Chương 49: The Door for Leaving as People

Kichan did not smash his way out of the treatment center immediately. First, he looked at the patients. The child who had just survived. The parents. The patients who had been about to be classified deeper inside in the name of protection. Thanks to the queen's confidant blocking the procedure, the royal mage could not reach out for them right away. But it would not last long. Documents were blocked by documents. When a higher document arrived, it would flip over again. Kichan understood that much.

"Money." Ren blinked, not understanding. Kichan took out his coin purse. It was the money from selling the silver-gray metal in the market. Heavy. Originally, it was for meals, lodging, and moving around. Now it had to be used differently. Kichan gave part of it to the child's parents. The child's mother tried not to take it. Kichan pushed it into her hands.

"The kid's too skinny. Buy food." The mother, who understood the words, looked at the coin purse, then at the child, then at Kichan again. Tears gathered in her eyes, but Kichan did not look that way for long. He divided more among the other patients. To the man gripping the edge of the bed. To the woman searching for her family. To the old man who had almost been moved deeper inside the treatment center. The purse grew light quickly. The royal mage watched that scene. The queen's confidant watched too.

The clerk wrote. Kichan was irritated by the sound of the pen, but for now he endured it. Then he separately handed half of the remaining money to Ren.

"Send it to the village." Ren froze with the money in his hands.

"Village." Kichan pointed with his hand. The direction of the village. Then himself. Then Ren again.

"You can go too." You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Ren looked at Kichan. His face was much thinner than when they had first met. He had sweated cold while interpreting, chosen his words in front of the royal mage and the queen's confidant, then been told not to choose them. Just now, there had even been words Kichan told him not to translate. Ren hugged the coin purse to his chest. It meant he would take charge of the money for the village. But he shook his head.

Kichan narrowed his eyes. Ren spoke slowly. Kichan did not understand every word. Still, he understood the meaning. It meant Kichan needed someone here to carry his words. Kichan sighed.

"Well, who else would I trust." For the first time, Ren smiled a little. The smile was very short. The path to the city's back gate was much narrower than the treatment center's front entrance. It was a road for carts, waste, and supply transport. It did not smell good. Standing water, horse dung, wet cloth, and old medicine mixed together. Kichan liked it. There were fewer eyes. Still, eyes remained. There was a watcher from the royal palace. Someone from the queen's side. A temple person stood farther away.

They pretended not to know one another, but they were all watching one another. Kichan looked at them and muttered,"Do none of you have anything to do? What am I to you?" The queen's confidant waited before the city's back gate. She did not seize him. Instead, she spoke very politely.

"Her Majesty the Queen wishes to know where you are going." Even after the words were translated, Kichan looked up at the sky for a moment. It was a different sky from the color of the treatment center's glass pipes.

"I don't know either." Then the yard above them grew quiet. At first, he thought it was a cloud shadow. But something white came down. It was an owl as large as a person. Its feathers were white as snow, and the ends of its wings shone silver. Each time it landed, dust on the ground pushed outward in a circle. The porters stopped. The clerks' pens stopped too. The temple people started to bend their knees first, then looked at one another. The palace watcher moved a hand toward his recording board.

The queen's confidant did not change her expression, but only narrowed her eyes. The white owl landed in front of Kichan. Kichan took one step back.

"Now even birds." The owl did not answer. Instead, it spread its wings once. In the wind, the water drop at the end of Kichan's sleeve trembled slightly. Dust flattened itself on his shoulder. A small sealed letter was tied to the owl's ankle. The wax seal bore the same owl emblem Kichan had seen at the temple lodgings. The owl lowered its head and dropped the letter onto Kichan's hand. Kichan did not take it right away.

"If I accept this, something happens again, doesn't it?" Ren could not answer. No one around them could answer. No one could handle this scene as something ordinary. In the end, Kichan took the letter. He still could not read the ordinary writing well. But one line caught inside his throat. `Those who seek records must follow the witness of night. ` Below it was a simple mark pointing to an old monastery village and a record archive. The fragment inside his clothes grew faintly hot. Kichan touched his throat.

"Not yet." Ren looked at the mark below the letter and stopped his finger. He looked once toward the old road outside the city and shook his head slightly. Kichan looked around the crowded yard. Everyone was watching him, the letter, and the white owl.

"Could it be worse than here?" The white owl did not fly away again. It stood in front of Kichan for a moment, then turned its head toward the old road outside the city as if telling him to follow. The pursuers inside the city looked at one another.