MTM 68

Leon’s sudden, ridiculous shout startled him for a moment, but he quickly realized why. It was because of the fragrant oil he had rubbed all over his body the night before. The golden powder mixed into the oil made his black slime body shine like the stars in the night sky.

“It’s an oasis! Look! I told you there was one!”

Meanwhile, Allen started jumping up and down when he saw the water rising on the ground. With a bright, childlike smile, he lay flat on the floor and began waving his arms and legs, pretending to swim on the sand. The sight was absurd enough to make anyone speechless.

‘Those two… are hopeless.’

Leon and Allen were still not in their right minds. But at least their attention had wandered to something harmless.

‘Then where’s Zed…?’

Harto finally looked for Zed. Unlike the two who were making a commotion, Zed stood still, head lifted, staring blankly ahead as rain fell over him. The sight made Harto’s chest tighten.

“…Zed?”

Could something else have gone wrong? Harto called out carefully. Zed turned his gaze toward him and spoke. His tone sounded familiar but slightly different.

“Monster.”

Harto froze. It was the first time since their first meeting that Zed had called him that. But compared to Leon and Allen, Zed seemed calm, which was a relief.

‘He’s come to his senses, right…?’

Even while thinking that, he still felt uncomfortable, and Harto didn’t dare step closer. Zed was the one who moved first. He slowly approached and reached out to touch the wall of Harto’s body.

“You’re… hurt.”

Zed gently touched the spot he had been punching and pinching only moments before.

“Huh…”

The saying “giving pain and then medicine” crossed Harto’s mind, but it wasn’t the time for jokes. What unsettled him more was how unfamiliar Zed felt right now.

While Harto stood stiffly, the spot where Zed’s hand touched began to glow. Zed was using his ability.

‘Is he trying to see something? Does he want to see inside me…?’

Fear gripped Harto. Maybe Zed wanted to know his true identity. He’d never worried about that before, but the words Zed had said inside the carriage flashed in his mind.

‘Sometimes you feel like you came from another world.’

And now Zed had seen that Harto could use more than fire. He had revealed his other ability, and that made it even more likely that Zed was curious about him.

“Z-Zed…! Wait! Wait, don’t…”

Before Harto could finish, Zed spoke.

“This is…”

Zed wasn’t trying to read anything from him. His eyes were open, not closed like when using his powers. Instead, Harto felt warmth spreading through his body.

‘Holy power…? Is this what Leon mentioned? It doesn’t feel unfamiliar. It’s warm, gentle… comforting…’

He felt that warmth flow deeper inside him. Then Zed pulled his hand away. Harto didn’t even have time to be surprised before he saw something in Zed’s palm, something he’d seen many times before. The white medicine.

“Don’t tell me… you made that?”

When Harto blinked several times and asked, Zed nodded silently. His expression looked proud.

“Elixir.”

“E-Elixir?!”

Harto’s eyes widened in shock. The “elixir” that existed only in fantasy novels, the divine medicine said to heal every wound and illness in the world. It wasn’t just that having one was extraordinary, but that Zed could make one himself. It was shocking.

Looking back, every medicine Zed had ever given him had worked like a miracle. It healed wounds that went through flesh and bone without leaving scars, and it cured infected sores completely.

Now that he thought about it, it made sense. Those medicines had always been too perfect.

‘But how could Zed make an elixir…?’

For a brief moment, Ares Carseon’s name crossed his mind, but Harto quickly pushed it away.

While confusion clouded Harto’s head, Zed’s golden eyes were clearer than ever. His appearance was the same as always, but his was pure, almost childlike.

‘Leon and Allen also looked like children… then maybe…’

Sssk, ssshhh–.

Just then, Harto felt movement outside the barrier. Whatever had been quiet before was starting to move again. He couldn’t delay any longer. He couldn’t let the others fall into danger.

Harto leaned slightly toward Zed.

“Hey, Zed, um…”

Zed lifted his head. His clear, bright eyes shone with a beauty that could captivate anyone. Harto steadied himself, glancing briefly toward Leon and Allen.

“About the elixir… do you think it’s all right to give it to the others who need it?”

“Who?”

“I mean Allen and Leon. The two of them seem very sick right now. I think they’ll get better if they each take an elixir, or even half of one.”

Zed’s gaze turned toward Leon and Allen. Leon was jumping up and down, trying to grab the shining golden stars on Harto’s body. Allen was dunking his head in the water over and over and lifting it again with a silly grin.

Zed’s expression froze at the sight. He looked very displeased.

“Z-Zed…?”

Harto waited nervously for Zed’s answer.

“Monster.”

“Huh…?”

Zed again called Harto by that name instead of using his own.

“If you give that thing to those idiots, what will you give me in return?”

“Huh…?”

Harto could only repeat the same reaction. It was already strange enough that Zed spoke of Allen and Leon as if they were strangers, and it became even more confusing when he demanded something in return.

“What can you give me…? Well… I… Ah! I can give you water!”

In his panic, Harto blurted out anything and filled a bowl made from his tentacles with water. It was clearer and purer than ever before.

“……”

But Zed didn’t even look at the water Harto had made. That was natural. Unlike an elixir, water could be found anywhere except in the desert. The same would apply to soil or fire.

A different kind of anxiety began to rise in Harto.

“I… I don’t know what I can give you…”

Harto closed his eyes and retraced all the time he had spent with Zed. Had Zed ever asked him for something before? Was there ever anything he needed? No matter how much he thought about it, Harto realized he had only ever received from Zed, never given anything. Money, clothes, shoes, Zed had taken care of all of it.

Sudden shame and guilt filled him. He felt like someone shameless, someone who only wanted things and never gave, someone who only followed Zed around.

‘Right. This time, I’ll decide what I can give and I’ll give it.’

Harto quickly made up his mind and spoke to Zed.

“Zed, I really don’t know… What do you want me to give you? If it’s something I can give, I’ll give you anything.”

Zed smiled as if he had been waiting for those words.

“I…”

The moment Zed opened his mouth..

“……!”

Ssshhh

Without warning, a long green vine climbed up the wall of Harto’s body. While Harto focused on shaking off the sting, another vine slipped through a crack in the ground and shot toward Zed.

“No!”

Harto used all his strength to form a bundle of tentacles and grabbed the vine.

Whoosh!

He focused on blocking each of the vines one by one, then glanced toward Zed and the others. He had to make sure they didn’t get hurt.

Harto’s mind raced. Should he build another wall inside this space, or destroy the whole barrier and go outside with the unknown creature?

“Even if it’s uncomfortable, just bear with it!”

He decided quickly. Harto used sand and water to wrap the three of them in cocoons. He left only small holes made of thin tentacles so they could breathe.

Thud, crack!

When the vines couldn’t pierce the hardened sand cocoons, they pulled back out beyond Harto’s wall. He thought maybe they had given up, but he was wrong.

“Huh, what?”

Sssshhhh–!

The sand began to ripple violently like waves. With a deep rumble that shook the ground, the sand rose like a waterfall, and the attacker finally revealed itself.

Even in the darkness, the shape was clear. It was a gigantic flower.