Ruth’s wide-open jaw trembled. He then grabbed his head as if he was getting dizzy and spat out a lot of gibberish before finally saying something.
“I did hear that you were staying at the monastery… did you perhaps willingly become a priestess? What about Sir Calypse?!”
“W-What… What are you saying? Of course not!” Max argued again in a shrill voice, then looked around, surprised by her sudden outburst. The soldiers who were coming down from the hill looked at their way with interest. “I wore th-these clothes… to infiltrate the support unit. I’m now… working as a caregiver… h-here.”
“You’re working as a caregiver here…?” Like a trained parrot, Ruth repeated her words.
Since he didn’t appear like he was in his right mind, she seriously thought of giving him a few knocks on the head. “I don’t have t-time to explain everything. I need to go back, but before I do… I want to know what’s happening. How is… Ri-Riftan? Is everyone… u-unharmed? I heard that some have serious injuries…”
“Ho-hold on for a second! How could I respond to that when you just came out of nowhere, and probed for things you wanted to know? Give me a moment to clear my mind.” 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Ruth retaliated in a frustrated tone and jumped out of the water. He then scanned her from head to toe with narrowed eyes as he squeezed the water out of his robes. Aware of her dingy old clothes, tangled hair, dirt and sweat covered face, Max’s cheeks reddened under his scrutinizing gaze.
He let out a long groan and covered his face with his hands. “Goodness gracious… Does Archduke Aren know that m’lady is doing this?”
Max brought her hood lower to her face as she started to mutter. “I t-told you… nobody else knows that I’m here.”
Only then did Ruth seem to have finally grasped the totality of the situation. “If Sir Calypse finds out about this, he will go berserk!”
Scared, Max reached out to cover his mouth again. “Please… tone it down.” She implored him.
Ruth looked up in the sky like his whole patience was being tested and muttered as if he was praying in question. “Why in the world are you doing this to me? If you are so afraid of getting caught, you should have been desperately hiding from me too! You didn’t have to involve me in this.”
Max narrowed her eyes at his absurd words. The tears of joy she was about to shed for him had completely dried up. “We haven’t seen each other in so l-long… and that’s what you would say to me? I have be-been so worried…!”
Ruth snorted in response, his tone dripping with rude sarcasm. “Did you expect that I would be dancing happily after meeting you in this situation?”
Max could only lift her chin up to show the anger on her face. “I’ll make sure to avoid… avoid you Ruth! Please tell me what’s happening in the war zone… I we-went all this way to know… I have so much work to do, I don’t have much time to find out.”
“That’s not how it works! I don’t know what kind of plan you hatched to pose as a priestess and infiltrate the support unit, but now that I know the lady is doing this, I can’t pretend to be ignorant! You placed me in a very difficult position!”
“Is there a problem?”
Max flinched, then froze on the spot when an unfamiliar voice spoke to them. It was a soldier with his horse, checking out the commotion Ruth was causing. She shook her head, then looked at the wizard’s conflicted expression: the stupid man looked like he was going to give her away. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her hands together so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Then she heard a small click of the tongue, followed by Ruth’s voice.
“There are no problems here.”
The tension eased off her shoulders and she let out a long sigh of relief as Ruth stepped out of the stream and glared at her. “Which tent is it that you are staying at?”
“T-the one in the eastern end.”
“Alright. I’ll come and find you later.”
“N-No, you can’t. It might cause suspicion…”
“Then you will have to make up a good excuse.” He shot her an annoyed look, then sighed in resignation. “I have an important meeting to attend now so I don’t have the time now, but I will come find you in an hour or two.”
Without waiting for an answer, Ruth climbed the hill and headed out onto the gravel road again. Max watched his back as he walked away from her and then returned to the tent. Idcilla, who was waiting eagerly for her, ran to her the moment she entered the shop and asked what she had found out.
“L-later… I’ll tell you everything.”
It was time to distribute the medicine and the tent was crowded with the other priestesses. Idcilla nodded silently, realizing that the time was not right. Max rolled up her sleeves and immediately went to work; however, she kept glancing towards the entrance every few minutes.
He said he will come find me in an hour or two? Will he try and convince me to go back to Levan?
She felt unhappy and a little betrayed by Ruth’s reaction to seeing her there. Wasn’t he the one who taught her how to heal with medicine and magic? Nevertheless, she noticed that he wasn’t in favor of her working as a caregiver there. Max bit her lip and began to feel more and more agitated. If that was how he reacted, she didn’t even want to imagine how Riftan would respond if he found out. She nervously pushed her hair into her hood, and gathered the medicines she had to give the patients.
As he promised, Ruth showed up at the tent just as she was starting to change the wound dressings of the wounded. Her eyes widened as she saw him walk casually into the tent. The other priestesses who were tending to the sick also looked at him with suspicion. However, he remained calm under their inquiring gazes.
“We’re going around to examine the condition of the patients. Ignore me and get on with your work.“
True to his words, he began to weave between the beds and looked over the wounded men. Max glanced at him, she couldn’t guess what he was trying to do. It wasn’t until Ruth checked all the patients that he finally turned to the soldier she was caring for. He opened his mouth to speak as he studied the long cut on the soldier’s chest.
“Your stitches are very well done. The threads will be able to come out in two days maximum.”
She nodded, wondering where he was going with that facade, but Ruth just continued to examine her practical work and waved a hand at her, indicating for her to continue. Max stiffly applied the herbal cast to the wound and bandaged it. Looking at her, he spoke in an exaggerated tone that made her shudder at his poor acting skills.
“You have excellent skills. I would like to ask this priestess for advice on healing techniques. Could you give me a moment of your time?”
She blinked, unable to believe that this was the extent of Ruth’s acting ability; but luckily, the people around them seemed to have bought it, especially when another nearby young priestess suddenly chirped in.
“Sister Max is the most skilled among us. She knows all about medicinal herbs and can sew up any wound in the blink of an eye. She will definitely be able to help you.”
The sudden compliment made her blush, she had no idea that she was so appreciated for her abilities. Ruth gave her a strange look, then spoke in a polite tone that didn’t suit him at all.
“That’s reassuring. Then, please give me a moment of your time.”
“…Alright.”
Max apologized to the wounded soldier, who was grimacing at the new stinging sensation caused by the herbal medicines in the cast. Ruth immediately led her out of the tent and went straight to a sparsely occupied area. Her eyes shifted nervously at the aura he was emanating. The wizard silently walked and made his way through the dense woods. After making sure that no one else was around, he looked back at her.
“The lady does not fail to surprise me every time. When I first met you, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you would be so fearless.”
Max pouted at Ruth’s words, which sounded more like he was reprimanding a child. “A-After receiving the news that the war would drag on… I couldn’t sit around and wait longer. If I would be closer to the battle… I thought that at l-least I’ll be able to know more of what is going on…”
“So, you used these shabby clothing and sneaked in?”
Ruth looked down at her robe which was full of holes in the seams from fanning embers on firewood. Max felt her ears burn with shame for presenting such an unpleasant side of herself, but she quickly brushed it off, pretending she didn’t care.
“W-what’s wrong with my clothes? These clothes… are nothing to be ashamed of. This represents that I’m working hard!”
“I have no intention to criticize you.”
Ruth said, then let out a long breath. “You are a very talented healer. Coming to a place of conflict and offering your services to those in need, you deserve to be praised.”
Feeling a momentary sense of relief at such unexpected and sincere words, Max smiled a little, but was quickly stifled as he continued in a firm, reproving tone.
“But I can’t praise you for hiding your identity and sneaking into the support unit. The Great Temple must be frantically looking for you now, m’lady.”
“I a-already took care of that! I left a letter saying I’m staying at a f-friend’s house, so don’t worry.”
Despite her reassurance, the wrinkles on Ruth’s face did not go away. “The day that the lady’s disguise is discovered, there will be chaos. Archduke Aren will be very ashamed, and Lord Calypse will be furious.”
“I’ll offer a formal apology… l-later.”
Max drew her neck back like a tortoise when Ruth poked the hole on her plan. He shook his head and took a deep breath.
“Not even the Archduke would have ever imagined that the Lady would do something so reckless.”
She swallowed dryly at his bitter tone of voice. “Are you… thinking of sending m-me back to Levan?”
The wizard fell silent and Max anxiously looked up at him like a criminal awaiting sentence. Ruth scratched at his tousled hair and let out a long, painful groan.
“If I were to do so, then I would have already informed the Archduke.” She unconsciously smiled in relief, but that seemed to fuel his irritation even more. “Don’t smile. The day Lord Calypse finds out about this, he will be pulling my scalp off.”
“He… He won’t find out. Ruth, you didn’t even recognize me too. Besides, he’s so far away… Ri-Riftan won’t know…”
“It’s not that simple. We are planning to move the support unit to Ethylene next week!”
Max’s eyes widened at the news. “The reconquest of E-ethylene… was it successful?”
“That’s right. We will use it as our base from now on in preparation for the final battle. So, we need all the manpower, equipment and troops on the front lines for all-out war.”
“B-But… There are still many who have not yet recovered. If they are forced to move, their conditions will get wo-worse…”
“That is why another wizard and I will stay here to help with their recovery. From what I saw, there were none with serious injuries. What we will do is to have them up and running in the next three or four days, enough to have them move into Ethylene Castle without any difficulty.”
Max was haunted by conflicting emotions. Her heart was fluttering thinking that she would soon see Riftan again, but at the same time she felt heavy knowing that the men she cared for with such dedication were to be subjected to another battle. As she lost herself in her inner dilemma, Ruth quickly added.
“Honestly, I want to send the lady back to Levan right now if possible, but I can’t guarantee the return trip will be safe. It would be better to head to where the Allied forces are concentrated.” He said, while shooting her an annoyed look. “Please stay away from Lord Calypse. My head hurts just thinking about the hell he would incur with all of us.”
“Don’t worry… I’ll only see his f-face from afar.”
“As long as you are outside 50 madion (about 1 km) radius of him, you can observe for as long as you please.”
“I won’t be able to s-see if it’s that far!”
“Don’t get any closer than that. His five senses are sharper than any wild animal.”
Max thought that he was exaggerating. She made it all the way here without the Archduke noticing, no one was suspicious of her aside from being caught by Quahel Leon. She felt very confident in her stealth abilities.
“D-don’t worry. Even if I get caught… I won’t get you in trouble, Ruth. Then, please tell me how the s-situation is right now. I heard that some of the Remdragon Knights got injured… were they seriously hurt?”
“Sir Nirta injured his shoulder fighting a lizardman.” Ruth explained, and his dark face gradually grew at the reminder. “The injury is not serious… but because the lizardman cast a curse in his attack, his injury wouldn’t go away with healing magic. The magic of monsters is different from that of humans, so it’s hard to break it.”
Note – LF: I cackled at the 1 kilometer radius xD Really praying Hebaron will be fine though ☹
