After training for, well, longer than we should have, we finally decided to go to sleep. As I got up to leave, I cast my inefficient cleansing spells onto myself.
“What was that?” Melly asks in shock.
“Hmm? Do you mean my cleaning spell?” I ask.
“You have a cleaning spell? Why don’t you use that all the time?”
“Because it’s not really a cleaning spell. I don’t even think actual cleaning spells exist.”
“Huh?” She gives me an odd look.
“Okay, so I used several spells that do things like wound purification to, very inefficiently, clean my body.”
“How inefficient?”
“Around a tenth of my total mana.”
“Oh, yeah, that would be why.” She says in disappointment.
“Hmm, I’ve never actually tried casting this on another person.”
“So you’re saying.” She says hopefully.
“Don’t get your hopes up; it probably won’t end up working.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Well, it is surprisingly different to cast spells onto other people instead of yourself. For example, I can instinctively cast spells anywhere on my body, where I’d need to calculate that for others. I can also immediately tell if and how the spell worked when used on myself. In addition, because of my deep understanding of my body, it is fairly easy for me to use such delicate spells upon myself.” I explain.
“I, see. So you can’t use it on me?” She asks sadly.
“...Let’s try with just your finger.” I relent. Let’s hope nothing goes wrong.
I cast the spell, and at first, everything seemed fine. When I checked with patient’s analysis though… Yeah, that would have been bad if I’d cast it onto her entire body.
“Yeah, that failed,” I say as I heal her finger.
“How so?”
“Well, I’ve also removed all the oils and like from your skin and dehydrated you. Oh, I’ve also messed with your immune system a bit.” I report. “I basically did everything I could do without actually doing any damage. Overall, not that bad, but there would have been problems if I’d cast it onto your entire body.”
“Huh, That’s disappointing.”
“Oh. I didn’t even affect your entire finger.” I subconsciously added. I really overestimated my understanding of my hodgepodge spell. “Well, that’s just another thing to practice.”
“You’re right. I hope you can get more proficient with that spell.” She sighs. She was really looking forward to this spell, wasn’t she?
“Well, shall we head to sleep?”
“Yeah. Do you want to sleep here?” Melly offers.
“Sure.” I haven’t slept with her in a while. “Let me go get changed first.”
It didn’t take long for me to finish. After lying down, I said. “Good night.”
“Sleep well, Eli.” I will, I think as I drift off to sleep.
______
Grrrrr
I was startled awake.
“Wh-” What was that! Is there something here? I buff my sight, hearing, and eventually, my sense of smell while slowly and carefully checking my surroundings.
Nothing.
The room we were in was completely empty, aside from us. I even checked the closet and the like. Nothing.
Was it just a dream? But it felt so… real. Like I was actually next to a growling dragon… What?
I, dreamt of the dragon? That’s… odd. I mean, it makes sense to be dreaming of it; I already have been for a while now, both in positive and negative ways. It’s just, this was different.
It was as if it was here. I, I could feel it. Haa, I’ve got to be delusional. Maybe I’m just stressed. Too bad praying multiple times doesn’t stack. Whatever, let’s just head back to sleep. Hopefully, my problems will lessen soon. Haa…
______
I woke up deep in Melly’s arms. That’s… unusual. I’m pretty sure Hansen is the only one who grabs things in his sleep (according to Zarewthem, at least). Well, it doesn’t really matter, we sometimes held each other when we slept anyway. Maybe it became a habit?
“Morning Eli.” She says, waking me from my thoughts.
“Morning,” I responded.
Stopping me as I try to get up, she continues. “How’d you sleep?”
“Uh, fine? Pretty much the same as usual.” She gives me a doubtful look. “What? I slept fine.”
“Then why’d you wake up and start seriously searching the room?”
“Haa, I woke you up.” I groan.
“Eli, it’s Fine.” She declares.
“Yeah yeah, arguing won’t get us anywhere. We’ve lived different lives. So, when did I wake you up?” I ask, rejecting to continue a common argument of ours.
“I, okay. You suddenly shook and let out a gasp. Then you probably got lost in thought before randomly searching my room. So, what happened?”
Ah, she knows even more than me. “Uh, I thought I heard a sound, so I looked for the source,” I admit.
“Did you find it?”
“No, it was probably just a dream. It was just oddly realistic, so my tired self mistakenly thought it was real. I am quite nervous about my future, after all.” I shrug.
“Are you sure? You can always tell me if there’s something wrong.”
“I know, that’s what I did last night. It’s the same thing. Getting too worked up about this is pointless; I’ll only truly be fine once I’m done, after all.”
“You’re probably right. It’s like nerves before a fight; advice can only help so much. Well, if you need anything, I’m here to help.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Thank you, Melly.” I hugged her. “Well, let’s get breakfast. We won’t be able to have it again for a while.”
“Sadly.”
“Well, that just means we have to savor what we’ve got.”
______
We finished eating another amazing, but uneventful, breakfast. We sighed ruefully at how we wouldn’t be able to eat the Hero’s cooking soon.
Rapunzel, noticing our grief, commented. “We’ve gotten way too attached to the Hero’s cooking. This might actually be for the best.”
Uh, we were all stunned at her announcement. I want to deny it, but that kinda proves her point.
“You may be correct. I have noticed a distaste for other foods. We should take this time to readjust our palettes, or else we shall suffer the consequences.” Greg agreed.
“That’s right.” The Hero approved. “If you keep eating my food, you will start seeing everything else as disgusting. You’d really suffer then.”
“That would be annoying.” Melly relented.
“Indeed.”
“Well, it’s not like we have a choice.” I reminded. “Well, I’m off to training, if you need me, I’ll be… somewhere,” I say, realizing that I actually don’t know. I also don’t know where Samuel is either. Huh.
“That’s helpful.” The Hero comments with a smile. Yeah yeah.
“Well, someone should know. I doubt you’d need me for anything anyway.” I say as I head for the Cardinal’s office. While others would likely be able to help me, she might have her own plans. And, well, I’d just feel more relieved if she was the one that set everything up.
Soon, I was at her door. I did at least plan on asking someone where she and Samuel were, but the only other person I saw didn’t know.
Knock knock. “Come in.”
“Hello,” I say as I enter. Huh, there are quite a few people here. “Uh, are you busy?”
“No.” Cardinal Caitlyn says. Um, are you sure about that?
Well, let’s not waste everyone’s time. “So, did you have a particular place for me to train, or…”
“Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry, I completely forgot to arrange that for you. Carsen, could you check what places we have open?” Oh, she forgot. Haa.
“Right away,” Carsen replies as he leaves.
After a few minutes, Carsen returned. With Samuel, oddly enough. Haa, it’s about time. I’ve just been awkwardly standing here while everyone worked.
“Hmm, Samuel, out of these three locations, which do you want?” She hands him her list.
After looking, he said. “It makes no difference to me, Saintess?” He hands the list to me. “Also, is the main room unavailable?”
“It has been booked almost fully for next week.” She replied. “But if you really need it…”
“I understand. Saintess?” Huh?
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Also, I don’t really have a preference, so I guess this one? It looks the nicest.”
“...Okay then. So, the main room has the best enhancement effect, as most of the different rooms were specifically positioned around the main room for it would be affected by multiple arrays simultaneously.” Cardinal Caitlyn explained.
“I see.” Yay, training arrays. They can do things like increase strain (particularly useful for mana veins), boost recovery, enhance mana recovery, reduce the chance of injuries, etc, within a certain radius of them. My church only had one simple room, but there were several here, as it is a country-level church instead of a city-level one like mine. Of the three available; two helped reinforce and repair your body, while the last increased your stamina growth. None of them are specifically valuable to me, though. At least they all increase your recovery and perception of mana, so it’s still beneficial to use them.
“Do you not want to use the main room?” She asks in confusion.
“I’m-” Oh yeah, other people. “I won’t benefit from any of the other effects. Especially ones involving mana veins.”
“Ah, right, you are struggling with that. Sorry, I didn’t think about that.” Um, I was kinda trying to be secretive. Whatever, if it was a problem, she’d be the one to deal with it.
“So, Saintess, shall we continue our training?” Samuel asks.
“Yeah. The more we train, the better. Thank you, Cardinal Caitlyn.” I bowed.
“I’m glad to be of assistance.”
Samuel and I then started our training, now in an actually helpful location.
So, my training seems to be going well, but I can still feel that the strain on my mana veins is increasing faster than I’m growing. Haa. Luckily, casting spells with my density technique helps, or I’d be getting really nervous. Sadly, practicing them reduces my strain, which slows my growth. So, I have to be careful.
Anyway, after a productive day of training, we parted ways for the night.
As I lay down to sleep for the night, I sighed over the fact that tomorrow would be the last day I could eat the Hero’s cooking for a while. Well, it’s probably for the best.
Well, good night me, sweet, dre, eams…
______
Grrrr
I once again woke up with a start. “Haa, this dragon, is, really…”
I had sat up when I woke up. I wish I hadn’t. I really do.
In front of me, just sitting there, is a dragon. I, What Am I Supposed To Do!? It, it looks angry. It sounds angry. It is angry. I quickly buff myself as I bolt out the door, screaming. Not out of fear, though I definitely am, but to wake everyone else up.
As I exited my room, I wondered if it was chasing me. How did it ent-
CRASH
I turn around to see a massive hole where my room used to be. IT SMASHED THROUGH THE WALL! As the dust clears, it slowly walks out.
As it started to glare at me, I realized I had stopped running in shock. Run! No time to think; I needed to get help.
After running through another door, I’m finally outside. After running for a while with nothing happening, I realized that the dragon didn’t actually follow me.
“NO!” I shout as I run back. The only reason it wouldn’t follow me, was if it had a different target.
I quickly rush through the door, but, but. I, I-I was too, too late. Everyone, they were, o-on, on the, the ground. T-they, why? Please! Move, just a little! Just a… they, they can’t be. My vision blurs as tears fill my eyes. This can’t be happening. THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! I-I. I just collapse to my knees. They, they’re… go- MOVEMENT!
The Hero! He’s still alive. I, I have to do something! “Hey! Uh, Lizard! Over here!” I shout. Come on! Fight me instead! “Come on!”
The dragon just glances at me before returning to look at my party, my friends. “Hey!” I keep on shouting.
Then, then it happens. It, gathered fire in its mouth. It, it it it IT! “Don’t! I’m here!” I-I-I, I pull off my shoe and throw it at the dragon. It, just ignores me. It’s breath, it, it’s ready. “Don’t! Anything But That!” I shout.
“Eli.” I hear. The Hero! “R-run.” He forces out with a bloody cough just as the dragon releases its breath.
“NOOOO!” I shout as everything burns. They, they’re gone. I, I couldn’t save them. They… they are… dead… I, I couldn’t help. As I get lost in sorrow, things get worse.
I was suddenly blasted with scorching air. Once it stops, I see the dragon spread its wings as it prepares to fly. W-w-what? What’s it doing? It quickly launches itself into the night sky. “Is, is it leaving!” I cry out in hope.
Then, once again, things get worse. “It, it’s not done!” I exclaim, as once again, it prepares its breath. I can only watch in horror as the colossal beast launches breath after breath at the city. Soon, even the sky turned red as the city burned.
“Saintess!” As I stood there in shock, someone called my name.
“Pallet! And Cardinal Caitlyn!” They, as well as the rest of the paladins, are here.
“Saintess, what did you do!” Pallet shouts.
“What?” It’s then I notice. Everyone has their weapons drawn as they glare at me in rage. “Why’s everyone like this!? I, what’s going on!? There’s a dragon! We need to kill it before anyone else dies!” I shout.
“My point exactly.” Pallet says as he stabs me.
“W-why?” I mutter with blood-filled words.
“I thought you might have been great. I was wrong.” Cardinal Caitlyn says indignantly. “It was a mistake to choose you as the Saintess.”
Why? Why WHY WHY! “What did I do!” I shout.
“You-” “THE DRAGON!” He’s interrupted.
The dragon, it’s arrived. It arrogantly looks at everyone as they struggle, and fail, to do anything to it. It soon got bored and just incinerated them.
Their screams. The Screams! Why? Why do you keep healing? You, you can’t out-heal the dragon! Why…
Soon, everyone was reduced to ashes. All… but me. “Why?” I ask.
The dragon lands on the burning ground and then slowly walks towards me.
I don’t even try to run. I’m dead as soon as it decides to stop toying with me. Or whatever else is going on.
It soon stops a few feet in front of me and turns its head to fully see me with its eye. Huh, it’s only a few feet taller than me. And oddly… human-like.
I just stare it in the eye, waiting for my inevitable demise. Then, I noticed. I, I’m not reflected in its eye. Not fully.
My reflection… was covered in scales.
I quickly look down to see that dragon claws have replaced my hands.
I screamed as everything was consumed by flames.
I opened my eyes in panic before quickly checking my surroundings. I, I’m in my room? What? Was, was that just a dream? I attempt to put my head in my hands, but then I see it.
A SCALE.
I screamed.