Chapter 163
Chapter 6. The Fall
‘This is…’
A sign of corruption. A cursed mark.
The scaly serpent tattoo had risen, rough and bumpy.
As soon as Payne noticed it, he suddenly collapsed forward.
“Payne, wait! Snap out of it!”
Thanks to Juvia’s magic, Payne’s curse was visibly improving.
The demonic energy was consistently removed, and to avoid any adverse effects, magic use was restrained near him.
‘But why is he suddenly corrupted?’
Worryingly, Ashtel rolled up her sleeves and froze after seeing the mark stretching from his shoulder to his wing bone.
“Ugh…”
Payne’s breathing grew rapid. His fevered breath was like sparks drifting in the wind.
This couldn’t continue.
‘I need to bring down his fever first…’
As she nervously traced the dark pattern, Ashtel touched Payne’s forehead and jumped back in surprise.
‘It wasn’t this hot before.’
Immediately, she rummaged through her bag and took out medicine.
Of course, she had antipyretics ready.
According to Chacha, humans could fall ill suddenly for no reason, so they needed to carry medicine.
Faithfully following that advice, Ashtel had packed emergency supplies even while fleeing.
Now all she had to do was get him to take it…
“Payne, try to get up. Let’s take the medicine.”
Payne, trembling painfully with his eyes tightly shut, seemed not to hear her.
With no choice, Ashtel propped him against a tree stump, intending to force the medicine into his mouth.
But Payne, too weak even to swallow, just let his head fall when the bottle touched his lips.
“No… wake up.”
A boundless anxiety overwhelmed her.
It was the first time she’d felt this way.
Her heart felt as if it was tumbling down a cliff.
She carefully tilted the bottle to wet Payne’s mouth, but the potion dribbled down his chin without being swallowed.
‘Payne’s lost consciousness.’
She’d seen him cough before, but never fell so ill. Though she’d studied humans extensively, the crisis had left her mind blank.
Shaking off her panic, Ashtel took a deep breath and drank the bitter liquid herself.
The unpleasant texture filled her mouth.
She bent down to touch Payne’s lips with the bottle again.
The shadow of a demon fretting over a mere human fallen priest merged together.
Soon, the quiet forest echoed with the sound of gulping as Payne swallowed.
“Haa.”
Her attempt was clumsy but she managed to get the medicine down.
Rubbing her slick lips, Ashtel searched her medicine box to give him more.
‘We won’t be moving today.’
She’d rather be in an inn, but the village seemed unsafe.
‘What if Payne keeps getting worse even after the medicine?’
It was surely a fever caused by the corruption.
Humans could die instantly from such high fever, so Ashtel kept wide awake, watching Payne carefully.
‘I need to contact Sis Carmen and see if she has a solution.’
She gently laid Payne down, hurriedly searching for a communication device.
Though she ran far to avoid harming Payne with the demon-world magic, Carmen didn’t answer.
“Why won’t she pick up?!”
Unable to leave Payne’s side for long, Ashtel’s last attempt went unanswered, and she returned with a gloomy face.
‘This can’t go on…’
Watching Payne writhe painfully and glancing at the distant city’s faint starlight, she made up her mind.
Ashtel created an invisible tunnel, moved Payne there, and began to act secretly.
* * *
“No, how exactly do you make that?”
—I thought you could do it.
“Search the entire empire for a human with only a strand of hair? Does my magic look that simple?”
Meanwhile, Carmen, whom Ashtel had been desperately searching for, was having a noisy call with someone else.
—Simple? No way. I’ve always admired your magic.
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