“Harold, is that…”

“Is that you Rust? Kalin told me you went out to do reconnaissance-in-force. Are you all right?”

“Y-yes. I am.”

I say while staring at Harold, who is laying on a bed.

“What’s wrong? Ahh. This? Yes, apparently it was too late. Kalin did her best, so don’t blame her.”

Says Harold while pointing to his bandaged face.

“No, I won’t do that. Was it both eyes?”

“No, just the right one. The left eye should heal.”

“…Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

I say before I rush out of the room in Kalin’s mansion where Harold is.

As soon as I leave, I see Kalin.

“Rust, I’m sorry. I made the wrong decision regarding Harold’s eye. I couldn’t heal it completely.”

Says Kalin while bowing deeply. I can sense by her expression that she feels very guilty.

“Kalin… It’s not your fault. It’s all right, I’ll do something about it.”

I guess it’s all right just this once, so I give her a few light taps on the head, and hope it’s any comfort.

“Also, the information we gained thanks to your instructions is very valuable. Without it, we would have no choice but to kill everyone.”

“Ah, yes. I heard Ahri’s report. You were surprised by the Kagero Institute, weren’t you?”

Kalin says with a smile, although her eyes are still a little moist.

“I sure was. You never change do you? I was coming here to complain about that too.”

Kalin keeps smiling. She seems fine, so I leave.

◆◇

“How is it, Harold?”

I ask Harold after I finish preparing and treating him.

“You never change, Rust. It’s incredible. I can see!”

Harold is impressed by the especially made artificial eye I implanted. The artificial eye has several finely processed magic crystals and a three-dimensional magic circuit.

That’s Harold’s new eye, which he is using to look at me.

“I’ve never seen or even heard of something like this. Doesn’t it hurt?”

Kalin asks Harold with a worried tone.

“No, it doesn’t even feel at all uncomfortable, just kind of weird.”

“That’s because it’s a magic item designed for continuous operation. It’s adapted to your body and uses its magic elements. Sorry, but this means the overall amount of magic elements you can use is lower.”

Harold shakes his head.

“Thank you Rust.”

“Have this eye-patch too I guess. Just because that eye stands out.”

I hand Harold an eye-patch I made.

“It’s pretty cool.”

“Isn’t it?”

The three of us laugh, and it’s like we’re back to our days in the academy.