Yoni's wounds strongly stank of blood, which was apparently mixed with the raider's blood.

Kanghyok couldn't examine the wounds closely.

‘Let me wipe the blood first.'

He opened the bag quickly and took out a sap, so he could soak a gauze in it.

“Uh….”

She wriggled her body, groaning with pain as water permeated into the wounds on her thighs.

Blood was coming out from her thighs whenever she moved.

“Endure it for a moment. Let me wash your face first.”

Kanghyok wiped the crusted blood off her face, which helped reveal her face fully.

Round eyes, prominent nose, red lips and dark skin.

‘She is a beauty!'

As expected, Kanghyok was carried away by her beautiful face for a moment.

‘What are you looking at, master?”

“Oh, I was rubbing the blood that crusted off your face.”

He quickly showed her the gauze stained with blood.

“What happened to that raider?” she asked, picking up the sword on the gra.s.sy ground.

“No worries. You killed that radier wearing a helmet before we came here. Some other raiders tried to chase us, but they gave up,” Kanghyok said comfortably.

She noticed a bit of bleeding from his face that came about by being scratched here and there by twigs.

With her eyes widening with surprise, she approached him.

“Were you hurt, master?”

“Oh, this? It's not a big deal. Just scratched by twigs while we were running here.”

“You've got blood on your face.”

“Don't worry about me. Actually, I see more bleeding from your thighs. Lie down.”

“Really? Ouch…”

Only then did she feel the pain in her thighs.

She looked down at her pants stained with red blood.

Even Kanghyok's overcoat, where she lied upon as she was carried up to this place, was bloodstained.

“Sorry, master…”

“Nope, it's not your fault. I've survived thanks to you,” said Kanghyok sincerely.

He might have perished without her protection.

“Master, you've saved me, too.”

“Huh?”

“That stone…”

“Oh, that stone.”

Come to think of it, he owed his life to Preceptor Samyong.

‘What the heck was that stone?'

The s.h.i.+ny stone Kanghyok used to hit straight the raider's neck was now nothing more than an ordinary stone once it served its purpose.

If Kanghyuk had come to his senses a bit earlier, he could have retrieved it in the battlefield.

But he was too busy with carrying her on his back to escape from there.

‘How fortunate that we have survived like this!'

When he thought of what happened last night, it was indeed a miraculous situation.

He survived from the first war that he had ever experienced in his entire life.

“When did you learn to throw stones accurately?” asked Yoni.

“Throwing stones? By sheer luck. Let me examine your wounds first.”

“What?”

She stopped nodding and looked at him curiously, fo Kanghyok was now about to check her thighs.

“I'm a doctor, so don't worry.”

“I know that, but…”

“You'll be in big trouble if I don't treat you now. Haven't you seen Yoju's case?”

She could have died because of that small needle stuck on her sores.

Or she could have had one of her legs amputated.

Yoni's condition, whose thighs were injured by the j.a.panese raider, was more serious.

“Got it, master.”

“Good. You are fine in the other parts of your body.”

Nodding his head, he checked over her face and upper body.

Though he saw some blood clots here and there, she looked pretty good.

“Let me unwrap the bandage.”

“Yes, master.”

He began to unwrap the bandage tightly bound around her thighs.

Though he bound them up a while ago, there was still some bleeding. Apparently, the cut was really deep.

‘That b.a.s.t.a.r.d… He was a nimble guy with his sword.'

In Kanghyok's eyes, Yoni was also a fine fighter.

She beheaded as many as ten j.a.panese raiders.

“How does it look, master?”

“Hmm? I think I need to wash the wounds first.”

“Wash them?”

“Yes. Didn't you see that raider? He beheaded several soldiers on our side.”

Yoni clearly remembered the s.h.i.+ny sword held by that raider, which was stained with blood.

That meant her wounds might have been infected.

“While I am wiping the wounds with water, just drink this.”

“Yes, master.”

“As it is saline solution, it will taste strange. It's okay, though.”

“Oh, I see…”

She swallowed an antibiotic pill and anti-inflammatory drugs he gave her.

She formed a big frown while swallowing.

“Now, you will feel very icy on your wounds.”

“Yes, master. Uh….”

“Let me see… Hmmm…”

Kanghyok began to clean her legs with the saline solution. Her pain was inevitable as he had to wipe the inside of her wounds with the saline solution. She kept groaning with pain.

“I need to know how deep the cut is.”

“Yeah, master. I'm fine.”

“Fortunately, your muscles and blood vessels look good. Can you move your knees up or down?”

“Yeah, it hurts, but I can.”

“Great. Only your skin was cut through.”

The reason she got lots of bleeding was because of the cut into the blood vessels hidden in the fatty thighs.

It was an easy job to st.i.tch the blood vessels together.

“Let me give you an injection of anesthetic.”

“Yes, master.”

He then gave her a shot around the wounds.

“Tell me when you feel pain.”

“Yes.”

Kanghyok felt he was not that kind to patients back in modern Korea.

‘I think I'm being weird.'

Whenever he treated Yoni and Yoju, he was unusually kind.

He found himself doing his best to lessen their pain while treating their wounds.

“Master!”

“Yes?”

“It hurts a bit.”

“Really? Don't worry.”

Kanghyok then gave her another injection of anesthetic instantly and asked, “How about now?”

“I feel better now.”

“Sure, just tell me like how you did when it hurts.”

“Yes, master.”

“Let me stop the bleeding first.”

Kanghyok poked the bleeding parts here and there with the tweezers.

As the blood vessel there was very thin, it had no particular name.

But nonetheless, Kanghyuk skillfully took care of it.

He used black threads to bind the blood vessel shut.

“Good. Bleeding stopped. It doesn't hurt, right?”

“Yes, master.”

“Let me st.i.tch it together now. You saw this many times, right?”

“Yes, and I did it by myself.”

“Right. You were quite good at it.”

“Really?” she said with a slight smile.

Nodding his head, Kanghyok answered, “Yes, you're the best of those whom I taught.”

“Thanks for your appreciation, master.”

“You deserve my praise. You know I'm not lying, right?”

“Of course, I know that.”

That's true. Kanghyuk was a man of integrity.

“I'm almost done.”

While talking with her, Kanghyok kept moving his fingers for the blood vessel suture.

She asked with a curious look, “How come you do it so fast?”

“Well, I have done it a thousand times so far.”

“A thousand times… You're really great, master.”

“I think you're great.”

“What?”

“How many raiders did you behead last night?”

“Oh….”

Only then could she recall what happened last night.

She naturally looked over toward the forest, where there was smoke going up in the distance.

“I wonder whether my friends are okay.”

Kanghyok also looked outside.

Come to think of it, he could not figure out whether Dolsok, Makbong and Yoju were still alive or not.

Maybe the mayor and General s.h.i.+n had died in the fighting last night.

“I have no idea, to be honest with you,” Kanghyok answered with a worried look.

“I guess they'll be safe because of Makbong…”

“Is he a good fighter?”

“Yes, he is as good as me.”

“Shall we go back to the village?”

“No, master. You might get in trouble.”

“Where shall we go then?”

They could not stay there for long as there was no food nor drink.

Though there was some saline solution left, it was not for drinking.

With a frown on her face, she hopped on a rock.

It looked like she could move her legs more easily now.

“Be careful. The st.i.tched wounds might get opened up.”

“Yes, master.”

“Do you see anything?”

“I've been here before. Hmm… I think we can find a village if we move in this direction. Let's go.”

“You mean over there?”

“Yes.”