TCMED 02

Chapter 02

When I arrived at the stable, our meeting place, Uncle Pel wasn’t there yet.

I loaded my luggage onto the cart first and fed the carrots and water I’d received from the stable owner to the horses.

“Eat up. Maximus… no! Not my hand!”

After chatting with the horses for a bit, I sat on the driver’s seat and waited for Uncle Pel.

But even after ten minutes or so, there was no sign of him.

“It’s past four, why isn’t he coming?”

Being a native of impatient South Korea, I decided to go out and check.

As I pushed open the wooden saloon doors, the scenery that flooded my senses made me catch my breath.

The quiet street, the sky beginning to dye crimson from the far end, the scent of trees blowing in from the forest.

It was a peace more than enough to quell my annoyance at a travel companion who was late for our appointment.

Maybe it was because I’d lived for decades in the always-noisy gray city center. Scenes of pastoral beauty like this always amazed me, and sometimes overwhelmed me.

The fact that the stable I was at was in a secluded spot also played a part.

*Crunch.*

Then, I heard a very faint sound, like a leaf being stepped on somewhere. My gaze naturally fell on the forest at the edge of my awareness.

And that’s when I spotted it.

‘…Mapel?’

At the boundary between the sunlight filtering through the trees and the shadows, a small figure was clumsily hiding behind the trunk of a tall cypress tree.

The child, still wearing a mask pulled down over their face, seemed to have escaped from people and was finally catching their breath.

However, for having come all the way out here, what they held in their hands looked very meager. That point bothered me a little.

Even though the air outside made them sick, the people of Mapel had to come out to survive. There was no way supplies could circulate normally in a city branded as cursed.

But almost no one wanted to sell things to them with their faces covered by masks. Even the firewood or berries they barely managed to bring for bartering were often stolen.

Honestly, it wasn’t a pleasant sight.

It’s just a city suffering from a contamination of unknown cause. They say it’s a god’s curse, but that didn’t resonate much with me either.

Besides, the Mapel child, who had been chased away by adults, looked at most ten years old. That made my heart feel even heavier.

“Hmm…”

Forgetting my purpose of looking for Uncle Pel, I pondered for a moment, then went back inside.

What I found in the luggage cart was my wage pouch.

Though it looked small, it had surprisingly good storage capacity. I put in what was left of my wages after shopping, a small water bottle, and anything small like snacks that could fit.

Grabbing that, I went outside again. The child was still in the same spot.

I looked at the child and thought for a moment.

Am I being too nosy?

Still, Mapel is…

‘The city where the protagonist lives.’

Though I have no idea what the protagonist is doing right now.

Actually, more than anything, I was scared that if I just ignored it and walked away, my 21st-century conscience would yell at me, asking if I wasn’t ashamed.

“Phew…”

I took a deep breath and steadied myself. Then, like a pitcher, I threw the pouch toward where the child was.

The pouch landed at a distance where, from the kid’s perspective, ignoring it and walking away would feel more unsettling than checking it out.

Success!

I rotated my shoulder and smiled with satisfaction. Unlike Yeo Hui-ju’s paper-thin body, Thetis’s physique had decent performance.

‘Now, let’s bolt.’

It would be a problem if the child, seeing someone not from Mapel, got scared and just ran away. I hid my body behind the stable so the Mapel child wouldn’t be frightened.

“Thetis?”

“Ahjussi.”

There I ran into Uncle Pel, who was carrying a load of stuff. Acting as if nothing had happened, I calmly took some of his luggage and we returned to the stable.

This time, there was no space on the cart, so I sat with Uncle Pel on the driver’s seat.

As we entered the forest, I checked sideways and saw that the pouch I’d thrown was no longer there.

I guess it was a good kind of meddling.

A few days after going to the city, I said in a very convinced voice:

“I am an idiot.”

Otherwise, there’s no way I could have completely forgotten that I’d put my precious notebook in my wage pouch.

I mourned my notebook, which I’d used as a catch-all for thoughts, to-do lists, diaries, and whatnot, and which had now passed into the hands of a child whose name I didn’t even know.

“Ugh.”

Of course, I only mourned for a very short moment.

It’s not like despairing would bring back something that had left home.

Besides, I had a duty to go check if the wood we’d cut last month at the village’s main livelihood, the mushroom farm, had dried well.

I quickly changed into work clothes and went outside.

“Titi!”

There I met Lea, a village child who was especially fond of me. The child came running and clung to my leg.

“Titi, where are you going?”

“To work.”

“I wanna go too!”

“Alright.”

What I had to do today wasn’t dangerous, so it should be fine to take her along.

I held Lea’s hand and walked, chiming in with her chattering.

We walked for a while. Just as the mushroom farm came into view in the distance, Lea suddenly tugged on my arm.

“Hey, Titi.”

“What is it, Lea?”

“Did something good happen? Since the day before yesterday, your eyes keep turning into crescent moons!”

I unconsciously wiped the corner of my eye.

“…Was it that obvious?”

“Yup!”

That confident answer made me feel a little embarrassed.

Yes. There was good news that made me not notice my precious notebook was missing for two whole days, and even made me forget that sadness in just a few minutes.

The news came two days ago, on the luggage cart returning to Oligo from the city.

Uncle Pel, who was sitting shoulder to shoulder with me on the driver’s seat, took something out and handed it to me.

It was paper and not very large, so at first I thought it was some kind of tabloid. They have newspapers here too, after all.

But it wasn’t.

[Mage Science Society Spring General Meeting and Invited Lecture Series]

At first, I was a little flustered.

It’s true that thanks to my memories from when I was reincarnated, my interest in astronomy had grown.

It’s also because of this that I, a die-hard humanities major, buy basic science papers that I never would have touched in my past life whenever I go to the city.

Uncle Pel, who goes with me every time, knows this well.

But mage science operates on completely different principles from pure science. So I wondered how much I, who has no magical power, could actually gain from this society.

While reading the flyer with such doubts, something caught my eye.

[Baron Bron – Celestial Telescope Demonstration]

It was an item written in the smallest letters, in the very corner of the invited lecture list. My heart began to beat with a pleasant rhythm.

[*Anyone in possession of this flyer may participate in the society’s events*]

When I read the sentence written on the last line, I heard Uncle Pel’s voice.

<The husband of Anias, whom I met at the market earlier, gave it to me. He said you might need it, Thetis.>

I took Pel giving me this flyer as permission to go.

But I couldn’t get excited recklessly.

<But Ahjussi, this society is held in the capital.>

From Oligo, a rural village, to Milet, the capital, it took a full week.

There’s no transportation like trains here yet, and even if I took my own horse, the cost would be considerable.

But Uncle Pel, as if he already knew my concerns, just laughed it off, saying, “So what?”

<You’re an adult now, so shouldn’t you experience places like this too?>

I was speechless for a moment.

How many people would take such good care of a child their father brought home without asking, even after he passed away?

Every time I experienced this kind of unconditional affection, I felt lost. I simply had no idea how to receive this affection, where to store it, or how to repay it.

But breaking through that bewilderment, the feeling that welled up was unmistakably happiness and joy.

<Thank you so much…>

<Haha, yes.>

Even though that was two days ago, it seems my excitement still shows.

I grinned at Lea, whose eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“I’m going to the capital to have some fun next week.”

“Can I go too?”

“If your parents say yes, I’ll take you.”

“Wow!”

Sorry to the excited Lea, but there’s no way her parents would allow her to go with me.

Oligo village has this peculiar custom of not letting children under twelve leave, and Lea is only nine.

I patted her excited head a couple of times as a substitute for an apology.

And so, a few days later, I set off on the road, seen off by a few villagers.

Lea, standing next to Uncle Pel who looked like he had mixed feelings, was waving her hand with tears and snot streaming down her face.