CH 26

Translated by: ShinigamiTori

The Beginning of Discomfort 2

“…. Hiiikk….!”

Erica, who seemed to have realized that the one who had fallen was a human, let out a muffled scream as she followed me.

The limbs of the man wearing a robe, which signified that he was a worker of the magic tower, were pointing in strange directions, and a pool of blood slowly spread out.

In the past, I had gone out to subjugate demons many times, so I had seen some pretty bad injuries. Still, it looked so bad that I was horrified and was unable to move for a while.

I heard a small, shaky groan, and realizing that he was still breathing, I immediately ran over to him and cast a recovery spell.

There were no injuries that couldn’t be healed as long as there was life, and yet…

“Why….?”

The healing speed was terribly slow, even though I was treating him with all my power. The bleeding didn’t stop, and I grew impatient. It was as if something was preventing the magic from working.

I forced myself to push through with the amount of magic power I had, feeling an unpleasant sensation sticking all over my body.

“…. That’s a relief.”

It took a while, but the visible injuries seemed to have healed. The man was unconscious, but he was breathing properly, which was a relief.

“What happened here?”

“He suddenly started acting strange.”

“A light wizard is treating him….?”

I was so focused that I hadn’t noticed the crowd around me. I hurriedly grabbed the hood and stood up.

That was when I decided to leave the rest to the others and left this place with Erica.

“What’s going on?”

Coming quietly up the stairs were Alvin-sama and Owen, who must have heard the commotion and come over.

The two looked a little surprised when they saw me, and then ordered those present to leave the place.

Only myself, Erica, Alvin-sama, Owen, and the escort knights remained at that spot.

“What happened? Is Nina hurt?”

“I’m fine. We suddenly heard a scream and rushed to the scene only to find a man falling to the floor. I hurriedly cast a recovery spell, but for some reason, the magic didn’t work as well as I’d hoped….”

“Nina’s magic?”

Owen, who was watching the man while listening to me, eventually let out a deep sigh.

“I see, he must have been learning forbidden magic.”

“…. Forbidden magic?”

“Yes. I think that’s why Nina’s magic didn’t work so well. Rather, I was surprised that you were able to heal a user of the forbidden magic that repelled other magic. That’s impressive.”

As the name suggested, forbidden magic was magic that was forbidden. I had only learned a little about it before, but I had heard that it came with a lot of danger in return for gaining great power.

It was likely that he couldn’t handle that much power.

“What will happen after this…?”

“I’ll take him to the temple sanitarium for the time being, but I don’t know if he’ll wake up. Even if he wakes up, he will be tried and punished for using the forbidden arts.”

Owen shrugged his shoulders. There was no sympathy or concern there, and it looked like he was seriously astonished.

“This child was excellent. I should have known this would happen.”

“Then why did he do this…?”

“He must have had a wish that he wanted to fulfill so badly.”

These words made my heart ache. What kind of a wish was worth risking one’s life for? I couldn’t even imagine.

“I’m sorry you had to see that at the magic tower. Nina and Erica, you should go back to your rooms and get some rest. I’m going to drop him off.”

Come to think of it, Owen wasn’t too surprised to see me. He must have heard about me from Alvin-sama.

Anyway, I was a little tired, so I looked up to go back to my room to rest and turned around to call out to Erica.

“…. Erica? Are you okay?”

When I turned around, Erica’s face was surprisingly pale. Her gaze wasn’t on the man but on Alvin-sama.

“Because, this is, it’s not….”

Alvin-sama touched Erica’s shoulder before I could reach out to Erica, who was muttering about something.

However, Erica immediately shook off that hand. Her appearance was completely different from her usual self, which made me even more worried about her.

On the other hand, Alvin-sama didn’t get angry at Erica and kept smiling as usual.

“Nina, go back to your room with your escorts. I’ll send Erica on her way.”

“I’ll go with you then.”

“I need to have a talk with her alone. I’m sorry.”

After saying that, Alvin-sama grabbed Erica’s hand and instantly disappeared using teleportation magic.

As I stood there, my escort called out to me.

“Nina-sama, we will take you to your room.”

Obviously, Erica and Alvin-sama were acting strangely. I had never seen Erica like that before.

However, it didn’t seem right for me to ask, so I clenched my hands tightly and obediently headed to the room with the knights.

“…. Forbidden magic, huh?”

The feeling of uneasiness and discomfort didn’t subside for some time.