Ch.147Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

After leaning against the wall briefly to catch my breath, I searched the bodies of the dead terrorists.

I discarded the shotgun. It was out of ammo and the stock was shattered. Instead, I claimed a revolver from one of the terrorists.

Searching through their bodies, I managed to collect a functioning radio, cigarettes with Arabic-looking squiggly writing, a couple of lighters, a notebook, and several pencils. Of course, I also retrieved the knife I had dropped earlier. That was my personal property, after all.

I stuffed the collected items into my pockets. Using pencils, my necktie, and pieces of the terrorists’ clothing, I made tourniquets to stop the bleeding from my wounds.

“Ughhhh…”

No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a single uninjured part of my body. I was like a walking hospital.

As much as I wanted to just cover myself with some clothes and collapse into sleep, falling asleep here could mean sleeping forever. If I wanted to live, I had to escape.

I gripped the railing to stand up and opened the emergency stairwell door.

I didn’t even have the strength to pull the handle. I squeezed my body through the slightly open gap and somehow managed to get out.

The gunshots would have revealed my position. I couldn’t stay here any longer. I needed to go somewhere, anywhere. Just as I was thinking this—

-Shing.

A blade came to my neck. A pure white, silver blade positioned right in front of my Adam’s apple.

“……”

Belatedly realizing the situation, I froze completely, not even daring to breathe. Meanwhile, the assailant with the knife smoothly took the revolver from my grip.

“Turn around. Slowly.”

Carefully wrapping my belt around my hand, I slowly turned as instructed. My mind was already filled with thoughts of killing the terrorist. I just needed to knock the blade away before my skin was cut and stab their throat with my knife.

However.

When I saw the face of the person holding the blade to my neck, I had no choice but to drop the belt I had been gripping tightly.

“…Administrator?”

“Ah, it was you.”

The woman with purple hair tied up tightly smiled brightly after withdrawing her blade. Between her gently folded eyes, familiar violet irises reflected the bright lights.

“Why are you coming out of here…?”

It was Francesca.

Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

Only after eliminating seven terrorists—one in the staff corridor and six in the emergency stairwell—could I finally catch my breath.

But threats still remained, and communication with the outside was impossible.

I planned to search around the department store.

I wanted to find Lucia and Francesca, check if Camilla was safe, and incidentally treat my injuries.

After regrouping, I encountered Francesca as soon as I left the emergency stairwell.

She was holding what looked like a rapier, something I’d never seen her with before.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. For now…”

“That’s a relief.”

Francesca withdrew the sword that had been pointed at my neck. I was dumbfounded, gaping and staring blankly at her.

“Where did you get that sword…?”

“Oh, this?”

Francesca looked at the sword in her hand for a moment before answering.

“I bought one. The situation seemed dangerous.”

“In the middle of all this…?”

“I was planning to get one for practice anyway. But I heard gunshots and came to see if anyone was in danger. What happened?”

“I fought with terrorists. About six of them.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes.”

I raised my right arm instead of my injured left one to point toward the emergency stairwell. Francesca slightly opened the metal door, then frowned deeply and closed it roughly.

“No need to look in detail. Did you take care of all of them?”

“Well, yes.”

“That’s impressive.”

“It’s my job.”

Knowing my identity, Francesca nodded as if there was nothing more to ask. She returned the revolver she had taken.

I gripped the fully loaded revolver in my right hand, scanning the surroundings as I began to speak.

“Terrorists, presumably from the Uninhabited Zone, have occupied the department store. Their purpose and numbers are unknown. So far, I’ve eliminated seven, and there are at least two more remaining.”

I was referring to the beast-man terrorist and the one he had communicated with via radio. At least two more terrorists were in the department store.

“I haven’t figured out their detailed plan, but I believe the remaining terrorists are attempting to hold civilians hostage. And due to some strange barrier, both external access and communications are blocked, and the terrorists are transporting cargo into the department store. I don’t know what it is.”

“I already know the situation roughly from the Hero.”

“Hero…?”

Isn’t that Camilla?

I hastily grabbed Francesca’s shoulder and asked:

“Did you meet Camilla?”

“Yes. She’s currently with Saint Lucia.”

The tension suddenly drained from my body.

It was a relief that all three were safe.

As the tension eased, fatigue arrived along with relief. At the same time, I began to feel the pain I had forgotten.

I staggered as if about to collapse while holding Francesca’s shoulder, and she supported me using her shoulder.

“You’re bleeding.”

“If only bleeding was the worst of it… Where are Camilla and Lucia now…?”

“Lean on me for now. I’ll support you.”

With Francesca’s shoulder as support, I limped along. Wherever the two were, it was surely the safest place.

I brushed away the purple hair tickling my neck with my fingers and glanced at Francesca’s face.

Her face, which usually exuded confidence like Veronica’s, clearly showed signs of unease.

“Are you worried?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing. A few terrorists are nothing compared to spies…”

“The terrorism isn’t the problem.”

“What?”

The Magic Tower alchemist supporting me spoke firmly while surveying the surroundings.

“This terrorism happening now. It’s not just simple terrorism.”

“No, what do you mean by…”

“I can sense the energy of black magic.”

*

A terrorist attack had occurred.

Armed assailants had occupied the department store and taken civilians hostage.

The purpose was unknown, the scale was unknown, and the plan was unknown.

Based on the terrorists’ possessions and various circumstances, they were presumed to have come from the Uninhabited Zone.

Unlike other terrorist organizations monitored by various intelligence agencies, the forces from the Uninhabited Zone were of unclear nature.

The forces from the Uninhabited Zone were more like survivor groups than organized entities.

Therefore, they lacked the political ideologies or religious beliefs typically associated with terrorist organizations or paramilitary groups, making their actions and scale difficult to assess. Moreover, intelligence networks were almost non-existent in the Uninhabited Zone, so except for a few exceptions, it was unknown which groups were active where.

I had initially judged their terrorism as a struggle for survival.

But now black magic was involved?

Nothing was certain. I wasn’t in counter-terrorism, nor did I have knowledge of magic, so I couldn’t tell if the terrorists were actually using black magic.

However, unfortunately, I was an intelligence officer—someone who collected and analyzed information.

I needed to find an expert to verify this intelligence.

“We’re here.”

“Ah, you’ve arrived.”

The place we arrived at was the infirmary located in a secluded corner of the department store.

In that deserted place, I met Lucia.

“I found the officer, but he’s injured. Saint, please treat his wounds first.”

“Come this way.”

Lucia opened the infirmary door wide. Francesca hurried her steps while holding my arm draped over her shoulder, and Lucia firmly locked the door as soon as we entered.

As soon as I lay down on the infirmary bed with Francesca’s help, Camilla, who had been sitting in a chair, rushed to my side.

“What happened to you?!”

“Ah, don’t worry. Just a few scratches.”

“You’ve been shot?! This is clearly a gunshot wound… Blood is gushing from your leg!”

Looking down at Camilla’s words, I saw that blood was indeed flowing from my leg. Specifically, blood was seeping through the necktie tied around my right thigh. The necktie had long since become soaked with blood. That was my favorite tie.

While surrounded by Camilla and Francesca and bombarded with questions, Lucia approached with purposeful strides after checking the lock. She quickly examined my body and furrowed her delicate brow.

“The wounds are deep. And there’s significant bleeding.”

“I’ve already applied pressure to stop the bleeding.”

“I’ll address the bleeding first. We’ll deal with infection later with antibiotics when you’re properly hospitalized.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lucia gathered medical supplies and tools from around the infirmary and arranged them beside the bed. Watching her naturally put on latex medical gloves, she seemed more like a doctor than a saint.

But treatment wasn’t the most important thing right now. I grabbed Lucia’s wrist as she was sterilizing her tools.

“Saint Lucia, what does it mean that black magic can be sensed in the department store?”

“Is that important right now?!”

“Yes, what else could be more important?!”

BANG!

Lucia slammed her fist on the table beside the bed. With a loud noise, the tools and medicines on the tray jumped. I flinched in surprise, and both Francesca and Camilla stared at Lucia with dumbfounded expressions.

I had expected a saint to be gentle and mild-mannered. But now I saw she was quite the opposite. Lucia wiped the gentle expression from her face and shouted like an emergency room nurse subduing a difficult patient.

“Shut up and lie down!”

“Ah, yes ma’am.”

Situation assessed. I decided to obediently follow Lucia’s instructions.

*

Once I shut my mouth and lay on the bed, Lucia cut away the cloth scraps with scissors dripping with disinfectant.

After putting down the scissors, Lucia examined the wounds with a light she had found somewhere, her expression serious.

“…The wounds are deep. You’ve also been shot in the thigh. Let me see your left arm.”

“Here.”

“It’s a knife wound. The shoulder wound is quite deep—were you stabbed there as well?”

“Yes, that one was a stab.”

“Well done indeed.”

After this sarcastic remark, Lucia calmly examined each wound. After a thorough inspection, Lucia’s assessment was that, fortunately, no dangerous areas like arteries had been hit.

“If the bullet had gone just a bit more to the right, it would have ruptured an artery. God was watching over you.”

“Are there any fragments?”

“No fragments visible to the naked eye. It seems the bullet passed through completely.”

“Can you tell that easily?”

“I’ve seen many gunshot victims in the Empire.”

Coming from a healing priest who had served in conflict zones, this was credible. From my direct observations during several months of joint relief work at the Magic Tower, Lucia’s healing abilities were nothing short of masterful.

Of course, she had been powerless when I was poisoned with neurotoxin at the church, but that was an exceptional case. It was a poison developed by intelligence agencies.

To be precise, it was something that emerged when various intelligence agencies researched methods to effectively neutralize priests and mages during the war between the Magic Tower and the Church. In fact, they developed many things, but the Imperial Guard had the most success with neurotoxins, so they researched that area more deeply compared to other intelligence agencies.

After shining the light here and there, Lucia began erasing the wounds one by one with her holy power.

Just as I had seen at the Magic Tower, new flesh began to form and the wounds started to heal as her holy power touched them. After a few more passes of Lucia’s hands, the wounds disappeared completely, leaving only dried bloodstains.

I scratched at the bloodstains left on my thigh.

It was fascinating to see the blood that had been flowing just moments ago now crumbling away, but the unfamiliar sensation of the skin gave me goosebumps.

“It’s amazing every time I see it.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose it could be.”

Lucia nodded slightly and focused on treating the wounds. She held the affected areas with her latex-gloved hands and gave me precautions.

“Your blood pressure is low. That’s to be expected since you’ve lost a lot of blood. Normally, you should receive a blood transfusion, but since there’s no blood here, you’ll need an IV drip.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You may not realize it, but your skin is very clammy. It seems you’re in shock. After treatment, you should immediately get an IV and elevate your legs. You must not get up. If you experience anemia symptoms, you could hit your head if you fall.”

Lucia gave me strict instructions that would be impossible to forget. Don’t do this, do that, don’t eat food, just drink water, and so on.

Perhaps because she had served as a healing priest, Lucia treated my wounds with skill rivaling that of any decent doctor. After treating all the minor wounds as well, Lucia removed her gloves, tossed them aside, and let out a soft sigh as if releasing held breath.

“I’ve treated all the urgent wounds. However, there are issues of pain and infection, and most importantly, you’ve lost a lot of blood, so you absolutely must not move excessively. The wounds could reopen.”

“…The wounds could reopen?”

“The flesh has regenerated, but it takes time for the skin to fully settle. Holy power isn’t omnipotent.”

What kind of priest is this? Isn’t this a fantasy world?

With such thoughts, I stared at her blankly, and Lucia leaned back in her chair with a pouty face and continued.

“God did not create humans perfectly. Humans can fall to temptation and sin. That’s why nothing on this earth is omnipotent.”

“What a kind god indeed.”

I pressed my fingers against the healed skin. I was worried Lucia might hit me on the head for speaking irreverently, but fortunately, she remained silent and simply organized her tools.

The sensation of the skin that had just been regenerated by holy power was strange. It felt like leather had been layered over flesh.

After touching the skin that didn’t quite feel like my own for a while, I asked Lucia in a slightly puzzled voice.

“Um, Saint.”

“Yes.”

“As far as I know, you don’t have a medical license. Isn’t this illegal practice?”

Lucia blinked her eyes for a moment as if she didn’t understand what I was saying. Blink, blink.

After staring blankly for a while, Lucia suddenly stood up and pinched my side hard.

“Aaagh…! That hurts…! I’m a patient…!”

“After all the treatment I gave you, that’s what you have to say?!”

“Owwww…!”

She was more temperamental than she appeared.

That was something new I learned.