A Good Person (5)
From that day on, Karin would sneak out every sleepless night to help Jain with his practice. Though calling it “help” was a bit of a stretch. All she really did was nitpick every little thing and demand he play it again because she “needed to hear more to be sure.”
It took quite a while, but even Jain eventually caught on.
“Hey. Is this song actually bad?”
One night, Jain stopped strumming the guitar strings and asked with a straight face. Karin immediately planted her hands on her hips and snorted.
“Ha, so now you’re full of yourself? I told you it’s bad.”
“Then why do you crawl out here every single night to listen to this supposedly terrible song?”
“That’s… um… because I feel sorry for you! I just want to help somehow! Why are you looking at me like that?”
Karin lied boldly, but the lie didn’t last long. Two incidents gave her away.
The first happened by chance. It was the day they discovered an abandoned mansion with its own bathhouse while traveling toward the Demon King’s castle. At the women’s strong insistence, the party decided to stay there for the night. Everyone had gone days without so much as a shower, and they were desperate to wash.
The moment permission was granted, the female party members split up and got to work—fixing up the house, gathering food, collecting firewood. Karin was especially excited.
“Ah, I was so worried my hair smelled!”
The thought of finally soaking in a proper bath filled her with joy. She split an enormous pile of firewood to heat the bathwater, then returned with her arms full. The stack was so high she couldn’t see in front of her. A little hum escaped her lips.
“Hmm, hmm-hmm, you laughed, and I stayed up all night~”
“Hey, are you trying to heat bathwater or boil a whole cauldron? Why did you chop so much firewood?”
“Didn’t you know? I brought this much so I could boil you alive and eat you. Rawr!”
“Give me half.”
Still humming, Karin handed over half the firewood in her arms. The moment her view cleared, she saw Jain’s profile—and her excited mood instantly vanished.
“Ah.”
She had claimed the song was terrible, yet here she was humming the exact tune Jain always sang. The realization made Karin’s face flush a soft pink. She lowered her head and peeked at him. He was biting back a strange smirk.
“I-it’s not what you think.”
“What’s not?”
“It just isn’t, okay?”
Jain chuckled, strode ahead, and tossed over his shoulder, “You said the song was bad.”
“It is! It’s really, really bad! I’ve just heard it so many times it’s stuck in my head, that’s all!”
Karin clutched her skirt and shouted. In her panic, she dropped the entire armful of firewood. As she scrambled to pick up the scattered logs, Jain simply kept walking, ignoring her completely. He didn’t even wait for an explanation.
“Hey! Where are you going?!”
Jain walked away without looking back. That night, Karin submerged her face in the bathwater and writhed in utter embarrassment.
The second incident involved an injury. It happened while they were fighting to break through the gate leading to the fortress of the Succubus Queen, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Karin hadn’t been hurt by the gatekeeper giant itself. She’d been struck in the ankle by a poisoned dart from one of the goblins guarding the giant.
“Ugh, why won’t Cure neutralize this?”
The goblin’s poison, brewed from cave moss and corpse flowers steeped in dense mana, wasn’t easily dispelled. Karin only noticed the wound after the battle ended. She limped along, spamming detox spells, when Jain’s voice rang out.
The guy who had finished off the giant with his signature flame spear was standing atop the charred skull, giving a briefing.
“T-three days?”
“The Demon King’s army will notice us soon. We need to push forward as fast as possible, strike before they can prepare proper countermeasures, and behead every executive we find. Three days is actually generous.”
“Hm. A lightning strike, then. That makes sense,” Leticia said, nodding.
Even to Karin, the logic sounded sound. After finishing his briefing and yanking the giant’s spinal cord free, Jain suddenly asked as if the thought had just occurred to him.
“Oh, and if anyone’s injured, speak up. Anyone hurt?”
“I’m fine!”
“If you get hurt in a fight like that, you don’t deserve to call yourself a hero.”
“I’m good too. Thanks for protecting me earlier.”
“Yeah, no injuries here.”
“Elaine, what about you?”
“An arrow grazed me, but I already healed it with magic! What, are you actually worried about cute little me?”
“Good. One case of chronic brain damage and zero injuries.”
“Hey!”
While Elaine and Jain were busy exchanging nonsense, Karin was quietly wiggling her fingers, enduring the throbbing pain. If she admitted she’d been hit by a mere goblin’s dart and slowed down their tight schedule, she’d only be a burden.
It’s just goblin poison. Yeah. I can endure it. Complaining about this would be pathetic.
“Now that I think about it, Karin hasn’t answered yet.”
When Jain finally turned to look at her and asked, Karin answered in a tiny voice.
“No… injuries.”
Jain stared at her face for a moment. Then he spun around and said,
“There’s an abandoned farmhouse a little further ahead. We’ll set up camp there and get a good night’s sleep.”
*
That night, Karin still couldn’t fall asleep easily. The ankle struck by the goblin’s poisoned dart throbbed like crazy. Curled up like a pill bug under her blanket, she kept spamming ineffective detox spells and letting out soft groans.
“Hng, hnn, ugh… ugh.”
Suddenly, the sound of a drumbeat rang out and the tent flap opened.
“W-what the—?”
Startled, Karin stopped groaning and trembled delicately, pulling the blanket over her entire body. The one who entered with a serious expression was Jain.
“Y-you didn’t even knock! How dare you barge in like that—kyaa!”
Jain strode in without even taking off his shoes and roughly yanked away her blanket. He lifted the hem of her pajama skirt slightly, looked at her ankle, and let out a sigh.
“Just as I thought.”
The ankle that had taken the goblin’s poisoned dart was now swollen a pitiful, dark purple. Karin clutched the blanket tightly, her face a mixture of various shades of shame.
After seriously checking the severity of the injury for a moment, Jain suddenly scooped her up in both arms.
“W-what are you doing right now?!”
“Kidnapping.”
“Put me down! Let go!”
“Stop struggling and just get kidnapped quietly.”
She pounded on his chest like a spoiled child, but it was useless. For a mage, he must have trained his body—his chest was surprisingly broad and solid. Jain carried the kidnapped Karin to a quiet lakeside bathed in moonlight.
“Where is this?”
“It’s called the Waning Moon Lake. If you soak your feet in this lake under the moonlight, you’ll receive the blessing of a nameless god and your wounds will heal.”
Jain carefully set Karin down by the water’s edge. Half doubting, she dipped her foot into the lake water that reflected the moonlight like a white mirror.
“Whoa, it’s real.”
The ankle that had shown no improvement no matter how many detox spells she cast instantly felt lighter the moment it touched the water. The throbbing that had pounded in her skull finally subsided. She could physically feel the poison being neutralized.
Jain sat beside her with a strangely satisfied expression.
“How do you know about a place like this?”
“I just do.”
He really was a mysterious guy. This was clearly his first time on the Demon Continent too, yet he knew every single geographical feature as if he’d experienced them all before.
“Can’t you explain in more detail?”
“Nope.”
“Jerk.”
“Don’t splash water with your injured foot! Ugh, my clothes are wet.”
“Too bad, you jerk.”
When Karin kicked water at him with her submerged foot, Jain brushed off his clothes with clear distaste. The look on his face was so funny that Karin burst out laughing. A pleasant night breeze blew past, rustling their hair.
After staring at the night sky reflected in the lake for a moment, Jain said casually,
“We won’t move tomorrow. Everyone should rest properly. We all look exhausted.”
“No, that’s not necessary. The schedule is already tight.”
“We’re resting properly.”
“…Okay.”
At Jain’s firm tone, Karin hung her head. In the end, she had become a burden on their busy schedule. Guilt filled her chest.
“Are you disappointed? You can criticize me. I’ll make up for causing trouble today somehow…”
“Why would I be disappointed? I was just worried.”
At Jain’s indifferent words, Karin whipped her head around.
“W-worried? Even though I held everyone back?”
“Held us back? You got hurt because you were too busy casting protective spells on everyone else and didn’t have time to cast one on yourself. You should be praised, not blamed.”
“You… noticed…”
Karin lowered her head and wiggled her toes. A small whitefish was circling around her pale instep.
“You’re… not angry?”
“What do you take me for? Some kind of demon?”
“Ack!”
Jain lightly flicked her forehead. Then he spoke in a stern voice.
“But if you hide an injury and push yourself again, I really will get angry next time.”
“…Okay.”
With nothing left to say, Karin rested her chin on her hand and gazed at the lake. For some reason, a ticklish feeling spread through one side of her chest. The cloudless, clear night made the lake scenery breathtaking. Moonlight whispered across the ripples stirred by the gentle breeze, and the mixed sounds of various insects created a quiet harmony. The moonlight was so bright that even the fresh green of the water plants was clearly visible. It truly deserved to be called a lake blessed by a god.
“It’s beautiful.”
The world could be this beautiful. It was the first time Karin had ever thought so.
At that moment, she felt something drape over her shoulders.
“Here, take this.”
Jain had taken off his robe and placed it over her. Since she’d been suddenly kidnapped in thin pajamas, he must have worried she would be cold.
“And drink this.”
He pulled out a strange bottle, poured a rich dark-brown drink into a cup, and handed it to her. One sip told her it was cocoa. A sweet, warm aroma filled her mouth.
“Need anything else?”
Karin sipped the cocoa with both hands and gave him a light glare.
“What’s with you today? Why are you suddenly being so nice? Are you going to die tomorrow?”
“It’s because you’re a patient right now.”
“Ah.”
So being sick meant she was allowed to act spoiled. It was common sense for most people, but for Karin it was an utterly foreign concept. Instead of being bitten for showing weakness, she was being cared for. It was something that had never once happened in her entire life. Whenever Karin had shown any sign of weakness before, she had only ever received contempt and attacks.
For some reason, her chest felt full. Not wanting him to notice, she turned her head and sipped her cocoa, then steadied her voice and said,
“Then… come over here. Come sit back-to-back with me.”
“What weird thing are you going to make me do now?”
Even while grumbling, Jain sat down back-to-back with her as instructed. Once she confirmed he couldn’t see her face, Karin took another sip of cocoa and made a small request.
“I actually have insomnia. So I have trouble falling asleep… Sing for me.”
“Sing?”
“That song you always sing. You know the one…”
Jain let out a small laugh and returned with his acoustic guitar. That laugh was practically an admission that he knew she thought the song sounded good. Feeling the warmth spreading from the back pressed against hers, Karin fell into a peaceful sleep for the first time in a long while.