Anything I Will Do
After finishing their meal, Heungmi and Baekya returned to the room where Dullahan and Jed were.
Rune and Perdikion followed Belianus's guidance to a cozy-looking room door for the treatment.
"This way."
The female elf guarding the door, dressed in traditional elf attire, quietly stepped aside.
Belianus opened the door with a tense, rigid expression.
"Bella."
Wheeze— wheeze—
A little girl with her hair in twin braids lay there, breathing heavily in feverish delirium.
Her face was relatively clean, but small rashes were visible above the collar of her pajamas.
"Bella…."
Belianus gently clasped his daughter's tiny hand in his large one.
The weakened father's figure before his child was illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window.
"Ah, Daddy."
Her faintly open eyes struggled to focus on Belianus.
"Yes. It must have been hard, hasn't it? Father brought a doctor."
"Mm."
Wheeze—
The child named Bella seemed to struggle even with those few words.
She couldn't have been more than five years old.
The girl breathed raggedly, her lips trembling.
Perdikion watched with arms crossed, while Rune attached a newly tear-coated pearl to Baekya's feather.
Belianus stepped back, and Rune sat in the chair.
Rune held the little girl's hand and let the power of the tears on Baekya's feather seep into her.
Whoosh—
A soft white light, warm and gentle, entered the child's body, and her breathing began to stabilize bit by bit.
"Oh…!"
The rashes gradually subsided.
Her pale face slowly regained a healthy flush.
Belianus let out an exclamation of awe, unconsciously murmuring "Thank you" under his breath.
A little time passed, and Bella gazed calmly at Rune before closing her eyes peacefully.
"All done."
"Really? It's completely better?"
"Shh."
Rune pressed a finger to his lips, signaling quiet.
The child, feeling peace for the first time in ages, had fully relaxed and fallen asleep.
Belianus stared blankly at his daughter's face.
It had been so long since he'd seen her sleeping so peacefully.
Suppressing the urge to gaze endlessly, he quietly rose and opened the door to leave.
"Thank you. It's all I can say."
"No problem. Just keep your promise."
"I will. If you heal my son too."
In truth, this was the first time the ever-impartial Belianus had bent his principles for a personal favor.
The dignified elf chancellor felt his legs go weak, on the verge of collapsing.
"The key."
"Yes."
Belianus received a thick metal key from an elderly soldier who looked tight-lipped.
Beyond the wooden door guarded by the soldier stretched a long stone staircase leading underground.
"What you're about to see is a secret even dragons must keep. I ask that you honor it."
"?"
The elf's shadowed eyes gleamed unusually dark.
"Watch your step."
Belianus took a lantern hanging on the wall and began descending.
Something's off.
Bella's symptoms had been mild, but traces of treatment efforts were visible in the room.
Faint herbal scents, towels for wiping sweat.
Her sweat-soaked pajamas were still clean.
Yet this stone staircase path grew damper with the underground mustiness the deeper they went.
No herbs at all—just an intense moldy smell that was almost surprising.
Basement? Storeroom?
It didn't suit a sickroom at all.
Perdikion, walking ahead, shared the same thoughts.
"How far down are we going?"
Belianus finally answered Perdikion's question.
"Almost there."
His words carried a heavy, somber tone.
Aaagh! Aaagh!
A chilling scream echoed from below.
Perdikion immediately grabbed Rune's hand.
"What was that?"
Dragon Fear leaked out, pressuring the elf.
Belianus stiffened briefly but resumed walking.
"Don't worry. That child can't do anything."
"Don't play games. Then what's that blood smell?"
"!"
Rune had also sensed the faint metallic tang mixed with a fishy reek.
Belianus, who had been descending tall and proud, slowly turned.
His movement seemed oddly grotesque, making Rune's eyes sharpen calmly.
"I swear on my name, Belianus. I brought you here only because you're the hope to restore my son. The blood smell is just from the food I provided for his changed tastes."
"An elf eating raw meat?"
Belianus nodded once at Rune's question.
Elves didn't avoid meat entirely.
But this level of bloody stench was unheard of.
If things go south, we'll force our way out.
With Rune's shadow abilities, hiding and escaping wouldn't be hard.
Perdikion remained tense, but Rune observed his surroundings even more calmly.
"Almost there."
His somber voice declared like a verdict.
Their feet hit level ground, and the surroundings grew slightly brighter.
Rustle.
Clank, rattle.
A strange presence stirred.
Not large in build, but the sound of wood and chains made Rune and Perdikion instinctively halt, on guard.
Belianus inserted the key into the closed iron door ahead.
Clank!
An iron-barred door and a cave-like enclosure.
It felt chilly, likely originally for storing fruits or ice.
But instinctively, Rune realized it was being used for something else.
"My son."
Grrr.
Perdikion and Rune stopped dead upon seeing the source of the sound.
The lantern in Belianus's hand shook, casting alternating shadows on his face.
His kind yet stern features twisted into something grotesque as he introduced the monster inside.
"Greet him. My son, Aquir."
"…."
"…."
Aquir's form emerged from the darkness.
Pointed elf ears.
Skin bulging with grayish-green veins.
Dull eyes without pupils.
Sharp beast fangs peeking between his lips.
"Demonization has progressed."
Rune stated the fact quietly.
Belianus let out a low sigh.
"I planned to kill him soon. Letting him die as a proud elf was the best a father could do, I'd resolved. For his last meal, I slaughtered a fresh cow for milk."
Bloody chunks of meat lay scattered in the corner.
They'd been on wooden plates, but the plates were tossed aside, out of Aquir's reach.
"But."
"Uuu… u…."
The steadfast chancellor's facade crumbled before his weeping son.
"…Please save him."
Belianus, holding back his anguish, pleaded with teary eyes.
"If you refuse after seeing this, so be it—I thought of it as just showing you. But after witnessing you heal my daughter, I can't give up."
It was like a man in the desert, resigned to dying of thirst, who catches a passing raincloud and tastes sweet life-water.
Unable to forget that flavor, he now clung to hope.
"My power alone can't even let me hope."
A heavy sigh dispersed into the air.
"Rune?"
"It's fine."
Rune stepped forward past Perdikion and slowly approached the bars where Aquir was, sitting down.
He looked up at Belianus.
"No matter what I do from now on, you must never interfere."
The child's voice carried profound depth, like a command.
Belianus nodded unconsciously.
Rune selected a snack from his subspace pouch.
A leaf pastry blessed by Christina.
He placed a Baekya tear-coated pearl between his teeth and crunch! bit down.
Crack!
Rune spat out the halved hard pearl, ground it to powder like sugar, and sprinkled it on the leaf pastry.
"Here."
He skewered it on a wooden picnic fork and offered it; Aquir lunged aggressively, tearing into the bread.
Crunch!
The wooden fork snapped in his jaws, but Rune calmly withdrew his hand and stood.
"Grrr?"
Sensing something amiss, Aquir twisted his body with a gurgle!
"He shouldn't vomit that."
"What did you feed him?"
"Healing bread infused with Gold Dragon blessing and phoenix tears."
Rune and Belianus's eyes met.
"…By the way, I don't have much bread left."
"!"
At the implication of limited chances, Belianus's breathing grew ragged with tension, and he spoke in a resolute tone.
"I'll go in. If something happens to me…."
"He'll bite you. Even if we save Aquir, if the demonic energy flows into you through a wound, what's the point?"
"That's…!"
Belianus looked genuinely angry.
Faced with the crossroads of saving his once-abandoned son, he barely clung to reason.
Rune nodded slowly.
"I get your resolve. Then use that resolve elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?"
Rune pulled something from his pouch.
"Just heed my requests for a while. Make no mistake—this is a deal."
Perdikion recognized the box Rune held, gazing at him with surprise and pride.
Rune smiled back at Perdikion.
"Consider it a deal. No time for details, but it's better than losing your son to demons."
"I'll do anything."
Belianus, his face streaked with tears, consented.
Rune opened the Dark-stained Scent Box and placed in fruits for deep sleep and herbs to relax muscles.
Click.
The lidded scent box activated.
A subtle blend of fruity and minty aromas wafted gently.
Rune immediately handed the box to Belianus.
"Here, just hold this and guard from the front."
"Understood."
With a determined face, Belianus cradled the box like a jewel and sat before the bars.
Even as strength drained from his body, he sat rigidly before the growling Aquir.
"Brother, let's step back."
"We don't need to watch?"
"We'll watch, but from a distance."
Perdikion seems more vulnerable to the scent box, after all.
As they ascended the stone stairs, Rune glanced back at Belianus, standing tall under the lantern light.
Despite his loosened muscles, the father's shadow remained unmoving, guarding his son.
He won't be heavily affected by the scent box. Strong willpower.
Or perhaps paternal instinct.
Either way, it didn't matter to Rune.
For as long as the box's influence lingered, great or small, Belianus would subtly side with him.
The chancellor, huh. A reliable elf ally.
Rune smiled faintly as he and Perdikion climbed the stairs to observe from above.