Chapter 36

Chapter 36 – Pure White Tree

His hands were simply not something that could be described as stained with miasma. Just like the twig from Elandos that had been placed on the table, his hands had hardened and withered. When he took off his gloves, it smelled quite abhorrent. His flesh also seemed to be rotting away.

In fact, Jiwoo never imagined that the children of Elandos could smell like that. Because even their sweat smelled fragrant.

“Why is your body like that?”

“I told you not to look!”

Enciertes cried out in disgust.

He shook his hands and his gloves fell. He knelt down on the floor and hurriedly picked up the gloves, but when he saw Jiwoo approaching right in front of him, he shouted at her like this.

And he was backing away now, exclaiming once again.

“Go away!”

Enciertes seemed terrified.

“I told you to go away! Why do you keep coming?”

But Jiwoo couldn’t understand why he was avoiding her. That kind of reaction, and the state of the body that was neglected until it reached that point.

“You said you met the other Akarnas, why didn’t you ask them to heal you?”

“Why should they treat something like me? Of course I asked them to heal Elandos at that time!”

But Jiwoo didn’t quite understand what he was saying.

Drinking an Akarna’s blood could cure diseases, and sprinkling the blood on the land made even the miasma dissipate. The method was simple. She just needed to cut her wrist and draw blood. After shedding some blood and stopping the bleeding, an Akarna could quickly recover on their own.

“That time? It shouldn’t have taken long.”

Enci laughed as if he was in high spirits.

“You, you don’t know how those girls died.”

“……”

“Do you think an Akarna can do anything? Do you think that your power springs up indefinitely?”

Enci said cynically.

“I told you. You’re just an ordinary person with a strong will to live. How long do you think your desire to live will last?”

And he frowned as if he was fed up. His complexion turned pale, like he had just seen a scene where someone had died.

“What is the reason Akarna runs out of the temple after only a year? It’s because they couldn’t stand the temple’s treatment. Of course, their ability gradually decreased, so the temple…”

Enciertes said that and shut his mouth tightly.

“The temple?”

“You don’t need to know!”

The temple treated Akarna as an expendable item. Even though they had summoned an Akarna with difficulty, they didn’t seem to be too troubled whenever an Akarna would try to die.

There was only one last place to use the dying Akarna. Dragging her to the land where the miasma was intense, and scattering her blood on the ground. Then, the land would be purified, and a place for the people of the empire to live comfortably would be created.

The alchemists on the outer wall looked for an opportunity to approach an Akarna, but failed to seize any opportunity. They all had to watch the Akarna be executed in that way countless times.

The reason Akarna eventually reaches that point is that they quite literally had to tear their blood and flesh out in order to heal people who were clearly sick. They’re always dispatched to a desolate place, forced to bow their heads to the societal norm of this strange world. Their minds become sick.

And Enciertes knew that his physical condition would never have a good effect on someone else’s mind.

When Elandos was still fine, he was proud of his body—however now, it’s nothing but disgusting. If Helka hadn’t forced him to come back in the first place, he wouldn’t have wanted to come to a crowded place like this.

“Anyway, g-get away… Don’t come any closer.”

Enciertes was speaking sharply to keep Jiwoo away from him. In any case, alchemists were unwelcome beings during any era.

Even when the Akarna was being treated as a god in Caranazion, the alchemists criticized them for calling them ordinary people. It was the same in the last few hundred years when the treatment towards the Akarna was changed by the Empire.

They were cast down from unbelievers to heretics.

The reason the alchemist couldn’t contact Akarna wasn’t just because of the temple’s brainwashing.

They didn’t do anything, they just maintained a consistent attitude towards Akarna. Nevertheless, the perception was not good in various places.

So, from the point of view of an alchemist who didn’t have a good reputation anyway, he thought that Seo Jiwoo would retreat if he just snapped at her a few times.

As Jiwoo stayed still without saying a word, Enci thought his words had worked.

“This is the most important thing for me. If you care about something like me and fail your last chance because of it, I will take my own life.”

“……”

Jiwoo ignored him who kept sharpening his words and moved closer.

Enci retreated to the end of the wall and cried out. He put his hand on his body, especially the eye patch that covered his face, and screamed almost like crying.

“C-Can’t you understand any of the words I’m saying?”

“It’s okay. I still want to live…”

Jiwoo was inadvertently surprised by what she said.

I see. I still want to live.

In fact, this had always been the case. Even when she blankly gazed at the sky in the temple, when she met the crown prince and was betrayed by him, she continued to think that she wanted to die—but in fact, it must have been the opposite. She wished to live.

The moment she was hanging on the edge of the cliff, she was figuring out where to go and where to live. Even when she was right at the precipice between life and death. Perhaps even then, Jiwoo let go of the cliff for the sheer reason of wanting to live.

“Now I want to receive a reward as well.”

“Then don’t waste that power…”

“So I’ll heal you first.”

“I said I’m fine!”

“Do you think I, who can heal Elandos, can’t heal you?”

“……”

As Elandos was mentioned, Enci, who had been busy trembling and covering himself until now, stopped moving.

“That, that kind of thing…”

Enci, who had been sticking to the wall, finally let down his guard a little. For some reason, Jiwoo seemed to know how to deal with Enciertes.

“You keep coughing and preparing for the worst. Are you expecting me to fail?”

“No!”

Enci immediately denied it strongly, then shrugged his shoulders again.

“But… In theory, when an Akarna encounters a seriously ill person, she becomes mentally hurt…”

“I’m fine. I want to live because I’ll get a decent reward.”

“That’s… Ah.”

Enci thought to himself and seemed to understand something.

“Are you thinking of trying… with this body? My condition is literally the worst. So for you to…”

“Let’s see.”

After barely calming Enci down, Jiwoo looked around.

There were blades on the shelf. It seemed to be used for experiments, so it was well stored, so there was no need to sterilize it. Picking up a blade that looked good, Jiwoo walked back in front of Enci and placed it on her wrist.

Then Enci hurriedly grabbed her hand. The black, old tree-like finger gripped her arm. The person who has been scared and avoided her until now.

“Don’t do it. Don’t do it…..”

Enci kept his eyes closed.

This person, who seemed sensitive just from his appearance, had witnessed the deaths of countless Akarnas. In the end, he didn’t tell her how they died, but Jiwoo wasn’t clueless.

It may have been this person who was more mentally hurt than her.

“Don’t just do it because it’s fine.”

In fact, he may not have wanted to see an Akarna bleed any more.

Clatter.

In the end, Jiwoo dropped the blade as Enci held her arm tightly. Jiwoo looked down coldly at the blade rolling on the floor.

She sighed.

“…Then let’s try another method.”

“What, method…”

Jiwoo grabbed the bewildered Enciertes’ cheek and kissed him.

She can think of it as doing the same process when she treated Helkainis. It seems that Enci is afraid of blood, so even if it takes a little longer than blood, she can use her saliva.

After twisting his tongue a few times, he took a quick breath. And he hung on, instinctively swallowing Akarna’s saliva in one gulp.

His body, which was depleted of vitality, naturally found the fountain of life.

“Mmh, uh!”

Enci entangled his tongue for a while, then pushed Jiwoo hard.

Cough, cough, cough!

And he immediately vomited dark blood.

It spilled onto the floor, and it smelled so rotten that it didn’t seem like the bodily fluids that the children of Elandos had spat out.

Jiwoo reflexively grimaced.

“I said no.” In the end, Enci cried. “It’s… disgusting. You too…”

“Well… how do you think I survived for five years?”

Jiwoo had seen many things that were even worse than this. She saw a lot of people holding on to their bodies and crying while their whole bodies were rotting, and people holding knives and trying to stab her to save themselves.

Alchemists of the outer wall. Perhaps, if she was lucky, if she was really lucky, she might have met them before meeting the crown prince.

In this world where she thought they were only using her. Somewhere, there were people who could have saved her.

Jiwoo, who wiped the black blood from his mouth with her sleeve, said without any emotion. Hiding and erasing her feelings. It was Akarna’s habit when doing her duty.

“If you seem to be getting better, shall we try more?”

Enci’s face was red and he stared only at the floor.

“Enciertes.”

When Jiwoo asked once more, he nodded his head a couple of times without even meeting Jiwoo’s eyes. His only eye was tightly closed, unable to open properly.

He wanted to ask Jiwoo again if she was really okay, but the pain in his body had started to go away. Soon, he stopped asking.

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