Jin-woo spat out some blood and took a quick glance at his stats: his mana, although enormous thanks to the Black Heart, was rapidly reducing as the army of the Sovereign continued destroying his Shadows.
He looked down at the defeated enemy, the Sovereign of Transfiguration, who was lying on the ground, wheezing and regurgitating blood.
Jin-woo's eyes flashed blue and he ignored the pain on his side as he bent down. "Tell me where the Dragon Emperor is hiding."
The defeated Sovereign smirked. "You don't have to worry, human who is not a human anymore. When the time is right, His Majesty will find you. And you'll regret what have you done." And with that, he exhaled his last breath.
"Tsk." Jin-woo clicked his tongue, frustrated.
[My liege, please, you have to rest now.]
Bellion begged him, hovering near him.
[You have defeated a Sovereign, my liege, but his army is still strong: it will be better to retreat for now and regroup]
Igris tried to reason, watching worriedly as the King swayed.
[Kkkkeeiiikkkk, my liege please let me heal you!]
Beru implored.
Jin-woo looked around and pressed a hand on his ribs, fearing some may be broken: he could see the reason in what his Marshals were saying and knew they were right. It was a true victory and there was no need to destroy completely the army at the cost of completely exhausting his mana. He recalled all the shadow soldiers but Igris, Bellion, Beru and Iron.
Bellion rushed to hold him as Jin-woo swayed again, his vision blurry.
"I can't let mom and Jin-ah see me like this." He muttered. There was only one place in which he would be safe and would be able to rest and heal.
"Exchange."
Cha Hae-in was laying down on the bed, reading a book she had started some time before: she was tired since she had spent the afternoon raiding a dungeon, but fortunately the day after would be her day off and she had planned of going to Song Chi-yul's dojo to train.
The young woman couldn't hold back a shriek as suddenly a large black form emerged from the shadows near the bed. "What-!"
Anxiety turned to worry when she saw it was Jin-woo supported by one of his summons, the one that had got out of the huge portal in Seoul some time before.
"Jin-woo!" she exclaimed, moving quickly closer to him and noticing all his wounds.
"I'm sorry." he apologized feebly. "I couldn't go home and scare mom and Jin-ah."
"You did the right thing." Hae-in affirmed, then to the Shadow holding him she ordered. "Put him on the bed."
Bellion obeyed and Jin-woo groaned in pain as he was laid down. Hae-in's mind went on overdrive, but she took a deep breath to calm down and went down to business, eyes narrowed and focused.
She quickly assessed his wounds and it seemed none was mortal: bringing him to a hospital would cause a lot of chaos and questions at which, she was sure, Jin-woo didn't want to answer. "You can heal him, right?" She asked the shadow ant, who was hovering nearby, obviously anxious.
Beru nodded and started to do that.
Hae-in went to the kitchen and took some painkillers and a glass of water. She walked back and sat down on the bed, near his head: she looked at the three shadows soldiers standing close, unwilling to leave their liege, and she tried to recall the name of the swordsman. "Igris, isn't it? Can you please help me?"
Igris nodded and immediately went on the other side of the bed, helping Hae-in in raising up Jin-woo's head and torso. "C'mon Jin-woo, I need you to take these pills."
He was borderline unconscious, but could hear her and gulped down the painkillers with her assistance. Hae-in and Igris laid him back down and let Beru continuing with the healing.
As she waited for the shadow ant to finish, Hae-in stroked Jin-woo's bangs and caressed his face, hoping to bring him some comfort in his now unconscious condition. The young woman could admit to herself that she was shaken up: Jin-woo was always strong and confident and seeing him so weak was disturbing. Memories of the double dungeon came up and she shuddered.
"Get well soon." she whispered, kissing his forehead.
[My lady]
Hae-in was startled by the strange, acute voice calling her: she raised her head and saw the shadow ant watching her.
[My lady, the liege is now cured. What should we do now?]
The young woman gaped, because it was the first time a summon had talked to her: to be honest, she hadn't even been sure they could talk to her. And calling her "my lady"... that was surprising.
She shook herself and concentrated on the matter at hand.
"First of all, we need to wash him: I know Beru and Igris, but you two are?"
[I'm his Majesty's First Marshall, Bellion. This is Iron, my lady.]
Hae-in decided to ignore the oddity of being called "lady" and of Jin-woo being treated like a king. "Ok then, please Iron, can you bring Jin-woo to the bathroom? We'll put him into the bathtub." The large shadow nodded and took his unconscious master in his arms.
Hae-in preceded him and opened the hot water's faucet.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, just as Iron was lowering Jin-woo in the bathtub. "We need to take his clothes off first."
Not without difficulties and with Bellion's assistance, she was able to undress the young man and Iron put him gently in the bathtub, now full of warm water. She slapped her hands against her reddening cheeks and was grateful that she was somehow used to see Jin-woo naked.
Hae-in took a sponge and started to clean him carefully: all his wounds were now closed, but she wanted to be sure not to hurt him.
After he was clean, Hae-in dried him off with a towel, helped by Bellion and Iron: then, she walked back to the bedroom, where she took out some clothes Jin-woo had left behind, and still with the shadows' aid she was able to dress him up.
Laying down on the bed, Jin-woo seemed to be sleeping deeply and peacefully. Hae-in once again kissed his forehead and went out the bedroom, closing the door after her: turning around, she found herself in front of the four shadow soldiers, all looking quite anxious.
"He will be okay, he just needs to rest." the young woman smiled, trying to reassure them. From what the shadow of Healer Min Byung-gyu had said when he was saving her on Jeju Island, it was normal for the summons to feel such a deep loyalty for Jin-woo: still, she found unbelievably cute how they wanted to be sure their master was safe.
Since it was unlikely that they were going to disappear soon, Hae-in grinned and asked: "Who wants to watch some TV?"
Jin-woo woke up feeling completely fine. He blinked and looked around the room: he immediately recognized Hae-in's room and remembered what had happened.
The Shadow Sovereign checked his torso and felt nothing wrong: he had been completely healed by his buffs and probably also Beru's abilities.
The room was dark as was the sky outside the windows, so he deduced it was night: with his great sense of hearing, he could hear indistinct sounds from outside the room.
Jin-woo walked out and stopped just outside the living room, stunned by the sight before him.
[Kkkkkiekkkk, my lady, but surely those black riders will capture the small men?]
"Beru, you must remember that they are the enemy, we don't want them to get the hobbits."
[Lady Hae-in, I don't get what kind of sorcerer is that white-haired man, he doesn't look that strong.]
Hae-in grabbed a handful of popcorns from the bowl in Igris's hands and wagged a finger at Bellion. "You should know that looks don't matter when it comes to strenght."
The Marshal lowered his head in agreement. [That is true, my lady.]
[My lady, but who is this "Lord of the Rings" of the title?] It was Igris, this time, who interrupted the vision of the movie.
"Didn't you see in the beginning? That's Sauron, the Dark Lord."
[Kkkkkkiiiieekk, is he like our liege?]
"Not at all!" Hae-in protested. "He's an evil guy."
After the first moments of surprise, Jin-woo shook his head in amusement and leaned back against the doorjamb, watching his girlfriend sitting down on the couch with his summons – well with Bellion and Igris, since Beru and Iron were sitting on the floor before them – and interacting with them. It was such a domestic scene that he could literally imagine a future like that.
But to have a future like that, he had to destroy the Dragon Emperor.
[My lady, the food is gone.] Iron whined, showing her his empty bowl.
Hae-in shook her head smiling and took it, standing up: "I'll open another bag, but after that I don't have anymore."
Iron watched her like she had pulled the moon down from the sky and gifted it to him.
Hae-in turned to go to the kitchen and gasped when she saw Jin-woo standing there, grinning widely. "Jin-woo!"
All the Shadows sprang up on their feet.
[My liege!]
[Kkkkkiiiekkkk, my liege you're awake!]
[It's a pleasure to see you awake, my liege.]
[We're glad you're fine, liege!]
Jin-woo smiled sheepishly and calmed them down. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I probably have to thank you all." he grasped Hae-in's hand. "I hope I wasn't too much of a hassle. Them too." He nodded towards his soldiers.
Hae-in shook her head. "Of course not. And they've been lovely." she smiled sweetly at the shadows, who seemed to blush.
"Ok then. I think you all can go and rest."
[Thank you, my liege.] Bellion bowed, just as Jin-woo cancelled the summons and the soldiers went back into his shadow.
"How are you feeling?" Hae-in asked, a bit worried.
"Perfectly fine." Jin-woo grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Sorry I arrived suddenly and sorry if I scared you."
She shook her head. "I was more worried than scared... The other time I've seen you like that was in the double dungeon." Remembering that episode always made her feel sad, because of the many lives lost to the Architect. Jin-woo's expression became somber too at the memory.
Wanting to change the subject, he said: "You seemed to have fun with my shadows."
"Oh." Hae-in's eyes widened. "I didn't even know I could talk to them! They've been quite useful and they were very polite. Is it normal that they call me 'lady'?"
Jin-woo rubbed his chin: now that he thought about it, his summons had started calling Hae-in "lady" just after they began dating, so it probably was just a way to define her role in his life.
"Well, I'm their master and you're my girlfriend, so you are in fact their lady."
Hae-in wasn't at ease with being considered some kind of "lady/mistress", but there was nothing she could do about it.
"Do you want to eat something?" Hae-in asked Jin-woo. "I can prepare something quickly." He was indeed a bit hungry, so he accepted gladly.
The shadow soldiers watched the couple moving into the kitchen from their hiding place in Jin-woo's shadow: that night had definitely proven that lady Cha Hae-in was a good match for their liege and she also had been courteous to the Marshals.
They all exchanged thumbs up and Bellion nodded in approval.
To be continued..
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