Several hours later, approaching evening around five o'clock, Zavi regained consciousness and struggled to make his way out of the forest while avoiding the threat of the approaching night. He hoped someone would find him, or at least take him to a crowded place, because he was afraid of encountering another Silent-type Chalog.
Meanwhile, blood continued to seep through the cloth bandages he had torn from the remains of his coat. Pain. Fatigue. Anxiety. All those sensations mixed together, making his chest pound harder than before, each breath triggering adrenaline that forced him to stay alive and keep moving forward.
"Stay calm… hold on a little longer," he muttered softly, his voice almost inaudible.
He kept trying, crawling with the last of his strength, refusing to give up before truly leaving this forest. After everything that had happened, he realized that pretending to be strong like most people was not something that suited him.
It required great effort and sacrifice.
Several dozen minutes later, he reached a fork in the road. He chose the path ahead because earlier he had marked it with scratches on a tree trunk when entering the forest. That road led to the forest edge, a shortcut between two cities.
"Finally…"
Zavi let out a long breath. His feelings were mixed between satisfaction and relief. He then tried to stand, even though half of his leg was gone and his right leg was full of bite wounds.
After considering that crawling was not an efficient way to move, he decided to find a piece of wood strong enough to support his body.
Not long after, he found one, although its length and diameter were not entirely what he had hoped for. The wood was about two meters long and thirteen centimeters in diameter.
Zavi's height was one hundred sixty-seven centimeters, a height that was not very common in that city.
Since childhood until his teenage years, people around him often warned him to eat more, sleep regularly, and exercise routinely.
However, he no longer wanted to try. He had followed all that advice, but still failed. At the age of sixteen, his height stopped at around one hundred seventy centimeters. Yes, four years had only added about five centimeters.
"Why does this piece of wood look too neat? Did someone deliberately throw it here?" he muttered, thinking about something that actually sounded trivial.
The sky grew darker, making Zavi hesitate as he imagined the possibility of encountering a group of Chalog, while the only weapon he had was a revolver whose bullets were already gone.
In a situation like this, he remembered Albert who had given him the bullets and the revolver now in his hand. He even wished Albert would appear again and give him more bullets. Thinking about that made Zavi smile bitterly.
After walking for several minutes while lifting one leg, he finally reached the edge of the forest, the road he had passed the previous night.
Fortunately, as evening approached, several people passed by and only stared at him when they saw his blood-soaked leg, although they did not dare approach to help. Even so, it made Zavi's heart feel a little calmer than before.
After entering the residential area on Road No. 10 in the Luand District, Zavi hurried toward the man's stall to inform him that he had obtained one of the ingredients needed for the potion.
Yes, earlier he had asked Moreira along with Celvira to search for other ingredients that could be obtained in the black market at an astonishing price. He had even pleaded while lowering his head so that the two of them would be willing to find them, because tonight was the full moon and he did not want to waste that opportunity.
They went to that black market and bought the last two ingredients there: crystal particles and five grams of blue mint leaves, for about 80 Pace.
At that time, before paying for the fine powder, Zavi was shocked to see stacks of dozens even hundreds of banknotes used by Celvira to pay. Even the shop owner was stunned, his mouth wide open as if he could not believe what he saw, yet he accepted it happily.
However, that happiness did not last long when Moreira firmly grasped the man's hand with a serious expression. He did not know where Celvira had obtained so much money, and although he was not certain that the girl was an evil spirit, Moreira disliked anyone who tried to take advantage of his innocence.
In the end, the man felt guilty and only took a few banknotes according to the amount he had previously mentioned.
The other potion ingredients were easy to find in any market across the city, and the stall owner, Ulriech, took the initiative to buy them while waiting for the remaining important ingredient.
The clock showed six thirty-five in the evening. The night air felt colder than the night before, and every breath carried a fragrant scent that refreshed the mind while walking along Road No. 10.
The full moon looked perfect, stars sparkling beautifully in the night sky, making the night feel different from before. Yet behind that beauty, something was lurking — something that would appear and destroy everything, including this world.
When Zavi arrived at the market intersection, precisely at the stall.
"Sir, how did you know the ingredients of the potion and their composition?" Zavi asked curiously, walking carefully with a stick as support while pushing aside the tarp.
For a moment, the stall owner, Mr. Ulriech, seemed surprised. His eyes widened before blinking twice. He chuckled softly before speaking in a half-serious tone.
"Because I'm not from here. I was born and raised in Yasseka, located in the southwest of this kingdom."
'Hah, Yasseka? Just as I thought, I could see it in his eyes, just like these eyes,' Zavi thought while straightening his stick.
The man took a deep breath before continuing.
"Like the news about strange deaths spreading across the eastern continent, Chynoria, reports of humans dying because of Chalog are quite common in Yasseka, especially in towns and villages near valleys, rivers, and lakes. Yes, the assassin type and the curse type are behind all of that."
"And one of the victims who died was someone close to me who encountered a Curse-type Chalog. People who saw it said the curse entered through the nose when they breathed, including the ears, and the mouth that was open when he saw the creature. The process only lasted a fraction of a second, destroying the cells of his body from the inside, stopping his blood flow, and turning his flesh dark purple before it finally exploded."
"Yes, one of them was my older brother. After my parents found out, they told me and my younger sister to move to another city." He smiled faintly before continuing. "And somehow, I ended up marrying her. Right, Carla?" He turned toward his wife with a happy smile.
Zavi felt sympathy after hearing that story. He felt guilty because his question might have forced the man to recall those bitter memories.
However, it also made him realize the existence of his own parents including the people closest to him, and raised various confusing questions in his mind.
"Sorry, sir. May I ask one more thing?" he said. "About earlier, I didn't mean to—"
"Ah… no need to worry," Ulriech cut in quickly. "After all, I don't want to get angry at my own customer, hahaha."
Zavi frowned. He did not fully believe it, but he was still impressed that the man did not make an issue out of it.
"Ah. Alright…"
Ulriech immediately sat down, ready to listen and answer according to his knowledge.
"About the blue-eyed race?" Zavi asked, noticing Ulriech nodding. "Are they actually not originally from this city? More precisely as 'outsiders', is that correct?" he asked while staring at Ulriech without blinking.
Ulriech rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment before answering.
"I'm not entirely sure and don't want to say it," he said with an expression as if hiding something. "But one thing is certain… most likely the blue-eyed race, including you and me, are not originally from this kingdom."
His gaze briefly shifted to the street in front of him and he quickly added, "Because most people here have orange and gray eyes."
"I see…" Zavi said quietly, letting out a disappointed sigh because he had not yet found the answer he was looking for, about the dark secret of this world.
Suddenly, his wife, Carla, appeared out of nowhere. Standing right beside Zavi, she said with a tone full of curiosity, "What are you two talking about? It sounds interesting." Her gaze then fell on the bandage on Zavi's leg that was slowly filling with blood again.
"Eh, you're injured?" she asked anxiously as she hurried closer.
"What do you mean?" Ulriech muttered in confusion. Then he quickly stood and approached him and realized that half of Zavi's leg was gone.
'Why did I only notice it after talking with him all this time? How can he act so normal after suffering such a wound?' he thought worriedly.
Meanwhile, Carla entered the house behind their row of stalls, including the other stalls lined up along the branching street, to get equipment to treat the wound, prevent infection, and stop the bleeding.
The old bandage was removed and discarded, then replaced with a new sterile one.
Ulriech and Carla suggested that Zavi immediately go to the nearest hospital to have his wound stitched. What they had done was only first aid. Without stitches, his body could lose too much blood and end in death.
However, Zavi did not know whether the technique of stitching wounds truly existed in this world. After asking further, he learned that the technique was already available in public hospitals, among medical personnel, and in hospitals established by disaster relief foundations.
"Carla, watch the stall," he said in a restrained tone. "I'll take him to the nearest hospital."
Hearing her husband's words, Carla nodded in response.
Ulriech sighed. "Come on, let me carry you," he said gently and with concern.
Seeing that, Zavi scratched his cheek before replying briefly, "Alright."
'Won't this trouble the two of them?'
Two hours later, after enduring the pain while his wound was stitched and the bleeding had completely stopped, Zavi could breathe more calmly and his heartbeat returned to a steady rhythm.
However, the pain was still clearly present in his mind. He thought that his cooperation with Moreira might end after Moreira learned about his current condition, walking with two wooden crutches.
He also did not know how his mother and Isabelle would react when he returned home later. Would they scold him? Of course.
For now, he chose to restore his physical and mental condition first.
However, that worry did not last long when he and Ulriech returned to the stall, standing across the street and seeing two people sitting on chairs behind the tarp.
Realizing someone's presence from behind, Celvira immediately glanced from the edge of the stall's tarp which had already been slightly torn by age.
'There he is.'
"Excuse me. Sorry, you two must have waited too long."