Chapter 5: Medicinal Paste

After being fed bite by bite by Hamoyin, Nagu finally remembered to think about something. She had been in a coma for the past fifteen days, and she had suffered such severe injuries. Thinking carefully, barely recovering in such an environment must have involved meticulous care, which certainly included more than just feeding and giving water. In other words, Hamoyin performed all the dressing changes, cleaning of her body… and excretions.

In this situation, Nagu couldn’t afford to feel ashamed, which was a completely useless emotion. She was just wondering why Hamoyin would go to such lengths. It was too kind of him.

“Do you want to eat more?” The kind Hamoyin asked, holding an empty bowl, looking down at the suddenly vacant-eyed Nagu, “Or is there something else?”

“Um,” Nagu’s gaze flickered, sometimes looking at Hamoyin, sometimes drifting away to who knows where, “I want to ask… ask you something.”

Seeing that Nagu didn’t want to eat anymore, Hamoyin turned around with the bowl and walked back to the stone platform to wash the stone bowl with water. “What is it?”

“Why have you helped me so many times? Do you really not know me?” After holding it in for a few minutes, Nagu finally asked this question.

“I don’t know you.” Hamoyin splashed the dirty water from the bowl out the window. “This is the second time you’ve asked me this question. Don’t you know whether I know you or not?”

“I don’t remember things from the past, so I really don’t know.” Nagu revealed her embarrassing secret, but after saying it, she wasn’t sure if people from Hamoyin’s time could understand the concept of amnesia.

Although strictly speaking, Nagu didn’t have amnesia; she just didn’t know what the original ‘Nagu’ had experienced before, so in a certain sense, it could be considered amnesia.

“Don’t remember things from the past?” Hamoyin was stunned for a moment when he heard Nagu say this. “Not at all?”

Great, he can understand!

Nagu pointed to the back of her head. “When Azuran’s people captured me, my head was injured. Now I only remember my name.”

“While staying in the monster’s tribe… I mean, you also forgot everything from before that?”

Nagu nodded. She felt that Hamoyin’s expression was a bit strange at this moment, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. “If I remembered things from the past, I probably wouldn’t be so clueless as not even to recognize tree fruits.”

“No, I think it’s better that you don’t remember.” Hamoyin’s tone softened considerably compared to before. “Rest now. I’ll call you later to change your dressing.”

It’s better not to remember? Nagu somewhat understood why Hamoyin would say this. Perhaps it was an unspoken rule in this place that once a woman fell into the hands of monsters, she would live a life of extreme suffering. So, strictly speaking, it was quite fortunate that she didn’t inherit the original Nagu’s memories.

“By the way, Hamoyin.” Nagu’s eyes peeked out from under the animal’s skin as she watched the man who had sat back down by the fire to carve wood. “The herbs… the ones you used to treat me, are they hard to find?”

“Not really.”

“I’ll find a way to repay you later. You’ve helped me so much. Oh, and the jerky you gave me before.”

Hamoyin started to find Nagu a bit talkative. “No need to repay me. The leopard you killed earlier, I gave its fur and other parts to the tribe as my own.”

After a pause, Hamoyin continued, “So I’ll take care of you until you can walk on your own.”

Nagu was a bit confused about the value of items in this rainforest. “Just one fur is enough?”

“And its teeth and bones.” Hamoyin didn’t stop carving the wood as he spoke. He wasn’t comforting the injured Nagu; he was stating facts. A complete, undamaged leopard skin could be used as an important sacrificial item. When hunting, to catch such a beautiful and thick-furred but agile and cunning animal, one would definitely use a bow and arrow. Bows and arrows usually leave holes in the fur on the back or belly of the prey. Damaged fur naturally loses a lot of its value. Because of the unexpected acquisition of that leopard skin, Hamoyin can submit five fewer animal skins this season, meaning he can keep most of what he hunts for himself. “Thanks to you, my daily tasks are much easier.”

“Th-thanks to me?”

Hamoyin nodded and continued to focus on carving the wooden arrow, not speaking further. Seeing him so serious, Nagu didn’t dare interrupt and could only lie quietly in the pile of animal skins, occasionally sniffing.

Apart from the crackling sound of the firewood burning, various faint noises from the dense rainforest outside could be heard.

Finally, she had a place to sleep well. Although her whole body was in pain, it was better than hiding in a dark little tree hole in fear. And with Hamoyin nearby, this sense of security was something she hadn’t felt in a long time. In the past, she only felt this secure when she received a substantial reward. But thinking about it, both feelings were quite similar: a simple sense of security that comes when basic needs are met.

Since Hamoyin ignored her for a long time, Nagu started thinking more and more, mostly about Hamoyin. First, why did Hamoyin dare to take her in?

After all, she was a ‘fugitive.’ If the people in the tribe found out that Hamoyin was hiding a fugitive in his home, what would happen? But it seemed Hamoyin wasn’t worried about this issue. Nagu thought that since Hamoyin had such a nonchalant attitude, it must mean that no one would come to his house or that people in the tribe didn’t interact closely. But can people who don’t have close interactions still be considered part of a tribe? Isn’t a tribe supposed to be about unity, everyone working together to build a better future? And based on what Hamoyin just said, it seemed he had to submit part of his hunt to the tribe. So, is it just Hamoyin who needs to submit his hunt, or does the whole tribe follow this rule? Nagu didn’t know the specifics. She could only guess that Hamoyin’s relationship with the tribe might be somewhat distant, but even if distant, he still had to follow the rules.

If Hamoyin’s relationship with the tribe was really distant, could she possibly stay with Hamoyin to recover for as long as possible?

Nagu had to admit she had some selfish motives. She had never lived in such an environment before, meaning she couldn’t imagine how to survive back in the food chain. Although she couldn’t clearly remember her past life, at least she didn’t have to worry about her own death. Her selfish motive was to stay in Hamoyin’s territory until she found a way out. But she couldn’t shamelessly stay at someone else’s place and consume their resources, so she had to find a way, find a way to kill another leopard?

Hamoyin seemed to really need that animal’s fur, and since one fur was enough for him to be willing to take care of her while she recovered if she could get a few more, wouldn’t she be able to stay at Hamoyin’s place with peace of mind? Like paying rent.

But that was too foolish. She had risked her life to barely manage a draw with the leopard, and luck played a part in it. So, saying she could kill a few more was just wishful thinking.

Was there anything else she could give Hamoyin instead of animal skins? Listening to the rustling leaves outside the window, Nagu half-closed her eyes in thought.

“Time to change the dressing.”

“Ah…”

Nagu’s eyes snapped open. “What?”

“Change the dressing.” Hamoyin had somehow returned to Nagu’s bedside without her noticing. He was holding a rather large stone bowl filled with a greenish paste, which he had prepared while Nagu was lost in her thoughts. “Don’t move, stay like this.”

“…Oh, oh.” Nagu stammered in response, then watched as Hamoyin lifted the animal skin covering her and set it aside.

To be honest, she still felt a sense of shame because Hamoyin had probably left her unclothed for convenience in changing her dressings, leaving only the medicinal paste covering her body.

Hamoyin, however, was used to it. He skillfully scraped the old medicinal paste from Nagu’s wounds with clean, soft leaves. After cleaning off the old paste, he carefully examined the healing progress of the wounds as if Nagu’s exposed, trembling chest didn’t exist at all. “Your arms and waist are fine now, but your ankle and thigh will need more time before you can move them.”

Hamoyin looked down at the tear on the inside of Nagu’s left thigh, then gently touched the edge where a thin scab had formed. “Does it itch? Or hurt?”

“A bit, a bit of pain, and a bit itchy.”

So close! Despite Nagu’s best efforts to tell herself that Hamoyin was just treating her, she couldn’t help but blush, her ears and cheeks turning red. After all, being completely naked and examined by a young man was quite stimulating.

“Itchy? Is it the wound itself or the scabbed edges?”

“Not the wound, just the place you touched is a bit itchy.”

Hamoyin then noticed Nagu’s face was already bright red. “…Oh.”

He withdrew his fingers, picked up the stone bowl from the bedside, and carefully applied the medicinal paste to Nagu’s wounds. “In a couple of days, you should be able to apply the medicine yourself.”

“Mm, mm… Thank you for applying the medicine.” Nagu lay on the bed, feeling like she was about to cook from embarrassment.