“Calm down, Reville. Adela has just gotten better and is resting.”
“Okay…? So there’s no problem now?”
“…..”
Lagos couldn’t answer the second question, contrary to the first one.
Reville bit his lips with anxious eyes.
After a while, the tense atmosphere in the house subsided and only the whimpering of Miru was heard, but no one could easily open their mouths.
It was Raccoon grandpa, who broke the silence.
“First of all, Adela’s condition seems to have improved. I’ll have to go back to the store and make more medicine.”
He spoke in a slightly exaggerated voice, looking at Lagos.
“Don’t you have a lot of work to do? You don’t have to worry about Adela for the time being. Leave this to Reville and go back with Sihyeon.”
“What? I’m….”
I was worried about Adela, so I was going to turn it down, but Lagos, who was next to me, interrupted me first.
“All right. My Lord, let’s just do what Elder Raccoon says.”
“…….”
I noticed something in the eyes of Lagos and nodded quietly.
“Candy uncle… are you going?”
“Um… I’m sorry Miru. I’m a little busy with work.”
“……”
Hearing that I was leaving, Miru’s cat ears dropped down and she put on a droopy expression.
I felt sorry looking at the pitiful appearance, but now I couldn’t help it.
“Miru, I’m sorry. Instead, I’ll be back as soon as possible after finishing the work. Wait for a little until then.”
“Yes Miru. I’ll be with you until the lord comes.”
“Uh… Okay.”
Miru nodded and I patted her back with a proud expression.
Leaving Miru to Reville, we slowly left the house.
“….”
We walked silently along the path past the yard fence.
Raccoon grandpa kept looking back toward the house.
When the house was no longer visible, Raccoon grandpa sighed deeply.
“Ughhhhh…”
The emotions in it were so complicated and heavy that just listening to it made my heart feel stuffy.
Lagos, who also understood it, carefully opened his mouth.
“Elder…”
“What you’re thinking is probably right.”
“Um…”
“What is it?”
I couldn’t stand the frustration and asked a question in the middle, and Raccoon grandpa answered with a bitter look.
“Adela`s physical condition is already at its limit. If we don’t make the cure immediately….”
“What about the cure you gave her earlier?”
“It’s an incomplete medicine. It only makes her feel better for a while. It doesn’t cure the underlying disease.”
“Then how can you make a complete cure?”
Raccoon grandpa stared blankly at the sky.
“Where should I start with… I’ll start from the time I first came to this village.”
What..?
What’s happening all of a sudden?
“It was just a coincidence that I came to this village. I was caught selling fake Spirit energy pills to the nobles and was on the run.”
“Fake Spirit energy pill?”
“What are you saying, Elder? I’ve never heard of it before.”
At the unexpected story, our expressions were filled with absurdity.
“This is my first time saying this. I think it’s a very shameful behavior now, but at that time, the income was very good. The old aristocrats were ready to pour sh*t load of money at the mere mention of Spirit energy.”
“Then, what happened?”
“What could have happened? As soon as they found out what I was selling was fake, I was chased. Fortunately, I didn’t get caught by the nobles. I got caught by the mercenaries. They took almost all the money I earned and beat me to the point where I wouldn’t die.”
Raccoon grandpa shuddered as if he recalled the memories of that time.
“I managed to save my life, but I couldn’t go back to the city. I was forced to wander through the forest with my whole body in tatters. After wandering around for days in the forest with nothing to eat, I fell down….”
He paused and glanced back.
“When I woke up, it was that house. The couple who lived there found me and treated me. If they had left me, I would have died in the woods.”
“Then the couple…”
“Adela’s parents.”
That kind of connection.
Lagos opened his eyes wide as if he had never heard of the details.
“Even though I was a scammer, I wasn’t bad enough to not feel gratitude towards my benefactors. For the time being, I decided to stay with them until I could repay their favor. Years passed as I stayed in the village like that. By the time I was recognized as part of this village, a beautiful daughter was born between the couple.”
“That’s Adela?”
“Yes, the couple smiled happily at the child born after many years of marriage. I was, of course, overjoyed. But our joy didn’t last very long. The baby was suffering from a congenital disease.”
“The baby gradually lost the light of life that was barely given by the world.. But like a destiny, I found a way to cure the baby’s illness. It was a cure that I learned from the elders of my tribe when I was young! Among the medicines I learned, there was a medicine to treat the baby’s illness. But…”
Raccoon grandpa looked down at his hands with a bitter look on his face.
“A guy who used to make and sell fake Spirit energy pills didn’t have what it takes to make that medicine. After spending all the money I had, I somehow made a medicine, but it was unfinished. I saved the baby’s life, but I couldn’t cure the disease.”
His voice was full of sadness and emptiness.
“Then I made up my mind. I decided to repay the favor I owe to the couple by treating the child perfectly, and after that, I decided to leave this village without any regret….”
Hearing the story and seeing Raccoon grandpa still staying in the village, meant that he had not yet produced a cure for Adela’s illness.
“Then… Is there no other way, Elder?”
Lagos asked earnestly as if squeezing out one’s last hope.
Raccoon grandpa remained silent for a moment.
Lagos and I waited for his answer.
“I also almost lost hope in making the cure, but recently a miracle happened.”