Chapter – 04
It was afternoon with the sun tilted far to the west. Near the square in a prime commercial district, there was a famous tavern.
A place with a signboard displaying the menu in neat handwriting and ingredients hauled in from production regions piled by the entrance.
[Fioned’s Early Autumn]
Mikhail sat inside that tavern.
Meanwhile, in one corner, the servers were preoccupied with playing rock-paper-scissors.
“Rock… paper… scissors. Hey, you threw late. Do it again.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You lost. Hurry up and go take the order.”
Mikhail let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
Even though it wouldn’t be strange to ask what they were doing with a customer right in front of them, he didn’t particularly want to.
He’d seen the tension and fear flickering on the servers’ faces. He could roughly guess the circumstances.
‘Come to think of it.’
Mikhail tilted his head slightly and tapped the table with his finger. A scene from the game flashed through his mind.
[NPC: Server Lina]
[Come to think of it, that slightly scary young master. He’s been scarce lately—do you happen to know what happened? …Huh? Expelled? R-really? Oh, thank goodness…
Ah, wait! Please pretend you didn’t hear that just now!]
[NPC: Resourceful Bitron]
[Expelled, you say. So that’s what happened. To be honest… I’m relieved. That young master once mocked Denver’s bad leg.]
A jar that leaks inside will leak outside too.
What came to mind were scenes that left a bad taste.
‘Still, this will be an opportunity to change my reputation a bit.’
The side event of the magic tool rampage incident was a problem related to this place, Fioned’s Early Autumn, after all.
“Uh, uhh… Mr. Denver.”
That’s when it happened. The servers’ murmuring cut off abruptly and irregular footsteps grew closer.
Mikhail turned his head toward the approaching person. A middle-aged man wearing an apron held a menu and smiled awkwardly.
“Ahem, sorry to keep you waiting. Bitron stepped out for a moment, so service was delayed…”
The tavern’s head chef, Denver Petrie. Mikhail gave Denver, who was gauging his mood, a light nod.
“It’s fine.”
“…Thanks for understanding.”
The reply continued in a warm tone, but Mikhail noticed that Denver was quite tense.
Denver had an easygoing personality and loved to rattle on about this and that. But the more nervous he got, the fewer words he spoke.
‘Well, that was the setting.’
Clack.
Mikhail received the menu and opened it. He flipped straight to the back and pointed to a menu item in the corner.
[Menu: Green Berry Leaf Jelly]
[A special dessert capturing the freshness of green berries and the crispness of young leaves in one place. Topped with apple cream.]
“Just this one to go, please.”
“Uh, that’s currently…”
Confusion colored Denver’s face as he looked up.
Denver rolled his eyes once and hesitantly opened his mouth.
“Unfortunately, we just ran out of gelatin. It’ll be difficult right now…but.”
Denver glanced at Mikhail and hastily added:
“S-so! Anything else is possible! Anything!”
But Mikhail remained silent, his gaze fixed on the menu he’d pointed to.
And so silence descended over the shop.
Rustle. Rustle.
Busy movement arose from a corner. The servers who’d been holding their breath as if watching a time bomb had initiated action. Each had a broom in hand.
“…”
Denver had also guessed the imminent situation. His large frame shrank considerably.
Not long ago, the ringing in Denver’s ears was the obstruction set up by the troublemaker young master sitting before him.
[…The taste is garbage. For someone who’s a head chef, your judgment in selecting alcohol and all. And why’s the table so sticky? The floor’s condition is… terrible as expected. Do you even want to do busi—]
At that moment, Mikhail’s voice cut through the lingering echo.
“Then I’ll ask for something else.”
“…?”
Denver’s shoulders flinched, and the servers blinked in bewilderment.
Under the air full of questions, what continued calmly was Mikhail’s words.
“Grill beef meatballs coated with pickled red berries for three minutes. Finally, wrap them with mandarin tree leaves.”
Thud, Mikhail closed the menu with a sound. He propped his chin and turned his gaze toward the window. That was all.
“…”
Denver and the servers gaped like fish with their mouths stuck open.
Awkward silence flowed for about ten seconds.
Mikhail let out a sigh and urged quietly.
“Should I repeat the dish?”
Denver was the first to snap out of it. He startled and hurriedly waved his hands.
“N-no! I know what menu you mean! I’ll prepare it with my best effort!”
When Denver hurriedly turned toward the kitchen, the servers also snapped to attention and moved busily.
The sound of dishes being organized busily rang through the hall, and warmth spreading from the kitchen heated the shop’s interior.
“…He said the menu we requested wasn’t available, but nothing happened! I totally expected a water cup to go flying at minimum!”
About thirty minutes had passed since then. Inside the tavern after Mikhail had received his food and left.
Denver and the servers were enthusiastically talking to the manager, Bitron, who’d just entered the shop.
The topic was Mikhail’s conduct.
“When he pointed to the menu we were out of ingredients for, I went blank, you know? I thought he’d throw something!”
“Right, then I thought he’d pour out abuse…! But surprisingly, he was well-behaved! I was really shocked!”
One server narrowed their eyes and said:
“You know, when people do things they’ve never done before, it’s when they’re about to…”
“Stop.”
Bitron was the one who corrected the derailing topic. Bitron looked around at the gathered servers and smiled faintly.
“That’s welcome news to hear. It means there’s less to worry about.”
Denver, who’d brightened, strode over and chimed in.
“Right? Fortunate, isn’t it? Kids grow up day by day—maybe he had a change of heart? I wish it’d always be like today…”
“Denver… no, Assistant Manager.”
Bitron cut off the words that had continued in an excited tone and looked at Denver.
“Still, you can’t let your guard down. You always need to think about contingencies. You know people don’t change easily.”
Denver scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“Ahem, well. That’s true, but… still, the atmosphere seemed a tiny bit different…”
That’s when it happened.
Bang!
The entrance door flew open as if it would shatter, and a flippant voice rang out loudly.
“Denver! Bitron! This elder has arrived, so why aren’t you jumping out quickly!”
A man with a goatee beard and thick cheeks like a toad entered the shop.
With each step the man took, the magic tool merchant guild badge on his expensive jacket sparkled like a medal.
And.
Thump. Thump.
House-sized bodyguards followed behind the man.
“Wh-why are you here…”
Denver froze upon discovering the goatee-bearded man. His face, engulfed in confusion, turned pale…
The one who stepped forward first was Bitron.
“It’s been a while. Isn’t this Mr. Kobi?”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s me. Have you been well?”
Kobi moved his heavy steps and sat down on a chair, then glared at the servers in the shop.
“What are you gawking at! You dimwits. Not working?”
At the sharp command, the servers scattered in panic.
Bitron looked at that scene with displeasure, then sat across from Kobi. With the smile wiped from his face.
“What brings you to this distant place?”
“Hmm, let’s set aside such stiff talk first…”
“Please state your business.”
“Tsk, so unfeeling. Stone-faced bastard.”
Kobi grumbled with a frown.
However, he soon changed his expression cleanly with a few coughs, then opened his mouth in a pompous tone.
“I have something special to ask our debtors… I’m thinking of doing a splendid business, you see!”
Meanwhile, the place Mikhail was heading was Haeohreum Forest behind the campus.
More precisely, it was a location deeper inside from the entrance where he’d previously gathered fresh windbell mushrooms.
Rustle.
Before long, Mikhail reached the lakeside.
While the clear water surface rippled gently, lamp trees that scattered light from their bell-shaped leaves surrounded the area.
‘Now I need to find a lamp tree with a large groove in its trunk… By the way, is there no one nearby?’
Mikhail had been looking around.
Rustle.
A presence suddenly felt.
Mikhail quickly hid behind a tree.
‘Who is it? A campus security guard? Or…’
Mikhail cautiously peeked his head out from behind the tree.
“…”
Gray eyes resembling midwinter frost.
There was a boy with an expression even colder than that, lost in deep thought.
‘Ethan…’
Mikhail narrowed his eyes. Considering their current bad blood, nothing good would come from encountering Ethan.
Why are you here, what are you planning—such questioning would just continue and they’d just get red-faced for nothing. So…
‘I’ll stay quiet and move after Ethan leaves. No need to deliberately run into each other.’
That’s when it happened.
“…”
Ethan slowly began to move.
He raised his right hand and unwound the bandage wrapped around his left hand.
Thud, thud.
The white bandage fell away like molted skin several times.
What appeared on the body finally revealed had no wounds or scars.
Only smooth skin was clearly exposed.
“Hah.”
Ethan forcibly swallowed his ragged breathing.
Then he looked down at his right hand with a piercing gaze and twisted his lips.
“A monster… am I.”
A voice tangled with self-mockery, anger, fear, and confusion.
They say oysters spit out lumps to turn them into pearls, but the lumps in a human’s heart have no form, making them more painful.
“…”
Mikhail, who’d been watching the series of events, withdrew his gaze.
He kept his eyes on empty air for a moment, then closed his eyelids.
‘I understand what he’s anguishing over.’
Ethan’s trauma.
It was a regenerative ability not just special but alien.
Normal wounds closed immediately upon damage.
Even deep cuts that would normally take a full week to heal recovered in just a few hours.
A level far surpassing the range of ordinary human ability.
‘That’s why he was called a monster. And he wandered alone for a long time without anywhere to lean on or rely on.’
Mikhail let out a breath and looked at Ethan again.
“…”
Right now he’d be confused and frightened to death, but.
Ethan would eventually overcome his trauma.
That was the main pillar of the story—that he’d be reborn as a true hero.
So there was no need to intervene in Ethan’s wandering.
‘As long as it flows properly along the main storyline, there’ll be no problems.’
While Mikhail thought this, Ethan seemed to have succeeded in suppressing his inner turmoil.
He slowly moved his hand and began wrapping the bandage he’d unwound.
He must have failed to completely hide his emotions, as his tightly bitten lips were pale.
Around the time Ethan had almost finished wrapping the bandage…
“!”
Ethan’s shoulders flinched once.
Mikhail knew what that action meant.
‘…Dammit, his senses are sharp!’
The precursor to when Ethan detected a presence.
Mikhail, who’d whipped his head around, curled up his body and covered his mouth.
Thump, thump.
Under the silence where thoughts crossed, only the sound of his own heartbeat rang in Mikhail’s ears.
Feeling a piercing gaze all by himself for about a minute.
The silence soon broke.
“…My imagination?”
Ethan’s murmur scattered over the quiet air, and the sound of footsteps on grass grew distant.
Step, step.
Eventually, no trace of presence remained at the lakeside.
Mikhail let out a long sigh and peeked his head out from behind the tree.
‘He really left…’
Rustle.
The source of the sudden sound wasn’t in front but to the side. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Mikhail turned his head creakily.
“…”
Ethan was standing there.
Staring right at him.
‘Why of all times.’
A gaze that seemed to dig into his insides.
Mikhail, who’d met it, gulped down dry saliva. He needed to think of words to handle the situation.
I hid but I wasn’t watching you? I just arrived and our paths coincidentally overlapped?
No, all of those were fishy…
“It was my imagination after all.”
At that moment, a voice rang out coldly.
Like a fuse blowing, his train of thought snapped. Ethan glanced indifferently and passed by.
Step, step.
At the lakeside where only a stream of water breeze swayed the grass blades.
What remained alone there was Mikhail. Like a fifth wheel, standing dumbly and just blinking three or four times.
His frozen lips curled up crookedly…
“I don’t like it.”
Soon an irritated mutter burst out.
