"Since your leg hurts, let's rest for a while."
Shade agreed to the request from the girl behind him, then called out ahead:
"Jeanette, go back to the carriage first. We'll catch up soon. I remember there's a spare medical kit in the carriage, so find it first."
Vanessa's figure gradually disappeared into the distance, while Shade carried the red-haired girl to a tree beside the path. After clearing away the snow on the ground, he had her sit temporarily on his coat.
Seeing how fierce the wind and snow were, Shade suggested:
"I'll gather some branches and start a fire. I have matches."
"Don't go, okay? I'm scared. It'll be dark soon, and there might be beasts here."
The red-haired girl showed a frightened expression.
"But if we don't have a fire, we'll freeze to death just sitting here for a while."
"Then could you check my foot first? It really hurts."
She laboriously moved her right leg. Vanessa had already removed the shoe from her right foot, but her ankle was too swollen for it to be put back on. To keep the extremity from freezing and becoming necrotic, Vanessa had wrapped the girl's spare coat from her backpack around her sock.
At that moment, she extended that foot toward Shade and sat there with her head raised, looking at him as he stood before her.
"She" laughed by Shade's ear. Amid the soft rustling of falling snow, that voice sounded exceptionally pleasant.
Shade shook his head.
"Sorry, I don't really know how to treat fractures. But in your current condition, it's best not to move around carelessly. Let's maintain things as they are for now. I'll gather firewood nearby. Compared to a fracture, what we should really be worried about right now is hypothermia."
The girl did