RAMHM Chapter 120

The Grand Shaman

Crossing the Ellaconian border didn't mean we'd reach the capital of Belloster right away.

Though we'd reached the border area from Ronteaux's capital quickly, it would take several full days of riding to reach Belloster.

A few days into the journey, Rhodness and I, along with Epero and Viktor, ended up sharing one carriage.

"Not far. The Grand Shaman's trail."

"Since she's moving south from the capital region, if His Majesty drives north and we drive south while moving up, we'll encounter her."

"It's not like we're hunting. How troublesome."

Ellaconia was famous for its rugged mountains and maze-like forests, but fortunately the southern region where we were didn't require climbing mountains to search. Everyone expressed relief at how fortunate this was.

"Didn't you say His Majesty was keeping her confined?"

"If she were the type to stay put when confined, we wouldn't have needed to search for her in the first place."

Epero shrugged as he answered. I looked toward Rhodness with a somewhat sunken expression.

He had a map spread on the carriage's auxiliary table and was staring intently at it.

"Staring help?"

"Brother's a genius, so he's better at everything than you."

"Me smart too."

"Sure you are. If you'd read books as much as you built muscle, you wouldn't have made it halfway through the Academy."

"Don't. Insult me."

"I do it because you deserve it."

I glanced at Epero and Viktor bickering whenever they got the chance, thinking I'd like Viktor to smack that red-haired head someday.

"Stop the carriage."

"That's why you should usually read— Pardon? Brother?"

"Stop the carriage."

At Rhodness's command, Epero opened the window without argument and shouted for the carriage to halt.

Rhodness held up the map, looking back and forth between it and the view outside the window.

"We search from here."

At Rhodness's firm voice, Epero flung the carriage door open like a loyal knight and stepped out.

Through the wide-open doorway appeared a forest thick with baobab trees.

Momentarily overwhelmed by the trees boasting extraordinary height and girth, I hesitated before stepping out only after everyone else had disembarked.

"Ah. Princess, you stay here."

"What?"

"Stay here, Princess. The servants will handle everything."

Where Rhodness's fingertip pointed were knights moving in perfect coordination, led by Epero and Viktor.

Thud. The heavy carriage door closed right before my eyes.

Belatedly feeling goosebumps rise, I huffed and opened the window—and as if waiting, Rhodness's upper body pushed right in.

"If the Princess kisses her chamberlain here, I can find it in one go."

The world's most impudent chamberlain showed his white teeth as he spoke.

"You—what's with that 'Princess' talk? If that 'Prin' from 'Princess' reaches my ears in front of others—"

"Don't worry, Princess. Our master-servant relationship is a secret. But keeping secrets requires payment."

"I'd rather search myself. Let me out, now."

"How could I send this small, precious, adorable Princess into such a rough forest?"

Ah.

The answer was so natural it wasn't even awkward.

His speaking face was half-full of mischief, and his rippling eyes overflowed with honey so thick that licking it would numb the tongue.

"Conserve your strength, Princess. The Prince said to tell you he can't hold back tonight."

It had only been a few nights apart.

They say a thief who learns late is frightening.

Whenever we were alone, it had been torturous—he'd press his lips anywhere he could reach: my head, my forehead, my mouth while eating.

"...Really? Then will you tell the Prince something? If he doesn't find that damned Grand Shaman today, tell him not to touch a single hair for the entire trip."

The gaze that had been tracing my lips with longing immediately turned toward the task at hand.

After that, those waiting for the advance party began unpacking, and Yona—who'd been outside the carriage—was looking at me with a shocked expression.

She'd definitely heard our conversation.

"Oh damn it. Did I just say 'damned'?"

"Yes."

"Good lord, I just said 'damn' again!"

"My lady, do you know something?"

As I clutched my head in self-reproach, Yona whispered quietly.

"I think you've already been heavily influenced by the Second Prince."

Damn it!

It didn't take long for the advance party to discover human traces in the forest.

Before sunset they found evidence of someone hunting, and by dusk they'd discovered a cabin with smoke rising from its chimney in the middle of the giant baobab forest.

When the advance party shot up a red flare, those of us waiting—myself and the remaining guards—headed that direction.

We raced along the unpaved, bumpy road with one thought: arriving before nightfall. By the time we arrived, no matter how luxurious the carriage, I couldn't help feeling motion sick.

I grasped Rhodness's waiting hand tightly and stepped down from the carriage.

The red-roofed cabin stood absurdly alone and prominent.

Along the roughly erected wooden fence, glass lanterns containing fireflies crackled and glowed—beautiful yet somehow eerie and bizarre.

When I opened the low wooden gate from outside the fence, the creak of hinges released the fireflies trapped in the glass lanterns all at once, and they floated into the air.

Everyone stood with mouths agape, and when the light flew toward the cabin entrance to illuminate it, the door opened.

"Who comes here at this hour?"

A voice neither woman nor man—androgynous.

A short, plump young woman appeared.

Her silver hair—braided thickly into twin plaits—was slightly faded, the ends decorated with ivory-carved skull ornaments, giving an eerie impression.

At first glance her clothing resembled a temple priestess's robes, but wherever light passed, purple jewels flashed, making it splendid even in the night.

Her yellow underskirt—seemingly chosen with no consideration for color coordination—also sparkled like gold.

Though her attire didn't suit this place full of grass scents, perhaps because the woman's appearance was strange, it somehow fit the night well.

The woman stopped dead in her tracks the moment she saw me—having released Rhodness's hand to barely straighten my back and stand.

"Oh, gods..."

That single phrase was her first impression.

Compared to the small cabin, the absurdly spacious back yard became the procession's camping ground.

Excluding Epero and Viktor who'd gone to oversee them, only Rhodness and I could enter the cabin.

When the woman waved her plump hands a few times, teacups and refreshments automatically set themselves on the small table.

I stared bug-eyed at the teaspoon stirring the tea water by itself, spinning round and round.

"Quite a cute reaction."

The androgynous voice laid out observations indifferently.

"You must be the people the King insisted I meet. There are several here with royal energy. I even remember the pink-haired one outside since I teased him a bit when he was young."

"We need help urgently, so we've come presuming on your kindness at this first meeting."

"Honestly, it interferes with my travels, but it's not to the point of being bothersome. It's been a while since I've faced such a handsome man. Pleasing to look at. Continue."

"This isn't a face that exists for your viewing."

I pinched Rhodness's thigh hard as he answered crookedly. Of course, it was so excessively solid that only my hand hurt.

"Quite a thorny beauty. I'm not fond of flowers with thorns."

"Go out, Rhoan. I'm fine."

"What makes you trust that woman?"

The Grand Shaman watching us bicker with arms crossed chuckled.

"Then what makes me trust you enough to help?"

The Grand Shaman drank the thoroughly stirred tea like liquor and wiped her lips.

"If you're asking for help, you should show appropriate courtesy."

"I apologize. Let me introduce myself properly. I'm B... my name is Bliea. I worked as an aide to the late Crown Prince of Ronteaux."

Throughout my speaking, the Grand Shaman kept chuckling for some reason.

"I'm Rotsy. Some call me the Grand Shaman, some call me the Great Witch. What do you want?"

I quickly showed her the prepared list of medicines, afraid she might change her mind.

The moment Rotsy saw it, she fell silent for a long while.

"Do you know what medicine contains those herbs? Ellaconia's countless doctors and shamans said only you, Rotsy, would know about that medicine."

"This is medicine not just anyone can make. And not just anyone should take it either. I've only made it once myself, and it's not in my hands now."

An ominous energy crept up my shoulders. Rhodness—who'd been sitting quietly after having his thigh pinched—gripped my hand tightly.

"The elixir of Life and death."

Lips wiped clean of laughter began speaking about the medicine.

"The elixir of Life and death. That's what I call it."

"What happens if someone takes that medicine?"

"It makes a living person appear dead. It temporarily transforms the body's entire system, making them breathe not through mouth or nose but through their whole body for several hours."

The secret was unraveling.

"In that process, all poisons and bad energies in the body fly away. But it's extremely dangerous—to survive after taking it, rather than a healthy body, it requires someone who's been continuously poisoned. They also need stamina to endure while the body recovers."

Rhodness's hand tightened.

"That medicine's scent vibrates from you."

"!"

"You must have suffered terrible poison for a very long time. The medicine of living death manifests in proportion to how poisoned the person who took it was."

Cold sweat began forming on my palms. It intensified when my gaze tangled with those seeing-through grayish-red eyes.

"Others might not see it, but to my eyes it's visible. Your face has traces of rotting, festering, and recovering. Someone didn't make you drink poison—they put it in flowers or incense to continuously choke your breath. Do you have any idea?"

My hand trembled in Rhodness's grip as I barely managed to nod.

A scene flashing past in an instant. And a scent.

That terrible herb fragrance always burning, claiming to be good for my health.

I'd woken every morning soaking my nose in that scent, and gone to sleep just before bed smelling it.

"You don't look it, but you must be the type to make lots of enemies?"

"..."

"Now, I've given you the answer you wanted, so let me state what I want."

"What?"

Though the answer came from Rhodness, Rotsy's gaze remained fixed on frozen me.

"One for one. Giving and receiving is the basis of everything in the world."

That's when it happened.

The wooden chair that had creaked when I sat down wobbled, then—as if sliding on ice—carried me to sit beside Rotsy across from us.

Rhodness sprang up and drew his sword at Rotsy.

"So why don't we do introductions again."

But Rotsy's plump hand had already seized my collar and pulled me toward her.

"The child named Bliea with that face was my disciple, you see. Miss."

Swirling grayish-red eyes pierced my wavering gaze like an arrow.