LP 1.3 Gooseherd

Kosha turned the new apple he had obtained this way and that, admiring it. The woman seemed quite wealthy, and the fruit she had given him was very shiny, red, and pretty. Kosha had desperately wanted to eat an apple like that all summer, one that filled his mouth with a refreshing and sweet juice, so this was definitely a windfall.

However….

Kosha took another bite of the bruised and mealy apple, and regretted it, just a little. Maybe he shouldn’t have traded.

“You’re saying she picked up something he dropped?”

The man with the mottled blond hair asked back, looking displeased. It was the same man who had threatened Kosha in the torture chamber.

His name was Gosrick, and despite appearances, he was Lucian’s closest aide. Now that he thought about it, Kosha seemed to have seen him by Lucian’s side once or twice when he had gone to see Lucian.

He was a large man with fierce eyes and a long scar on his cheek, a typical ‘knight’ appearance, but perhaps because Kosha had gotten used to seeing him, he wasn’t as scared as he had been at first. It could be because he had noticed that his tone and personality weren’t as fierce as his appearance, or maybe.

Maybe it was just because he was Lucian’s man.

“So you’ve come to like him because of that?”

Gosrick asked again, sounding suspicious. Kosha sighed deeply.

No, how could that be, just from something like that…. In the first place, feelings aren’t something that can be so neatly and clearly defined as moving from one room to another.

It was just a trigger. A trigger that made him recognize that person. Ah, that person is Lucian.

Triggers are inherently trivial and insignificant. It’s just that something terrifying follows after.

Why was he so restless that night that he couldn’t fall asleep until late? Why did he put a little more effort into preparing a clean breakfast the next morning? Why did he cut off a branch of sweet osmanthus for no reason and keep it in a water bottle until all the flowers withered? Why did he start craning his neck whenever he heard his name in a gathering of villagers?

Then, when he came to his senses, he was standing in a long line from morning to enter the castle. For no reason, just to see Lucian one more time as he set out on another expedition. Only for that.

But it was too tiring to explain all those processes in detail. And….

“…You probably wouldn’t understand.”

Kosha muttered. Gosrick frowned at the voice, so small it was hard to tell if it was a whisper or a soliloquy. He was about to ask again, but Kosha was faster this time.

“Could you slice some of that stable foundation root there?”

“…….”

“W-well, if you’re willing to. …Or I can do it. Of course, I should do it. It’s my job.”

Kosha, who had become a little frightened again at Gosrick’s silent stare, quickly changed his words, averting his gaze. Gosrick sighed deeply and picked up the whitish thing in the direction Kosha had pointed.

“This?”

“…Yes.”

Kosha’s fingertips were still covered in bandages. He didn’t seem to be a particularly quick-witted guy to begin with, but with his hand in that state, his movements were even more clumsy. It would be a headache if he cut his finger instead of the root if he held a knife in that hand. They were in a hurry right now.

Of course, mages are the kind of people who can use magic even if all their limbs are cut off, but….

“How, should I slice it lengthwise?”

“Yes, just as thinly as possible….”

The sight of a huge, hairy man with hair even on the back of his hands bending over and slicing a root with a small knife was somehow a little funny.

Kosha pressed his lips together tightly, trying not to laugh, but Sir Gosrick seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, like a true knight.

“Are you laughing?”

“No.”

Kosha lowered his head again and focused on the medicinal herbs in front of him. Myrrh and hyssop oil….

Gosrick, who had been staring silently at Kosha as he carefully measured all the ingredients placed in front of him, clicked his tongue.

He wasn’t trying to interrogate him. It was just that he was dumbfounded that he was smirking even in this situation.

…It was also a little strange.

The young man in front of him was objectively a mess. He was wearing shabby and dirty clothes, and his shoulders were hunched over. His dirty hair, which was hard to tell whether it was tangled or matted, covered half of his face, and underneath it, his cheeks and lips were swollen and torn.

Kosha had been slapped a few more times that day. Mostly because he didn’t answer the questions properly.

Of course, a few slaps weren’t a particularly harsh thing to do in his standards, but….

“You’re happy even with your face in that state.”

He openly mocked him, but the strange mage, who seemed a little dim-witted, just smiled awkwardly, not even realizing it was an insult to him.

“It’s not good, but…. It’s okay.”

Kosha quickly added, noticing Gosrick’s expression twist as if he had heard something bizarre.

“It’s my fault. So, it’s not like His Highness Lucian is originally ‘that’ kind of person….”

“…….”

“So, His Highness is, uh, a victim. Of course, I didn’t do it on purpose, absolutely, absolutely not.”

As he continued to make excuses, guilt began to creep up again.

Lucian had eaten the Love Potion that Kosha had made haphazardly. He didn’t know how it had happened, but let’s just say it did. That wasn’t a very important issue right now.

The real big problem was that the potion was really shoddy.

What Kosha had made was definitely a Love Potion. The potion that would make you fall madly in love with the first person you saw when you opened your eyes after drinking it.

But Lucian, who had actually drunk it, didn’t fall in love with anyone. No, far from falling in love….

‘Um, by any chance, the first person His Highness saw after drinking the potion….’

When Kosha cautiously asked, diagnosing the traces of magical power left in Lucian’s body, the answer came from an unexpected place.

‘It was me.’

Gosrick answered solemnly. Lucian, who had been sitting askew in his chair, let out something like a sneer. Kosha looked back and forth between the two of them, bewildered.

He certainly… didn’t seem to be in love.

He heard that Lucian had to deal with the remaining work even in his bedroom because his work had been prolonged that day. When the servant came into the bedroom with the mulled wine he had warmed as usual, Gosrick was there, giving his final report.

Drinking mulled wine when his work was long or he was tired was a long-standing habit of his, and the servant who brought the wine had been doing that job for at least two years.

It was a little suspicious that he had hesitated when he saw Gosrick with him, but it was already close to dawn, and they were both too tired to even consider such trivial attitudes.

Lucian, who had taken the glass without much thought, dropped it on the floor, clutching his head after taking a few sips, and Gosrick was the one who immediately supported him.

And what Lucian, who had taken the potion, did to Gosrick, the first person he saw when he opened his eyes….

Was to roughly push him away and grab the servant’s hair and slam him against the wall.

Gosrick, who had fallen backward, was so embarrassed that he couldn’t even stop Lucian from slamming the servant’s head down, asking him who had ordered him to do it.

‘He, well, he doesn’t usually go that far….’

Even if he hadn’t added it as an excuse, it was obvious. Wasn’t he known for being merciful and reasonable even on the battlefield? Kosha nodded with deep understanding.

In any case, from that point on, Lucian seemed to show extremely impulsive and violent tendencies. Unannounced slaps, indiscriminate insults and abusive language. In Gosrick’s words….

‘…It’s a situation where you never know what’s going to happen.’

Several violent incidents, like accidents, occurred in official settings, and eventually Lucian had to temporarily stop all external activities and seclude himself. It had already been a week. Considering the various important positions he held, it was a difficult situation in many ways.

Why did the potion turn out that way? He hadn’t used any particularly complicated magic, and that had never happened when he had made other potions.

Well, it would have been embarrassing if the potion had worked properly and Lucian had fallen in love with Gosrick….

Anyway, it was Kosha’s fault in the end. Because Kosha made the potion. Without permission, without knowing the exact recipe, on his own.

So Kosha calmly accepted that getting slapped a few times was his own fault. How much more embarrassed and troubled would Lucian, the person who was experiencing such unexpected side effects, be?

“His Highness is probably having a harder time than I am….”

Kosha muttered gloomily. Gosrick’s expression was a little strange at that moment, but it wasn’t very noticeable because he had such a fierce impression.

He opened his mouth to say something, then hummed again and stroked his chin.

“Yeah…. Well, make an antidote or something and get rid of the potion’s effects completely. Put him back to normal.”

“Yes, yes. I will.”

Kosha nodded hastily.

To be honest, he wasn’t confident….

However, it is generally accepted that only the creator can solve problems caused by magical potions.

Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible if a more powerful mage than the creator stepped in, but usually, the stronger the mage, the more reclusive and stingy they are when it comes to helping others.

The king’s mage, who had first diagnosed Lucian’s potion addiction, had already refused to get involved any further.

“So, should I keep slicing this?”

Gosrick held up the tangled and clumped roots. Kosha nodded, gauging the amount for a moment. Plant roots are easier to store magical power than leaves or stems, so the more the better.

If he were a ‘proper’ mage, he wouldn’t have to rely on such mediums….

“…Yes, just a little more.”

Kosha nodded slowly. He hid his trembling hands, blurred with tension, under his sleeves.

Since his skills were so lacking, he had to rely on the ingredients. The fact that they would provide him with whatever ingredients he needed was just a glimmer of hope.

---

‘What’s your name?’

A soft voice asked gently. The clumsy bouquet that Kosha had handed him looked too shabby in his hands. His face flushed, and Kosha stammered like an idiot, unable to answer in one go.

‘K-Kosha.’

It was definitely a voice that would have sounded pathetic. But he didn’t laugh.

‘Ah, Kosha.’

‘…….’

‘Thank you.’

Instead, he called his name very accurately. Not in the Izelian standard pronunciation, but in the Alohen pronunciation that Kosha originally used. It was a very subtle difference, but it was definitely different.

At that moment, he couldn’t tell whether what was shining and breaking behind him was sunlight or the very halo that only appeared above the heads of the most noble.

The practice of giving flowers to knights who had distinguished themselves in battles or hunting festivals was also newly established after Lucian gained fame.

It was mostly done by young women or young boys, but…. After chasing Lucian around for a whole year, Kosha also wanted to give him something.

It was up to the knight to accept it or not, but Lucian and the knights who followed him mostly accepted it well. So he took courage.

The bouquet was carefully made by hand. He lined up from dawn to enter the castle to give the flowers. He was pushed and shoved, trying to get the best spot.

So when he was finally able to hand over the flowers, he was so nervous that he couldn’t even look him in the face properly.

But Lucian accepted the flowers that a big, dark man like him had given him without refusing. And he kindly asked for his name.

He used to ask everyone who gave him flowers for their name, so it wasn’t anything special, but when he actually experienced it, he felt very… special.

He gave flowers to him! To that shining person. He even looked at my face and learned my name. He called my name very accurately.

How long had it been since his name had been called correctly? Not once since his nanny died.

His heart was endlessly excited.

That memory was so sweet and warm that Kosha was able to get through that winter. He didn’t know how many times that winter, summer, spring, and autumn had been repeated.

…Is a person only a savior if they dramatically rescue you from a life-or-death crisis?

Before he could even answer that question― Clang! A sharp cracking sound cut through the air.

A splendid golden cup, perfectly symmetrical, was thrown down onto the cold stone floor. Kosha’s neck, kneeling on the floor, shrank like a snail pierced by a branch.

Thump, thump, thump. The empty cup rolled miserably beside Kosha.

Inside it was the antidote that Kosha had spent all night tending to the ingredients in front of the fire, and then, with the help of a sliver of the dawn moonlight, had extracted only the essence.

It was Kosha’s claim that the ‘antidote’ should be made in three installments. In fact, it was closer to begging than claiming. Lucian and his retainers were reluctant, but…. What could they do since they couldn’t figure out the cause of the problem right away? Kosha had no choice but to choose symptomatic treatment, and they had no other mage to replace Kosha.

The first potion had no effect and was a complete failure, and this was the second. Lucian drank the faint green liquid, carefully offered in a silver cup, in one gulp without hesitation.

He was dizzy as the potion took effect, and he stayed still for a moment, holding his forehead, and a silence fell in which even the sound of breathing could not be heard properly.

And, it was the moment when his sharp blue-gray eyes met Kosha’s eyes between his long, outstretched fingers.

He immediately threw the cup he was holding in his other hand at Kosha. It barely missed Kosha, and it seemed that he had barely managed to resist the urge to throw it at Kosha’s head.

“Haa….”

His sigh was irritable. A curse word followed, as if spat out.

“It has no effect, it just wastes time, and it tastes like garbage.”

“…….”

“You idiot.”

Lucian irritably swept his hair back. Even as everyone in the room couldn’t even breathe properly, Kosha secretly glanced at him. The strands of hair, like shattered sunlight, flowed out between his long, neat fingers and scattered over his smooth forehead.

It was truly shameless, but Kosha had been secretly stealing glances at Lucian these days. Of course, he had tried to restrain himself at first, since he had a mind of his own, but…. It wasn’t something that could be done with effort.

Lucian, who was experiencing the side effects of the potion, was very… unfamiliar. He was not only rough, but sometimes even uttered very vulgar curses.

At first, it was even shocking that Lucian knew such curses. The expressions he made were also different. A frown, a look of annoyance, a smile like a sneer.

All of them were things that couldn’t be found in the ‘original’ Lucian.

Kosha didn’t like rough people, but it was still a sight to behold when placed on top of his shining beauty. Besides, wasn’t that a ‘fake’ created by the potion’s effects? It would disappear with the last antidote.

Then, wouldn’t it be so strange to think that he wanted to capture a little bit of Lucian’s ‘different’ side, which no one had ever seen― and no one would ever see in the future― in his eyes?

If the price for getting his special side was that much hardship, he didn’t think it was that bad.

“Y-Your Highness. Just a moment, a diagnosis.”

“…….”

“This potion wasn’t originally intended to have an immediate effect. Uh, so first, it… kind of, materializes the existing magic.”

Kosha tried to explain, trembling as if a thunderbolt would strike him at any moment. Lucian, who had been looking down at him as if gauging his intentions, soon waved his hand as if he was too annoyed to listen any further.

But it seemed to be a sign of permission anyway. Kosha, who had been stuck to the floor like a slug, crept forward slowly.

Even as he looked down at Kosha with a gaze as if he were looking at some unclean, inferior creature, Lucian obediently rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and held out his palm. Minimal physical contact was required to sense the magical power remaining in the body.

Of course, a skilled mage could do it non-contact, but…. Kosha was honestly grateful that he was a defective product this time.

Otherwise, when else would someone like him get to touch Lucian’s palm?