episode_0049

A sudden emergency alarm rang out in the Academy’s Medical Department. At the unexpected noise, all members, including the Medical Department professor who had been sleeping, rushed back to the Medical Department building and checked the location where the warning had been triggered. Then, they all made strange expressions.

“This… this is the place we used as a casualty station during the Combat Department entrance exam.”

The professor mumbled.

The Academy map placed in the center of the Medical Department emergency room. Among them, three red lights were blinking at the entrance to the southern forest.

To call it a malfunction, the residual magic of the alarm spell was too strong. A signal sent by someone with clear intent.

It was absurd. The magic used during the entrance exam was currently not in use.

But for that magic to suddenly activate now? It wasn’t a tool made by just any random mage, how could that even be possible? The explanation that the mana remaining from that time had reignited now was more plausible.

However… the professor had a premonition that for some reason, this situation wouldn’t be a simple incident.

It was the realm of intuition. All her senses, honed while rolling around the battlefield as a healer, were telling her to head straight for that forest.

Her intuition, having lived for a long time, had never once lied to her. Her expression hardened as she spoke to those gathered in the emergency room.

“Let’s go for now. Prepare everything.”

And so, the Medical Department students, professor, and assistant professor all began their midnight march. Fortunately, the distance between the Medical Department building and the Academy’s southern forest wasn’t very far, so they were able to arrive there before long.

Steps continued, pushing back the darkness with lanterns and basic light magic. At the end of it, they found three people collapsed with horrific appearances.

Quil, who had fainted having spilled his organs from his side, Warren, whose body was convulsing while spitting bloody phlegm, and Saya, who was profusely spewing blood with a spear lodged in her abdomen.

Not a single person was unharmed. Severe injuries to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if they died instantly. It was fortunate that there were no missing limbs, but even so, they couldn’t rest easy. If they weren’t treated quickly, they would die from excessive bleeding or shock.

Judgment was quick. The professor first instructed the transport of the patients rather than assessing the immediate situation. Then, the assistant professor and students, who had been blankly staring at the three, urgently transported them to the emergency room.

A strong smell of blood began to fill the quiet emergency room. One of the assistant professors reported the current situation to Friede, and the students lit anesthetic incense to dull the senses of the three.

However, the effect of the medicine was too weak to put mana users to sleep. At most, it only slightly dulled the pain sensation. Going beyond that was difficult.

“Wh-what should we do?”

“Bring the ampoule! First, pull out that spear there!”

The professor said, drawing up the clean mana unique to healers. The students, who were smelling the scent of death this close for the first time, nodded with tension and fear.

No matter how high their year was, the injuries they had handled were only minor ones sustained during exams. They had only seen severe injuries where every second counts in books. It was a situation where they had to rely solely on the knowledge in their heads, let alone practical experience.

But they couldn’t just stand by. There was no one here who would just stand foolishly in a situation where they could save or kill someone with their own hands. They pressed down on their trembling hands and moved in an orderly manner according to the assistant professor’s instructions.

“…First, cut the spear in half. And pull it out from the blade side.”

“Yes.”

The students nodded. They cut the spear with a dagger whose cutting power was enhanced to the limit with magic, and following the assistant professor’s command, pulled the spear straight out. As they did so, the blood and organs stuck to the spear shaft came out with it.

“Aaaaaaargh…!”

Saya let out a scream filled with pain. Although the sensation of pain was partially dulled, the feeling of her organs being torn accompanied an unimaginable level of agony.

When the spear that had been blocking the penetrating wound disappeared, blood gushed out from the hole like a fountain. Administering a hemostatic agent quickly stopped the bleeding to some extent, but it was still a critical situation. They needed to quickly use healing spells to filter out bacteria and impurities remaining in the body and start regeneration.

“Everyone who can use magic, raise your mana! Starting treatment now—”

“Ah, *cough*, Asel…”

Just as the assistant professor was shouting, Saya coughed up blood, difficultly rolled her eyes, and mumbled.

Instantly, everyone’s gaze focused on her. Saya made eye contact with the assistant professor and continued speaking.

“Asel… where is he…?”

***

“…Ugh.”

To the sound of birds chirping, his eyes slowly opened. His eyelids felt so heavy as if they would close at any moment, and the severe pain throughout his body made him feel like he would faint as soon as he regained consciousness. And why did his eyes hurt so much? Just keeping them open felt like his brain was cooking.

He had an idea of what was happening.

What the necromancer had said. Hadn’t she said it was a sign of the Demon Eye awakening? He had been stuffing mana into his eyeballs constantly, so it seemed his eyeballs and mana had reacted. It was the result of his terribly powerful mana resonance ability affecting his physical body.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for other areas besides the eyes to contain mana, so it was unlikely he could expect results similar to the Demon Eye, but this alone was a sufficient gain.

Should he say he felt like he had received an unexpected gift? Asel smiled bitterly and closed his eyes.

It was a good thing that the awakening was near, but right now his body was in a mess, making it difficult even to open his eyes. Just moving a joint in his finger made all the muscles and nerves in his body scream.

Still, judging by the fact that he could hear the chirping of birds properly, it seemed his ear, which had been half-cut off, had properly returned.

‘Looks like my teacher did something.’

Asel let out a deep sigh of relief and half-opened only one eye. The pain was too severe to open both.

There was no memory from immediately after moving. After entrusting his body to the magic, he had fainted and when he woke up, a pure white ceiling was the first thing that entered his eyes. Seeing that he had all his senses, it didn’t seem like the afterlife, so it looked like his teacher had treated him.

It had been a gamble, but it seemed it was the correct answer. The movement spell he had modified on the spot had honestly been unstable, but it seemed to have worked well.

He was lucky.

It was a miracle that could only be explained that way. Asel thought so, enjoying the soft sensation felt in his left hand.

“…?”

For a moment, Asel realized the sensation felt somewhat familiar and difficultly turned his head slightly.

Into his line of sight came Ena, holding his hand tightly with her eyes wide open.

Tear stains were clear on her cheeks, as if she had cried for a long time. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were slightly hollowed out like someone who hadn’t eaten for days.

The usual cold impression she showed was nowhere to be seen. A pitiful appearance that would make anyone feel sympathy.

In a way, it was natural. Her disciple, whom she had trusted and sent to the Academy, had suddenly appeared as a half-dead body. The emotional distress she had felt while Asel was unconscious was immense. The tears she had shed while staying by his side were enough to form a puddle.

Of course, Asel didn’t know this backstory, but he was still aware that he had given Ena a heavy emotional burden. So, he smiled with difficulty and spoke in a voice that was cracking.

“It’s been a while, Teacher.”

At those words, Ena seemed to choke up, lowered the corners of her mouth, and brought her cheek to Asel’s hand, which she was holding.

His hand, which had been cold for over a week, was slowly regaining warmth. That fact conveyed warmth to Ena. She looked up at Asel, unable to even think about wiping away the tears streaming down her face.

Asel wore a bitter smile as he looked at her sparkling blue eyes, full of moisture.

“I’m sorry. I made you worry for nothing.”

“No.”

Ena barely opened her mouth. It was a voice full of tears. She got up from her seat, placed her hand on Asel’s cheek, and smiled with difficulty.

“Thank you for coming back.”

During the week Asel had been unconscious, she had not left his side even once. If his mana flared up, she would calm it down herself, and if he sweated coldly, she would wipe his body by herself without the help of magic. She didn’t even sleep in case he suddenly became critically ill during the night.

While doing so, she conveyed warmth to him. Until the necromancer’s mana that had encroached upon his soul was completely gone, she directly touched his skin to dissipate the coldness. None of it was easy, but Ena attended to him without any complaints.

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t hard, but Ena didn’t feel the need to tell Asel that. It was more important to her that he had safely regained consciousness than to boast about what she had done for him.

Rewards didn’t matter at all.

“Is there anywhere that hurts?”

Ena asked, wiping away her tears. Asel replied with a voice that was intentionally mixed with a hint of laughter.

“There isn’t a place that doesn’t hurt.”

At his jest, Ena wore a soft smile. She lightly kissed Asel’s forehead and met his gaze.

“Seeing you joke around makes me feel a bit better. I’d like to ask what happened right away, but… it’s probably better for you to rest first.”

Ena got up from her seat and continued speaking.

“Wait. I’ll bring the High Priest. Stay still.”

She said so, opened the door, and went outside. Asel replied that he understood, then lay still and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Click.

At that moment, a sound like the door being locked was heard.

“?”

Asel’s head tilted.

***

Fortunately, the Archbishop left after telling Asel that he would be fine with a few more days of rest. Ena seemed relieved by those words, let out a long breath, and brought porridge from the dining hall to feed Asel herself.

“…I can eat myself.”

“Be quiet. You’d complain that it hurts even just moving your arm.”

“…”

Having nothing to say, Asel quietly ate the porridge she offered him. The porridge, which contained chicken and vegetables evenly distributed, was quite edible, better than expected. The tomato juice he had brought as a mouth freshener was also decent.

After finishing his meal, he spent the entire day lying on the bed. Asel tried to get up from the bed, wanting to do some sort of rehabilitation, but every time there was a sign of him doing so, Ena would make him lie down using Word Magic.

Asel couldn’t do anything about that magic that forced movement.

He tried to resist by exploiting gaps in the magic occasionally, but then Ena would get onto the bed herself and lie down on top of his body. Thanks to using magic that completely nullified the weight felt by others, no matter how much she lay on top of Asel, he didn’t feel any pain.

That was the case now. Asel stroked Ena’s hair, who was on top of him, and let out a deep sigh. Ena enjoyed his touch without any particular complaint.

Even when the nun came into the room to use Sacred Law, she was unwavering. Instead, she gave the nun a look as if telling her to leave quickly.

However, the nun was someone who didn’t tolerate even an inch of compromise when it came to patient care. She ignored Ena’s gaze and meticulously checked Asel’s physical condition. While doing so, she used Sacred Law where treatment was needed and gradually calmed down his heightened pain sensation.

His condition improved just from that. Asel, still lying down, slightly bowed his head towards the nun.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all. More importantly, how long do you plan to stay there, Lady Ena? The patient is having a difficult time.”

“Having a difficult time?”

Ena asked, looking down into Asel’s eyes. Asel smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“It’s nothing. Please stay comfortably, comfortably.”

“He says so?”

Ena replied towards the nun, raising the corners of her mouth. The nun let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

“Just in case, the patient still needs rest. Please refrain from ‘that kind of activity’.”

“That kind of activity?”

“Sexual activity, I mean.”

“…Ah?”

Ena’s face turned bright red. Regardless, the nun packed up the bowl and bottle Ena had brought, and as she left the room, she added one more thing.

“For your information, this room is not soundproof.”

“Get out.”

“Yes. Please stay well.”

The nun chuckled and closed the door as she left. Ena glared at the door she had just left through and wiggled her fingers. A pure white mana thread extended from her fingertip and manipulated the door’s lock.

Click.

The door was locked just like that. After checking once to make sure it was properly locked, Ena leaned forward and collapsed her upper body onto Asel’s body again. While doing so, she mumbled.

“Don’t mind what she said. I have no intention of doing that.”

“Asel?”

“Ah, yes. I’m not minding it.”

Asel answered roughly like that. Perhaps there was something about that reply that she didn’t like, as Ena pouted her lips and tapped his chest with her forehead. Asel thought, ‘Why is my teacher being like this?’, then just brushed it off and shifted his gaze.

The firmly closed door came into his sight.

‘Why does she keep locking it?’

It was the same when she left the room a few hours ago saying she would bring the Archbishop, and it’s the same now. Why is she locking the door in a way that it cannot be opened from the inside?

“…”

An ominous thought slowly crept into Asel’s mind.