“Yes, that’s right. Everyone here has also been imprisoned because of similar circumstances.”

“What?”

I pressed both of my hands against my head and screamed internally.

‘You alone seem to be a handful... but everyone?’

“Please help us...”

“It’s none of my business! Please leave! Goodbye!”

I hurried back inside, shut the door, and fastened multiple locks.

I couldn’t tell if this was a dream or not.

I was so startled that my heart was racing even faster than when I had first encountered them.

Licking my parched lips, I shook my head.

I felt my head rush.

I massaged the back of my neck before it got stiff.

My skin was sticky with sweat.

Well, that was to be expected.

Ever since that happened, I didn’t dare visit the Dicata Mountains again.

It had been such an uneasy experience that I tried to forget about it.

Thanks to that, I was doing pretty well.

At least, until this man came to find me and unearthed those memories.

‘It was strange, after all, how bizarre that was...’

I grunted in pain and curled up on the sofa.

Unable to control the shock, my memories of that day came rushing back to me.

Five years ago, it had been a particularly unlucky day.

The herb I had been searching for was nowhere to be found. On top of that, I kept running into monsters every hour or so.

That was when I saw a sheep.

Not an anthropomorphic sheep, but an actual sheep.

To find an herbivore living in the mountains full of monsters was simply unheard of.

And, of course, I had never seen one roaming in the Dicata Mountains before, either.

But a sheep really was standing alone in this thick, dark forest.

It stood there like a big, white cotton ball.

“Why is there a sheep...?”

I was dumbfounded but I soon found myself entranced looking at it.

The sheep turned its head and steadily gazed at me.

When I took a few steps forward, it took a few steps back. When I stopped, it also stopped and turned back to look at me.

Something about this paradoxical behavior pulled me closer.

I followed the sheep as if bewitched.

Intuitively, I realized that this was not an ordinary sheep.

The sheep went inside a tiny crevice I could barely fit through.

Despite the small entrance, there was a huge cage inside.

The sheep continued on its way into the deeper parts of the cave.

Starting to feel a little uneasy after taking several more steps forward, I decided to turn back.

But just then, as if the floor fell out from underneath me, my feet plunged downward.

In fact, it wasn’t just my feet. My entire body was suddenly falling.

Terrified, I lowered my head.

It was too dark to see the end of the steep descent.

‘Where's that sheep?’

I glanced around looking for it as I continued to fall.

The sheep was floating above in space.

It felt like something straight out of a horror story.

“AHHHH!”

It was an endless fall.

That's how it all started.

The beginning of everything.

After falling for what seemed like ages, I felt my head suddenly bang hard against a rock in some strange area. I had finally landed at the bottom.

When I came to my senses, I found myself in a strange facility. There was steam everywhere.

Amidst the confusion, the only thing I could do was speculate about one thing. The small crevice in the cave into which I had tumbled down happened to be connected to this underground base.

In hindsight, I was probably better off not knowing such a suspicious place existed.

And it was here that I found that man imprisoned.

I remember now.

It was hard to forget.

He had been strung up by chains on all four of his limbs and surrounded by heavy-looking equipment.

In fact, there were so many of these pieces of equipment that the underground base was hardly distinguishable from a prison.

He was such a mess that I didn’t even realize his hair was blue.

What I did realize as soon as I saw him, though, was that he was a hostage.

“He made this many mana gems in just one day?”

“They say he’s built different. Apparently, he has infinite mana or something. You know how expensive mana gems are, right? Well, seems like they extract his mana, put it in gemstones, and then sell them. He’s basically a goose laying golden eggs.”

The slaves outside the barrier chatted in excitement.

That was when I noticed a magic barrier around me. In fact, I was sitting on one of the magic circles that made up the barrier.

It was a one-way barrier that prevented you from stepping outside.

I realized what this place was.

Guards and tight security.

Magic circles.

The outlines of imperial soldiers.

This was the empire’s secret base.

‘They’ll have my head if I get caught.’

Even a little kid would realize what this meant.

I was witnessing things I shouldn’t be.

And if I were discovered, I’d pay the price with my life.

A magician would surely come over soon to check the barrier.

I had only one choice.

Run away before anyone finds me.

The crevice in the cave which led me here was still there.

If I escaped through there and closed off the opening with a rock, no one would notice.

Actually, it looked man-made, like an escape route that someone had intentionally dug up.

‘What about that man?’

My sense of duty as a healer held me back. I couldn’t just turn away from such a man in need.

So, I decided to just do the bare minimum I could to help and leave it at that.

I quietly placed a medicine vial in his pant pocket, hoping it might be of some help to him.

His mana points were unusually warped, but the medicine would at least ease the pain while his mana was being extracted.

It was only after I escaped that I realized that all four of his limbs were strung up. There was no way he would be able to take the medicine.

‘Wait a minute.’

As I thought it over, I became furious with myself.

That whole ordeal had made me feel so uneasy that I spent days locked up at home.

No matter how I tried to wrap my head around it, it had just been such a bizarre experience.

If he could escape with the medicine that I risked my life to give him, why hadn't he gone off to some other country? Why would he have come to me?

Exactly why would he come to my front yard?

Why on earth would he go to some suspicious, dangerous house located in the middle of the Forest of Death? For what possible reason?

If the empire ever got word that they were at my home, I would be dead for sure.

I knew that much, at least.

Moreover, the fact that he’s here now means he had managed to slip past all of those imperial guards in the underground base.

“AHHHH!”

I screamed loudly, filling the empty space with my anger.

“Is he insane? Why would he come here?!”

I fell asleep after emptying two bottles of sleeping pills. However, the next morning, they were still standing by my front lawn.

“Damn it...”

I ended up swearing.

“Don’t do this to me.”

I sat on the sofa. Hugging my legs, I buried my face into my knees.

I had no idea what to do.

There wasn’t much time left.

In two days’ time they would die from the poison.

I had to make a decision quickly. Otherwise, I'll end up regretting not doing anything.

To make matters worse, there was a snowstorm outside. The wind howled bleakly.

Despite the sharp wind rushing against their bare faces, they remained unmoved. They were rooted to the ground like trees.

They must not have gotten even a wink of sleep, and yet they showed no signs of fatigue.

Their stamina was unbelievable.

For a moment, I wondered if ordinary people could also be like that. I shook my head.

Even anthropomorphs who were physically far superior to that of the average person wouldn’t be able to stand their ground like that.

No wonder they were able to fight through the intense security and end up here in the middle of the Forest of Death.

They definitely weren’t normal.

I felt the time passing as I anxiously paced back and forth in the living room.

My stomach felt queasy. I had no appetite and couldn’t swallow down my food.

In my mind, I was endlessly arguing with myself.

‘You shouldn’t have given him that medicine!’

‘I didn’t think he’d escape because of that! I just wanted to ease his pain!’

‘But look at them. They’re here now because of the medicine you gave them!’

‘I swear the medicine wasn’t even that effective! It’s not like I gave him the best one I had!’

This was true.

The medicine I had given him wasn’t even that good. It was just an antidote for the “temporary relief” of his warped mana points.

And by “temporary,” I mean less than 30 minutes.

It just didn’t make sense that they could kill all of the guards, escape, and make their way here in such a short amount of time.

And all four of his limbs had been strung up. How was he even able to drink the antidote?

And how did they find my home?

The Forest of Death was infamous for being poisonous, so hardly anyone set foot here.

If you even just stepped on the wrong blade of grass, or inhaled a few specs of flower pollen, the toxin could kill you instantly.

So, how did they make it here alive?

I’ve never told them where my home was.

I felt like my head was going to burst.

Finally, it was time to face the truth.

If I let them die, I would never be able to sleep soundly again.

I couldn’t just let that happen.

In the end, there was only one choice.

I grimaced and punched the sheep plushie on my sofa.

‘WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME? WHAT DID I EVER DO?’

After getting in some punches, I finally calmed down a little.

What followed after was a devastating feeling of depression and helplessness.

My anger was replaced by an aching feeling.

With a resigned face, I walked up to the front door.

I heard the familiar click as I unlocked it.

“Come in for now...”

I fixed my gaze on the ground as I guided them in with a reserved voice.

The snowstorm blasted my face and whipped into the house.

When I moved aside, the five of them cautiously stepped inside.

I tossed a few dry pieces of firewood into the fireplace.

The fire came to life and blazed with red sparks.

I stared afar at the flames as though the world was coming to an end. Then I returned to the sofa and hugged my knees.

The five men were standing there just staring. I pointed them to the sofa with my chin.

“Take a seat.”

Sensing my foul mood, they hesitated before sitting down.

Due to the lack of seats, two of them had to stay standing.

I didn’t bother to make new seats or invite them to sit beside me.

They could stay there standing. Whatever.

I scrunched up my face in annoyance.

“Alright, let me ask this first. Why did you come to my house?”

“Because of the medicine you gave us.”

The man who resembled the ocean answered.

I replied in irritation.

“What about it?”

The man narrowed his eyes and mumbled in response.

“So, she’s not aware.”

His soft-spoken voice was hard to hear.

Frowning, I flipped up my droopy sheep ears and held them upright.

“What did you just say?”

“Never mind. Let me explain since you may not know what happened. We all have been forcibly poisoned by something for which there’s no antidote, or so we've heard.”

“Are you talking about all that tangled-up mana?”

The moment I said mana, all five men turned to look at me.

Why were they staring at me like that?

I shrank back into my seat and tried to guess what was on their minds.