It Sounds Good
After a heavy downpour had passed, various sounds echoed through the mountains following the rising morning sun.
Among them, the chirping of winter birds that had endured the torrential rain could be heard all the way inside the cave.
Sharti, who had been sleeping without the slightest movement, forcibly lifted her heavy eyelids. Her vacant eyes stared at the dim cave ceiling.
“Ah…….”
Sharti lay on the roughly laid-out blanket and smiled soundlessly.
‘It hurts……!!!’
She felt terrible muscle pain severe enough to make her sleepiness vanish in an instant.
‘Even though there’s not a single place on my body that doesn’t hurt, the fact that I slept well means……. I passed out.’
It was no different from losing consciousness once the thread of tension had loosened.
Sharti just laughed.
Still, how fortunate that she hadn’t had nightmares.
‘Hm?’
Feeling a grip on her left hand, Sharti lowered her gaze.
She saw her hand clasped with Ren’s.
Perhaps intending to hold it firmly so it wouldn’t come loose while sleeping, without her knowing, their fingers were even interlaced.
“…….”
Sharti subtly rolled her eyes.
Belatedly, the events of yesterday before falling asleep began to come back to her one by one, vividly.
Ren who was afraid of rain and the madness that was suddenly revealed, her bare face they had faced each other with after removing the silver ring to calm Ren, and her first confession delivered in the rain.
[-I like you, Ren.]
“Keu, uuup……!”
Her face felt like it would burst from embarrassment.
Sharti bit her lip and forcibly suppressed the belated shame that came flooding in. As she reflexively tensed her body for a moment, the fingers clasped with Ren’s trembled.
“Uu…….”
“……!”
As Ren began to toss and turn as if waking from sleep, Sharti shut her mouth and held her breath.
Although he had collapsed and been sleeping until now after losing his mind, there was no way to confirm whether the madness had disappeared or not.
“Re, Ren……?”
Sharti, who had turned her body to the side with difficulty, called to him carefully.
However, Ren only let out faint groans briefly and didn’t open his eyes. As if still trapped in a nightmare, deep furrows formed between his brows and his thick eyebrows were mercilessly furrowed.
‘What should I do?’
Sharti watched Ren’s condition with an anxious heart.
There was no way she could escape with a body that flinched in pain just from lifting an arm. Then there was only one method.
Sharti resolutely clenched her mouth shut and desperately closed the distance with Ren. She stuck right to him so that as soon as he opened his eyes, he could see her face first and largest.
Survival took priority over embarrassment.
“Haah…….”
As a deep breath burst from Ren’s mouth, his eyelids trembled.
With his eyebrows still furrowed, Ren slowly opened his eyes.
“Ren!”
Sharti didn’t miss the opportunity and tightly grasped the hand clasped with Ren’s. As expected, Ren reacted promptly to Sharti’s call.
The moment his clear teal eyes turned toward Sharti, his pupils quietly widened.
“Ren, are you okay?”
“…….”
Ren just stared blankly at Sharti without even blinking.
At his uncharacteristically docile face, Sharti couldn’t be certain and only watched his reaction.
‘Is he okay? The focus has returned to his eyes though.’
Though it was somewhat unconvincing, Sharti relaxed after confirming Ren’s mild reaction.
It was fortunate enough that he wasn’t breathing roughly and continuously spitting out painful groans.
As Sharti’s expression became much softer, the area below Ren’s eyes twitched.
“……Sha?”
Ren grimaced at the cracked low tone that scratched up his locked throat.
Then, as if sensing something strange, he immediately sat up.
“……Why am I…….”
Ren made a bewildered expression after confirming the bandages wound tightly around his fists, the minor wounds here and there on his body, and the stiff muscle pain.
Confused by a state too different from his last memory, Ren touched his forehead.
Sharti was tense in a different sense.
“Do you remember?”
“……Remember?”
Sharti’s throat felt parched.
Her gaze asking Ren how far he remembered and from where he didn’t remember was quite intense. Feeling the strange pressure from beside him, Ren was silent for a moment as if retracing his memories.
Complex and subtle emotions repeatedly crossed and disappeared from Ren’s face several times.
“……Ah.”
At that moment, Ren’s gaze stopped at the hands clasped with Sharti’s.
Sharti waited for Ren’s reaction with a tense face.
However, Ren actually closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them and turning his gaze away. It was quite an awkward movement.
“Ah, it’s already morning. You said you’d wake me, but did you stand watch alone at night?”
“…….”
“It must have been cold, why didn’t you cover yourself with anything?”
Sharti was momentarily speechless.
“Don’t tell me you stayed up all night and are just lying down to sleep now?”
Watching Ren who kept asking questions without even making eye contact, Sharti was dumbfounded and only moved her lips.
‘He doesn’t remember……? Everything?’
She would have been fine forgetting anything else. It was what she had hoped for.
However, shouldn’t he at least remember the first confession, the moment when she conveyed the feelings she had hidden, denied, and concealed all this time? Feeling hurt welled up in Sharti and she abruptly turned her gaze away.
Her head understood yesterday’s situation and his condition, but the surging sorrow wasn’t something she could control herself.
“Sha?”
However, her upset feelings couldn’t last long when facing Ren’s worried gaze or voice again. With one firm grasp of his large hand, yesterday’s hardships melted away instantly.
So what could she do?
“……My legs hurt.”
Sharti muttered weakly toward Ren.
At one small complaint, Ren immediately took a posture to massage her legs. However, Sharti stopped his touch with a soft laugh.
Although she was wearing pants so the burn scars wouldn’t be visible, what she wanted wasn’t a massage.
“Ren, your hand is injured. My legs hurt too, so I was saying let’s stay here just one more day before moving.”
“Ah.”
Ren nodded and went to find Sharti’s bag.
“Then it would be good to hold a mana stone. You don’t look well.”
Ren rummaged through the bag looking for a mana stone, but aside from the mana stone to insert in the light, no other mana stone was visible.
Then he suddenly turned his head and looked around.
“…….”
Discovering a stone that sparkled reflecting the faint sunlight, Ren’s pupils shook greatly.
On the ground, the red mana stone that was essential for winter mountain travel and had been usefully used by the two until now lay abandoned, split in half. The mana stone broken in two looked like an ordinary pebble.
Watching Ren’s hardened complexion, Sharti carefully spoke.
“That, mana stone must be quite weak in durability.”
Ren couldn’t even think of picking up the mana stone broken in two.
At Ren’s static reaction, Sharti couldn’t bring herself to add words either. She too had been at a loss for words for a moment when first discovering the mana stone broken in two.
Mana stones basically don’t easily break or crumble as they are ordinary pebbles engraved with various mana techniques and infused with mana.
‘Yesterday, if I really hadn’t dodged, it would have been terrible.’
Recalling Ren who had wielded force strong enough to split a mana stone in two, her body trembled.
Seeing that, Ren’s face darkened further with anxiety and worry.
For now, Ren hastily covered Sharti entirely with the blankets. And discovering Sharti’s robe dirtied into a mess, he clenched his fist tightly.
‘He doesn’t not remember everything. ……But why doesn’t he remember my confession?’
Was it because it wasn’t intense enough to remain in his memory?
Sharti soothed her stinging insides and obediently watched Ren while wrapped in the fluffy blanket.
Beyond the confusion, she could feel Ren’s self-reproach.
“Ren, we can just buy another mana stone.”
“…….”
Sharti tried to comfort Ren with words, but it had no particular effect.
He already knew through Tein that mana stones weren’t worth just a penny or two.
“……I should sell that as soon as we get home.”
“Hm?”
“That thing. It would be better to buy a mana stone with that.”
He must be talking about the sword buried in the ground.
At Ren’s determined eyes as if about to empty his emergency funds, Sharti laughed softly.
“We have enough money to buy one mana stone. There’s money left from selling medicine to the general store, you know. It’s okay.”
“Isn’t that money to be used for house repairs for winter?”
Besides that, they had to purchase food to eat throughout winter.
There were many places money was needed each time the season changed. Especially winter, when food self-sufficiency was difficult, quickly emptied the pockets.
“It’s okay. I’ll work harder, no, we’ll work hard together to earn money.”
“……Yeah.”
Ren, who was about to say something, closed his mouth once and just nodded.
Ren’s face, only chewing on his own inadequacy, was full of helplessness.
In fact, Sharti was the same, feeling just as complicated, only trying not to think deeply about it. In a situation where they had to continue their winter mountain travel, not being able to use the heat-emitting mana stone anymore was fatal.
‘Ren knows that well too.’
The cave at least blocked the wind, so they could endure the long night even without lighting a fire. However, there was no guarantee they could find a cave like this to sleep overnight in the future as well.
But she couldn’t let him not even make proper eye contact because of guilt forever.
‘He seems to need a change of mood.’
A way to lift his mood, which had been down overall since yesterday, was unclear.
[Of course, the medicine recipe sold like hotcakes at the general store. I couldn’t sell the medicine because there wasn’t enough quantity.]
Suddenly the general store she had mentioned earlier came to mind.
Precisely, the general store uncle’s words that demand was insufficient enough to buy the medicine she made at a high price crossed her mind.
‘Since the general store uncle bought from me paying 3 times more, they’ll probably raise the price even more when selling elsewhere, right?’
Even so, the general store uncle had shown confidence that they wouldn’t be able to sell due to lack of quantity.
Though she hadn’t fully realized it yet, Sharti also had some pride that the medicine she made was effective.
“Ren, is there a village if we cross just one mountain?”
“……According to the map, there was one small village.”
“Wouldn’t they sell mana stones there too?”
“If we leave right now, we can arrive tomorrow morning.”
Ren burned with determination to cross the mountain in one day even if it meant running until his legs broke.
The cave after a full day of heavy rain was full of moisture, even the air was damp.
For Ren, whose mood was already low, he didn’t want to make Sharti stay in such a place for long.
“No. We have to stay here today.”
Sharti firmly grasped Ren’s hand.
“Why?”
“Both Ren and I need to rest today. I’m saying this as a doctor.”
Ren tried to insist he was fine right now, but couldn’t not listen to Sharti’s words saying she was speaking as a doctor.
The corners of Ren’s eyes drooped.
“Besides, look at the state of our clothes. If we go to the village like this, won’t we be mistaken for runaway slaves?”
“Sha, no one will see you that way……but I would look like that.”
At Ren seriously examining his clothes, Sharti let out a small laugh.
Both of them were so disheveled in their hair, bodies, and clothes that it was ambiguous to judge who was worse.
“Let’s find a valley on the way to cross the mountain tomorrow and wash before going.”
“Understood.”
Ren took out water from the bundle, wet a towel, and wiped Sharti’s hands, neck, and forehead.
At him kneeling and concentrating on each touch, Sharti felt embarrassed and only wiggled her fingers.
“Ah. Even if it’s stuffy tomorrow, you have to wrap the bandages again.”
While wiping the hardened mud on Sharti’s fingernails, Ren’s hand hesitated.
At the unnatural reaction, Sharti went “ah” and rummaged through her pocket. As soon as she grasped the silver ring she had briefly removed, Sharti squeezed her eyes shut.
‘……I’ve been showing my face this whole time!’
Relieved that Ren’s condition had improved, she had completely forgotten about the silver ring’s existence.
Sharti scrunched up her face this way and that. Should she cover her face with the blanket even now? Hesitating, she sneakily opened her eyes again.
Just then, her eyes met with Ren’s who had finished wiping her hands.
“There’s some on your cheek too.”
At the utterly nonchalant touch wiping her face with the towel, Sharti released the strength from the hand gripping the blanket.
“Ren, that…….”
At Sharti’s hesitant reaction, Ren briefly removed the towel.
“Isn’t it…… strange?”
“What’s there to be strange about?”
He seemed to have become accustomed to her face after seeing it a few times.
Sharti felt embarrassed for being nervous and watching his reaction alone.
“Mm, just…….”
“It sounds good, why.”
“……?”
Sharti tilted her head.
Not that it looks good?
She was about to take out the question hovering in her mouth when Ren wiped the mud on her cheek again.
At the narrowed distance, Sharti was about to bite her lip and avoid his gaze when Ren poked Sharti’s cheek with his index finger.
“I like either, but……. I think your current voice suits your face better, Sha.”
It reminds me of spring.