GDTEA Chapter 124

The Demon King and the Deer Princess

It was the fifth day since she had handed the antidote over to Tein.

“Sha!”

“Grandmother!”

Having received the letter sent through the communication post, Virena had quickly come to Chelonar County.

The Krofl Mercenary Group members, whose faces she had come to know in Sedipia Village, had come along as well.

“Grandmother, I’m sorry. Tein…”

“I’ve already seen him. He’s doing well.”

Virena stroked Sharti’s face with her wrinkled hands.

She hadn’t met Tein directly, but she had slipped into the county in secret along with the mercenary members and caught a distant glimpse of him.

She hadn’t felt worried. And how could she, when, in the time she hadn’t seen him, Tein’s face had filled out plump and round. It was plain to see that the count’s residence was not only feeding him three full meals a day, but also providing him with a comfortable place to sleep.

“Now then. You said there was something you wanted to show me?”

“Yes, Grandmother.”

Sharti handed Virena the [Experimental Report on the Combination of Poison, Forbidden Magic, and Curses].

Virena immediately began reading through the report. With each page that turned, her expression grew as cold as a sheet of ice.

<—I’ve found that among the forbidden magics, there exists an illusion magic. It seems further research will be necessary. Since using magic would draw the attention of the Magic Tower, I’ll need to be even more careful in how I craft it. It seems this will be a lengthy study.>

With the passage foretelling a long research process, Virena closed the report.

Watching the deep-set wrinkles that followed the coldly frozen fury on her face, Sharti laid out the deductions she had organized in the meantime.

“There’s a high probability that Lady Eryl’s illness was caused by the toxic extract from the purple-hued poisonous herb. However, according to the report, while the extract is a deadly poison, it only induces nightmares and clouds the mind — it does not produce symptoms like the ones resembling the illness.”

The expressions of the Krofl Mercenary Group members who were listening to Sharti’s deductions alongside her turned grave.

“In my opinion, as one of the conditions required to make it into a lethal poison — among the mages that the count’s household had summoned early on to treat Lady Eryl — I believe there had been a mage who continuously used a sinister power, that is to say, what is called forbidden magic.”

“And that became a curse that remained behind.”

At night, a curse was placed upon her to forget the face of her beloved father and spend the entire night searching for the existence called ‘father,’ while during the day, she was cursed to forget everything that had happened the night before.

And the poison that remained within her body was faithfully ravaging her, following the trail of the forbidden magic the mages had cast.

“What a painstaking effort that must have taken.”

Flames of fury flickered in Virena’s eyes.

“I made extra portions for the people of Sedipia Village, just in case.”

“Sha didn’t have much money, so she wasn’t able to make much.”

As Ren cut in to explain, Virena shot a glance toward one of the mercenary members.

“—You’ve heard all of this, I presume?”

“……?”

Sharti turned her head with a puzzled expression, and spotted the crystal orb the mercenary member was holding.

It was a magic communication orb.

—I will relay this directly to the Tower Master.

From the communication orb, where a faint silhouette had appeared, came the voice of the Deputy Tower Master.

—Doctor, it is embarrassing to say, but while we are already receiving your help, I would like to shamelessly make one more request. Would you be able to continue producing the antidote? All financial support will be covered entirely by our Magic Tower.

The Deputy Tower Master — who had already sworn an oath to her through a magic contract — made his request with utmost courtesy.

Sharti clenched her fist and nodded willingly.

“Leave it to me!”

“I trust you’ll naturally be compensating her fairly for her labor as well.”

As Ren shot a look that said not to even think about working Sharti to the bone for nothing, Virena, who was standing beside him, pulled out a hefty pouch from within her robes.

“As a matter of fact, I already collected it in advance, you little rascal.”

Opening the pouch Virena held out, it contained no less than 50 gold coins.

At the sight of more money than she had ever seen in her life, Sharti inhaled sharply and froze.

Ren, perhaps worried it would be taken back, took hold of the pouch on her behalf.

“Th-that… Yes! I’ll organize the full list of materials to purchase and send it over!”

Sharti, who had never laid eyes on gold coins before, stuttered as she cried out.

Then, recalling a piece of information she had nearly forgotten, Sharti came back to her senses.

“Grandmother, you know that noble mentioned in the report? I’m fairly certain it’s that scorpion-crest noble.”

“……Is that because of the purple-hued poisonous herb?”

“The merchant uncle said he heard it from the servants at Count Chelonar’s residence. Apparently, Marquis Bridend had visited the count’s estate not long before Lady Eryl started showing signs of illness.”

“……!”

Virena immediately took the communication orb and began having a secretive, far more complex political conversation with the Deputy Tower Master.

Sharti turned her eyes toward the money pouch Ren was holding.

A whopping 50 gold coins! After making the antidote, surely at least 10 silver would be left over.

‘……Still, I need to keep earning travel expenses.’

About 10 silver was the kind of amount that would be spent up within a few days of lodging at an inn in another region.

Renewing her resolve for work, Sharti looked over at Ren.

More precisely, she stared at his left hand, still wrapped in bandages.

‘To the naked eye, it looked fully healed.’

And yet Ren still claimed that moving his fingers was difficult, and continued receiving Sharti’s help.

Sharti narrowed her eyes and recalled the requests Ren had made of her up until today.

[Sha, I think my clothes are too small.]

[S-still, you can’t come out half-dressed like that! The b-buttons! You have to do the buttons up!]

[Because of my hand.]

After bathing, he had his lower garments on properly but left his upper garments off, and had come to her asking for help getting dressed — thrusting his sharply defined abs and chest right at her.

‘That time, my hands were trembling so badly while trying to do the buttons that I was even more embarrassed!’

[Sha, could you help me take my clothes off?]

[……Ren, the merchant uncle is going to get the wrong idea. Give it a purpose. Say it’s because you’re going to bathe.]

[Since everyone around us thinks we’re a married couple anyway, I don’t suppose it matters.]

[E-even if we were married! That’s still not right!]

At that, Ren had worn a strangely shocked expression.

It seemed he had been taken aback by the outright refusal.

[……Don’t real married couples bathe together, and things like that?]

[Th-that’s ridiculous!]

As Sharti jumped up and down demanding to know where on earth he’d heard such nonsense, Ren had inexplicably fallen into a sulky silence.

And that wasn’t all.

Ren had come to find her late one night just as she was about to turn in, citing the merchant uncle’s snoring and sleep-talking as his excuse.

[I’ve heard that sound sleep leads to faster recovery. In that room, far from sleeping, even just lying down gives me a headache and I can’t rest at all.]

[I don’t think you’d sleep well on this narrow floor either.]

[Then would it be alright if we slept together?]

Sharti’s room was a single room.

Naturally, the bed was a single as well, which meant there was no place for the large-framed Ren to lie down.

Even so, Sharti glared at Ren as he shamelessly kept glancing over at the bed.

[I’ll kick you.]

[A patient?]

[……]

What was more, it seemed abundantly clear that no matter whether she kicked him or threw her whole body at him, Ren wouldn’t budge an inch.

Even so, before Sharti could play her trump card of sleeping on the floor herself, Ren had gone back to the merchant uncle’s room, openly sulking.

But after that, since Ren couldn’t sleep deeply and his complexion began to worsen, Sharti had no choice but to ask the merchant uncle to switch rooms.

[If you come over to this side, I’m switching the rooms back.]

[If you line up the pillows like this, the space becomes quite narrow, you know.]

Ren looked at the pillows stacked up like a wall with a conflicted expression as he settled in for the night.

Fortunately, from that day on, Ren had been waking up to rather refreshing mornings.

‘It’s just me……. It’s only me who’s been tossing and turning out of nerves.’

With how often she and Ren had come to share a room and sleep together throughout the journey, it had become a habit to steal glances at his sleeping face in the night.

Once the lights were out and they settled in for the night, there was nothing but darkness — but after blinking a few times and letting her eyes adjust, she could faintly make out Ren’s dark brown hair and the outline of his face.

It looked strangely distant, as if she were gazing at some far-off place within a dream, and at the same time, faintly blurred.

Only the steady sound of Ren’s breathing reminded her of the reality that he was right there beside her.

Of course, the fleeting moments of fluttering excitement that kept her from sleeping were repeatedly swallowed up and forgotten by waves of drowsiness.

‘Still, at least he can eat with his right hand, I suppose?’

Ren, whom she had half-expected to brazenly open his mouth and beg to be fed during mealtimes, was quietly managing his meals on his own, thanks to the merchant uncle.

[Hmm, seeing this reminds me of a mother feeding her son. Ah, but the ages don’t quite match up. Perhaps more like an older sister looking after her little brother.]

The expression on Ren’s face at that moment had stuck with her ever since.

The merchant uncle, too, had been eating his meals alone in his room ever since the moment he and Ren had locked eyes.

In any case, just as Sharti was deepening her deliberation over how much longer Ren — with his remarkably fast recovery — would continue wearing bandages on his left hand, Virena, who had finished her conversation with the Deputy Tower Master, approached.

“Sha, the Magic Tower says they’ll soon be sending mages to Count Chelonar’s residence in secret.”

“Really? What a relief!”

Since it was an absurd chain of speculation for an unlicensed doctor to be laying out, it was a great load off her mind to know the Magic Tower would be stepping in.

Above all, she felt thoroughly reassured by Virena’s words that the Tower Master himself would be rolling up his sleeves to blindside that scorpion-crest noble, Marquis Bridend.

“But, Sha—”

“Yes?”

“There is something I need to tell you.”

Virena shot a quick glance toward Ren before leaning in to speak in a hushed voice.

“They say the body of Grand Duke Gwendhill has been found.”

“……!”

****

With Virena’s assistance added to the effort, Tein was able to secure the antidote far more easily.

Thanks to the notes that the sharp-minded Tein had left behind in one corner of the garden, they were also able to check on Eryl’s symptom relief and changes in her condition at regular intervals.

Six days passed by in the blink of an eye.

“Mmm……. What is it……?”

Sensing the empty space left by Virena, who rose early every dawn, Sharti woke from her sleep.

Even at this early hour of the morning, the outside was noisy.

Having stayed up until late the previous night producing a large batch of antidote before collapsing into sleep, Sharti’s hair and clothes were in a disheveled state.

“What’s going on……?”

In the chilly air of the room, Sharti rolled herself up in the blanket and climbed down from the bed.

She was shuffling toward the window in her slippers when it happened.

A prickling feeling made her lower her body first, before anything else.

‘What reason would there be for such sudden noise around the inn at this hour?’

The ability to sense danger was an instinct as deeply ingrained as a habit in her body.

Sure enough, when she carefully lifted the curtain and looked down through the window, she could see a regiment of knights surrounding the inn as if to encircle it.

At the sight of the knight uniforms emblazoned with the symbol of a key and feather — the emblem of Chelonar County — Sharti shut her eyes tight.

‘Have they come to capture Ren? Or is it me……? Has there been a problem with the antidote — a side effect?’

What was certain was that this was no time to be standing around.

Sharti immediately threw off the blanket, hastily pulled on only her fur coat, and grabbed her bag.

Her disheveled hair she tied back in one go and pulled up her hood.

Knock, knock.

“……!”

Sharti, who had just been making her way toward the door, stopped dead in her tracks.

It wasn’t Ren. She had already handed him a spare key to the room, just in case.

Which meant there was no reason he would knock like that and say nothing.

‘W-what do I do.’

Despite her hesitation, her hand had already reached into her bag and was gripping a pouch of paralysis powder or anaesthetic powder.

Her heart pounded.

After dodging the knight who was about to break down the door, which direction should she run?

‘Of course, I made note of the emergency exit and back door locations when we chose the inn, but…….’

What nagged at her was how quiet Ren and the merchant uncle, lodging in the next room, were.

Her heart pounded.

As the tension only mounted in the suffocating silence, with Sharti doing nothing but staring down the door — it was then.

“……Princess.”

“……?”

Startled by the out-of-nowhere form of address, Sharti was momentarily thrown off, when a flustered voice came drifting through from the other side of the door.

“—Deer Princess. We have come to escort you.”

“……Pardon?”

The peculiar form of address made Sharti hesitate.

‘Is this some new kind of con?’

Her suspicion deepened as to whether this was some kind of strategy to lower her guard.

“—Sha, you may come out.”

“Ren?”

At the familiar voice, Sharti hesitated, then opened the door.

And the very first thing she came face to face with was the knight commander of Chelonar County.

Ren, his face concealed beneath his hood, was standing behind him, holding back a laugh.

“We have come under Count’s orders, to escort the Demon King and the Deer Princess.”

“……Who?”

What in the world was Count Chelonar going on about, talking of some Deer Princess and Demon King.

Then her eyes met Ren’s.

Belatedly, Sharti’s face flushed burning hot.