Under the Oak Tree

Chapter 228

Yulysion ducked as low as possible to reduce the impact of his steps on Max’s body as he ran swiftly through the forest. She clenched her jaw, suppressing her teeth to chatter from the chill she was feeling and the agonizing pain she felt on her limp shoulder. It crossed her mind that it would be better if she lost her consciousness. However, she couldn’t let herself succumb into it, there is the possibility that she might never wake up again.

“Here!”

Garrow, who was running ahead of them to scan the surroundings, waved at them and yelled. As they approached him, Max could make out with her cloudy eyes that he was pointing towards a small cave hidden among several large, misshapen trees.

Garrow spread his cloak on the ground for Max and Yulysion gently placed her on it as if he were handling precious, fragile glass. However, no matter how careful he was, her entire body was still screaming in pain. It felt like she was being lowered into fire.

Max bit into the fabric she was pressing on her nose to stop the bleeding and sweated profusely. Seeing her in excruciating pain with even the slightest movement, Yulysion grew more and more distraught.

“Garrow, w-what should we do? I think we need to realign her shoulder...”

“Neither of us knows how to do that. If we don’t do it right, we could break her bones or make the pain worse. Let’s just put a splinter on her shoulder so it stays in place.”

Garrow knelt beside her and tore his cloak lengthwise. “Please bare it for a moment. This might hurt a lot.”

Max looked at the boy in terror as he reached for her arm. Leaving her shoulder hanging as it is was already more than painful, what more if someone touched it? Max was terrified but there was no other way.

Garrow carefully lifted her arm, folding it in front of her body and securing it with the cloth, tying it in place to keep it from swaying. Max bit her lip so tight that it bled. The pain was so immense that she couldn’t even breathe. Seeing her wither in agony, Yuysion hurriedly pulled the bags they brought with them off his back.

“Please hang in there, there must be some recovery herbs in here.”

He searched frantically through the bags and pulled out a packet of medicinal herbs. Looking at the handful of herbs, Max’s eyes softened and she removed the wrinkled clothing she was pressing against her nose to stop the bleeding.

After roughly wiping the blood from her face, Max opened her mouth and Yurixion crumbled the dried plants into her mouth. Max chewed the bitter herbs and forced herself to swallow them, yet the action caused an inexplicable stinging sensation in her chest.

Unable to suppress the nausea caused by the pain, Max hunched over and vomited the nasty herbs next to her.

“M’lady!”

The pain in her ribs, which was already painful, throbbed even more excruciatingly when she threw up and engulfed her. Yulysion wept helplessly seeing her in such a disastrous state.

“I’m s-sorry m’lady, I was useless...”

“This won’t do. We’ll risk being found by the monsters, but we must make a fire. Her body is dropping temperature. I think her mana depletion is causing her to get worse.”

“I-I’ll make the fire!”

“No, you must keep watch. You are more perceptive than I am.”

Max wiped the vomit from her mouth as she dazedly listened to the boys’ conversation. Garrow wrapped her body with the cloak that he had placed on the floor to keep her warm and went to collect firewood.

Yulysion also quickly removed his own cloak and leaned down to wrap it around her. Then, his body suddenly stiffened. Garrow stared, frozen in fear at the possibility that something else had gone wrong.

“What is it?”

“Blood...”

Max wondered if her nose was bleeding again and struggled to open her eyes. The bluish forest which darkness is slowly descending upon were dizzyingly out of focus in her eyes. It was just like being submerged in dark waters.

“Please excuse my actions for a moment.”

Garrow walked over to her side and knelt. Yulysion was still frozen in shock as he unwrapped the cloak around her body. Max twitched weakly, only her eyelids moving.

When the young man unwrapped her robe, he gasped and quickly wrapped her up again. Then, he mounted her on his back and exclaimed.

“We must take her to a healer right now. She’s bleeding out too much!”

“I-I’ll take her!”

“I’m faster on mountain roads. Draw your sword and watch my back!”

Garrow began running down the uneven slope at terrifying speed. Every time his foot crushed the ground and they jerked, Max’s chest throbbed painfully as if she had just been kicked by a horse, but she no longer had the strength to even express her pain.

Max drooped against the young man’s back like a rag doll, concentrating all her attention on her heavy breathing. Everything around her felt as if it was going further and further away from her; she could no longer tell if her eyes were open or closed.

“Shit! A troll has seen us!”

Max heard Yulysion’s urgent screams in the blurred background, and her eyelids trembled. Then, the sound of a terrifying growl resounded in the dark, chasing after them fiercely. Soon, it was followed by the heavy sound of steel weapons clanging.

“Keep running!”

Yulysion yelled fiercely. His screams and the roaring of the monster continued as well as the sound of steel clanging. She broke in cold sweats as she felt the pounding of heavy steps on the ground. Garrow jumped down the steep incline like he was plummeting to dodge the monster who was chasing them. At the pressure of their situation, Max lost her consciousness momentarily.

She was almost completely engulfed in her unconsciousness that she barely managed to open her eyes when she felt someone touch her face. Their surroundings are now completely veiled in darkness that there was no seeing even an inch ahead. She then heard Yulysion’s breathless voice.

“Please hold on to your senses. If you lose your consciousness, your body’s temperature will drop even more.”

He said in an urgent voice as he wrapped a cloak around her body. His arm that was wrapped tightly around her side hurt like she was about to die but she didn’t utter a complain and merely nodded her head.

The boy was taking refuge behind a rock to catch his breath, holding her in his arms and trying everything to warm her with the heat of his body. When he realized that her consciousness had somewhat returned, they began to flee down the mountain again.

Max was in and out of consciousness the entire way. It felt like an eternity had passed by her as the boys continued weaving through the pitch-black forest. The rhythm of their footsteps, panting breaths, and the chill in her bones was all that she could sense.

They didn’t go far away from Ethylene but the journey back felt endless. As she pondered on that thought, she sensed a light coming from a distance. She felt Yulysion let out a deep sigh of relief from his chest.

“The cavalry has returned! They must have gotten the message and came back in a hurry!”

Yulysion leaped out of the trees and yelled to the top of his longs.

“A troll is chasing us! Please protect us.”

“Are you deserters?”

The voice that questioned them was so calm and composed that it did not suit their dire situation. Max thought it sounded familiar, but she couldn’t recall whose it was. With Max still on his back, Yulysion ran in front of the troops and knelt on one knee.

“We are the apprentices of the Remdragon Knights. Lady Calypse sustained serious injuries while traversing the mountains. Please, help us!”

Max heard Garrow’s desperate pleas and forced herself to open her eyes, just barely. The blurred image of knights on their horses holding torches on one hand came into view. The leading knight descended from his steed and approached them, his armor rattling with each step.

“We are about to head to battle. I can only cast a mere first aid healing.”

“Please, cast it on her! The lady has lost so much blood.”

“... Fine. I’ll cast my divine healing.”

The man knelt in front of her and soon, Max felt that familiar healing energy coursing through her body, returning some of her lost strength.

Her eyes finally managed to focus slightly, and she saw a cold face, with its icy intensity and a silvery light surrounding him. Max caught a glimpse of the knight’s green eyes and tan hair, and realized it was the Commander of the Holy Knights. She slowly closed her eyes as a sense of relief ran through her entire body.

If this man is here, that meant that the allied forces had returned sooner than anticipated.

They will live. Unable to fight the intense fatigue caused by her pain, Max released the last chain of consciousness she had been holding and allowed herself to be swallowed into the abyss of sleep.

*** ***

She heard a mournful weeping echoing in her ears. Max slowly lifted her heavy eyelids open. She was met with confusion as the sand-colored ceiling of the barracks came hazily into view. Perhaps, everything that had occurred was a nightmare. She couldn’t come to her senses and blinked her stiff eyes, then the sound of crying grew even louder.

Max let out a sigh and turned her head. At the foot of the bed was a woman clad in black, weeping grievously on her knees as she clutched her loose hair. Max immediately burst into a scream at the frightening sight in front of her. Then, the woman’s figure crumbled into black ashes.

“What happened?!”

Max’s eyes turned to the man who had just burst into the barracks in surprise. It was Elliot Caron who went to the battle front with Riftan. The knight stood tall in his knight’s uniform as he looked at her in utter shock, then ran out of the barracks as fast as he entered.

“Wizard! Lady Calypse is awake!”

Max sighed and her shoulders shrugged along with her breath. Realizing that she did not feel any pain, she turned to look at her shoulder. Her arm, which was hideously displaced earlier, appeared completely fine.

She touched her shoulder carefully. It was like it had been a lie that it was dislocated. Did someone fix it? Just when she was pondering, Ruth came rushing into the barrack.

“You’re finally awake. How are you feeling?”

When she saw his face, the tension on her shoulders completely went away. From the looks of things, she was sure she was back to Ethylene. A sigh escaped her mouth, but her throat was so dry that no sound came out when she tried to speak.

Realizing this, Ruth walked over to the bed and brought a glass of water to her lips.

Max sat up a bit and took a sip of water. The cool liquid slid down her throat and into her empty stomach, gradually clearing her consciousness coming back little by little.

She turned and looked at Ruth and Elliot with shaky eyes and opened her mouth. Her voice was thin and weak.

“The mo-monsters... what...”

“Thanks to the lady who brought down the rock from the cliff, it sealed the entrance and everyone survived safely. The monsters trapped between the rock and the castle fates were subdued by the Ethylene’s forces. The remaining monsters that survived the landslide were repelled by the Allied Forces that arrived. All the other monsters are being fiercely hunted down by the Allied Forces as well.”

Ruth put the water down next to the table and pulled up a chair to sit next to her. For some reason, despite the castle being safely defended, Ruth’s complexion paled and this made Max get anxious. Max belatedly recalled the banshee crying at the foot of her bed a while ago and her spine chilled.

“Wa-was someone...hurt? Yulysion...and Ga-Garrow...where...”

“They are both safe. They got hurt fighting monsters but have since recovered.” Ruth replied in a calm tone.

“We were lucky. The Holy Knights were the first to receive the message and their cavalry sped back in a hurry.”

“Ri-Riftan...”

Ruth’s face instantly hardened at the mention of that name. He covered and rubbed his mouth and spoke like he was hesitant and troubled.

“The Remdragon Knights who were out at the front also returned immediately. The moment Lord Calypse arrived, he ran straight to you. Don’t you remember?”

Max searched through her darkened memories but as if clouded by mist, her head throbbed but nothing came to mind. She shook her head slowly and Ruth sighed.

“Just as I expected. The lady was unconscious for a whole week. When you arrived, you had one foot in the grave. You suffered from two broken ribs, your whole body was covered in bruises and your left shoulder was completely dislocated, and your mana was completely depleted... “

As he spoke, Max noticed that Ruth grew more and more gloomy, and suddenly he stopped speaking. He rubbed his forehead roughly and spoke in a low voice.

“If it had been even a moment late, it would have been a huge disaster. Lord Calypse had completely gone half-insane.”

“I’m so-sorry....I just...”

Max turned blue and weak at the thought. Just imagining Riftan’s reaction to her maimed state made her heart clench painfully. Seeing her ashen face, Ruth shook his head weakly.

“I am not blaming you. If the lady did not break the rock from the cliff, the remaining people in Ethylene Castle would have been completely slaughtered by now. Rather, I should be extending my thanks.”

But contrary to his words, his expression was distorted by anguish. Ruth seemed like he had more to say as he looked at her, but he just sighed and shook his head.

“I think that’s more than enough conversation for someone who has just gained consciousness. I will go and prepare some porridge for you, don’t think about anything and get more rest. I’ve been casting healing and recovery magic on you endlessly but since you haven’t been able to eat anything in a week, you won’t have much strength.”

“Where... is Ri-Riftan now...”

Ruth’s shoulders tensed at her question. He turned and looked at her with a dark, sunken gaze and answered her dryly.

“He went to attend a meeting for a while. He’ll be back soon.”

Max swallowed dryly. She was afraid of how he would react.

Out of habit, she rummaged in her pocket for the coin Riftan had left her, but soon realized that someone had changed her into new clothes. Her fingers fiddled anxiously.

Ruth looked at her worried expression and muttered under his breath.

“I’ve known Lord Calypse for a long time, all those years, I have never seen him lose himself like this. He was completely out of his mind.”

Note – LF: I would sell my soul twice and over to know Riftan’s POV when he saw Maxi half-dead. Please, I hope the author would release it as something like a special chapter ☹