After breaking the hug, the three maintained an awkward silence for a mont before deciding to first relieve their travel fatigue.
While isa took care of Bize, Turan and Solif soaked in the hot spring.
"Oh, this is amazing... though it would've been better if it was a bit hotter."
Though they were in the hottest pool in this hot spring area, where he had entered with Rida before, even that didn't seem to satisfy Solif.
Well, one of the two bloodlines latent in his body was the power to handle fire.
Just as Turan was born with excellent sense of sll and reflexes, Solif possessed the ability to detect various types of light and resistance to heat.
Though not to an absolute degree, as evident from how Baraha nobles were injured by explosions.
While quietly enjoying the heat with closed eyes, Solif spoke softly from beside him.
"Hey, Turan."
"What?"
"That lady, isn't she completely fallen for you?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Just look at her attitude earlier! Well, even I would fall for a man who turned a whole great house upside down to save if I were a woman."
"That's not it."
According to his experience so far, people feeling so-called 'love' gave off a scent like a beast in heat.
But Turan had never once slled that kind of scent from isa.
Even during the hug earlier, he only felt sowhat complex emotions mixed with joy and sadness.
Not knowing this, Solif spoke with a lecherous smile as if he knew everything.
"Co on, don't be so stiff. You took the risk because you were interested in her too, right?"
"I took the risk of getting on Baraha's bad side when saving you too, but I hope you don't think that was because I was interested in you."
"No, how can you compare those..."
Clicking his tongue as if dumbfounded by Turan's response, Solif changed the topic.
"At least speak more casually. We're all similar in status, ability, and age, but with you two being so formal with each other, I feel awkward being the only casual one."
"I'm not sure about the others, but saying we're similar in age seems a bit shaless."
Compared to Turan at nineteen and isa at twenty-two, Solif was fifty-eight, nearly three tis their age.
Of course, considering that top nobles live for nearly three to four hundred years, it wasn't enough of a difference to not be considered the sa generation.
Hearing this valid point, Solif burst out in frustration.
"If you're going to treat like an old man, at least show so respect for your elder!"
==
After finishing their bath, the two dried off and dressed before separating to handle their respective tasks.
Turan advised Solif once more as he was leaving.
"As I said before, absolutely don't catch any monkeys here. They're all Aikul's family."
"I got it already. I'll even help monkeys in danger, so don't worry."
Watching Solif leave with a confident wave, Turan activated his senses and went to find isa.
He planned to inject food while Solif was off hunting for today's al ingredients.
She seed to be embarrassed about showing the injection process to others after all.
After a short while, Turan stopped in his tracks when he arrived where isa was and saw an unexpected sight.
She had Bize sitting on her knee and was carefully massaging his wing joints.
"How's here? Good?"
Bize chirped and stretched one leg to write sothing on the ground, which read things like 'good' and 'more to the right'.
Though he couldn't make rich expressions like humans due to underdeveloped facial muscles, his half-lidded eyes alone showed how good it felt.
After massaging for a few more minutes, isa patted Bize's wings and stood up.
"Alright, that's it for now!"
[Do more!]
"I'll do it later, later. Or ask Aikul to do it."
[He's an idiot who can't do this! His strength is too much and his fingers are too thick!]
Bize stomped his feet as if telling her to look at what he wrote on the ground.
Usually he didn't show such whining behavior except in front of Turan, but it seed he had grown closer to isa already.
Well, she was also soone who 'matched' like Turan after all.
Judging by Bize's goodwill when he first t Turan, there was clearly a special bond between masu and people connected by bloodline.
While warmly watching their friendly interaction for a mont, Turan suddenly had a thought.
'I wonder if isa could use wind magic if she inherited my soul contract?'
Of course, he had absolutely no intention of abandoning Bize, but there was no guarantee situations wouldn't arise where he had to.
For example, if he found a masu that 'matched' with the Zahar bloodline but his soul lacked the capacity to accommodate both, or if he died in an unexpected accident...
While lost in these thoughts, isa, who had managed to pacify the whining Bize and sent him flying to Aikul, greeted him.
"Looks like you finished bathing."
"Ah, yes."
After answering that, suddenly recalling his earlier conversation with Solif, Turan spoke up right away.
"Let's speak casually with each other from now on. We're companions after all. I'm already speaking informally with Solif too."
Though it wasn't like this when speaking casually with Asiz, sohow it felt awkward suggesting informal speech with isa.
"What? Ah, yes... okay. Turan."
Perhaps feeling similar, isa also accepted this with a sowhat uncomfortable expression.
Turan forcibly ignored this atmosphere and got straight to business.
"Solif will be preparing dinner soon, but I think we should inject food before that. You haven't been able to eat anything since leaving last ti, right?"
"...Yeah. I tried, but it still doesn't work well."
Turan could read self-loathing in isa's face as she answered.
He guessed it was anger at herself for being weak and unable to overco her ntal wounds.
Instead of imdiately suggesting starting the food injection, Turan placed a hand on isa's shoulder and spoke calmly.
"I don't know how you feel. I've never experienced the pain of not being able to swallow food. But Leto is dead, and when I'm beside you, no Zahar noble can secretly approach."
During the interrogation of Leto last ti, Turan could roughly guess why isa suffered from an eating disorder.
It was probably due to the mory of suffering after being poisoned along with her mother and younger brother when they were killed.
Turan tried to reassure her by saying that the one who had poisoned them was dead, and even if soone tried sothing similar, he could stop them.
However, instead of expressing gratitude upon hearing this, isa groaned softly and shook her head.
"That's... actually, it's not because I'm afraid of being poisoned."
"Then?"
Though Turan asked unconsciously, he expected not to receive an answer to this.
After all, isa had consistently avoided talking about that day.
But perhaps thanks to their hearts growing closer after agreeing to speak casually, after hesitating for a mont, she blurted out:
"I feel too cowardly."
Instead of asking why she considered herself cowardly, Turan maintained silence.
He had an intuition she would soon explain the reason herself.
As expected, isa imdiately opened up about what had happened in the past.
Ten years ago, three people who had gone on a picnic to a scenic hill near Morgen City.
However, sudden abdominal pain began while eating lunch, and her younger brother who hadn't awakened his mana deteriorated fastest.
What saved him was isa's healing magic device, who was already considered the heir despite her young age.
Though it couldn't remove poison and was like pouring water into a bottomless pot, it could at least prevent imdiate death while blood poured from their entire bodies.
The problem was that during this, both her mother with low-rank noble level mana and isa herself fell deeper into poisoning.
While her mother and younger brother pleaded with isa for help through their pain, all she could do was shed bloody tears while alternately using the healing device to postpone death.
Even the knights who should have been around for protection had all disappeared, so isa had to keep holding the magic device without being able to call for help.
Her mother and brother continually crying for help while shedding bloody tears, the pain of poisoning that felt like her whole body was burning, gradually depleting mana...
"In the end, I used my remaining mana to heal myself. I was scared. Afraid that I would die too if I kept healing them. Maybe I could have saved everyone if I had just tried a little harder."
isa's reddish-brown hair covered her as she hung her head as if she were a criminal.
Having heard the whole story, Turan realized he had completely misunderstood the cause of her eating disorder.
The wound residing in her inner self wasn't fear of death, but guilt from surviving after abandoning her family.
What would be good to say here?
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