Under the Oak Tree

Chapter 108

Max walked up to Ruth with her eyes widened, looking at his face. He looked very pale and she wasn’t sure if it was because of exhaustion from continuously exerting himself using healing magic.

Ruth sighed in exhaustion and crouched down next to a guard carefully lifting the man’s broken arm where the bone was poking out through the skin.

“Can you grab hold of his shoulders, my Lady?”

Max took a look at the face of the unconscious guard for a moment and then raised both of her hands to his shoulders. Then, Ruth pulled on the broken arm and realigned the bone.

Immediately, the guard’s eyes opened, he let out a scream and twisted his body. Max almost fell to the floor by his power.

“Please hold on tight!”

She could barely keep her balance and pressed hard on the guard’s body. After Ruth fixed his arm straight, he covered the open wound which was trickling blood with his hands. Then a white light wrapped around the injury.

Max stared at the sight with her eyes wide. The healing magic she remembers felt rather cold and icy. After being whipped by her father till her skin was tattered, if she were to receive treatment from the cleric, she always remembered feeling like a block of ice was being rubbed on her skin.

But the light surrounding the guard now looked warm and soft, like the spring sun. Max secretly touched the light. She felt the warm heat that seemed to melt the tips of her fingers, just as she touched the tree next to the pavilion the other day.

“The claws and teeth of a werewolf are poisonous. Please give him this antidote when he regains consciousness. No.... mix it first with boiling water and then have him drink it.”

Max shook off the strange feeling she was having and hurried up to get up.

“I-l’ll g-go and boil w-wa-ter in the p-pot right away.”

“Thank you, my Lady.”

Ruth lay resting on the edge of the makeshift bed of piled-up straws with a fatigued look and caught his breath. It seems that the healing magic consumed a lot of energy.

During his break, Max left the barracks and asked the maid to brew medicinal tea and bring it to them. She was heading to the barracks with firewood for the brazier, and suddenly saw the guards and knights gathered in the open space burning the corpses of werewolves.

Max froze at the terrifying scene. As the smell of burning meat touched her nose, nausea that she was just barely holding back erupted in her throat.

Max put down the firewood and quickly jumped into the woods. Her inside was beating violently. She squatted on a tree stump and vomited water. Tears flowed down her red cheeks.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She was gasping for breath when a low voice came from a distance.

She turned her head in surprise. A tall young knight with light brown hair stood a few steps away from her. Looking at Max’s face, his eyes widened.

“What is your ladyship doing in a place like this...?”

He muttered that he did not know that the Lord’s wife had come with them with a stunned look.

Max was ashamed at being caught looking so unseemly and quirky, and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her robe.

“I wa-was in the m-middle of fe-fetching firewood when...”

“Your Ladyship doesn’t have to come out here. Please return to the castle. I’ll escort you.”

Without waiting for her reply, he churned around and began calling the guards. Max chased after him, flustered.

“I-I’m fine. Ple-please don’t m-mind me...”

“How could I pay no attention to the captain’s wife wandering around? Please don’t push yourself unnecessarily and return. Hey! Bring the carriage. Escort Lady Calypse back to the castle!” He completely ignored her and ordered the guards.

In no time, her temper burned with his attitude. She rounded him up with a big step and stood in front of him, blocking his way. The knight stopped in surprise.

Although Max was frightened and trembled in fear, she deliberately stared at him and gathered up what little dignity she had.

“I-It is natural for the L-lord’s wife.. to come and of-offer her help w-when a p-problem oc-occurs in the barracks! I-I... said I w-would do my b-best to fulfill my d-duty. So... with w-what r-rights do you c-claim that my e-effforts are... un-unnecessary?

She wanted to sound harsh, but her tongue was mixed up more than usual and her voice kept failing her. She bit her lip. She was so embarrassed that she couldn’t stand it. Her ears turned pink, her eyes fell in all directions and finally she dropped her head.

“P-please, don’t mind m-me... a-and keep doing your own w-work.”

Then, before he could do anything, she gathered the firewood again and ran to the barracks. Her heart was beating faster. She threw firewood onto the dwindling fire and looked at the door again anxiously.

Will they call her a stuck-up stutterer? Nevermind. What was it to her? The knights hated her anyway. Nothing would change because they hated her a little more. Max’s head drooped bluntly, she piled up the rest of the firewood by the fire and headed over for Ruth.

“Ru-ruth... how is h-his c-condition?”

Ruth, who was looking at the woodcutter’s broken ankle, looked up and sighed at her worried tone. At a glance it was obvious that he was very tired.

“I’ve exhausted all my magical power, so I don’t think I can use magic for half a day or so.I have already treated patients in the most serious condition, but we can’t just wait for my magic to recover to treat the rest of the patients. We will have to treat them with what we can do with our hands.”