The shallow mountain cave sat secluded behind a fallen ridge, offering a dry shelter where the campfire ignited quickly.
Hajin laid the unconscious princess gently against the far wall, tapping the glowing summoner tab with two tired fingers.
"Back to the warm side of the world, wolf girl," he murmured with a tired half-smile. "The night refuses to give us a break."
Radiant light illuminated the cave floor, as Juna materialized mid-fall from her resting state onto all four paws.
Her hands checked the insignia upon the center of her chest first, then touched her ribs before locking her gaze onto him.
'One second asleep in the dark, next second smelling smoke, stone, and someone else's blood.'
"You unsummoned me!" Juna accused, baring her sharp fangs with an indignant scowl.
"Put you in a much safer bed than my tired arms," he countered with an amused chuckle, resting his hands on his knees. "You were not complaining at the time."
"I was unconscious!" Juna hissed, puffing her cheeks out in an irritated pout. "My opinion was never properly consulted!"
She crossed the cave floor with brisk steps, stopping a single pace before him while her nose twitching to inspect his torn linen travel shirt.
"You are bleeding right through your shirt," Juna growled, her brow furrowing with genuine concern. "And half of that blood is not even yours... sit down before you collapse!"
"Yes, doctor," he mocked playfully, raising his hands in surrender as he leaned back. "Right away, doctor."
'Scolds just like my ribs hurt... which they honestly do, making her blunt medical advice sound remarkably reasonable.'
Her ears pinned flat the moment her keen senses detected the motionless figure resting against the far wall of the cavern.
"Human," she growled, pointing a sharp claw toward the sleeping girl with deep suspicion. "She smells like expensive palace soap, high mountain frost, and fresh blood... why is she in our cave?"
"The reason eleven royal knights died on the road today," he explained quietly, stirring the small fire with a dry stick. "And the reason that obsidian monster walked away satisfied."
'The divine chain demanded more corrupted essence, sulking inside my inventory after I refused to pursue that beast.'
He recounted the harrowing events of the afternoon while skewering fresh venison, as she listened with flattened ears.
'A talking horror under the road, a soul-burning guardian... and this idiot human swings in on a gold chain to steal the prize.'
"You brought the monster's prize home with you," Juna pointed out, crossing her arms with a grimace.
"I brought the only survivor," he corrected gently, his voice firm. "Tomorrow morning the capital gets her back with my compliments."
Terrible nightmares haunted Didi an hour into the deep dark, reliving the fatal strike that severed Gazel's sacred life.
'Get up, please... I will listen to every order, I will be a better student. Just get up off that blood-soaked road!'
The obsidian monster turned its chilling void gaze upon her, forcing a desperate shriek into the low stone cavern ceiling.
She sat bolt upright with cold sweat soaking her linen collar, clutching the rough wool blanket while her racing pulse gradually steadied.
'Still alive... and the crushing grief arrived right on schedule to replace the paralyzing panic in my chest.'
Gazel protected her life since childhood, serving closer than any brother, yet perished defending her stubborn refusal to retreat.
Zero individuals in her life had ever paid such a terrible price for her pride, and sorrow offered no easy comfort tonight.
'My fault... too proud to ride away, and now the door stands wide open with nobody guarding it.'
In her recurring nightmare, her feet ran across endless sticky mud, while the bright light dissolved before she arrived.
She wept quietly beneath the blanket until her throat ached, allowing sheer physical exhaustion to silence her ragged sobs.
The savory aroma of roasted venison reached her senses, prompting her to lift her head and evaluate her surroundings.
Warm firelight illuminated a modest rocky cavern, where a calm black-haired youth carved a branch with a cheap hunting knife.
Juna chewed a strip of cooked meat beside him, both strangers keeping their eyes politely fixed on the flames.
'Who are you two... which of you carries the authority to command this profound quiet?'
Hajin noticed her waking movement and lowered the wood to his knee, turning the knife edge away from her.
"Made quite a racket just now," he said in a quiet, conversational tone. "Are you hurt anywhere that matters?"
She scrutinized his youthful features and threadbare clothing, finding zero aristocratic hallmarks that royal tutors taught her to recognize.
'Wait... I saw this calm face through my carriage window this morning on the bread avenue.'
"You were on the commercial street this morning," Didi murmured, her sapphire eyes widening with recognition. "You held my gaze past my window."
"Small world, smaller roads," he answered with a faint, wry smirk. "We ended up on the same bad one by nightfall."
"How did I get here?" Didi asked, her voice trembling as she clutched her head. "Did you fight that thing... my memory cuts out right after a strike to my neck."
"Fight it? Absolutely not," he chuckled dryly, shaking his head. "I grabbed you while it was distracted, then ran very fast."
"I am not reckless enough to trade blows with a monster that talks in complete sentences," he added, turning a meat skewer over the embers.
"What kind of creature digs beneath royal highways and harvests ancient bloodlines?" Didi whispered, shuddering at the memory. "The royal archives mentioned nothing like that."
"The kind that outranks my entire address book," he replied plainly, checking the fire. "Our plan is distance, daylight, and getting you to safety."
[ NewViewer_02: he grabbed the girl and ran, which is kind of a coward move when you say it out loud ]
[ DarkBlade: say it quieter, because a coward does not swing in on a gold chain over that thing ]
[ ShadowMage44: running was the only winning play, and he still came back with the objective ]
'Whatever keeps her breathing... the coward label costs nothing, while the alternative costs everything in this brutal world.'
His pragmatic response placed the bloodied highway back before her mind, prompting her to stare silently at her open hands.
"I see..." Didi choked out, tears welling in her eyes again. "So the others are really..."
He allowed the tense silence to answer her unfinished question, letting the crackling campfire speak in a gentler tongue.
'Losing the loyal people sworn to die for you... a crushing debt nobody prepays, and I know that record all too well.'
Hollow condolences from an armed stranger offered zero comfort in the initial hours of bereavement, so he provided quiet shelter.
The live Earth chat continued scrolling across his peripheral vision, and he shifted the translucent interface away from her view.
[ ashley(mod): let her process it, losing someone in front of you takes longer than a night to digest ]
[ ShadowMage44: for the record the coward debate is closed, because chain swinging over a demon settles it ]
'The new moderator speaks wisdom... nobody receives heroic speeches tonight, least of all a grieving royal princess.'
He lifted a sizzling skewer of venison from the flat cooking stone, extending the meal across the warm campfire embers toward her.
"Eat up," he urged, his tone gentle but firm. "You spent hours unconscious... your body collects bitter interest on empty stomachs."
[ CringeSlayer91: nobody talks to a princess like that and lives, this cannot be scripted ]
She stared at the offered meat, discovering that his casual demeanor felt far more comforting than formal aristocratic palace protocol.
Commoners outside the capital walls invariably bowed in terror, stammering through rehearsed titles they practiced nervously before bathroom mirrors.
He treated her merely as a tired, hungry girl sharing his campfire, providing the sole tolerable interaction of the evening.
"Thank you," she whispered, accepting the warm skewer with both hands. "My name is Didi... Princess Didi... since introductions apparently wait for no one."
"Hajin," he introduced himself with a respectful nod. "And the one intensely inspecting her dinner over there is Juna."
"I am not inspecting, I am verifying if it is thoroughly cooked!" Juna snapped, baring her fangs at him. "That is a vital survival skill!"
"You checked it four times," he teased with a smirk. "The meat has not changed its mind."
"The last piece you gave me was raw in the middle!" Juna huffed, her tail swishing in annoyance. "Your word on wilderness cooking is completely worthless!"
Didi observed their lighthearted bickering across the crackling flames, feeling a fraction of her dark grief lift unprompted.
'He spoke his name like a routine weather forecast... and the wolf girl argues like they share a home kitchen.'
"Finish eating and get some rest, Your Highness," he said, his smirk fading into calm resolve. "We head back toward the capital at first light."
She ate the tender meat slowly, guided more by survival instinct than appetite, allowing the warmth to soothe her spirit.
"Thank you for the food," Didi said softly, looking up into his dark eyes. "And for carrying me out... neither was your legal obligation."
He paused his woodcarving long enough to meet her eyes, offering an acknowledging nod before returning to his work.
Exhaustion finally overtook the grieving princess, and she slumped sideways against her bedroll, falling into a deep, dreamless slumber.
Juna claimed the initial watch duty without being asked, crouching near the narrow cave opening with her ears perked toward the shadows.
'Two humans resting in the cave, one bleeding through his shirt... the dark woods owe us zero hospitality tonight.'
"You should sleep first," he said quietly, tending the embers with a dry pine branch. "Your ribs took a brutal blow today."
"Wolf senses are sharper than human ears," Juna retorted in a hushed whisper, refusing to budge from the entrance. "I sleep when you take second watch."
She maintained her vigilant post until past midnight, her tail flicking in steady arcs whenever night birds called outside.
Only when the mountain chill deepened did she finally step back toward the hearth, arranging her travel blanket between Hajin and the sleeping princess.
She curled near the glowing embers with a soft sigh, wrapping her bushy tail around her paws as exhaustion finally claimed her senses.
Hajin stood up to take over the night vigil, leaning his shoulder against the wall near the mouth of the cavern.
'A long, bloody night... time to close the stream and rest my eyes until morning.'
He gestured to dismiss the broadcasting interface, but the glowing window expanded autonomously and shoved the chat feed aside.
The gentle radiance shifted into a harsh crimson hue, casting an ominous red glow across the stone cavern walls.
[ Warning: Hostile Resonance Detected ]
[ Target: Princess Didi ]
'Hostile resonance detected... from a royal girl who has done nothing except bleed quietly inside my cave.'
The floating interface widened further, populating additional historical lore that instantly banished all lingering fatigue from his mind.
[ Target Bloodline Identified: Underworld King ]
[ Details: The Underworld King holds the realm-key power torn loose when the other gods betrayed, executed, and shattered the Goddess of Reincarnation. ]
He read the lore twice, turning his eyes toward the sleeping princess resting beneath the blanket.
'The Underworld King betrayed my patron goddess... and both their divergent paths now sleep within the exact same cave.'
[ Recommended Action: Eliminate the carrier to prevent future threat. ]
'You have got to be joking... she weighs less than my debt and grieves louder than my conscience.'
"Not tonight," he said coldly to the floating red prompt, his jaw tightening. "And definitely not on your recommendation... give me an option where she wakes up."
The ancient bloodline feud belonged to dead gods from centuries past, having zero relevance to a grieving girl who lost her guardian today.
Didi shifted in her slumber, dislodging the blanket from her shoulder as crimson light illuminated his calloused hands.
He leaned forward and gently pulled the blanket back over her shoulder, tucking the edges securely between her arm and the cave floor.
"I am not doing that," he told the system firmly, crossing his arms. "Log it somewhere else and bring me a price I am actually willing to pay."
The system offered zero reply, leaving him seated in the dimming crimson glow as the campfire embers slowly died.
The harsh red warning faded back into calm warm light, lingering patiently upon his interface like an unyielding creditor.
Grey morning light filtered through the rocky cave entrance, finding the divine notification waiting without any change to its wording.