Chương 33: Dust's Greed

The temple healer talked a lot. After checking the child's breathing, examining the farmers' wounds, and even looking at Ren's leg, the healer came back to Kichan. Dirt from the village clung to the hem of his white outer robe, and the sacred object hanging at his neck glittered coldly in the hearthlight. The moment he stood in front of Kichan, he poured out questions. By the second question, Kichan was already blinking.

"Slowly. Even if you speak slowly, I still won't understand, but still." The healer spoke even faster. Kichan looked at Ren. Ren also looked like he understood only about half of it. The healer's words included temple terms that villagers did not use much. In the end, Kichan pulled out only the words he knew.

"Nes. Medicine. Bap." Pain. Medicine. Food. The healer's expression became even more confused. The estate official watched quietly from the side. He was smiling, but his eyes were not. In his hand was a small writing board, and a young man who looked like a clerk stood beside him, taking down what was said. Kichan narrowed his eyes at the writing board.

"What's that now?" Instead of an answer, a low cry came from the forest. It was farther away than last night. But the villagers' shoulders all stiffened at once. Kichan touched his shoulder by reflex. Dust was gone.

"... Huh?" He quickly looked over his shoulder, the floor, and the area around the hearth. Dust was not where the children had been playing with it either. The healer stopped speaking. Ren noticed first.

"Dust?" Kichan did not even answer before turning around.

Dust was found at the edge of the field behind the village. More precisely, it had not been found. It had been waiting for Kichan. Its small wire body was flattened against the dirt as it stared toward the forest, and one black hair was caught at the tip of its leg. It was hair from the large beast they had seen beside the salt pillar yesterday. Kichan pressed a hand to his forehead.

"Hey." Dust did not even pretend to hear. It took one step toward the forest, looked back, took another step, and looked back again.

"No." Dust flicked its legs.

"Do you not know what no means?" This time, Dust put the hair down on the dirt and tapped it with the tip of its leg. Ren said something carefully from behind. Kichan did not understand all the words, but he caught the word horn. Horn. Kichan remembered the beast's forehead from yesterday. One hard horn. A gray line left where it had scraped the salt pillar. The solid impact that had made his arm go numb when it struck the wake-up rod. Dust did not want the hair. It wanted that horn.

"Why is your taste like that?" The estate official and the healer had followed them to the back before he knew it. The official's writing board came up again. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Kichan hated it more when he saw that.

"This isn't a show." Of course, no one understood him. Then Dust darted toward the forest.

"Hey!" Kichan swallowed a curse and ran after it.

The area near the salt pillar was quieter than the day before. Dust crawled under the low brush. Kichan could not simply reach in after it.

"Dust. Come out." Wire legs rustled inside the brush. Then the small body dragged something out. It was a piece of horn about two finger joints long. It was not an entirely cut-off horn. It was closer to a piece of outer shell that had flaked away, and inside it, gray veins and white powder were embedded together. Dust held it tight with its front legs. Kichan froze for a moment.

"... That does look kind of good." Before he had even finished speaking, the brush shook. Ren caught his breath. Kichan adjusted his grip on the wake-up rod.

"Fine. It's good, but let's put it down for now." Dust did not put it down.

"You are going to get me killed." The low cry drew closer. This time, it came from behind the salt pillar. The large beast appeared. It was slower than yesterday. Dry dirt clung to one foreleg, and a crack remained beside its horn. The place where Kichan had struck it yesterday. Kichan muttered very softly.

"Sorry. I am a little sorry about that." The beast did not look at Kichan. It looked at the horn fragment Dust was holding. Only then did Kichan understand. The horn fragment was not just a fallen scrap. That thing needed it too. If he were alone, he would have run. He would have grabbed Dust, abandoned the salt too, and run straight away. But behind him was Ren. Farther behind were the healer and the estate official. And from the village side, children were poking their heads out from behind the fence.

And Dust absolutely refused to let go of the horn fragment. Kichan closed his eyes, then opened them.

"There has never been a quiet day since I got stuck with you." He stretched one arm back.

"Back." This time, Ren understood at once and stepped back. The beast charged. Kichan almost dodged as he had yesterday, then remembered the people behind him first. He stepped forward. The end of the wake-up rod pushed the beast not below the horn, but at the shoulder. He did not intend to kill it. He did intend to stop it. Bang. The beast's foreleg slid back. Kichan's wrist went numb with it.

"Ah, it's heavy." The beast twisted its head. The tip of the horn scraped past the wake-up rod. It was not the sound of metal scraping metal, but stone and bone ringing together. He gritted his teeth and twisted the rod. The beast's body shifted sideways. It did not fall completely. Instead, it circled wide beside the salt pillar, trying to put itself between Kichan and Dust. Dust dragged the horn fragment back through the opening.

"I can't exactly say you're doing well." Kichan stood between the beast and Dust again. At that moment, the healer drew in a short breath. Kichan did not look back. But he could more or less guess what the healer had seen. White powder was falling from the end of the horn fragment Dust dragged. Wherever the powder touched the dirt, the soil hardened briefly, then crumbled again. This was not just a horn. It was a thing mixed with beast, salt, and stone. The beast gave another low cry. Kichan raised the wake-up rod.

"If we don't take it, that thing takes it. If we take it, that thing chases us." He swallowed a dry laugh.

"Why are these the choices?" The beast charged again. This time, Kichan did not swing the rod. He kicked the part of the salt pillar that had cracked yesterday. White fragments fell away in a rush, and the beast's gaze snapped toward them. One beat was enough.

"Dust!" Dust was already pushing the horn fragment toward Ren. Kichan stood in front of the beast and stepped back one step at a time. The beast sniffed between the fallen salt fragments and the horn fragment. In the end, it turned its head toward the larger salt piece. Kichan used that opening to shove Ren and Dust away.

"Run." The word did not get through, but this time everyone understood.

When they returned to the village, Kichan set Dust on his palm and glared at it for a long time. Dust was sitting on top of the horn fragment. Its little body looked extremely proud.

"You dragged me out there because of this, didn't you?" Dust flicked its legs. Kichan sighed.

"Don't answer. It annoys me more because it feels like you understood." The healer was looking at the horn fragment from a distance. He did not come close. The sacred object at his neck had been oddly dim for a while now. The estate official wrote something on his board. That afternoon, the village had a very small amount of salt left. The elder did not smile. He looked back and forth between the salt fragment and the horn fragment Dust was sitting on. His face could not easily bring out either gratitude or worry.

Peace did not last long. On the third day, the lord's knights came. This time, it was not only the official. Uniformed men, knights with swords, six horses. The horses' hooves pressed deep marks into the dirt in front of the fence, and the village dogs crawled under houses without even barking. They were polite. Kichan started to take half a step back with his heel, then stopped. The knight bowed to Kichan and spoke slowly. In between, Ren and the village head explained it in simpler words. Protection.

Confirmation. Lord. Together. Kichan immediately made a face.

"I haven't seen many people use that word protection in a good way." The village head looked at Kichan with a troubled face. The villagers were the same. If they refused the lord's order, the damage would return not to Kichan, but to the village. Kichan saw that. He really hated it. He raised one finger.

"One day." He awkwardly added the words of this world.

"I. Go. See. Come back." The knight smiled smoothly and nodded. The corners of his mouth rose politely, but his eyelids barely moved. Just before departure, the child who had been coughing yesterday ran over. She held out a small cloth pouch. Kichan took it and opened it. Inside were a few white grains. Salt. It was a share the village had taken back out of what Kichan had brought them. For a while, Kichan could not speak.

"Hey." He held the pouch very carefully.

"This... thanks." The child did not understand what he said, but she smiled. The child's mother came out a little later. She had tried to stop the child, but in the end she had not, and now she looked toward Kichan while holding the child's shoulders. No words of thanks or worry came out of her mouth. Instead, she pressed her lips tightly together. That expression felt strangely familiar. For an instant, Kichan remembered the message that had appeared on his phone. You are eating properly, right?

He held the salt pouch even more carefully. From a distance, the knight watched that scene. His face said he had learned one thing about what worked on Kichan.