Chapter 48: White Ermine

Deer antler and berry juice go without saying—one is for treatment, the other for replenishing thirst and hunger.

Although berry juice isn’t cost-effective when there’s a water source, given Duoya’s current state, there’s no way she could eat roasted meat. So, she could only rely on berry juice to restore both her hunger and hydration.

Once all the wounds were tended to and she’d been fed everything she needed, Su You changed her into a set of clean clothes.

As mentioned before, when there aren’t suitable materials available, it’s better to consume precious medicinal items like deer antler directly rather than process them. So, this time, Su You did just that.

Just like with red grass, she boiled the deer antler into a liquid and fed it to her.

With the help of the deer antler, Duoya’s health shot up into the triple digits, and several of her negative status effects also entered an “accelerated recovery” state.

Although her health, which had been fluctuating up and down, didn’t keep rising after taking the deer antler, at least it stabilized at a relatively normal level.

In this situation, while she wouldn’t recover immediately, someone who would have needed to lie in bed for ten days, half a month, or even longer, could now recover in just a few days.

After finishing all this, Su You left some food in the room and then stepped outside.

……

After leaving the room, Su You saw the other three gathered together, and at some point, a wooden basin had appeared in front of them.

As Su You approached, she saw the three of them bathing the little creature that had been covered in blood.

Once the iron-smelling, bloody stains were washed away, the little thing returned to its original snowy white appearance. But since its fur was still damp and clinging to its body, it looked especially small and helpless, a wet little bundle.

“Miss Lord, is Duoya alright?” Apparently hearing footsteps, Dolly turned around just in time to see Su You walking toward them.

Seeing Su You, Dolly immediately forgot what she’d been doing and asked about Duoya’s condition.

Su You glanced at the still-shivering wet bundle, sat down beside Dolly, and, while wrapping the little creature in animal hide from a wooden box, replied, “The bleeding’s stopped, and I’ve done some basic treatment. She should be fine now, just needs some time to recover.”

Though she wasn’t a professional doctor, Su You could see the NPCs’ status panels… so after seeing Duoya enter a recovery state, she knew things would be alright.

In the end, it was Duoya who saved herself. If she hadn’t killed that deer and obtained the deer antler, Su You really wouldn’t have known how to save her. Duoya had so many negative status effects, and with limited resources, Su You was truly at a loss.

But there are no “ifs” in this world.

The three of them clearly didn’t doubt Su You’s words—maybe due to some setting, they simply assumed Su You had the ability to know how Duoya was doing.

Hearing that Duoya was out of danger, Dolly visibly relaxed, unclenching her tightly held hands.

“I wonder what she went through…” Dolly’s eyes dimmed as she spoke, but the gloom quickly faded. “But as long as she’s okay.”

Su You nodded without saying anything, focusing on the little creature in her hands.

Once wrapped in animal hide, the little thing stopped trembling… She’d thought it was scared, but now it seemed it had just been cold.

The temperature had dropped at night, and after its bath, it was soaking wet. A gust of wind had left it shivering.

But now, wrapped in hide and with Su You purposely placing it near the central fire, it quickly regained its energy.

“Is this… a white ermine?” Lake frowned, sounding a bit uncertain.

Because it had been covered in blood before, they couldn’t tell what it was. Even during the bath, its fur was all matted, so it was hard to identify. Only now, with its fur half-dry, could they barely make out its species.

“It should be a white ermine, but aren’t they supposed to live deep in the forest?” Lyle stared at it for a while, then confirmed its identity while raising a new question.

But the answer came quickly.

“Yeah, white ermines are only found deep in the forest… So she must have gone there, which is why she ended up like this.” Lake pursed his lips, not quite understanding why someone would do that.

But after all, it was someone else’s business. He might not understand, but he had no right to judge, so after saying that, he fell silent.

He wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand—Dolly didn’t either. She admitted the white ermine was cute and she liked it, but it wasn’t worth risking her life for… at least, Dolly herself would never do such a thing.

Of the four present, the only one who could understand why Duoya did it was Su You.

But even Su You’s reasoning wasn’t the real truth, due to missing information.

She knew Duoya’s father had given her a white ermine as a coming-of-age gift, so Su You naturally assumed this was that gift.

If that were the case, she could understand why Duoya would risk venturing deep into the forest—her ermine must have run off, and she went after it.

But that wasn’t the truth.

That coming-of-age gift was already gone; this white ermine was just a stranger that Duoya had saved out of compassion.

……

Because of this episode with Duoya, everyone’s mood was a bit subdued.

Although they weren’t close enough to be deeply concerned about a stranger, they also didn’t harbor any ill will that would make them wish harm on her. So seeing someone so badly hurt naturally made them uncomfortable.

By the central fire, the four of them sat in a circle, silently warming themselves. Unlike the others, Su You was only pretending to be silent.

On the surface, she looked lost in thought, but in reality, she was browsing Dolly’s information.

Now that the residential house was built, Su You had already approved Dolly’s application to join the territory, so she could finally see Dolly’s full information and backstory."

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