Mysterious Woman

My heavy body refused to move.

I did not know how long I had maintained this posture; by the time I realized it, my knees had long since lost all sensation.

Waking meant crying, crying until my head throbbed and my throat felt torn, only to collapse back into a dead faint from exhaustion—a recurring cycle.

Even the most resilient body could not withstand such torment, let alone one just beginning to recover from a major illness. Each time I struggled awake from the cold stupor, it felt like being hauled from the deep sea, soaked in cold sweat, leaving only an empty shell gnawed hollow by grief to gasp for breath in vain.

Rustle… rustle…

Struggling, I crawled up from the straw pile.

My throat was raspy, leaving behind only the searing pain that follows excessive screaming.

The tear tracks that had long since dried on my cheeks tugged at my swollen, heavy eyelids.

“Can’t… go on like this.”

My voice was broken, sounding like rusty iron plates grinding together—frighteningly unfamiliar.

I had to do something.

I had to do something.

Anything, as long as it allowed me to grasp something tangible, as long as it could fill the black hole in my chest that was frantically collapsing and swallowing all light.

Once I allowed my thoughts to slide toward that sea of fire, toward that silhouette, toward that frozen moment… the sanity I had barely managed to freeze with willpower would instantly shatter again.

This was likely my body’s self-defense mechanism.

My heart was empty, and at the edge of that massive void, regret and pain still dripped and corroded like cold acid, silent and relentless. I could clearly feel the chill; it was right there, lurking, waiting for the slightest crack.

So, I couldn’t think about it anymore. At least… not now.

I shook my head, crudely packing and binding those images, sounds, sorrows, and despairs, shoving them with all my might into a dark corner deep within my consciousness.

Keep walking.

This thought was no longer a goal, but had become a cold, mandatory command that had to be executed.

First, keep walking.

Slowly, using almost all my strength, I forced open my eyelids, which felt as heavy as sluice gates. Blurred light pierced my swollen eyeballs, bringing a wave of soreness. Everything in my vision was covered in a layer of gray haze, as if looking through a pane of filthy glass.

First, stay alive.

Swaying like a dilapidated marionette, I slowly stood up.

I gripped the rough edge of the earthen wall beside me, the coarse texture grinding against the unhealed blisters on my palms until my knuckles turned white, barely stabilizing my center of gravity.

Inside, there was no peace, no sense of relief. There was only a coldness tempered by despair.

I didn’t know how to process this emotion, so… I had to set it aside for now.

Just the thought of it carried an exhausting weight.

My gaze moved with difficulty, passing over the mess of straw that had carried too many tears and too much madness, finally landing in the corner—my suitcase and that familiar cylinder were sitting there silently.

I hadn’t touched the toolbox recovered from the pirate ship yet. Taking the time to transfer my tools would be convenient in many ways, and I had ideas about modifying it, but that would require many materials. For now, I wouldn’t consider it.

Opening the suitcase, I took a cursory look at the tools I possessed, finally sighing as I reached for the section containing medicine.

I’d drink some water and take the medicine; as for organizing the tools… that would wait until I confirmed I was truly safe. For now, simply maintaining this body was my limit.

Gulp, gulp…

I stuffed the medicine into my mouth, followed by a swallow of fresh water. I knelt to close the case again and slung it, along with the cylindrical toolbox, onto my back beneath my cloak.

Whoosh—

A biting cold wind blew in through the window, carrying the scent of soil and some kind of fodder. The bone-chilling cold made me shiver. I looked around the dilapidated, simple earthen room once more. Although logic told me I was currently in the peril-filled Demon Realm, no matter how I looked at it… this place looked too much like the stables used for livestock back home. Or perhaps it was built to pen some other kind of animal. But that wasn’t the point.

These rough earthen walls, this simple structure… no matter how I looked at it, the construction techniques were so similar to those of our lands. Of course, it could just be… some coincidence? After all, practical structures often share commonalities.

After scanning the interior of the “stable,” my gaze inevitably landed on the closed, rough, heavy wooden door nearby.

Fragments of memory sliced through my mind, cold and sharp.

A Nako woman with the same brown ears, yet clad in light armor…

At that time… I was too overcome with grief to distinguish between illusion and reality, but now I could remember clearly.

She was the one who brought me here. So… what was the purpose? Why save me? Was she truly motivated by “rescue”? And there were no restraints, leaving me free to move. Was this… a test? Or…

My brain didn’t stop turning; it continued to analyze and deduce out of habit. But just as countless questions pelted that fragile layer of “calm” like hailstones—

Creak—

The heavy wooden door of the stable was slowly pushed open.

A figure stood at the doorway. Her clothing… was extremely simple. A wide bamboo hat covered most of her face. She wore a thin top and skirt woven from straw that barely showed their original pattern, and her worn-out straw sandals revealed toes reddened by the cold and a bit of stained skin on her ankles.

“…Are you already awake?”

It was the common tongue.

Her voice carried a hint of cautious uncertainty, as if she were worried about a communication barrier. She slowly removed the bamboo hat from her head.

Ears… she was indeed of the Nako race—

“I am very sorry. Settling the other surviving tribespeople took some time.”

As her face gradually became clear in the dim light filtering through the door once the hat was removed, I couldn’t help but… freeze.