The next morning, the physician packed up some medicine and entrusted it to Kitahara Mei's parents. After giving them instructions, he left the village carrying his portable wooden box.
His father was the proprietor of a shop, while his mother stayed home to care for Kitahara Mei and manage household affairs. Kitahara Ha would get up early each morning and go to the warrior's home to train in swordsmanship.
His mother came to Kitahara Mei's side carrying a bowl of medicine. She scooped out a spoonful with a spoon, gently blew on it to cool it slightly, then watched as Kitahara Mei slowly drank it down.
It was somewhat bitter.
Although Kitahara Mei's expression showed no change—as quiet as ever—she could see this thought reflected in his eyes.
This wasn't because she had any mind-reading ability. It was simply that all of Kitahara Mei's thoughts and emotions seemed to surface in those pure wine-red eyes, without any concealment.
He was such a perfect child that one couldn't help but want to protect him.
This was almost everyone's thought upon seeing him.
From childhood until now, he had always been this quiet, yet without giving off an atmosphere of arrogance or loneliness. It was a soft kind of quiet that made people unconsciously want to draw near and enjoy that tranquility.
After drinking the entire bowl of medicine, Mei's complexion took on a slight rosy flush—whether because the medicine was actually working or simply because it was hot was unclear.
Time passed slowly in this manner.
But disappointingly, after one month when all the main medicine in his father's possession was consumed, there was still no sign of improvement in Mei's condition. The physician had promised to return after a month to examine Kitahara Mei's physical state, but to this day, he had not appeared.
His parents and brother couldn't help but feel disappointed once again.
But that was all—after all, this wasn't the first time.
Mei sat quietly on the bed in the corner, his body leaning against the wall behind him, his eyes peacefully watching the dusk clouds drift across the sky.
However, at this moment, a commotion arose in the distance. A hint of confusion appeared in Kitahara Mei's eyes as he looked toward the source of the noise.
In the distance, he could faintly see flames shooting into the sky, followed by the sound of horse hooves and loud laughter carrying over from afar.
Kitahara Mei understood what was happening, but he didn't have much strength to do anything—he didn't even have the energy to crawl out the door.
He leaned slightly against the wall and slowly closed his eyes, which showed little disturbance as always, as if falling asleep while sitting.
BANG!
A tremendous crash came from outside the door, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood and people's laughter. Then came the continuous sounds of rummaging through boxes and smashing objects.
Footsteps outside grew closer—by the sound of it, only one person was approaching. After a few seconds, the door was violently kicked open. Seeing the boy sitting on the bed leaning against the wall with closed eyes, the intruder's steps paused.
Kitahara Mei slowly opened his eyes, his wine-red pupils exposed to the air. The innate atmosphere of tranquility made the newcomer's breath catch slightly.
The one who had kicked open the door was a man in his thirties or so, with a somewhat unkempt full beard covering his chin. The amazement in his eyes slowly transformed into a hint of greed.
"This is the first time I've seen such a little thing."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but extend his tongue to lick his lips, while taking large strides toward Kitahara Mei.
But at that moment, a black shadow burst in from outside the door. A cold gleam accompanied by the sound of cutting through air attacked the bearded man. Before he could turn his head, he felt the world before him spinning.
A crisp sound rang out as a head fell to the ground and rolled a few times, its expression still not having registered what happened.
Kitahara Mei's gaze passed over the corpse that had fallen before him to look at the figure behind it.
It was Kitahara Ha, who had rushed home the moment he heard bandits had invaded the village. He wore half-armor, with two katana strapped to his back—the training armor he usually wore during practice.
His face was filled with lingering sorrow. Seeing Kitahara Mei before him, he sheathed his blood-stained blade and strapped it behind him, then stepped forward to lift his brother up. Due to his condition, Kitahara Mei's weight was very light—much lighter than other children his age.
Holding Kitahara Mei in his arms, he ran outside. Blood was flowing from the doorway of a room ahead. As they passed that room, Kitahara Ha lowered his head to shield Mei's eyes.
Mei seemed to understand something, his gaze looking back at the doorway of the room that was still flowing with blood.
Just as they ran out of the house, several people dressed as soldiers in armor looked over. They all frowned, and noticing the bloodstains on Kitahara Ha, they understood something and drew the long swords at their waists, rushing toward the two.
The appearance of these people caused a shadow to flash through Kitahara Ha's eyes. He had originally thought they were bandits, but from the looks of it, they seemed to be soldiers from an enemy country conducting a raid.
The thought flashed through his mind, and holding Mei, he turned and ran.
He ran straight into the nearby mountain forest. When climbing over a small hillock, his form suddenly tilted to one side. With a thud, he fell to one knee on the ground. He turned to look at his leg and saw that bright red blood had already stained his pant leg.
During the earlier battle, his leg had been slashed.
At this moment, the sounds of pursuing soldiers came from behind again. He looked back at the direction from which the pursuers' voices came, then at Kitahara Mei in his arms. Gritting his teeth, he stood up and continued fleeing.
Before long, limping along, Kitahara Ha finally reached a location not far from a large tree.
First, he tore some cloth strips from his clothing and wrapped the bleeding area to prevent blood from spilling around. Then he quickly moved forward and forcefully pulled aside some weeds in front of him, revealing an empty tree hollow.
This was a tree hollow he had discovered when he used to come here to play as a child. Now it had another use. He glanced back at the pursuing soldiers whose silhouettes could now be faintly seen in the distance. He gently placed Kitahara Mei from his arms into the tree hollow and placed one of the swords from his back beside him.
"Stay here quietly. Don't make any sound. If possible... Mei, I hope you can try hard to stay alive."
Having said this, he prepared to withdraw his hand.
At this moment, Kitahara Mei silently extended his hand and grasped his sleeve.
Somewhat dazed as he looked at his younger brother's eyes staring at him, tears began to well up in his eyes. But the next moment, he shook off Kitahara Mei's hand. After forcefully restoring the grassy area in front to its original state, he took the other sword and drew the attention of the pursuing soldiers who were already approaching, running off in another direction.