ones good for bleeding and lung illness and boiled them himself.”
I took the bowl and downed it in one go.
…!
Bitter.
Unbelievably bitter.
No—this wasn’t just bitterness.
It was suffering in liquid form.
“Gaaahhh!! The secret base location is—!”
“A-Are you okay? He said it would be a little bitter…”
“‘A little’? Even a demon army interrogator would call this a human rights violation.”
“Th-That bad…?”
“…Well, something this horrible better work.”
As I watched her sigh in relief, I set the empty bowl down and casually threw out the bait.
Time to check my most important “investment results.”
“Anyway… thanks, Camellia.”
“Huh? N-No… It was my fault for insisting on going to gather herbs alone. I was reckless, and you—”
“You got good herbs. But that’s not why I survived.”
I spoke calmly, as if it were nothing.
“The real reason I’m alive… is because you used Healing on me right before I collapsed. If not, I would’ve died before that old man even arrived. I didn’t know you could use magic again.”
The air in the room froze.
“…Huh?!”
Camellia’s body stiffened like she’d been struck by lightning.
Her eyes lost focus, darting around wildly.
“H-Healing…? Wh-What are you talking about…? I have no idea—”
“Come on. When you touched my face, there was clearly light—”
“Y-You’re mistaken!”
She cut me off, frantically waving her hands.
Her voice was higher than usual, and she avoided my gaze, staring at the floor.
“Y-You were bleeding so much… I just pressed a handkerchief to your face and crushed some herbs with stones for first aid! You had a high fever—you must’ve hallucinated!”
“Hallucinated?”
“Yes! M-Maybe it was moonlight reflecting… or—or you were dreaming before passing out! That’s it! A dream! How could I use magic when my mana circuits are broken?!”
A rapid-fire explanation without even breathing.
Anyone could see it.
“I am extremely flustered and hiding something.”
“…Well, well.”
I narrowed my eyes, stroking my chin.
Sure, I could’ve hallucinated.
And according to my [vision], her future had already changed into a “stew-making happy villager.”
Considering that, it would make more sense if she still couldn’t use magic.
But…
“No. That warmth wasn’t an illusion.”
Then there was only one conclusion.
She was hiding her true “value.”
But why?
…
Silence filled the room.
A massive bullish signal had clearly appeared—yet the asset itself was denying it and suppressing its value?
A stock that hit limit-up yesterday…
plunging the very next day?
…
Ah.
I get it now.
I don’t know her personal reasons—
but to a true “value investor” like me, this situation was crystal clear.
A classic tactic in the stock market.
Before a major surge, shake out the weak hands by instilling fear, so the big players can scoop up everything!
“…Heh. Go ahead. Shake all you want.”
Did I expect to recover two years of blood, sweat, and tears overnight?
Of course not.
No matter how much you struggle—
I’m never selling now.
If anything, this is when a true investor stands firm.
Not a time to waver—
but the perfect discount period to double down.
I smiled gently and slowly reached out toward the frozen Camellia.
“Alright, Camellia. You’re right. I must’ve been delirious from the fever and dreamed it.”
“R-Right…? That’s what it was…?”
“But listen. Whether you used Healing or not… it doesn’t matter to me at all.”
“…Huh?”
I stared straight into her trembling eyes.
“You think I’d get excited over one low-level Healing spell? No. You’re someone who’ll one day wield miracles far greater than that as easily as breathing.”
“…What?”
Her lips parted in a daze.
“I believe in your true value more than anyone else in this world.”
Meaning—
Don’t try to test my conviction with cheap rumors.
“If your mana circuits aren’t fully recovered yet, then I’ll just take care of you until they are. I’ll gather as many potions as I can—every last one!”
“N-Nasus! Calm down! You’re still sick, and yet… why… why are you going this far for me?!”
Why?
Because—
We’re going to the moon!!!