The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

After visiting Gladys, I decided to take a short walk around the city of Lucvis with Amaco, who joined us later.

Since we had no free time during the daytime because of training and meetings, I thought it would be nice to take a break at least at the end and enjoy the city of Lukvis.

"How are Suzune and Kazuki doing?"

"Kazuki went to see the big library, and he is playing with Eva.

Kazuki seems to have a book that is of interest to him.

Before the meeting, I had a quick look at the books in the big library and found that they all seemed to be difficult.

<> or > were all lined up in a row that made me think about such things. .......

I don't read specialized books, so I think it's great that I can accumulate knowledge while enjoying myself.

"Is Suzune with Eva?"

"Yes. "Yes. We are going back to our respective countries tomorrow, so she came to say hello to me one last time. We have some time, so we decided to have a cup of tea.

"Heh."

I was invited to join them, but I had promised to go with Amako for a walk around the city first, so I decided to go first.

I'm glad Eva got along with her senpai. I was glad that Eva got along well with her senpai, since they were of the same age and had a lot to talk about just because they were both girls.

Senpai was also damaged by Eva's purity, but she seemed to be enjoying herself (?). So, it is all right in the end.

"How was your experience?"

"I had a ...... normal life. I helped Kiriha with her housework, took care of Satsuki, and woke up Kyou when he didn't wake up at noon.

"Oh, yeah. ......"

It's not hard to understand why Keogh wants to coast through the holidays.

On days off from school, he sometimes sleeps until noon. Then, in the afternoon, you realize that you have wasted half of your day off, and you regret it.

"Well, it was just a normal life, but I enjoyed it."

"That's good. I knew it was the right thing to do.

"Yes, it is. ...... hmm?"

"...... what's wrong?"

Amako looks in a certain direction and notices that something is bothering her.

She looks at the end of the alley with a somewhat surprised expression on her face, and I follow her gaze to a place I remember.

"Is this where you and Nack first met ......?"

The plaza at the end of the alley where he had collapsed from his wounds.

There, a girl was practicing magic.

Meena, a girl with bright red hair in twin-tails, noticed me on the street and gave me a disgusted look as if she had encountered a demon.

"Usato. Is that the kind of face you get when you encounter an ogre in the city?"

"Amako, first of all, there are no ogres in the city, okay?"

"?"

Why are you tilting your head at me so strangely?

Are you trying to tell me that I'm the Ogre itself?

I'm doubly shocked when I notice that a grim-faced Meena is beckoning to us.

To be honest, I had expected her to avoid us if she saw our faces, so I head with Amako to the plaza where she is, a little surprised.

"......"

"......"

However, when he came to Meena's side, he could not start a conversation with her.

She is playing with the ends of her own hair and peeking at me, but there is no sign that she is talking to me. I don't know what to say to her even if I wanted to talk to her.

After all, I don't have much contact with this girl in the first place.

"Nack, how are you?

"!　You never told me that!"

I tried to step in, but she immediately snapped back at me.

However, he did respond to Nack's name, so it seems that it would not be difficult to continue the conversation.

"Well, do you remember me anyway?"

How could I forget a monster like you? Besides, yesterday you didn't even look human.

"...... about the exchange game?"

"The one in the morning when we were fighting the bravest of the brave. It's a mystery how you can react to an opponent whose movements you can't see, it's a mystery why you're accelerating in an unnatural position, and most of all, it's a mystery why you're a healing wizard doing it."

He said it really fast.　What?　Am I a mystery?

And the little fox behind me, don't agree with me in a quiet voice. <

...... I've been wondering about this for a while now, but there are traces of soot and a burning smell in the square where we are. I wonder if Meena was working her magic here?

"You've been training here?"

"...... bad?"

"No, it's not bad. But why here?

"We can't use our usual training grounds, so we're just using this one today."

"Oh, I see."

Yesterday an exchange game was held at the training ground, so it is currently out of service.

I wondered why they were training in such a small place, and it makes sense.

I was now convinced, and now Mina starts to talk to me.

"Nack said you're doing well. ......"

"Hmm?　Yeah."

"What did he say about me?"

Is that what you wanted to ask ......?

I'll be honest with you, since it's about your impression of Nack.

I will tell Meena what Nack told me before he left Luxembourg.

"I heard that he's not bad with you."

"...... sweet as ever. I wish he'd just hate me."

Meena muttered with a somber look on her face.

I question her behavior, which is different from her former image, and ask her what has been bothering her.

"Do you regret it?　Do you regret what you did to Knack?

"......"

Meena is silent.

She says that Nack told her that "it's your own fault for being so grumpy," or at least she doesn't seem to think so.

Otherwise, she would not have kept her mouth shut with such an expression on her face.

After about ten seconds of silence, Meena finally opened her mouth.　

"Come with me for a moment," she said.

"What?　I don't mind, but what do you want to talk about?"

It's about Nack and me. It's about Nack and me. You care about him too, don't you?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.　That's a bit sudden.

He sat down like a gymnast in the shade of a nearby tree, as if he was already going to tell me.

"Have you heard that Nack and I have been friends since childhood?"

"Yes, Nack told me."

"Yes. Then I don't have to explain why he was put in Luxvis.

Nack, who was supposed to be awakened to water-based magic, has awakened to healing-based magic.

Because of that, he was treated coldly by his parents, and he was kicked out of his home and sent to Lucvis, right?

It's a terrible story now that I think back on it.

"I used to play with Nack when I was a little girl.

"Can you imagine ...... seeing the relationship now?"

"...... Right. But I remember ...... having a lot of fun."

Surprisingly, they were close?

But the first time we visited Lucvis, Nack, who we were supposed to be playing with, was in such a mess.

Is there a reason for that?

"We used to play together, but about a year before I entered Lecvis, I stopped seeing him.

"We don't see each other anymore?"

"They won't let me see him when I go to the house. Nack's parents encouraged him to play with his sister rather than him, and they treated him as if he didn't exist. ......It was creepy."

...... were you under house arrest?

I know it sounds pretty bad, but maybe Nack's parents were trying hard to hide the fact that he didn't have the power they wanted, to keep a lid on the stinky stuff.

"Then I happened to hear that Nack was going to be placed in Lucvis."

"...... So you're in Luxvis, too?"

Meena nodded her head.

Her hands seemed to be gripping her robes with a hint of strength.

"Nack was a ...... shell of a man when he was admitted to the Luxvis Academy. He was admitted to the best place to learn magic, Lecvis Academy, but he just looked down and looked like it was the end of the world.

"That's because it's like being kicked out of ......."

"It was only then that your father told me why Nack had been placed in Lucvis."

For Knack himself, there was probably no hope.

"I tried to talk to him many times, but he was scared of everything around him, even of me. That didn't sit well with me at the time."

"What do you mean you don't like it? ......"

"I didn't do anything about it, just accepting my situation because I had awakened to healing magic."

Maybe Nack had given up.

The moment his magic was not water-based, he was treated coldly by his parents, the people closest to him, and sent to Lucvis alone as an outcast.

At the age of ten or younger, it is not surprising that he was emotionally devastated.

As I was thinking about this, Mina, perhaps remembering what had happened, raised her voice a little and continued to speak.

"If you had worked hard in Luxembourg, your healing magic would have been appreciated. Then maybe his parents would have given up on him and would have let him back into their home. But Nack gave up on everything and didn't even try to move on. ......

"You didn't look down on healing wizards, did you?"

At least, that's how Meena looked when she was abusing Nack.

She shakes her head at my question.

"For me, it didn't matter if Nack had awakened to healing magic or not. I just wanted him to get up. But no matter how many times I tried to get him to do so, he just kept looking down, refusing to see the hand I held out to him, refusing to ask anyone for help. I couldn't stand him, so I went to ......"

"......"

"I got so frustrated with Nack for not doing what I wanted that I became violent with him. Somewhere along the way it became the norm and I ...... realized that what I ...... wanted to do wasn't really what I wanted to do, but I got to a point where I couldn't go back."

So Nack has become an abusive situation.

What was initially intended as a good thing has gradually deviated from its purpose and has become distorted.

Meena smiles at me silently, as if she is mocking herself.

There is no way I can honestly apologize to you now. What I have done was very ...... terrible."

I wish I could give solid advice at ...... times like this, but Nack and Meena's relationship is not something that can be managed with advice that comes to mind on the spot.

But still, when she declared that she would go to Lingle Kingdom with Nack after graduation from the school, maybe she wanted to have a reason to see him again.

"So you're going to visit Nack in Lingle Kingdom after graduation?"

"Nack told you that, didn't he? He told you that he's going to ...... because there's no other reason for him to show his face. Oh, and I'm also disappointed that Nack beat me, so I'm going to meet him after I'm stronger.

"Yeah, well, ......."

Perhaps you are quite concerned that Nack beat you to the punch?

Even without that, maybe this is her way of making peace with the situation, but I don't know..,

"You're so clumsy. You are."

"Shut up. I know that better than anyone."

I laugh at Meena who frowns and takes her eyes off me.

I guess Meena was trying to move on, just like Nack was.

As I was thinking this, she stood up, dropping dirt and leaves, and without looking at me, she opened her mouth.

"I feel a little better now that I'm talking to you, who has nothing to do with this."

"So you told me because of ......."

"If I told anyone on campus, they would start rumors, so I thought you, an outsider, would be a good fit."

I was surprised at how easily he told me about ......, but what can I say, he's got a lot of guts.

Maybe I was wrong about this girl.

When I was training Nack, I thought he was a kid who was abusing Nack for no reason, but there was a kind of misunderstanding between the two of us before that.

......I don't have anything very clever to say, but I'll say what I can.

When she has said all she wants to say, I call out to her as she is about to go back to her training again.

"I can't erase the fact that you've been knackered."

"What?"

"But I'm sure things will be different from now on."

She continues to speak to Meena, who shakes her shoulders slightly without looking at me.

You and Nack are still children, and you will live a long life. You and Nack are both still children and will have a long life ahead of you.

The amount of time that you and I have been apart is a small fraction of what it used to be. They have more than enough time to make up for it.

And unlike Mr. Fegnis, who has committed a ...... crime, Meena can still start over.

Meena rolls her eyes at my words and smiles somewhat dismissively.

"You know, you and your brother have the same sweet disposition.

"Well, Nack is my apprentice. It's only natural that we should be alike."

I'm often told I look like Rose, too.

Mainly the atmosphere and the face.

If you think about it, is it possible that Nack will end up looking like Rose ......?　No, I'll try not to think about that.

"Thank you for talking to me. And I'll let Nack know about this ......."

"I know. I won't tell him."

"Yes. I'll go back to ...... then, I'm going back to my self-directed training."

Meena relaxes her shoulders as if relieved, turns her back on me, and walks toward the center of the plaza.

I can't stand in her way, so I leave and go back the way I came.

It was an unexpected encounter, but in the end, I am glad of it.

As I turn down an alleyway, Amako tugs at the sleeve of my trousers.

"Hmm?"

"You sounded like an old man just now, Usato."

"Guha......!"

As soon as he turned around, Amako gave him a hard blow with the weapon of words.

I had been trying not to pay attention to it, but I couldn't ......!　What the hell. !　What's a 17 year old talking to a girl 5 years younger than him about life? Seriously.

To tell you the truth, about halfway through I was talking to Meena, I had an urge to kick the shit out of her right there and then.

I regained my composure and talked to Amako.

"Well, what are we going to do after this?"

"We'll tell Neah and the others about it later."

"Okay, okay. What do you want?　I'll buy you anything you want.

"What?　If you insist, I'll indulge you."

Wow, you have a dazzling smile.

You've grown so strong that I'm almost in tears of joy.

As I was going down the street, checking my hand, I saw a light blue-haired woman, Ms. Welshy, running toward me from the end of the street.

"Hey, Mrs. Welsey?"

"What's going on?"

Tilting our heads, Amako and I ran up to her.

Ms. Welshy was on her knees, breathing heavily. She must have been running as fast as she could and was so out of breath that she couldn't even speak.

"We, Mr. Welsey, are you all right?"

"Oh, my God. ......!"

I cast a healing spell on Ms. Welsey, who seemed to be out of breath.

This panicky behavior is not normal.

As I was having a bad premonition, Ms. Welshy calmed down her breathing and spoke with a grim expression on her face.

"We just received a message from the Kingdom of Lingle by a hooverbird!　A shadow that looks like a scouting party of the Demon King's army has been confirmed near the border!

"What?

I was unable to respond to Mr. Welshy's words for a while.

I remembered the battlefield filled with murderous intent and fear.

I have to run through that place once more.

Amako's hand is placed on my hand, which was unknowingly clenched into a fist. Immediately I look at her, and she looks up at me as if she fears for my safety.

Amako's gaze makes me even more determined and determined.

"It's going to start again, isn't it?

The end of a peaceful life.

What comes next is a battle against the Demon King's army---a battlefield where death is the only thing that stands between us and the end of a peaceful life.