Ch.238Past Stories: Olivia Eleonora – 4

Abel cared for the girl with utmost devotion for an entire month.

He changed her bandages every two hours, replaced the blankets on her bed every six hours while simultaneously opening the window for ten minutes to ventilate the room. He cleaned the bandages and blankets using scrolls.

Without fail, he fed her porridge three times a day. Eventually, even Helena grew slightly tired of Abel’s dedication and asked why he was working so hard.

Since he didn’t need to worry about physical fatigue, had no reason to rest, and didn’t need to sleep, Abel invested all 24 hours of his day into tower work and caring for the girl.

The girl gradually changed as well.

At first, her violet pupils merely stared at Abel’s back, but slowly they began to follow his movements. Sometimes, when his gaze was turned away, she would steal glances at his face.

Her way of looking at Helena changed too. From eyes devoid of emotion to ones filled with some indescribable, viscous feeling. They were eyes that would have terrified anyone who noticed them.

Abel and Helena failed to notice these gazes. The girl was extremely thorough in hiding her stares.

As time passed, the magic tower was also extremely busy. Several meetings were held with even the Tower Master in attendance, and the mages gathered for heated debates.

The most prominent agenda item in these meetings was “how to properly get back at the Red One Magic Tower.”

It was the natural consequence of them sending such a “gift.”

Nominally, it was supposedly a gift sent to help research Abel’s super-regeneration ability, but in reality, it was nothing more than shifting responsibility because they were too lazy to deal with the aftermath of their experiment.

At best, the subject could continuously produce blood to prevent death from excessive bleeding and prolong suffering, but how would that possibly help understand Abel’s ability to perfectly recover even when his flesh was shredded to pieces?

The mages of Helena’s tower weren’t foolish enough to misunderstand their true intentions.

However, there was no suitable way to retaliate. Even though the world operated on the logic of power, without proper justification, it was difficult to arbitrarily oppress others of equal standing.

An attack without justification was equivalent to inflicting critical damage to one’s own honor. This was especially true among mages with their strong pride.

Even during the human bomb incident caused by the Red One Tower, their official excuse was a malfunction in the magic circle. That’s why Abel had used the failed suicide attempt as a reason for his revenge.

Considering the typical pretentiousness of high-ranking tower officials who convey their intentions through several layers of flowery language, the message they intended to send with this gift was:

—Your tower is nothing but a trash can suitable for disposing of our failed experiments.

With such underlying intentions, revenge was certainly warranted, but since the outward meaning was different and there was no proper justification, the meetings remained at an impasse.

That day too, Helena visited the external quarters as usual and complained to Abel about everything. Abel quietly listened to all her grumbling. When she finished, he spoke.

“It comes down to this. Something can only be done if this child wakes up.”

“That’s right. There’s no more certain evidence than having the person involved testify. Well, if necessary, we could make her lie to create justification. It doesn’t matter whether she lies or not—they wouldn’t be able to disprove it anyway.”

“I wonder. Wouldn’t they have prepared for that possibility in advance?”

“I don’t think so. Would those idiots actually think that far ahead?”

His gaze fell on the bandages, which had become somewhat less soiled.

“How’s her condition?”

“Much better than at first. I can now change the bandages every three hours instead.”

“I suppose it’s about time for the mana to be depleted, whether it’s a malfunction or whatever. It’s been a month already. What on earth did those bastards create for a healing spell to last a month? It seems completely useless.”

“You can go ask them if you want. Ask what kind of magic they were trying to create. Who knows, they might answer.”

“No thanks. I’d rather remain ignorant forever than ask those guys.”

Abel sat down on the chair placed beside the bed. Helena carefully took a spot next to him.

At first, she had complained about having to leave those two in the same room, but by now she had come to think it wasn’t so bad.

With no one else around, she could cling to him as much as she wanted without worrying about others’ eyes, and Abel didn’t seem to mind the situation either. He didn’t tell her to stop clinging to him.

As evidence, the time Helena spent here grew longer with each passing day. At first, it was just brief visits of a few minutes, but now it was faster to count in hours.

Throughout her stay, she subtly claimed the spot next to Abel.

Of course, strictly speaking, they weren’t alone. But with only an unconscious girl who couldn’t do anything even if she were awake, it was essentially just the two of them.

Just as Helena was about to start a conversation with her usual small talk:

“Ah… uh…”

A choked voice came from behind them, startling both Abel and Helena, who turned around simultaneously. The girl who had been lying motionless on the bed was now stirring, trying to say something.

Abel quickly moved to the girl’s side. Helena, coming to her senses, stood beside him.

“How are you feeling? Can you speak?”

“Uh… ah…”

The girl mumbled something and slowly shook her head from side to side. She still couldn’t speak properly, but the fact that she had regained consciousness was enough.

“Helena, prepare a healing spell.”

“Right.”

Now that she was conscious, even if her entire body couldn’t be treated, at least one calf or arm should be able to accept healing magic. Abel carefully supported the girl’s back with a pillow.

A magic circle formed in Helena’s hand, glowing green. Abel reached for the bandages.

“Let’s start with the leg.”

“Alright, Abel.”

“Ah… no…”

With a rustle, Abel unwrapped the bandage. Her right calf, covered in burn marks and a mess of blood and pus, was revealed. A foul, nauseating smell emanated from the blood and pus soaked into the bandage.

Abel had seen such sights twelve times a day.

Helena suppressed her gag reflex and covered the calf with the green magic circle. As the healing magic took effect, the leg began to change. The blood, pus, and discharge gradually disappeared.

Normal blood and flesh filled their place. New skin grew, forming a smooth calf.

“No… aah…”

The girl continuously tried to say something. Helena ignored it and continued the healing magic. Since it accelerated natural healing, the pain rushing in all at once was unavoidable.

The pain must have been considerable, as the girl’s body jerked. Abel gently held down her thigh with his hand. Helena didn’t stop the healing magic either, though her actions showed no consideration.

The healing magic didn’t last long. The green light gradually faded. When the magic circle dispersed into the air, the girl’s right calf looked much cleaner than her left, which still had minor wounds.

“That’s done. She didn’t die, right?”

“No, she didn’t.”

Abel and Helena exchanged brief remarks as they looked down at the girl. In truth, casting healing magic immediately after she regained consciousness seemed a bit harsh.

But wasn’t it much better than leaving her to ooze blood and pus? Being confined to bed like this must be far more painful for her.

“Should we continue or stop? What do you think?”

“Hmm… I think we could finish up to the thigh. Will she be able to endure it?”

The girl was still making groaning sounds. The pain must have been quite severe, as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Abel gently wiped the sweat from her forehead with his hand.

“I wouldn’t know. Should I try anyway?”

A green magic circle appeared in Helena’s hand again.

“Yes, alright. If it doesn’t work, we can cancel the magic midway—”

“…Huh?”

Abel stopped speaking, and Helena’s eyes widened. Both wore expressions as if they had seen something impossible. Helena in particular couldn’t hide her shock.

“W-what… is this…?”

Helena muttered weakly. This was because she saw a magic circle emitting a soft green light appearing on the girl’s intact left hand. It was clearly a healing magic circle.

“Wait, what on earth…?”

The magic circle in Helena’s hand flickered and went out. Conversely, the light from the magic circle on the girl’s hand grew stronger. It cast shadows behind her body, yet strangely, it didn’t hurt their eyes at all.

New flesh gradually began to grow on the girl’s thigh.

“…Healing magic?”

Abel murmured. It was clear. That was healing magic. The same one Helena had just used. Helena looked at Abel with a shocked face.

“…Abel, did you teach her magic out of boredom?”

“Why would I do that to someone who was unconscious? I just read books by myself, that’s all.”

“Then what is this?”

“How should I know?”

Helena and Abel stared blankly at the green light covering the thigh and the increasingly white skin growing on the leg. They wondered if this was even possible.

“…”

The healing magic had finished. The girl, having completely healed her thigh, dropped her left hand onto the bed with labored breathing. Her body was drenched in sweat.

“Helena.”

“Yes, Abel.”

“Go tell the others. Tell them to gather as many people as possible and rush over here.”

“Understood.”

Without another word, Helena dashed out of the quarters. The sound of her running footsteps gradually faded away. Abel gazed at Helena’s diminishing figure.

“Name…”

Then, hearing a faint voice from behind, he turned his head again. Violet eyes, with a hint of light returned to them, were clearly looking at Abel.

“My… name…”

Her grotesquely distorted lips moved slightly.

“…Olivia.”

That was the first real meeting between Abel and Olivia after a month.