While North spent the remainder of the night attentively, time passed slowly and the sky began to lighten.
Realizing that the sky was beginning to lighten as he looked around, he couldn't help but yawned.
'I had to spend the night without sleep. I hope I can return home today.'
...
Meanwhile, the eyelashes of the Pointy-eared woman in the hollow of the tree trunk just across moved slightly, as if she might wake up soon.
A short time later, her eyelids opened heavily.
She, who didn't react at all when she opened her eyes, fully regained consciousness a few breaths later.
While blinking her eyes tensely, she tried to feel and understand her surroundings.
'Where am I?'
She moved her heavy-feeling body slightly, albeit with effort.
When she felt around and realized she was in a narrow space, she thought, 'What happened? How did I get here?'
Despite a slight headache setting in as she tried to remember what happened, she continued to think.
'I think I passed out from exhaustion after killing the single-horned deer.'
'But I was supposed to be food for other predators. I thought my end had come. How did I end up here?'
In the tree hollow, she tried to understand what was happening with a questioning expression on her face.
...
While she was thinking about these, on the other side, North, upon seeing that the surroundings had illuminated enough, decided to take the items and slowly climb down from the tree.
When he climbed down from the tree, he carefully looked around and walked towards the tree hollow fifteen to twenty steps away.
'It's been almost a day since she fainted.'
'I hope she wakes up soon so that I can leave her alone and return home.'
While thinking about these things on one hand, on the other hand, he feared the idea of coming face to face with her who was clearly stronger than him.
'I knew this would happen as soon as I brought her with me. I would have to wait for her to wake up in any case.'
'Ahhh... Anyway!'
Arriving at the entrance of the tree hollow, he took a deep breath and grabbed the lid that he had tightly closed the previous night, and pulled it.
As she furrowed her brows and blinked her eyes in response to the sudden light, North, despite anticipating this moment, didn't know what to do and became frozen.
She had woken up.
At that moment, the most important thing for him was the reaction that the woman from a different race would have to this situation.
If she behaved hostilely, all he could do was hope to be able to escape.
He tried to conceal his tension and looked at her with a cold expression on his face.
Actually, while sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her hands brought up to her face as if to shield herself from the sudden light, she presented a quite sweet and funny appearance.
But he didn't have time to think about this.
Meanwhile, blinking her eyes, she looked at the person outside and tensed slightly.
However, she responded to the situation quite calmly despite her tension.
Even though she couldn't make out the face of the person outside due to the light, considering the situation she was in, it was clear that this person wasn't ill-intentioned.
While she remained cautious towards someone she still didn't know, she gradually regained her normal vision.
Now able to make out North's face, she looked at the rather young person with cold and deep black eyes in front of her.
Unaware, she swallowed and felt greatly affected by the eyes of this person when she looked at him.
Although this person's eyes appeared cold and expressionless, they gave off a strange sensation that she couldn't help but look at.
Like a sea that seemed ready to swell at any moment, there was something in those black, calm yet cold eyes.
Unconsciously, she continued to look at him without even blinking for a while.
Becoming increasingly tense in this situation, North thought that she was reacting this way because she realized he was human.
'I wonder what the forest people think about us. Hopefully, she won't attack me just because I'm human.'
He wasn't aware, but in fact, she hadn't even seen his ears because she was looking into his eyes.
As she continued to look at him, he decided to break the silence by saying something.
While he was thinking, 'Let's see what reaction she will give,' he mentally prepared himself to escape if she reacted hostilely.
He raised his hand towards her as if to greet her.
"H-Hello...!"
Surprised by the situation, she suddenly opened her eyes wide in reaction but continued to look at him without making a sound, while blinking.
When he saw that she continued to look at him without making a sound, even though she was surprised, he sighed and thought, 'whatever.'
'I think she won't attack me.'
Thinking that she could now take care of herself, he slowly bent down and put down her belongings on the ground.
When he straightened up again and looked at her, he saw that she was still watching him.
'this situation is starting to get strange.'
"Now that you're okay, I'm leaving."
After saying this, he turned and began to walk toward the direction of the forest's exit at a moderate pace.
The woman who caused this strange situation suddenly snapped out of it when he said he was leaving.
Despite trying to exit the narrow tree hollow due to the pain in her body, she couldn't get out.
Fearing that he was getting too far away to hear, she shouted from behind, 'HEYYYY... WAIT!'
While he had moved about ten steps away, North heard her speaking in a language he didn't understand.
He turned and looked towards the tree, realizing that she was trying to get out but was stuck.
'Ahhhh!.. Why are all these strange things happening to me?' he thought to himself.
He went to the tree to help her get out.
"I will help you get out."
When she heard this, she slightly furrowed her brows in pain and looked at him, saying, "thank you."
However, he still didn't understand this.
"I didn't understand what you said."
She, finally seeing his ears as he faced her, became tense and couldn't help but think, 'he's a human!'
Although this person was likely the one who had saved her, trusting a human didn't seem logical to her.
But she thought she couldn't get out of the tree for a long time without this human's help, so she decided to speak again.
"Can you help me get out of here? I'm stuck."
He was surprised when he heard the woman speaking in a human language with a strange accent, and he responded, "of course."
Upon hearing this, she extended both of her hands outward from the tree hollow, signaling for him to hold them.
However, instead of holding her hands, he tried to hug her by putting his arms into the tree hollow.
She reacted reflexively to this, and both of them tensed up suddenly.
He understood that this gesture didn't please her.
"I placed you in the tree hollow thinking this would be the most comfortable position for you."
"I placed you by carrying you in my arms. Let me take you out the same way. It will be easier this way."
Upon hearing this, she thought, 'Wait... did this young man hug me?'
Even though her face took a cold expression, there was nothing she could do.
Although North was unaware of this, even the simplest physical contact with any male was a serious matter for females of the forest people.
After all, they didn't cover their bodies without reason, leaving only their eyes and the tips of their ears visible.
If she knew that North had carried her here by grasping her hips to prevent her from falling while he carried her on his shoulders from the clearing, who knows what she would have done to him.
Although she might have reacted coldly to this situation, ultimately she didn't mind it because she knew he had done it to help her.
"Okay, do it that way."
He put his arms in the tree hollow and took her into his arms gently.
Embracing her like a princess, he slowly took her out of the tree hollow, starting from her legs.
After passing her head through the opening of the tree hollow without hitting anywhere, he lowered her gently to the ground.
She tried to straighten her body without showing signs of struggle, but due to the pain, she couldn't stand up properly.
Just as she was about to fall, he grabbed her by the right shoulder and positioned her other shoulder against his chest.
He asked her, holding her in his arm, "will you be able to walk?"
When she turned her face to look at him, she met eyes with him.
His face was so close that she could feel his breath on her face.
Although her face was covered and not visible, she blushed slightly and reflexively pushed him away all of a sudden.
Realizing that she was uncomfortable again, he released the hand holding her shoulder.
Meanwhile, she suddenly lost her balance and fell onto her buttocks without being able to recover.
"AHHH..!!!"
When she got a little bit hurt, her face changed from a cold expression to an angry one.
But with her face covered, there was no way for North, looking at her, to see this.
Only he saw that her eyebrows were furrowed.
"Are you okay?"
He extended his hand to her, as she had fallen onto her buttocks and was frowning at him.