“Yurine, don't let him die!”

Yurine knew what she had to do. On her way to her mother, Sony had to survive and be delivered to the Wizarding Academy. Then she would be able to search for a way to get her mother back. To do this, she would keep Sony alive, even if it meant completely draining her mana.

During Yurine's healing spell, Sony was dying and distracting Yurine. Yurine held her with one hand while she poured healing mana over the wound with the other.

“Mr. Valarfin! Sivina! Please let's find her!”

Ana continued to shake Yu by the shoulders. She was scared and crying because her friend was in danger. Meanwhile, they had all forgotten about the puppet on the floor because they each had their own priorities.

Yu could not refuse her. Not only because she was sweet and beautiful, but also because he felt indebted to both Ana and Sivina for their contributions during his mission and did not want either of them to be harmed.

“Where did she go?”

“The direction the puppet came from!”

Ana started to run, thinking that Yu was coming after her, but Yu caught her and pointed at Yurine.

“You wait with her.”

He didn't want to leave Yurine alone, if Ana was with her, Yurine would be safe. After all, Ana would do a much better job than him when it came to protecting someone.

He started running, leaving Yurine and Ana behind. He was running in the direction the puppet came from.

“Shit! What the fuck am I gonna do if the killer shows up?”

Yu wished he could sense mana. Yurine realized this as a rock fell on Yu's head during the fight and turned away.

After that, she also noticed Sharley throwing crystal swords and turned around and defended himself against them.

He hadn't asked her how she did it, but he had a strong hypothesis that she did it by sensing mana, and that every living creature, except Yu, had mana.

If Yu could sense mana, perhaps he could sense the mana in Sivina's body and locate her.

But Yu had no such qualities, so he kept running on a straight course, hoping to meet Sivina.

“It would be nice if Sivina could walk over there.”

If she was killed by the killer and the killer survived, Yu would be in trouble. Maybe he could have fought the killer if Ana had been with him, but Yu didn't believe that his luck against the killer would have been as good as it was with Sharley.

“Fuck!” he yelled. “Why do I do such stupid things?”

At any other time he would not have gone deep into the forest alone. He thought of the creature in the village of Urta. If he met a monster now, he would die here.

“If I don't get a monster, I'll get a killer, fuck my luck!”

He felt his lungs burning with every breath he took. His spleen was also burning and signaling him to stop running, but Sivina's life was in danger, he couldn't stop.

“What are you going to do if you don't stop, you fucking Yu? Ow!”

He kept running while continuing to mutter to himself. He was tired, he had been running for nearly an hour and he was sleepless. Yurine's healing spell had given him a brief respite, but now the fatigue was taking a stronger hold.

“God damn it!”

He took a sudden sprint, feeling as if his heart was getting heavier. Hoping not to have an attack, he continued running on a straight course. As he ran, he noticed dents in two trees. Someone had stepped on them with their feet and the outer surface of the tree had collapsed inwards.

“How can you step on the tree like that?”

If the fingertips of the footprints on the trees were pointing upwards, he would have thought someone had kicked the tree, but with the fingertips pointing downwards, it was hard to tell.

After some thought, though, he realized that there was no need to be surprised. He was used to such scenes and had seen worse.

In the high school he went to, there were maniacs who managed to shit on the ceiling of the toilet, while it was considered normal for people to walk on trees.

“But Sivina must have done it, she's ahead.”

As he was about to move forward confidently, he was stopped by the footprints in the tree in front of him. Had she been thrown backwards?

He stopped and thought, should he turn back? The footprint had made him disoriented.

“But I would have seen it in the back, I have to keep going.”

He started running again, thinking it would be a better idea to follow the route he had taken. If Sivina had gone in a different direction after that point, he would have been going in the wrong direction, but he had no choice. He kept running.

“Sivina!”

A few meters from an alcove there were two people lying on the ground. The one with red hair was dressed in tattered clothes, the other in blood-soaked pajamas.

The red-haired man had a knife stuck in his throat. He had to be the killer, the sight of the knife made him sure that he was dead for sure.

Sivina was lying a few meters away from him. Her body was covered in blood and there was a wound on her stomach. Sivina was foaming at the mouth, he opened her mouth with his finger to stop her from choking and turned her head to the ground.

“Sivina! Hey!”

With one hand on his finger, he put the other to her throat and checked her pulse. Her pulse was so slow, Sivina could die at any moment. He picked her up and turned in the direction he had come from. If she wasn't healed with a healing spell soon, she would die.

Even his own weight was too much for Yu, and now he was carrying a sixty-kilogram girl in his arms. His center of gravity slumped forward, and Yu had to make an extra effort to keep his balance. If he wasn't tired he would have been fine carrying her, but because he was tired Sivina felt much heavier than she was.

But he was responsible for one life. He didn't want to kill one more person. So he had to run.

“Faster!”

This was the highest speed he could run. Even he himself did not know how he could run after so much fatigue. It was only a matter of life and he was doing what he had to do. If he slowed down, Sivina would die. He had to run.

When he came to the area where he had left Yurine behind, he realized that others were there.

Komodores, rinos, horses and wagons pulled by them, along with dozens of guards and their pursuers, poured into the area.

Yu's eyes searched for Yurine as several water and earth mages tried to extinguish the flames on the ground.

He saw a white figure being carried with a tail behind it. Meanwhile, Ana was crying in front of him.

“SIVINA! SIVINA!”

He knelt down and took Sivina's dangling hand. Another man came to Yu's side and Yu left Sivina with him.

“Wounded, poisoned,” he said and ran to the white figure being carried to the wagon, leaving Sivina and Ana behind. As he ran to Yurine, he pushed the two men trying to hold him back and jumped onto the wagon in one leap.

“Yurine!”

Yurine's eyes were closed, Yu immediately checked her pulse.

“She's alive.”

She had a pulse and was alive, as the man in the white coat who came to him said. Despite this, Yu couldn't take a deep breath. He kept checking Yurine's heartbeat and breathing again and again, never letting go of her hand.

When the men who had stood in front of Yu and tried to hold him back came up to them, Yu looked at them.

“I'm her father.”

At first the men looked at each other in disbelief that Yu looked so young for a man with a nine-year-old daughter, but then they nodded.

“Sorry, we didn't know that.”

As they left, he looked at the man in the white coat who came up to him. He was checking Yurine's temperature.

“What happened to her?”

“He's run out of mana. Even if she is a mage, she is a child after all, so it is not unexpected that she fainted from exhaustion. Don't worry, there is nothing physically wrong with her. She will just have a very long sleep.”

“Is it too long? How long?”

“A day and a half or two days.”

“How will she be fed?”

“She'll probably be given honey. Don't worry, she won't die or be maimed.”

When the man checked Yurine and was satisfied that there was nothing he needed to intervene in, he started to move away from the carriage Yu was on.

“Wait a minute!” Yu called out to the man. “Are you a physician?”

“Yes?” the man replied.

“She’s going to be really good, isn't she?” Yu could have kept asking the question until morning.

“Yes,” the man smiled. “She'll be fine, she's fine.”

As the physician left, Yu looked around. There was another wagon in the direction he was going, and on top of it two healing mages were trying to keep Sivina alive while Ana was out of breath from crying.

Yu took one last look at Yurine and jumped out of the carriage and went to Sivina. Ana noticed him and looked at him with teary eyes, then turned her face back to Sivina.

“Please, not too many people.”

Yu meekly turned back the way he had come as the physician from earlier warned him. Two guards grabbed Ana and tried to pull her away from Sivina.

“You are distracting the mages, please don't make this difficult.”

It broke his heart to see Ana crying, so he went back to Yurine without looking at her anymore. Then he lay down next to her and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he hoped everyone was alive.

***

He woke up with an unbearable headache. As he put his hands to his head, tears were coming from his eyes and a single female voice echoed in his brain.

“I am sorry.”

As he took deep breaths in and out he could feel it coming, he was going to vomit. He didn't even try to hold himself back, he pulled his head out of the left side of the bed and dropped the contents on the floor as a big-breasted girl dodged aside.

What he was lying on as a bed was actually just a blanket spread on the floor of the wagon, so the vomit spread all the way to where Yu was lying on it.

“I am sorry.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

But Yu didn't care, he could only breathe for two seconds as tears invaded his eyes. Then the contents of his stomach came up again, burning his throat. He hadn't eaten, so most of the vomit was liquid.

Yu heard the same voice for the third time as he experienced the same thing for the third time.

“I am sorry.”

It was difficult for him to see, even breathing was difficult for him, even with his mouth wide open.

“Are you okay, Yu?”

Yu was struggling to breathe, unable to respond. When he finally breathed a sigh of relief, he wanted to swallow, but when his own vomit burned his throat, he spat on the floor, ignoring the people next to him.

He didn't think they would mind him spitting after he had already vomited in front of them.

His head ached so badly that he would take his brain out and leave it in a corner if he could. As Yu moaned, he felt a soothing sensation on top of his head and then the pain subsided.

“Y-Yurine?” he whispered, almost begging for it to be her.

Yurine was the one who cast the healing spell that brought him relief in such situations. He lifted his head as he wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, but soon his vision was distorted as tears filled his eyes again.

But he could recognize what was in front of him, not a little girl with cat ears, but an old man.

“I'll have an explanation, but first you must come to your senses.”

“What explanation? Where is Yurine?”

What Yu needed was not to regain consciousness, he wanted to know where Yurine was. Where was Yurine? Was she okay? Why was there an explanation? Had something happened to Yurine? The only thing he wanted to know was how she was.

“Your daughter is lying there.”

He couldn't make out the old man's finger, but he could see a white figure lying where he was pointing. He wiped away his tears, there were four of them in the wagon. Yu was lying in the back, Lylphia and the old man were next to him and Yurine was lying in the front of the wagon.

“Don't worry, Yurine is just sleeping.”

“You are a fast young man, I suppose. It is not common in Rolderhelm to have a daughter of this age when you are only in your early twenties. Well, I suppose it's different for a handsome boy like you.”

He was trying to lighten the mood while guessing his age wrong. Yu moved forward on his knees, trying to avoid the vomit, and came to Yurine's side.

To check that she was okay, he took her hand and checked her pulse on her wrist, it was beating but that was not enough for Yu. He wanted to hear her heartbeat too, so he put his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat, then her mouth and listened to her breathing. They had said she was fine, but he would not rest until he could confirm it for himself.

It was only when he realized that everything was normal with Yurine that he was able to put a smile of relief on his face. It looked like a forced smile, but Yu was about to cry with happiness that she was okay.

“She ran out of mana, I did a few times when I was little. I wasted all my mana on Sony too, but I'm recovering quickly.” Lylphia smiled and looked at Yu and Yurine. “She's going to be okay.”

Yu continued to hold Yurine's hand as he turned his eyes to where he had vomited.

“I apologize.”

“There's nothing to apologize for,” Lylphia said, and began to clean up the vomit with a rag from a trunk. He was embarrassed to have someone else clean up his mess for the second time. “The important thing is that you're in good health, and that's fine.”

“Thank you, can I have some water?”

The old man took a flask and handed it to Yu, along with a small bucket. Yu first gargled the water in his mouth and then poured it into the bucket. After a few repetitions, he drank the remaining water.

“I have learned who you are, but I have not yet introduced myself, please forgive me.” As the physician sat on the floor, he put his hand to his chest and bowed. “My name is George, I am a physician.”

He was different from the physician he had met at night.

“Do you remember anything?” George asked.

“I brought Sivina to the field and gave her to the doctors, then I went to sleep next to Yurine?”

Had something happened that he didn't remember? If not, why would he have asked Yu about it?

“We need to go to the Wizarding Academy for Sivina's treatment. I woke you up this morning to ask what you were going to do, but as soon as you got up you started foaming at the mouth. I didn't know what to do, so I looked for Yurine, but I couldn't wake her up either, so I ran to get the Mr. George here.”

After Lylphia had finished, George began.

“It's not reassuring, but I didn't know what to do either. It's the first time I've come across such a case. Your friend said your daughter cast the healing spell on your head.”

Before going to bed at night, as part of their daily routine, Yurine had cast a healing spell. Lylphia was there and saw it, but didn't ask anything.

“I tried to do the same, but I don't know if it worked. I tried the method normally used to block the pain from being felt.”

He was still nauseous because the wagon started to sway as it moved. He grimaced and started taking deep breaths to avoid vomiting.

“It worked, thank you.”

George smiled that he could help.

“Is this a disease or a sudden event?”

“Epilepsy, we've been trying to overcome it with Yurine for a while. It's something that can happen to any living being with a brain.”

“Hmm... I've never heard that before.”

Yu sniffled. “Gosh, what do you know...”

Logically, Yu's illness, epilepsy, should have been seen here too. Of course, George might never have seen or heard of it, but even if he hadn't, Yu wouldn't have thought much about it.

“Anyway... I feel like there's something beyond epilepsy...”

Twice before he had heard a woman apologize to him before a seizure came. Somehow he could also understand that seizures were different from those in the world.

“I thought maybe I could find a cure at the academy.”

“The Academy library has research on a wide range of topics, from medicine to farming, so I hope you find something you can use.”

“I hope...”

Yu did not know what to do if he found nothing there. He did not know where he would end up, as his situation was not stable but worsening with each crisis.

“How's Sivina? Is she okay?”

“Her wounds have healed, but the poison is still lingering, so she still hasn't woken up. They are constantly trying to keep her alive with healing magic. That's why we took her to the academy, there are more mages there and they will keep the magic going.”

He didn't want another loss. He didn't want to cause another death with his choices, even if he didn't really know her.

“I wanted to wake you up and ask you what you wanted to do, but when your condition worsened, I decided you should come to the academy too.”

“I get it, it's good. I would have made this choice if I had woken up.”

If they went to the Wizarding Academy, Yurine could be examined there, it would be much better. Yu would do everything he had to do for her health.

“Where are they now?”

“Sivina and Ana are in the front carriage. Sony is in the back carriage, we tied him up because he kept making suicide attempts after he woke up. Raul stayed in Redchapel... Actually, it would be more accurate to say I forgot about him.”

“I forgot about Raul too... But this Ana, she doesn't say a word when Satoshi dies, but when something happens to Sivina she goes into a crying fit, she's in love or something...”

He was surprised that they let Ana stay with her. He hoped she wouldn't cry all the time and distract the mages.

“The first waifu I found dies instantly, the second waifu is one hundred and fifty years old and her sister is no better. Will the other two waifu I find have different orientations? Lylphia too...”

Lylphia didn't appeal to Yu. She wasn't an ugly girl, but Yu didn't find her attractive and couldn't get a vibe from her. There might have been a lot of breast freaks who liked her, but Yu couldn't find her attractive because of the disproportion between breasts and height.

“I have no luck... The trash isekaisers gets hit by five or ten girls at the same time, but when it comes to me, even the magazine I have is taken away from me? What's wrong with me? I'm better looking, smarter and more charismatic than all of them. Is that it? Are the gods of this world jealous of me and they're being bastards? It won't be like this Yu, you'll die alone...”

He was jealous of the characters in the anime shows he watched.

“And how are you? You were unconscious when I found you at night.”

“Like I said, I fainted because I ran out of mana fighting Sony. I'm fine now.”

“Will Yurine recover as quickly as you?”

“I don't think so, I remember being unconscious for two days when I was her age. They fed me honey.”

When she said her age, which age was she talking about? Her real age or her appearance?

“Do you blame yourself for what happened?”

If Sony was dead, Lylphia must have done it. At the same time, Lylphia would have heard the events of the night and the death of the puppet. So it wouldn't be surprising if she blamed herself, which Yu was sure of when she had a look of grief on her face that she tried to hide.

Lylphia was silent for a moment, her knees drawn up to her stomach where she sat as she lowered her gaze to the floor.

“I heard the story. I... If I hadn't killed Sony, things wouldn't have turned out this way.”

“It's Sony's fault that things are the way they are, not yours. Sony got to this point because of the choices they made.”

He hated to see a person upset because of someone else's choices. He wanted to comfort her.

“But it was my fault for going this far. I... I could have lifted the dome and included Ana and taken him alive, but...” She bit her lip. “My pride wanted to win.”

“I'd be mad at you if he was dead, but he's alive now. I would also be angry with you if something bad happened to Yurine, but he's going to be fine... So, there is nothing to prevent me from commenting objectively. The consequences are the responsibility of the people who made the choices, nobody deserves to be upset because of other people's choices, and people who have bad things happen to them because of their bad choices have no right to cry.”

Yu knew this, he understood this. He was broken by other people's choices and he didn't want to see it happen to others.

“Don't blame yourself and feel sorry for nothing, because feeling sorry won't get you anywhere or bring that Blessing back. You will only be torturing yourself.”

He didn't know if his words had any effect on Lylphia, but he ended the conversation hoping that they had, and he never stopped holding Yurine's hand until noon when they arrived at the Wizarding Academy.

***

Sivina was in the front row, on a stretcher being carried to the Wizarding Academy, while Ana did not leave her bedside for a second.

Yu was walking to the academy, carrying Yurine in his arms. Yu was accompanied by Lylphia and George, the old physician.

Not counting the people carrying the pieces of the puppet, at the back walked Sony, who was led into the academy by two men holding his arms. His hands were tied and there were knights in front and behind him to prevent him from making any sudden movements.

When the academy heard that the headmaster's son had returned, they came out of their classrooms to see him, but they were confused to see Sony being brought in as a prisoner with security measures in place.

“Didn't they hear what happened?”

When they entered the academy, a man shouted.

“Sony!”

Salery ran down the stairs and ended up right next to his son. Sony ignored his father, lazily lifted his head from the floor, looked pitifully into his father's face and then lowered his head again.

As the guards with him tried to take him away, Salery tried to block them, blocking their way.

“What do you think you're doing? Don't you know who I am? Let my son go now!”

Salery tried to use his authority to save his son, but the knights in front of him were prepared. The knight at the front pulled a document from his inner pocket and pointed it at Salery.

When Salery tried to take the paper, knight refused to let him do, pulling it back and telling him to read it remotely.

“Sony von Bishory is under arrest and we will use the academy cell to hold him, this is a matter of state above your authority.”

“What do you mean above my authority? Who am I-”

Salery tried to reach his son by pushing the knights away, but the reaction was harsh: the knight holding the document pushed him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

“Now that I think about it, it really becomes a state matter when he helps the murderer. But was it Maron's job to bring him here from Rechapel and not to the capital?”

The knights stepped onto the bridge to take the prisoner Sony to the cells in the western part of the Wizarding Academy. Salery got up behind them and followed his son. He completely ignored Yu and Yurine.

“Was this Maron's work?”

“Before you arrived, he sent us a letter saying that he had accused Sony of theft and had an arrest warrant out for him. Before that he was only wanted as a missing person.”

It was just as well. Salery could have used his powers to make his son escape and Yu would have had to start all over again, but that would have been beyond Salery.

Sivina had already been taken to the infirmary. Yu also wanted to take Yurine to the infirmary to have her examined.

“Where's the infirmary? I want to take Yurine there.”

“I'll accompany you, follow me.”

Magic was dangerous and it was possible to get injured while practicing it. Infirmaries were placed on each floor of the two buildings to ensure quick response in such a case.

As George left them, Lylphia took them to the infirmary where Sivina had been taken so that they could find out more about her. While this was happening, people who knew Yurine gathered around Yu and began to bombard him with questions.

Yu entered the infirmary without answering any questions and found Sivina lying on a bed. The healing magicians were gathered around her head, discussing what to do.

Ana listened to the mages with a glimmer of hope in her eyes, never letting go of Sivina's hand for a second.

The healing mages argued, using terms Yu did not know the meaning of. One of them said they should take blood to get an idea of the poison and the others agreed.

Another mage made a suggestion that a Yu believed to be a medicine and the other mages nodded in agreement. Two mages continued to cast the healing spell while one of them left the infirmary to prepare the medicine.

Another wizard pricked Sivina's finger with a needle and drew a few drops of blood. The hole in Sivina's finger was immediately closed by the healing spell.

While Yu was wondering how they were going to test that blood, a new physician entered the room. He went straight to Yu.

“She fainted after finishing her mana, she's been sleeping all night.”

After checking Yurine's pulse in Yu's arms, the physician repeated what he had been told earlier.

“Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with her. I know she is a sword fairy, but her body is still that of a child, and if she pushes herself too hard, she can weaken quickly. After she wakes up, she should not cast spells for a while and save her mana, otherwise she just needs to eat like any other child. That's all.”

“I see, thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

The physician left Yu and went to Sivina. Lylphia was with him to check on her friend.

Yu continued to carry Yurine in his arms. As he watched her face, he thought about what she had said at night.

“Is it really possible? Can we bring Rie back?”

Even if there was such a path, could Yu follow it? Would he have the strength to do it? Would it be possible to fulfill Yurine's wish?

“And what will happen to me after I bring her back?”

Would Yurine kick Yu's ass after she got her mother back? Yu loved Yurine.

“How can you continue to be so selfish? If you hadn't taken her mother away from her, you would never have been loved. You... Yu Valarfin... I hate you...”

He hated himself for who he had become, it broke his heart to see her hugging him and crying at night, and he hated himself for making her cry like that.

“Look who's back. But what's that look on your face?”

Yu turned around and met Maron Martin. The blond man had a satisfied smile on his face and when he saw Yu's pained face he put his hand on his shoulder.

“Or... Did something happen to her?”

“No, Yurine is fine.”

“I am glad, it would be sad to face a loss. I especially wouldn't want to be involved in hurting a child.”

Yu couldn't tell if he was glad because Yurine was okay or because his conscience would not be hurt. Maybe he didn't care about her at all and had just said that to be polite.

“Congratulations, Yu Valarfin. I entrusted the task to the right person, and my trust was not misplaced.”

“You gotta hand it to the girls over there.”

“Yes, I will make sure they will all be rewarded. As for you, rest today. You can use Rie's old room, the counselor in the west building will show you where it is. As long as you stay here, all your needs will be taken care of, and as I promised you, I will make sure you question Salery, and when I become director, the doors of the library will open for you. You will only have to wait a very short time and tomorrow you will be able to enter.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

Maron turned his back on Yu and headed towards Lylphia. He made small talk with her as well, checking on Sivina and trying to reassure Ana.

Yu left them in the infirmary and headed to the west building to take up residence in the room they had been given.