CH 75

Slowly, the battle came to an end.

Looking around once, Serdel approached Damon, who was lying on his back.

His pale and blue complexion lit up with life.

“Whoo. The treatment is over now. It took a long time.”

At the end of a single ray of light, Maro took his hand off Damon’s abdomen.

With a tired expression.

“If you think about it again, he is a very tough person. If it were someone else, he would have died right away. It would have been like that if we had arrived even a little later.”

Maro shook his head. 

“But I’m the one who’s going to die now.”

He lay flat on his back after emptying three bottles of potions one after another.

Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d just been stabbed and cut?

Healing must have been more difficult due to the magic embedded in the wound.

“…Ah, thank you very much earlier. I survived thanks to you who made a refuge with shields and wind magic.”

Serdel smiled awkwardly because she didn’t expect to hear such words from him.

“And… I’m sorry for being cocky earlier. When I use healing magic, I get nervous too.”

“Yeah.” 

An awkward silence encompassed them after their stilted thanks. 

“Whoo.”

For a moment. 

The wizard, who was in Mana’s breath, opened his eyes.

“Hey, Beman.” 

As if wanting to blow away the awkward aura, Maro clasped his fellow mage’s hand.

“You’re alive?”

“I almost died.”

“Who told you to use magic like that on an expedition? Foolish, reckless, and even dangerous. If you were on the defensive, you should have run away.”

“There was no way I could afford to do that. You should be able to run away together.”

Beman, who had been muttering with a sigh, finally looked at Serdel and smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Lady.”

“Yes?”

“Oh! When wizards are in mana breathing, their nerves become sensitive and their five senses open. We can’t see with our eyes, but we can hear everything and roughly understand the situation.”

With a friendly smile, he kindly explained.

“If it wasn’t for the Lady, I would have died. Thank you!”

If Maro was a typical magic tower wizard, Beman had a good personality, unlike other wizards.

‘Well, that’s why he must have gone into battle without any tricks until he ran out of mana.’

“Whoo.” 

Finally, Henry, who was being treated by Falden’s subordinate, opened his eyes.

“I am not a professional in healing, so every time I do it, it takes a long time and is very difficult.” The subordinate said as he began cleaning up around them.

When he awoke, Henry turned his gaze away with a grunt of dissatisfaction, looked at Serdel, and nodded his head.

That was the end of his greeting.

As a member of the same team as Henry, they moved together from the beginning, so she was already used to that indifference.

“You all worked hard.”

First of all, she said a short congratulations.

Beman is particularly friendly, and usually, wizards are wary, sensitive, as individuals.

Now was the opportunity to be thankful for it, as she had to build acquaintance with them for future plans.

Serdel looked around once more.

“The battle is going to be over soon. We’ll have to treat the wounded too, so can you help me a little bit before that?”

Serdel smiled and took out several magic bags with large-capacity subspace magic from inside the magic bag.

“Ah, are you going to get some monster by-products?”

Beman flashed his eyes.

“Then I—” 

“First, I’d like to examine and dissect the Raunel’s body. Please make a deal with me.”

Maro, who jumped up from his place, suddenly pushed his face forward as he cut off Beman’s words.

Henry pushed Maro’s face aside, and his eyes shone brightly instead of his words.

“What else do you need?” Serdel asked. 

“I—”

“We need 20 orc corpses. We would appreciate it if you could trade more. Shall we start with the contract? If you don’t want to die, put this hand away.”

Maro, who intervened again before Beman could speak, glared at Henry, who was still pushing his face and grit his teeth.

In an instant, flames rose from Maro’s hand, and ice flowers bloomed from Henry’s hand.

And Beman, who pushed between the two of them, handed over a piece of paper.

“These are all I need!”

Even if it was a list, there was nothing much because the only things on the list were orc corpses.

To begin with, the only content was that they intended to keep at least five or up to 30 orcs for each type of additional hunting.

And below that,

‘You are free to make any deal you want. However, if you take good care of me and trade as much as possible, the God of Fortune will be with you. I have always admired the Lady very much ♡’ was even added.

Laughter naturally came out.

“If each of you needs something, write it like Beman on a piece of paper and give it to me. I’ll give you a gift in return for your participation. But don’t be overly greedy.”

“You’re just giving it to me? Whoa! T, thank you. Lady!”

Beman shouted first.

Maro and Henry, who had their mouths shut, let out a rough snort over and over again as if they were excited; they hurriedly took out their paper and pen.

‘It must be unexpected.’ 

Because it’s Elbash Forest, not anywhere else.

They don’t know what could happen in such a dangerous area, so they should have stopped being greedy for monster by-products, even though it was a pity to waste such precious parts on the forest floor.

In fact, even in the past, no one took it during expedition or subjugation.

‘Did they ever have time for that?’

Due to the rapidly changing surrounding circumstances, they would have focused only on getting rid of threats and surviving.

But it’s different now.

She didn’t realize she would be able to return with a magic bag filled with monster corpses.

It’s disgusting, but the monster corpses were very valuable.

Hunting is not easy, and the supply is not smooth compared to the demand. And it’s worth it. 

It was possible to make high-quality armor from the tough hides and bones, while the blood and organs became precious ingredients for great medicine.

Aside from that, they required eyeballs, fingernails, and even a few strands of hair raw materials to create magic reagents.

Besides, in one or two out of ten, magic stones are found in their chests—.

‘This means that the corpse is especially precious.’

Moreover, the air here is different, and the quality of the magic that resides in the body is different from the monsters born and raised in ordinary forests.

There will be no one who doesn’t wish to own it.

“Here, Lady.” 

Maro and Henry handed over their papers at the same time.

Since then, the three people who rolled up their sleeves have been wandering around and sweeping up the dead bodies.

Opportunities to carry the wizard tower on their back were piling up one after another.

*****

Finally, the battle with the huge Raunel that had its forehead pierced by an arrow from Terra was over.

Although he couldn’t deal with Raunel effectively, his arrows still worked on orcs.

100 shots, 100 hits.

Any target of his was either dead or badly injured whenever he pulled his string and let an arrow fly.

Thanks to this, the relatively weak soldiers who couldn’t take much damage, were able to hold out as they only had to wait and finish off the orcs Terra didn’t instantly kill.

Instead, the squires and knights were the most injured.

The wizards, who took all the monster corpses under Serdels’ orders, immediately treated them.

“It’s chilly. I’m not expressing it outloud, but everyone is anxious. I’m afraid another monster will appear.”

At Siri’s muttering, Serdel nodded.

They’ll be afraid. 

If they were mesmerized by the raging heat and moved throughout the battle.

Now that the battle is over, the silence has fallen, the blood-stained ground, the leaves smashed in the aftermath of the battle, and the fallen trees.

It will put more pressure on the dark reality that the survivors now must face.

Serdel tore the scroll with nature regeneration magic to get rid of the acrid smell of blood.

As the scent of spilled blood disappeared and the fresh air enveloped their lungs, the dark faces of those who had been tense and anxious became brighter.

In the distance, Beman gave a thumbs up. Henry and Maro also greeted each other with expressionless faces saying that it was a good choice.

“You’ll be rich. Young Lady.” 

As she was smiling in response, Damon approached her just in time.

He had woken up earlier, and after a while, he seemed to be alright.

He threw out a joke.

“Of course. You have to be rich.”

Rather than asking if he was okay, Serdel responded lightly to his words.

It was her own consideration.

“I thought I was going to die.”

But he started talking first.

She looked up at Damon. While looking straight, he turned his eyes and made eye contact with Serdel.

“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to die? I had dozens of such weak thoughts.”

How should she respond?

Her lips twitched, but no words came out.

“My mother, who took her own life, also shuddered. It was then that I realized. I guess it was more tiring than I thought.”

His face, which he had always maintained and only displayed the expression he had created, was natural for once.

“Let go of our mind. Then I will be comfortable. I’m about to give up everything.”

Whoops. He moved forward.

“I was lucky to have met Young Lady. The day I met you I remembered the smile that Young Lady  showed me in the hallway where the sunlight was coming in.”

“…”

“I couldn’t die. I didn’t want to die.”

He took her hand. 

He kissed her lightly on the back of her hand, his lips lightly skimming over her skin as he smiled softly.

“After all, meeting the Young Lady seems to be the fortune of my lifetime.”