"Griffith."
Nidhogg walked over. Regardless, this time he needed to greet Griffith, so he sat down beside him.
Griffith did not respond. He simply gazed at Nidhogg silently with those eyes that had once belonged to an eagle, and gave a slight nod.
Nidhogg could smell a strong medicinal scent emanating from Griffith's body. The bandages wrapped around his now-thin frame, and his ribs protruded like chains around him.
The house fell silent. The atmosphere became somewhat oppressive.
"Griffith has lost his tongue."
Guts stood up and explained. He was the only one suited to stand and say such a thing at this moment.
"The torturer in the dungeon was a beast. Though I killed him, I wish I could kill him a thousand times over!"
Griffith's torture wasn't limited to having his tongue removed. Nearly all the skin had been flayed from his body. Not a single intact spot remained—all thanks to that torturer.
Initially, Griffith had only been whipped. The King of Midland had personally whipped him.
And Griffith never bowed his head or begged for mercy. He even directly mocked the King for his incestuous desires toward his own daughter, right in front of him.
The King of Midland was publicly humiliated.
Furthermore, Griffith had taken Charlotte's body. When the King tried to do the same, Charlotte had pushed him away in terror and then refused to come near him, enraging him further.
Therefore, the enraged King of Midland summoned a depraved torturer to punish Griffith worse than death.
Simply put, it was the same kind of torture Vargas had experienced at the hands of the Slug Count, but amplified and stretched out for nearly a year.
When Guts saw Griffith's tragic state in the dungeon, he reacted immediately. In a rage, he killed the tortressor on the spot, then escorted Griffith out with the other team members.
During this period, they also killed Bakiraka assassins from the Kushan Empire and knights of the Kingdom of Midland.
Originally, they had wanted to bring Princess Charlotte with them. Unfortunately, Princess Charlotte had been accidentally poisoned and wounded, so she could only remain in Windham City to receive treatment from the Midland kingdom's people.
After that, they rejoined the main force of the Hawk Company and began a new wave of life on the run. They successively broke through the heavy blockade lines controlled by 70% of the kingdom's forces, crossed the border, and finally arrived at this small country.
The Hawk Company had also grown from its original 500 to a peak of 5,000 when they were called the White Phoenix Knights, and then down to the current 500, many of them disabled.
Most of the members had died, fled, or fallen. The Hawk Company had plummeted from the mountaintop to the valley floor. It made one sigh.
However, Guts, Casca, and the others were the members who had supported the Hawk Company and could not stay any longer, so they had left on their own.
First, a force of thousands was too large to facilitate escape. Second, life on the run was quite difficult. Feeding, watering, and housing thousands of people posed serious problems.
At the same time, it also meant that the remaining five hundred were the ones most loyal to Griffith.
Even knowing that a bleak future awaited them, and that they would likely die unjustly, they still came to follow Griffith.
However, upon learning of Griffith's current condition, these five hundred felt their only hope was about to crumble.
It was at this moment that Casca and Guts rose again and continued to lead the affairs of the Hawk Company, temporarily stabilizing the army's morale.
But morale could only be stabilized temporarily. A gradual decline was inevitable.
Until now—Nidhogg had returned.
Nidhogg held one of Griffith's hands in both hands. It trembled slightly, as if only the phalanges remained. He looked left and right at it, then gently set it down again.
Then he reached into his pack and produced a Flask of Crimson Tears and a small cloth bag.
"This is goblin medicine and scale powder." Nidhogg said to Griffith and everyone else. "I got it from a goblin named Puck. It should heal Griffith's wounds."
When everyone heard this, they all looked at him in astonishment.
"A demon... a goblin?" Corkus couldn't help but crane his neck and look, asking, "Nidhogg, this isn't a joke, is it?"
Nidhogg turned to Corkus and said:
"I've heard that you fought that 'immortal' Zodd. You must have seen his true form, right? Since Zodd can exist, why be surprised at the existence of fairies?"
Nidhogg's words stunned Corkus and left him speechless.
The appearance of Zodd had indeed upended their worldview.
Guts had witnessed Nidhogg's magical weapons and shields. By this point, he was already 90% convinced. Reacting, he excitedly grabbed Nidhogg's shoulder:
"Never mind Corkus! You can use it on Griffith!"
Casca, Pippin, Judeau, and Rickert hesitated a little.
But given Griffith's current physical condition, no doctor who saw it could do anything but shake their heads. Now Nidhogg had brought hope—why not try?
Even Griffith's eyes, which had been dim, now flickered slightly with light.
"A preliminary statement." Nidhogg was in no hurry to treat him. "These things are amazing, but they only accelerate the healing of wounds and the growth of flesh and bone. There's no way to regrow a severed tongue."
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Then Guts said, "Use it quickly."
So Nidhogg poured Crimson Tears over Griffith and asked Casca to help untie the bandages, evenly sprinkling the goblin scale powder over his ravaged body.
Immediately, before everyone's eyes, something strange happened.
A small portion of the festering, perforated, hollowed flesh on Griffith's body actually writhed and grew noticeably to the naked eye, shedding dead skin and revealing bright red, tender new skin. His cyanotic complexion gained a little color.
Though, overall, Griffith's current physical state was still terrible, it was, at least, developing in a good direction.
"Incredible..."
Casca, who had been untying Griffith's bandages, half-knelt beside the chair, her eyes wide as she stared at Griffith's body and murmured.
The others were even more shocked and dumbfounded.
Griffith also lowered his head, looking at his broken body.
He had looked down countless times. Only this time, even though he had shed his bandages and the herbs, he saw a glimmer of hope in his heart.
The pain had given way to numbness, but Griffith could accept it completely.
He involuntarily raised his head and looked at Nidhogg.
At that moment, Guts, seeing this effect, grabbed Nidhogg again and asked excitedly, "Is this all you have? Is there more? The more you use it, the faster Griffith's wounds will heal, right?"
Nidhogg gently pushed Guts away, then said, "Don't worry. It'll just take a little time. I can continue to get this from that goblin."
"From what I can see, if you keep using it, Griffith should return to 70% or 80% of his former appearance within six months to a year. He should be able to stand and move."
"Great!" Guts was pleasantly surprised to hear this. "This is really great!"
When Casca heard this, she was so excited she lay her head on Griffith's lap and cried. "Griffith, did you hear that? You're going to get better. You're going to get better..."
Pippin, Judeau, and Rickert were also overjoyed.
Corkus leaped with joy, hugged Nidhogg, and shouted:
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have blamed you for coming back so late! Turns out you went to find medicine for Griffith! My bad! I'll punish myself with three drinks tonight. No, I'll drink as much as you want to punish me!"
The whole house was jubilant. Their shouts almost lifted the roof, drawing many Hawk Company mercenaries to come over and watch. Seeing several of the core members crying and laughing as if they'd gone mad, they were all bewildered.
Griffith, on the other hand, silently tried to raise his trembling arms amidst the crowd's commotion. But they only lifted slightly, then feebly drooped down, as if they no longer belonged to him.