“Folia, over here too, please!”
“Coming now!”
Folia rushed to treat the local knights brought into the church. Unlike the previous stampede, there was no one with injuries that made her want to look away.
However,
“Hurry! Antidote here too!”
This time, what emerged from the forest were poisonous insect-type harmful beasts.
Even small wounds could be life-threatening without quick treatment.
Folia desperately continued using magic on the wounds turning blue.
“Someone! Come quickly!!”
A man appeared, shouting desperately.
At the urgency in his voice, Folia turned around.
“Eh—”
She was speechless.
Being carried by a man with a sturdy build was a familiar figure with black hair wearing ceremonial robes. It was Zell-Ire-Mordil himself…
The blood drained from her face, and that instant felt very long.
“Folia!”
“!”
Hearing her name called, Folia rushed to Zell’s side as if released.
“Why is Zell-sama—!”
“His work finished early, so he was heading to the church to see you, young lady. He protected a town child who hadn’t evacuated yet and was stung by a poison wasp. I’m sorry, even though I was with him—”
Hans, who served as Zell’s guard, had tears in his eyes.
“Ugh, ah—”
Carried to a bed, Zell’s consciousness seemed hazy as he broke into a terrible sweat, his body trembling slightly, then beginning to shake violently. His painful, wheezing breaths were agonizing to hear.
“Zell-sama!”
Folia immediately cast healing magic on the stung area on his side.
Under the clothes removed to examine his condition, black bruises spread as if eroding his body. Unlike the blue discoloration on other patients, the bruises didn’t respond to magic, and Folia’s hands trembled.
Hans, holding down the shaking Zell, also bit his lip.
(What should I do? Why, how could this… At this rate, Zell-sama will… will die!)
Through Folia’s magic, the erosion speed of the bruises slowed slightly, but at this rate, it wouldn’t last long.
“Zell was also in danger from poison wasp stings during the previous stampede. And the poison wasp that stung him—it was different from normal ones, jet black…”
“No! I can’t—”
“We kept quiet because we didn’t want to worry you. He has a bad reaction to poison wasp venom…”
Hans’s expression was one of agony.
It was as if being told indirectly that it couldn’t be helped if Folia couldn’t save him, and she gasped.
“—I won’t give up! I’ll absolutely save him!!”
Folia raised her voice.
The sisters, who had never seen her shout at anyone, widened their eyes at her voice.
(More. More power—)
Forcibly activating her magic stone, her head hurt as if splitting. Her clenched teeth strained with effort, her jaw trembling.
Still, Folia didn’t stop.
With the person she loved dying before her eyes, there was no time to complain about pain or hardship.
Just as she pushed her power to the point where her brain felt like it might boil…
—From Folia’s hand held over the wound, a massive amount of light overflowed.
“Whoa!”
Hans cried out as suddenly brilliant, gentle holy light enveloped Zell.
He involuntarily closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was Zell—not only without black bruises, but without a single wound.
“Y-young lady!? This is!”
Hans confirmed that Zell’s trembling had stopped and he had a peaceful expression, then looked at Folia excitedly.
“Th-thank good…ness…”
“H-hey, young lady!”
Relieved that she had saved him, her tension released, and Folia’s body collapsed.
“—Folia!”
Before her body hit the ground, a girl caught Folia.
“Hold on. I’ll cast magic to help you feel better right away—”
Hearing the voice of a friend who shouldn’t be here, Folia looked up at her with fading consciousness.
“Ra…ze…chan?”
After murmuring that, without hearing an answer, she closed her eyelids.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
“Who are you…”
Hans took a defensive stance toward the girl holding Folia.
(I didn’t notice her presence at all until she appeared…)
Though he had let his master Zell be endangered, Hans still made his living as a guard.
The secretive factional disputes within the church were more troublesome than noble succession conflicts, though not publicly visible. Aiming for the next Pope’s seat, they applied pressure to enemies like slow-acting poison.
Zell was also a candidate for the next Pope, and to protect him, Hans had been selected after thorough examination of not just his skills, but his birth, family background, and character. He was an elite who had once belonged to the Knight Order.
Though the situation had been dire, he hadn’t fallen so low that he couldn’t detect the presence of ordinary people nearby.
This girl who appeared was abnormal.
“I’m her classmate. Please don’t be so on guard.”
His wariness unchanged, Hans stared at the girl.
She wore a white shirt on top, pants below, with lace-up boots, her hair simply tied up—an appearance suggesting a boy. But from her build, he could tell this girl—she—was female.
She—Raze-Shess-Orphan—cast healing magic to ease Folia’s headache.
Folia seemed to have lost consciousness from exerting her power, but would recover properly with rest.
“I’m just a low-ranking adventurer. I rushed over when I heard the news, but—”
Saying this, Raze lifted Folia and laid her on the bed next to where Zell slept.
“Could a mere adventurer arrive at the young lady’s side so precisely…?”
Though she seemed like a harmless girl you could find anywhere, Hans kept his hand on his sword, knowing she was no ordinary person. He couldn’t trust her claim of being just a classmate.
“Please don’t tell Folia I came here.”
“What!?”
Raze, who should have been in front of the bed, instantly moved behind Hans and whispered in a lowered voice.
Hans felt a chill.
—This girl, I can’t see her depths at all.
He swallowed audibly.
“If you’re her friend, why hide it?”
“I don’t want to worry her. It might involve her in dangerous things. …Also, I can rush to her side anytime. You understand what this means, right?”
Raze’s finger touched Hans’s back with pressure like placing a blade there.
It was a threat: [If you talk, you know what will happen, right?]
He couldn’t understand this girl who wanted him to keep quiet about coming here for Folia’s sake, yet threatened that she could silence him about Folia anytime. Confused, Hans thought about how to break out of this situation.
“…Let me ask one last thing. Are you an enemy of the young lady and Zell?”
However, having had his back taken at this point meant she was superior. Hans concluded it would be impossible to face this girl while protecting both the unconscious Zell and Folia, never mind just himself.
So all he could do was ask Raze that question.
“Cardinal Mordil aside. I’m not Folia’s enemy. I told you—I’m her classmate. I’m on good terms with her.”
“…I understand. I didn’t see you.”
“Thank you for your cooperation. Hans-san, please protect these two here until reinforcements arrive.”
Hans stood agape that she knew his name.
Though Raze’s finger left his back, the sensation of having a weapon pointed at him remained.
It was pressure that shouldn’t come from such a small, harmless-looking girl.
“…Sorry for arriving late. Folia. Rest well now and get better soon. I’ll take care of the rest…”
After saying this to Folia, Raze teleported away from the scene.
Her expression, seen from the side, was gentle yet stern.
“What was that…”
Left behind, Hans murmured in shock.
He never imagined such an unfathomable student existed at Folia’s academy.
Though he released tension from his tensed body, Hans couldn’t move from that spot for a while.
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