Chapter 15

Thinking of the Korean beef set that had come out of the random box, I smacked my lips in anticipation.

For now, it was sealed away. I’d left it near the cold spring—nature’s own refrigerator—so it should stay fine for a couple of days.

‘You need salt to grill it. Eating it plain would be bland….’

…Wait.

Did they deliberately not give me salt?

To push me into going to the village to buy some…?!

‘Seriously? Is this some kind of shadowy scheme…?!’

While I was internally hurling curses at the system, Ninabel stepped forward, fidgeting anxiously.

“Master…! If Nini spreads out wide and carries Master on top…!”

Yeah, no. That’s too slow.

We’d already tried Ninabel’s suggestion a long time ago.

Muriel’s body might be light, but it’s not feather-light. At the very least, I had to weigh around forty-five kilos.

Trying to move that much weight quickly exhausted a low-rank water spirit. The speed dropped to something even a snail would scoff at.

“Just keep pulling the cart.”

That’s right. Ninabel’s role was to haul the cart piled high with strawberries and vegetables.

For the record, Lycian had thrown the cart together in no time flat. His handiwork was incredible.

When I asked if he could make furniture too, he said yes without hesitation… which made me regret, just a little, the coins I’d spent buying furniture.

‘I should’ve had Lycian make the furniture and used the coins to open the hidden shop….’

In any case, riding on Ninabel wasn’t an option—and getting carried by Lycian didn’t seem feasible either.

Wouldn’t that be hard on him too? No matter how his stamina was supposedly 999…

“Master, you should get on my back. At this rate, you’ll collapse before we even reach the village.”

Lycian served me again with the inconveniently accurate truth. Yeah. Even I thought I’d probably come down with a fever if I kept this up.

Letting out a long sigh, I finally decided to go along with him.

“If you get tired while carrying me, you have to tell me. I’ll get down right away.”

“I won’t get tired. You know I’ve got great stamina.”

“No matter how good your stamina is, you’re still a person—”

…The words slipped out before I could stop myself, and I froze.

…Right. I’d forgotten for a moment. This guy might not even be human…!

Lycian’s information in the status window was still full of question marks. It’d probably stay that way until he chose to reveal his identity himself….

I was dying of curiosity, but I forced myself to hold back. When would he tell me? Did he have some kind of story—some reason he had to keep it hidden?

“Master, please get on.”

“….”

Lycian had already assumed the position and urged me on. There was no reason left to hesitate, so I obediently climbed onto his back.

When I wrapped my arms around his neck, he scooped my thighs up to support me, then stood up effortlessly.

“Am I heavy?”

“Not at all.”

When I asked, worried, Lycian replied lightly, as if it were nothing. There was even the faintest hint of a smile in his voice.

…The same voice he’d used back then, when he’d said, ‘Why are you so cute?’

My perfectly steady heartbeat skipped violently at that moment.

‘Damn it—stupid arrhythmia!’

Maybe it was because I hadn’t been eating properly; it malfunctioned like this sometimes. Once we got to the village, I’d have to buy a ton of good food.

Lycian walked at a moderate pace—not too slow, not too fast.

Fluffy white clouds like cotton candy blocked the sunlight, and the air was on the cool side. And yet my cheeks burned as if I’d been scorched.

‘Why am I so hot? It’s still chilly out….’

Letting out a deep sigh, I buried my face into Lycian’s shoulder. The clean, fresh scent of the forest drifted from him.

He doesn’t even wear cologne—so why does he smell like this…?

I forced myself to carefully control my breathing, so I wouldn’t start sniffing too obviously like some kind of pervert. My heart was still fluttering on its own.

This was all because my stamina was weak. Eat more protein. Exercise.

“Master, I had a feeling, but you really are light as a feather. I could probably run.”

“Don’t say nonsense. I’m not that light.”

“I’m serious. Want to test it?”

Speaking with confidence, Lycian shifted into a runner’s stance. He really looked like he meant to try.

“Hold on tight.”

His voice sounded a little mischievous, rough around the edges, carrying the arrogance of someone who trusted his own strength.

The question of who he really was flared up again—only for a moment.

“…!”

Lycian kicked off the ground and sprinted forward. I reflexively clutched his neck and squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.

Cold wind brushed against my skin. Muriel’s pale emerald hair fluttered like rippling waves.

The speed wasn’t as extreme as I’d feared. Lycian was clearly taking me into consideration as I clung to his back.

That realization… gave me a strangely complicated feeling.

“Are you okay, Master?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“If you feel dizzy at all, let me know.”

“No, I’m fine. This is comfortable.”

And it really was.

The Lycian Taxi(?) had surprisingly smooth and stable. He moved like a—well, this comparison was kind of ridiculous—a ninja.

Wasn’t this the kind of movement you only got through serious training?

As I mulled over that thought, Lycian slowed to a gentle stop.

Blinking in confusion, I looked at his profile and noticed his golden eyes fixed on something in the distance.

I followed his gaze.

And the moment I did—

“Wow….”

A vast, beautiful lake spread out before us, reflecting the deep blue sky.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yes. But….”

The rest was easy to guess. This lake, too, was contaminated.

It mirrored the blue sky so perfectly that it was hard to tell at a glance, but if you looked closely, the water was a dark, purplish black.

‘It’s huge… purifying it right now would be impossible.’

With my current purification skill, I could only cleanse about one pyeong at a time.

Maybe if I kept leveling up, the area I could purify would increase… but for now, it was out of the question.

Anyway.

“Want to rest here for a bit? Running nonstop can’t be easy for you either.”

“I’m perfectly fine. But if you want to rest, Master, then let’s do that.”

He showed no sign of fatigue at all. Still, feeling bad about making him carry me, I decided to take a break for his sake.

“Let’s rest for twenty minutes. Put me down.”

“If that’s your wish.”

Lycian slowly lowered himself. I carefully slid off his back and looked around.

Across a narrow path, a wide lakeshore stretched out on one side, with a dense forest on the other.

“Let’s rest under that tree over there.”

I pointed to a large tree near the lakeside.

I didn’t know what kind of tree it was, but its thick foliage and wide trunk made it perfect for a rest spot.

‘I should purify this area at least. So we can stop here again later.’

I gently placed my hand against the dull, dark purplish tree trunk.

Fwaah!

As always, a brilliant, opal-like light burst from my fingertips. But… this time, something was different.

‘Huh…?’

The light spread far wider than usual.

Eyes widening in shock, I watched as the system popped up a new notification with the sound of explosive fireworks.

“Holy crap.”

“…Master?”

When I exclaimed out loud, Lycian called out to me in a puzzled tone.

The moment I turned back to him with a bright smile, a sudden gust of wind swept through, carrying a fragrant floral scent.

Drawn by the aroma, I looked around—and a transformed scene came into view.

Around the large tree, roughly four pyeong of land had turned into a field overflowing with wildflowers.

Some of the plants I’d thought were just dark, withered grass turned out to be small, white wildflowers.

As those tiny blossoms came back to life, the scenery became breathtakingly beautiful.

With a pleased smile, I leaned back against the tree trunk and gestured to Lycian.

“Come on, sit here with me. You too, Ninabel.”

“Oh my! Master, did you purify this?”

“Yeah.”

Ninabel flew over first and immediately threw herself into my arms.

Lycian shot Ninabel a chilly glare, then, when his eyes met mine, softened his expression as if nothing had happened and came over to sit beside me.

“As expected, you’re amazing, Master.”

At his praise, I laughed awkwardly and opened the lunchbox Ninabel had brought out from the cart.

It seemed like skill levels went up as I accumulated experience.

There was no specific experience bar shown, so I couldn’t be sure…but still.

‘I didn’t expect the purifiable area to jump from one pyeong to four all at once.’

Four pyeong at level four…then does that mean at level eight, it becomes eight pyeong?

I couldn’t say for sure—but if I kept increasing the number of times I could use Purify, then the area on each level up…

‘Someday…maybe I could cleanse this lakeshore—no, the entire contaminated zone.’