Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Waiting for Mela to wake up again...
When Mela awoke again, dusk was rising like a tidal wave, engulfing every corner of the earth, and a few scattered evening stars were even faintly twinkling on the distant horizon.
Melari got up from the ground and dusted off her skirt. Luckily, she never liked wearing brightly colored skirts, precisely because she was afraid they would be difficult to clean if they got dirty.
In this muddy state, the only way to notice the unusual condition on Mela's brown skirt is to look closely.
The woman had already disappeared. Mela didn't have time to investigate further; she just hurriedly picked up the scattered herbs and ran down the mountain.
If she hasn't returned by now, her father, Wipdo Gholak, should be worried.
Sure enough, when Mela hurried back to White Pine Town carrying her basket, a tall man was standing on the main road leading to the town, holding a dim kerosene lamp.
The dim light illuminated his surroundings and guided Mela, who was returning home late.
"Father!" Mela quickened her pace, almost running, and arrived at Wipdo's side in just a few steps.
Those green eyes, just like Mella's, looked gently at her daughter. Instead of scolding her for coming home so late, she placed her free hand on the top of her soft hair.
“Let’s go home and have dinner with Father,” Wipdo said.
Then, the two figures, one large and one small, were stretched long by the light of the kerosene lamp, and they drove off in the opposite direction from their owner, as if to touch the low-hanging night at the end of the road.
"I cooked carrot stew tonight." Wipdo scooped the diced carrots and meat from the pot with a spoon, put them in a bowl, and placed it in front of Mela.
“I hate carrots.” Mela wrinkled her nose as she looked at the bowl full of carrots.
"Carrots are a healthy food that can help resist the cold and help those who are weak or pale to recover."
Wipdo calmly explained to Mela.
"So don't be picky about food, Mela."
"..." Mela couldn't refute her father because she knew that what Wipdo said was right. This was also knowledge written in the medical manuals of the Gholak family and passed down from generation to generation.
But it is always difficult for people to fight against their own desires.
Rationally, she knew it was the right thing to do, but psychological disgust made Mela almost vomit even with her eyes closed and imagining that she wasn't chewing on a carrot.
However, Wipdo, who had always indulged her, was unusually strict in this regard and would never allow her to be willful.
Only by eating healthy foods can the body maintain good health in the long run; this is a principle that Wipto has always adhered to.
Seeing how much pain Mela was in, Wipdo couldn't help but sigh, "At least eating carrots is much better than taking medicine."
Under Wipdo's care, Mela grew stronger than a calf from a young age and never got sick, which is the best proof of that.
Conversely, Mela's mother, Elvie, was too weak to maintain a healthy diet when she was young, which led to her being easily killed by a cold shortly after giving birth to Mela.
"Did something happen on the mountain today?" After the meal, Wipdo finally brought up this topic.
Mela almost thought he wasn't going to ask anymore.
However, subconsciously, Mela felt it was better not to let her father know about the existence of that mysterious woman, so she deliberately told a little lie to gloss over the matter: "No, I just accidentally fell asleep on the rock."
“Okay, just remember not to sleep on the mountain next time, you’ll catch a cold.” Wipdo didn’t suspect anything, after all, it did sound like something Mela would do.
Wipdo rarely restrained her; compared to the girls in Whitepine Town who were trained to be very quiet, Mela was even freer than the boys.
Even when he wanted to go up the mountain, he would just say hello to Wipdo, then happily head out with his basket.
Wipdo wasn't worried that Mela would encounter any frightening wild animals on the mountain. The area on the mountain, which was covered with white pine trees, had already been trodden by the townspeople of White Pine Town many times. As long as Mela didn't venture deep into the remote heartland, the probability of her encountering danger was very small.
However, when Mela said the next day that she wanted to go up the mountain again, Wipdo found it a little strange: "Didn't you finish collecting the herbs you wanted to gather yesterday?"
"Mmm," Mela mumbled a couple of times, then hurriedly ran off, afraid that Wipdo would ask any more questions.
Fortunately, Wipdo urgently needed to treat a patient with a high fever and couldn't waste time questioning Mela. He could only watch her figure disappear outside the town.
Whew, after running out of White Pine Town, Mela couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She knew that to keep a lie from being exposed, she couldn't reveal too many details. Besides, Wipdo wouldn't take advantage of her talkative nature. Once he saw her return safely from the mountain, he would at most ask if she had gathered any herbs, but he wouldn't pry or insist that she explain every single detail.
This also saved Mela the trouble of making up stories.
That said, Mela went up the mountain to see if she could find any trace of the mysterious woman.
Regarding the woman's identity, judging from how easily she could make herself fall into a deep sleep, Mela already had a fairly accurate guess in her mind.
"It's a witch," Mela thought.
Although both the church and the king have always proclaimed that witches are born sinners, unapproachable villains who would capture innocent civilians and torture them severely, then take their blood and organs to feed their pets when they were on the verge of death, Mela was not as fearful of witches as others.
Perhaps it's because no mother ever told her stories of witches' evil deeds from a young age.
As for the terrifying blood and organs, Mela had already seen even more gruesome scenes when she was helping Wipdo.
Once upon a time, a young hunter knocked on Mela's door late at night, tearfully begging Wipdo to save him.
Wipdo stared intently at the hunter's hand clutching his lower abdomen. Without much thought, he stepped aside to let the door open.
At that moment, Mela, wearing a floral nightgown, held the kerosene lamp high for her father. The light illuminated the hunter's bloody abdominal wound after he let go, as well as his intestines that had accidentally spilled out.
After applying herbs and bandaging the hunter, and sending him away, Wipdo smiled and patted Mela's hair, praising her for her bravery.
“To become a healer, you must not be afraid of blood,” Wipdo told Mela.
“I understand, Father, I’m not afraid.” Mela not only wasn’t afraid, but she also yawned nonchalantly. “I’m sleepy, I’m going to bed.”
“Okay, then give me the lamp.” Wipdo took the kerosene lamp from Mela’s hand, gesturing for her to go back to her room to sleep, while he had to clean up the messy floor.
The young hunter just now bled so much that he made a mess of the ground.
If we just leave it like this, it will definitely give other patients who come to visit a fright the next day.
*
"Squeak." The boots made a crisp sound as they stepped on the withered branches.
Mela peered around cautiously, but there was nothing, nothing, nothing at all; she couldn't even find a trace of suspicious blood.
I have no idea where that woman ran off to with such serious injuries.
Mela circled the spot where she had bumped into the woman yesterday again and again, suspecting that the woman had most likely left, perhaps even leaving the mountain altogether to avoid being found by others.
White Pine Town lies at the foot of the mountain; if a woman were to come to White Pine Town, Mela would surely know it.
But on the other side of the mountain is Heihe Town, which is a small hub, leading to different territories in all directions.
That's right, White Pine Town is actually located on the edge of Fister Territory.
Merchants would occasionally come to buy white pine wax candles and sell them to other territories.
This was originally not allowed. All transactions within the territory of Fister should have been reported to Viscount Fister and subject to certain taxes, but these merchants directly bribed the tax officials.
So they only needed to divert a small portion of the taxes that should have been paid to Viscount Fester, filling the tax collector's purse to make him tacitly approve of their actions.
In any case, given the remote location of White Pine Town, the tax official was certain that Viscount Fister would not send anyone to investigate.
There are many similar violations of the kingdom's laws in Baisong Town.
For example, Mela's mother, Elvie, was actually a civilian who had fled from another territory. Logically, she should have been sent back to her original territory after being discovered.
However, after receiving a bag of silver coins from Wipdo, the tax collector turned a blind eye to their marriage and even persuaded the priest of the church to allow them to hold their wedding in the church. Otherwise, Mela would be an illegitimate child and would have no chance of inheriting anything from Wipdo.
"Forget it, I might as well go back." Mela looked up at the sky; the sun was already setting. She hadn't gained anything yet, and there was no point in staying on the mountain any longer.
Having failed to reach her destination, Mela retraced her steps back up the mountain.
To be honest, it was Mela who discovered this path herself. Although it was muddier and steeper than the normal mountain path, and there were more weeds around, Mela was never one to take the usual route. She preferred to walk this deserted path, as if she were on an adventure that only she knew about.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by, causing the grass and trees to rustle.
Hmm? Wait a minute, it seems there's a smell of blood on the wind. Mela paused in her steps.
She frowned and sniffed hard at the faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood in the air.
A direction was quickly determined.
Mela had a vague premonition that the woman she was looking for was probably at the end of this direction.
So Mela turned on her toes, abandoning her plan to descend the mountain, and quickly ran in the direction she had chosen.
Along the way, weeds kept brushing against her face, and occasionally vines would hide in the grass and block her way, threatening to trip her if she wasn't careful.
But Mela moved with extraordinary agility. She stepped over vines, leaped over bushes, and dodged thorns, and in the distance she saw a woman in a black cloak slowly moving forward with her back to her.
The wound must be hindering her movement, Mela concluded. It seemed her injury was still quite serious; perhaps because it hadn't received timely treatment, the skin and flesh around the wound had even begun to ulcerate.
That's perfect, it makes it easier for Mela to get close to her.
Mela immediately slowed her movements, trying to approach stealthily.
However, Mela underestimated the woman's vigilance.
Mela had only just parted the grass.
She immediately turned her head away.
He met Mela's gaze directly.
However, because the woman's movements were so large, the hood of her cloak fell down, allowing Mela to see her face clearly.
To Mela's surprise, she was not that old; judging from her still-smooth skin, she was probably no more than thirty.
Her features weren't particularly beautiful, but they weren't exactly plain either. In particular, her bright red lips caught Mela's attention.
And her hair is actually red!
Her hair is exactly the same as Mela's.
As a child, because there was no other child with red hair in the entire town of White Pine, Mela was often ostracized and bullied.
But this was a gift left to her by her mother, Elvie, and proof of their blood ties. Therefore, Mela did not feel embarrassed or inferior at all. She only wanted to find ways to get revenge on the children who tried to tease her and embarrass her.
The children ran home crying.
Instead of receiving the comfort they expected from their parents, they were scolded.
Who could blame them when Wipdo was the only healer in White Pine Town? Whenever someone had a headache or fever, they could only turn to Wipdo for help. How could they dare to offend him over such a trivial matter?
It's entirely possible that Wipdo would send patients who came to him for help to the priest, all for the sake of Mela.
But no one can say that Wipdo's advice is wrong. He said that his medical skills were not good enough to cure the disease, and that he could only tell you to go to the priest and beg for God's mercy. Isn't that right? Are you questioning the church and God? Then you are definitely a heretic.
Good heavens, someone must go and tell the priest about this, so he can send people to confiscate all the infidels' property and put them in jail.
At this moment, the woman panicked for a moment because her appearance had been exposed, but soon, her lips parted slightly, as if she was about to cast a spell on Mela again.
However, Mela finished reciting the spell even faster than her.
Although she only heard it once, Mela remembered the spell that put her to sleep, including all the changes in the syllables.
So the next second, the woman collapsed in front of Mela, her eyes filled with disbelief.
She never imagined that she would lose to a little girl.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
