0. Opening (1)

0.

Two people were walking on a path that cut through the middle of a forest. The two were holding each other's hands, as if they were quite close.

"Shall we rest here for a while, Aini?"

A man wearing a white robe and holding a cane pointed to a large stump by the side of the road.

The robe was a little worn out, but it was with a large hood. And under the hood, many parts of the upper body were bulging as if there were many pockets here and there. He had more baggage than average travelers, so he had to make a lot of pockets even with a large backpack.

"Sorry for dragging us down, Derek."

The other person was very short compared to the man. Aini walking beside Derek was small enough to barely touch on his chest. So, to keep up with her stride, Derek was walking much slower than usual, carrying most of the luggage. Even so, Aini was sometimes out of breath and had difficulty walking.

"You shouldn't be sorry. The wounds haven't even healed yet."

As soon as Aini sat down on the stump of the tree, Derek pulled a fist-sized bottle from a pocket inside his robe. As soon as the bottle was opened, a spicy scent wafted around.

"But I can see that you are being very considerate, Derek..."

After pouring the medicine into his hand, Derek moved aside Aini's light blue robe and sat down on one knee. Then, he applied plenty of medicine to the wounds on Aini's ankle. Aini frowned at the unfamiliar feeling of how the medicine touched her skin, but she did not resist as she knew that it was inevitable.

"It's fine, really."

With his assuring look, Derek took some medicine and applied it to the wounds on Aini's wrists.

The wounds on Aini's wrists and ankles were so sore and poisonous that they had turned ugly. In particular, the wounds on the ankles might have been caused by squeezing the ankle bones, and the shape of her ankles was also twisted.

That was why it was so difficult for her to walk quickly in addition to Aini being shorter than Derek. As a result, the two of them were traveling along the road slower than expected.

"I like that your hands are warm."

Aini with a young face said while holding Derek's right hand with both hands, who had just finished applying the medicine. Derek smiled and stroked Aini's hair with his left hand because he thought she was cute. As if she liked the touch, Aini rubbed her head in Derek's hand quite too much, smiling.

For a moment, the wind passed by. The wind moving through the forest was quite cool and refreshing. Probably because there are many trees with pointed leaves like pine trees. And it may be because there are not many traces of people to the extent that the road remains unclear.

"Wait a little. It's a bit early, but after dinner... We'll walk a little longer and then we'll camp."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get some water. I think there was a river over there, so I'll walk and come back."

Having said that, Derek stopped stroking her head and tried to get his backpack down for a moment, but Aini's reaction was a little strange.

"... All right. Try to come back soon..."

After hesitating for a while, Aini said so, grabbing Derek's hand. Derek laughed and nodded embarrassedly at the sight, which was both cute and sad.

"I'll go as fast as I can and come back."

Derek said helplessly and pulled a small pot and leather canteen from his backpack. While doing so, he let go of the cane, but the cane did not fall down, standing still. The cane gets sharper as it goes down, but a cane floating in the air doesn't definitely seem like a natural phenomenon.

But neither Aini nor Derek acted as if the cane had been always like this and paid no attention to it. Derek quietly loosened the pockets and gear he was wearing, lightening his body.

"Yes. I'll call you if anything happens."

Aini was weaving her hands together, not knowing what to do. Then she looked up at Derek and wished that he would come back early. When Derek saw her, he felt both sorry and sad, and resolved to come back as soon as possible.

The night in the forest comes early. Unlike yesterday, when they walked on flat ground, the sky seemed a little yellow, and the sun was almost setting. It must have been because the trees covered most of the sky.

The late autumn weather after the frost was chilly, but Aini's robe and clothes were warm enough. And they didn't sweat a lot, and their body temperature didn't drop too much since they were traveling without being too harsh on them, so it was quite comfortable.

[Rustle]

Something rustled in the bushes behind her. Aini looked back in surprise...

"A squirrel?"

He was probably carrying acorns to survive the winter. There was a squirrel holding an acorn, looking at Aini whose eyes were shining at a small animal she had never seen before. They were staring at each other with their eyes shining brightly. Then the squirrel briefly put the acorn in its mouth.

"Ah."

The squirrel started moving again, but he moved so fast that it was hard to follow him with eyes, and soon he arrived at the end of the stump where Aini was sitting. Aini made a sound of regret because she thought the squirrel was leaving soon, but it was nice and surprised to see him rather approaching.

Soon the squirrel took out the acorn from its mouth and began to gnaw it. He grabbed both sides of the acorn with both paws, skillfully peeled off the shell with his front paws, and stared at Aini.

Why does he look at a person while trying to eat an acorn with only white flesh left? Seeing the squirrel's meal she had never seen before, Aini tilted her head several times, observing it.

"Huh? Why?"

The squirrel, who had been staring at her for a while, left the acorn without its shells on the stump and went down. Aini was dazed because she couldn't understand the behavior of the squirrel, which suddenly ran away without eating, but the he took a new acorn from the bottom of the bush and peeled it again.

"...?"

The squirrel, which had peeled furiously while turning sideways this time, looked at Aini and the acorn in turn. This time, there was one more target to look at. The acorn just peeled off, the acorn in Aini's hand, and Aini.

Aini wanted to touch the squirrel because it was cute, but she let it go as it seemed scared and cautious enough. And she moved carefully so as not to raise its guard as much as possible.

The squirrel, holding the peeled acorn, first hesitantly approached Aini, and then placed the acorn next to Aini's hand. Then it returned to its original spot and picked up another acorn. Then, it began to nibble on the acorn with its mouth moving furiously.

Unable to determine whether the acorn was given to her or whether the squirrel accidentally left it there, Aini just stared at the squirrel. The squirrel busily nibbling on them was cute and lovely, and simply looking at it seemed to warm her heart. Aini was able to smile a little.

[Thud...]

The squirrel, who dropped the acorn he was eating, went down the stump for a while to find the acorn he had dropped... But he couldn't find it in the end.

Then he started to look alternately at Aini and the acorn. The acorn, Aini, the acorn, Aini, the acorn... And the squirrel's eyes became big and started to well up, and he even show some tears.

"Do you want some?"

Aini held the acorn forward carefully with her small, trembling hands. The squirrel looked at Aini and the acorn alternately a few times before carefully approaching, received the acorn that Aini held out and began to nibble again, sitting on the tip of the stump.

"What are you doing?"

"Ahh!"

Surprised by Derek's voice from behind, Aini froze in her place. A sudden loud noise made the squirrel put the whole acorn in his mouth, raising his guard.

"Oh... It's a squirrel."

In Derek's hand were a pot and a leather canteen full of water. Water was still dripping to the floor, having been thrown into the river to fetch water. And Derek was out of breath as if he was running.

"Do you know how to use animal-related magic?"

"He just came."

And Aini felt sorry because she thought the squirrel was going to leave now. He was poised as if it were about to go down the stump right away.

"I think you are scaring him away, Derek."

"Ah... I'm sorry. By the way, I think that squirrel is hurt."

"Yeah?"

Derek's right eye briefly glowed blue. Derek, who put his thoughts together with a serious expression for a moment, handed over the pot to Aini and put the canteen in his bag.

"What are you going to do?"

"I think he got hurt near his stomach. If we apply some ointment to his stomach while luring him with something to eat... I think it might be a bit better for him."

"How did you know?"

"It's a simple magic. Even if I look like this now, at one time I wandered around as a wandering doctor."

Derek began to rummage through the bottom of a large backpack to find something. Seeing that, Aini put aside her sadness and regret, and nodded.

"Hmm... I think I can get him to show me his belly for a second."

Aini first put the pot she was holding on the floor for a moment. Then she took a deep breath, and after a moment opened her eyes. Then, the index finger of her right hand began to glow in a slightly brighter color. Derek, who was looking for medicine in his pocket, also looked sideways, wondering what she was up to.

"A-haha..."

The squirrel seemed to like Aini's index finger, and showed affection by rubbing his face for a while and licking her fingers. Without biting or scratching, he placed his nose on Aini's index finger and rubbed his entire body while sniffing the scent. And soon, Aini slowly rotated her index finger...

"Shingaha..."

The squirrel turned over and started licking Aini's index finger while grabbing it. However, they couldn't be so happy about it because there was a long wound from the squirrel's chest to the lower belly.

"Ah."

Even Aini, who had been using magic, was shocked by the terrible wound and almost got distracted for a moment. However, the squirrel still lay down and hugged Aini's index finger, as if she still liked Aini.

"He won't run away even when I apply ointment, right?"

Rodents are quick and nimble. Derek put some ointment on his finger and if he runs away while he applies it, it would be difficult to catch him again.

"Try, slowly."

Aini said without any smile on her face. The index finger was still weakly shining.

"Well... It's all done."

All they did was washing the wound with human disinfectant and applying a thin layer of ointment, but it's still better than nothing. Both Derek and Aini were travelers who didn't have much, so this was all they could do.

"Thank you for your effort. I hope he gets better soon."

The light soon disappeared from Aini's index finger, but the squirrel was still licking it. He was cautious at first, but it was clinging to her wrist and elbow back and forth.

"But... Will this squirrel die someday?"

Said Aini, smiling sadly. The squirrel started nibbling the acorn again. Aini also found the fallen acorn and put it next to the squirrel with simple telekinesis.

"I guess so."

Like all living things, nothing can live forever. Derek couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when he told her the truth.

"Then... Did we save it for nothing?"

Derek sighed at Aini's hesitant words. I thought it would be better to tell the reality than to try to beautify it. Aini looks like she is in her early teens, but she was stunted due to malnutrition and was actually a little older. She will probably be an adult in a few years.

"No. What matters is how we think and what we value. Like our lives."

"A man's life?"

Aini looked up at Derek as if she was thinking squirrels aren't humans. Derek was able to smile at least because both Aini and the squirrel gnawing the acorn behind her were so cute.

"We too will die someday. Because no one can live forever.

But during our life, we can keep and focus on certain memories... It's our choice who we are going to live with."

Aini thought it was a difficult story to take in, but she looked at the squirrel next to her as she suddenly remembered something.

"Hmm... Like how we feel proud after saving the squirrel?"

Derek nodded at her and put a wide smile on his face.

"We might die tomorrow, but we felt rewarded and enjoyed the process of treatment. I think it was meaningful enough just to feel that way."

Aini finally understood and nodded. He took Derek's hand.

"That's why you saved me?"

"There is no such simple reason for that. Still, Ainisis, I'm glad I was able to save you."

The hands that were holding each other's hand were tightly bound.