The boy yanked on his sister's sleeve, pointing a finger.
"Hey, sister, look... I've never seen that huge guy around here before. Who is he?"
The sister squinted, her brow furrowing.
"Yeah... he definitely doesn't look like he's from around the valley."
Barn caught their whispers and immediately veered toward them, forcing a wide, intentionally clumsy smile onto his face to look as harmless as possible.
"Ah, don't worry, you two! Listen up,"
Barn said, his voice booming with a fake, overly cheerful tone.
"I'm actually from this very village! Long ago, me and my family left this place to travel across the World for a little bit... but, well, a little bit turned into quite a few years! Haha! We just got back today."
It was a completely terrible, transparent lie, but Barn's massive, honest-looking face and easygoing demeanor were strangely convincing to simple Village folk.
The sister blinked, completely buying the story.
"Oh! A returning traveler? Well, welcome back to the valley, sir."
"Thank you, kindly,"
Barn said, leaning over the fence.
"Listen, my family had a rough time on the road back. They're quite sick and injured. Do you know where I can find a doctor around here?"
The young boy pointed a finger toward a small, tidy cottage near the village well.
"Old Man Robert's place is right over there. He takes care of everyone's sprains and fevers."
"Perfect. Much obliged, kids,"
Barn said, nodding before marching off toward the cottage.
He knocked heavily on the wooden frame.
The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man with short, dark hair, wearing a plain linen tunic and dirt-stained trousers.
He looked more like a common potato farmer than a medical professional.
Barn didn't even realize he was speaking to the physician at first, nearly asking him where the real doctor was, until the man noted the medical herbs drying on his porch.
"I need your help,"
Barn said, grabbing the man by the shoulder with a grip that made the doctor's knees buckle.
"My family is in the new house by the edge of the field. They're hurt bad from the road."
The dark-haired doctor grabbed his leather satchel, grunting under the pressure of Barn's guidance as the giant practically dragged him across the village.
"Alright, alright! Let go of my shirt, big guy, I'm moving!"
As they walked, Barn maintained his clumsy cover story.
"Yeah, we went to travel for some years, you see. On the way back, we got ambushed by some rogue beasts.
My wife and the kids took the worst of it."
The doctor nodded sympathetically, stepping through the doorway of the windowless stone house.
But the moment his eyes adjusted to the dim interior, he froze dead in his tracks. His jaw slackened as he looked at the beautiful, pale woman lying in the center of the room.
"An... an Elf?"
the doctor whispered, his hands trembling slightly as he looked at her long, pointed ears. High-tier magical races were a myth in these outer rural areas.
"Just heal her,"
Barn muttered from the doorway, his voice dropping its cheerful tone entirely, replacing it with a cold, heavy weight that left no room for argument.
The doctor swallowed hard, quickly kneeling beside Elena.
He closed his eyes, dropping his focus into his gut to activate his own localized Zheki.
A faint, pale yellow light enveloped his fingers as he pressed his palms firmly against Elena's chest.
He began to channel his energy, carefully jump-starting her depleted system and soothing the raw, internal burns left by Rodolf's fire.
Elena let out a long, clear breath as the cool energy spread through her torso, her color slowly returning.
With her stabilized, the doctor stood up and walked over to the corner where Hanjun and Jayhon were lying.
He checked their pulses, pressed his fingers against their ribs, and examined the alignment of their jaws and limbs.
The doctor blinked in complete confusion, scratching his dark hair.
"Wait... these two boys aren't actually injured. Their bones are perfectly set, and their internal tracks are entirely clear. They're completely good. Just exhausted."
He picked up his satchel, giving Barn a strange look.
"Your wife just needs a few days of solid bed rest to recover her energy, but the kids are fine. I'll take my leave now."
Barn nodded, tossing a few scrounged silver coins into the man's hand as the doctor departed into the sunlight.
Inside the quiet room, Hanjun and Jayhon exchanged a look.
Hearing the doctor say they were perfectly fine, both boys braced their hands against the earthen floor at the exact same time, determined to finally stand up and prove they weren't weak.
But the very second they tried to push themselves off the ground, the terrifying, phantom memory of Rodolf's manic face flashed before their eyes.
They could practically hear the sickening crack of their own facial bones and the sound of arms snapping under a heavy iron boot.
The sheer psychological trauma of the brutal beatdown completely paralyzed their muscles. Their arms buckled instantly, and both boys fell heavily right back into the dirt, staring at the floor in breathless, silent frustration.