My Strange Savior - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

[In Morreta]

Upon hearing Kalion’s words, Rockt wiped the sweat from his hands onto his pants. 

Is this what determination feels like? An unknown figure who tamed the legendary dragon makes one shudder and break into a cold sweat just hearing about it. 

To think he had to stop such a powerful figure. Moreover, he was said to come back to life until his head was severed.

How many people in the Empire possessed the strength to contend with him? Rockt’s eyes, as he counted, met Kalion, who was sitting up straight.

He thought he would have to become a commander at least to be able to inflict a single wound on him. Even before getting close to the figure named Morrison, he felt that his limbs would be torn apart by the dragon he had tamed. They would all melt away in the flames spat out by the dragon.

Rockt, who had been continuously entertaining negative thoughts, looked at Gia, who was sitting silently without any movement.

“Why… did you bring such a thing to our world?”

“Rockt, calm down.”

Kalion, trying to calm Rockt down, grabbed his shoulders. Kalion, who hadn’t expected Rockt to react like this, turned his body to hide his confusion.

“Let go. It… It came here with that woman. That monster came from her world!”

As always, his unlucky premonition was right. Resentment was evident in Rockt’s gaze, which changed in an instant.

“Who are you, exactly? Are you even human? You brought it here!”

“Rockt!”

Seeing him push Kalion away and throw a tantrum, Gia’s expression darkened rapidly. 

Although it was familiar, every time it hit, it hurt the same way, and Gia’s hands moved faster to remove and reattach the worn-out brace.

Not knowing if blood was flowing from her hands, Kalion looked at Gia, who sat still like a doll, unable to refute or say anything. He sighed and led the excited Rockt outside.

It’s familiar. This resentment.

It’s not the first or second time, is it?

Even though he tried to console himself, his heart still raced madly, pounding in his chest.

“Why can’t you say anything?”

Kalion, who left the excited Rockt to the other members and returned to the reception room, looked at the dazed Gia.

“What?”

“You usually get angry easily and don’t hold back, don’t you?”

“Usually?”

How much did he see her? 

Gia raised an eyebrow at Kalion’s tone as if he knew everything about her.

“I just heard.”

Someone had to listen to that resentment. Unfortunately, it seemed to have become her.

As she continued to remove and reattach the brace, pus oozed, and the wound reopened. Gia scratched her palm with her nails as if finding no solace in it.

“Why…”

Kalion, watching Gia scratching her palm to the point where blood was drawn, held her hand.

“Why are you tormenting yourself?”

Suddenly, kneeling and holding Gia’s hand beside her, Kalion looked into her vacant eyes.

“Me? Myself? Tormenting?”

Gia responded with a bewildered face, as if not understanding what he meant.

“Yes. Aren’t you tormenting yourself?”

A deep red welt had risen, and there was dried blood on the back of her hand where the red lines appeared. Kalion, carefully brushing his thumb over the injured area, looked into Gia’s eyes.

Hollow.

The emotion that reached him so vividly made Kalion gently grasp Gia’s hand.

“It’s not your fault, is it? Why are you just listening?”

He wiped away the blood that had gathered on his thumb with his finger.

“Just…”

What could she say? She had neither words to retort nor words to reply to Rockt’s statements. It just seemed like everything he said was true.

With bated breath, he carefully stroked her injured hand, and his firm hand was visible. It was filled with calluses and countless wounds, but… it was so warm. Had someone ever comforted her wounds like this before?

After becoming an enhanced human following the world’s demise, any wound would heal quickly, so there had been no occasion for this.

As he touched her wounds, feeling that she hurt more, she sensed her emotions flowing like a viscous liquid in response to Kalion’s touch. It felt like molten wax spreading over her heart when his warm touch passed through the solid outer shell she had erected to protect herself.

Ah… ah.

An incomprehensible sigh escaped her. Unfathomable emotions surged. 

Gia stared blankly at Kalion before her. No, she had no other way to look at him.

“I caused you pain because of my shortcomings.”

“You? Why?”

“Rockt is my subordinate.”

Naturally, as a superior, Kalion considered his subordinates’ faults as his own and gently placed a clean towel on Gia’s injured hand.

“I’m sorry.”

“No…”

“For saving my life, for doing your best to catch him. I know it all. I will also make sure Rockt apologizes separately to you.”

Kalion gently held Gia’s reddened back of the hand.

“If that’s not enough, you can even scold me.”

Warm, crimson eyes lingered on Gia’s hand.

“So please, don’t torment yourself.”

She seemed like someone not even a drop of blood would draw from, but Kalion’s words sank into Gia’s softer inner self more than she expected.

Was it because he saw a vulnerable side of herself? Unfathomable emotions swirled.

She couldn’t just pass by her like a wet, forlorn puppy that couldn’t be ignored.

Knock, knock.

Kalion, who had been kneeling and sitting, straightened up when he heard the knock, and a large shadow loomed in front of Gia as he stood tall.

“Come in.”

In a low voice, Kalion responded, and the door was cautiously opened.

“I’m Representative Amy.”

A woman in her twenties with red hair carefully peeked inside.

Whether it had already been discussed, Kalion turned his body and made way for Representative Amy to enter.

“Oh, dear, why is your hand…?”

With a surprised expression, Amy’s gaze turned to Gia’s reddened welted hand.

“I’ll treat it.”

Gia, looking at her hand with indifferent eyes, which seemed like nothing much, showed traces of blood between her fingernails, a result of her scratching without her own will.

“Even such wounds can fester if left untreated.”

Amy, who came in with a large box, started disinfecting while shaking her head. It stung a bit, but Gia felt it as something unrelated.

Had someone ever said such things to her? Even when she cried and devoured her flesh in the deepest underground every day, she had never heard such words.

Don’t torment yourself…

Gia couldn’t understand why her heart seemed to react happily to those unfamiliar words. 

Did she want to hear them? That her faults weren’t her own, that it wasn’t her fault. That’s probably why her heart was pounding and throbbing like this.

She pressed firmly on the area around her heart, which was pounding so hard that she thought it might be a disease. What’s wrong with it… Did something break? 

She was sturdier than the average person, and not prone to illness. Well, perhaps some diseases didn’t allow other diseases.

The altered zombie virus was always ready to consume Gia’s body. If she didn’t receive the half-dose of the cure, she would lose her sanity like the others and start tearing into the flesh of those in front of her.

How would Kalion look at Gia when she became a zombie, not a human? Since they hadn’t talked about it yet, Gia’s mood sank indefinitely.

She didn’t want to change. She wanted to be human, just an ordinary person. To achieve that, she needed to catch Morrison and return to her world.

“That should be enough.”

Gia pushed Amy away, who was performing excessive medical procedures. It was a waste to apply medicine on a wound that was about to heal anyway.

“Oh, but the treatment isn’t finished yet.”

“Please look at him instead of me.”

“What?”

“Him, I mean him. Kalion.”

Pointing to Kalion with her chin as she lay on the couch, Gia looked at Amy, who then glanced at the seated man with a straight posture.

Is he the commander they used to talk about in those rumors? He was famous for being good-looking, but his character was equally renowned. A fancy background, the way he carried himself that made everyone’s jaws drop, and his skills and character to match.

Amy’s face turned bright red when she looked at Kalion.

‘Wow… It’s just like the rumors.’

Half of the rumors that circulated were likely false. However, the Kalion Amy saw seemed to be greatly underestimated compared to the rumors.

Kalion’s reputation had spread even to the remote countryside, so Amy cleared her throat and approached Kalion cautiously.

“Your face…”

Why did a handsome face still look handsome with bruises? Amy felt the atmosphere around the cuts around his mouth and the bruise near his eye was strangely charming as she gently took a bandage in her hand.

“If it hurts, please let me know.”

“Not there.”

“What?”

Before Kalion could speak, Gia interjected.

“He had a hole in his abdomen.”

“Abdomen?”

Kalion sighed before slowly removing his armor, leaving only the clothes he had underneath. He lifted his top to reveal his abdomen.

Amy’s face turned red in an instant as she glanced at his well-defined abdominal muscles instead of the loosely tied bandages.

‘I… I’m a m-medical professional.’

Amy muttered to herself, recalling her professional ethics. She tried to swallow her saliva, which seemed to be stuck in her throat, as she carefully removed the bandage.

“It’s not too severe, is it?”

Gia, who had somehow come closer, looked at the relatively minor injury with a serious expression, as Amy had only provided basic first aid.

“Oh… Ah. No, not severe at all. He had good initial hemorrhage control, so there doesn’t seem to be a major issue. If any organs had been damaged, he probably wouldn’t be walking like this.”

He probably would have died on the spot. Gia shrugged her shoulders in response to Amy’s words. 

After all, she had done an excellent job of applying first aid at the beginning, so wasn’t it natural to be a little proud? Plus, she had saved him from monsters, so she could consider her his savior.

Seeing Gia’s expression, which was now filled with self-satisfaction, as she muttered at the corner of her mouth, Kalion couldn’t help but laugh.

He found it strange, yet not unpleasant, to see a woman who thought so openly. She looked better than when she sat there earlier, lost in her thoughts like a soulless person.

He couldn’t help but think that Gia was much better than people who concealed their thoughts and innermost secrets. Kalion felt that Gia’s guilt from earlier had disappeared somewhere, and he felt better about her getting treated than before.

As Kalion received treatment for a while, he could hear Gia’s cheerful voice coming from above his head.

“You don’t have to be so grateful.”

Gia shook her head as if she knew everything about Kalion’s feelings.

“But that doesn’t mean you should hide your gratitude too much.”

She quickly added, as if afraid that Kalion, who was not very flexible, might not thank her wholeheartedly.

“If you want to express your gratitude monetarily, you can do that too.”

With a benevolent look on her face as if telling him it was okay, Gia nodded and lifted the corners of her mouth.