Chapter 11: Fading Light

“Aigo, my head…”

How many hours had I been unconscious? I clutched my ringing head and sat up.

Normally, a fall from this height should have splattered my body, but thanks to Marine’s quick thinking in deploying a shield just before impact, I was safe.

“Ugh.”

However, it seemed the impact couldn’t be completely offset, as blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

It felt like my internal organs had been violently shaken.

Fortunately, the internal bleeding didn’t seem too severe, as the amount of blood I coughed up wasn’t much, but I didn’t think I could last long.

‘Even at the fastest, rescue will take several hours…’

I had no medical knowledge, but I was certain that if I just waited for rescue, I would die before the rescue team arrived.

‘I wonder if Marine is okay.’

Marine was still unconscious, her eyes closed.

If even someone as weak as me survived, Marine, who was much physically stronger, wouldn’t have died.

However, I was worried about the extent of her injuries.

‘Her legs need to be okay…’

“Ugh.”

I barely managed to suppress another mouthful of blood trying to surge up.

“Young lady, young lady.”

I grasped Marine’s shoulder and shook her.

Fortunately, there were no visible external injuries.

“Young lady, please wake up…”

Despite my efforts to shake her, Marine didn’t wake up.

A sudden fear gripped me – what if Marine was dead?

“Please… please…”

Barely enduring the pain that felt like needles pricking me from the inside, I called out to Marine desperately.

“Ugh…”

“Young lady!”

Had my desperate plea reached her?

Marine slowly began to open her eyes.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Where… is this?”

Marine looked around, her eyes wide.

“Ah…”

Her expression hardened as she finally remembered the last moments.

“Yes, it seems we’ve fallen into a secret ruin.”

It was fortunate I had braved the embarrassment and put on the rings; without them, I would already be dead.

‘If I make it back alive, I must thank the Magic Tower Head…’

Perhaps this accident happened because of a cliché tied to the rings, but regardless, the rings saved both my life and Marine’s.

Expressing gratitude is only natural.

Of course, that’s if I can make it back alive.

“I… I’m sorry… I pressed something strange…”

Tears welled up in Marine’s eyes, and her voice trembled.

I stroked her head.

“Young lady, now is not the time for self-blame. Shouldn’t escape be our priority?”

I wiped Marine’s face, messy with tears and snot, with a handkerchief.

She clenched her fists as if she had made a resolution.

“I will definitely protect Hendel!”

“Thank you.”

Marine, true to her Sword Master lineage, possessed incredible martial talent even at the young age of eight.

Knight Commander Zidan had even asserted that she could defeat most active knights even in her current state.

However, I didn’t have high expectations.

Marine might be a genius, but she was still only eight years old.

Even with talent, overcoming the physical limitations of an eight-year-old was difficult.

She couldn’t even draw out sword aura, considered the foundation for knights, due to her insufficient mana pool.

Having firmly resolved to protect me, Marine stood at the front with a determined look in her eyes, holding a stick she had picked up from somewhere.

“Hendel, just follow me.”

I nodded silently.

I decided to speak less because if I coughed up blood while talking, it might worry Marine.

Fortunately, this underground ruin, unlike typical ruins that force choices with diverging paths, had only one path, so we didn’t have to worry about which way to go.

However, it was too dark inside.

It would have been best to let our eyes adjust to the darkness without using mana, but this ruin was truly pitch black, with no light at all.

I secretly coughed up blood, making sure Marine didn’t see, and chanted a spell.

“Light.”

Light magic.

It was a 1st-circle spell, and my proficiency wasn’t high, so the brightness was weak, but it was enough to illuminate a small passageway.

“What in the world…”

As the light brightened, the appearance of the passage was revealed.

Countless human skeletons were scattered throughout the passage.

The empty eye sockets of the skeletons seemed to warn that I would meet the same fate.

I gulped and glanced at Marine.

“…”

Marine’s expression was grim, as if she was disgusted, but thankfully, she didn’t seem too distressed.

Rustle, rustle.

The endless skeletons we passed as we walked through the passage showed just how old this ruin was.

“Ugh.”

“Hendel, is something wrong?”

“Ah… no… seeing the skeletons just makes me nauseous, ugh.”

With internal bleeding already present, moving without first aid seemed to make the blood burst out from inside me at increasingly shorter intervals.

‘I can’t hold on much longer.’

I had been conserving mana in case I encountered an enemy and needed to use magic, but it felt like my body couldn’t keep up anymore.

I had no choice but to close my eyes and move my mana as I had read in books.

Magicians, by risking the destruction of their own mana circuits and letting their mana run rampant, could perform miracles generally impossible for a certain period.

While walking, so Marine wouldn’t notice anything amiss, I closed my eyes and began to let my mana run wild.

“Hngh…”

As mana crazily circulated inside my body, an unprecedented pain washed over me.

I broke out in a cold sweat and bit down on my sleeve to keep from groaning.

Usually, this secret technique was only possible for magicians whose mana manipulation abilities had surpassed a certain level, but I had a quiet confidence that I could do it too.

During the heir lessons, while learning magic, I realized that unlike Marine who had no talent for swords, I possessed considerable talent for magic.

There were three important elements for a magician.

First, mana.

Second, imagination.

Third, concentration.

I possessed all three of these crucial elements for a magician.

The absolute amount of my mana was unparalleled among those my age, my imagination overflowed thanks to my experiences living on Earth, and my concentration, even by my own assessment, surpassed that of an ordinary person.

‘Are the damaged organs the small intestine and spleen?’

It was a great relief that my heart was unharmed.

Sweating profusely, I guided my mana.

Following my will, the mana particles slowly moved and began to envelop the bleeding areas.

“Ughk…”

The mana enveloping the bleeding area caused immense pain, and I inadvertently let out a loud groan, but fortunately, Marine seemed not to have noticed as she was warily scanning our surroundings.

My mana slowly moved and adhered tightly to the bleeding sites.

“Phew…”

After completing the complex task, a sigh of relief escaped me.

This measure would probably sustain my life for about two more hours.

Even if I made it back alive, restoring my mana circuits quickly would not be easy.

“This is…”

After walking for about 30 minutes from the entrance, a door with the mural we had seen earlier appeared.

“Should I do it like before?”

Marine looked at me with an anxious face.

She probably knew there was no other way now that we had come this far, yet she sought my permission, perhaps due to the memory of what happened before.

I gave a light nod.

“Then, I’m opening it?”

Marine gulped and placed her hand on the magic circle.

Rumble-rumble-rumble.

As Marine placed her hand on the magic circle like before, the ruin began to shake.

“Bleargh…”

My concentration wavered for a moment due to the shaking ruin, and I vomited blood.

“Huh…? Hendel, what’s wrong?”

Marine froze, seemingly shocked at the sight of me vomiting blood.

“I’m really okay.”

“Liar!”

Marine approached, her face pale, her hands trembling as if in a panic.

“Help… we need help…”

It was excruciatingly painful, but if I lost my composure here, Marine would also be in danger.

“Sob… Hendel, don’t die…”

Now Marine was shedding tears freely.

Feeling my consciousness fading, I struggled to hold on and placed my hand on Marine’s shoulder.

“Young lady… you must remain calm…”

I was trying my best to choose my words calmly, but perhaps due to blood loss, my speech came out slurred.

“Waaaah…”

“Young lady… I… I really want you to survive.”

Almost instinctively, I transferred mana to Marine through the ring, and then gave her the ring itself.

(TL Note: “The ring” here likely refers to the ring Marine is wearing, and “gave her the ring itself” refers to Hendel giving Marine his own ring from the pair they received.)

If I lost consciousness like this, I probably wouldn’t wake up again.

I grasped the hands of the weeping Marine and left my last words.

“Young lady… please be happy… Being with you all this time… was fun.”

“Waaaah…”

‘Wouldn’t this be a rather cool death?’