Leave a comment

I found myself in an unfamiliar room when I woke up. Looking to my sides, I saw Karin and Epsilon eating food for patients. The delicious aroma of their food lured me to lift my upper body up, which made Ciel, who was also in the room, notice me.

“Lapis, are you finally awake?”
“Mm, yeah…where are we?”
“This is a building for sick and wounded soldiers in the capital. Queen Titis said that even if our wounds are healed we should rest until we recover our strength.”

Some maids that stood nearby brought me a plate with food similar to Karin, which I took while thanking them. Considering the location I was hoping it would be raw fish, but since we were supposed to recover it was mostly nutritious beef and vegetables. I liked that as well, so I began eating while tasting the seasoning particular to this country. While I ate, I asked Ciel what happened after I passed out, which she explained briefly.

Some local fishermen had rescued me after I passed out and carried me all the way to the palace. Many people had seen me use the demonic sword to stop the tsunami from hitting the city, so they revered me as some sort of goddess.

“A goddess…”
“That’s probably the logical conclusion for anyone to reach. No one knew about Behemoth at all, after all. All they saw was a mysterious girl flying in to stop a tsunami that appeared out of nowhere…and when they saw how beautiful you were, that cemented that idea even more firmly.”

I was quite disappointed with my own performance, which was the opposite of the smiles Ciel beamed. Not standing out was one of my main rules, though she was not aware of that…so I could not blame her.

Once I was carried back to the palace, I was put together with Karin and the rest in this room, where a healer took care of all our wounds in an instant. We had all been hurt in that battle underground, but no one had died so we pretty much got the best result possible.

“And what happened to Diaria'”
“Ahh, well, she…”

It felt weird not seeing her in the room, and I was told she had some business to take care of. She had been pretty much forced to form a pact with Behemoth, who as one of the Four Great Spirits. That pretty much made her one of the strongest spirit magic users ever. Ciel told me a bit more about how things were going between the two.

“Apparently the pact is working well, but she’s having trouble actually summoning him.”
“…What do you mean?”

I did not quite understand what she meant so I tilted my head. The pact was properly formed, right? I had seen it myself, and that did not look like a failure.

“Technically speaking she can summon him, but she’s not at the level where it’s of any use. She can only keep him entirely summoned for an instant. Then he returns to his spirit state without being able to use his powers. She’s been training trying to increase her mana so she can eventually use Behemoth.”
“That’s quite unlucky…”

I felt bad thinking that, but it was like throwing pearls before swine. And thinking about it even more, some of her past magic power was already being used up merely keeping the pact with Behemoth in place, so she was even worse off. Her training would prove to be even stricter so she could eventually use her new powers properly.

“Yo! Did’ja wake up, Lapis?”

Bandit entered the room, greeting me with a loud voice. With long strides, he walked up to my bed, grabbed a chair, and sat down next to me without asking for permission.

“Are ya feelin’ better?”
“I am, thank you. How about yourself?”
“Me? I barely got hurt at all. Compared to Karin and ya it’s like a scratch.”

He spoke with a bright and energetic voice, but I knew he was just being humble. When I finally awoke from the pile of rubble, he was standing in front of everyone, about to be devoured by Behemoth.

“Anyway…”

His face clouded over slightly, and after looking at me for a moment he quickly lowered his head bowing as low as he could.

“Umm…Bandit?”
“I have to thank ya again, Lapis. I’ve been able to thank Karin and the others already, but I haven’t squeaked a single word of thanks to ya yet.”
“Don’t worry about it. It was a good learning experience for me as well.”

A fight against a powerful foe with one’s life on the line is a valuable experience for warriors and magicians alike. After their fight against demons in the Haunted Lands, the dragon, and Behemoth now, Luvias’ party was growing stronger by the day. On top of that, I was able to fight with my full power, which helped me get some rust off my dulled senses and regain my past power. Such an experience was quite rare, so I felt like I was the one who should be thanking him.

“And well…there’s something I have to apologize for as well.”
“Ya have to apologize? What for?”
“Your demonic sword Xanthus. I managed to stop the tsunami, but I was too weak and let go of it in the sea…”

Even if I had used all my strength and couldn’t grip it anymore, I still felt like I had pretty much thrown his favorite sword away into the ocean. And considering it was a demonic sword, that made it all the more valuable. But before I could bow in apology, Bandit stopped me.

“Ahh, no worries about that. We recovered it soon after that.”
“Huh?! Even though it was on the seabed?”
“Well, it was still in the shallows ya know. Ya didn’t notice the sea was barely two meters deep where ya dropped it?”

I had not… But that was good to know, I had not lost his sword. Still, I barely had any time to feel relieved when Bandit began grinning like a prankster child. Feeling he was hiding something, I retreated on the bed instinctively.

“Wh-what is it?”
“I was just thinking, I’m sure yer name will become famous from this, ya know? Ya spent all yer strength to stop a disaster, if ya name gets out people might start calling you Bordaule’s Holy Maiden or somethin’. Ya’ll be popular in no time.”
“…anything but that.”

I was fully aware thanks to my previous life that being popular was never a good thing. I had strived to not stand out as anything more than Luvias’ companion so far, but now all that effort might be wasted.

“Though oh well, almost no one got a good look at yer face. After we hauled ya here, lotsa peeps keep coming to ask about you. We want to know who our savior is! And so on, what should we do? Do we tell ’em yer name?”
“Please don’t.”
“Arrite. If that’s yer wish, my lips are sealed. That settled, would you meet Queen Titis again? It’s okay if it’s after ya recover.”

All the hubbub made me forget about her. It felt cruel to her, but in my mind she had not been too important to the whole fight.

“She wants to thank me as you did?”
“There’s that, but she also mentioned some reward money. After how much help we got from ya, she would never let you go empty-handed.”
“She doesn’t have to worry so much, to be honest.”

I had not fought with a reward in mind, but if she wanted to give me one…I would gladly take it. She was a queen after all, so she ought to have far more riches than a regular person. I did not really mind taking a bit from someone who had a lot.

“That’s all from me, so rest easy and recover now.”

With those parting words, Bandit got up and left the room. He probably had other business to take care of as well. At least I had filled my stomach now, so I decided to make use of the rare chance to take a nap and wrap a blanket around me.