When I woke up in the morning, I was surprisingly still holding onto Melly.

“Good morning, Eli, how’d you sleep?” She asked.

“Surprisingly good, thank you.”

“Anytime.” She responds. It appears that she’s been up for a while. I couldn’t help but feel guilty again.

“Thank you. You must be tired, having to do watch duty and then have to spend who knows how long just to ease me to sleep.” I know that apologizing would be disrespectful, so I just thank her again.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” She starts to brush it off.

“But!” I interrupt.

“Listen, last night I was only on watch for around twenty minutes. We had previously discussed the possibility of you struggling to fall asleep. So, if that ended up being the case, I would help you sleep, while everyone else would extend the amount of time they spent on watch.” Oh, so I didn’t spend a whole two hours tossing and turning.

Wait. “That's even worse!”

“Don’t worry, it’s only for a few days. Once we get to town we will be able to sleep on an actual bed.” She smiled.

“Still…”

“Trust me, it’s fine. Besides, we’d rather stay up longer than have you suffer. How could we sleep peacefully then?”

“Fine.” I relent. I know how hard it is to sleep while worrying about something. That doesn’t make me feel much better though.

______

After we finished getting ready, we went to eat breakfast.

“How are you feeling, Elizabeth? Are you able to travel?" The Hero asks after we finished eating.

“Yeah, I’m feeling fine. There shouldn’t be any problems with traveling.” I say with confidence. I am a bit tired though. Well, I guess I can’t really expect to be well rested after everything that happened.

“Then let’s get packed up so we can leave.”

“Everyone.” I called out before everyone left. “Thank you, for taking care of me.”

“We’re glad to help.” Rapunzel said.

“I am glad that I could be of assistance.” Gregory added.

“Indeed.” Hansen agreed.

After that, the Hero, as usual, packed up our tents. Honestly, why is he so good at that? Is he, like, a camping addict or something?

As we were about to leave, Gregory nervously asked. “I believe we would not be using the same entrance that we had entered with, correct?”

“That’s right. I’ve found the path the troll probably used. You didn’t think the troll crawled through that cave, right?" The Hero teased.

“I was just confirming. I do not believe that either Elizabeth nor myself would be capable of safely traversing that path in our current state.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not nearly arrogant enough to try something that stupid.”

As the Hero said, we soon started our journey through the path he showed us. It was fairly flat, so I didn’t have too much difficulty with it. An hour later though, I started to struggle, but I pushed on. After another hour, I all but collapsed next to a tree in exhaustion.

“Are you okay, Eli?” Melly asked with concern.

“Yeah, haa, haa, I, haa, just, haa, under, haa, estimated, haa, how much, haa, I, haa, relied, haa, on, haa, on mana, haa, haa, to travel, haa.” I eventually got out while gasping for air. I now understand how Gregory felt after the climb.

“Do you want me to carry you?” Melly offered.

“But.” I hesitated.

“You are slowing us down." The Hero stated before I could argue.

“Hey!” Melly yelled.

“It’s fine, haa, Melly. He’s right. I’ll take, haa, you up, haa, on that.”

“Okay. I’ll carry you in a few, you need to rest and drink some water first.” Melly relented, giving the Hero a glare.

After I had rested for a few minutes, I got onto Melly’s back and we continued traveling.

“Thank you, Melly. I’m sorry for slowing everyone down.”

“It’s fine, you weren’t bothering me. The Hero’s just being a jerk.” She said, sending another glare at the Hero.

“I only said that so she would actually accept your offer." The Hero defended. Before Melly could respond, he held up his hand to stop her. “You should understand her personality, she struggles to ask for or receive help. She probably feels that she’s being a bother or something. So, I figured that telling her that she would be even more of a bother by forcing herself to continue doing things on her own would convince her to accept help. And lo and behold, it worked.”

“You could have been nicer though.” Melly grumbled.

“Maybe, but I would rather be the bad guy if it makes sure she doesn’t end up hurting herself out of stubbornness.”

“Haa, you’re right.” I sigh. “Thank you.”

“See, she agrees.” He said, his confident smile declaring his victory.

Melly just sighed.

The rest of the day went uneventfully. Everyone avoided anything that we could avoid, and quickly killed anything else that blocked our path. We set up camp and ate dinner like usual. Afterwards Melly eased me to sleep, as she had done yesterday. We then woke up, ate breakfast, and Melly carried me on her back as we traveled. While I was embarrassed at first, by the third day I had gotten used to it. Still, I was more tired than usual though, so I guess I haven’t been sleeping nearly as well as I thought.

Near the end of the third day, we finally arrived at a village. We stayed the night there, before leaving in the morning.

As we were leaving, we found some villagers traveling to town to sell some wool. So, we decided to travel with them as guards, allowing me to spend the rest of the day riding on the carriage. As such, I was finally able to easily review my mental recovery magic. By the time we arrived at the town, it was just turning dark.

We then parted ways with the villagers, and made our way to an inn. As usual, Melly decided to share a room with me. It seemed like Rapunzel wanted to join us, but got her own room, so I’m not sure. Afterwards, we gathered to eat and discuss our plans for tomorrow. As we were eating, we quickly noticed that the food was made by the inn.

“Eating this meal has made me truly notice how marvelous the Hero’s cooking is.” Gregory commented.

“Indeed.” Hansen agreed.

“If you like my cooking that much, I’ll see about cooking myself next time." The Hero offered with a smirk.

“That would be great.” Melly approved.

“I agree.” Rapunzel also responded.

“Same here.” I added.

“Okay." The Hero continued. “So, tomorrow we need to sell some of our herbs and buy the two last ingredients. Afterwards, I will rent an alchemy room and start brewing the potions.”

“You even know how to make them!?” Rapunzel was shocked. Though, the rest of us were too.

“I do, so you don’t need to worry about me wasting any ingredients. Have I let you guys down yet?” He states with confidence. “Besides, even if I fail, we can always just try again.” He adds with a smirk. “So, everyone else is free to do whatever you want for the next few days. We will leave as soon as I finish making the potions and Elizabeth is able to cast magic. Sound good?” He asks.

Everyone agreed. As everyone discussed what they were going to do, Melly asked, “Eli, what are you going to do?” causing everyone to look over at me.

“I was just going to rest in my room. You can go on without me.”

“Are you sure?” She asked with worry.

“Yeah, I won’t be able to really relax until I can use my mana anyway. Besides, you’ve been by my side for a while now, I would feel guilty if I kept you there instead of letting you relax on your own.”

Melly stared at me for a while, before eventually relenting. “Fine, just call me if you need anything.”

“Okay” I nod. After everyone finished discussing their plans, we headed to our rooms to sleep.

In the morning, we were luckily greeted with the Hero’s cooking.

“Oh, how I have missed the Hero’s marvelous meals.” Gregory complimented, to everyone’s agreement. Though, it was only one meal.

After we finished eating, Melly once again asked. “Are you sure you’ll be fine alone?”

“Yes, I’m positive. I was just going to spend the day reading anyway.”

Before Melly could continue, Hansen interrupted. “If you’re worried, I can leave a summon here. That way, should Elizabeth need anything, it could unsummon itself, alerting me that she required assistance.”

Melly sighs. “Thank you Hansen, that would be helpful.”

Hansen then summoned a green crow, as Melly reminded me to call her should I need anything.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

While I’m glad that she cares for me, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. Besides, I was just going to spend all day reading, what could I even need?

After everyone left, I headed up to my room to read. My mana, after a few days of calming it, was generating noticeably less energy than before. It seems that it will only be a few more days until I can use mana again. I guess I was lucky to have an easier time dissipating the excess energy? I thought the reason some people spent less time recovering was because of experience? Hmm, maybe being the saintess has made things easier? Who knows. I’ll just have to ask once I get back to a city then.

I spent the next few hours studying and calming my mana, before suddenly, my mana moved! Not bubbled, but actually moved. The way I told it to. After a minute or two, I was even able to get it to flow properly! I was able to cast magic. Sadly my excitement quickly turned to fear.

“A-” I covered my mouth before I could scream. Tears started to flow from my eyes. I remember. I REMEMBER! THE WORMS, HOW THEY FELT, EVERYTHING! Why? Why now?! I'm too frightened to even cast any magic. It happened. IT HAPPENED AGAIN. THE WORMS WERE COMING BACK! Calm down. I need to calm down. The calmer I am, the less worms there are. Let’s stop trying to cast anything for now.

Sadly, stopping wasn’t enough. There are still worms! Not as many as before, but far more than normal. Well, any amount of worms aren’t normal, I guess. Haa, I’m just rambling now.

Soon, I heard some knocking on my door. It’s only then that I remembered about the summon. Ah, it seems to have unsummoned itself. I’ll need to thank Hansen for that.

When I didn’t answer, the knocking got more frantic, before eventually they decided to just enter while saying. “I’m coming in!” As soon as Rapunzel entered the room, she rushed over to me. “Elizabeth! What’s wrong!?”

“Worms.” Was all that I could muster.

“Hold on, Melly will be here soon.” She said before getting up to check..

Before she could go, I grabbed her arm. ”Wait!” I shouted.

“But.” She started.

“Please.” I begged. “Don’t leave me.” I cried. Why was she leaving? Was I bothering her? Sorry, but at this point, I don’t care, the worms are worse, and they are INCREASING! “AH” I yelp, trying even harder to grab Rapunzel.

“Okay.” She responds. She’s basically dragged onto the bed as I squeezed her, desperate for comfort. “It’s okay, I’m here.” She says nervously while awkwardly patting my head. I hardly even noticed though, only caring about her warmth, the proof that I wasn’t alone.

Once I wasn’t panicking as much, I tried to figure out what to do. The worms are made from my mana, and seem to grow as I use it. Not using my magic helps, but that‘s not enough. I need something else.

Okay, I got it. I squeezed Rapunzel even tighter as I buried my head as far into her chest as I could. I took a deep breath, before mobilizing my mana to attempt casting a spell, any spell. Despite the ever growing number of worms, they somehow didn’t disrupt my magic immediately. The closer I got to completion, though, the more worms appeared, until I finally lost control of the spell and it collapsed, becoming nothing more than food for the worms.

My entire body was shaking now. It hurts. Rapunzel’s heart keeps beating faster, as she seems to be panicking. I need to heal! If I don’t, the worms will eat me! Focusing on Rapunzel’s panicked heart beat, I tried again. The worms stopped me again, but I have confirmation now! Since the worms don’t want me to use magic, magic must work against them! I tried again and again, my rage fueling my determination! As the spell got ever closer to completion, the worms entered a frenzy. I WILL NOT GIVE UP! I started to yell, my screams muffled by Rapunzel’s chest. She jumped in fright, but I continued my spell anyway! I kept on pushing, until, finally, the spell activated.

I start to relax as my spell washes over me, confident in my victory.

But then, nothing. The worms are still there. My spell activated though? Why didn’t it work? All of that effort, my determination, was it all for nothing? Why! I-I don't understand.

I-I’ve lost.

Any remaining hope fades from my body as I just give up. At least this way, there will be less worms.

I just cowered in Rapunzel’s arms as I cried over how unfair this was. I didn't even notice her worry or confusion, as I no longer had the will to. I just hunkered down and hoped for everything to somehow end.

After a while, Rapunzel straightened, surprised by something. I then feel another pair of arms holding me, waking me back up to reality.

“Eli! Can you hear me?” I hear Melly ask in worry. “What’s wrong!?”

I turn towards her, still desperately holding the panicked Rapunzel, only now notice how worried she was. “The worms won.” I end up saying. “They won! Even my healing spell wasn’t enough!” I cried out, my tears returning with a renewed vigor.

“Eli! The worms are mental, a healing spell won’t work. You need a different spell.” She says as she pleads with me to try again.

“Okay… I’ll try.” I mutter. But as I try, the worms grow, interrupting me. “Ah!” I yelp as the spell collapses. I feel Melly trying to pull me into her embrace, almost separating me from Rapunzel. “No!” I yell while squeezing harder. Melly relents and instead just holds the both of us.

“It’s okay.” Melly comforts. “I’m here.” Huh, despite using the same words as Rapunzel, they somehow sound more reassuring coming from Melly.

I end up forcing myself to try again and again, every failure followed up with more reassuring words from Melly, and even Rapunzel, after she was prompted to by Melly. I, I can do this! They believe in me. I’ve already cast a spell once! Another one won’t be a problem! Well a bit of a problem. But I’m getting close!

Finally, after several more desperate attempts, I finally succeeded. I cast my mental spell. Suddenly, everything got a bit calmer.

“I see, they are from my mind.” I mumble. There’s only one thing to do then. KEEP CASTING MORE SPELLS! So, I did. Even when my mind got numb, I continued. Even when my consciousness started to fade, I continued. I won’t stop until every worm is gone! So I kept casting. Even when I couldn’t think anymore, I kept going! I refuse to stop, I can’t stop, being physically incapable of telling myself to. So, I cast another spell.

And then I woke up. Huh? Um, I must have kept casting until I passed out. Hmm, how did I actually pass out though? You don’t lose consciousness from running out of mana. Yeah, mana can be tiring to use, but even if you completely ran out, you’d be fine. Well, physically at least, a lack of mana is still exhausting, just in different a way.

Running out of mana happens to feel vaguely similar to running out of breath, with the desperate desire for more being almost identical. Running out completely basically makes you feel like you're suffocating. It’s almost torturous, especially when you experience both physical and magical exhaustion at the same time. You truly feel empty then.

Haa, was I just really tense then?

Well, I shouldn’t be thinking about this right now. It’s currently the middle of the night, with the only light coming from the moon. I could feel Melly sleeping on the bed with me.

“Thank you.” I whispered.

Before I noticed Melly, though, I did see Rapunzel. Hard not to see her first when I was still desperately holding onto her. I just didn’t want to think about her first.

I feel pretty bad about what I just did. I know that it was basically an emergency, at least for me, and if given a second chance, I would still have acted the same. It’s just, it seemed like she didn’t want to be there. I don’t blame her, though, it’s really hard to comfort people. That’s a big reason why I was so devoted to my studies, it was the only way I could really help people. I wasn’t the sort of big sister you could go to when you were sad or lonely. I was the one you went to when you were hurt or sick.

I could heal the immediate pain caused by their physical wounds. I could even remove their scars, covering the painful evidence of their suffering. But, in the end, I just wasn’t able to heal people's minds. No matter how well I could hide their trauma, the scars on their soul would remain. And it was those scars that truly hurt and changed you. I mean, both healings are important, but, excluding emergencies and the like, physical wounds just aren’t as bad as mental ones.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t learn some mental spells though, I just never really had the chance to use them. Mental spells sadly can’t heal with their own power, only really being able to improve the effectiveness of other methods. So, since they didn’t do much on their own, I wasn’t able to truly use them. Also, no spell is able to fill the void in one's heart. We can heal a lot, but loneliness wasn’t included.

Haa, I need to apologize in the morning. I guess I should probably just go back to sleep for now, huh.

Oh yeah, how’s my mana doing? OH! OH NO! Haa, I should have known that one spell wasn’t enough to fix everything, even if I could cast it several times. Haa, improving mental health would be so much easier if there was a cure all spell, though. I mean, even being able to stack more of the mental spells would be extremely helpful.

Haa, at least it’s much better than earlier. Maybe I can just… NOPE. Casting spells is still too much for me right now.

I hadn’t even noticed that I had tightened my hold on Rapunzel. I just couldn’t help myself, I needed the comfort her presence gave me.

Once I did though, I quickly held my breath while looking at her face, desperately hoping that I didn’t wake her up. When she continued sleeping, I let out a sigh in relief. I don’t want to add disrupting her sleep to the problems I’ve caused her.

I started to separate from her. I shouldn’t bother her anymore; she's done more than enough. I need to just let her sleep. But, I couldn’t actually release my hold. I know that I should, but I just… didn’t want to. I mean, what’s a few more hours? Besides, she didn’t wake up earlier, and I was already holding on to her before, so it should be fine, right?

Haa, I'm being controlled by my emotions. Whatever, I’ve been through a lot recently, I don’t care right anymore. I’ll just apologize tomorrow.

So, instead of separating from Rapunzel, I moved in closer, slowly easing my way into her embrace while making sure not to wake her up. The closer I got, the more at ease I felt. Once I fully closed in, with my head on her chest so I could hear her heartbeat, I stopped being disturbed by the worms. I was finally at ease, able to release the tension that I, once again, didn't even realize that I had built up. Haa I’m glad that I did this.

As I drifted off to sleep, I felt like I saw Rapunzel smile, but that was probably just my imagination.

______

“Eli-m, Elizabeth, it’s time to wake up.” I heard, waking me up

I opened my eyes to see Rapunzel smiling at me. When I blinked though, her face was back to normal. Haa, I must be imagining her smiling at me to ease my guilt.

As I got up and started to get ready, Melly said. “Breakfast has already been made. We are just waiting for you.”

“Okay.” I responded. Haa, I’m annoyed at how relieved I am that my conversation with Rapunzel has been delayed.

After eating breakfast, Gregory said. “That spell you used, it is insufficient on its own.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sighed. “I just got blinded by the fact that it helped, so I couldn’t resist using it again, especially since it’s one of the few spells that can actually be stacked. To be fair though, I really wasn’t in the right state of mind to realize that then.”

“I do not blame you, I deemed it important to remind you of that fact before you attempted something as reckless as yesterday’s actions. The spell you used has the effect of numbing your mind, making consecutive castings potentially dangerous. It obviously dampened your decision making capabilities as well, hence why you kept continuously casting that spell. You even continued to cast after you had lost proper consciousness, with only your physical inability to continue casting finally halting your actions.”

“That sounds pretty bad.” I said, surprised. “I hadn’t even realized that was happening.”

“Correct, but, as I said, I do not blame you for your actions. I only wish to inform you of how dangerous such actions truly are. Though, I must admit my astonishment at your capabilities. Not only did you manage to resolve your mana poisoning at such an impressive pace, but you were able to continue casting spells long after what most would deem impossible. Judging by the lack of intent visible within your eyes, you managed to keep casting your spell even after you had effectively lost consciousness, likely requiring only a few more spells to lock you into a coma. I had never even considered such a thing as possible, casting spells under such conditions. You might even be capable of casting spells in your sleep!” Gregory continues, his excitement growing with every sentence.

“I see.” I responded. “That’s a lot to take in.”

“Ehem. My apologies, I tend to get passionate about things that interest me.”

“Ah, no worries. I do have something to correct though.” He motioned for me to continue. “I haven’t completely dealt with the mana poisoning yet.”

“Ah, yes, the worms.” I flinched at their mere mention. “ Apologies, I didn’t mean to alarm you.” He quickly apologized.

“It’s fine.” I persuaded.

“Thank you. I want to remind you not to worry, as we are in no rush. Feel free to heal at a comfortable pace.”

“Thank you.” I smile. “Though I would rather just get everything over with, from what I’ve seen, dragging things out tends to just elongate the issue.”

“I am once again reminded of your impressive fortitude. Very well, I only ask that you do not push yourself.” I nod. “Now, as I said previously, you have resolved your mana poisoning. Your mana is no longer overflowing with excess energy. The,” He pauses, considering his words. “Other things… are an independent issue.”

I check my mana, without flowing it of course, and he’s right. My mana is calm, at least, for now. I can almost sense them though, hiding, waiting for me to provoke them.

Gregory then interrupted me from my thoughts. “Your predicament is mostly psychological in nature. Judging by your notes, you seem to understand which spells will assist in your recovery. While I do not know if you have properly learned them, should you successfully cast them, I fully believe they shall notably lessen your conflict. Though you appear to require support during the initial castings, afterwards, you shall have the freedom to slowly heal your trauma. While this is by no means an easy undertaking, know that we are all here to assist you in any way you require.” Gregory promised, getting confirmations from everyone.

“Everyone,” I stutter. “Thank you.” I say, tears forming in my eyes as Melly pats my back. Haa, I’ve cried a lot over the past few days. I’m certain that I’ve cried more during this past week than I have in the past several years. I mean, I figured our journey would be emotional, but man, I was not prepared at all for this. Everything has all happened so fast. It feels like I’ve had a year’s worth of emotion this week, but at least I feel much closer to everyone. It feels like our bond has grown massively.

That reminds me, the Hero seems like he is in a rush to get stronger. Maybe the Gods chose him because they knew how fast things would end up? I guess only the Gods would truly know though. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence at least.