After making Maxi lie down on his stomach, Riftan calmly took out a cloth and a canteen of water from his bag.
She watched in silent mortification as he soaked the linen and wiped her damp legs, cooling her feverish skin.
After carefully cleaning his thighs, calves, and the soles of his feet, Riftan took a bottle of oil and uncovered it with his teeth.
The slippery liquid made his fingers twitch as he pressed the center of her sole with his thumb.
Then, he slowly began to massage her stiff calf.
Maxi groaned in sharp pain.
“H-It hurts…”
“If we don’t ease your muscles now, you won’t be able to move a finger in the morning.”
Riftan relentlessly released his tense muscles, and Maxi groaned and buried his face in the blanket.
The pain was so dizzying that it left her no time to feel ashamed.
After sufficiently massaging both her calves, Riftan poured the mint-scented oil onto her thighs.
She squirmed as she felt his firm hands slide over her reddened, saddle-irritated skin.
“I-I really think that’s enough,” I said, embarrassed.
“You must be tired too, Ri“”
Maxi let out a sigh as she felt Riftan pull her underwear below her knees.
“R-Riftan!”
"Be quiet.
If we don't enforce this, we have no hope of you riding tomorrow."
"I'm g-going to do it!
I'm going to apply it myself, en“"
“Why are you getting embarrassed?”
With a grunt, he crouched just above her writhing thighs to prevent her from escaping.
"Stop wasting your energy and keep quiet.
I won't do anything to you."
He clearly wasn't going to back down.
After applying the oil to his hands, he began massaging her thighs in circles.
Now, blushing up to her ears, Maxi grabbed the blanket.
Having him touch her body in such a sober state of mind was mortifying, and the fact that he was taking care of her after she had proudly declared that she would be their healer made her feel pathetic.
However, Riftan paid him no attention and silently continued to apply the oil to his irritated skin.
He only went back up her underwear when he had completely released her tense muscles.
"I'm going to check if the food is ready.
Lie here and rest," he said hoarsely, rubbing the back of his neck.
Perhaps because he had to settle uncomfortably inside the cramped tent, Riftan's face seemed slightly flushed.
Maxi nodded as he pulled his pants up.
Sighing, Riftan left the tent on his knees.
Maxi lay on the blanket feeling as drained of energy as a soggy leaf.
Although the massage had been painful and embarrassing, his muscles surprisingly no longer hurt.
After rubbing her now smooth skin, Maxi turned onto her side and used her arm as a pillow for a short nap.
Riftan did not return to the tent until blue darkness had fallen over the camp.
"It's smoked ham cooked over a fire.
It might be better if you eat it with some bread."
He placed a wooden tray loaded with a thick piece of ham hissing with oil, three fist-sized loaves of bread, a piece of cheese, and a bottle of wine.
As Riftan began to cut everything into small pieces with his dagger, Maxi greedily stuffed the food into his mouth.
Although the dish was humble compared to those at Calypse Castle, she was so hungry that everything looked delicious.
“Do you want me to bring you more?” Riftan asked after watching her devour her meal.
Maxi shook his head.
The pile of food on the tray was almost gone.
Now that his stomach was full, his already sluggish body felt heavy.
Forgetting that he was still in the monster-infested Anatolium Mountains, Maxi fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, the knights began packing before the first ray of dawn.
Maxi had to climb into his saddle before he could wash his face or even comb his hair.
Thanks to Riftan's massage, her buttocks didn't hurt as much as she feared, but keeping up with the riders still proved difficult.
She barely managed to follow the dark mountain path with Ulyseon's guidance.
The knights stirred their horses faster, never letting their guard down.“It looks like there are no m-monsters around… as I feared,” Maxi finally managed to say as they slowed down at the foot of the mountain.
Garrow, who was riding beside her, shook his head.
"Most of the monsters here are of the Ayin race.
They have some degree of intelligence and know better than to show themselves when an army of this size passes through their territory.
They will be watching us from hiding.
Although, I heard that some forest goblins tried to sneak up on us last night to steal our provisions."
“Last night?”
When Maxi turned pale and shrugged, Ulyseon quickly intervened, "Don't worry, my lady.
The night guard noticed immediately and took care of them."
“D-No one was hurt?”
"Of course!
A Knight of the White Dragons could never be harmed by forest elves", replied Ulyseon indignantly, as if he had been greatly insulted.
Still worried, despite her squire's assurance, Maxi carefully examined the knights riding in front of her.
Each of them calmly led their horses without showing a hint of exhaustion.
Riftan was in position somewhere at the front of the group.
Maxi peered over the heads and shoulders of the burly knights to get a look at him, but soon gave up to focus on navigating the uneven mountain path.
The sun was at its peak when the party finally managed to cross the mountains.
They stopped for a brief rest near a stream that flowed through a meadow.
The junior knights went to let the horses drink water from the stream, and the knights opened the sacks of provisions to distribute the late breakfast.
While Rem submerged her snout in the water to quench her thirst, Maxi hurriedly washed her face and combed her tangled curls.
When she returned to the grass field after having managed to tame her voluminous hair into a neat braid, Ulyseon handed her a loaf of bread and a piece of apple.
"You must be hungry, my lady.
Please eat this first.
We should be able to prepare a more decent meal at night.
As we need to cover as much ground as possible during the day, we cannot serve food that requires fire."
"N-No.
That's more than enough."
She was about to pick up the food when Ulyseon suddenly fixed his gaze on his hands.
"Your hands are red, my lady.
Are you hurt?"
“T-That’s about holding the reins.”
Maxi smiled to assure him it was nothing, but the frown on Ulyseon's face refused to disappear.
He looked gravely at the red marks imprinted on his palms.
"It must be painful, my lady.
Shouldn't you treat them?"
“T-This… isn’t so bad.”
"What are you saying?!
They're swollen..."
Hearing Ulyseon raise his voice, Garrow, who was tending the horses, suddenly stuck his head between them.
He also frowned when he saw Maxi's hands.
"Ulyseon is right, my lady.
If they became infected, they would give you trouble along the journey.
Wouldn't it be better for you to cure them?"
"T-This...
isn't so bad.
I was told that healing yourself with magic...
is no different from drinking your own blood to quench your thirst.
And that...
unless the wound is fatal...
it's best to let it heal on its own.
Furthermore, I also wish to...
conserve my mana as much as possible."
“But it must hurt…”
Seeing them worry so much about her, Maxi spread the cloak on the grass and sat down on it with a sigh.
"I'm r-really fine.
Even if I healed my hands with magic… they'd probably get irritated again as soon as I got on the horse, wouldn't you agree?
And it wouldn't be b-good for me to heal them every time that happened.
Although it might be painful… it would be better to let my body get used to it.
I think…"
She deliberately spread her hands with joy, “I’ll develop c-calluses after a few days, and once that happens… my palms should be fine no matter how long I ride.”
A complicated expression briefly crossed Ulyseon's face.
Then, as if remembering something, he started searching through his saddle bag.
“Then at least use these for now, my lady.”
Maxi's eyes widened at the leather gloves the squire handed him.
“D-Didn’t you bring… these for yourself, Ulyseon?”
"I just brought them with me in case I needed them.
I'm fine, so feel free to use them."After a moment of hesitation, Maxi accepted the gloves.
His hands were actually quite sore.
She pulled off the smooth, meticulously tanned gloves and discovered that they were at least a finger larger than her own.
“Your hands… are bigger than I thought, Ulyseon,” Maxi said, looking at his long fingers again.
When she exclaimed in admiration that he was indeed a man despite his slender body and graceful face, as delicate as a woman's, Ulyseon blushed.
He scratched his head sheepishly and then took out a leather strap from his bag.
"Let me strap them on, my lady.
It wouldn't do for them to slip off while you're riding."
Maxi obediently held out his hands.
Ulyseon fiddled with the straps as he clumsily tied the gloves onto his wrist.
“Aren’t they too tight, ma’am?”
“No, they’re perfect.”
After shaking her hands to see if the gloves would fall off, Maxi gave Ulyseon a satisfied smile.
"T-Thank you.
I will use them well."
“It’s a pleasure, my lady.”
She took the bread with her gloved hand and began to eat her meal.
A short distance away, Riftan was talking to his knights over a map.
He said something to them before putting the map back in his bag.
Maxi waited for him to come to her, but he just frowned slightly and turned to saddle Talon.
His displeasure made Maxi nervous.
She had thought that his attentive care the day before meant that his anger had subsided.
Could it be that he was still upset about her stubbornness?
Before she could decide whether or not to approach him first, Riftan was already mounting his horse.
“Let us not waste any more time,” he told his knights.
"We leave immediately.
We are entering drakes territory, so keep your guard up at all times."
The knights mounted their steeds and took position.
Maxi hurriedly saddled Rem and also climbed up.
Riftan glanced over his shoulder to check where she was, and then spurred Talon into a quick trot.
They flew across the grassy fields like the wind, following the stream.
An involuntary smile appeared on Maxi's lips as the cool, invigorating breeze gently caressed her face.
This was no time for fun, but she had never ridden across a grassy plain on her own horse before.
It was incomparable to the narrow mountain path or the hill.
His heart swelled, and Maxi observed his surroundings with bright eyes.
The clear sky was a brilliant blue, and the stream that flowed through the moss green field sparkled as if it was sprinkled with silver dust.
Under the early summer sun, even the wildflowers were in full bloom.
It was such a beautiful scene that it was almost hard to believe that vile monsters were running loose.