Chapter 45: I'll Give You Half
"Kurtz, it's time for your medicine!~"
"Please, can you not use such strange lines? You're scaring me a little."
Kurtz's eyebrows twitched as he looked at Serie, who held a bowl of medicine with a smile on her lips. There was something altogether too pleased in that expression for his comfort.
He sat there clearly, not even close to being bedridden, so how did the plot develop to this point?
The domestic scene felt surreal after their epic battle with the dragon.
He didn't know what sudden whim possessed Serie to say something like that, completely throwing him off. Her theatrical delivery suggested that this was payback for what he had done to her.
During the day, to kill that giant dragon, Kurtz had used up all his magic power, falling into a temporary state of magic exhaustion, but it wasn't as severe as Serie's had been before; he would probably recover in just a day or two.
This gave the petite elf in front of him an opportunity to make him a bowl of magic recovery potion.
This bowl of green herbal soup could barely be called soup; it was as thick as porridge, which showed how many herbs Serie must have put in to stew such a concentrated concoction.
The color alone was aggressive, a shade of green that suggested it tasted exactly as unpleasant as it looked.
'Is she trying to get revenge on me now? What are you, a child?'
Kurtz had ample reason to suspect Serie, especially with the malicious smile still playing at the corners of her mouth. That expression was far too innocent to be genuine.
'Good grief.'
He hadn't expected his ancient companion to be quite so vindictive.
The realization was amusing and slightly terrifying for all the possibilities that could happen.
Kurtz took the potion; although drinking it would be very bitter, it was at least her kind intention, and drinking it would indeed help his magic power recover faster.
He could practically smell the bitterness radiating from the bowl.
'I will remember this grudge, Serie, just you wait!'
He would endure it for now, and then he would let this ancient elf taste the consequences later! Fair was fair, after all.
Seeing Kurtz gulp down the potion, Serie somewhat anticipated what expression this human would show, but to her surprise, even when the bowl was half empty, Kurtz's expression hadn't changed at all.
His poker face was infuriatingly perfect.
'Impossible! It... It can't be'
Serie could clearly recall this herb's taste; it was a bitterness that could numb her tongue, sharp enough to make grown warriors weep.
If Kurtz hadn't brought her sweet fruits to alleviate the bitterness before, she would never have been willing to drink such a thing.
The memory of that awful taste was still fresh.
"Why are you not feeling bitter?"
Serie asked, expressing the doubt in her heart. Her golden eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Bitter? I think it's very sweet; there's no bitterness at all."
Kurtz said with a smile, and his words made Serie half-believe him. His casual tone was almost convincing, almost.
'Could it be that he used magic to change these herbs' taste?'
Because Kurtz always brought her small surprises and knew many small magic tricks she had never seen, it was reasonable for Serie to suspect this. His repertoire of unusual spells seemed endless.
But the prerequisite was that she had to notice Kurtz's sly gaze, which she was far too proud to acknowledge.
"How about you try some? I remember you also consumed quite a bit of magic power today."
'Hmph, so that's it, I get it now, you're still centuries younger to fool me, Kurtz'
Kurtz handed over the bowl, and Serie took it with the confidence of someone who believed she'd figured out the trick.
Looking at the green, almost impossibly green, liquid in the bowl, she was still a bit hesitant. The viscous texture caught the firelight in unappetizing ways.
After all, she had truly tasted this stuff and knew how bitter it was, not to mention that she had doubled the dosage this time.
Logic was fighting with the conclusion she came up with in her mind.
However, since Kurtz acted as if nothing was wrong, he had indeed researched some new magic.
For example, magic that could turn bitterness into sweetness. The possibility intrigued her professional curiosity.
Convincing herself with this reasoning, Serie began to drink the liquid from the bowl's edge.
However, the next second, she immediately spat out all the liquid in her mouth.
"Pfft---!"
Kurtz was prepared and dodged to the side with practiced ease, while Norn, who was preparing dinner not far away, was unlucky; the liquid splashed directly onto his trouser leg, creating a large, greenish stain.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha," Kurtz couldn't hold himself back from full-blown laughter.
Serie's face looked like a little cat that its human had just betrayed by secretly mixing the most bitter medicine into its food.
"Oh, this stuff is very precious, so please don't waste it, both of you."
Norn sighed, examining the damage with resigned acceptance.
He could only say it was a good thing he wasn't too close; otherwise, it wouldn't have just been his trouser leg that got dirty.
"Sorry, sorry." Kurtz stepped forward, stifling his laughter and cast a small cleaning spell; the next second, the stain on Norn's trouser leg disappeared as if it had never been there.
Across from him, Serie's entire small face was crumpled in disgust.
"It's so bitter!" She glared angrily at Kurtz, her pride stinging worse than her tongue.
Serie wasn't a fool; she immediately realized Kurtz had tricked her.
'The audacity of this fleeting and cunning human!'
"You... you tricked me!" Serie's ear tips turned red with anger, and she raised her hand to splash the remaining medicine at Kurtz.
She snapped at him as her composure had finally cracked.
Kurtz quickly stopped her: "Wait, wait, wait! Didn't you hear Norn? This stuff is very precious."
Serie put down the medicine bowl, her anger warring with practicality.
Indeed, this stuff was very precious; they had carried a lot of luggage before setting off, and they had only brought a small amount of this herb.
Such precious resources were always limited on the road.
Although Kurtz could use rapid growth magic, this herb was different from wild fruits and similar plants; rapid growth required more magic power.
Sometimes, the magic power recovered wasn't even as much as the magic power the rapid growth spell consumed. Efficiency was everything when survival was at stake.
It really couldn't go to waste.
"Then you drink it all!"
Serie gnashed her teeth and shoved the bowl back into his hand. If he wanted to play games, he would have to suffer the consequences.
Kurtz didn't mind; anyway, he had drunk a lot of traditional medicine in his previous life, so this level of bitterness wasn't enough to make him vomit.
'Looks like some experiences transcend worlds, apparently.'
However, he suddenly had another idea.
So he took the medicine bowl and went to Serie.
"Then let's share it, half each, since you also consumed quite a bit of magic power today."
The suggestion came out gentler than he'd intended, his concern for her more essential than their little game.
Serie cautiously took half a step back: "No, are you trying to trick me again?"
"No, this time it's real."
His fingertips glowed faintly, and the green liquid automatically split into two halves; then he took out another bowl and poured the other half of the liquid into it.
The simple magic made the division precise and fair.
Serie had also consumed a lot of magic power today, so she deserved a share of these potions.
However, he also harbored a little bit of selfishness; he wanted to share the burden of that awful taste.
Serie took the bowl; she had wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, she did indeed need to restore her magic power as soon as possible.
Pride was a luxury they couldn't always afford.
Only when she saw Kurtz slightly frown as he drank the liquid did she confirm that the man had been pretending to trick her last time. The micro-expression gave him away completely.
"Hmph, boring." Although she said that, she still held the bowl and drank in small sips, her dignity demanding some form of protest.
'Looks like Serie doesn't understand the universal principle of drinking traditional medicine in one gulp; drinking in small sips would only make it more bitter for you'
But Kurtz wasn't about to share that particular wisdom.
But this time, she didn't spit it out; she just frowned tightly, her face a mask of determined misery.
Seeing this, Kurtz pulled out some bright red berries from his pocket.
Serie subconsciously took the berries; this was a tacit understanding they had developed before, and the sweet and sour juice diluted the bitterness in her mouth.
The relief was immediate as the berries' sweetness buried the bitterness in her mouth.
But then she suddenly realized something, looked down at the remaining berries in her hand, and handed a few back.
"...For you." The elven girl quietly looked at Kurtz, her golden eyes showing a rare gentleness.
The simple gesture carried more weight than any grand declaration. In that moment, something shifted between them; it was subtle but unmistakable.
Kurtz was stunned.
For some reason, he felt touched in his heart. The unexpected kindness hit him harder than it should have.
It was somewhat like the feeling of relief when his own cat grew up and knew to bring him mice from outside. The comparison was absurd, but the warmth was genuine.
"Don't eat it then! Hmph." Seeing his lack of reaction, Serie prepared to withdraw her hand, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
She also didn't know why she would share the berries with this man, perhaps because she saw that he had also drunk the bitter potion.
The reasoning, though, felt flimsy even to her.
"Of course I'll eat them."
Kurtz quickly took them, his fingers brushing hers briefly; for some reason, both he and Serie suddenly stopped talking, each lowering their heads to eat the berries.
The silence stretched between them, comfortable and charged at once.
Meanwhile, Eric, who had been secretly watching from beside the fire, leaned over to Norn and whispered.
"Don't you think something is going on with those two?"
His voice carried the knowing tone of someone who'd spotted something the participants hadn't quite realised themselves.
Norn looked up and glanced at the two people Eric was referring to. "They're just good companions."
His tone was carefully neutral, though his eyes lingered on the scene a moment longer than necessary.
"Then remember to share half of your soup with me later; after all, we're companions too!"
Eric's grin was entirely too pleased with his own cleverness.
"Dream on!"
"Ha-ha-ha" Somo just laughed, watching all of this on the side, as he gently cleaned his axe.
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