CHAPTER 61: TENDERNESS

As those dark thoughts swirled in Madha’s mind, Gara slept soundly, as though his head were resting on the fluffiest pillow in the world.

Four hours passed in a blur.

They finally arrived at the village.

Unlike regular passenger carriages that usually stopped at the three-way road leading into the village, this one brought them straight to the bamboo house Gara and Wina shared, after dropping off Grandpa Jaya, whose home was closer to the main road.

The carriage, driven by the town guard and flanked by mounted guards in uniform, naturally attracted attention.

Several villagers returning from the herb fields gathered, curious about what was going on.

But before the carriage could even reach Gara’s house, the guards quickly ordered everyone to return to their homes.

No one dared to defy a town guard. That alone was enough to save Gara and Wina from a barrage of nosey questions.

"Thank you for your help, Sir. And please extend our thanks to Captain Tristan as well," Wina said once they had all stepped down from the carriage.

The deputy captain gave her a respectful nod. "Just doing our duty, ma’am. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to return to town and take care of unfinished business."

With that, the guards mounted their horses and rode off, leaving Suruta Village behind.

Wina quickly ushered the other three into the yard—or more precisely, inside the protective barrier—before any curious villagers could spot them and start asking questions.

Sure enough, a few villagers arrived moments later, but their visit was short-lived. The moment they tried to enter the yard, they turned back, puzzled expressions on their faces.

Madha and the elf didn’t notice this, because Gara had already herded them inside the house.

Wina headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner. It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was about to set.

Meanwhile, Gara said goodbye to the white squirrel, which had now jumped out the window. He then went into the room to change his overly revealing clothes.

After that, Gara went to the front room and approached Madha and the elf.

"I’ll prepare a bath for you..." He pointed at the elf, then glanced at Madha. "After that, I’ll treat your wounds."

"No need to bother. You’re still injured," Madha replied, heedless of the visible wounds on his face and arms.

But Gara simply waved him off and walked toward the kitchen.

He began preparing a special bath, infusing his water with a mix of healing herbs, hoping it could help fade the deep burn scars on the elf’s body.

The burn on his own hand had already disappeared, likely because it had been treated with his water from the start.

Since the elf’s wounds were much older, he wasn’t entirely sure if it would work, but it was worth a try.

"Go on, take a bath," he called out to the elf, whose name was still unknown. The elf quietly obeyed and headed toward the bathroom.

Gara walked to the front room with a small clay basin in hand, setting it down on the table. From his fingertip, he let water flow into the basin like a stream of clear silk.

"I’ll tend to my wounds first," he said to Madha, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Gara for a second.

"Of course. I don’t need treatment right now anyway. Your healing comes first," Madha said gently, sincerity and concern in his gaze.

"Don’t say that again. I told you, I’ll treat every one of your injuries. And I meant it."

Besides, Gara thought to himself, where else am I going to find someone to test the effectiveness of my herbal mixtures if not you?

He removed the cloth wrapping from his wound, applied a slightly thick liquid that dulled his nerves, cleaned the area again to make sure no glass shards remained, then carefully spread a green paste made from his homegrown herbs mixed with his own water.

The skin was rough from the puncture, but thankfully, the numbing salve worked wonders. No pain at all, even if it looked painful.

Once he finished with himself, he turned to Madha’s arm, which was in much worse shape than the cuts on his face.

"Weren’t you supposed to be part of a rescue team for the flood victims? How did you end up like this?" Gara asked as he cleaned the torn flesh.

Apparently, after Madha and the other Liners had arrived at the site, a second flood hit due to unrelenting rain.

He’d gotten injured while saving a child from drowning, shielding the child’s body with his own, only to slam into a jagged rock.

If it hadn’t been for his Flesh Shield, his arm might have broken clean through, bones and all.

"Even missions that don’t involve mist monsters can leave you this messed up," Gara muttered with a sigh.

"I’ll complete my five required missions as fast as possible," Madha said. "So that, I can assisst you on your own missions later."

Gara nodded silently, unable to look away from Madha’s firm, unwavering gaze. His heart pounded, but his expression remained calm. He was getting better at hiding how flustered he felt.

After cleaning the wound, Gara applied a thick green salve and gently wrapped the arm in a clean cloth.

Suddenly, Gara’s face leaned in closer, tilting slightly.

Madha flinched but didn’t move away. He stared into Gara’s clear, delicate features, then slowly closed his eyes, ready to receive whatever was coming.

"Akh!" He jolted when something cold touched his wound.

His eyes shot open to find Gara carefully tending to the injury on his face.

Stupid!

He had let his mind wander. But at least, he got a close-up view of this beautiful face and the sweet scent coming from this beautiful man.

Was Gara as calm as he looked? Absolutely not.

His heart was racing. He tried hard not to let his eyes wander to those full, cinnamon-colored lips.

He noticed Madha’s Adam’s apple bob up and down. He didn’t even have an Adam’s apple, yet reflexively swallowed too.

Crash!

Both of them instantly pulled apart as if caught doing something indecent, though in truth, nothing had happened.

They glanced toward the noise.

A soaked blonde-haired elf stood by the table, barefoot, surrounded by shattered pieces of a clay cup on the floor.

...