Arriving at the place Bern led her to, Sylvia regretted not checking their sleeping quarters sooner. Focused on the children, she had neglected to consider the adults’ sleeping area, which was in the worst state of hygiene. Their dwelling was hardly different from a bare ground, covered only by large leaves and branches.
Bern’s wife was moaning in pain in one corner. Next to her, another woman and a man were also clutching their stomachs in agony.
Sylvia quickly moved toward them. Bending over to examine Noel’s mother, she noticed wooden bowls. Not just one, but several, scattered around.
It seemed more appropriate to say they were hidden.
Certainly, these were the bowls Sylvia had made and used, but why they were here was momentarily puzzling. Reaching out, she wiped the sweat from Noel’s mother’s forehead. Noting the slight fever, she guessed something was definitely wrong.
“Noel’s mother, I know it’s hard, but you need to tell me where it hurts.”
She is not a doctor. Whether doctors exist in this world or not, even Sylvia doesn’t know. She could only judge based on the common knowledge she had since her youth.
Hearing Sylvia’s voice, Noel’s mother barely opened her eyes and whispered.
“My stomach, and head hurt, so much.”
After examining her closely, Sylvia asked another question.
“Did you, by any chance, have diarrhea?”
If the food she provided had caused an issue, that would have been one of the first symptoms to appear. Instead of Noel’s mother, Bern answered from the side.
“She went frequently before falling asleep.”
His answer, vaguely put perhaps out of embarrassment, was clear enough.
“Just a moment.”
The wooden bowl lying overturned in the corner kept catching Sylvia’s eye, so she finally reached out and picked it up. The source of the faint rotten smell seemed to be coming from the bowl.
After sniffing the bowl, Sylvia sighed deeply and inspected it. The smell was definitely not from the food they had eaten today but from the shellfish and crab they had eaten the day before.
As she held the bowl with a stern expression, Bern hesitantly spoke.
“Sorry, I took it without asking…”
Before he could finish, Sylvia asked.
“Is this… food from yesterday? No, I mean the food we had on the first day we arrived here.”
It was the middle of the night, so the concept of time was vague, but Sylvia asked precisely. Bern, having no answer, simply hung his head. Rio, standing beside him, suddenly yelled.
“What does that matter! The point is we got sick from the food you made! Take responsibility! How can you make food that makes people this sick! What if the children are in danger too!”
Standing right behind them, Felix’s presence prevented Rio from grabbing Sylvia again, but his attitude was still very threatening.
Sylvia seemed to ignore Rio’s words, looking around and checking the wooden bowls scattered everywhere for their smell.
The people hesitated and moved away from her, aware that they had taken her belongings without permission and thus had no grounds to argue.
“No, this is not right…”
Despite understanding their plight, Sylvia knew this was unacceptable. Deciding she needed to speak clearly, she hardened her expression and lit up the dark space. Before explaining, she first handed out barley tea to those complaining of stomach pains.
“Drink this first. It’s important to stay hydrated.”
Then, using plant magic, she created vine beds to lay the sick separately. Felix came to assist her, using more intricate fire magic to illuminate the area brightly and water magic to cleanse the people.
The makeshift shelter was now thoroughly covered with tightly woven vine wood.
Sylvia took candied ginger from her spatial bag and dissolved it in hot water. After completing these preparations, she addressed the relatively healthy people with a serious tone.
“It’s natural to get sick from eating food that spoils easily if left out like this.”
Even though the weather near the lake was cooler than elsewhere, it was still summer. If they had hidden and then consumed not just coconut crab but also mussels and oysters, food poisoning was inevitable.
Sylvia felt frustrated and pitied them at the same time, understanding why they might have acted this way.
But this couldn’t continue.
Soon, they would leave, and those before her would likely settle here. The usually smiling Sylvia now spoke with such a cold expression that it unsettled everyone.
Even Felix was at a loss for words at this uncharacteristic side of Sylvia. From Ethan, who had come upon the commotion late, to Hubert and Denis, everyone was surprised by her demeanor.
“Of course, I tried to understand your position.”
She thought she understood them, but she didn’t want to assume she could fully grasp an experience she hadn’t lived through.
“I knew from the start that you had hostility towards me and the Croban mercenaries. There must be a reason… But I thought it would disappear as we lived together. Although our time together was short, I showed all my sincerity.”
Rio suddenly raised his voice angrily.
“What sincerity! It’s your food that made people sick!”
Angry and breathless, Rio was fed up. He didn’t want to trust anyone anymore. He thought it would be enough if just his village people were with him.
Or perhaps, he didn’t want to trust anyone at all.
“Yes, you kept the food I made outside and ate it later.”
“What does that matter! It was only one day! In the past, we would keep food for a week! Bern, am I wrong?”
Bern hesitated before looking at Sylvia while still focusing on his ailing wife. Sylvia remembered the expressions of the people who were unfamiliar with shellfish. Clearly, they had never eaten seafood before.
There were storage methods and magical items like spatial bags that could keep food for longer. How could she explain this? How could she make them trust her?
Behind her, Felix placed his hand on her shoulder.
“I’ve never seen anyone get sick from eating Sylvia’s cooking.”
His grip was strong, as if to show his trust. That small gesture felt incredibly reassuring.
“Food poisoning happens when you consume spoiled food. The coconut crab, mussels, and oysters I gave you are prone to spoilage. I understand why you’re angry, Rio…”
Sylvia’s voice trailed off before she looked at him firmly.
“Isn’t this a problem because you didn’t trust me in the first place?”
At her words, Rio’s face reddened as he shouted back.
“Why should I trust you!”
Sylvia felt bitter at his distrust, but she didn’t want to force someone to trust her against their will. After all, demanding trust doesn’t automatically grant it.
Her goodwill ended here, driven by human compassion and her feelings for Felix. Felix looked down, seemingly in agreement. Sylvia had shown enough kindness, even though it wasn’t her responsibility.
Originally, it was Felix’s role to care for them.
At that moment, Ethan stepped in.
“Look here, mate. Just as we happened to meet you and offered help, Sylvia came across you by chance and helped as well… Why the hostility? If we were to follow that logic, shouldn’t you also not trust our mercenary group?”
If saving lives was the measure, then the Nakri mercenaries had no reason to distrust Sylvia any more than they would distrust their own.
Saving the children, and moreover, cooking for many people in such a place, was it an easy task?
With Ethan stepping forward, Rio’s face turned even redder, but he couldn’t respond. He felt as if his own unnoticed contradictions had been pointed out.
“Why… I…”
As Rio mumbled and rambled, Bern deeply bowed and apologized.
“I’m really sorry. For not trusting Miss Sylvia… Truly, I’m sorry.”
He hadn’t fully trusted the person who had saved his own son.
“Bern, you…”
“Rio, stop it. Don’t you also want to trust? I know the hurt you’ve suffered from following the village chief… as if he were your own father. I can’t breathe just thinking about those times.”
“Stop, stop it.”
Knowing well why Rio was acting this way, Bern couldn’t push him further.
If Bern were in Rio’s shoes, he would have acted the same.
Rio’s daughter and wife, unable to escape their crumbling home, perished in a fire that wouldn’t extinguish easily.
No matter how much water was used, the flames only grew fiercer.
“I can’t trust… After trusting once, what if something happens again… I will never trust again.”
Rio, shaking his head vigorously, ran outside. Bern wanted to go after him but couldn’t leave his wife behind.
Sylvia spoke to Bern.
“Please follow him. I’ll take care of your wife.”
With a hesitant nod, Bern quietly bowed his head and then rushed outside.
Ethan approached Sylvia with a deep sigh.
“Poor man… It seems he lost his family in that disaster. So, don’t be too hard on him.”
Though not fully aware of the details, Ethan guessed the situation and Sylvia nodded in agreement.
“Yes, of course.”
She then turned to Felix, who was still holding her shoulder.
“Can you take the people outside for a bit?”
“Why?”
“I’m going to rebuild the house. The people lying down will be fine.”
Determined to first take care of the sick, Sylvia poured her magic into a plant magic circle. Felix, feeling the flow of her magic, led the people outside.
Sylvia used wind magic to clear the ground first. Then, she made a tree grow in the center of the clearing. The tree looked like a combination of oak and vine. It was the first time she applied a magic experiment in practice.
The new species she imagined in her mind began to slowly grow in the center of the clearing. A roof, densely woven like a vine, was quickly formed.
Arriving at the place Bern led her to, Sylvia regretted not checking their sleeping quarters sooner. Focused on the children, she had neglected to consider the adults’ sleeping area, which was in the worst state of hygiene. Their dwelling was hardly different from a bare ground, covered only by large leaves and branches.
Bern’s wife was moaning in pain in one corner. Next to her, another woman and a man were also clutching their stomachs in agony.
Sylvia quickly moved toward them. Bending over to examine Noel’s mother, she noticed wooden bowls. Not just one, but several, scattered around.
It seemed more appropriate to say they were hidden.
Certainly, these were the bowls Sylvia had made and used, but why they were here was momentarily puzzling. Reaching out, she wiped the sweat from Noel’s mother’s forehead. Noting the slight fever, she guessed something was definitely wrong.
“Noel’s mother, I know it’s hard, but you need to tell me where it hurts.”
She is not a doctor. Whether doctors exist in this world or not, even Sylvia doesn’t know. She could only judge based on the common knowledge she had since her youth.
Hearing Sylvia’s voice, Noel’s mother barely opened her eyes and whispered.
“My stomach, and head hurt, so much.”
After examining her closely, Sylvia asked another question.
“Did you, by any chance, have diarrhea?”
If the food she provided had caused an issue, that would have been one of the first symptoms to appear. Instead of Noel’s mother, Bern answered from the side.
“She went frequently before falling asleep.”
His answer, vaguely put perhaps out of embarrassment, was clear enough.
“Just a moment.”
The wooden bowl lying overturned in the corner kept catching Sylvia’s eye, so she finally reached out and picked it up. The source of the faint rotten smell seemed to be coming from the bowl.
After sniffing the bowl, Sylvia sighed deeply and inspected it. The smell was definitely not from the food they had eaten today but from the shellfish and crab they had eaten the day before.
As she held the bowl with a stern expression, Bern hesitantly spoke.
“Sorry, I took it without asking…”
Before he could finish, Sylvia asked.
“Is this… food from yesterday? No, I mean the food we had on the first day we arrived here.”
It was the middle of the night, so the concept of time was vague, but Sylvia asked precisely. Bern, having no answer, simply hung his head. Rio, standing beside him, suddenly yelled.
“What does that matter! The point is we got sick from the food you made! Take responsibility! How can you make food that makes people this sick! What if the children are in danger too!”
Standing right behind them, Felix’s presence prevented Rio from grabbing Sylvia again, but his attitude was still very threatening.
Sylvia seemed to ignore Rio’s words, looking around and checking the wooden bowls scattered everywhere for their smell.
The people hesitated and moved away from her, aware that they had taken her belongings without permission and thus had no grounds to argue.
“No, this is not right…”
Despite understanding their plight, Sylvia knew this was unacceptable. Deciding she needed to speak clearly, she hardened her expression and lit up the dark space. Before explaining, she first handed out barley tea to those complaining of stomach pains.
“Drink this first. It’s important to stay hydrated.”
Then, using plant magic, she created vine beds to lay the sick separately. Felix came to assist her, using more intricate fire magic to illuminate the area brightly and water magic to cleanse the people.
The makeshift shelter was now thoroughly covered with tightly woven vine wood.
Sylvia took candied ginger from her spatial bag and dissolved it in hot water. After completing these preparations, she addressed the relatively healthy people with a serious tone.
“It’s natural to get sick from eating food that spoils easily if left out like this.”
Even though the weather near the lake was cooler than elsewhere, it was still summer. If they had hidden and then consumed not just coconut crab but also mussels and oysters, food poisoning was inevitable.
Sylvia felt frustrated and pitied them at the same time, understanding why they might have acted this way.
But this couldn’t continue.
Soon, they would leave, and those before her would likely settle here. The usually smiling Sylvia now spoke with such a cold expression that it unsettled everyone.
Even Felix was at a loss for words at this uncharacteristic side of Sylvia. From Ethan, who had come upon the commotion late, to Hubert and Denis, everyone was surprised by her demeanor.
“Of course, I tried to understand your position.”
She thought she understood them, but she didn’t want to assume she could fully grasp an experience she hadn’t lived through.
“I knew from the start that you had hostility towards me and the Croban mercenaries. There must be a reason… But I thought it would disappear as we lived together. Although our time together was short, I showed all my sincerity.”
Rio suddenly raised his voice angrily.
“What sincerity! It’s your food that made people sick!”
Angry and breathless, Rio was fed up. He didn’t want to trust anyone anymore. He thought it would be enough if just his village people were with him.
Or perhaps, he didn’t want to trust anyone at all.
“Yes, you kept the food I made outside and ate it later.”
“What does that matter! It was only one day! In the past, we would keep food for a week! Bern, am I wrong?”
Bern hesitated before looking at Sylvia while still focusing on his ailing wife. Sylvia remembered the expressions of the people who were unfamiliar with shellfish. Clearly, they had never eaten seafood before.
There were storage methods and magical items like spatial bags that could keep food for longer. How could she explain this? How could she make them trust her?
Behind her, Felix placed his hand on her shoulder.
“I’ve never seen anyone get sick from eating Sylvia’s cooking.”
His grip was strong, as if to show his trust. That small gesture felt incredibly reassuring.
“Food poisoning happens when you consume spoiled food. The coconut crab, mussels, and oysters I gave you are prone to spoilage. I understand why you’re angry, Rio…”
Sylvia’s voice trailed off before she looked at him firmly.
“Isn’t this a problem because you didn’t trust me in the first place?”
At her words, Rio’s face reddened as he shouted back.
“Why should I trust you!”
Sylvia felt bitter at his distrust, but she didn’t want to force someone to trust her against their will. After all, demanding trust doesn’t automatically grant it.
Her goodwill ended here, driven by human compassion and her feelings for Felix. Felix looked down, seemingly in agreement. Sylvia had shown enough kindness, even though it wasn’t her responsibility.
Originally, it was Felix’s role to care for them.
At that moment, Ethan stepped in.
“Look here, mate. Just as we happened to meet you and offered help, Sylvia came across you by chance and helped as well… Why the hostility? If we were to follow that logic, shouldn’t you also not trust our mercenary group?”
If saving lives was the measure, then the Nakri mercenaries had no reason to distrust Sylvia any more than they would distrust their own.
Saving the children, and moreover, cooking for many people in such a place, was it an easy task?
With Ethan stepping forward, Rio’s face turned even redder, but he couldn’t respond. He felt as if his own unnoticed contradictions had been pointed out.
“Why… I…”
As Rio mumbled and rambled, Bern deeply bowed and apologized.
“I’m really sorry. For not trusting Miss Sylvia… Truly, I’m sorry.”
He hadn’t fully trusted the person who had saved his own son.
“Bern, you…”
“Rio, stop it. Don’t you also want to trust? I know the hurt you’ve suffered from following the village chief… as if he were your own father. I can’t breathe just thinking about those times.”
“Stop, stop it.”
Knowing well why Rio was acting this way, Bern couldn’t push him further.
If Bern were in Rio’s shoes, he would have acted the same.
Rio’s daughter and wife, unable to escape their crumbling home, perished in a fire that wouldn’t extinguish easily.
No matter how much water was used, the flames only grew fiercer.
“I can’t trust… After trusting once, what if something happens again… I will never trust again.”
Rio, shaking his head vigorously, ran outside. Bern wanted to go after him but couldn’t leave his wife behind.
Sylvia spoke to Bern.
“Please follow him. I’ll take care of your wife.”
With a hesitant nod, Bern quietly bowed his head and then rushed outside.
Ethan approached Sylvia with a deep sigh.
“Poor man… It seems he lost his family in that disaster. So, don’t be too hard on him.”
Though not fully aware of the details, Ethan guessed the situation and Sylvia nodded in agreement.
“Yes, of course.”
She then turned to Felix, who was still holding her shoulder.
“Can you take the people outside for a bit?”
“Why?”
“I’m going to rebuild the house. The people lying down will be fine.”
Determined to first take care of the sick, Sylvia poured her magic into a plant magic circle. Felix, feeling the flow of her magic, led the people outside.
Sylvia used wind magic to clear the ground first. Then, she made a tree grow in the center of the clearing. The tree looked like a combination of oak and vine. It was the first time she applied a magic experiment in practice.
The new species she imagined in her mind began to slowly grow in the center of the clearing. A roof, densely woven like a vine, was quickly formed.
