HPV 15

It was a bit of a crisis, but that one line was enough to smooth things over.

“I’ve never seen bread dough before… Ahem.”

Come to think of it, Yurichen was the same. Though the circumstances were quite different.

While others were still going through their layperson phase, Yurichen was already a priest. By the time his peers were being ordained, he was already a high priest presiding over the ceremonies. A kind of noble and man of power, he didn’t even know that freshly harvested carrots came with dirt still on them. He’d mistaken raw, unbaked dough for actual bread and gone around handing it out.

‘Someone like that… If I say it like this, he’ll just assume I’m about the same.’

Still, it had been really delicious. More than feeling embarrassed about enjoying what everyone else threw away, I was more disappointed that I wouldn’t get to eat it again. Hiding my true feelings, I handed the half-bitten raw dough—marked with the shape of my teeth—back to Yurichen.

“So then, how are we going to eat?”

Yurichen’s face stiffened immediately. Unfortunately, he hadn’t studied what to actually do with raw dough.

From what we’d heard, bread was supposed to be baked in a special oven shaped like a cave, where the heat spreads evenly. But all we had here was a campfire.

Paronai stepped up. He rolled the dough into a thin, wide circle. After finding a flat stone, he spread oil on it, placed it over the fire, and baked it until it turned into a crispy flatbread.

“……”

I ate this batch of bread just as eagerly. Yurichen, apparently still in shock, was dazed and barely ate. Even though the dough wasn’t our only food supply, and the incident was just a small mishap, it seemed he couldn’t forgive his own mistake.

After filling our bellies and erasing traces of the campfire, we walked the now dim path.

Just as the sun was setting, we reached a village. Aside from the few minutes Yurichen had delayed us with the bread incident, it was right on his schedule.

It was a quiet, small village. Smoke curled from every chimney, making it seem like the houses were reaching hazy hands toward the sky. While I stretched my neck from atop Banwes’s back to look around, Penzey and Paronai busied themselves. They asked around and found the cleanest inn in the village.

“Six people. Two or three rooms.”

Penzey spoke with the innkeeper. Naturally, his count included Bzhan.

Paronai scanned the area sharply, worried that arrows might fly even into the seemingly innocent inn. Thankfully, everything around was calm.

“Two room keys. Each room has three beds.”

“Here’s the money. Bring hot water for the number of people first, then dinner.”

“Understood.”

Yurichen stepped forward. Since we were among ordinary people, he had his veil on again.

“If you have any books on types or history of bread, may I borrow one for the day?”

“Excuse me? We only have the ledger.”

“You mean you don’t read a single book of general knowledge?”

Paronai quickly apologized and dragged Yurichen away, covering his mouth. Yurichen deftly brushed off Paronai’s hand and straightened his robes.

“Sigh…”

I let out an exhausted breath without realizing it. Even though I’d spent most of the journey riding, my legs were trembling and my feet were full of blisters.

“Ria, come to our room. You’re sharing with us, right?”

Penzey subtly tried to get me to room with him. The moment he threw an arm around my shoulder, I barely managed to stifle a yelp. His added weight made my legs scream.

Yurichen took one room key for himself, zapped Penzey with divine power, and handed the other key to me. Then he gestured toward Banwes. That was the end of room assignments.

Bzhan, who was using his technique to hide even in this narrow hallway, would surely follow me.

While resting in the room, the inn staff brought hot water. I let out a groan as I soaked my legs in it. Carefully, I massaged my swollen feet in secret.

I finished bathing first and watched Banwes wash up.

Banwes sat on the floor shirtless. He didn’t have much body hair to manage, but he did shave regularly—a habit he’d developed since wearing monster leather.

He pulled out a thin, sharp stone from inside his clothes. Like peeling a rind, he scraped it along his rugged, well-developed jawline.

I stared in disbelief for a while.

“What kind of man shaves like that?”

Banwes glared at me menacingly as I reached out without hesitation. I placed my hand on his jaw and held up the razor from the bath shelf.

“Use this. And don’t do it on dry skin. Lather with soap first.”

“Not necessary. If I needed to fuss over something so trivial, I wouldn’t have bothered shaving in the first place.”

He gently pushed my hand away. As he went to continue shaving with the stone, the dirt and dust on it started really bothering me. So I forcefully grabbed his wrist and carefully brought the razor to his face.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

All of the man’s movements came to a halt. It was like a giant rock had just dropped in front of us.

And then, an overwhelming hostility poured out.

“I said clearly. I don’t need it.”

His red eyes swirled like blood vessels. A chill ran down my spine at Banwes’s low voice.

“Do you not realize how filthy that stone is?”

“So I’m ignorant like this rock, and you’re refined like that razor—how nice for you. Are you calling me dirty? Who do you think you are—”

“Don’t twist my words!”

I couldn’t understand why Banwes was picking a fight like a child. Did he really hate me that much? All of a sudden? If he did, wouldn’t he just ignore me like normal?

Banwes didn’t press his palm to my arm, just gently pushed with a single finger in what barely counted as resistance. But even that careful gesture meant nothing—I was too weak. The razor slipped from my hand, and a bead of blood flew as I cut myself.

Right then, a piece of cloth fluttered down from above and wrapped around my hand—someone had grabbed it.

Bzhan, the boy in fluttering blue robes like an elf. To me, it felt like he’d descended straight from the sky. He broke his concealment and appeared, staring at the blood welling up on my finger.

Then immediately shot Banwes a death glare.

‘Oh no. This is bad.’

Banwes and Bzhan were supposed to be relatively friendly. Don’t they both hate humans? And now, because of something I did again, our group was at risk of falling apart!

I didn’t want to back down, but… for the sake of the story, I spoke.

“Listen… this wasn’t just Banwes’s fault. I forced him to do something he didn’t want to do.”

I opened my palm and stared at the cut.

A soft blue light pooled over the injured fingertip like a round drop of water. The warm, glowing bead healed the red line in a flash, leaving my finger clean and unblemished.

‘I can use the spirit’s power like this only because Banwes helped me with the demon issue…’

Because of his long bangs, I couldn’t clearly see Bzhan’s eyes. Still, it was a relief he let go of my hand and vanished from sight again.

“We’ll be heading out now. You bathe on your own, okay?”

I gave Bzhan a heads-up and walked out with Banwes, keeping a five-step distance between us. I could feel his gaze stabbing into my back as I spoke.

“You don’t have to thank me for defending you. I still owe you. Isn’t that right?”

He didn’t respond, but I had the distinct feeling his eyes were still on my injured hand.

—

From the opposite bed came a soft, delicate breath, like that of a fragile skylark. It brushed against Banwes’s sensitive ears.

He reluctantly raised his body.

In the dark, a long, muscular arm reached across the gap between the two beds. His rough palm hovered over Riarun’s face. He checked whether he was sound asleep, or like the night before, barely hanging on.

Annoying. Tiresome. But he couldn’t take his eyes off him.

‘If I’m a monster’s child… then you must be one of the faithful.’

Even someone this beautiful ends up fallen, just like me.

While Banwes was quietly savoring the slight satisfaction of his old rage being eased, he failed to notice the pang of sorrow sprouting deep within the soil of his heart.

There was one thing that caught his attention: the way Riarun slept.

Whenever he fell asleep, the young human curled himself into a ball. Like a fragile animal instinctively hiding from danger—a posture of defense even in sleep.

As if… he had lived his whole life desperately protecting himself from something.