Hey, What's Wrong With Your Condition?
Zeno’s question. Yohan couldn’t answer. He could only drag in harsh, ragged breaths.
…Huu.
…Hu. Ah, just a moment.
Yohan’s body lost its balance and crumpled to the ground.
There was no other reason. He simply had no strength left to hold himself upright.
‘…Cough. Kek. …Just a moment, Lord Zeno.’
Lying on the bare earth as if it were a bed, Yohan tried to respond to Zeno’s question but couldn’t manage even that.
He gave a single nod, then turned his head and spat out the blood that had pooled inside his mouth.
…He had survived.
But he could not see. The cause was his complete depletion of mana.
…It was not a good thing.
Still, he was alive.
Yohan spent a long time breathing in harsh gasps. He spat out the blood filling his mouth once more and slowly exhaled.
…Haa, haa.
…Huu.
‘…Huu. I feel a little better now. How does the surroundings look?’
‘No, I cannot see.’
If he converted the mana he had left into numbers, roughly one unit remained. For anyone else, that would have been a fatal state. He no longer had any mana he could hold in reserve.
…Tsk.
Yohan clicked his tongue.
‘My left ear cannot hear at all. The right one is barely functional. Two of my right ribs are broken, and my left leg is fractured as well.’
Yohan nodded. Surviving a fight against this giant was fortunate, but his physical condition was anything but.
He tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand.
The time to choose had arrived.
‘…Lord Zeno, do you wish to maintain this timeline?’
‘I see.’
Yohan swallowed. The metallic taste of blood spread across his tongue.
…It wasn’t impossible.
He couldn’t see, but he could ask Zeno to confirm things for him.
Traveling back and forth to Edelbein would be inconvenient, but with Zeno it was manageable.
…But could he endure five months in this state?
If something went wrong…
As Yohan continued to deliberate, Zeno spoke again.
…Huu.
Ah, this guy.
He let out a sigh and gave a small, crooked smile.
…Honestly. He hadn’t been this kind of god in the past.
Compared to before, he had become incredibly soft.
Yohan erased the smile from his face. The decision came in an instant.
‘After you said something like that, how could I possibly suggest we move on right away? I’ll try holding out for now.’
It was simply a matter of trying.
If it didn’t work, he could always turn back time then.
He couldn’t declare it impossible without even attempting it.
Besides.
…How could he give up after hearing words like those?
Honestly.
Yohan slipped the dagger back into his coat. He needed to move again.
‘Yes. Is there anything nearby I could use as a cane? Something I can lean on to stay upright.’
Yohan slowly pushed himself up. He forced his broken left leg to bear weight, then, following Zeno’s guidance, reached for one of the scattered branches and used it as a makeshift cane.
…It was uncomfortable, but it was enough to support his body.
‘Are there any larger pieces of wood I could use to make a splint?’
‘Good. Let’s move.’
Yohan moved slowly, following Zeno’s directions. When he reached the indicated spot, he fashioned a splint for his left leg using the plank and strips of his torn clothing.
…With this, walking was no longer an issue.
‘Yes, it’s fine.’
Yohan tested a few light steps to confirm, then asked Zeno another question.
‘I’d like to check the giant. How is it?’
Zeno described the giant’s condition in as much detail as possible.
‘Fortunately it went through in one strike. The core must have been completely shattered.’
‘You can say that again.’
Yohan smiled, the corner of his mouth twisting.
Giants possessed incredibly tough bodies. Ordinary attacks could not wound them, and Yohan had spent a great deal of time searching for a way to kill them.
‘…What I eventually found was the core located inside the neck.’
The method to kill a giant was surprisingly simple.
Even their rock-hard bodies had a weak point.
He had discovered it when a stray spell fired by someone else happened to pierce straight through a giant’s neck, killing it instantly.
…That person hadn’t lived long afterward, either.
Still, gratitude was gratitude.
Yohan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. He quietly prayed for the repose of that respected individual from that time.
‘By the way, what should we do with this corpse? Shouldn’t we hide it somewhere?’
Yohan tilted his head. There was nothing to be gained from the giant’s body now. It held no mana, and asking for help with dissection would be difficult.
This was one thing he would have to abandon. Zeno seemed to share that view.
No matter how unlikely it was that anyone would come, leaving the corpse exposed was unwise. Yohan nodded.
‘I’ll drag it inside for now. There was a storage shed of sorts, so I’ll stuff it in there.’
Even if someone did come looking, they probably wouldn’t fling the door open without warning.
That was what Yohan told himself.
After finishing the cleanup, Yohan fell into a deep sleep.
Several hours later, he opened his eyes and asked Zeno while still lying in bed.
‘Lord Zeno, has the sun risen?’
Yohan rubbed at his eyes. He still couldn’t see. It was a moment that drove home once again the fact that he had lost his sight along with most of his mana.
‘Yes, I’ll get up. I’m hungry.’
Every time Yohan moved, Zeno carefully described every object around him.
Yohan offered his thanks for Zeno’s kindness and made his way to the kitchen.
Tap, tap. Yohan slowly lowered himself onto a chair, reached out, and picked up several items.
They were the fruits and dried foods he had bought in Edelbein. Not much remained after the battle.
‘Still, it’s fortunate that not everything was destroyed in the fight.’
Yohan nodded.
Most of the food in the cart had been ruined by the battle’s aftermath. The items still edible amounted to barely enough for one or two meals.
…Well, it was better than nothing.
Haa.
Looked like he’d have to go shopping again.
Yohan let out a long sigh.
‘Yes. I didn’t expect the medicine I brought from the academy to be this effective.’
Yohan spoke while crunching into a piece of fruit.
The medicine he had taken from the academy at Zeno’s suggestion possessed considerable pain-relieving properties.
It had also shown remarkable efficacy on his broken leg and ribs.
It would probably heal in a few days.
‘…I have no idea what kind of medicine they prescribed.’
After seeing a throat that refused to heal no matter what was applied, they must have given him the most effective remedy for general injuries.
…They certainly hadn’t prepared it to be used like this.
Well.
Since it had been put to good use, perhaps it was fine.
…His neck had hurt anyway.
Yohan laughed it off lightly.
‘Now that I think about it, Lord Zeno, didn’t you mention bruises on my neck?’
…That made sense.
He had been beaten all over and then strangled on top of it.
He would need to cover it well with his clothes.
Yohan quickly chewed and swallowed the food filling his mouth.
Brushing his hands off with a few light taps, Yohan answered.
‘Well, I need to go buy more food. You said it was daytime, correct?’
‘Then, keeping my condition in mind, I’ll buy only what’s necessary.’
‘Thank you.’
Leaning on the cane, Yohan rose from his seat.
Buying supplies a second time was no easy task.
He had expected difficulty, but an even greater obstacle stood in his way.
Communication simply did not flow as smoothly as he had hoped.
‘I expected it, but it really is difficult.’
…His body barely hurt thanks to the medicine and the long years of endurance he had built up, so he could at least pretend to be fine.
His eyes, however, were another matter.
It was hard to continue communicating by writing in a notebook like before.
‘…This time I pretended not to have brought one, but I’ll need to think of a better solution going forward.’
Yohan gave a bitter smile at Zeno’s words.
…Looking back, he had barely gotten through it this time.
Recalling how he had once written formulas on the ground with blood, he had pretended to write on the dirt with his cane and somehow managed to communicate.
But if he kept doing it that way, suspicion was inevitable.
‘Well, even if someone comes to investigate, it doesn’t mean trouble is guaranteed.’
It would be problematic if the giant’s corpse inside the house were discovered.
Or.
Being taken somewhere under the pretense of help would also be troublesome.
‘…My purpose is observation. Entering deep into Edelbein would be bad as well.’
There were many reasons to remain cautious.
Yohan let out a sigh.
‘…Hm? Now that I think about it, Lord Zeno? Is this the right direction? …Lord Zeno?’
Yohan called out to Zeno, who had suddenly fallen silent. After a long pause, Zeno finally answered.
‘Yes, understood.’
Yohan walked normally, only angling his steps slightly to the right diagonal. The movement looked natural.
Yohan shrugged.
‘Walking like yesterday would cause problems. I’ve simply grown used to it, but I was thinking the whole time.’
Yohan carefully reached out and grasped the doorknob.
He opened the door slowly, stepped inside, and set his belongings on the table.
‘I’ll rest a little before eating.’
Yohan slowly lowered himself into a chair.
Thud. Aria’s feet touched the ground.
After several teleportations, she had arrived near Edelbein. She moved her staff and dispelled the spell.
“Edelbein is visible over there, so this must be the direction? He said it was inside the forest, correct?”
Recalling Claire’s words, she headed into the woods. After walking for some time, she discovered a lone cabin nestled among the trees.
“Why would he buy a place like this?”
Aria tilted her head.
It was a house with no reason to live in.
A house one would call a total rip-off if they actually had to reside there.
It was quite far from Edelbein and wasn’t large by any measure.
‘…He may be a commoner, but…’
No matter how common his birth, Yohan was not someone without an eye for value.
…She simply couldn’t understand.
“More importantly, is he not home?”
Aria knocked on the cabin door and called for him, but no answer came. She scanned the surroundings, yet Yohan was nowhere to be seen.
‘Where could he have gone?’
It was a reasonable assumption.
…Well, if she waited nearby, he would return eventually.
Thinking that, Aria wandered the area.
And a short while later.
As the sun began to set.
Thud. Thud.
The sound of something tapping the ground reached her ears.
“You’re back?”
Aria turned toward the sound.
In the distance, a figure came into view.
It was Yohan.
“…I waited quite a while.”
Muttering to herself, Aria called his name.
“Yohan!”
She had been about to greet him warmly, but the moment she saw his face as he approached from afar, she froze.
Something was wrong.
Hey, what’s wrong with his condition?
Aria couldn’t continue.
And Yohan simply walked past her side.
…As if he could neither see her nor hear her calling his name.