Before he could force it back out, Klen quickly closed the mouth and pressed firmly on the jaw.
“Uuuugh. Aaaaagh!”
A reaction appeared immediately from Heinz, who was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Klen let go of him and pulled me back with him.
“Ugh. Krrr…… Aaaaagh, Graaaagh!”
Heinz screamed in pain as if what had entered his mouth was piercing his insides.
The medicine didn’t fall out of his wide-open mouth.
It seemed to have already melted on his tongue.
He struggled with great difficulty with a body that still couldn’t move properly.
Based on the reaction alone, it wouldn’t be strange if he transformed into something.
Dry saliva went down my throat with a gulp.
“……Are you sure it’s just medicine?”
“It is a nutritional supplement.”
“A supplement?”
Klen continued, lightly shaking the bottle.
“It is a nutritional supplement that is truly good for the body, but it seems he finds it too bitter.”
“You’re saying he’s acting like that because it’s bitter?”
An evaluation of “bitter” that wasn’t even attached to other medicines.
The world’s bitterest medicine that I had imagined a few hours ago had appeared before my eyes.
“Aaaaagh! Ugh, damn it. They didn’t…… dispose of it all?”
So that’s why Heinz recognized it at a glance.
Klen then approached Heather, showing the medicine so she could see it.
Her face, as she watched Heinz rolling on the ground, was already pale white.
If it were poison, she would at least lose consciousness.
Because what was fed was a supplement, the body actually became healthier, and only the sense of taste and the mind suffered.
“If you give us information, I won’t go out of my way to feed you this.”
It meant there were plenty of other medicines.
Among the healer’s medicines, there were some with improved taste.
One could see similar effects through much better methods.
And they, who had lived together in the castle, would know that fact well.
Because she had personally witnessed how cold Klen could be, she trembled even more as if terrified.
“It seems…… it is torture, after all.”
For someone who had dropped from the sky shrouded in all sorts of fierce energy, the method he named “torture” was incredibly peaceful.
Who in the world personally feeds nutritional supplements to kidnappers?
When I let out a faint laugh at the sight, Klen glanced over here.
“If you step away for a moment, I will try another method.”
“What other method?”
“Well. First, the skin…….”
“No, no. I think this way is better.”
Just the word “skin” made my skin crawl.
It was hard to imagine the man in front of me using the method that had just popped into his head.
But he was also the type of person who would do it without a second thought if I told him to.
“Of course, if they get used to this taste, I plan to experiment with something else. I was told there is an improved version.”
“…….”
“Hieek!”
A small scream escaped Heather’s throat.
Because “improved” certainly wouldn’t mean it had become easier to swallow.
It is said that good medicine is bitter to the tongue.
These supplements felt as if that bitterness had been condensed and heightened to the absolute limit before being poured into their mouths.
Heather, surprisingly, held out well.
Watching her grit her teeth and endure, one might have mistaken the scene for us feeding them actual poison.
Even though we were providing high-quality nutritional supplements that were honestly too good for them, the atmosphere felt like a site of gruesome torture.
“Ugh, urgh.”
“They’re holding out well. Klen, I think it’s time to use that.”
“Is it finally time to take it out? I was curious to see how they would react.”
It was just as Klen’s hand reached into his pouch.
“W-wait! Stop!”
Heather finally threw up her hands.
Unlike her exhausted face, which looked as though all her energy had been drained, her body was already completely healed.
When the wounds on her limbs where the ice had pierced disappeared without even a scar, Klen shot her a dissatisfied look.
In contrast to Heather, who was at least sitting upright, Heinz was slumped on the ground.
Having been fed the medicine several times, his face was a mess of tears and snot.
He, too, had been healed of his burns and the wounds from Levatein, leaving not even a faint trace behind.
“Sniff…….”
Sniffling, he suddenly jerked his head up and locked eyes with me.
‘Keep your mouth shut.’
Heinz moved his lips silently so only I could see.
I hadn’t even said anything yet—I had just barely opened my mouth. I had to suppress a laugh so hard my lips trembled.
As expected, I wasn’t the one who would end up crying.
‘You should be glad I’m in a good mood.’
If I hadn’t been feeling pleasant, he wouldn’t be standing there in one piece right now.
I would have shoved the yet-to-be-revealed “improved” supplement into his mouth or dueled him myself.
Or perhaps Klen, sensing something was off, would have stepped in.
Either way, he wouldn’t have been able to stand there unharmed.
Heinz was busy wiping away his lingering tears.
“Ahem! Hmmm.”
Since it was difficult to hold it in completely, I let out a small cough to hide a bit of laughter.
Then, I sat down next to Klen.
Heather sat across from us, and Heinz slowly picked himself up to move beside her.
Even though they weren’t bound by ice or rope, the two were remarkably well-behaved.
Under the dark sky, only the faint moonlight illuminated the area.
It was an environment where they could have tried to escape if they really wanted to.
However, neither of them showed any sign of attempting to flee.
They likely judged that escape was impossible.
And they knew exactly what kind of “torture” awaited them if they were caught.
After all, they hadn’t tasted the next medicine yet.
“Sigh.”
Heather let out a long breath first.
“As you’ve likely guessed, we… well, we’re members of a guild that people curse at, saying we’ll do anything for money. I won’t explicitly name the client with my own mouth.”
“…….”
Then, as if giving up on everything, she began to pour out information.
She didn’t mention the exact name of the guild.
Or perhaps “the guild that people curse at for doing anything for money” was the name itself.
While she didn’t say the client’s name directly, she made it incredibly obvious that it was Rodney.
“And following the client’s orders, we planned to kidnap Adrian Valuncio to buy time.”
Heinz, sitting next to her, brushed his hair back roughly and added, “Did he specify me?”
“……Not really. You were just chosen because you were weak but had high value as a hostage. Anyone would have tried to kidnap you first.”
“And we didn’t know that would be our fatal mistake.”
They smacked their lips bitterly.
But soon, the lingering taste of the medicine seemed to resurface, and they quickly covered their mouths with pale faces.
So, in the end, I was kidnapped because the most ideal prey for blackmailing had been wandering around alone?
No. It couldn’t have been that simple.
