Chapter 4

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

YUKI finally had eyes for other things once her hunger was satisfied. It took until she munched through her third serving for her to lower her head.

“Th-Thank you very much for the food and the change of clothes.”

Rifae and Est were taken aback by how abrupt her comment was.

“Pft, don’t mention it,” Rifae snickered. “Are you done eating? Drink this if you are.” He held out a wooden bowl full of whatever concoction he had just grounded and mixed together. “It’ll help reduce your fever.”

Yuki helplessly accepted it. I hate medicine…and this isn’t even a pill or syrup… But I can’t turn it down after he went out of his way to make it for me.

She prepared herself for the worst and tossed back the gooey liquid. She shoveled the remaining porridge into her mouth to get rid of the toe-curling, nauseatingly bitter taste.

“Wow…I’m surprised you downed that concoction.” Est grimaced.

Was I not supposed to drink it after all?

“Est was bitten by the Buibui before too. He’s hated this medication ever since,” Rifae chuckled.

“Wh-When was that?! …Besides, why were you even near the Buibui?” Est shouted, forcing the focus of the conversation onto Yuki. While she thought his behavior was cute, she also sought worriedly on how to answer.

“U-Um…I don’t know how to explain.”

Rifae and Est trained their full attention on her.

What, and just how much, should I tell them? Just as I was about to be executed as the Legendary Witch, the real Legendary Witch saved me and abandoned me here… As if I could tell them that.

Yuki feebly shook her head. Rifae smiled thoughtfully, “Well, I have no intention of forcing you to answer.”

“It’s okay. I’ll tell you…”

It’s unfair to take advantage of their hospitality and not tell them anything about myself.

She mulled over how to explain. Rifae stopped eating to watch Yuki, but Est, who had brought it up in the first place, hungrily ate his porridge.

“I was traveling south to Adolunde and got lost on my way. I ran out of food and water as I wandered, and then—”

“Are you a moron? You sayin’ ‘at’s why you collapsed?” Est said through his mouthful of porridge.

“Est,” Rifae chided. Est shrugged. “And then you met me. Right, dear?”

Yuki nodded.

“…I see.”

“U-Um, I have a favor I would like to ask of you.”

I know asking for a favor is impudent, but I’m in a hurry.

“What is it, dearie?” Rifae asked with a soft smile that made Yuki nervous. His hair glittered in the sunlight streaming through the window.

“I know it is presumptuous of me to ask this of you after you not only saved me, but also tended to my wounds and fed me, but would you mind sharing some of your food with me?”

Rifae’s expression remained unchanged as if he knew she was going to ask that of him.

“I-I have to hurry.”

I want to hurry to where everyone is and apologize. I’m so worried and uneasy, my heart feels as if it’s being torn to pieces. I feel so helpless.

“Is your family in Adolunde?”

Yuki shook her head.

“Your boyfriend? Fiancé?”

She shook her head again.

“Then you have no reason to go.”

Yuki glowered at Est.

“Est.”

It’s true Ain, Tita, Nasette, and Luca aren’t my relatives. But to me they are...the ones who accepted me when I didn’t know my right from left in this world. And they saved me many times.

“People important to me are there.” Yuki looked at Est and Rifae.

“…Do you remember how I told you ignorance is no excuse?” Rifae’s face was incredibly beautiful, but his beauty masked his thoughts.

“I do.”

He told her that when she said she didn’t know the Buibui were poisonous.

“It’s up to you whether you go to Adolunde or not. But will you still want to go after learning the predicament Adolunde is facing right now?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Rifae sighed like he was dealing with a particularly dimwitted child.

“Um… Oh, I know that a war started,” Yuki tossed in when he didn’t answer her.

“That’s not the problem, dear.”

“Then what is?”

“Adolunde isn’t the only country in trouble. Right now the entire continent of Aridol is being ravaged by the spread of the Ten Day Fever. Everyone in the continent is preparing for the Ten Day Fever to hit them next.”

“Ten Day Fever?”

“It’s a fever that will surely kill you within ten days of catching it. The few who have miraculously survived the ten days will never catch the fever again though.”

“Heh…”

“Adolunde is the most affected region with the most infected and highest death toll right now.”

“I see,” Yuki responded with a look as if she didn’t comprehend the scale of things.

“Yuki, have you had the Ten Day Fever before?”

“Nope. I’ve never caught that.”

“You might get infected if you go to Adolunde then. Do you still want to go?” Rifae asked, his voice gradually taking on a sterner tone. “You know, I’m no doctor, so I won’t stop you, dear. But I did go out of my way to treat you once already. Do you think I’ll happily send you off to the area the fever originated from?”

“But there’s no guarantee I’ll catch it, right?” Yuki countered.

“How naïve,” Rifae flatly declared. Yuki fell silent. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Est giving her a pitiful look.

“Yuki, do you know about the last time the Ten Day Fever swept through Aridol?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“The last case occurred about 150 years ago. Back then it started in Maruk and spread rapidly across Aridol. By the time it finished wreaking havoc across the three countries, Aridol’s overall population was reduced to a tenth of what it once was.”

“A tenth…” Yuki was rendered speechless. The Ten Day Fever sounded similar to what she knew about the spread of tuberculosis through Japan in the past. Goose bumps prickled across her skin.

“Adolunde’s prince died the other day from the Ten Day Fever,” Rifae added.

“Pardon?” Yuki’s eyes widened at the mention of Adolunde’s prince.

Is it Luca?

“Who? Hey, tell me which prince it was!” she asked in a frenzy, her languid body the only thing keeping her from jumping out of bed to throttle him for an answer.

Shocked by her menacing look, Rifae fumbled over his words, “Huh? Uh, aaah, it’s the third prince—Prince Curtis.”

Yuki never heard of him before.

Thank goodness it’s not Luca.

Her momentary relief was shattered by Rifae’s matter-of-fact explanation. “A powerful country’s prince was infected and died after having the kingdom’s best doctors focusing all their energy on curing him. That is how dangerous the Ten Day Fever is, dear.”

“Even so—”

“I won’t stop you if you say you still want to go. I won’t be mean and not give you the supplies you asked for either. So please at least stay here quietly resting until your current fever goes away. And take this time to properly think about what you want to do,” Rifae said, standing to signal an end to the conversation. He slowly left the room, his wooden leg clacking unevenly against the wooden floor.

“Are the people you’re looking for that important to you?” Est asked, having long since finished his meal.

Yuki weakly nodded, her mind reeling in confusion over what she just learned. “Everyone should be in Adolunde…. I wonder if they’re all okay.”

Ain and Tita seem like they would have the weakest immunity. Are they okay? Did they even find their way back to Adolunde in one piece? I don’t even know if they did. I want to hurry up and see them.

“They should be? You don’t know?”

Yuki glared in irritation and vexation at Est as if he had just mocked her. “I don’t know!”

It’s not like…it’s not like I even have any clues!

She unconsciously squeezed her right hand’s middle finger. Adolunde’s prince—she hadn’t even known if it was Luca who had died.

I don’t know anything without the ring.

“A Knight and their Master are connected. But you normally can’t see it, so the ring was created as visible proof of the bonding for humans.”

Vivi had told Yuki back in her cabin little more than a week ago.

I don’t know…

Tears welled in her eyes.

“Hey! D-Don’t cry! It’ll look like I made you cry!” Est panicked.

“It doesn’t just look like you made me cry; you did make me cry!” Yuki shot daggers of blame at him with her eyes.

“Aah, man, if you don’t know, why don’t you just ask Rifae?” Est suggested, his face still flustered.

“…?”

He scratched the back of his head and suddenly stood up to set about cleaning the dishes Rifae left on the table.

“The Information Broker Mage Rifaenotis. He’s apparently pretty famous,” he said proudly, a carefree smile touching his lips.