Onwards we went, back into the savana, towards only the Hero knows where, with the same rapid pace as before. Well, that does, at least, confirm it wasn’t just to get to the town on time.
Not that I thought otherwise, but it’s always nice to have confirmation, I guess.
Regardless, with our traveling came more lessons from my friends. At this rate, I should be passable by the time we return to the capital!
Hopefully.
Other than that, I have made some surprisingly great progress with my cleansing spell, courtesy of the mud slugs. While their method of cleansing is quite different from mine, there is more than enough overlap to learn from.
Speaking of, that’s what we were doing when Greg noticed our research and got curious about it.
“Oh, I see. That makes a lot more sense, thank you.”
“We are glad to help.” “Feel free to ask again.” ““We enjoy helping.””
I can’t keep a smile from forming on my face. Man, mud slugs are such a joy to be around.
And as soon as I finished that thought, Greg announced his presence. “May I ask what it is you are discussing?”
“Oh, hi, Greg. Sure, we’re just helping each other perfect our cleansing spells.”
“Intriguing… May I perhaps join you?”
“I’m fine with that,” I agree, before turning to the mud slugs neutrally. It is their signature ability; I don’t want to pressure them to spread it.
“Of course you may.” “It would be most welcome.” ““We look forward to working with you!””
Ah, I should have expected that.
Also, it’s actually quite unlikely he’ll be able to copy it anyway; different branches of magic are ridiculously different from each other.
Still, “Glad to have you join us, Greg.”
“It is my pleasure.” He accepts. “May I receive a quick summary of what has already been discussed?”
“Of course.”
…
“Marvelous.” Greg declares, almost as if in a trance. “These spells... they are not from any branch of magic I am familiar with.” He finishes in awe.
“Yeah, that fits with what I thought; it seems to be part of a new branch of magic.”
“Ah, yes, that does seem possible. But are these spells truly so unique?”
“They are.” Hmm, how to explain... Ah. “It’s like it removed the biological aspect from my healing, and even some bits of buff, branches of magic. What's left is similar to these cleansing spells.”
“Fascinating.”
“It really is…” I agreed in wonder. “Ehem, anyway, other than their being of a, potentially undiscovered, new branch of magic, do you have any other insights you'd like to share?”
“Why, of course.” He agreed with a smile.
And that’s how I spent the rest of the day until it was time for watch. Which, conveniently, I have first every night.
And the next night.
And the next...
And the- okay, you get the point. We used quite a lot of our free time over the next couple of days to work on the spells. As a result, I am almost ready to start using it properly.
It’s a bit ridiculous to use a tenth of your mana just to clean yourself, after all.
But with it only using a small fraction of that, mainly by only using select parts of the spell (the impurity cleansing part is expensive), I will soon be able to make my entire party nice and clean, a truly ridiculous, and decadent, luxury to have while wandering through the wilderness.
Truly, this is what it means to be both the saintess and a member of the Hero’s Party. Heh, it’s hilarious that soon I’ll be cleaner while traveling than I ever was in the orphanage.
Anyway, that’s currently not important. What is important is the horde of monsters attempting to invade our home.
Yup, it’s finally happened; we’re being attacked at camp.
And of course, I had to be on watch at the time…
Arg! Why now! Why couldn’t you have waited, uh, an hour? Eee, yeah, that would be a bit much, huh.
Anyway, my mud slug partner has just announced the attack, so it’s time to get serious. “Okay, what do we do?” I request, as I am a support.
“I was about to ask you that.” They mumbled. Oh no.
Okay, it’s fine; I’ll just take charge. “Well, are you capable of fending them off yourself?” I ask, since it’d be rude to wake everyone up for something we were more than capable of handling.
“Um…” They start thinking as I grow more and more nervous with every second that ticks by. As I’m just about to panic wake everyone up, they answer. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean’ I don’t know!’” I shout. “How do you not know!”
“I’m sorry!” They apologize meekly, making me feel bad, like I’d kicked a puppy. “I’m not used to fighting without the others.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Oh no. “Then we ne-” was as far as I got before the monsters jumped over the wall and charged us.
“Nooo you don’t!” I shouted. Then suddenly, there was fire.
Immediately, the invading horde screamed. As, they, deserve.
Then they cowered. As, they, deserve.
And then they burned. As, they, deserve.
Soon, the pathetic horde was left writhing on the ground, where they belonged.
“Hump. As I thought, my aura is more than enough to deal with common beasts.” I declared once I was certain they were no longer a threat. Now we just need to-
“Eli! What’s going on?”
Haa. It appears that I woke everyone up with my display. Disappointing, but not surprising. And since everyone’s awake anyway, I might as well dispel my aura.
It’s pretty sad, though. I was hoping to be able to protect myself this time. Not that there’s anything wrong with needing help, especially with things you’re not practiced with, but it still stings.
Funnily enough, my turning off my aura confused Melly. “Oh, you turned off your aura.”
Huh. So I did.
Cool.
“It appears that I did.” I agree plainly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah… Probably.” I hesitantly answered. I don’t really know how I’m feeling currently. It’s certainly an odd state to be in.
“You can check on her later. Right now, we need to make sure all the beasts are dealt with.” The Hero interrupts before Melly can inquire further.
I nod to her before she can even attempt to argue. It would be pretty bad to be attacked while talking. Not that any of the monsters are particularly dangerous, but it’s best to keep proper caution in habit. You usually only make that mistake once, after all.
Besides, my situation isn’t urgent at all; prioritizing me would just be stupid.
Anyway, one quick cleanup later (though it did take longer than usual as everyone had to actually deal with the corpses), and it was time to talk about how things went so wrong.
“So, Elizabeth, would you be so kind as to explain the course of events that led to us being blasted with your aura?”
It’s okay; everything will be fine. “So, while I was working with the mud slug on my spell, they discovered that we were being invaded. I, as a healer, then asked them what they wanted to do. Sadly, as a summon, they are also used to being told what to do. As a result, we didn’t end up doing anything, allowing the enemies ample opportunity to vault over the wall we had erected.”
“Ah, so it was a lack of a plan of action that was the problem, not that you were distracted by studying during your watch.” The Hero commented. Ah, yeah, I guess working on my spell during watch would be problematic.
“I’ll stop my studying.” I reluctantly offer.
“Oh, no, I have no problem with you doing that, just as long as it doesn't interfere with your job. And as it didn’t, you are free to continue. No, see, the problem is that you are too used to giving us the initiative for your own good. I expect you to do better next time.” He declared.
“Ah, okay then.” I agreed blankly. Which, well, I had apparently stopped feeling. Odd. Though it’s a good thing that whatever that was, it was both temporary and short-lasting.
“Next on the agenda, how are you feeling?”
“Ah, just fine, oddly enough.”
“Eli...” Melly grumbled.
“Really! I don’t know what happened after I dispelled my aura, but it didn’t last very long.” I explained earnestly.
“Huh.”
“Excuse me,” Greg interjects. “May I ask what transpired after Eli dispelled her aura?”
“Well, I suddenly became, sorta… numb, I guess. It was almost like I was emotionally empty or blank. My emotions as a whole were just lessened.”
“Hmm, that is quite odd. I am curious as to the cause of such a development; if I remember correctly, nothing remotely similar has occurred the previous times you have dispelled your aura.”
“Right. The closest I get is embarrassment and shame, but that’s how anyone would feel if they just did something embarrassing.
“How peticular…”
The Hero chose to jump in at this point. “I do believe I know what happened, but first, could you please describe how you were feeling before you dispelled your aura?”
“Um, disappointment, I guess.”
“How so?” He pushes.
“I mean, I failed, you know. I didn’t keep watch properly.”
“Wrong.” He declared. “You successfully stopped our enemies from attacking us in our sleep, and you managed to wake us all up, unconventional though your chosen method may be.”
“That doesn’t mean it was a successful, much less desirable, outcome. If we’d just talked beforehand, I wouldn’t have needed to pointlessly use my aura. Besides, I could have gotten a better result by just shouting.” I shrugged. “Unless you want to be woken up by being engulfed in pseudo-imaginary flames again?” I teased.
“I would rather not.” He deadpaned. “Anyway, my point was that you have your answer right there.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Your aura, instead of allowing you to defeat your foes and show that you don’t need outside assistance, trampled on the goal of said victory by waking everyone up anyway.” The Hero explains. “As a trait that’s all about self-esteem and getting what you want, what you always couldn’t have, such a failure is devastating. It showed that even with the ‘might,’ the sheer presence, of a dragon, you could still fail at what you set out to do. It showed you that your aura isn’t always right.”
“The only problem with that is that I already know it isn’t always right.”
“You know that, logically, but that thought goes away once your ego is inflated. Your trait is all about getting what you want without caring what others think; failing shows that you, as you normally are, have a point.” He then adds. “At least, some of the time.”
Thanks… You really needed to add that part, didn’t you?
“I guess that fits.” I relent. “It just feels a bit...”
“Shallow?” he suggests.
“Yeah…”
“Don’t worry too much; it’s still a step towards controlling your aura. Besides, would you rather have kept it on until you started ranting at us?” He teased. “I can see it now, you standing surrounded by screaming animals smiling at your 'success,’ all but begging for praise.”
“Okay, okay! I get it! I won’t complain about the ease with which I canceled my aura.” Man, the Hero can be annoying, even if his plan worked…
Anyway, while we easily could have kept talking, it was currently night, and while the Hero said we could stay up, he wouldn’t delay our travels for us. As such, everyone returned to their tents to rest for tomorrow.
As everyone parted to return to bed or watch, which I was excused from (I don’t know how I feel about that...), the Hero gave me one final piece of advice. “Regardless of everything else that’s happened tonight, you’ve gained new insight into your trait; what you do now is up to you, but you are more prepared for it than you were previously."
And, well, he’s right; I do have a lot to think about.