Soon, the silence returned.
Elvan glanced back in Tom’s direction.
His gaze was fixed in that direction, but his thoughts had wandered off…
It’s midnight.
Finding a doctor at this hour is hard.
Even if he somehow found one, the time it would take to bring the doctor to Tom—or Tom to the doctor—would make the situation much worse.
The best thing he could do for the time being was help suppress the horse’s pain with painkillers temporarily until dawn.
“…Just endure it till dawn, partner.”
With that, he gently withdrew his gaze and laid back down in the cart.
After a few tosses and turns, he finally fell back asleep.
Hearing the steady breathing sounds from inside the cart, the horse finally pulled its head out from snuggling.
The campfire had dimmed quite a bit, and its light didn’t reach the portion where the horse was sitting.
The darkness completely enveloped Tom’s silhouette, or perhaps…
Suddenly, it stood.
And started moving towards the camps beside the cart.
Inside the camp—
Flap~Flap.
Ren felt a delicate sensation on his cheek.
As he slowly opened his eyes, a pair of pitch-black wings with white patterns came into view.
“…As—”
Flap~Flap.
Before he could utter the name, the butterfly furiously flapped its wings, cutting him off.
“…Refusal.”
With that, he shifted his vision to his surroundings.
Before sitting up and scooping the butterfly up, placing it on his shoulder.
In front of him, through the translucent fabric, the campfire’s light still entered the camp.
But it wasn’t as intense as before.
Ren glanced sideways.
The light from that direction was more intense than this side.
Something is blocking the light.
The light grew weaker and weaker.
A shadow emerged. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Not suddenly.
Naturally.
Its outline was like that of a horse standing horizontally to his camp, as if waiting for him to ride it.
Except its head was turned towards the campfire, overlapping with its body’s shadow, making it seem headless.
Tom.
Ren muttered.
Not loud.
Quiet.
In a way only he could hear it.
Before reaching out to unzip the tent’s entrance.
Sensing his movements,
Aster drifted down from his shoulder and sat on the back of his hand.
Ren glanced at it.
Reasoning quietly, if it were a wild animal, Tom would have reacted.
If it were hostile, it would have either attacked Elvan or Tom, who were easily exposed outside.
Either scenario would have produced a bit of commotion.
Hearing this, Aster lingered on his hand for a few seconds before climbing back onto his shoulder.
Ren withdrew his hand.
This time, Ren didn’t reach out to unzip the tent.
Instead, he waited.
Waited…
for the thing to completely show its shadow before unzipping.
Time passed.
First seconds.
Then minutes.
Nearly 10 minutes passed.
Ren sensed a movement beside him.
Kai must have woken up or…
just shifted in his sleep.
Either way, there wasn’t any other movement besides that one time.
Ren continued to stare at the thing standing in front of his camp.
Silence.
Only the crackling of wood in the campfire could be heard.
Drip~Drip.
The faint sound of water droplets falling on the ground was heard.
It almost drowned amidst the crackling sound of the fire.
The creature.
Object.
Horse.
Tom.
Or whatever it was…
It still hadn’t turned its head, or perhaps…
it already had.
It could be staring in Ren’s direction from the start.
Even after becoming aware of this, Ren didn’t move to unzip.
Whether it’s hostile or not…
isn’t confirmed, but one thing is certain.
It’s waiting.
Just like me.
Waiting for me to make a move.
The one that it wants me to.
Then the thing moved.
Its head moved.
Sideways.
It didn’t turn its head around.
It didn’t need to.
It was already staring at Ren’s camp from the beginning.
When Ren saw the shadow moving, he froze.
Not because of the realization that it was staring at him from the start.
That was one of the possibilities.
He froze because of the vision .
The vision of it’s complete shadow.