“Ughhh!”

  “Oh, come on, it’s done already. What kind of man are you? I’ve seen women take pain better than this.”

  ‘At least she could have sealed my vital pressure points first!’

  The bandit grumbled inwardly, but couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.

  The girl hadn’t sealed his vital pressure points, that could have helped to make his injured hand numb but instead, she went straight to stitching his injury with needle and thread.

  ‘If I somehow survive this... I’ll make sure both of them die the most painful death imaginable.’

  The leader of this group of bandits might have been defeated by this boy, but he knew one thing for certain.

  When it came to the Cheif of the whole White Frost Bandits, this boy wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Which meant he had to escape, somehow, and report everything about this child.

  “Haa!”

  The girl exhaled, finally done.

  “There! Didn’t I tell you I was a physician? Look, proof.”

  Hearing this, Sharv stood up from his spot and examined the bandit’s hand. The wound had been neatly bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped, he said.

  “Alright, it seems you were telling the truth.”

  “I told you from the start, but you wouldn’t believe me.”

  “I don’t trust anyone, except myself.”

  The girl remained silent, but Sharv said to her.

  “Anyway, I have another job for you. There’s another wounded patient who needs the same kind of treatment. So, come with me.”

  ‘I knew it.’

  The girl’s suspicion was confirmed most likely, one of his allies was badly injured, and he had been looking for a physician for them.

  Sharv grabbed her wrist and began to lead her away.

  “Fine, but after we’re done with this, you’ll let me go. Got it?”

  “Fine.”

  She let out a small sigh of relief, but then her gaze drifted back to the bandit. Sharv also glanced at him.

  “Oh, I almost forgot about him.”

  He began walking toward the bandit. The man immediately panicked.

  “W-Wait! Let me go alive! If I die, terrible things will happen to you, our cheif will hunt you down and kill you!”

  Step!

  But Sharv didn’t stop. He came right up to him.

  The bandit’s soul trembled, and even in the bitter cold, sweat began to pour down his face.

  Sharv leaned down and whispered into his ear.

  “Your purpose ends here. Now… just rest.”

  The only reason this bandit had been kept alive was so Sharv could confirm whether the girl was lying or telling the truth.

  Now that he had his answer, the man was of no further use.

  “No wait yo… ugh!”

  Sharv drove the sword into the man’s chest.

  “Cough! Cough! bastar...”

  Blood bubbled out of the bandit’s mouth, chest and moments later, he was dead.

  Sharv’s started his dead body with his emotionless eyes for some time, a faint curl was appearing from the corners of his lips, but he took a long breath, pushed away whatever he was feeling then said to the girl.

  “Let’s go.”

  The girl didn’t speak she simply nodded. She was still a little shaken by what he’d said, but part of her felt relief.

  Those bandits had tried to do unspeakable things to her, and now they were all dead. That thought filled her with a deep satisfaction, and a small, content smile spread across her face.

  ***

  ‘The...hell!’

  The girl was hiding her shy, embarrassed face. Because she was in Sharv's arms, holding onto his neck tightly.

  At this moment, she couldn’t do anything about it. She has to compromise. Her legs were injured by those bandits, so she couldn’t even walk properly.

  That’s why Sharv had pick her up in his arms and was quickly running up the mountain heights.

  Gulp!

  Feeling the steepness of the mountains, and seeing the speed at which Sharv was running, the girl felt a little scared.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Meanwhile, Sharv was completely calm. For him, climbing heights like these was nothing special.

  He lived in these mountains and climbed them every day, so he was well used to it by now.

  ‘…But just who is this boy?’

  The girl wondered, and after some time, unable to contain her growing curiosity, she finally asked,

  “Listen… who are you?”

  Sharv flatly replied,

  “...You don’t need to know.”

  “...”

  “...”

  An awkward silence settled between them. But then, the girl spoke again,

  “At least tell me your name.”

  “...”

  “Alright, if you don’t want to, then don’t. I’ll tell you mine, Varsha. I’m not as shy or scared as you are to say my own name.”

  After a small sigh, sharv opened his mouth.

  “...Sharv. That’s my name.”

  The girl no—Varsha thought for a moment and then said.

  “Shav…?”

  “Not Shav(1), Sharv, meaning Shiva.”

  “Ahh! I thought it meant something else.”

  He kept running for a while longer, but then his speed slowed down. They had reached their destination.

  “We’re here.”

  Saying that, he set Varsha down from his arms. She breathed a sigh of relief. Looking ahead, she saw a small house, made with wood.

  Sharv led Varsha inside.

  As soon as she entered, Varsha’s brows furrowed. There were bloodstains on the wooden walls, and bloody footprints scattered across the floor inside the house.

  When they went further in, she saw something unbelievable, a person whose clothes were drenched in blood, with a very deep cut on one arm. Even the muscles and bones were slightly visible from it.

  “This is…?”

  “This is my uncle’s so... I mean, my uncle's daughter, my cousin sister.”

  Sharv said this, then looked at her again and continued.

  “I’ve treated her minor wounds, and stopped the blood flowing outside. But this cut on her arm is very delicate. I want you to heal it.”

  Varsha looked at the cut it was extremely deep, much deeper than the bandits’ so much so that the bone was visible.

  She need to hurry.

  “Bring a clean cloth and some hot water.”

  Varsha said this, and Sharv went to another room to get the items. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now her eyes went to something else.

  Something kept in the corner.

  ‘!!!’

  When she looked closely, goosebumps rose on her skin, because it was a human corpse… without a head.

  ‘What in the world happened? Could it be… that boy...Sharv?’

  “That’s my uncle. His dead body.”

  Sharv said from behind her, handing her the clean cloth and hot water.

  “I know what you’re thinking, that I killed him. But I’m telling you—I didn’t. This isn’t the time for explanations. First, tend to my sister’s wound.”

  Sharv said this, and Varsha took a deep breath, glancing once more at the dead body.

  But right now, healing the girl’s wound was more important. So, she got to work. While treating that wound, she asked Sharv,

  “I know I shouldn’t interfere in your matters, but… still, I’m asking...how exactly did all this happen?...”

  “...”

  Sharv said nothing, just stayed silent and kept looking at his uncle’s dead body. When he didn’t say anything, Varsha also didn’t ask further and focused on her work.

  On the other side, Sharv started recalling the moment when he had seen it.

  Two days ago, he had been stuck in the mountains because that day there was a terrible snowstorm.

  That’s why it took him two extra days to return home. But when he came back home, what he saw struck him like a thunderbolt.

  His uncle’s dead body, without a head was lying inside the house. His uncle, the one he loved the most after his own mother, was dead.

  He tried to cry, but for some reason, no tears came out. Instead, a different kind of rage filled his emotionless eyes.

  At that moment, he made up his mind.

  “Whoever did this… I will give them the most painful death in the world.”

  Saying this in his heart, he was about to leave the house in search of his uncle’s killers when he heard a faint voice.

  “Huff! Huff!... H-hey?... Sharv?... Is it you?...”

  When he turned to look, he found his cousin sister. The one whose injuries were severe, the one he had thought was also dead, was still alive.

  He stopped in his tracks and quickly went to her. First, he tore prices of cloth and wrapped it on her injuries to stop the blood flowing,

  Sharv healed her smaller wounds and then asked,

  “Who did this?”

  His sister opened her eyes and said in a ragged voice,

  “It–It was a man… an old-looking one. Huff! Huff! H-he had a spear. With that, he killed my father… I tried to fought him...but I couldn't...”

  “...”

  “Huff! First, he attacked me, and then… Huff! I fainted. I don’t remember exactly, what happened after that… but…”

  “...”

  “Huff! W-when I opened my eyes…I-I saw father’s… Huff! Huff! headless body. My soul shivered, and I fainted again.”

  “...”

  “Huff! And after that, the next time my eyes opened… was when you came.”

  Hearing all this, his rage grew even more.

  Though his face remained completely calm, his eyes emotionless, he was buring from?the inside. Now, he only want one thing, and that is ‘reveng’.

  It was to save his sister that he was searching for a physician. And that’s when he came across Varsha.

  ***

  Time passed, the night faded, and a new morning arrived. Varsha’s treatment was also finished.

  With great care, she healed the wound with her knowledge and skills, stitched it up, and applied ointment and bandages over it.

  She had done everything she could; the rest depended on the girl on how long she would take to recover.

  “Is everything done properly?”

  Sharv asked. He had been watching Varsha the whole time, noticing how attentively she treated the wound.

  It was as if he was trying to remember every move that Varsha did to his brain. At first, it felt strange to her, but later… not so much.

  “Yes, everything’s done. I’ve done all I could. Now the rest is up to your sister…”

  “How long will it take for her to recover?”

  Varsha thought for a moment and said.

  “About three to four weeks. Or maybe even longer.”

  Sharv showed a hint of dissatisfaction and asked.

  “Isn’t there anything that can be done to make her recover faster?”

  Varsha thought for a moment and said,

  “No, there’s no other way. If you want to see her recover sooner, you’ll have to wa...”

  But then she stopped mid-sentence. Something had come to her mind. Sharv raised an eyebrow and asked,

  “What happened? Why did you stop?”

  “...Come to think of it, there is one way.”

  Sharv’s eyes lit up and he asked.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a type of herb found in these type of mountains… its name is Blue Rose herb...If a paste of it is made and applied to the wound, the healing process speeds up and the patient recovers much faster.”

  Hearing that Sharv mumbled.

  “Blue Rose herb…”

  Then Varsha added,

  “But…finding it is extremely difficult. It’s very rare. I’ve only seen it twice in my entire life… and that too, from a distance.”

  “...Is it really that rare?”

  “What else? Ask any physician and you’ll get the same answer.”

  Sharv thought for a while then looked at her sister's body and asked,

  “What does it look like?”

  “Eh?”

  Varsha blinked in surprise, she hadn’t expected this question.

  ‘Does he want to search for it himself?’

  Many physicians spend their whole lives and still fail to find it… and this boy wants to look for it?

  Is that even possible?

  Varsha waved her hand and tried to stop him.

  “...Look, forget it. Your sister is still weak. It’s better if you stay with her. As for finding that he...”

  “I don’t care. Just tell me what it looks like.”

  ‘Ahh! How stubborn is he!’

  Varsha thought and then quickly added.

  “Try to understand. You won’t be able to find it!”

  “What’s the harm in trying? Just tell me what it looks like.”

  “Ugh! Fine, I’ll tell you…”

  And finally, Varsha described it to him.

  “I’m going to search for it. Until then, look after my sister.”

  “Alright! Alright! I’ll also see how long it takes for you to come back empty-handed!”

  Varsha could have left, but she herself had injuries on her leg and back, and also she was exhausted too muck from that long journey.

  She really needs a good rest. So she agreed to stay and look after his sister.

  “And one more thing… if you do anything to her, then I’ll drag you out from even the depths of the underworld and kill you... Remember that.”

  Varsha said nothing, just nodded her head to his cold words.

  1. SHAV (??) -

  Sharv (????) is directly associated with Lord Shiva, and sometimes people uses that word for Lord Shiva too.