“Damn. Where should I go?”
Iris wasn’t responding to the communication at all.
Same with Trie.
I had no clue about their location, so I couldn’t even figure out which direction to run.
My heart raced, but gathering information was the priority.
Just when I decided to turn towards Flechette Mansion.
“AAAAAAAH!”
“…?”
A high-pitched scream echoed from far away.
But the direction was strange.
It sounded like it was coming from above…
“Trie?”
That was it.
Trie was flailing and falling from the sky.
“Run!”
I immediately kicked the horse into full speed.
I was completely going against traffic, but I didn’t care at all.
A normal magician might calmly use Wind or Gravity Magic to stop in that situation, but Trie’s aiming skills are beyond imagination.
There’s no way she could precisely slow herself down using magic.
“Trie! Spread your body as wide as you can!”
“Sch…Schlus?”
“Quickly!”
I quickly cast a Wind Spell and generated a strong gust from below.
Trie’s descent began to slow down gradually—
“Ugh?!”
“Ahhh!”
I managed to catch Trie just in time as we both hit the ground, sliding over the rocky pavement.
My pants were completely ruined.
Looks like I’m going to need to buy another pair of school uniform pants.
How many pairs is this now…
But that wasn’t important right now.
What mattered was that a bolt from the blue, or rather, a bolt from Trie had struck me.
“Ugh. Where are we?”
“In front of the city hall. What on earth are you talking about, Trie?”
“What?! So this is the middle of the institution?!”
Trie, who had been groaning while grabbing her waist, stood up abruptly and scanned her surroundings.
Her face turned pale as she grabbed my shoulder.
“Schlus! Iris is in danger!”
“Yeah. I know that. Just tell me where she is—”
“Outside the institution. She was attacked by Inquisitors on the road heading south.”
“What?”
Attacked outside the institution?
But how the heck did Trie end up here?
No, more importantly…
“Inquisitors? More than one?”
“How do I explain this? It was originally just one, but then another one suddenly appeared above me…”
“Trie. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Uh? Huh?”
As soon as I heard that, I made the connection.
The teleportation spell that was being developed in the secret laboratory of the Papal Palace.
In the original story, that spell was never completed.
The church in that world couldn’t invest in inefficient research because it was busy teaming up with the Empire to root out the Asylum.
But what about the church in this world?
Amidst the chaos of sects, once the dominant power of the continent turned its back, the church would need a powerful tool to restore its authority.
Like a magic so powerful it could be called divine power…
“Ugh! Ah! Aahh… What are you doing…?”
“Hold on a second.”
I started to peel back every bit of Trie’s armor to check for even a small wound.
Then I found one.
The back of her neck.
Just a slight cut, barely breaking the skin.
“Ouch!”
I pressed the wound with my fingernail, bursting it again.
Blood flowed down, and the information from her inner vessels rushed into me.
“Trie. There’s a spell engraved inside your body.”
“What? I didn’t notice at all?”
“That’s understandable. It’s been cleverly hidden. It’s set up as far away from your heart as possible.”
“How could such a spell send me all the way here?”
Knights are trained to respond very sensitively to internal circuit interference.
The moment they try to approach their heart even a little, their entire body reacts with strong resistance.
But this spell wasn’t even trying to get close to the heart.
It stayed in the capillaries, quietly waiting.
Paying attention to each thin capillary is something even seasoned knights can’t do.
The reason Trie didn’t notice the spell activating in her body was simply that she had activated it herself.
“You consented to the spell’s activation.”
“No? I never did!”
“You may not have, but your body did.”
To be precise, it was Trie’s metabolism that did.
The activation mechanism of the spell was designed to respond to her breathing, heartbeat, pulse, and blood flow.
Without realizing, Trie had activated the spell planted in her body.
“I think it’s a spell that swaps locations with other beings…”
I had seen a pigeon flying around the spot where Trie had been just a moment ago.
That pigeon must have switched places with Trie.
Wait a second.
“Trie. I need to look closer.”
“Ouch, ouch…”
I pressed my finger firmly against Trie’s wound, trying to read the spell’s information.
If this spell truly swapped locations between users, then the pigeon would have been summoned near Iris.
So if I could use this spell, I could immediately move to Iris’s side.
‘This is insane. What is this?’
As soon as I examined the state of the spell, I couldn’t help but sigh.
While the spell was small, it was unbelievably complex.
This couldn’t have been the original design of the spell, and it seemed like unnecessary elements were added to make interpretation difficult.
The effort to obscure what the core parts were was truly impressive…
‘Selection and Concentration. 1 second for computational power.’
I really picked the wrong opponent.
I had the ability to interpret a spell that dozens of professors would take months to decipher in just 1 second.
In an instant, the unnecessary parts of the spell peeled away, leaving only the core part swirling at my fingertips.
“Got it. Now I can implement it.”
“Already?!”
But there was one problem.
The mana required to deploy this spell was incredibly high.
It devoured nearly 90,000 mana all at once, meaning I could only use it once if I spent ‘Selection and Concentration’ on mana.
“I only have one opportunity. But I can only bring one person. Trie. Can you do it?”
“…”
Trie had already caught a glimpse of how those guys fought.
So wouldn’t she be able to win if she faced them a second time?
“No…”
But Trie lowered her head and said that.
Trie was giving up?
“Schlus. You go.”
“Why’s that?”
“I want to go… I want to correct my mistakes… But you’re here. If only one person can go, it has to be you, not me.”
“….”
Trie gritted her teeth as she said that.
At first glance, it sounded like she was saying I should go because I was stronger, but I could see her hand trembling behind her.
The unyielding will of Trie, who gets back up eight times after falling seven, was afraid.
That must mean her opponent was overwhelmingly strong.
It didn’t even matter that I had a few victories against Trie in one-on-one duels.
With Trie in this state, forcing her to go would likely yield poor results.
I had no choice but to go.
“Bring the police to Iris’s location. I’ll go ahead.”
“Okay…”
I took out my dagger and lightly cut my wrist.
Then I closed my eyes and connected with the blood flow inside.
‘Selection and Concentration. 1 second for mana.’
The spell containing all the technological prowess of the Papal Palace.
I engraved the teleportation spell into myself.
With this, the spell’s user would have been completely recognized as me.
There was no time to hesitate now.
If I didn’t move quickly, Iris would be in danger.
“Iris… I’ll definitely save you…”
“I’ll be back.”
*Pop.*
Suddenly, I felt a lurch in my stomach, and my field of vision changed dramatically.
Everything in front of me turned blue.
“Ugh?!”
No. I had teleported into the sky.
While free-falling, I quickly glanced around for the ground.
Not far away, I spotted a wrecked carriage.
In front of it stood two hulking men.
And…
“What the hell.”
There was a nun bleeding and collapsed.
Suddenly, my entire internal circuit began to go haywire.
Nosebleeds poured down, and blood vessels burst in my eyes.
*
“Ah… Ah…”
Crimson blood dripped onto the green grass of the meadow.
Iris clutched her stomach and collapsed forward, curling up.
“I’m truly sorry, young saintess.”
“If a saintess turns her back on the church, she should have been prepared for this. I believed the warning message had been delivered clearly, but it’s unfortunate it came to this.”
Healing magic was having no effect at all.
Only then did Iris realize the ominous aura emanating from the tip of the spear.
It was Mana Energy.
The most basic and primal poison that hinders the effects of mana, rendering healing magic useless.
Desperately, she tried to squeeze the wound with both hands, but her frail arms couldn’t stop the blood gushing out.
“I’ll cut your life short.”
“No. It would be rude to inflict two wounds on the body of a saintess. Just let her bleed out and die… Huh?”
“What’s going on?”
Sernavon raised his head, sensing something unusual.
The other inquisitor, who similarly felt an ominous aura, also looked up at the sky.
From there, something dark was falling down.
*Thud…!*
It crashed to the ground, sending dirt flying.
The inquisitors, startled by the massive Mana Energy pouring out, quickly took aim and prepared for combat.
“A person…?”
It was certainly in human form.
A human scattering Mana Energy was neither surprising nor strange for those who were used to it.
In their faithful minds, one thought occurred.
A demon.
They felt as if a demon had crawled up from the depths of hell and manifested in the mortal world.
*Cough! Urgh! If I get addicted to Mana Energy, I’ll die.*
“We’ll kill it with a quick ambush.”
The black mist created by the Mana Energy obscured their vision so much they couldn’t clearly see anything.
As it began to walk, glowing eyes shone through the fog and a blue flash erupted from its right hand.
It was a sight Iris felt she had seen somewhere before.
As she watched the three people disappear from their spots with blinding speed and crash in a large sound, she shut her eyes slowly.
…
…
…
“…Ris! Iris!”
“Ah…”
I opened my eyes again.
I couldn’t ignore the voice calling me desperately.
Turning my head with great effort, I saw Schlus stumbling towards me.
He wore tattered school clothes and was covered in blood.
Why did it come to this…?
“Damn it. Hold on, Iris!”
Schlus knelt next to me, laid me flat, and pressed down on my stomach wound.
Then he quickly pulled a bottle from his pocket and opened the cap with his mouth.
Just seeing that oddly shaped bottle told me all I needed to know.
It was the panacea, Elixir, that could heal any ailment.
Wait a second.
If he just applied pressure, I could survive without needing that.
It’s not necessary to use that precious thing…
“Ah… Aah… ugh…”
“Shut up and just open your mouth properly.”
My lips wouldn’t cooperate.
I was too weak to speak properly.
Schlus made a troubled expression, then poured the elixir into his mouth—
“Umm… Hmm…”
And then he kissed me, feeding me the elixir.
His huge tongue entered my mouth, ensuring that I wouldn’t choke.
The elixir that slid down my throat was absorbed instantly.
The bleeding from my stomach stopped, my vision became clear, and I felt strength returning to my body.
My mind felt refreshed.
Like waking up on a holiday morning after a good sleep.
Only then did the backlog of thoughts in my mind process, and rage surged to the top.
I sat up and grabbed Schlus by the collar.
“What the hell are you doing?! Using the elixir! What were you thinking? Do you even know how much that costs?!”
“I do. Of course.”
“It was a wound that could heal just fine with pressure! There’s no need to waste such a precious treasure!”
“Iris, what was the probability of you fully recovering if we didn’t use the elixir?”
“90, no, 99 percent.”
“With even a 1 percent chance, I couldn’t gamble your life away.”
“…”
I was left speechless.
Now that I think about it, Schlus didn’t even bother checking how serious my injuries were.
Regardless of how severe my wound was or wasn’t, he had already decided to use the elixir.
For a single vial of a treasure that could lead to war and sells nations…
“Why…? Why on earth…?”
“I’m just an ordinary and treacherous human who can’t love everyone equally, so I cherish only those around me. If I were like you, I would’ve long ago thrown this elixir at some nameless patient with a terminal illness. But I kept it all this time for someone like you, a fool who cares for everyone’s wellbeing while neglecting her own future.”
Who is it that only worries about others’ safety…?
I had plenty to say in retort.
So many questions I wanted to ask.
But for now, I decided to stay quiet in Schlus’s embrace.
I felt his warm yet sticky blood.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t want to heal Schlus’s wounds just yet.
Because what if he regained his strength and let me go? What if he leaves?
I wished this moment could last forever, but of course, that wouldn’t do.
I pulled my face away from Schlus’s chest.
Pouring healing mana from my fingertips, I met his empty eyes.
“Schlus. After being high on elixir, I’m going to say something ridiculous. Can you forget it?”
“Is there alcohol in the elixir? I’ve never heard of someone getting high on elixir—”
“I love you.”
“…”
Ah. I said it. I let it slip.
An awkward silence hung between us.
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