IPDT 11

In any case, completely taken in by those words, I set up a barrier that even my own magic couldn’t pass through. …Not knowing I would regret it like this now.

It felt like deep sighs were about to burst out of me, but I didn’t want to show any signs of weakness in front of a tired Yul. I deliberately spoke in a more cheerful voice.

“Yul, just hang in there a little longer. We’re almost there! Once we get to the elf village, we’ll receive generous treatment. You’re my precious human, so I’ll tell them to treat you well too.”

“…Elf?”

Yul asked back as if he had heard a word he didn’t know the meaning of. Huh? He doesn’t know what an elf is? I was about to touch my ear to explain that they were a ‘race with pointed ears and sparkling hair,’ when I heard a phew sound from somewhere.

The sound of an arrow tearing through the air.

Thwack!

I knocked the arrow away with the back of my hand. The arrow, which had been flying at a frightening speed, changed its trajectory and plunged into the ground. The shaft of the arrow quivered.

Oh, this is an elf arrow…

The next moment, arrows flew in from all directions. It seemed like I would become a porcupine if I were hit head-on by those. Not just me, but Yul too!

As my thoughts reached that point, I became frantic. I hastily unfolded the cloak I was wearing and covered Yul’s head like an umbrella. Thud thud thud! The arrows struck the cloak and bounced off, thrown to the ground.

“…They dare to shoot an arrow at me?”

The elder had clearly told me. That the elves would always welcome and be subservient to the great Balancer. But what kind of slave points an arrowhead at their master? Anger began to boil inside me. It was around the time I was thinking that I should grab an elf right now and make an example of them.

“Ah.”

I saw Yul’s surprised face. Yul seemed terrified as he looked at the rain of arrows that formed a fence around us. My heart ached. I quickly grabbed his cheeks and turned his face toward me.

“Yul, don’t be scared. This is no big deal. It doesn’t even hurt if I get hit a little. But it’ll hurt if you get hit, so I’ll protect you.”

To have frightened Yul. It was a greater sin than shooting an arrow at me. It seemed that grabbing one to make an example of them wouldn’t be enough. Should I burn down the entire forest near the village? Would that make them realize the sin they’ve committed? As I was seriously contemplating the level of punishment, another arrow flew by.

“Ouch.”

By the time I noticed the arrow’s presence, it was already too late. The sharp arrowhead was lodged in my shoulder. Ugh, it does sting a bit. I sighed and was about to break the arrow shaft, but Yul’s hand reached my wound first.

Yul was examining my shoulder with a pained expression. It was the first time I’d seen his face so contorted, but even that looked beautiful. For a moment, I forgot the situation and stared up at Yul blankly. Because of that, I heard the sound of an arrow flying toward us too late.

“Ugh!”

I belatedly deflected the arrow’s trajectory, but the arrowhead grazed Yul’s forearm as it passed. Blood began to flow from the sharply torn wound. Yul clutched his forearm and staggered.

“Yul!”

I supported Yul’s body as he was about to fall. The metallic smell of blood, which had suddenly drawn closer, stimulated my sense of smell.

At that moment, I felt an unbearable urge. I wanted to annihilate everything here. How dare they leave a scratch on my human. Yul was a joy I had finally encountered after countless eons.

Rumble! As I drew upon my power, the ground shook. The forest trembled at the flow of razor-sharp blue mana. The elves who had been hiding in the trees lost their balance and fell to the ground. There were about twenty of them.

Did they challenge me with just this many? As I extended my hand, the scattered elves gathered together like sheaves of straw tied with a rope.

I wanted to kill them myself, but that would disrupt the law of causality. Frowning, I lightly stomped my foot.

Crack, crack. The fissure in the ground that began at my feet grew uncontrollably larger. The ground, with its maw wide open like an abyss, looked as if it could easily swallow twenty elves. I spread my hands and covered Yul’s ears. He must have been scared, and I didn’t want to show him anything more gruesome.

“Please stop for a moment!”

It was almost all over. But who was interfering with me now? I turned my head to look in the direction the voice came from. A handsome blond man, an elf with long, flowing hair, knelt before me, having run over in a hurry. It was a familiar face.

“…Lauren.”

“I greet the great Balancer of the world.”

‘Lauren’ was of the same bloodline as the elder who had made a bold deal with me. The last time I saw him, I thought he was a child, but when did he get so big? A dispassionate thought passed through my mind.

“Lauren, those things shot an arrow at me. Thanks to that, my precious human was injured. I am very angry right now.”

“They are still young elves. It was an act born of the reckless courage of new members of the self-defense force wanting to protect the village, so I ask for your forgiveness…”

“Should I gouge out their eyes?”

The elves’ faces turned pale.

“It would be quite a sight for scouts to have no eyes.”

Lauren’s pale lips parted. The words about gouging out the scouts’ eyes seemed to have been quite a shock.

“They made a mistake because they are young and foolish. Please have mercy…!”

“Seek mercy from the gods. If you interfere with me further, it won’t end with just twenty. You wouldn’t want the entire elf race to become blind, would you, Lauren?”

Lauren’s blue eyes wavered. His straight-lined mouth clamped shut tightly. I watched Lauren quietly. A face calculating the loss of twenty elves against the loss of the entire village. He was just wasting time, even though he would eventually give up on the twenty.

Giving Lauren any more time was meaningless. As I gathered my mana, the elves clutched their eyes and screamed. Soon, their eyeballs would burst like soft fruit pulp. I heard Lauren suck in a breath.

“Just once, please reconsider just once. They are elves who have never even seen the Balancer’s face.”

Lauren clinging to my leg was annoying, so I was about to kick him away when a strange feeling came over me.

He said they are elves who have never even seen my face? I momentarily stopped the flow of mana. The screaming elves collapsed to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

“Lauren, when was the last time I came to the elf village?”

“1500 years ago.”

“And the first time I met you?”

“3000 years ago.”

If I met Lauren 3000 years ago, and I visited the elf village 1500 years ago…

“Then they’re younger than you? You’re saying they’re not even fifteen hundred years old?”

“That is correct…”

Lauren answered in a heavy voice. It seemed he had already half given up on the twenty elves. Well, the me of 3000 years ago would have just buried them in the ground regardless of what Lauren babbled on about and said, ‘They’ve become fertilizer for future generations.’ But the current me was not such a violent dragon.

Considering the average lifespan of elves is 5000 years, elves who were not even fifteen hundred years old could be seen as closer to adolescents than young adults. Thinking of it that way made me feel a bit concerned.

Since Yul, who was leaning on my shoulder, was also a human going through adolescence, I knew that living beings around this age tend to have high levels of aggression, don’t they? If they shot an arrow at me because of the reckless aggression of adolescence, then I could understand it a little. Though it was still infuriating.

“Alright. For your sake, Lauren, I’ll make it as if my plan to punish them never happened.”

“Ah.”

“However! I will only forgive you all after my injured human is healed. Your race is good at healing, so you’ll have to heal my human.”

“Yes. I will do so.”

Then Lauren tried to touch Yul. I hurriedly stopped Lauren.

“Ah, don’t touch him!”

“Yes? Not to touch him…”

“He bites.”

“Pardon?”

Lauren blinked with a face that showed he didn’t understand at all. I hugged Yul, who only allowed me to touch him, tightly and explained a bit more kindly.

“He bites. Nom.”

“I cannot heal him if I cannot touch his body.”

Lauren said, looking troubled. I had shown mercy, and he dared to talk back. I glared at Lauren with dagger-like eyes.

“That’s for you to figure out. My human was injured because of you!”

“Forgive my impertinence… but how about the Balancer heals him?”

“Me?”

“First, since the human is injured… I would like to continue our conversation in the lodgings prepared in the village.”

Yul was breaking out in a cold sweat. A weak human suffers this much just from having their flesh torn by an arrow. I didn’t feel good. If I could, I would want to turn back time to before Yul was injured. But since I couldn’t, we went into the lodgings that Lauren had prepared.

Lauren’s suggestion for me to try healing him myself was not a joke. Lauren really gave me a medicinal herb for treating wounds and even told me the method. He said to chew the leaves, which looked like thorny vines, and cover the wound with them, which was not a difficult task for the great me.

Yul was lying on the bed. The bleeding had barely stopped, but his face was pale and looked pained. I crouched down in front of the bed and stroked Yul’s forehead. He, who had his black eyes faintly open, closed them like a cat rubbing its head.

“Yul, does it hurt a lot…?”

When I asked carefully, Yul opened his eyes. Yul, who was making eye contact with me, shook his head slightly. Anyone could see he was in pain, but he was being stubborn. Just as I was about to scold him, Yul closed his eyes weakly. I felt my heart drop. I quickly stuffed the medicinal herb into my mouth.

As I chewed the herb, chew chew, it had a bitter and astringent taste. On top of that, the grass was coarse and felt like it was scratching the inside of my mouth. Ugh, it was a truly unpleasant sensation. I wanted to spit it out immediately, but I barely managed to endure by looking at Yul’s face. Yul still had his eyes closed.

After chewing for a long time, I placed the spat-out herb on Yul’s wound. Yul frowned, as if it stung. What am I supposed to do if it hurts more when I applied it to stop the pain? I fidgeted restlessly and then let out deep sighs. A whimpering sound escaped me out of frustration.

“What am I going to do if it hurts…”

Yul opened his eyes narrowly and looked at me. Seeing Yul unable to sleep due to his injury, a wave of guilt washed over me. I had boasted that I would protect him… but I couldn’t even properly block a single arrow and let Yul get hurt. Out of gloominess, I needlessly tore at the bedding, and Yul reached out his hand.

“…Huh?”

Yul stroked my cheek with his large hand. Just like a puppy or a cat licking its owner’s cheek. I blinked blankly and then asked without realizing it.

“Are you comforting me?”

Yul, who had his eyes open languidly, dropped his hand without an answer. Ah. Missing the feeling of his touch as it fell away, I quickly snatched Yul’s hand. When I placed it on my cheek again, his fingertips trembled slightly. I paid it no mind and leaned my cheek against his large hand.

“Your hand is warm, so it feels good.”

“…”

Yul suddenly averted his gaze from mine. Why is he suddenly acting like that? When I bent down further to meet Yul’s eye level, this time he squeezed his eyes shut. Does he want to sleep? Well, he was injured and had been through a lot of shock, so he was bound to be sleepy.

“Yul, this time, I’ll really, really stay here and guard you so you don’t get hurt. So if you’re sleepy, you can sleep without worrying.”

As I whispered softly into his ear, Yul’s hand tensed up. I was a bit flustered when my cheek was suddenly grabbed in a handful, but it wasn’t like he was biting me, so this much was fine.

I wonder how long I had been keeping watch like that. Soon, Yul’s breathing evened out. He had fallen into a deep sleep. Phew, I let out a long sigh and checked the area around Yul’s wound again. It wasn’t severe, but it seemed like we would need to monitor it for a few days.

“Looks like we’ll have to stay here for a bit.”

We should stay here until Yul’s wound is fully healed. It won’t be too late to leave after he’s all better.