Ch.4949. Return (1)

After Sione’s confession, time passed rather quickly.

Sione started her days with jogging, which had become almost a habit, and spent most of her time at the shooting range.

She would sit in one spot at the range and continuously draw her bowstring without rest.

If there was something different about her training method compared to before, it was that she tried to apply her mana with each arrow she shot.

Sione would only release the bowstring after somehow gathering mana at her arrowhead, and many practice dummies had been replaced after being riddled with holes from her arrows.

Thanks to her diligent solo practice, Sione’s reputation at the shooting range had definitely changed for the better.

However, I couldn’t evaluate her as positively as the others did.

‘She’s only doing this because she wants something.’

I knew very well that all of Sione’s current efforts were being driven by her darker self.

It was just her effort after falling for the suggestion I had reluctantly offered a few days ago.

Perhaps what she truly wanted wasn’t powerful skills, but me.

However, if asked whether I felt threatened by Sione practicing like that…

Well, I wasn’t particularly tense or competitive about it.

‘A few days of practice won’t be nearly enough.’

Sword Expert-level mana application isn’t something trivial.

It’s not something that can be achieved in just a day or two.

Sword Expert is a level that requires years, perhaps even decades of training for those with exceptional talent among knights.

For Sione to reach that level achieved by such individuals…

I think it would take at least 1-2 years.

With that thought, I was watching Sione shoot her bow when…

“Ugh…”

Sione lowered her bowstring and arms, groaning as if the mana wasn’t flowing as she wanted.

“Haah…”

After sighing softly, she tightly closed her mouth and puffed her cheeks full of air.

Whoosh—

She then exhaled completely, composed herself, and raised her bow again.

That unexpectedly cute behavior almost made me smile, but then…

“…I should have just done it then.”

…Wait, what exactly should she have done?

Hearing Sione’s muttering to herself, the corners of my mouth that had been rising immediately crashed to the floor.

Setting that aside.

Sione repeatedly failed to create the dense mana concentration similar to a Sword Expert’s.

But there was definitely something encouraging in her continued practice.

With ongoing mana application practice, the mana shimmer surrounding her arrowheads became more distinct.

Though it couldn’t be condensed more thickly or compressed more firmly, the amount she could simply gather had clearly increased.

As the power and sustainability of her mana improved noticeably each day, and the practice dummies serving as her targets kept being replaced…

Even when Sione told them to mind their own business, the archers would occasionally glance at her.

Meanwhile.

I noticed the sun had reached its zenith and was beginning to descend.

“Lady Sione, I’ll go see the priest for a moment.”

“Is it that time already? I’ll come with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I was just about to take a break anyway. My arms are getting sore from shooting for too long.”

I nodded casually and headed out of the shooting range.

* *

The golden light emanating from the priest’s hands settled over my arm.

Gone was the completely tattered state from before—my arm was now perfectly healed.

I smiled with satisfaction as I could properly exert strength in my arm again.

“All treatments are complete as of today. Well done.”

“You’re the one who deserves praise, Priest.”

After briefly exchanging pleasantries with the priest, he got up and left, having finished his work.

As soon as the priest left, Sione, who had been watching the entire treatment beside me, approached.

“How’s your arm?”

“It’s completely healed. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but it seems to move even better than before the injury.”

“That’s good. I was worried since the priest had to visit longer than expected.”

“Well, the wound was quite deep. But it’s all healed now, so that’s what matters, right?”

I showed a small smile and raised my left arm, waving my hand.

“Yes, as long as it’s healed, that’s what matters.”

Saying that, Sione carefully stroked my head.

It was more like she was messing up my hair and then fixing it repeatedly.

I quietly accepted her touch.

Of course, I wasn’t this compliant from the beginning.

I used to slightly avoid her whenever she tried to stroke my head, but since I eventually got caught and stroked anyway…

I allowed it since it was just head patting, not hugging or anything.

I swallowed a sigh that was about to escape and observed Sione.

Even while stroking my hair, she seemed embarrassed by her own actions and was deliberately avoiding my gaze.

She was bold enough to kiss me on the lips back then, yet now she’s acting like this over just stroking my head.

Sione really is something else.

As her stroking was coming to an end, I asked:

“What do you plan to do now?”

“With nowhere else to go, returning to the shooting range doesn’t sound bad. What do you think?”

“You’ve been drawing the bowstring and handling mana since morning until now. I think it would be better to rest a bit more rather than going back to the shooting range.”

“Hmm.”

The weather was nice, and the midsummer heat had subsided a bit.

It might be good to visit the garden after a long time.

Despite her love for flowers, she hadn’t had time to visit the garden since the Marquisate of Feiosha.

Thinking it wasn’t a bad idea, I slowly began:

“How about we look around the garden together? You haven’t had time to leisurely look at flowers recently, not since the Marquisate.”

“The garden. Not a bad idea. Yes, let’s go.”

Pleased with my suggestion, Sione started humming and took the lead.

Her walking pace wasn’t particularly fast.

As we were leisurely making our way to the garden, the surroundings began to grow noisy.

Some people were walking quickly, some were even running.

Unlike their usual composed demeanor, the servants appeared flustered and hurrying with something.

I began to wonder if something had happened.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one curious, as Sione was also watching the busy servants.

“Has something happened?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s ask someone we meet on the way to the garden.”

As time passed, the servants visible in the distance began moving more urgently.

Most of the people moving hastily were heading toward the entrance of the mansion.

Naturally, our attention was drawn in that direction as well.

Then, even the priests who usually waited inside the mansion for emergencies were all heading toward the entrance.

Neither Sione nor I were interested in the garden anymore.

“Let’s go to the entrance.”

“I’ll follow.”

The closer we got to the entrance, the more people we could see gathering.

Sione stopped one of the servants who was about to pass by us and asked:

“Could you tell me what’s happening that has everyone moving so urgently?”

At Sione’s question, the older male servant’s brow furrowed deeply.

“…A knight from the cult search and subjugation team sent to the Beltrin Mountains has arrived with a message.”

The cult search and subjugation team.

It was definitely the cult subjugation force led by Siabel Sianella and Diolia that went to search the Beltrin Mountains.

What message could they have sent to cause such a commotion?

A deep curiosity began to awaken.

“A message. Can you tell us its contents as well?”

“Well…”

The servant hesitated as if the information was too burdensome to share freely.

Sione, seemingly frustrated, crossed her arms like her sister and glared at him.

“Can you answer quickly?”

“…I’ll relay exactly what I heard from the knight.”

As Sione spoke somewhat irritably, the man took a deep breath to compose himself.

With a calm expression, he quietly began reciting the knight’s message.

His demeanor was quite solemn as he delivered it.

“After searching for cultists, during an operation to subjugate Demonkin, 17 soldiers died in battle against cult followers and Demonkin. Nine were severely injured, and…”

The servant’s complexion visibly worsened.

“…Lady Siabel Sianella is also returning with severe injuries sustained during battle with Demonkin.”

None other than Siabel Sianella was returning with severe injuries.