Chapter 4
Sehee’s body froze completely.
“Did you…… hear that?”
In a place where she had no one to rely on, Sehee instinctively turned to look at the wolf.
The wolf was already growling lowly toward the bushes.
Sehee took a breath and cautiously approached.
When she pushed aside the grass, she found a person collapsed inside.
“Huh?”
There were deep wounds on his shoulder and side, apparently hastily bandaged.
He was covered in blood.
And yet, her first reaction was admiration.
“That’s insane.”
His black hair was wet and falling over his forehead, while long eyelashes cast shadows across his pale face.
Even though his features were stained with blood, they were unnaturally distinct.
Sehee was speechless for a moment.
“Wow…….”
It was a face she’d never seen in real life.
The word handsome wasn’t enough.
He looks like the male lead who jumped straight out of a romance-fantasy novel cover.
Her gaze naturally drifted downward.
The black coat-like top was made of finely tailored, luxurious clothing, with metal ornaments set into the shoulders.
The blood made it difficult to see clearly, but even the material itself was obviously not ordinary.
At this point, he definitely isn’t a normal person.
Sehee stared blankly down at his face for a moment.
She found herself ridiculous.
No, seriously. Can a person actually look like this……?
Even if she’d seen a celebrity in real life, she didn’t think she’d have been this shocked.
Sehee shook her head hard once.
Why am I noticing his face first in a situation like this?
Sehee examined the man again.
His breathing was uneven, and he trembled slightly every time he inhaled.
When she placed the back of her hand against his forehead, she immediately felt the heat.
“His fever is really bad.”
She had nothing with which to treat his wounds.
“And I don’t have anything useful for this, either.”
As she scanned down the list, a familiar name caught her eye.
[Bakgas]
Effect: Fatigue recovery / temporary awakening / random slight recovery of stamina and concentration
Effects cannot be stacked.
“It is recovery, technically.”
It wasn’t a potion, but it was better than doing absolutely nothing.
If she left him in this condition, it seemed like he would only get worse.
“I might as well give him this right now.”
Without hesitation, Sehee took out the Bakgas.
She opened the cap and grabbed the man’s chin.
“Just a moment. Try drinking this. It should have some effect.”
The man weakly shook his head.
Sehee didn’t hesitate.
“Ah, you don’t get a choice when you’re like this.”
She simply pressed the bottle against his mouth.
……What does it taste like?
A hazy memory surfaced just before he lost consciousness.
The battle against a group of Liches and skeletons.
At the moment he swung his sword, something inside his body twisted.
His mana wouldn’t obey him.
He had allowed an attack through that he normally would have been able to block.
And just like that, his vision went dark.
But……
At first, he thought it was merely a stimulant.
An unfamiliar taste, a mixture of bitterness and sweetness.
The moment it entered his mouth, the disordered flow of mana began to settle, as though it were being pushed back into place.
The energy that had been violently surging suddenly became calm.
The noise that had filled his mind disappeared, and the sounds around him began to come through clearly.
……Purification?
When he raised his head, he saw a light.
A small fire burning in front of a tent.
And standing before it was a woman.
Her skin seemed to glow faintly in the light, and her light-brown hair was loosely tied, with strands falling out of place.
For some reason, his gaze lingered, wondering what she would look like with her hair completely undone.
There was something about her face that made it strangely difficult to look away.
But that’s a Drain Wolf?
They were wolves classified as high-level monsters.
Wolves that fed on magical power had a strong sense of territory and normally wouldn’t casually remain near humans.
And there are this many of them?
The wolves were clearly following the woman.
Could she have tamed them?
Cassian remembered how unnaturally stable his condition had become moments ago.
Holy power?
Her attitude when she’d just raised the bottle and pressed it against his mouth without hesitation—
If she were a saintess,
she wouldn’t behave like that.
And yet, the sense of stability he felt in his body couldn’t be explained.
Was it a coincidence, or……?
After organizing his thoughts, Cassian gathered his strength.
The moment Cassian rose, his sword flashed.
The cold, gleaming blade stopped directly in front of Sehee’s neck.
It was close enough for her to feel his breath.
The wolves growled, but Cassian’s gaze didn’t waver.
His cold blue eyes stared straight down at her.
“Don’t move.”
Even with his injured body, there wasn’t the slightest tremor in the hand holding the sword.
“Who are you?”
Yet the woman before him wasn’t frightened.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Her response came in a tone as though nothing unusual had happened.
What the heck? Why is he suddenly pointing a sword at me……?!
Sehee forced herself to remain calm and changed the subject.
“Do you have any money?”
Cassian gave her an incredulous look.
“Money?”
“For what I just gave you. It’s not free.”
Cassian paused for a moment.
He hadn’t expected money to come up in a situation like this, much less in this manner.
“……This is Greenhal Forest.”
Sehee asked in confusion at his sudden statement.
“Excuse me?”
“The Forest of Monsters.”
Cassian’s eyes turned cold.
“Ordinary humans don’t enter here.”
After pausing briefly, he added,
“Especially not without weapons.”
Sehee was momentarily speechless.
There wasn’t a single thing wrong with what he said.
“Who are you?”
That was when it happened.
Grrrrr—
The wolf beside Sehee growled.
As the blade moved closer to Sehee’s neck, three wolves simultaneously lowered their bodies.
Cassian’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Hey.”
Sehee gave the wolf a light tap.
“Don’t.”
The wolf immediately shut its mouth.
A brief silence fell between them.
Cassian’s gaze returned to Sehee.
Strange.
She was accompanied by Drain Wolves, yet she behaved like this.
If she’d approached him with some ulterior motive, there was no reason for her to be this calm.
Cassian’s gaze dropped to the empty bottle in his hand.
If I hadn’t had this, I probably still wouldn’t have regained consciousness.
The sword in Cassian’s hand lowered slightly.
“……Why did you save me?”
Cassian’s gaze pierced straight through her.
Sehee answered bluntly, as though there were nothing strange about the question.
“Just because.”
“……What?”
“You’re a person. You’d lost a lot of blood, and you looked like you had a really high fever.”
Cassian’s eyes wavered ever so slightly.
Her answer was unlike anything he’d expected.
“You’re a strange woman.”
After a brief silence, he lowered his sword completely.
“It’s late, but I’d like us to formally introduce ourselves. My name is Cassian Del Valer. I am the head of House Valer.”
A duke?
The fact that she’d read novels so often actually came in handy at times like this.
If he’s a duke, isn’t he right below the king?
Sehee’s eyes widened to one and a half times their normal size.
Her mind quickly sorted through the aristocratic hierarchy.
“Oh, I’m Han Sehee. I’m the store owner here.”
“Han…… Sei?”
Cassian struggled with the unfamiliar pronunciation of “Hee,” eventually settling for whatever was easiest for him to say.
“No, Sehee.”
Sehee grew slightly frustrated as he kept mispronouncing it.
“Right, Sei.”
Cassian continued getting her name wrong, completely unaware of how she felt about it.
“Hee. Can’t you pronounce ‘hee’? No, never mind. Just call me whatever you want.”
Sehee gave up, figuring there was no point in trying any further.
There was no need to waste her energy correcting him just because he pronounced her name a little wrong.
At that moment, Cassian tossed something toward Sehee.
Clink.
Three gold coins landed in Sehee’s palm with the sound of coins striking one another.
“That should be enough.”
One gold coin was enough to buy even a high-grade recovery potion.
“What is this?”
She had clearly felt something touch her hand, but now there was nothing there.
Instead, a familiar window filled her vision.
[Currency Exchange Notification]
• Target detected: Imperial Gold Coins ×3
• Conversion: 3,000P
• Fee (20%): -600P
• Final acquisition: 2,400P
“……Huh?”
Sehee was stunned for a moment.
“But why are there so few points?”
When she looked at the system window again, the fee caught her eye.
“Minus twenty percent?”
Sehee frowned.
“Wait, then did you take that much from the gemstone earlier too, which is why I only got that many points?”
A brief silence followed, and then another window immediately appeared, almost as if the system were making an excuse.
[Gemstone Exchange Fee Discount]
Gemstones and magic stones can be recycled as system power sources.
• Gold coin exchange fee: 20%
(Varies according to shop level)
• Gemstone / magic stone exchange fee: 10% (fixed)
*The point conversion value of gemstones and magic stones changes in real time according to their market value and magical power content.
Sehee let out a short breath.
“They really aren’t subtle about discrimination.”
At that moment, she felt a gaze from behind her.
From his perspective, I must look like a complete weirdo.
After all, he’d given her gold coins, only for them to suddenly disappear while she stared into empty space and muttered to herself.
“I’m not a weird person!”
Only after saying it did Sehee realize.
She was the person who had been talking to empty space with a pack of wolves behind her.
Sehee awkwardly avoided his gaze and bit her lip.
But contrary to her concern, Cassian’s thoughts were heading in an entirely different direction.
Could it be? Does she mean that wasn’t enough to cover the price of the potion?
Considering the potion’s effects, that possibility made perfect sense.
“Tell me if you need more.”
Cassian still had more gold coins.
“No, this should be enough for now.”
But Sehee’s gaze had already shifted elsewhere.
