“All done.”
Eddie smiled contentedly. It wasn’t a difficult task, just applying MadeXsol and sticking on the bandage.
Ketron’s exposed wound wasn’t severe. Or rather, it wasn’t severe ‘now’.
The bumpy area, as if flesh had been torn away and barely healed, remained a large scar that made it difficult to imagine what it looked like at first. But now, it was almost completely healed.
*His body is so amazing, what a shame.*
This scar would remain for a long, long time. Perhaps for life. Eddie felt sorry about that fact, muttering those words as he diligently applied the medicine.
Ketron’s exposed upper body was, well, incredible. Incredibly amazing. Eddie felt bad about the large scar, even though it wasn’t his own body.
His meager vocabulary could only describe it as amazing, but his body was probably the dream physique of many men. Even the word ‘sculpted’ felt insufficient.
He wondered what his body fat percentage was, his muscles were so firm, and there seemed to be no soft spots at all. There were also many small scars, proving that he had crossed countless battlefields.
His large body, befitting his large frame, was already a weapon in itself. To be able to wound such a body, it must have been an incredible battle.
Perhaps it was because the novel was written by an author who was particularly skilled at describing battle scenes, but Eddie vividly remembered reading each battle scene breathlessly.
Ketron was smart and had a good grasp of combat application. His physical abilities were also great enough to realize what he thought.
Those dynamic battle scenes were also one of the popular elements of “The Hero Who Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Well.”
But that was when reading it as text. Now, with the person who had actually crossed those battlefields in front of him, and seeing even the traces of those wounds with his own eyes, Eddie finally realized, just a little, that he was a resident of this damn fantasy world.
Ketron was no longer a character in print, but a person living in the same world as him.
Hiding the slight confusion inside, Eddie deliberately shook the medicine bottle with a bright face.
“Okay! Now, just take this cure-all, or rather, this ten-disease cure, and the treatment is complete!”
Ketron looked dubious at the medicine’s effect, which had been reduced to 1/1000th of its original potency.
But Eddie couldn’t help it. He would feel guilty if he talked about a painkiller that everyone had at home in his world as if it were a cure-all.
Eddie popped out a pill and placed it in Ketron’s hand. Ketron just stared at the small pill in his large palm.
“Still, it should be effective as a painkiller.”
Eddie explained the effects of the medicine. It was effective for headaches, toothaches, menstrual cramps, and rheumatic pain, so it would be less painful than not taking anything.
But Ketron shook his head.
“I don’t need painkillers.”
“Why? You look like you’re in pain.”
“I’m used to it.”
In fact, this wasn’t even an injury for Ketron. He had swung his sword while blocking his spilling intestines with his hands, even after suffering fatal injuries such as having all the bones in his body shattered, falling off a cliff, and countless cuts and flesh torn away.
There was no reason to take painkillers for scars that only left traces now.
However, Ketron didn’t expect that Eddie would look at him even more pitifully after hearing his nonchalant words.
“How much hardship has this young man gone through…”
Eddie muttered softly. But thanks to his Mana Affinity, Ketron’s senses were more developed than others, and he heard it as if he were speaking right next to him.
Young man, Ketron made an absurd expression. The person saying that didn’t seem that much different from him.
Eddie, who had composed his expression, handed Ketron the entire medicine bottle. Then, he looked at him as if he were looking at someone pitiful and admirable, and reached out to stroke Ketron’s hair.
“Still, take the medicine if you can.”
A hand stroking his hair, following the grain. It was treatment he had never received even when he was very young, so Ketron froze stiffly.
There had been a time when a man had stroked his head without him realizing it, but he had brushed it off because he was out of it. This time, however, he was sober. But even so, he couldn’t refuse the man’s touch.
Besides, was it just his imagination that the touch felt like he was petting a pet?
“I told you, you can stay as long as you want. It’s okay if you stay here, so make yourself comfortable.”
If he had to be specific, it was like a feline animal.
“Rest well, Ket.”
Ketron’s expression contorted once again at the nickname, as if confirming Ketron’s suspicions.
He said his name was Eddie. Eddie told him that he could come down to the first floor and eat whenever he wanted.
He said he would always be there.
Ketron once again felt the urge to ask why he was being so nice to him, but he stopped, thinking that he would probably hear something similar to what he had heard on the first floor last time.
Eddie brought Ketron’s clothes, which Gerold had magically laundered in an instant, and disappeared.
Ketron, who had changed into the fluffy clothes, carefully lay down on the bed for the first time in three days since entering this room.
It was an ordinary bed in an inn with no special types of rooms, but it was soft and fairly clean.
Was it because it was the capital? But even so, the hygiene of the capital inns that Ketron had experienced countless times was mostly terrible, so this cleanliness must also be one of the special features of this inn.
Clean and cozy.
Just like that man.
“…”
Ketron, who had reflexively thought of the man, narrowed his eyes and pondered.
The man said he was an ordinary innkeeper.
But he was an unusual man, both in appearance and in his actions.
His sparkling silver hair and mysterious purple eyes were the exclusive property of a noble bloodline.
It wasn’t that he was stuck in a class system and thinking this way, but silver hair was originally precious in this empire.
Especially if it was truly sparkling silver blonde, not just claiming to be silver hair with dull gray hair.
In addition, his unique accent was the pronunciation of nobles.
And yet, he was holed up in this inn like a commoner. Was he a bastard of some noble family?
Besides, the things he carried around. That banana milk was something Ketron, who had traveled all over the continent, had never heard of, and the things he showed him, saying they were from the East, were also very unfamiliar.
Ketron felt around his side. He could feel the medicine applied tightly inside the bandage.
He didn’t know if it would actually work, and it would be a big problem if it was poisonous, but Ketron, who didn’t have much attachment to his remaining life, simply closed his eyes.
But he still couldn’t fall asleep. His heart continued to murmur, and his stomach felt full and stuffy, as if he had eaten too much.
After tossing and turning several times, Ketron finally jumped up from his seat.
It wasn’t that he had something great to do. It was just that his body, which had never rested, felt awkward staying in one place, so he couldn’t help it.
「Where are you going?」
‘That filthy sword’ had been silent as if angry, but when Ketron showed signs of moving somewhere, he hurriedly asked.
“To the first floor.”
「Why there?」
Albatross sneered, as if he had found the answer himself after asking first.
「Did your heart move because he was nice to you?」
It was a vague statement, but Ketron immediately understood it. The subject of ‘because he was nice to you’ would be the innkeeper. Ketron stared at the Sacred Sword Albatross silently.
His heart moved, huh.
What an absurd statement. The Sacred Sword Albatross also knew it.
Of course, that couldn’t be true.
There was no way he could have recovered from the shock of being erased from the world in just a few days.
He still thought he was someone who could die. Because he had nothing to lose. Not even his own life.
Because he had nothing left to be attached to in the world.
But certainly—yes, certainly, a little.
A little, he felt better. Just a little. He didn’t know if the man had intended it, but he felt a little better after seeing those absurd actions. Whether it was his mood, his motivation, or whatever.
But to be pointed that out by the Sacred Sword Albatross of all people.
Ketron smiled slightly. Of course, it was far from a gentle smile.
“What about you?”
「What.」
“I knew you were picky about people’s appearances.”
Albatross quickly realized what Ketron was pointing out. He was pointing out that he had stopped abruptly because he was worried that the innkeeper would get hurt.
Albatross jumped.
「I only stopped because I was worried that you would be in trouble if that human got hurt because of me!」
“Trouble?”
It was absurd. To exaggerate a bit, about 1/5 of the crises Ketron had experienced so far were due to accidents caused by Albatross not being able to control his temper.
That foul-tempered sword was merciless to those he didn’t like, and if it had been someone else just now, he would have inflicted a fatal injury on the person who had fallen and been crushed, regardless of whether the other person was hurt or not.
But he didn’t.
It was a fact that no one in the world knew, not even described in books, except for Ketron, but the Holy Sword Albatross was a terrible face-con.
But Albatross seemed truly wronged.
「Do you think I stopped because I thought that guy was pretty?」
“Then why did you stop?”
「…」
Albatross was silent for a moment. Albatross, who was unusually evasive, said quietly.
「He has discerning eyes.」
“…?”
Ketron, who was washing at the time, couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Hmph, Albatross made a sound and became quiet. Even though he was the one who spoke, he acted as if he didn’t want to be spoken to anymore.
The Sacred Sword Albatross’s personality was so fickle that this wasn’t the first or second time he had acted like this. Ketron ignored Albatross and left the room.
As he was going down the stairs, Ketron stopped in the middle of the stairs and glanced at the first floor. He could see the interior of the first floor, which was deserted even though it was daytime.
‘…Can business really be this bad? There are a lot of tourists, and there should be a lot of mouths to feed in the empire right now.’
The first floor was so empty that he couldn’t help but worry about it.
Still, the interior was quite spacious and clean. Seeing that he was running such a large inn in the central square, which had the most expensive land prices in the empire, it wasn’t Ketron’s place to worry about whether business was good or not.
Ketron was once again thinking about the ‘Eddie is a noble’ theory when he made eye contact with Eddie, who had come out of the kitchen for a moment.
“…”
“…”
The two were silent for a moment.
Ketron took a step back and went up one step on the stairs, even though it wouldn’t be hidden by doing so.
Of course, Ketron knew that too. How worthless this action was. It wasn’t like the eye contact would disappear, and there was no way that man would pretend not to have found him.
As expected, Eddie, who had no intention of pretending not to see him, smiled and spoke to Ketron, who had an embarrassed expression.
“Ket, you came at the right time.”
That damned nickname. Before Ketron could complain about the moniker, Eddie spoke again.
“I was going to make a new menu item, but I’m a little short-handed. Would you mind helping me out?”
“…”
“Let’s eat together after we make it. How about it?”
Ketron pondered.
It wasn’t whether or not to help Eddie as he suggested that he was considering.
He was contemplating whether to continue allowing the man to use that pet name he had naturally started using at some point.
Ket—even setting aside how embarrassing it was, it didn’t suit him at all. Wasn’t it too cheesy to use a nickname that evoked an image of a very lovely and cute cat on a man like him?
However, Ketron soon changed his mind.
What did it matter what others called him? Besides, if he didn’t let him call him Ket, he felt like he would call him ‘Baby’ or something, and he disliked that even more.
He wouldn’t be staying here that long anyway. It wouldn’t be a big problem to just let the nickname slide for a while.
The man, not yet realizing that this was a misjudgment, took Eddie’s words as a request to earn his keep and nodded.