41.Tranquil Days

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

For the final week that I would still be in this town, I decided to spend these days in peace. Asking auntie Miranda to teach me about cooking as much as possible, getting the things I need for the trip, watching over everyone’s training, and sometimes socializing with others.

When I told the people of the town that I was leaving, they all expressed their regret about my departure. Each time I told them, the realization that I was about to leave this place deepened, and I often felt a sense of loneliness that tightened my chest.

In the midst of all this, however, there were some joyful moments.

One day, on my way home from delivering lunch to Reiji-san, Saul-niisama and others who were training as usual, I was stopped by a familiar voice that I had not heard for a while.

So, after returning to the accommodation in a hurry, I asked Lenny-san to prepare a tea table in the garden and thus meet the people who had approached me.

“…Are you getting married?”

“All thanks to you, miss. I can’t ever thank you enough…”

It’s been a long time… Scott-san. Behind him, a woman I had probably seen somewhere before was bowing her head. A beautiful woman in her early twenties, not spectacular but with a reassuring atmosphere. I searched my memory, but could not recall her.

“Thank you so much for saving me. At that time, I had long given up on happiness… Without you, I could have never returned to being an ordinary woman, let alone marrying someone like this.”

“I remember now! Yeah, both of you returned to a neighboring village since then…”

I’m so sorry for forgetting about you until now… That period of time was a turbulent part of my life that I wanted to forget.

She was one of the women rescued from the bandit hideout, and probably who suffered the most… losing one of her eyes and having severe burns on her face due to brutal abuse, alongside broken bones and bruises all over her body like the others.

Even in this situation, she was still kind enough to be concerned about the other captives… In the end, I was able to heal her back to normal with “Restoration”.

“I’m glad that you two are doing so well, but marriage…?”

“Hahaha… That’s kind of embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Then they proceeded to explain to me about what happened.

After the incident, Scott-san was wondering what to do with his life when his would-be wife offered him to go to the pioneer village where she lived. Even after revealing his background, he was still accepted into the village as a member, and lived his life hunting and cultivating the fields.

Putting aside his criminal past, he had experience being a scout and doing various oddjobs, and some of his knowledge and skills were useful in the village, such as tracking and trap-making techniques. He had a gentle temperament, but he also had some fighting skills, and in the pioneer village, where there is never enough manpower, he was now relied on to a certain extent, and had become a fully accepted member of the community.

And so, after getting the approval of the people around them, they were going to get married next month.

“She’s my savior. She was the one who convinced the captured women to forgive me, saying that no matter what they had to go through, I was still partly responsible for their rescue.”

“Oh, come on, don’t say that… You were the only one who treated us with decency in all those hellish days, you know?”

“You…”

“Yes?”

Uh, should I say something here? They seemed to have wandered off into a world of their own… but I’m glad that they both seem happy.

For now, I sipped my tea while waiting for them to return.

…The moderate tartness was just right.

I didn’t add sugar, come to think of it, but it felt very sweet, I think, and I looked at the beautiful clear sky.

Before I knew it, the lingering snow had melted, and the sun was shining warmly. Soon the short summer would arrive in this town much later than expected. But the ambient temperature seemed to have already increased…

As I was enjoying the view and tea alone, they came back to their senses, blushed together, and quickly moved away from each other. Yes, yes, thank you very much for the treat.

“Uh, sorry ‘bout that, miss.”

“It’s fine, I’m just glad that you two are getting along so well… Congratulations on your marriage, and I wish you many years of happiness.”

They had found their own happiness and were on their way to a new chapter of their lives together. I couldn’t be any less happy about it.

“You too, miss, you’ve changed a lot since then.”

“…? Is that so?”

I tilted my head at his words. I didn’t really get what he said…

“You seem… kind of livelier. Before, it would have been impossible to have a nice chat with you like this…”

Well, a lot had happened since then, and I wasn’t the same person as before, quite literally.

I took a sip of tea while thinking about the many hectic events that I’d gone through in the span of just a month or so that I was here.

“…And no matter how I look at it, with the maid behind you and your ladylike gestures, you really do seem like a princess from somewhere.”

“…?! (chokes)”

He suddenly said that just as I was swallowing my tea, and some of it entered my airway…ugh…

“Woah, are you okay?!”

“Iris-sama, here.”

Lenny-san, who was immediately behind me, wiped my mouth with a handkerchief.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it… It was just bad timing, that’s all.”

“Phew… I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m sorry, too.”

Since I couldn’t say “Well, I’m actually a princess” to him, I had to force myself to smile…

“And that’s about it. We’ve come here to say our thanks to you and tell you the news… Once again, thank you for everything, miss, and sorry for deceiving you at that time…!”

“I’ll never forget this favor for the rest of my life. If you ever come back here again, please don’t hesitate to visit us.”

“She’s right! If you have any problems, I will help you to the best of my ability!”

“…Yes! I wish you both the best of luck!”

Thus, after having tea with me for a while, they returned home.

We all had painful memories of that time, but we could laugh together like this now, and that fact brought me a lot of joy.

I kept waving at them until I couldn’t see their backs as they left, looking back at me from time to time.

Some days later… Just before the day of departure.

While everyone around me in the common room watched with bated breath, I was facing Weiss-san, who was sitting quietly in front of me with his eyes closed. Bandages and other items that normally covered the wounds had been removed, exposing the cruel burn scars.

Raising my hand to the scars, I fearfully chanted the spell.

“3^rd Purification Mantra: Breath of Life… ‘Heal’”

I gently recited the “Heal” chant that I should have been used to using, but it felt like it had been a long time. For some time now, I’d failed to get any response, but now it produced a warm green glow in my hand.

When I woke up this morning, I felt a flow of magical power that I had not felt in my body for some time, so powerful that it seemed as if it was about to overflow from my body.

I called everyone in a hurry… and was about to run out of the room in my nightgown when Lenny-san caught me red-handed. She got really angry at me for that.

So anyway, after getting ready for the day and gathering everyone, I decided to check on Weiss-san’s condition and tried to treat his scars again… Sorry for making you a test subject, Weiss-san.

The pale light from my hand seeped into the wound, and Weiss-san’s scars were getting smaller and smaller… I wasn’t able to completely remove the scars, but they were much less noticeable now.

“…It’s done.”

“I have to admit, your healing arts never ceases to amaze me.”

The keloid-like area had been cleaned up to look much closer to normal skin. Weiss-san looked curiously at the scars and expressed his admiration.

Honestly, I was amazed myself, too. The limit line of what could be healed was now much wider. I just decided to give my healing another try since there was no harm in it, but the effect was dramatic.

Does this mean that the potency of my healing magic itself is increasing…?

“…Um, are you sure you’re fine with just ‘Heal’? I could have just removed all the scars with ‘Restoration’…”

“How many times have I told you about this, kid? I’d rather keep those scars than losing the experience I’ve had for a while now.”

While “Restoration” can erase all wounds, it was rather inflexible, as it merely returned the body to its previous state without question, thus erasing any growth and training results gained from combat.

Since Weiss-san had already made his choice, I should respect it.

“Well, at least they look way less unsightly on me now, so don’t sweat it, kid. I say it’s fine, so it’s fine… Geh?!”

I think he was about to lightly smack my head, but his hand reaching toward me was slapped off by another just before it did.

“Well, congratulations for graduating from a rookie hoodlum to become a slightly scarier hoodlum with those scars. Isn’t that just awesome?”

“YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!!”

Looks like those two were at it again.

Since recently, Weiss-san had been casually keeping watch near my vicinity, and him butting heads with Lenny-san, who always served by my side, had become a regular sight.

I couldn’t help but chuckle while looking at the two of them.

“So… Iris-chan, how are you feeling now?”

“I’ve never been better, it seems… probably because I had a good night’s rest.”

Compared to before, I felt a flood of magical power coming from deep within my body, and I think I could even use the top-level area-of-effect recovery magic I used the other day multiple times in a row.

“Well, I think that’s because your magical power has significantly grown compared to before.”

“…Eh?”

“What do you mean?”

Suddenly, Philias-san decided to drop the bombshell. Saul-niisama and I turned to look at her with interest.

After pondering for a while, Philias-san prefaced her talk by saying that there are still few examples of this story and that there is no proof of it.

“There have been reported cases of people’s magical power growing considerably after recovering from magic depletion. The most plausible reason for it is that it’s a defensive response of the body trying to prevent the same thing from happening… Unfortunately, I haven’t come across such a case before.”

“It’s kind of like a broken bone getting stronger after it’s healed…”

“Then, if I repeat this process, I might- Ack! It hurts! What is everyone doing?!”

I was getting enthusiastic about the thought that I could be of more help to everyone if I could increase my magical power, but all three of Philias-san, Saul-niisama and Reiji-san whacked my head with their knuckles in quick succession, applying way more force than usual.

Holding my painful head, I looked around at them with tears in my eyes…

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN, EVEN AS A JOKE!”

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU MADE US WORRY WHEN YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF?!”

“This one’s entirely your fault. Reflect on what you did, dumbass!”

I didn’t dare to breathe in the presence of those three’s furious expressions. What I said was really bad, wasn’t it?

“(sniffs) Sorry…”

“Oh my god, where do I even start… There are very few examples of complete recovery from magic depletion to begin with. What makes you think you can even repeat doing it? Didn’t I tell you to stop being so reckless?”

“I’ll be careful, sorry for making you worry…”

Philias-san’s shoulders drooped in dejection as she admonished me.

I felt disgusted with myself for having entertained the thought of taking the easy way out. However, if I looked at it from another direction, I was truly blessed to have so many people willing to get angry with me when I tried to go down the wrong path. That thought made my cheek loosen even at a time like this.

“Well, well, well… A little short on remorse, aren’t you?”

“Eep?! N-No, this is something else…!”

Then Nii-sama caught me smiling and added time to my reflection session… (sobs)

“I didn’t mean it, really… I never meant to make light of what everyone was saying…”

“Ahahaha… What a disaster. Well, consider that your tuition if you’re really serious about it.”

After what felt like a very long lecture was over and everyone had disbanded, Reiji-san, sitting next to me, chuckled as I wilted from the sermon that lasted for about 30 minutes… if possible, I wanted him to stop, so I glared at him in protest.

Reiji-san groaned and looked away. Success.

“In any case, we should get ready for departure soon.”

“…Right. By this time tomorrow… we’ll have already left this town.”

I tried not to think about it as much as possible, but I suddenly remembered it and the feeling of loneliness tightened my chest again.

I felt a sudden longing for human contact, and I laid my head on Reiji-san’s arm.

The peaceful time passed in the blink of an eye, and for the first time since I arrived in this world, I had to say my farewell.