NoGift

"It looks far worse than it feels," Argent a.s.sured her sister.

Since the bleeding stopped fairly shortly after the bandage was put on, it meant that no major blood vessels were cut.  She tried to move the wounded shoulder earlier.  Even if there was some pain, she could still move it.  Which meant that no nerves were damaged.  So as long as it was cleaned and st.i.tched up, it would be fine.  

"It looks scary.  Master, are you really okay?" asked Black.

They were currently alone in the flying shuttle together with White, Black and their still unconscious mother.  The shuttle was parked at the middle of the forest that was near a small village.  They arrived here just before sundown.  The moment they did, Aurum pushed Lei Feng and Clay out of the shuttle.  Not only them, but also that elf.  

Argent understood why her sister had to do that.  It"s important that they"d be alone while treating her wounds.  After all, it"s not only her special const.i.tution they had to keep secret but also her real gender.  It"s not that she didn"t trust them.  She"s just not at the point where she would freely tell them about it.  Especially with an unknown factor like that elf around.

They didn"t have to worry about Lynx and Viper since the two left before they could even arrive at this place.  Lynx said that their master contacted him and told him to go back to their headquarters as soon as possible.  So he slipped out of the shuttle with the still unconscious Viper.

Knowing Viper, he"d definitely throw a fit once he woke up and find himself in a place he didn"t expect he should be.  Maybe he would even beat up Lynx for it.  Argent should probably send him a message later.  No, it"s probably better to call him.  He did get hurt because of helping her.  That"s the least she could do.

"Let"s clean your wounds first," Aurum could only say helplessly.  "Take off your s.h.i.+rt."

Argent had already taken off her coat earlier.  If she didn"t take off her s.h.i.+rt, the wound on her shoulder wouldn"t be properly taken care off.  She reached for the hem of her s.h.i.+rt and raised it.  She winced a bit when she had to get it over her head.  Once done, she was only left with the cloth tied around her chest, showcasing her well-toned body.

Aurum stared at her brother"s upper body and couldn"t help but sigh.  Other 14-year-old n.o.ble girls – no, they"re turning 15 soon – looked soft and full of feminine charms.  But just look at her brother, there"s nothing remotely soft about her.  Although she was still full of charms.  Just the kind of charm that would attract other girls.  And it looked like her brother didn"t mind that one bit.  She"d probably gotten used to acting like a boy, she already forgot that she"s a girl.  

Well, even Aurum herself sometimes forgot that.  She couldn"t even imagine her brother wearing some kind of dress or any other girly clothes.  

She shook her head.  This was no time to think about something so foolish.  

Aurum first cleaned the wounds on Argent"s shoulder and calf with water and alcohol.  After putting medicine, she simply wrapped the wound with clean bandage.  But the shoulder wound was another matter.

"Let White do it," Argent said.  Being an AI robot, White would be more precise.  Besides, she put a simple first-aid program in White"s system.  So there"s that.  

Aurum had no choice but to give her position to White.  It"s frustrating to admit, but White would probably do better than her.  But before she stood up from her seat, her brother put her hand on her head and stroked her head.

"Thank you, Aurum," she said with a gentle smile not often seen on her indifferent face.

Aurum smiled happily.  Seeing that smile on her brother"s face was enough to wipe out the tiredness that acc.u.mulated this entire day.

White sat on Aurum"s former seat.  She took the sterilized needle and thread from the medicine kit and started st.i.tching the wound on the shoulder of Argent.

Black was sitting on the side, looking on at what White was doing.  He raised his head and looked at Argent, his big black eyes filled with worry.  "Is it painful, Master?"

Argent shook her head.  "No.  It"s because White is very gentle."

"As expected of White," Black said, turning his head to White and looking at her with admiration.

"Brother, what"s our next plan going to be?" Aurum asked.

"Let"s wait for Mother to wake first."

After all, there"s a huge chance that her plan might have to change depending on the information their mother had regarding those three artifacts and the connection of the Blackbourne family to that "child of all".

----------

Clay, who was outside, was sitting not far from the shuttle.  He just finished making a fire.  That black haired Eastern guy went off somewhere in the forest, saying that he would hunt game for dinner.  So, he was left with the elf.  

Clay glanced at the elf who was sitting beside a tree and hugging his knees.  "Are you feeling alright?" he asked.  

Instead of answering, the elf just gazed down.

"I don"t know if you still remember, but I"m one of the people you saved at that small village somewhere here in the Southwestern continent," Clay continued.

The elf turned his head a bit towards the young man with messy reddish-brown hair and deep dark brown eyes.  He couldn"t remember seeing him, but he did remember the situation he was talking about.  It was when he ran out of the village, thinking that those knights captured the orphaned children who ran away.  When he did, what he saw was a masked man along with some other outsiders.  And he somehow ended up fighting with that masked man which lead to him being captured.

This young man was probably one of those outsiders.

"Really, thank you for your help back then.  Things could have ended up badly for us if you didn"t appear and saved us," Clay said, full of sincerity.

The elf still didn"t talk and continued gazing down aimlessly.

"Do you need help?  If you asked that silver haired teenager, he might be able to give it to you."

The elf twitched a bit as if startled.  Clay observed his reaction.  He said what he said because the elf was just giving off this "helpless" vibe as if he was drowning and was silently asking someone, anyone to save him.  That"s the feeling Clay got just looking at him.

"Oh, what"s this?  I didn"t know I"ve become a charitable inst.i.tution," said an indifferent voice from behind them.

Clay looked back and saw Argent wearing loose s.h.i.+rt and pants.  He raised one of his brows at him, as if saying "come on, why don"t you answer my question?".  Clay could only scratch the back of his head and awkwardly laughed.