Kyle let out a deep sigh, his face grim as he looked at the juniors standing before him.
Then, as if the situation were giving him a headache, he pressed his index finger to his temple and spoke.
“…Mikhail, sit Adrian down over there first.”
He gestured toward one of the sofas in the lobby.
Mikhail closed his mouth tightly and slowly walked over to the sofa. Carefully, he knelt down and gently lowered Adrian onto it. The moment Adrian sat, a sharp pain surged through him, making him wince slightly. Though he could easily use healing magic, the situation called for him to leave the wound untreated, and he didn’t like it one bit. Unless a dragon took on a form for mere amusement, there was nothing in existence that could wound him. Even if he did get hurt, he could heal himself perfectly and faster than anyone else with magic—so he was surprisingly weak to pain.
At that moment, the sound of urgent footsteps echoed into the lobby.
“…Your Highness! Are you all right?”
“What happened? You said you were going for a walk—how did this happen?”
“My god! And your friend is seriously injured too!”
Three knights, who had been on standby at the lodging, rushed in and began fussing loudly upon seeing the state of Adrian and Mikhail. Mikhail’s clothes were splattered with blood from carrying Adrian on his back.
“Are you badly hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Mikhail shook his head with a hard expression. Instead, he pointed to Adrian, lying on the sofa, and issued a command.
“Go bring a skilled local doctor or a mage who can use healing magic.”
“Yes, sir!”
One of the knights dashed out of the building with a resolute look in his eyes.
The remaining young men fell into a long, heavy silence.
“Um… Kyle sunbae.”
Adrian, lying awkwardly on the sofa, opened his mouth. They had made it back safely and even dealt with the monster, so things weren’t that serious—at least not enough to warrant this atmosphere. Still, he figured he needed to explain what had happened earlier.
Kyle’s icy gaze turned toward Adrian at the sound of his voice. Even under that piercing stare, Adrian tried to lighten the tense mood.
“I mean, I lost a lot of blood, yeah, but it’s not as bad as it looks…”
“Adrian. Stay quiet and get treated first. I’ll hear your explanation afterward. Speak then.”
Kyle’s sharp retort made Adrian go silent for a moment. But there’s more to say, though. If he just listened all the way through, maybe he’d understand. Adrian didn’t give up and opened his mouth again.
“…But still.”
“But still?”
“…”
Kyle’s eyes narrowed at Adrian’s hesitation.
He didn’t want to yell at an injured junior, so he was doing his best to hold back—but no matter how he looked at it, he was too annoyed to let it go. Earlier that day, they had all agreed to investigate the black mana together the following morning. Yet Adrian and Mikhail had completely ignored that decision.
And to make things worse, they’d come back seriously injured.
“I didn’t think you’d act so recklessly. I’m disappointed in you.”
“…”
Adrian shut his mouth, feeling like he’d lost more than he’d gained by speaking up. Seriously? Over this? Disappointed? He grumbled inwardly and turned his eyes to the ceiling, staring at it intently from the couch.
Mikhail, sitting on the sofa beside him, looked back and forth between Kyle and Adrian with a crestfallen expression.
“Adrian… he helped me. His leg…”
It was only now sinking in that Adrian had been badly hurt trying to help him. Mikhail let out a heavy sigh internally as he glanced at Adrian’s blood-soaked ankle.
It had been Adrian who stepped into the forest—but it had been Mikhail’s stubbornness that insisted on confronting the monster.
Kyle raised a hand, cutting Mikhail off before he could take the blame.
“Mikhail, you’re just as guilty.”
“…”
The lobby remained cloaked in dead silence until the knight who had gone out returned—with an elderly man in tow.
“There isn’t a mage in this village who can use healing magic.”
The knight looked utterly dejected, like a soldier who had failed a critical mission, as he delivered the report.
“Still, I brought someone who’s been the local physician here for a long time.”
“Tch. Back in my day, people got by just fine without magic healing. Nowadays, someone gets a scratch and they’re already crying for a mage,” the physician grumbled, brushing past the knight with a cranky tone.
He walked quickly—though with heavy steps—toward Adrian, who was lying on the sofa. Judging by his disheveled clothes, it seemed he had been woken in the middle of the night; one could easily mistake him for an eccentric mage. Strangely enough, even Kyle was nodding along at the old man’s words.
Getting treated with magic would’ve been so much cleaner, Adrian grumbled to himself as he eyed the physician.
The physician reached him and brusquely rolled up the blood-soaked hem of his pants with rough hands.
“…!”
The touch of fabric against the wound reignited a pain he had briefly forgotten. Adrian clenched his eyes shut and turned his head away at the unkind handling.
Then it happened.
Mikhail, who had been quietly watching from the adjacent sofa, suddenly shot to his feet.
“Wait.”
“What now?”
“I just… isn’t he being a bit too rough with the wound?”
Isn’t that painful?
At Mikhail’s words, the physician’s face twisted in visible annoyance. To him, it was outrageous for someone to interfere with a medical procedure. No matter how rare it was for handsome young men like these to show up in a rural village, to the physician, they were nothing but uninvited nuisances who had ruined a sweet night’s sleep.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Tch, must be a friendship worthy of tears, huh? If you care that much, why don’t you take the injury for him instead of just sitting there watching?”
The physician grumbled as he snapped open his medical bag with a sharp flick. Yet each word landed like a dart in Mikhail’s chest. He slowly sank back onto the sofa, wearing a pitiful expression.
The physician washed the wound with distilled water, then slathered it in thick herbal salve he had ground up by hand.
“Uuurgh?!”
Adrian groaned through gritted teeth as a burning sensation shot through his ankle like it had been cauterized with fire. The physician’s grip was so strong, Adrian couldn’t even feel it—only the searing pain. After emptying the entire jar of ointment, the old man gave a nod and began wrapping the ankle tightly in coarse bandages. Adrian bit down on his lip and cursed internally the entire time.
“The bone isn’t broken. Just some muscle damage. With enough rest, it’ll heal fine. The rest are minor external wounds.”
The physician gave his diagnosis with a bored tone, then accepted payment from the knight and offered one last comment with a touch more kindness.
“As long as you keep the wound dry, it should heal up quickly. Take care, then.”
He waved one hand while hoisting up his bag and left the lodging.
Kyle turned to the knights, who had been pulled from their beds in the middle of the night, and told them the situation was now under control and they could return to their rooms.
And so, the lobby was left with only Kyle, Mikhail, and Adrian.
Neither Adrian nor Mikhail said a word. There was no point arguing about who was at fault. As Adrian sat up from the sofa after treatment, gently touching the bandage around his ankle, Kyle suddenly asked,
“Adrian, what kind of communication artifact do you use?”
“Huh?”
“I’m talking about the one from your family. You’re hurt, so you should probably contact your parents.”
Kyle let out a weary sigh and pressed his fingers against his temple, as though this whole ordeal were giving him a migraine.
“…”
“It’s annoying, I know. But it has to be done. Just tell me—whatever kind you use, I’ve probably got a compatible one.”
His voice held a trace of irritation as he glanced at Adrian still fiddling with his ankle.
At that moment, Mikhail interjected.
“Sunbae… is it really necessary to contact—”
“Mikhail, he’s still a student. Of course it’s necessary. Can you imagine how worried Adrian’s parents must be?”
Kyle shut him down without a second thought. This was Adrian’s personal matter, and Mikhail had no place to interfere.
“It’s fine,” Adrian said firmly. “There’s no one to contact.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Kyle frowned, tilting his head.
Adrian slowly looked up at him with clear eyes. They still held that same warm color, yet for some reason, there was a chill to them now. With a composed expression, he said, “I don’t have any parents.”
That was all. He gave a lukewarm smile, as if there was nothing more worth saying.
“…”
Kyle stared at Adrian’s face for a long moment. Then he groaned and slumped forward on the sofa.
Damn it. Now I can’t even get mad.
He wrestled with himself for a few seconds before his eyes snapped open again.
“Then you’re off the survey team. With that leg, there’s no way you’re making it to the Hildeke Cliffs.”
“…Huh? What do you mean—”
Adrian, who had until now answered everything with indifference, finally showed a crack in his expression. If he got excluded from the expedition to the Hildeke Cliffs now, all his plans would fall apart.
