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I did graduate from the Magic Academy, but I’m not always relying on magic spells. I also don’t use any weapons to fight, so I’m not sure if warrior is the right term.

“I had no idea we had hauled in a sleeping Treant without noticing. But you really saved us here. You’re an adventurer, right? We’ll have to give you a reward now.”
“In that case…”

I tell the lumberyard’s manager that I want to get the Treant’s wood, and in the end he gives me the biggest half for free, as reward for defeating it.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to cut it down more?”
“I actually don’t know how to use it yet, so it should be fine like this. Heave…ho.”

They trim out the branches so it’s a log again, and I pick up the whole thing and head back to the research center.

Looking around I see that the sky is already getting dark, so I guess I was out for longer than I thought. When we get to the research center, we find Christina standing next to the entrance like when we arrived, and Natalia is standing next to her.

“Ah, Nataliaaa! Here, this is-”

I wave at her with my free arm and try to show her the fruits of my labor, but then she starts running at me.

In almost an instant I see her serious face next to me, and then her arm wraps around my waist and pulls me closer to her. She’s never been this assertive so my heart starts pumping faster.

“Plant monsters are very resilient, it’s dangerous if you don’t make sure you’ve finished them off.”
“Huh?”

Only then I look down and notice that Natalia’s free hand is covered in a glowing blue gauntlet, which she uses to crush the face of the Treant I’m carrying, which woke up at some point.

“Th-Thank you…I didn’t notice.”
“I’m merely fulfilling my duty as maid.”

Natalia lets go and takes a step back, then the mana keeping her gauntlet’s shape vanishes, which makes the many Steel Silk threads that helped keep its shape get absorbed into her cuffs. That’s the magic device Mir built for her, to make it easier to keep the shape of her magic gauntlet.

After that short hiccup, Natalia happily accepted my gift.

The next day, Christina and Plum come out to see us off, just like they had welcomed us.

“So where are you planning on going next?”
“We’ll continue going east and cross the mountain there, after which we’ll try going to Reibana and meet up with Ryuka.”
“Please give her my regards if you get to see her.”

From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of ships traveling to and from Reibana nowadays, thanks to their efforts to amend foreign relations. I’m sure we’ll be able to take one of those to go see Ryuka and Ruri.

“Plum, could you hold out your hands for me?”
“Yes, Sister.”

Plum does as Natalia tells her, and then Natalia fixes a pair of white cuffs which match hers on Plum’s wrists.

“Thank you for being the Young Ladys’ guide today. I hope you like them.”
“Sister.”

Plum steps forward and hugs Natalia.

“Please come visit again soon.”
“Yes, we’ll be back before you know it. It’s nice being able to spend time with you.”

Saying that, Natalia starts patting Plum’s head.

I can really tell that Natalia dotes Plum like she’s her real sister. Though if I try to act like Plum, Natalia just runs away from me.

Plum’s height means she also gets to bury her face in Natalia’s chest. Not even Akane or Erika get to do that, so they look just as jealous as me as they watch Plum do it.

“I see.”
“What happened?”
“I believe I’ve come to understand a new feeling.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you’re growing up so quickly.”
“Thank you, Sister. I’ll be looking forward to the next time we see each other.”

I look away from them and see that an employee of the research center is talking to Christina.

“The Marquis ordered for you to be informed of that as soon as possible.”
“I see…”

Christina glances at us for a moment. I wonder what happened?

“I’m sorry, it’s a personal matter. Please don’t worry about it.”

I guess it’s something about her research? She’s really busy huh.
Then we finish saying goodbye, and leave the Barnard territory.

After knocking on the door to announce her presence, Christina entered the room and saw her childhood friend she knew so well.

“Mathias, what happened to you?”
“Is that you, Christina? Ngh… I’d really like to say this is just a mere scratch, but you’d be able to tell that’s a lie with just a single look.”

They were in a hospital located in the Feullade territory, where Mathias was lying on top of a bed. His whole body was wrapped in bandages, with the most injured places being covered in casts too, showing just how critical Mathias’ state had gotten.

In short, he had fractured his left arm and right leg, and had suffered severe internal damage. That was certainly far from what counted as a scratch.

Seperion was the country most developed with magic, so they also had made advancements with healing magic, but treating damage to internal organs and healing broken bones was still risky, since an accelerated healing process could lead to permanent deformities. For such serious cases it was best to let the injuries heal naturally.

“I’m still trying to process everything. I suddenly got this message saying that you were seriously injured and hospitalized?”
“Hmph, that’s probably my father meddling with things again. I’ve rejected all the marriage interviews he arranged for me, so he must be trying to lure you instead. You shouldn’t feel obligated to go along with his ideas.”
“Please don’t be so negative about it. I may not have any romantic feelings for you, but I still see you as a good friend and I had to come visit when I heard you were hospitalized.”

In the past, Christina would have never had the courage to be so frank about her feelings. Realizing that, both of them pictured their mutual friend who had caused that change, which made Mathias snort in displeasure.

“This reminds me, Olivia came to visit my research center the other day.”

Mathias was part of the army now, which meant his missions had to be kept secret, and he could not talk about how he had gotten injured. Christina was fully aware of that, so she did not even broach the subject. Her assumption on the matter had been spot on, as Mathias had gotten injured in a mission, but he felt like Christina had read his mind about it, which made him slightly displeased.

“She’s been traveling a lot as an adventurer. And she even managed to obtain two new Servant monsters.”
“I see, I’m glad to hear she’s doing well.”

Mathias’ voice rang opposite to what he was saying though, as he even turned to look away.

“When she left the Barnard territory she said she was heading east, to cross over a mountain before embarking to visit Reibana.”
“I see… Wait, what did you just say?!”

There was something in there that Mathias could not ignore.

“Th-That they’re going to visit Reibana-”
“No, before that! Did you say they went east? Isn’t that the Longshan territory? Are they going to step into the dragonborn’s independent territory?!”
“I…think so? They said they would cross a mountain, so that’s probably what they meant.”

Mathias could feel his blood draining from his face as Christina confirmed that.

But he could not sit still. If Olivia had really headed toward the Longshan territory, he had to stop her no matter what.

He tried to prop up his body with one arm, but he was assaulted by a sharp pain that made him collapse back on the bed. That made sense considering he had tried to do that with his fractured arm.

“Mathias!”

Christina rushed to support him, but Mathias just continued trying to get up even as a stream of sweat ran down his face.

“Ghh… Not even Olivia will be safe there!”

Mathias had suffered his injuries while carrying out a recent mission, and just like him, most of his unit had been injured just as badly and were recovering in the same hospital. They had all been picked from the best of the best, but none of them had been able to stand against the dragonborn, and they had all returned injured and without having claimed a single life from their opponents.

If Olivia ran into dragonborn as well, the best outcome would be for her to end up just as injured as Mathias and his men.

But in the worst case, she would never get out alive.

He had still not gotten over his feelings for Olivia, though he had decided to shut them deep inside his heart. But even then, he could not allow himself to sit and watch as Olivia marched towards her own demise.