I cleared my throat and toned down the harshness in my voice. Then, I continued.

“It was quite, ahem, seriously tangled up.”

“Yes, that’s correct. The Empire was careless not to set up stronger security. They were fine with a small arrangement of guards and magicians because they were sure that it was impossible to escape.”

“A small arrangement?”

What in the world did he mean by a small arrangement?

‘It was more like a huge fortress.’

Seeing my confusion, he explained.

“Yes. We are quite...”

He looked up as if searching for the words. Finally, he continued.

“Quite... strong.”

“Oh, okay.”

As I nodded, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

At first, I thought that they would be offended by this.

That was how most humans reacted when their pride was hurt. However, they seemed completely unfazed by it.

Instead, they continued to look me over. They remained serious and calm as though they were clueless about why I was laughing.

The corners of my mouth turned back down.

I felt a shudder.

“It was your antidote. What you gave us accomplished what every single imperial healer had said was absolutely impossible. It temporarily released our mana...”

“What? You’re mistaken.”

Timidly, I cut him off, waving my hands dismissively.

“It didn’t release it. It just suppressed the poison a little.”

“Sorry?”

“What I gave you was no remedy.”

My voice got louder on the topic of medicine.

The man leaned forward to hear me out as I got comfortable with the situation.

“You make it sound like it’s some impressive cure or something, but it would take far more than that to fix the problem with your mana.”

The man nodded as though he was already aware of this.

I continued confidently.

“You have to take medicine for about one year as well as receive regular acupuncture treatments. Do you know what acupuncture is?”

The man shook his head.

“There’s this thing called mana points, which are pressure points through which mana flows. Acupuncture involves inserting needles into these pressure points to unblock these mana pathways. You should receive acupuncture for two years, maybe three, to fully heal. See, doesn’t it sound super complicated? The antidote I gave you is nothing.”

After listening to my lengthy explanation, the man didn’t speak for a long time.

He even seemed a little off.

In fact, all of them, both the ones sitting down and the ones standing up, were staring at me dead in the eye. Their fists were tightly clenched.

Their gazes were so intense that I felt like a sheep surrounded by a bunch of wolves who were calculating how best to ensnare me.

I inched my neck forward with fear.

It felt like something was going to happen any moment now.

I seemed to be stranded in the eye of the storm.

And I couldn’t move an inch.

“Wh-wh-why are you looking at me like that?”

“So, you mean...”

“You can heal us? These doomed bodies of ours?”

The man who had been silent all this time interrupted the merman-looking guy and barged forward.

I stared at him in surprise.

His presence was barely noticeable that I had completely forgotten he was even there.

He walked towards me, looking furious.

‘He has a peculiar air about him.’

He had black eyes and hair as gray as the burnt ashes left behind by a wildfire.

He appeared clean and elegant, like an ink-wash painting. In contrast, he had a rough way of speaking, like a thug.

His eyes curved up. They were sharp like a precisely forged blade.

His dark cherry lips drew an arc, disguising his intentions. It was hard to tell if he was angry or content.

Naturally, I felt perplexed looking at him, unable to tell what his true intentions were.

I carefully observed the man’s solid demeanor.

He seemed like someone who had received strict training.

Unlike the bronze-skinned man, however, his muscles didn’t show visibly.

There was weight to his slim figure, yet his movements were agile.

In fact, he moved like a black panther.

Without making a single sound, the man came directly up to me and shoved his face right into mine.

“You can seriously heal us?”

“Please stop, Adar.”

Speaking calmly, the merman-looking guy held him back.

“What if we can’t convince her?”

“Adar.”

“Alright, alright. Fine. I never said I’d threaten her.”

‘Was he going to threaten me?’

I slumped into the sofa to put as much distance from him as possible.

The man who looked like a black panther, Adar, saw me and snickered.

“You’re scaring the lady, Snoa.”

The merman-looking guy, Snoa, brushed back his blue hair. He looked exhausted.

“My apologies, dear lady.”

“It’s alright.”

“We came off a little forward, we have not yet even introduced ourselves.”

Snoa pointed out, abruptly changing the subject.

“My name is Snoa Calisis. Please feel free to call me Snoa. May I ask for your name?”

“After everyone else.”

He nodded.

“Then I will introduce them to you one by one.”

Pointing at Adar, he continued.

“This here is Adar Aroa. He hates being called by his last name, so it would be best to just call him Adar.”

Adar, the silver-haired man resembling a black panther, nodded curtly.

“The big man with the sand-colored hair is Halik Galopsa.”

“Hey. Sorry about scaring you earlier. Call me Halik.”

He was the big guy at the beginning who had stopped the door from closing. He grinned and waved his hand.

His bright and friendly expression didn’t match the horrid scar on his left cheek. I nodded awkwardly.

“The blond-haired man is Chellus Miladas.”

“Nice to meet you. You can call me Chellus.”

A man with platinum blonde hair formally introduced himself with a bow.

He was definitely an aristocrat. I was sure as soon as I saw him.

I could sense an air of nobility from his lofty expression and well-mannered gestures. He had an honest gaze, and his voice was low and clear.

He was smaller than Halik but had a bigger stature than Adar and Snoa.

He blinked his eyes slowly. They were the color of an azure lake, pure and glistening. Chellus stood standing politely with his hands held together.

He created a majestic atmosphere around him as impressive as a grand mountain.

There was weight to every movement he made, making his presence clear, unlike Adar.

‘His face looks like a wily, arrogant aristocrat. How did he grow up into such a well-mannered person?’

With these questions in mind, I turned to the last person.

To my surprise, I realized there was an anthropomorph in the group. My eyes widened.

“And finally, the one with the horns is Almoer Daor.”

I stared frightfully at his horns.

His horns were massive in size and twisted outward in complicated shapes like the branches of a tree.

I must have been so flustered before that I hadn’t noticed them until just now.

When they were standing outside, I likely mistook them for trees off in the distance.

‘It must be so hard to take care of them.’

At least his black hair was smooth and straightened out.

He doesn't have to go through the hardship of brushing his hair like I do.

His eyes were the color of dark blood. They were eerie and I felt that they would creep me out if I stared at them for too long.

Feeling an odd connection with a fellow anthropomorph, I nodded to him.

The man did not nod back in response nor further add anything to introduce himself.

But he did seem to put on a light smile.

It was like seeing a moving painting. His blood-colored eyes narrowed leisurely, and his lips curved faintly.

He looked awfully regal.

But he felt different than a human aristocrat.

There was a mysterious magnetism around him as though to prove his royal blood.

‘I wonder what kind of anthropomorph he is.’

Suppressing my curiosity, I glanced around to look at all the various faces.

“My name is Kakana Faeia. I’m a sheep anthropomorph. You can call me Kakana.”

“A sheep, huh? That explains the cute hair.”

Adar blurted out casually as though he was talking about the weather.

I looked up at him, wondering if I had heard him wrong.

Adar explained.

“Oh. My bad if I offended you. It’s cuz your braided hair is so fluffy.”

“Uh, yeah...”

I answered with a salty voice. If he had to live with my hair even for just one day, he wouldn’t dare say that.

Snoa leaned forward in his seat and cut straight to the point.

“Kakana, if it’s alright with you, could you please heal us?”

This was it. It was time to discuss the heart of the matter. I had been dreading this moment.

I openly sighed out loud and put on a distressed face.

Hearing my sigh, Adar looked at me with amusement and cracked a smile.

Seeing him smile gave me the shivers.

‘If I don’t watch what I say, something bad is going to happen...’

There was something about Adar that made you feel like your head was going to be chopped off. Perhaps it was due to the violent vibes he gave off that his smile didn’t seem so genuine.

If Halik gave you the impression that he was about to suffocate you, Adar gave you the impression that he was about to impale you with something.

Anyway, they were definitely not people I wanted to get involved with.

I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them. I needed to concentrate so as not to let myself be swept away during this important conversation.

Healing them was not the problem.

The problem was what they brought with them.

‘Anyone can tell they’re involved with the Empire. This is seriously driving me crazy.’

My head ached. I wiped my face with my hand and opened my mouth to speak.

“I’m going to be honest with you guys.”

“Please do.”

Snoa nodded curtly.

“If you guys were just typical slaves, I wouldn't hesitate to help you. It does look like the imperial healers really did a number on your mana. I mean, it’s not difficult to fix, but it will be tiresome work.”

Snoa, Adar, and Halik exchanged a curious look.

“However, it wouldn't take a genius to tell that you guys had been locked up in some kind of top-secret facility by the Empire.”

I shivered briefly upon remembering the sheer size of the underground base.

“To top it off, didn’t you guys kill everyone along the way to get here? If we’re found out... You’re basically putting a death sentence on me, you know.”

“We’ll protect you.”

Chellus, who had been carefully listening in silence, interrupted me.

I barely restrained myself from sneering at the remark and responded.

“Oh, of course. Chellus. You’re going to protect me from the Empire?”

“Yes.”

“Let me ask you again. Please listen carefully. You are going to protect me from the EMPIRE?”

“It’s not difficult.”

He answered as he stared at me with his deep azure eyes.

“If you can heal the tangled mana of everyone here, it will become a very easy task.”

Finally, I couldn’t help but ask:

“Excuse me, but have you gone completely insane?”

“I am a sword master.”

I blinked my eyes.

“What did you just say?”

I wondered if I heard him wrong. Chellus broke into a rare, faint smile.