"Who the hell is this now?"
At that moment, V's laugh rang out, full of amusement. "How ungrateful haha. You should treat your hero better."
'What is this saying? This… that same man…?' Noah thought.
He glanced at himself and Eri—both wrapped in bandages, lying near the half-dead coals of last night's fire.
Noah still had no clue how they had survived Zaskar.
He had fully expected to be dead by now. After all, it was Shadow Severan. No random guy like V should just show up out of nowhere and beat him!
Eri slowly started waking up, drawing both V and Noah's attention.
She struggled onto her side, half-opened her eyes—then quickly shut them again, not used to the sudden brightness of the sun.
It would take her a while to get used to that.
"What a rude light…" she mumbled under her breath.
Finally sitting up, she blinked at the two men staring at her.
Half-asleep, she looked at V. Then at Noah.
And her eyes flew wide when she saw Noah, like she suddenly woke up for real.
"Human! You're alive!!" she shouted with excitement and leapt straight at him.
She threw herself straight into his arms, making him flinch in shock, his hands shooting up defensively.
Eri hugged him tightly with pure joy, while Noah froze stiff, arms raised, staring down at her in disbelief, like his breath had caught in his chest.
He still couldn't figure out why she was acting like this.
After what felt like forever to him, Eri finally let go—though she stayed close.
"He's the Master of Nature, Human." She pointed to V with smile. "The strongest man alive, who defeated that Severan with just one finger!"
Noah slowly pulled back a bit, putting some distance between himself and Eri before shooting a sharp look at V.
"With this little finger. Hahaha!" V laughed, lifting his pinky finger.
Noah gave him a disbelieving stare, then turned back to Eri, ignoring him.
"Just to be sure… you actually believed that?"
Without hesitation, Eri nodded.
Noah pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration at her gullibility.
Not that it was surprising.
After all, if she'd so easily decided to trust and follow Noah at first sight, what was stopping her from doing the same with others?
If Noah couldn't keep her under control, anyone she met could sway her and take her away.
Thinking about this made him sigh.
How the hell was he supposed to hand her over to the Empire like this?
Noah reached for his folded clothes on the ground.
Picked them up but stopped halfway, patting them down, checking the pockets.
His brow furrowed when he couldn't find his coin pouch.
Slowly, he narrowed his eyes at V.
"If you're looking for your only travel funds, I should tell you—you already spent them," V said casually.
"Is this a new way to rob people?!" Noah shouted, his eyes blazing. "I had ten thousand Ren! Do you even know how much they're worth, you vagabond?!"
V just shrugged lazily and started counting on his fingers. "Let's see… saving two lives, fighting a Severan, treating deadly wounds, keeping the fire going, wasting my breath answering that girl's endless questions last night, and taking care of her while she burned with fever… Kid, you went broke. So better watch yourself, 'cause if you're dying again, you've got no money left for me to save you."
"Nobody asked for your help!!" Noah snapped, pulling on his shirt.
Eri stood up, brushing herself off, "But I need his help."
Hearing that, Noah turned to her with a sharp, bewildered stare. "You… what?"
"I want Master V's help, and I'm going to follow him. I want to be Master V's disciple!" Eri answered simply.
Noah blinked a few times, then facepalmed in despair.
He quickly stood up, grabbed Eri by the sleeve and pulled her aside, far enough to have a private talk away from V.
"You're out of your damn mind! You can't just suddenly decide to follow some stranger!" he hissed.
Eri, confused by Noah's sudden outburst, glanced at V, then leaned closer to Noah to whisper back. "But me and Master V already met. So he's not a stranger."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Stop calling that thief Master!"
Eri gave a small smile and gently tapped Noah's shoulder. "Human, Master V is the Master of Nature. You shouldn't disrespect him like that."
Noah finally snapped. He took a step back and pointed at V.
"Come on! He's not the Master of Nature! , and sure as hell not a Master too!" he shouted, his patience breaking.
"But he said he's both Master and Master of Nature. Isn't that right, Master V?"
V just gave a thumbs-up, which made Eri smile even brighter. "See? He's amazing!"
Noah was completely done.
He let out a heavy sigh, glaring at V but forcing himself to stay calm.
"Fine. Then show me your license," Noah said coldly, keeping his tone controlled.
"Of course!" V answered cheerfully and started digging through his clothes while Noah and Eri just stared at him.
A long time passed, and V was still patting himself down, checking everywhere.
Noah's face didn't change—he just kept watching.
"Oh, oh. Guess I didn't bring it," V finally shrugged.
This time, Noah gave Eri a poker face.
"See? No way a real Master would go around without his license!" he said, pointing at V, desperate to prove he was lying.
"Don't be so negative, Human," Eri shook her head. She was stubborn, refusing to doubt anything.
"I told you I have a name! Stop calling me Human!" Noah groaned.
V took a step toward him, leaning down with curiosity. "And what's that name?"
Noah saw no reason to tell him, so he just ignored him, putting on a cold face as he stepped closer to Eri instead.
He needed to find some way to keep her at his side.
Even if it meant following her, he had to stay close until the right time came to finish his mission.
"I'm… I'm going to follow you," he whispered, hiding his desperation behind his cold eyes.
Eri blinked, confused. "What's this Human suddenly saying now?"
"I'm saying I wanna stay by your side." Noah muttered under his breath, his eyes serious. "I don't care about being a disciple or any of that. Wherever you're going, I'll follow you. Can I?"
As soon as Eri understood what Noah meant, her eyes went wide and happiness spread across her whole face.
"Of course you can! I knew the lights didn't show me you for no reason! You're the best!"
For some reason, Eri just really wanted to be around Noah.
Maybe because he was the first one she had ever met. Maybe because, in her eyes, Noah was a hero—he'd already gotten in trouble twice because of her.
And now that she realized Noah felt the same way—that he wanted to stay with her too—she couldn't hold back. She jumped at him, trying to hug him again.
Noah quickly put his hand on her chest to stop her midway, keeping her at arm's length.
"And you better do something about this habit of yours. Anything would be better than this. Seriously." Noah looked away from Eri.
But Eri, still smiling ear to ear with her arms wide open, kept inching forward even though she was being held back, like she was stuck in place but refusing to stop.
"Why are you still pushing forward?!" Noah shouted at her, baffled and frustrated.
"Why are you yelling at me, rude Human?!"
Right then, V clapped his hands together, deliberately cutting in.
"Alright, alright, kids. Save the fighting for later. Pack it up—we gotta go." He pointed at the half-burned fire from last night and his own tent.
Yeah... V had slept in a nice tent last night while Eri and Noah were left out.
Noah followed the line of his pointing finger and blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You need to make sure the fire's completely out so it doesn't start a wildfire. And hurry up and pack my tent. I don't want it filled with bugs."
Noah let out a mocking laugh and raised his brow in disbelief. "Do we look like your servants?"
"If you wanna be my disciples, you gotta keep me happy." V shrugged, then nodded toward Eri—who was already fumbling with the tent, tangled up in it.
Noah stared at her. Since when did she even go over there?
"Come on, that girl's injured! A sword literally went through her stomach!" Noah grumbled.
V tilted his head, pretending to think. "And you're wounded too. But now you're about to help her, hmm?"
Noah rolled his eyes, then glanced back at Eri—still struggling with a simple tent.
He sighed and finally went over.
'A useless nuisance, and a gullible girl who wants to be his servant. Perfect combo,'
Noah pulled Eri out of the tangled mess and folded the tent in one motion.
Eri clapped for him with wide eyes, impressed.
He just ignored her and walked straight to V, snatching his water flask.
He opened it to pour on the fire—but it was empty.
"Why the hell is this empty?"
"Because I was thirsty," V said simply.
"Then why'd you even bother bringing it?"
"Because... I was thirsty."
"You were supposed to put out the damn fire first, idiot!!" Noah snapped.
V dropped his head and started drawing random patterns in the dirt with his toe, mumbling quietly. "I thought if I did everything, you wouldn't get the chance to prove yourselves as my disciples…"
That little act was enough to make Eri snatch the flask from Noah and run off. "I'll get the water!!"
Noah blinked, then quickly started after her—but pain shot through his body and stopped him in his tracks.
'Damn it… she's too fast,' he thought, watching her dart away.
V leaned close behind him, whispering. "Maybe you should go after her. When I went for water earlier, I saw a Devourer in the lake."
Noah shoved V back with annoyance, frowning. "It's spring tomorrow. Devourer season's over already. No way they're still around."
V tilted his head in silence—was enough to make Noah realize he wasn't joking.
Devourer only showed up in early to mid-winter.
First Blackfang, now Devourer. How much more bad luck was Eri going to bring?
Noah forced himself to move as fast as he could, hoping he'd reach her in time.
Inside the thick forest, Eri finally stopped running, glancing around nervously.
"Uh-oh… I think I rushed again. Where am I even supposed to go now?"
Just then, the bushes ahead rustled, and a faint voice called out.
"Psst psst… over here. Come here."
It was a thin, childlike voice coming from behind the bushes.
Eri tilted her confused gaze toward the sound. "Guess I should go, right?"
She slowly pushed the branches aside and came face-to-face with a little boy standing a few trees away.
He wore only a long white shirt, but his skin was completely black. His hair and eyes were white, and two black horns jutted from his head. Faint glowing white veins shimmered across his skin.
The boy smiled and waved at her.
"Hey hey Eri. Did you miss me?"
Eri blinked in confusion.
"Miss you? Do I… know you?"
The boy just chuckled softly and started walking.
"The path's this way. Follow me."