Karon had managed to stop the bleeding on his way home as he crawled forward.
But the pain from the wound made it impossible for him to walk properly.
Stumbling over himself, he threw himself onto the bed without even closing the door and passed out.
When he woke up, Phen was sleeping beside his head.
"So you were worried."
The pain still hadn't faded, so he got up and began crushing herbs.
He removed the bloodied bandages and wrapped new herbal ones around the wound.
Small groans escaped his mouth from the burning sensation.
Awakened by the sounds, Phen ran toward Karon with anxious cries and curled up in his lap.
"The little energy I have is only enough for the wound. Sorry."
Karon focused the energy inside his body onto the injury and tried to close it.
The wide claw wound slowly pulled itself together, but it still refused to fully heal.
Burning with fever and covered in sweat, Karon threw himself back onto the bed and fell asleep again.
When he woke up, Phen was still there beside him.
He set Phen aside and prepared a herbal drink for himself.
As the fever and pain became unbearable, he opened his pocket dimension.
He chugged the green liquid inside a small bottle, then fell asleep once more.
When he woke up again, the wound had partially closed, his fever had dropped, and the pain had lessened.
Because of the injury, Karon was forced to change his daily routine.
He spent most of his time playing with Phen or writing formulas on sheets of paper.
As the wound slowly began to heal, he gathered his courage and headed back toward the wagon tracks.
The moment he reached them, his heart began pounding violently.
"Human tracks."
He started following the clearly visible footprints.
After running for a while, he spotted a figure near the gray fog, wrapped in cloth sheets like a man.
Slowly stepping out from the bushes, he spoke.
"Hello. I have no intention of hurting you."
Startled by the sudden voice, the man immediately took a defensive stance and attacked.
Karon drew Zelid and responded.
"I just want to talk."
The man slowed down and opened his mouth.
"What do you want from me?"
"I told you. I just want to talk."
The confused man raised one eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"It's a long story. I'll explain later. First, tell me what you're doing here."
The moment he heard the question, the man threw a knife before Karon could react.
The blade froze in midair in front of Karon.
"A mana user?"
While staring at the floating knife, the man suddenly turned and ran.
Karon grabbed the suspended blade and hurled it toward the man's leg.
The man shifted to the side and tried to keep running, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his foot.
The very knife he had avoided had pierced through his leg.
"Aaagh!"
Karon walked over, struck the back of the man's neck, and knocked him unconscious.
He carried the man home, locked him inside a cage, and went to sleep.
The strange dreams caused by his excitement, along with constantly waking up, eventually forced him out of bed.
He grabbed a chair and walked into the other room.
Sitting across from the cage, he looked into the eyes of the now-awake man.
"What do you want from me?"
"To talk."
The man lowered his head and looked at Karon with confused eyes.
"What's your name?"
"Himel."
"Why are you in this forest?"
Himel avoided eye contact and scratched his hand nervously.
Karon raised his hand and clenched it.
A crushing pressure suddenly fell onto Himel's body, pinning him to the floor.
"I was mapping routes."
"For what?"
"..."
Karon increased the pressure.
"Hiiih… slave trade…"
Karon's eyebrows twitched upward as he let out a low growl.
He slammed the door shut and walked outside.
"The first person I finally find turns out to be a slave trader."
He wandered around with one hand on his chin, deep in thought.
Words weren't enough to describe the dilemma he had fallen into.
What he had wanted for so long was finally in front of him, but was keeping him here really the right thing to do?
Karon stepped outside and began swinging his sword.
As the pain worsened, Karon returned to his room and wiped the sweat from his face.
Then he entered the other room again.
"Tell me, Himel. Do you have a family?"
"A wife and a daughter."
"Aren't you ashamed of doing something so filthy?"
"Men like me can never climb back out once we fall into that pit."
"Stop making excuses."
"I doubt you even have a family. You're just trying to gain my sympathy."
After finishing his sentence, Karon threw a piece of paper at Himel.
"We're going to make an oath."
"But—"
"No buts. The condition is simple. From now on, you won't do anything evil."
Himel showed a brief expression of surprise, but accepted the oath without much resistance.
Karon held Himel's hand with one hand and the paper with the other.
The energy flowing between the three of them glowed brightly enough to be visible before fading away.
Both of them fell silent beneath the weight pressing down on them.
"Well then, Himel… let's talk a little."
After their long conversation, Karon had begun warming up to Himel.
He wasn't entirely a bad person.
Aside from the work he did, his personality seemed fairly normal.
They talked about ordinary things like hobbies, favorite foods, alcohol, and views about the world.
But Karon had drawn many conclusions about Himel.
As he weighed those thoughts in his mind, he returned to his bed and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, the sound of a click echoed through the silence...