-Kindred
“We’re here. This is the herb shop.”
Seen at midday, the herb shop looked quite different in atmosphere from before.
That night, standing alone on the roadside across from the dark Neo Forest with a yellow light glowing, it had felt somehow surreal, but seeing it under the bright sunlight, it just looked like an ordinary flower shop.
“Ah! This is Neo Forest, right? It’s really beautiful.”
Gil spoke, gazing at the forest beyond the car window as if entranced.
Neo Forest was the same. When seen at midnight, it had felt mystical and even ominous, but seen during the day, it was simply beautiful.
“Yeah. Let’s get out.”
When I parked the car right in front of the shop, the herb shop door quickly opened and Cheon Danbi came outside.
Seeing me getting out of the car, Cheon Danbi approached with a surprised expression.
“Huh? Mage? What brings you here? But why on earth is the car in this shape? Did you have an accident?”
“Something like that.”
“Hmm… Looking closely, it doesn’t seem like an accident? Did you get hit by a magic attack?”
Cheon Danbi said, circling around the car. Then she stopped upon seeing Gil getting out of the car.
“Who is this kid?”
“Hello. My name is Gil.”
Before I could even answer, Gil bowed first. Then the two stood facing each other, looking straight at one another.
A current of air, as if something were sparkling, flowed between them.
Were they probing each other? Rather, it was closer to an atmosphere of joy at meeting a kindred spirit. It felt amicable.
“Shall we go inside and talk?”
I said. For some reason, I felt awkward, like an uninvited guest intruding between the two.
“Ah, right. Come on in.”
Cheon Danbi took the lead, going into the shop and holding the door wide open. Gil and I followed her inside.
“So what brings you here today? Did you already find out something about the golden apple in the meantime?”
Cheon Danbi asked me with an expectant look.
“Not that. I came for something else today. I was wondering if there might be a potion or something that could help this kid.”
“His name is Gil, right? Is he your little brother, Mage?”
“Well, you could say he’s my little brother.”
When I vaguely muddled through an answer, Cheon Danbi alternated looking between Gil and me. She seemed to be searching for any resemblance since I called him my brother.
“So what kind of potion do you need?”
“Hmm. He’s in a state of mana overload. He’s taken in too much mana internally relative to his vessel. Is there anything that might help, be it a potion or herbs?”
Before I could even finish speaking, Cheon Danbi abruptly walked toward the back of the shop.
She stretched her arm toward the wall shelf, but when her hand couldn’t reach the desired spot, she went to find a ladder.
“Shall I help? What should I get? What is it?”
I asked, approaching the shelf. But Cheon Danbi shook her head.
“No. It’s fine. I’ll do it.”
In the end, she brought over a ladder, climbed up, and carefully took down a bottle from the very top of the shelf.
It was a round, flat bottle, wrapped in black cloth on the outside so the contents couldn’t be seen.
“Fortunately, I still had some left that I’d prepared. Come, sit over here.”
Cheon Danbi guided us to a table in the back of the shop. It seemed to be a work table, with various plants scattered messily atop it.
Cheon Danbi swept the table with one arm and placed the bottle she was holding there.
“Gil, you’re harboring an enormous amount of mana energy? What happened? How did you end up containing so much mana? You just became a mage, didn’t you? Did you try casting magic as a test and fail to release the mana outward, so it got pulled inward?”
Cheon Danbi said, examining Gil.
Watching her, I was newly reminded that Cheon Danbi was the owner of this herb shop and a healer.
I knew that as a Druid she would be knowledgeable about forests, animals, and plants, and skilled at healing with herbs and potions, but being able to discern the state of mana inside a mage’s body with just a glance was an incredible ability.
“That’s amazing. You can see the amount and state of mana right away?”
I asked.
“Well, yeah. I can see it clearly. Actually, mana waves are everywhere. How are they any different from the mana dwelling in forests or plants?”
Cheon Danbi answered, as if it were no big deal.
“Wow! Then are you a mage too, noona?”
Gil asked, his eyes shining.
“No. I’m not a mage. I’m an herb gatherer who lives off that sacred forest, Neo Forest, over there.”
“An herb gatherer? Then are all the herbs here from Neo Forest? Did you go in and pick them? That’s so cool!”
“You can’t just recklessly enter the forest and dig up plants. It’s only permitted for those who can commune with the sacred forest like me.”
At Cheon Danbi’s words, Gil looked at her with an awestruck expression.
“You commune with the sacred forest? That’s really amazing.”
My first impression from earlier had been correct.
Gil and Cheon Danbi were kindred spirits, and they were overjoyed to have met each other.
Gil tended to share empathy with other species, as he had with zombies, while Cheon Danbi probably felt empathy with the forest and its flora and fauna to an even greater degree.
Only the degree differed; compared to other people, Gil and Cheon Danbi were very similar.
I silently left them to talk. It seemed like that would be the way to proceed with the treatment smoothly.
“So how did you end up like this? Tell me. What happened.”
Cheon Danbi asked Gil. Without any resistance, Gil began to tell what he had done.
“I absorbed the mana energy of a tentacle creature. I suppose because it was an enormous lifeform, its mana was tremendous.”
“What? A tentacle creature? You mean that monster that appeared in Gangnam?”
Cheon Danbi asked, her eyes going wide.
“Yes. The mages attacked first, so the tentacles retaliated and hurt people. So I had no choice but to absorb the mana energy to drain the tentacle’s power.”
“Aha! So you two went there? But it was a tremendous monster even watching it on the news, and you absorbed its mana energy? Amazing, you!”
Cheon Danbi once again carefully scanned Gil from head to toe.
Gil somehow made a dejected expression.
“…It wasn’t such a bad monster. The tentacles didn’t have any malice. It only resisted because people attacked first.”
At Gil’s words, Cheon Danbi smiled gently and spoke again.
“Yes. It seems so. Judging by the fact that the mana energy you’re harboring now isn’t such a wicked energy either. But even if it had no malice, it suddenly appeared, killed and injured people, and destroyed the city, so from people’s perspective, it is indeed a monster.”
I felt relieved that Cheon Danbi had put it that way.
I had been worried that Gil’s empathy with other lifeforms sometimes went too far, making him unable to stand from humanity’s perspective.
It seemed like it would help that Cheon Danbi—whom Gil unconsciously felt was a kindred spirit—was pointing that out.
“Yes. I know that too. That’s why I tried to stop the tentacles as well. But I wanted to say that hurting people wasn’t the tentacles’ will. It was all the doing of a black mage.”
Though slightly dejected, Gil spoke firmly.
“A black mage?”
“Gil’s right. A black mage summoned the tentacle monster. I’m certain. He even revealed himself before us.”
I briefly told her what had happened on the way here. Then Cheon Danbi nodded.
“I knew it. Of course it would be the work of black mages. Who else but a black mage would summon a monster and cause terror?”
Cheon Danbi soon picked up the bottle on the table and spoke to Gil.
“Let’s start with the treatment first. Hold this under your nose and inhale the smoke. Come on, try taking slow, deep breaths.”
“Yes.”
When Cheon Danbi opened the bottle lid, white smoke wafted out from within.
Gil did as Cheon Danbi instructed without even asking what the smoke was. I asked in his stead.
“What is that?”
“It’s purification smoke. It’s collected by burning together the roots of an ash tree that grew in Neo Forest and golden mugwort.”
“You said it wasn’t a wicked energy, but does it need purification?”
“That’s just its name; what Gil needs right now isn’t so much purification as it is organization. Actually, the amount of mana Gil absorbed isn’t the problem. Gil is a mage with a vessel capable of containing a sufficiently large amount of mana energy.
However, it simply isn’t organized. Having suddenly contained too much mana energy while still unprepared, a small chaos occurred inside his body.”
“Really?”
I was secretly surprised. Gil’s capacity as a mage was that large?
Seeing Gil struggling, I had thought he was in a state of mana overload. Because the mana waves emanating from him were chaotic.
But it seems it wasn’t simply a matter of quantity.
Cheon Danbi’s ability to diagnose Gil’s condition in such detail was also astonishing.
“There’s nothing to worry too much about. This purification smoke will help organize the mana energy. After that, you just need to eat well and rest plenty.”
The sight of Cheon Danbi calmly explaining and treating gave the onlooker a great sense of trust and stability.
Gil, too, seemed to feel the same, calmly inhaling the smoke.
The white smoke flowed into his body following Gil’s breath. Gradually, even to my eyes, his complexion returned and his expression relaxed.
‘I really did well bringing him here. Thank goodness.’
My heart grew lighter as well. I felt the relief of having made the right choice.
At the same time, I realized that I had two people with such tremendous abilities by my side.
“All done. You inhaled the whole bottle. This should be enough. How do you feel?”
Cheon Danbi looked at the bottle and asked Gil.
“It feels comfortable yet incredibly refreshing. Until just now, my stomach had been a bit queasy. It felt like something enormous had settled inside my body and was thrashing about. But now that uncomfortable feeling has completely disappeared.”
Gil answered with a bright face.
“That’s good.”
“But is the mana still remaining in my body?”
“Of course. That mana energy is yours now. If you only learn how to use mana, you’ll be able to demonstrate tremendous power.”
“Ah…!”
Gil made a happy expression.
Gil, who had awakened as a mage. This child had not only fully bloomed with an extraordinary aptitude but also possessed an enormous amount of mana.
But he didn’t know well what his role as a mage was, or what kinds of things he would have to do from now on.
I thought that from now on, I would have to take better care of Gil.
“If the treatment is done, shall we go grab a meal now? All together, I mean.”
I asked, looking at Cheon Danbi.
“A meal?”
Cheon Danbi repeated, as if she had never heard the word before.
“What, does the herb shop owner not eat things like meals and live off Neo Forest’s dew?”
“I do eat meals. But since I’m alone at the shop during lunch, I don’t usually eat separately. I just drink a glass of juice or something. But shall I eat specially today? Since I’ve also met such a cool little brother like Gil.”
At Cheon Danbi’s words, Gil’s face brightened even more.
‘Is this a moment where I should feel left out?’
I snickered and took the lead, exiting the herb shop.