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“Zion? Senpai?”

Of all the moments to walk in…

The situation of hugging Zion could easily lead to misunderstandings, but in truth, it wasn’t really a big deal.

‘Be quiet.’

I raised one hand, making a ‘shh’ gesture with my finger to silence Zion, who was curled up in my arms.

Fortunately, Hanamana seemed to understand what I wanted to convey, as she covered her mouth with both hands, making a ‘hush’ sound, and began to watch me closely.

“Zion. Hanamana is here.”

“Mr. Hop…”

Zion, whose trembling had subsided somewhat, was taking deep breaths but still couldn’t look up.

“The answer…”

Zion demanded an answer with a shaky voice. But…

“I’ll tell you later.”

“……”

I had no intention of revealing to Hanamana that I was a regressor and had been a companion of the two in my previous life, so I could not respond in front of her.

Putting off the response, Zion buried her face deeper into my arms, gripping tightly onto the fabric of my side.

‘Zion…’

It was a clear reaction of fear. Delaying my answer after Hanamana arrived was equivalent to saying I wouldn’t tell her.

The lie about the Demon King returning had sparked an opportunity for Zion to start her rehabilitation treatment, but the very presence of the Demon King was a double-edged sword that could weigh heavily on her.

From what I observed over the month, Zion was a hero with transcendent spirit, but ultimately, she was still just a human being.

If her mind were to shatter…

What on earth would I do?

If what I did for her ended up breaking her instead…

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‘Mr. Hop isn’t planning to tell Hanamana!’

As I anticipated, Zion had sensed my thoughts.

But the direction her thoughts took was quite different from what I expected.

‘Now, Naow, Hanamana, Iris… they’re all gone. The next time I fight, I’ll be alone. I have to do it by myself. I’ll save the world and defeat the Demon King…’

Zion was a hero born out of war.

When the war against the demons raged, all of humanity’s heart unified around her.

Everyone banded together as one heart to support Zion and had companions to share their fates with.

But now, only Zion knew of the impending crisis.

Zion, with her completely broken body and mind, carried a secret that no one knew, and slowly, without any promise of tomorrow, she took her steps to face the Demon King once more.

‘No, I’m not alone yet. Just one person. Just one companion who needs me in this world…’

Hop Harvey. The one and only companion who told me I was needed again in this world.

‘I only have my teacher now. No one but Mr. Hop…!’

With the fear that Hop might suddenly leave her as she couldn’t even walk alone, Zion clung to my robe with all her might.

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‘Senpai? What’s going on here…’

I had signaled Hanamana to be quiet, so she stood there frozen and didn’t speak, but somehow I felt I understood the meaning behind her gaze.

But right now, I had no extra time to worry about Hanamana.

I needed to calm Zion, who was hanging onto me, and quietly wait for her to settle down.

“Zion. It’s alright. You’ll be fine.”

Hanamana, glancing from me to the subtly trembling Zion, seemed to grasp the situation. Eventually, she silently moved closer, knelt beside us, and wrapped her arms around Zion as if to provide warmth.

“It’s alright, Zion. Hanamana is here too.”

By saying, ‘I’m here,’ Hanamana was probably sticking to the manual.

That’s a common phrase used to reassure a patient in a panic state.

Just being together naturally gives people a sense of reassurance.

However, even with Hanamana present, Zion wouldn’t let me go, still clinging to me tightly.

Could she not see what was happening around her?

At this rate, Zion might just hold me in silence until she exhausted herself, either coming back to her senses or falling asleep.

“……”

How much time had passed?

Zion had shown no more reactions.

Though she still clung tightly, I slowly held her hand, gently pulling her fingers away from mine.

“Has she fallen asleep?”

“Looks like it.”

With Hanamana stepping back, I checked on Zion, who leaned against me. Indeed, she was in a state of unconsciousness.

After confirming vital signs and making sure she had fallen asleep, I finally managed to take a breath.

“Uh, does Zion often end up like this?”

“Do you know what kind of state this is?”

“It looked like a panic state due to a seizure.”

As expected, she knew what she was talking about. Hanamana was indeed a Rehabilitation Expert. That was only natural.

“Exactly. Even without me saying it, you figured it out and helped her. Thank you, Hanamana.”

I wanted to mention that Zion often had worse seizures than this, but I decided against it thinking it might cause her too much worry.

Zion’s rehabilitation was something I had to bear alone. I had no intention of passing it on to anyone else.

“I’m glad to be of help. Actually, this is my first time dealing with this; I’ve only read about it in manuals.”

Hanamana exhaled a relieved sigh and offered a sweet smile.

For her to say it’s her first time means that typically, they handle it by just putting the patient to sleep. If following the manual, that would be the case.

As expected from someone with a good understanding of magic, Hanamana seemed to know precisely why she had to act as she did with Zion just now.

Anyways, due to the unexpected circumstance, we had to return Zion to the Papal Palace where we were staying, so our dinner invitation by Hanamana would consequently have to end here.

“Since Zion has ended up like this, I’ll be heading back. The meal was delicious.”

“Uh… Can I go with you, Hanamana? I’m worried about Zion…”

“That’s fine.”

“Thank you, Senpai.”

Since Hanamana took the initiative, I entrusted her with Zion’s wheelchair and walked alongside her.

“Speaking of which, Hanamana.”

“Yes?”

“Have you learned all the skills and spells I classified under rehabilitation medicine?”

Since the rehabilitation center in this world was a place that healed people broken by war, there were many cases of people suffering from paranoia or stress disorders causing them to have seizures.

Hanamana seemed to have dealt with it by putting them to sleep all this time, so I wondered if she had learned the other skills too.

“I haven’t learned them all, but I’ve learned almost all… Except for one spell.”

“Which one is that?”

“Recover.”

Recover, huh? The spell that gives a slightly permanent healing effect to damaged patients. It was a convenient spell that offers simple rehabilitative effects, albeit slight.

“Come to think of it, the director of the empire didn’t have Recover either.”

“Where did you learn such a spell, Senpai?”

“When I was young, I helped the elders back in my hometown, and someone told me to check out a nearby church because they taught spells like that, so I went and learned it there. The cleric at that church was also quite old, barely able to move, and mentioned it would likely close soon.”

“I see. Was it perhaps a spell that’s passed down secretly in some village?”

Hanamana, who’s lived over 200 years as an elf, was someone who has a high aptitude for magic and a keen understanding of it, actively engaging with human society to study and learn magic, yet she sounded as if it was a magic she never knew at all…

Was it just an obscure magic that had fallen out of use?

“The more I read the description in the textbook, the more peculiar the magic seems, and even after searching hard, I couldn’t learn it.”

“What makes it so peculiar?”

“It’s not temporary; it’s a spell that permanently changes stats—not decreases, but increases them. Moreover, it’s limited to stats possessed in the past, and the cooldown applies to the recipient, not the caster, with minimal consumption cost. It’s just a fascinating magic in many ways.”

Hmm… So Recover was treated as such? It seemed I needed to adjust my perception a bit.

In terms of rehabilitation, Recover was merely a supportive method.

If it was a spell this difficult to learn, it would be best to omit it from the rehabilitation textbooks.

Perhaps I should go back to that church when I have the chance and retrieve the magic book I received, and consider directly teaching it myself.

“Senpai, speaking of which, could you perhaps demonstrate that magic?”

“You want me to show you?”

“Yes, if possible. It’s the magic you use on Zion, right?”

“That’s right.”

“It wouldn’t be right to cast it on our patient, so once Zion’s cooldown is up…”

“Well…”

Zion’s Recover cooldown just happened to be tomorrow. It wasn’t a hard request.

“Alright, I’ll show you once.”

“Thank you!”

Finally, tomorrow would be the last day of our trip. By showing Hanamana the Recover spell and attending to her treatment, I could successfully wrap up the schedule in the Sacred Magic Bureau.

 

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