Savage Forest - Chapter 144.1

Tarhan’s hand firmly gripped Enya. They quickly followed Jahan toward the gathering of people.

“Who found it?”

“It was the lumber team, near the edge of the Cavalligo swamp.”

Someone answered quickly. Enya looked up to see who had responded. It was Fiarca.

She was looking at a body wrapped in cloth, gesturing toward Enya. Leroi was standing steadfastly beside her.

The two of them had recently made their relationship official, and Enya had observed that they were almost always together.

Fiarca, who had been indifferent to men, had shocked many by pairing up with Leroi, who was younger than her. However, the two seemed remarkably at ease with their relationship.

“Alright, alright. Everyone calm down. It was bound to be found eventually. The timing is just a bit early.”

Piache reassured the group.

She had quickly gained considerable respect in Nervana due to her knowledge of medicine.

Piache was much like Kiyan, who had led the forest. Piache had secretly healed the sick in Aquilea. They had become close, and when Kiyan showed her respect for Piache, the other Nervanans also treated her with great courtesy.

There was, however, a blind spot with Reyhald.

Piache, who had adopted Ihita like her own granddaughter, still treated Reyhald, who had taken Ihita from her, like a thief. Reyhald, in turn, responded by treating Piache like an old hag, and the two often bickered.

Despite this, most of the Nervanans referred to Piache as “teacher” and held her in high regard.

As Enya and Tarhan approached, they noticed the people clearing the path for them. Slowly, they looked down at Servia’s body.

Behind them, Leroi and Fiarca hurriedly dismissed people from the area.

“…Is it definitely Servia?”

Enya asked Kiyan, keeping her gaze fixed on the cloth covering the body.

Yaru, who was standing next to Kiyan, answered with her arms crossed.

“Yes, it’s that woman. It’s hard to recognize her because her hair has turned completely white, but…”

Enya looked at the head of the body as Yaru had mentioned and was momentarily startled.

As Yaru had said, the hair on the corpse had turned completely white.

‘Her once-proud black hair is now completely pale…’

It was clear that Servia had suffered emotionally when she left.

Enya thought bitterly.

‘But that doesn’t mean the things she and her family did to the people of the leprosy den, including Senu and the suffering ones of Aquilea, can be forgiven… However…’

She felt a little uneasy. Enya found herself staring down at Servia’s body, unable to fully describe the feelings she was experiencing.

At that moment, someone shouted at them from a distance.

Jahan quickly tugged at Enya’s sleeve.

“En, Enya… There’s another one. This time, I think it’s Haron’s body.”

Just as Jahan said, the search party was returning with another heavy sack.

“After discovering Servia’s body, I formed a separate search team to investigate the area near the Cavalligo Forest, just to be sure.”

Kiyan explained as she sat on a rock, leaning on her cane.

“It seems like they found the body of someone named Haron during that search.”

Enya, Piache, and Jahan’s gazes all turned to one person.

Tarhan had been standing silently behind Enya, with no change in his expression.

Despite the Nervana people being fairly familiar with the situations of those from Aquilea, few in the group knew the details of Tarhan’s childhood or the land of Kartantina.

Tarhan’s motionless eyes flickered as he looked at Haron’s body being brought in. He remained silent until the search party placed the body on the ground.

‘Tarhan…’

Unconsciously, Enya slipped her fingers into the palm of his hand. Tarhan slowly, yet firmly, gripped her hand.

“There are still many bodies that haven’t been found, but we’ve decided not to continue the search.”

“Wait, then the red-haired Perugia woman and the army she led… you still haven’t found them?”

Yaru asked Kiyan out loud. Considering Yaru’s experience fighting with Avisak, her anger was understandable.

Piache frowned slightly and replied seriously.

“They’ve probably become prey, like Gernan, in the Cavalligo swamp, or were swept away by the floods long ago.”

Inaken, who stood nearby, also added some thoughts.

“We don’t know what’s below, but the lower areas are still flooded with no place to stand. They couldn’t have survived down there.”

Enya nodded quietly in realization.

‘I see. They haven’t even found Avisak’s yet.’

Kiyan’s sharp gaze swept over the group as he spoke to everyone.

“I think it’s more urgent to focus on rebuilding Nervana than to waste resources and time searching for more enemy bodies. This was just a temporary search team formed after unexpectedly finding Servia’s body.”