Chapter 676 All-Consuming

Chapter 676 All-Consuming

Clementine looked up at her father, startled as she tried to pull her hand back. Though, soon realizing who it was that had grabbed her, she started mumbling and tried to take a step back, "I-I... I wasn't going to, I promise, I just... it just looked so..."

"Calm down," Eiro replied, slowly letting go of the girl's arm. She nervously held her arms together and looked down at the ground, clearly full of shame.

"Sir Eiro, what a surprise... what brings you here?" Melina asked, glancing over at Clementine as she did. Though, it was really just an act for the other students. She knew why Eiro was here; she herself had realized what Clementine was about to do, but she wasn't able to react quickly enough. Before her muscles even twitched, Eiro was already there and stopped the girl's attempt at using her unique skill.

"I was on a walk, and noticed that this class was happening. And as this happened, I noticed that Clementine was struggling deploying her healing magic," Eiro pointed out, slowly turning toward the students around him, "While this is rare, in certain situations it is possible for you to have either a mental or physical block in regard to using your magic unrelated to your actual ability of casting a spell. If that happens, you can have some rather unfortunate and sometimes fatal accidents. While with healing magic there is little threat, as you all already know, overexposure to healing magic isn't good for you either."

The students started muttering amongst themselves, looking at Clementine concerned. What Eiro said wasn't a lie either; this was a true phenomenon, though this obviously wasn't what was actually going on. Eiro placed his hand onto his daughter's back, trying to reassure her, "And it looks like this happened with Clementine. She is going to be fine, though, so not to worry. For now, just continue on with your class. I'm sorry, Lady Valentine, I'm going to have to ask you to excuse my daughter for the day."

Melina nodded her head without hesitation, "Of course, do not worry at all. As long as she feels better soon, that is all that matters," she said, walking up to the girl, "This is not the last time that we will have a class such as this, so you will have more opportunities to show us what you can do, alright?"

Clementine silently nodded her head, as she and Eiro slowly started to walk away. Though, before they left, Eiro stopped. He turned around and walked up to that deeply injured man. He waved his hand over the man's arm, letting sprinkles of water appear from his palm. The water seeped into the wound, cleaning it, and healing the deep injury in a matter of seconds. It did require a lot of mana, but the wound had easily been treated, "I'm sorry about that, this had nothing to do with you. But from now on, try to take care of your body better, alright?"

The man nodded in disbelief, confused as to how that wound had been healed seemingly so easily. And he wasn't the only one, as the other students, and even Melina, seemed to be in disbelief over what they were seeing. Though, at least Melina knew that this was not a matter of skill; in that, she was at least halfway certain that she still had Eiro beat, but instead that this was about the quantity and quality of Eiro's mana and overall magic.

Clementine listened intently to Eiro's words, but it still didn't seem to give her much confidence in this situation. Eiro placed his hand onto her shoulder and smiled, "It's totally alright to need some help, especially at your age. I know you just called Leon a kid, but the rest of you aren't much better either. You're all kids at the end of the day, so you deserve to act like it for a while longer. And really, whether you're a kid or not, there's never any shame in admitting that you need help or can't do something on your own. Why do you think Partax is around at the manner, dragging the mood down?" Eiro asked, and Clementine let out a coughed chuckle as she rubbed some tears out of her eye and pulled her father back into a deeper hug.

"Thank you," she whispered, and Eiro slowly rubbed her back, "Don't even mention it."

The two stood there for a little while longer, until Clementine had finally managed to calm herself down enough. She took some deep breaths and focused a bit more, as Eiro pulled over some chairs for the two to sit on, "Now, let's just talk a bit. What exactly is it that you're struggling with the most?"

"I... the hunger just gets really bad sometimes... like cramps that I can't control. It's becoming more... visceral, and instinctive lately... more physical too, so it's been feeling a lot more like actual hunger... Sometimes, when I use the skill to heal Arc's or your wounds, I don't know whether I want to heal it... or bite into it," Clementine admitted, her cheeks becoming flush.

"Hm... When you feel that way, does actually eating some food help you at all?"

Clementine shrugged, "I don't know... I just... don't like eating that much..."

"Really? Do you not like the food, or is there some other issue?"

"No, no, that's not it! The food is great, it's just... the more I feel like this, the more the skill makes me feel this all-consuming hunger, I just... I just have to remember..." Clementine explained, and Eiro quickly understood what the issue was. It was trauma. Back in the Demonic Village, when the kids were kidnapped by the Sins' Demons, they all went through a lot of horrible things. After being thrown off a tower again and again, Rudy still wasn't able to look out the manor's second floor window without shivering. Clementine had the pain of a gluttonous demon forced onto her, who was eating enough to literally tear apart his own body. It would have been more surprising if Clementine hadn't developed a messed up relationship with food after that.

The Demon smiled at his daughter, holding her hand to comfort her, as he swore to himself that he would do anything he could to help his daughter through this.