When I arrived at the Skim Mountains and saw Miroslav’s figure, at first I didn’t even realize it was her. Her robe was in tatters, her trademark pointed hat was nowhere to be seen, and her hair was a tangled mess like a lion’s mane. Her face was caked in mud, sweat, and blood that may or may not have been hers. If she hadn’t been carrying her usual staff, I might have mistaken her for a goblin.
I’d found her almost immediately upon reaching the peak because I’d seen a fireball exploding nearby. After ordering Claimh Soras to head toward the explosion, I saw that she was locked in combat with a monster that looked like a large monkey. The monster was known as a giant ape. It possessed extraordinary strength, and just as its long arms might suggest, it could dexterously make its way across the mountain at high speeds. It was also highly intelligent, capable of conversing with humans, and skilled with wind magic. Some giant apes attacked and ate humans, and unfortunately for Miroslav, it appeared she’d run into one of those.
Then again, seeing as how the ape was already missing an arm and had one of its legs reduced to ash, and it looked like Miroslav was preparing to deliver the final blow, perhaps the unlucky one was the ape in this case. After sending the beast’s decapitated head high into the air with a powerful wind spell, Miroslav looked up at the sky in my direction. She must have heard the flapping of my wyvern’s wings overhead. I was too high up to see her expression, but shortly afterward, she fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Extremely concerned about the sudden collapse, I didn’t even wait for Claimh Soras to descend and leaped straight off the saddle. Normally, hitting the ground from such a height would have seriously injured or even killed me, but I’d strengthened my body with vigor before jumping off, so I had no problem enduring the impact.
By the time I ran to her side, the red-haired mage was unconscious. I called out to her and even slapped her lightly on the cheek, but there was no response whatsoever. Like I said before, her skin and clothes were filthy with blood, sweat, and dirt. And when I got a closer look at her limbs, I could see they were even thinner than usual, and her cheekbones were hollowed out. She probably hadn’t had a decent meal in quite a while.
Inspecting her condition, I frowned. I’d planned to hoist her onto the wyvern and take her right back to Ishka, but it’d be dangerous to have her ride Claimh Soras in her current state. There was no village at the base of the mountain either. There was nothing for it, then. I’d have to stay with her on the mountain until she recovered enough stamina to travel. Fortunately, I knew a good rest spot. Pulling Miroslav onto my back, I made my way to the mountain’s summit, careful to not jolt her while I was moving.
A short while later, we arrived at a small spring near the summit, hidden between a row of trees and the mountain face. The mountain was a volcano, so most of its spring water was not potable. But the water close to the summit had no sulfur in it and was therefore safe to drink. As for how I knew about this place: It was the old watering hole of the griffin I’d taken down back when I’d fulfilled those requests for the guild. Because a griffin had used it, other monsters hadn’t approached, so it wasn’t polluted in that sense either. They’d probably stayed away even after I’d killed the griffin, but as I had no way to be sure, coming here was certainly a gamble. It looked like I’d won that gamble, though, because I didn’t detect any other monsters’ presences.
I lowered Miroslav down onto the bank and undressed her immediately. Since she’d been stranded on the mountain for several days now, I’d brought her a change of clothes, so there was no need to worry about that. Besides, I doubted she’d be mortified about me seeing her naked body after living with me for so long in the Lord of the Flies’ cave— Ahem. Just for the record, of course I didn’t feel any sexual desire toward her in her current state. I was just worried that if I didn’t clean her up, she might fall ill. For the clean freak Miroslav to allow herself to fall into such a state... What exactly had she been trying to accomplish?
While wondering about her motives, I bathed her in the spring water, making sure to apply the medicinal herbs I’d brought to any wounds I saw. I washed her head, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, waist, thighs, and ankles. Her hair too. Her body slowly but surely started to regain its original color, but Miroslav herself remained unconscious. If not for her faint breathing and the occasional rise and fall of her chest, I might have taken her for dead.
She didn’t wake up even after I was done bathing and treating her, so with no other choice, I fed her some stamina potions in lieu of food. She finally awoke a day and a half later.
Miroslav’s awakening was sudden. With a sharp cry, she jolted upright. Then she looked around, observing her surroundings with a wary expression to get a grasp on the situation. Having spent over ten days on a mountain alone, it was a natural reaction, I suppose. Then her gaze met mine.
I half expected her to let out a scream or a cry of anger and steeled myself for it, but it never came. She just looked at me blankly, almost curiously, her gaze not leaving mine. Her stare was so intense that it felt like it could bore a hole right through me.
How strange. Don’t tell me her extreme fatigue gave her amnesia, I thought. Perhaps it wasn’t full-blown amnesia, but it was certainly possible for extreme mental stress to cause memory loss. I’d been all ready to snarkily reply, “Sorry I’m not your precious Raz” in the event she shouted at me, but given her response, I wasn’t sure how to react. For the time being, I tried speaking to her as gently as I could manage.