Chapter 36: The Fire Pit

There had never been any problems before, but yesterday, on the way back to the treehouse, Hamoyin got caught in a heavy rain. That night, he started feeling dizzy and weak.

Realizing he was sick, he hesitated about whether to see Nagu the next day. But if he didn’t go, Nagu would surely be worried and maybe even disappointed. So the next day, Hamoyin forced himself to take some herbal medicine and set out.

On the way, he got caught in the rain twice more. By the time he reached the human village, Hamoyin was feeling weak and dizzy, but he still managed to find the witch’s house where Nagu was staying. After telling her he wouldn’t be coming for the next few days, he planned to leave immediately. However, it was clear he hadn’t hidden his illness well.

“Are you sick?”

“…”

Hamoyin shook his head and stepped back, trying to avoid Nagu’s outstretched hand. But his slow movements due to his discomfort allowed her to grab his wrist.

“I… cough, cough…” Hamoyin tried to shake off Nagu’s hand. “Let go…”

So hot. Nagu felt the heat from his wrist burning her palm. She looked at Hamoyin’s weak face. “If you walk back like this and it rains again in the afternoon… your illness will worsen.”

“No, I’m fine…”

“You don’t even have the strength to shake off my hand. How is that fine?”

“…”

Nagu looked at the still-stubborn Hamoyin. His hair was dripping, his cheeks were unnaturally flushed, his eyes were unfocused, and his breathing was unsteady. He clearly had a fever. “Anyway, come inside and dry off first, okay? Then I’ll see if the witch has any medicine for you.”

Saying this, Nagu tried to pull Hamoyin into the house, but he kept stepping back.

“No… I don’t want to go in…”

“Just come in and warm up. You can’t stay wet like this. You’ll feel worse!”

“No…”

Why does it always feel like he’s a bit aggrieved when he says no?

Nagu turned to look at Hamoyin, who was full of reluctance: “Why not? Do you not want to enter this house, or do you not want to warm up by the fire?”

“I don’t want to go in,” Hamoyin coughed and said softly, his mind a mess and not knowing what he was doing. “No…”

“Shall we go somewhere else to warm up by the fire?” Nagu said in a coaxing tone, and then she saw Hamoyin nod slightly.

It seemed he really didn’t want to enter the witch’s house. Nagu instinctively thought it must have something to do with the tail bones hanging inside the house, so she didn’t force Hamoyin to go in. Instead, she led him around to the backyard.

In the witch’s backyard, besides a few small plots for growing herbs, there was a ‘small storage room’ in the corner made of branches, animal skins, and bird feather blankets. Most of the space inside was used to store firewood and animal fat.

Nagu moved some firewood and fat jars, making a space for Hamoyin to lie down, then she shook out a piece of animal skin and spread it on the ground: “Come, lie down here first.”

Hamoyin obediently walked over and sat on the animal skin without saying a word, then looked at Nagu with unfocused eyes as if waiting for her to continue speaking.

“I’ll go inside to get a fire basin. Wait for me here.” Nagu touched Hamoyin’s burning forehead. Seeing Hamoyin in this state, she knew he must be feverish. “Don’t run around; I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Nagu glanced a few more times at the dazed Hamoyin, then quickly ran back to the front room. Besides taking the fire basin and firestone, she grabbed a few more animal skins to temporarily replace Hamoyin’s wet clothes. When she returned to the storage room with the items, Hamoyin was already lying on the ground. His breathing was a bit rapid, and from time to time, a small, muffled whimper would come from his throat. His nearly 1.9-meter-tall body curled up on the ground looked very pitiful.

“Are you feeling very uncomfortable?” Nagu asked with concern, rolling up a small piece of soft animal skin and placing it under Hamoyin’s head. He was so sick, yet he had just wanted to leave. He might have fainted in the forest if she had let him go. “I’ll start a fire and boil some hot water immediately.”

As she spoke, Nagu quickly lit the fire. Then, she went to the large earthen jar in the backyard to scoop a bucket of water and set it on the fire to boil. Once the water was warm, she began to use a piece of rough cloth dipped in the hot water to wipe Hamoyin’s body.

She also removed the damp clothes wrapped around Hamoyin and spread them out by the fire to dry. At this moment, Hamoyin was still half-opened his eyes in a daze. He tried to muster the strength to say he would wipe himself, but his throat couldn’t make a sound: “Ugh…”

“What’s wrong? It’ll be done soon.” Nagu put down one of Hamoyin’s arms and started wiping his side. “I’ll help you change into dry clothes and then go to the room to find some medicine for you.”

Indeed, after wiping his body with warm water, he felt much more refreshed, and his hair began to dry slowly. But when the girl started to pull down his pants, Hamoyin realized what he was about to face.

“Don’t move.” Nagu grabbed Hamoyin’s waistband with both hands. She didn’t expect the patient to resist suddenly at this moment. “Your pants are wet, too; they definitely need to come off!”

“I… myself…” Hamoyin struggled to sit up, but Nagu easily pushed him back down. He could only lie weakly on the blanket and say in vain, “I’ll do it myself…”

“It’s okay.” Nagu quickly untied Hamoyin’s waistband and pulled his pants down. “Just lie down.”

Without the pants covering him, Nagu finally clearly saw the scales’ distribution on Hamoin’s body.

Sure enough, the scales tightly covered his lower body and the upper part of his thighs. However, the color of the scales was much lighter than those on his back and looked softer. As for the male symbol, it was definitely hidden in a ‘pouch’ like those of lizards, snakes, and crocodiles.

Hamoyin felt Nagu staring at him continuously, but he was too weak to do anything to stop her. He could only close his eyes and lie on the blanket as if nothing had happened.

“It’ll be done soon.” She couldn’t keep staring between his legs like a pervert. However, there was nothing to see but scales. Nagu blushed and looked away, starting to wipe Hamoyin’s abdomen and thighs with warm water.

Indeed, the scales below felt a bit softer. Through the cloth, Nagu could feel the scales slightly move with the pressure of her hand. Out of curiosity, Nagu asked Hamoyin, “Do you feel anything when I wipe like this?”

“…No.”

What am I asking!!

Realizing what she had asked, Nagu felt like she was going to have a fever, too. “Oh… oh, I’m done wiping.”

Quickly changing the subject, Nagu grabbed the soft fur beside her and wrapped Hamoyin tightly in it. “You sleep for a while, I’ll go inside to find some medicine for you.”

“Okay…”

Wrapped up like a cocoon, Hamoyin lay on the ground in a daze. He didn’t know when Nagu left or when she came back, only vaguely remembering her feeding him water and gently touching his forehead several times. Although his body still felt very uncomfortable, he felt like he could finally rest a bit better now.

Chapter 37
The Shelf

“What are you looking for?”

Nagu stopped rummaging through the shelves and turned to look at the old witch who had just come out of the hallway, leaning on her cane and frowning. “Granny, you’re awake.”

“What are you searching through my things for? Didn’t I tell you not to touch these shelves?” The witch hobbled over to Nagu. “Step back!”

“A child from the village came by while you were sleeping,” Nagu stepped back a little. “He wanted medicine to stop his brother’s fever. I said I’d get it when you woke up, but you slept too long, so I thought I’d find it myself…”

“Fever?” The witch’s cloudy eyes scanned the jars on the shelf. “Dizzy?”

“Dizzy, coughing, and very weak,” Nagu obediently stood aside as the witch began picking through the jars. “And sweating a lot.”

The witch didn’t respond; she just continued picking through the jars. She then put some herbs and strange chunks into a small leather bag and handed it to Nagu. “Give this to the boy. Have him grind everything into powder and feed it to his brother. Once today, and the rest over the next two days.”

“Okay, got it.” Nagu was thrilled to get the medicine but kept a straight face. “I’ll go find him now.”

As Nagu turned to leave, the old witch suddenly called out, “Wait.”

“What is it?” Nagu stopped and looked back at the witch, worried she had been caught lying. Please no!

“Did the chief come to see you this morning?”

“Yes…” Thank goodness, not caught. Nagu sighed in relief.

“What did he say?”

“He asked about the monster attack yesterday.”

“Just that?”

“Just that.”

“Just that?”

The old witch squinted her eyes thoughtfully and nodded. “I see. Go deliver the medicine.”

“Okay.” Nagu felt a bit uneasy. She didn’t understand why the witch suddenly asked her this. “But why did you ask me that, Granny?”

The witch didn’t answer Nagu’s question. She just curtly said, “Go deliver the medicine,” and then slowly turned and walked towards her workbench.

Nagu could only clutch the medicine bag and leave the house. She didn’t go straight to the backyard but instead circled around outside and then sneaked into the backyard along a small path.

Hamoyin had already fallen asleep earlier. He had managed to drink water twice before sleeping, but now he still looked very uncomfortable. His forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and his body was trembling slightly under the animal skin blanket.

To avoid overheating, Nagu moved the fire basin a bit further away. Then, she used a coarse cloth dipped in warm water to wipe Hamoyin’s forehead. She placed the medicine bag beside her, planning to grind the herbs later. For now, she needed to prepare some food.

However, the sleeping Hamoyin showed no signs of waking up. Nagu couldn’t decide when to prepare the food, so she just stared at Hamoyin for a while.

Hamoyin’s tightly furrowed brows made Nagu feel very guilty. If she hadn’t insisted on meeting, Hamoyin wouldn’t have gone to the market every time. So, she felt largely responsible for his fever.

Nagu reached out and brushed Hamoyin’s hair off his forehead. It was already soaked with sweat. “Are you very hot?” she asked softly, not knowing if he could hear her.

Hamoyin just whimpered a few times with his eyes closed, trying to stretch his hand out from under the animal skin, but he couldn’t find the opening and kept pushing around inside. Seeing this, Nagu loosened the animal skin wrapped around him so he could get his hand out.

When Hamoyin finally managed to extend his hand, Nagu noticed that his arm was also sticky with sweat. The inner side of the animal skin, which was close to Hamoyin’s body, was soaked as if dipped in water.

“Oh my, how can he sweat so much? Isn’t he… isn’t he a reptile?”

Although sweating is common during a fever, this amount seemed excessive. Realizing she might have overheated Hamoyin, Nagu immediately lifted part of the thick animal skin covering him and used a warm cloth to wipe away his sweat. As she was wiping his neck, Hamoyin opened his eyes slightly and looked at her. “Nagu…”

“You’re awake?”

“…”

The conversation didn’t continue. Hamoyin closed his eyes again and fell back into a deep sleep. However, after the blanket was lifted, his furrowed brows relaxed significantly.

“So he was overheated,” Nagu thought. She pulled the blanket back a bit more and wiped his upper body. Since there were no spare clothes, Hamoyin’s body remained bare under the blanket. After wiping his front, Nagu turned her attention to his back.

Hamoyin was already in a deep sleep, making it difficult to turn him over. But she had to wipe the sweat off his back. Nagu pushed Hamoyin’s shoulder, managing to turn his heavy body slightly, and then started vigorously wiping his back and scales with a cloth.

As she wiped down his spine, Nagu finally saw the scar Hamoyin had always hidden under his pants. The scar left from when his tail was cut off. It was slightly larger than her fist. The area could no longer grow scales, and the scar unnaturally separated the scales on his back and those extending from his waist to his thighs. The new skin growing at the end of Hamoyin’s tail was a different color from the rest, an unhealthy dark yellow. Nagu carefully touched the skin, which felt loose and rough like old, coarse skin. Through this layer, she could feel a hard lump inside, probably the remaining bone of the tail.

When she touched the bone, Hamoyin’s body twitched, and he made a whimpering sound, indicating discomfort.

Nagu quickly withdrew her hand as if shocked, immediately apologizing, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch it…”

“…”

After a moment without any response, Nagu peeked at Hamoyin’s face. He was still asleep. “Does touching this spot still cause pain instinctively?” she wondered. To confirm her suspicion, she gently touched the small bump again, and Hamoine whimpered in discomfort once more.

Realizing that the injury from his childhood still caused him pain, Nagu felt a pang of sadness. She remembered how Hamoyin had only grunted a few times when his scales were pulled out before. Nagu began to suspect that the wound on his tail might always hurt, and Hamoyin just never mentioned it.

“Why are you so used to these things…” Nagu felt a bit helpless. After wiping off Hamoyin’s sweat, she put away the thick animal skin and draped his dried clothes back over him.

Hamoyin couldn’t hear what Nagu was saying; he just continued to sleep restlessly.

After sitting and watching Hamoyin’s face for a while, Nagu suddenly reached out and gently stroked the crown of his head. His black hair was dull and not at all smooth, feeling rough and prickly to the touch. In his sleep, Hamoyin seemed to sense her touch. His head moved slightly, nuzzling against Nagu’s palm.

“…” Nagu’s eyes widened at this small gesture.

“This kind of thing would never happen when Hamoyin is awake,” Nagu thought, feeling a warm, trembling sensation in her chest. She continued to gently stroke his hair, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Hamoyin would nuzzle her hand again. Unfortunately, Hamoine didn’t respond to her touch anymore and just kept sleeping deeply.