“Use it until you collapse from magic exhaustion to go beyond your limits. Once you collapse, drink the magic recovery potion and repeat,” he would say, and even if I fainted, he would forcibly wake me up and make me drink the potion and use “Heal Magic.”
He also made me run from early morning until late at night, saying, “A healthy body has better magical power quality.”
In addition to that, I was made to drink strange potions under the pretext of raising magical power… It felt like I was being subjected to human experiments. Sometimes, I even wondered if this man might be a demon.
But, even so, it wasn’t painful. On the contrary… it made me happy.
Because I realized that he was considering so many things for my sake. Despite being lazy, he stayed by my side.
He didn’t stay by my side every day; sometimes he would disappear and say, “I’ll be out for a bit. Make sure you don’t slack off.” But other than that, he was there with me… and that made me happy.
Because… Ray was the only one who stayed by my side.
…
On that day, I was waiting for Ray in a corner of the spacious garden. Today was different from usual; we were going to practice using “Heal Magic” on targets other than myself, so I came to the garden early in the morning.
Ray had told the other children beforehand, “Anyone who is willing to help, gather in the garden tomorrow morning.” So everyone living in this house had gathered there.
But… I didn’t really want to do it. I didn’t like it. Because…
…
From all directions, I could feel sharp gazes that seemed filled with fear. I instinctively averted my eyes, looking down at the ground.
I… was being avoided by everyone.
But that was only natural. It was to be expected. After all, everyone here knew about my divine protection. They knew that I had killed other slaves in illegal arenas using this divine protection. It was understandable that they wouldn’t want to come close to someone who possessed a divine protection that could strike them at any moment without warning.
And… I was also the one receiving direct instruction in “Heal Magic” from Ray, which caused some envy. Even if there was no hostility, he certainly wouldn’t have any goodwill towards me.
Yet, there were some children who tried to approach me without knowing about me. After being stopped by other children, they whispered something and quickly ran away.
“Ugh… sorry, I’m late.”
Ray arrived much later than the scheduled time. He looked sleepy, and we began the practice. But…
“Hey, ‘Teacher’! Why do you always favor her…! she’s a demon… cursed! Being near her…”
When we were about to start, one of the boys couldn’t hold it in any longer and shouted in a discontented manner.
“Huh? What are you talking about? I’m not favoring anyone… Besides, I’ve told you to stop calling me ‘Teacher’ multiple times.”
“But… recently, you’ve been focused on her all the time! What about us…?”
“That’s because I’m the only one who can teach her ‘Heal Magic.’ Unlike you, she doesn’t have any books… Besides, in the first place, I’m not your parent or teacher. I’m just a stranger. I’m teaching you things now because it aligns with our interests, but I won’t be with you all the time. So… don’t rely on me. It’s a nuisance.”
With a genuinely displeased tone, Ray dismissed them with his cold words. The children stared in shock, then lowered their faces to the ground with a sorrowful expression.
“But… she’s a demon. Being near her, there’s a ‘curse’…”
Still, one of the boys stared at me and tried to convince Ray with a worried tone.
Surely, in whatever form, he couldn’t tolerate any harm coming to Ray, who had helped them. So, he warned Ray that it was dangerous to be near me.
“Demon… Do you see her with horns and wings or something? She looks like an ordinary human to me. And her ‘curse’ is not a curse; it’s a ‘divine protection.’ You guys are too scared, thinking everything is a curse. Just being close won’t kill you.”
Ray sighed with exasperation and then seemed to have a realization. “Right… you guys, watch this,” he said and walked over to us.
Then he said, “Don’t move,” and circled behind me.
Not knowing what Ray was going to do, I stiffened as he had instructed…
“Hmph,” he lightly tapped both my cheeks with the gauntlets he was wearing. Surprised by the cold sensation, I let out a small yelp.
Ray continued to knead and squish my cheeks, making me pout my lips into a funny face. He then pulled my cheeks to the side, stretching them out.
“See? I’m still alive, right?”
After playing around with my cheeks for a while, he stopped and spread his arms as if to prove that he was alive.
“Well, her divine protection won’t activate unless she’s physically harmed, like being hit or kicked. So, as long as you live your life normally, there won’t be any issues. In other words, you guys are just too scared. Or maybe… are you planning to punch and kick her, doing the same things that were done to you?”
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“Wha–? I… I…”
The boy opened his eyes wide in response to Ray’s words, his mouth trembling. His expression seemed to say that he had never even considered such a thing.
After hesitating, the boy glanced around…
“I’m sorry… Can you forgive me?” He bowed his head and apologized to me.
“…Huh?”
Confused about why he was apologizing, I felt a sense of chaos.
“…I never thought I would try to do the same things they did. Trying to do to you what I hated being done to me… It’s the worst. I’m truly sorry.”
The boy continued to bow, his voice filled with solemnity.
After that, others also apologized to me. And then… as originally planned, we began practicing “Heal Magic” on other targets.
At first, people were still scared of me, but as they realized nothing happened when they approached and talked to me, that fear gradually disappeared. In fact, as we reached the end of the practice session, they started speaking to me in a friendly manner and engaging in various conversations.
I… was bewildered. Extremely bewildered.
Because I had never experienced being spoken to without a disgusted expression. Even if it did happen, it was always a lie. It was always fake.
But the faces of everyone who approached me showed no signs of deceit; they didn’t seem like they were lying. It appeared as if they genuinely enjoyed interacting with me.
“Alright, based on the results… there don’t seem to be any issues with using it on other targets. So, next…”
Satisfied with the lack of any abnormal occurrences, Ray nodded approvingly.
As I watched Ray, I absentmindedly touched my cheeks that he had squished earlier.
Then… even though some time had passed since he squished them, my cheeks still felt warm. The pain from being squished should have disappeared by now, but my cheeks were reddened and warm, almost as if I had caught a cold.
“…A cold?”
Furthermore, for some reason, my heart was pounding loudly, almost like it was about to explode, causing discomfort… Since I had been perfectly fine until now, I thought that maybe I had caught a cold.
“Let’s see… hey, are you listening? Huh, your face is all red… Did you catch a cold?”
“Uh!? Yeah, probably.”
Lost in thought, I didn’t notice that Ray had come closer, peering into my face. Feeling embarrassed for some reason, I turned my face away.
Strangely, my heart started pounding even louder when Ray’s face approached, and my cheeks grew hotter. It must be a cold after all.
Upon hearing my reply, Ray said with delight, “A cold, huh… Then let’s take a break today! Alright, we’ll just laze around.” He happily ran off to his room.
Seeing that, I felt a slight sense of disappointment. I didn’t know why I felt that way. Maybe I wanted to practice more magic today. Although it’s strange to want to do more when I have a cold… But… for some reason… every time I thought of Ray… my heart would warm up slightly, and each time, my heart would pound loudly.
Thinking it must be a cold, I wrapped myself in a blanket in my room that day and rested. I needed to recover from the cold quickly so that I could resume my training.
The next day, when I woke up, my fever was gone. However, I noticed that my face still became warm and my heart started pounding loudly whenever I was with Ray.
“…? Strange.”
I tilted my head, wondering about the strange cold.
Since then, I became more familiar with everyone and they started approaching me and talking to me frequently.
I was originally not good at speaking and could only respond hesitantly, stumbling over my words… Yet, everyone accepted me just the way I was.
Through my training with Ray, I became able to use basic healing magic like “Minor Regeneration” and “Cure,” and Ray told me that if we continued at this pace, I might fulfill the requirements for acquiring the necessary magical power and contracted spirits within a few years.
It was during those challenging yet enjoyable days that something happened.
“Eve, next is this one! And after that, this one! Ahh, it’s so fun because the materials are great…! With this, even Teacher won’t stand a chance!”
On that day, for some reason, I was being dressed in various clothes, treated like a doll to be dressed up.
“…Actually, I’m fine with what I have now.”
I murmured my dissatisfaction to the excited girl who was handing me various outfits. I had been obediently letting her dress me up for about an hour now, and I was starting to get tired.
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