“Simus!” Baron Vashti shouted, slamming open the door and running into the room. Seo Jun-Ho followed behind him, and his nose twitched. 

‘The smell of herbs…’ 

Like an apothecary, the room was filled with the scent of herbal medicine 

Baron Vashti watched helplessly as a boy of about 7-year-old whimpered on the bed. 

“Is that his son?” Seo Jun-Ho asked Phivir. 

“So he is. He is Young Master Simus Gilleon. He’s very clever, but…” Phivir let out a sigh. 

“H-honey, what can we do for our poor child? Urk…” a woman asked. 

“We must be patient. There will be a solution,” Vashti said, comforting his wife. He turned to a man wearing priests’ robes. “What in the world happened? Didn’t you say that the progression of the disease has stopped?” 

“W-well, he suddenly got a high fever. I tried to use holy power to put the disease in a stasis…”

“Then… Then what am I supposed to do?!” Baron Vashti yelled, gripping his fists. 

The priest bowed his head. From the very beginning, it had been impossible to completely cure Simus’s disease with holy power. “I’m sorry. I can no longer delay the disease’s progression with my abilities as an excommunicated priest alone.”

“No…” Vashti stumbled in shock, gripping his forehead, and Phivir quickly moved to help him. When he saw that the baron had fainted, he whipped toward the priest. 

“Brother Hanon! Help the baron!”

“A-alright, please lay him down in a nearby bed.”

As the two men started to leave, Seo Jun-Ho slowly approached Simus. 

“Player Seo Jun-Ho! I told you to keep your distance!” Phivir shouted. He was on edge from the current situation. 

However, Seo Jun-Ho simply held a finger to his lips and walked over to the boy, who was covered in cold sweat. He placed a hand on Simus’s forehead, and it burned like fire. 

Seo Jun-Ho slowly closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensations beneath his fingers. 

‘...He’s in serious condition.’ 

All living things had magic in them, from normal people who couldn’t use Player skills to housecats. Simus was no exception. 

‘But it’s all knotted up...’ 

The magic should have been evenly spread out throughout his body, but it was tangled and knotted. It was no wonder that he was in so much pain. After all, humans were weak beings who felt pain if even just one of their tiny veins were injured. 

‘But that’s not all...’ 

For some reason, he sensed dark demonic energy in Simus’s body. 

“What are you doing?!” 

Phivir had returned from laying down Vashti, and he roughly pulled away Seo Jun-Ho by the shoulder. He placed himself between Simus and Seo Jun-Ho, glaring at the latter.

“Do not touch the young master so carelessly. I’ll let you off for a warning because of what you’ve done,” he warned.

“I sense demonic energy from the young master’s body.”

“...!”

Phivir’s eyes darkened as he quickly checked the area. He seemed to consider something when he confirmed that no one else was around. 

‘Is he planning to kill me?’ 

On Earth, fiends invoked fear and repulsion, but in Frontier, simply mentioning demonic clans was a taboo in itself. It was all because they didn’t have fiends who drank the blood of demonic clans, they had pure-blooded demons. 

‘The Ruben Empire worships the sun.’ 

The national religion considered the sun to be holy, and those that were associated with demons would be persecuted. That was probably why Vashti had hired an excommunicated priest. Nothing good would come out of other people finding out that Simus had demonic energy in his body. 

“Don’t worry.” Seo Jun-Ho held up his hands, trying to show Phivir that he didn’t have any hidden intentions. “I don’t plan to spread rumors. Actually, I believe that I can help.” He explained. 

“...Help?” Phivir asked. His eyebrows furrowed. 

“I can get rid of the demonic energy in the young master’s body.”

“Get rid of it? Don’t be foolish. Not even the sun priests could do that.”

“Are you sure? I’m a Player.” And Players had mysterious powers that made the impossible, possible. Phivir was silent for a moment, trembling. 

“Dammit! How will you get rid of it?”

“It’s related to my skill.”

Shing. 

Phivir unsheathed his sword. “Try it. But if you do anything foolish, regardless of your status…”

“If I do, cut off my head. Don’t hesitate.” Seo Jun-Ho tapped on his neck with his finger. Phivir saw the confidence in his eyes, and he bit his lip. 

“Ah… It hurts…” 

As Simus cried out, Phivir’s face twisted as if he was the one in pain. He jutted his chin. “Do it. Hurry.”

“Please excuse me.” 

Seo Jun-Ho pulled up a chair next to the bed and squeezed Simus’s small hand. It was covered in sweat from the boy’s high fever, but Seo Jun-Ho barely noticed it. 

The messages he had been waiting for appeared. 

[You sense low-grade demonic energy from the target.]

[Watchguard of Darkness can consume the demonic energy.]

[Upon absorption, your magic stat will increase.]

The demonic energy he had absorbed from the children at Paradise had been lesser-grade, so that meant this was one level higher. That was probably why Seo Jun-Ho had gotten the feeling that removing the demonic energy wouldn’t be easy. 

‘I’ve absorbed mid-grade yin energy before, but…’ 

Last time had been easy; all he had to do was extract the energy clogging up the magic circuits. But this time the magic was knotted like a ball of string, and he would have to absorb the bits of demonic energy stuck in between the tangles.

‘If I mess up, Simus might end up in a dangerous position.’ 

And if that happened, Phivir’s sword would come flying toward his head. 

Seo Jun-Ho gulped and slowly pushed Watchguard of Darkness into Simus’s body. 

‘Be careful. Don’t let him get hurt.’ 

He wasn’t sure if it heard his command, but the dark energy shot toward Simus’s magic circuits. 

‘Approach carefully…’ 

Untangling the magic was not within the scope of Seo Jun-Ho’s abilities. He had perfect control over his magic, but only his own. 

‘In order to untangle the magic…’ 

They would probably need someone at around the Archmage Skaya Killiland’s level. 

‘Slowly…’ 

Riding the magic circuits, Watchguard of Darkness covered the tangled knot.

“Ugh!” Simus cried out. Seo Jun-Ho hissed at the same moment. 

Phivir’s sword started to tremble against Seo Jun-Ho’s neck. His eyes were wide, unsure if Seo Jun-Ho’s treatment was working or not. 

‘Dammit…’ 

He lowered the sword helplessly to the ground. It would be imprudent to trust in Seo Jun-Ho, whom he had only met a few days ago, but there was no other way. The healers, mages, and excommunicated sun priests that they had all hired in secret had failed to help Simus. The only person Phivir could place his faith in was Seo Jun-Ho. 

“Please… Please take care of him.” 

However, his sincere request failed to reach Seo Jun-Ho’s ears. It was all because the latter’s attention was on controlling his magic. 

‘I can’t mess up....’ 

Simus’s magic just so happened to be coagulated near his heart. There were many surrounding veins, and if Seo Jun-Ho made the slightest mistake, he could seriously damage Simus’s heart. Because of this, extracting the demonic energy from the tangled magic was extremely difficult. 

‘Let’s get the ones on the outside first.’ 

Watchguard of Darkness slowly dispersed and covered the tangled knot of magic. It started to remove the demonic energy on the surface. 

Rrrrip! 

The evil energy stuck stubbornly like gum. But once it was removed by force, Simus let out a gasp, and he seemed to appear a little more at ease. 

‘Now for the demonic energy on the inside…’ 

Sweat dripped from Seo Jun-Ho’s forehead as Watchguard of Darkness lengthened like sharp fangs. He planned to use the tendrils to pierce the demonic energy. 

‘This is it.’ 

He had to concentrate. Seo Jun-Ho forced his breath into a shallow rhythm, trying to stop himself from trembling. 

‘Slowly… That’s it!’

The long, sharp tendril dug deep into the tangle, piercing through each fragment of demonic energy.

‘And pull it out all at once…’ 

Still cautious, Seo Jun-Ho adjusted the tendril to the shape of a hook. He slowly dragged it across to remove all the demonic energy, and Simus’s body temperature returned to normal. 

[Magic has increased by 0.8.] 

The task was enough to make his head spin, but he would have to do this at least five more times. 

“Towel,” he muttered. 

“I can’t hear you. What did you just say?” Phivir asked. 

“I need a towel. The sweat keeps breaking my concentration.”

“...”

Phivir stood bewildered for a second, but he reached into his jacket and wiped Seo Jun-Ho’s face with a handkerchief. “I-is that alright?”

“Yes, thank you.”

In an instant, the city’s knight commander had turned into a surgery assistant while Seo Jun-Ho continued the operation. 

***

“Uh…” Baron Vashti’s eyes fluttered open. As the ceiling came into view, he sat up. 

“M-milord. The priest said that you must still be careful…”

“I can’t.” 

Vashti stood up from the bed, stumbling over to his son’s bedroom. 

“Honey.” His wife, Helena, looked up at him. She was sitting on a chair next to the bed, holding their son’s hand tightly. 

“How is Simus?” he asked.

“He has gotten much better, thanks to the Player you brought here.”

“...Player?” Vashti’s eyes widened. What Player was she talking about? “Are you perhaps talking about Player Seo Jun-Ho?”

“That’s right. He said he finished the first round of Simus’s treatment.”

“Hah.” Vashti hadn’t brought Seo Jun-Ho here for that reason. He had simply been planning to reward him for his contributions. 

‘But I ended up being the one receiving the greatest gift of all…’ 

He watched as his cute little son let out light breaths. “Where is the man? I must thank him.”

“You mean Player Seo Jun-Ho? He returned to his world,” Helena said. 

“...You mean the place called Earth?”

“Yes.” Helena stroked Simus’s hair. “He said that our son isn’t completely cured yet and that he has only completed the first stage of treatment.”

“T-then how will he do the next one…?”

His wife shook her head. “He said that he can’t attempt it with his level of skill.”

“Haaa…” Baron Vashti let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose we must find another healer.”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

“...?”

Helena smiled softly when she saw his confused expression. “He said that he thinks that one of his friends can cure Simus’s disease…He left after saying that he’ll try to bring them over.”

“Hmmm. If that is the case, we owe him a great debt.” Vashti nodded. 

“Even if he doesn’t bring them over, we already owe him a lot.”

“...You’re right.”

Baron Vashti nodded quietly. He started to think about what he could do to repay the Player.