* * *
BANG!
I had no room to worry about manners.
I flung open the door to Sara-chan’s room and barged inside.
“Young Miss…? Lady…?”
The people inside turned toward me with startled expressions.
There was the Baron leaning on his cane, Lady Emma, the sinister butler, and my senpai maid with bandages around her head.
And an unfamiliar tall, tanned man with white hair wearing a white robe.
They were gathered around a small bed where the peach-haired beautiful girl, Sara-chan, lay motionless with her eyes closed.
“Y-Young Miss…?”
My shaking legs somehow propelled me forward to approach, but…
“Don’t come any closer, cursed child,” the man in white coldly stated.
Hah? Who is this guy? I’ll kill him.
Killing intent leaked out and my 【Intimidation】 activated involuntarily.
“…Calm down, Emi. The doctor is in the middle of treating Sara right now. This is the renowned healing specialist, Dr. Kiskett. He happened to be in the neighboring village, so I brought him here.”
The Baron hurriedly tried to appease me.
Looking closer, the man’s hands were indeed giving off a soft glow as he treated Sara-chan, visible even without 【Magic Perception】.
Oh, I see, he needs to concentrate on the healing magic. Sorry about that…
“And Emi, thank you for protecting this mansion, this village, at the cost of your own body… I am grateful.”
The Baron then knelt on one knee despite his injured leg and bowed his head to me.
“Though really, for you to not only survive that 【Poison Breath】 directly, but recover enough to move around after just one day’s rest… Just what is your body made of?”
I don’t know myself.
Maybe it’s because I’ve become more resistant to poisons lately, so the damage was minimal this time too?
Could be that eating all sorts of things has given me various resistances over time.
No, nevermind me.
“Baron. Why is the young miss sleeping?”
“…It seems that despite you blocking most of the 【Poison Breath】 from that monster-like massive Topopolock… you could not prevent all of it.”
Eh…?
“While she was unconscious, Sara inhaled just a small amount of the poison… But even that minuscule amount is still said to be extremely dangerous dosage. Especially for Sara’s small body…”
Wait, wait.
I couldn’t fully protect her?
I couldn’t save my friend, Sara-chan?
My legs trembled.
I felt dizzy.
Involuntarily, I staggered.
“It’s okay! It’s okay! Sara will be fine! The doctor is healing her!”
Lady Emma cried out in a tearful voice, dark circles under her eyes as she desperately clutched Sara-chan’s hand, her makeup running from tears.
“……”
Dr. Kiskett silently continued administering healing magic.
Extra-sama had previously told me about healing magic – it sends the patient magic power to enhance their body’s natural healing abilities.
Too much or too little magic power won’t work – you have to continuously provide just the right steady amount.
Looking with 【Magic Perception】, the doctor’s magic output showed no fluctuations at all as he channeled it into Sara-chan.
To maintain this precision for so long, he must truly be top-class.
But then…
“…!”
The doctor twitched, and a cold sweat ran down his brow.
I understood the reason.
Sara-chan’s magic power leaking out of her body… had rapidly started decreasing.
It’s said that all living beings constantly leak out trace amounts of magic power.
So if that leakage decreases, it means…
No.
I don’t want this.
I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I don’t want this!
Not Sara-chan.
Just when we became such good friends.
The friend I even dreamed about from my previous life.
My very first friend since being born here!
I involuntarily rushed to the bedside.
The others, unable to see magic power themselves, noticed the doctor’s change in demeanor and also approached.
Ah, not again.
Not another important person leaving me again.
“Y-Young… Sara-chan…”
Powerless.
Utterly powerless.
All I could do was tremble and helplessly stare at Sara-chan lying there on her back.
Tears streamed down.
The magic power leaking out as proof of Sara-chan’s life gradually, gradually decreased until I could no longer detect its existence with 【Magic Perception】.
At the same time, the doctor stopped channeling magic power and shook his head.
“No, doctor… You can’t mean…!”
“No! No! Nooooooooo!”
The Baron sank to his knees on the floor, strength leaving him.
Lady Emma sobbed uncontrollably as she clung to Sara-chan’s body.
Everyone was stunned into silence, Lady Emma’s wails the only sound echoing in the room.
Despair reigned over the space.
But then, at that moment!
A brilliantly shining golden sphere of light appeared in the room!
“!?”
Startled by its sudden manifestation through the ceiling, I tensed up.
I felt like I had seen something similar to this light before.
Well, not seen directly, since I had my back turned.
It was that light that shone down on the Queen’s corpse just recently.
An unbelievable, extremely high concentration of condensed magic power.
It hovered briefly near the ceiling before shooting into Sara-chan’s body at tremendous speed.
“…?!”
Sara-chan’s body started glowing after the light entered her.
Blinded by the brilliance, everyone instinctively shut their eyes.
Just a few seconds later, the intense glow subsided, and we opened our eyes.
There was…
“Mmm, mmmfuwaah…”
Sara-chan, previously lying completely still, now sitting up on the bed and stretching.
“Sa-Sara…? Sara! Saraaaaaaa!”
“Wah…? Eh? Um, huh…? Emma Salar Baroness?”
Lady Emma sobbed as she embraced Sara-chan tightly.
“A miracle… A miracle has occurred…! Sara is alive!”
“Nnn…? Eh, who is this old man… Woah, Martz Salar Baron!”
Next the Baron trembled as he hugged Sara-chan.
For some reason, Sara-chan was blinking in confusion, muttering strange… yes, strange things as she referred to her own family by their full names.
“Y-Young Mistress~~~!”
Though restraining herself from hugging Sara-chan as a servant, my senpai maid choked back tears of joy.
“Um, um, that maid over there is Maid, right? And that old man is Mr. Sneigen… No way! Even Dr. Kiskett is here!?”
Contrary to everyone’s elation, Sara-chan seemed utterly bewildered.
For some reason, I had an ominous premonition.
“Y-Young… Miss…”
I hesitantly called out to her.
Sara-chan turned toward me, furrowed her brow even more perplexed, and said one thing:
“…Who are you?”