Of course, believing that she could handle Jurgen might be a huge misconception. He was like an iron fortress that Vanessa could neither easily approach nor get close to.

And that wasn’t all. Though he looked perfectly normal now, he was a bloody avenger, madness incarnate. For Vanessa, who had directly witnessed his resentment and madness, even recalling that time made her shudder.

“Why are you suddenly shivering? Are you cold?”

“Huh? Oh, a little…”

At Vanessa’s response, Jurgen clicked his tongue and slightly increased their speed entering the forest. However, when he sensed the presence of an animal, he dismounted, lowered his body, and muffled his movements.

Vanessa followed him off the horse and tied Anaïs’s reins to a tree trunk. She took out the bow she had slung on her back, took her stance, and gripped an arrow in her hand.

The next moment, two deer quickly passed in front of them. Vanessa and Jurgen released their bowstrings almost simultaneously.

Twang! With the heavy sound of the bowstrings being released, the arrows were shot. Cutting through the air, riding the direction of the wind, they each hit one of the two deer.

The poor deer let out death cries and collapsed with a thud. Both had been struck in vital points, so it would have been instant death.

‘Thankfully, they were sent off without pain.’

Vanessa lowered her bow and let out a small sigh. Sending off prey without pain and with certainty — this was one of the ‘hunter’s duties’ her father had taught her.

[If you hesitate to release the bowstring, the arrow will hit the wrong place and only cause more suffering to the animal. A hunter who knows how to be grateful for nature’s blessings should end the prey’s life with certainty.]

Recalling her father’s words, Vanessa approached the dead deer. The deer, with an arrow deeply embedded in its heart, had died instantly, its empty black eyes capturing the forest scenery it could no longer run through.

Vanessa closed its eyes while softly murmuring, “I’m sorry.” Ignoring Jurgen’s strange gaze that fell on her from the side.

First, it was two deer, then rabbits and pheasants — six rabbits and seven pheasants in total. And then, perhaps because they had gone too deep into the forest, they encountered a wild boar, which, of course, was no match for Vanessa’s shortbow.

Hunting the wild boar was Jurgen’s job. He shot an arrow with his black longbow, imbuing it with Vüs’s golden power. The boar, hit in the head by the arrow infused with divine authority, died instantly.

Just as they caught one, another wild boar sprang out from a blind spot. It charged directly at Jurgen, and for a moment, Vanessa’s heart dropped to the floor and bounced back up, fearing he might get hurt.

But it was an unnecessary worry.

Jurgen quickly drew his dagger and, imbuing it with the same golden power, literally slit the wild boar’s throat.

With the sound of bone and skin being pierced by the blade, dark red blood sprayed into the air, and the wild boar collapsed onto the forest floor with a thud, letting out a terrible cry.

Vanessa stared blankly at the scene. In fact, both the boar’s charge and Jurgen’s movements were so quick that she couldn’t accurately grasp what had happened.

Wiping the blood splatter from his cheek with the back of his hand, Jurgen turned to look at her. Vanessa, who had flinched reflexively, blinked her eyes rapidly.

A cold sneer seemed to form on Jurgen’s lips as he shook the blood off his dagger and sheathed it back.

Belatedly coming to her senses, Vanessa, thinking that the boar’s carcass needed to be tied with rope, slowly approached Jurgen’s side with the rope in hand.

“Here…”

“……”

Silently receiving the rope, Jurgen tightly bound the wild boar’s carcass.

That unfortunate boar, whose throat had been slit, was the last prey of the day.

Vanessa and Jurgen slowly left the forest, tying ropes to their prey and having the horses drag them.

As they reached the edge of the forest, they saw that the sun was setting in the west. The evening sky was incredibly beautiful, like a long stretch of rose-colored silk.

While briefly admiring the scenery in a daze, Jurgen, who had dismounted, began loading the prey onto the large cart they had brought, starting with the largest and heaviest.

Vanessa quickly came to her senses, got off her horse, and helped him. Since it was too much for her to lift a deer alone, she left those two to Jurgen and busily carried the rabbits and pheasants.

Looking at today’s harvest all gathered together, it seemed like enough to keep the clinic staff from going hungry for at least two weeks.

Vanessa chattered excitedly as she examined the plentiful prey.

“We can roast the wild boar whole as soon as we get back and share it with the people in the castle. It’s so big, there should be a lot of meat. We can make bone broth with the leftover bones… For the other prey, we need to drain the blood well…”

Jurgen, who had been staring at her as she spoke without pause, let out a prickly laugh and swiftly mounted his horse. Realizing that he was ignoring her, Vanessa stopped chattering and got on her horse as well.

The two horses began pulling the cart full of prey. The pace was a bit slow due to the weight.

That evening, a barbecue party was held in the city square. It was just as Vanessa had hoped.

In fact, the amount was far too little to feed everyone in the castle, but as people shared and ate little by little, there was no fighting over food.

After the peaceful barbecue party ended, they made a lot of bone broth with the remaining bones and distributed a bowl to each person. The two wild boars were consumed completely without waste.

Vanessa felt an incomparable sense of fulfillment as she watched people who now merely glanced at her curiously, no longer fearing or considering her ominous.

Despite having gone through countless near-death experiences in her life so far, and though it had been truly hard to endure in the hell that was Terevron, she could sincerely think at this moment… that it was good she hadn’t given up until the end.

✦ ✦ ✦

The next morning. Citizens who had heard rumors about Vanessa came to the clinic. They wanted her to use the divine word on them as well.

Those who stood in their way were Garcia and Renee, who had somehow arrived.

Seeing Vanessa standing still in front of the clinic’s main entrance, Renee gave her an apologetic bow.

Vanessa smiled back to indicate it was okay, as she didn’t particularly resent Renee for leaving her behind.

In any case, the urgent problem at hand was the citizens gathered in front of the clinic.

“My child is only five years old. I’ve heard young children are vulnerable to the plague. Could Your Highness please bestow the divine word on us?”

“My son too…”

“My daughter was just born. If she were to catch the plague and die… sob…”

“My mother has always had a chronic cough. I’m worried that if she catches the plague, her condition will quickly worsen and she’ll pass away. It’s her birthday next month… Please, Your Highness, don’t let my mother die!”

People were pleading with Vanessa to bestow the divine word on them, each for their own reasons.

Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut. This scene looked like a miniature version of the great turmoil she might face in the future.

Right now, it was just a simple vitality divine word, but what if someday she gained the power to heal injuries and cure diseases? What if she eventually became able to bring the dead back to life…?

The situation that would unfold then would be incomparably more frightening than now.

“Your Highness, please!”

“Your Highness!”

“Please bestow the divine word of life on us, Your Highness!”

Now that this situation had unfolded, she acutely realized that God’s protection was a blessing and privilege, but also a duty and responsibility.

“No, everyone! Please calm down! The divine word is not omnipotent! Even if Her Highness bestows the divine word upon you, we still don’t know if it will perfectly protect you from the plague!”

The one who stepped forward to calm the excited, shouting people was none other than Garcia. Lately, Vanessa had been feeling that Garcia’s presence was as welcome as rain during a drought.

“B-but, we heard that the people working at the clinic are seeing effects!”

“That’s right! We want to receive the divine word too!”

“Please, we beg you! Your Highness!”

“Look, it’s not that simple… And there’s a limit to Her Highness’s stamina!”

Garcia tried to persuade the people again, but they all just repeated the same things like broken records.

Vanessa knew from experience that when a crowd starts believing a hypothesis as fact, presenting the truth doesn’t work. She let out a heavy sigh with a feeling of resignation.

It seemed there was no choice but to give them what they wanted. However…

“Enough. Everyone, be quiet.”

Vanessa said as she stepped in front of the citizens, pushing past Garcia and Renee. At that moment, the surroundings became as quiet as if a mouse had died.

Numerous pairs of eyes, filled with blind hope and expectation, looked up at her.