The gentle hum of the kettle on the stone hearth was the only sound inside the warm cottage as Elena knelt before the wooden bench.
Her silk-white hair swayed slightly as she reached out, her delicate hands hovering just above Hanjun's severely mangled knuckles and Jayhon's heavily bruised shins.
"Close your eyes, sweethearts,"
Elena murmured softly.
"This might tickle a little."
Deep inside her chest, a radiant, emerald-tinted energy flared to life. It didn't look like Rika's violent, jagged Wood-Zheki roots; this was Life-Zheki—the rarest, most refined branch of natural energy.
As she extended her palms, a soothing, warm green glow washed over the boys' shattered skin.
Fzzzt.
The deep, jagged gashes on Hanjun's hand began to knit themselves back together at an impossible speed.
The purple swelling on his feet subsided, the crushed tissue aligning perfectly back into place within seconds.
Jayhon let out a long, shaky sigh as the dull ache in his ribs completely vanished, the bone fractures fusing seamlessly beneath his skin.
Hanjun sat perfectly still, flexing his completely healed fingers into a loose fist.
His vacant gray eyes darted from his unblemished knuckles to Elena's smiling face.
His expression remained entirely deadpan, but his voice carried a faint hint of dry, unintentional comedy.
"You know, you could've just done that from the start,"
Hanjun said flatly.
"We wouldn't have needed all that scrubbing, the nasty salves, or the painful wraps you put us through yesterday. You spent an hour doing manual labor when you could have just fixed us in five seconds. That's a terrible use of time."
Elena blinked, utterly stunned by the kid's blunt complaint, before letting out a melodic, ringing laugh.
"Oh, you strange little boy! The manual cleaning was to get the dirty sewer germs out first! Life-Zheki heals the skin, but it doesn't wash away mud."
She patted his cheek gently before standing up and turning to her husband, who was leaning against the doorframe, chewing on a piece of dried meat.
"Barn, dear, now that their skin isn't broken, they can't keep walking around in those oversized towels.Go down to the clothier market and buy them some proper trousers and shirts. And make sure they are soft!"
"Yes, boss,"
Barn grunted, a rough smile pulling at his bearded lips. He threw a quick wink at the kids, grabbed his heavy leather pouch, and stepped out into the morning air, closing the heavy oak door behind him.
Once the door clicked shut, Hanjun adjusted his massive towel and stared blankly at the kitchen wall.
"The fat pig really listens to everything you say,"
he muttered in a completely monotone tone.
"For a guy that big, you'd think he'd be the boss of the house."
"Hey!"
Elena pouted playfully, marching over to Hanjun and giving his left cheek a sudden, firm pinch.
"Don't call him a fat pig! Why do you think he brought you two starving kids here in the first place? He has the biggest, kindest heart in this entire miserable kingdom."
Jayhon, who was happily swinging his fully healed legs off the edge of the chair, looked up with genuine curiosity.
"Is Barn really just a normal slum guard, Lady Elena? When he was singing earlier... he didn't look like the other lazy guards. And he said Rodolf was no match for him."
Elena's charming face softened, a proud, nostalgic look warming her emerald eyes. She sat down on a stool across from them, resting her chin in her hands.
"My Barn used to be someone very, very important,"
Elena whispered, a gentle smile gracing her lips.
"Long ago, across the great eastern mountains, there was a powerful human empire called the Aethelgard Kingdom. Barn wasn't a slum patrolman back then.
He was a Grand General.
They called him the Golem King Slayer because he single-handedly shattered the core of a massive, rogue earth-titan that threatened to crush their capital."
Jayhon's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"A... a Grand General?!"
"Mmm,"
Elena
nodded, her white hair shimmering.
"But Barn grew tired of the endless wars and the corrupt nobles. He left his kingdom behind to travel the world, looking for a quiet life. And during his travels through the neutral borders, he found me."
She let out a soft giggle, her long, elegant ears twitching slightly.
"Though, our first meeting wasn't very romantic. I was a wild, bitter rogue back then, deeply angry at humans. I actually tried to kill him the very first moment we crossed paths! I launched three poisoned daggers straight at his throat."
"Your aim must have been pretty bad then,"
Hanjun observed deadpan.
"No, my aim was perfect!"
Elena pouted, tapping Hanjun's nose.
"But he was just too strong.
He deflected them with his bare hands. And even though I tried to end his life, when a pack of wild shadow-beasts attacked us a few hours later, he protected me.
In fact, during our travels together, he saved my life three separate times.
Eventually, I realized he was the gentlest man alive.
We fell in love, left the borderlands, and came here to Morvane to disappear."
She sighed, looking down at her clean linen dress.
"When we arrived, Barn didn't want any attention. He deliberately took the lowest, weakest job as a standard slum guard. He stopped training, started eating your human greasy meat pies, and grew that big belly just to blend in so the palace wouldn't recognize him.
He even forbids me from going outside without a heavy hooded cloak covering my face.
" Elena blew a stray strand of white hair out of her eyes, pouting heavily.
"He keeps saying, 'Elena, you're far too beautiful to be seen by these gutter rats. If the nobles see you, they'll try to steal you.' He's such an overprotective old bear."
While Elena was sharing tales of the hidden legend, Rodolf the sand guard was currently sitting on a stack of timber near the lower district barracks, aggressively polishing the iron tip of his spear. His face was twisted into a deep, brooding scowl.