Chapter 5: Barefoot Through the Rain
To be honest, I thought it would be fine even if it rained.
‘Wouldn’t a demon god’s body be able to withstand the cold easily?’
I was about to force a march based on that thought, but I could see it was completely wrong.
I hugged Nahida tightly as she shivered under a tree.
As we shared our warmth, Nahida’s trembling slowly subsided.
When I stroked her head, Nahida giggled softly.
“Should we wait until the rain stops….”
‘It feels like we’ll be too short on time if we leave after the rain stops.’
‘To avoid getting caught, we should leave right now.’
‘But how could I, when Nahida is struggling so much?’
“Let’s just rest for a little bit before we leave.”
‘A little bit should be fine, right?’
“There are traces that someone resided here for a short time.”
The sight of several adult men crammed into a narrow cave was quite comical.
However, if one knew their identities, no one would dare to laugh.
“…They weren’t here long.”
The Sages of the Akademiya.
There was only one reason they were here.
To reclaim their god.
“It would be best to split up here. One group heads to Port Ormos, and the other towards Gandharva Ville.”
The men around him nodded, as if in agreement with his words.
“Everything is for the great God of Wisdom.”
Fortunately, in that brief moment, the rain had stopped and the warm sunlight was shining down.
I started walking again, carrying Nahida on my back.
Nahida was barefoot, so walking seemed difficult for her.
That’s why I gave her a piggyback ride.
Of course, I was also barefoot, so it was hard for me too.
But I couldn’t just watch Nahida struggle.
‘If I were some kind of survival expert, I would have made some makeshift shoes.’
After walking for a long time, I stopped in my tracks at a thought that had just occurred to me.
‘…Which way is Gandharva Ville?’
Worried that I was just standing still, Nahida called out to me.
“Sister?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
‘Maybe because my body got younger, my intelligence did too.’
‘To only realize such an important fact now….’
“It would be nice if we could just grab someone and ask….”
‘Is there not even a village nearby?’
‘How can there not be a single person in sight?’
“Ugh.”
“Oww….”
“Sister! Are you okay?”
Because I was barefoot, I stepped on a sharp stone and got a cut.
On top of that, I fell over, and my whole body was a mess.
Seeing the blood flowing from the sole of my foot, Nahida was shocked and didn’t know what to do.
My face scrunched up from the stinging pain.
Still, the feeling of being worried over by Nahida wasn’t so bad.
“Mhm, I’m okay, so don’t worry too much. This kind of thing will heal over time.”
As I soothed the worried Nahida by stroking her, she clung to me, on the verge of tears.
“B-Because of Nahida, you’re….”
“N-No, Nahida…. It’s not your fault….”
After I soothed her for a while, Nahida sniffled and threw herself into my arms.
“Sister, don’t get hurt….”
‘Oh my god. Maybe I’ve lived my whole life for this moment.’
‘If it were up to me, I’d want to stay like this forever, but we don’t have time.’
‘If we delay any longer, we’ll be caught by the sages.’
I can’t come all this way just to be captured so helplessly.
I forced my leg, which wouldn’t move properly, to stand up.
The bone-jarring pain naturally made my expression scrunch up.
“Nahida, can you help me a little?”
Since it was hard for me to walk alone, I asked Nahida to support me, and she readily agreed.
“Ugh….”
With each and every step, excruciating pain shot up from below.
“Sister…….”
I roughly stroked the worried Nahida’s head and took another step forward.
‘Today, it seems I’ll have to walk all day long.’