Chapter 67: Midnight Rendezvous

「…-!」

At night, I abruptly woke up. My right shoulder was tinged with heat, so I guess that’s what disturbed my sleep. It seems like having something I’ve always had suddenly be gone really has big physical and mental stress on me.

While it is possible to “Heal” my limb, I can’t do it right now.1

First of all, it would need a lot of magic power to heal something as big as a lost limb. I’ve used a large amount of magic power in using “Corona Burn”, as well as when I took control of Ada’s “Corona Burn”. Right now, I practically have no magic power left, meaning I can’t guarantee that I have enough magic power to heal my arm.

Second, the wound isn’t in a stable condition yet. “Heal” made it a bit better, but since the burns are still currently devastating my wounds despite it being activated in an incomplete state, I guess that’s just Corona Burn for you. While this heat remains, even if I regenerate a new arm, I probably wouldn’t be able to move it properly. Worst case scenario, we might need to cut it off from the shoulder that time.2

So, since I’m in this state, it’s going to take some time before I can cast a “Heal” in full force. If it’s just magic power, I can recover some by getting life essence from Urania but there’s really nothing I can do about the wound.

「Nnn……」

The sleeping Urania turned over and fixed her posture. She nursed me until late at night and only fell asleep just an hour ago. I can’t sleep much because of the pain, but there’s no need to have Urania stay awake with me.3

While the heat and pain are making it difficult to sleep, there’s still a lot I need to think about. Particularly, this request. Fortunately, the only thing lost was just my right arm, but we can’t leave Ada’s power as is. I silently sneaked out of the room while diving into my thoughts. As I walked through the neatly pruned courtyard, the midnight breeze washing over my burning body provided a perfect feeling of comfort.

Since I already had complete control over magic power from the moment I came to this world, my magic never went berserk but now, I properly recognize how dangerous inexperienced sorcerers are. In that sense, I can understand why the Royal Magecraft Academy is gathering sorcerers in a single place to control and educate them.4

The Royal Magecraft Academy has a primary school. Children below 10 years old that awakened as sorcerers learn magic power control and the dangers of magic in that school. Originally, Ada should’ve attended as well but since she’s the daughter of the Sage of Leo and a member of the Iglesio household, known for having educated many sorcerers, she was exempted from primary school enrollment.

That ended up backfiring5 and causing this to happen, but it’s still not too late to teach her now. She still hasn’t made any irreversible mistakes. After all, my arm can be healed, and there’s a lot I can teach her as a sorcerer.6

「The problem is, if Ada would listen properly, huh……」

In the end, our duel ended without a clear result. Both of us fainted after all, and both of us didn’t actually surrender. If I had won, I could’ve used it as a reason to teach her, but I messed up. I should have fought properly instead of holding back.

Suddenly hearing some sounds behind me, I turned around and saw Ada there.

「Ah…」 「What’s wrong? Couldn’t sleep?」 「-! Why! Why are you!!」

Probably offended or something, Ada abruptly broke into anger. Even though she asked me why, I don’t even get why she’s so angry, so I was only left confused.

「Why did you help me! Why are you so calm like that! Why! Why……」

Saying so, she suddenly grabbed me. She extended her hand to where my right forearm should be, moving as though to trace its now gone shape. Her face was just drenched in tears. In just one day, I’ve made two girls cry. I might be quite a sinful woman.7

「Haah… Don’t cry so much. I’m fine, okay?」 「Fine?… Like hell you are! It’s an arm! Your whole damn arm is gone!」 「Hmm, well, I’ll do something about it later but anyway, are you okay? Do you have any burns? Other injuries? Aah, there’s a bump on your head. I’m going to “Heal” it so don’t move.」

Seeing a bump on her head, I fixed it up with “Heal”. If it’s just for something light, I can use “Heal” as I am right now.

「You… Aren’t you scared of me…」 「Why?」 「I… Your arm…」

This moment, I knew. She isn’t just some self-centered brat. She understands other people’s pain, and comprehends the gravity of what she did. Why did a kid like this chase out her private tutors and stopped listening to old man Kent? There might be other reasons I still haven’t noticed yet.

「Well, this much isn’t an issue. I can heal it.」 「Haah?8」 「Yup, I can heal it, you know? My arm. I just don’t have enough magic power right now, so it’ll take some time.」

As I told her the truth, Ada flapped her lips like a goldfish, seemingly dumbfounded. I don’t really think it’s something to be that shocked about though?

「What… I was worried for nothing then!」 「Haha, thanks for the concern.」 「—! W-well, it was my fault after all! More than that! Why can you use “Corona Burn”!」

Saying so, Ada once again approaches me with great vigor. However, unlike before, she asked me a lot about magic. Up until yesterday, we couldn’t even talk properly like this, so this should be a huge improvement.

Since I had a hard time sleeping, I really wanted to keep on talking like this, but after an hour, Ada reached her limit. Although she was asleep just some time ago, that was mainly because she went unconscious from the lack of magic power. To be honest, the fact that she was able to wake up this quick is terrifying.

「Running out of magic power is tough, right? Sleep now.」 「Fua~h … Mn ….9 Before that, about today’s duel…」 「Hm? Ahh, it’s a draw. Both of us went unconscious after all. If you still want to do it again, no “Corona Burn” this time, okay?」

With a drowsy look, Ada asked about the duel. I ended unsettled, so a draw should be good enough. There’s no reason to insist on having a winner.

「Wrong! I won!」 「Ha? Why!」 「Before I fainted, you pushed me away. Touching the enemy is banned, so you lost by foul!」

True, I might have pushed her away. I don’t remember much, but I was pretty desperate to keep Ada away from the artificial sun, so I might have done at least that. Considering that, her bump from earlier could’ve been from her hitting her head when she fell to the ground.10 I already healed it, but it’s irrefutable evidence.

「Haah… Well fine then. Now, feel free to state your order. Though if possible, it’d be nice if it’s not for me to leave or something.」 「Fufu, then I order you! Lily, teach me11 about magic! Absolutely no cutting corners, okay!」

Hearing Ada say so with a daring smile, it was now my turn to just stare in silent shock.