(Yuu side)
Loki-san finally brought his horse to a halt when we arrived at the place where Luke and Yukito-sama had just fought the demon.
About my attack earlier, I was very confident about hitting that demon—so why did it suddenly disappear?
The sound of the explosion from that magic had truly convinced me that the demon was at least injured, or perhaps even on the brink of death.
Yet what lay before me now were only their two collapsed bodies. Yukito-sama had already closed his eyes, and I believed he had lost consciousness.
As for Luke, his eyes were still open, even though he remained sprawled on the ground.
"Yuusha, please heal them. I will go and bring my other companions, wait here for a moment," Loki-san said as he mounted his horse once again.
He immediately spurred his horse back in the direction we had come from, to bring the other elves here.
There was no way the two of us could carry Yukito-sama and Luke back on our own—we needed the help of several others.
Rather than that—
I ran straight toward Yukito-sama, filled with worry and fear over his condition.
I hoped he was truly just unconscious from exhaustion, and that he was not suffering from anything severe.
Ah, right—I need to heal Luke as well.
In that case, I'll use magic on him first.
"Luke, can you still hear me?" I asked him.
He reacted by looking at me. Earlier his gaze had seemed vacant, but this meant he was still holding on.
"I'm just exhausted. Focus on Yukito. I'm not sure if his left arm is still okay or not—earlier, that arm was hit by the demon's attack," Luke said while pointing toward Yukito-sama.
I put away my magic staff, then directed both of my palms toward Luke's body to heal his wounds.
"Third-tier magic, Mega Heal."
His body was immediately enveloped in greenish-blue magic, covering the parts that were wounded and darkened from being mixed with dirt.
At the very least, this magic would gradually heal his injuries. I used it so that I could focus more fully on Yukito-sama.
Thanks to his words, I understood what had happened to Yukito-sama, and I felt that his situation was indeed far worse than Luke's.
After the Mega Heal magic had settled onto Luke's body, I stood up and approached Yukito-sama.
He was lying face down against the ground, and with his position like that, it would be difficult to heal him.
Without hesitation, I turned his body over and laid him on his back.
Yukito-sama's condition looked far worse than Luke's. I could tell from how utterly disheveled his clothing was.
His face was injured and scraped in many places, and his left arm looked slightly bluish—could it be that—
I hurriedly grasped his left arm and searched for the wound there.
And sure enough, on the upper part of his arm was a deep gash, and blood was still flowing from it.
Judging from the condition of his arm, it meant that he had sustained this wound quite some time ago—perhaps several tens of minutes earlier.
There was a chance that the demon's blade had been coated with poison, making the wound more severe and inflicting additional effects on its victim.
If that was the case, then before treating the external wound, I needed to check for poison and remove it if any was present.
"Heal the madness connected to the flow of blood, purify it so that the blood may return to its proper red."
"Detect and expel the poison within his body, Poison Detect."
Slowly, my magic detected the presence of poison within Yukito-sama's arm—poison that, if left for a few more hours, would have spread throughout his entire body.
Fortunately, the poison had not yet penetrated too deeply. I was able to remove it with this spell.
——
At last~ I succeeded in extracting the demon's poison from his arm. I won't throw this poison away carelessly—I'll store it—
Wait, where am I supposed to store it? There's no bowl or container around here… ah, who cares!
(In the end, I disposed of the poison into a patch of muddy ground behind some bushes. As long as I covered it with soil, no one should be affected.)
I quickly returned to Yukito-sama's body and focused my magic on his wound, then on his body.
Since this wound was caused by an attack that contained poison, then—
"Guide the flesh to close over the wound once more, and protect it with Mana from this magic."
"Seal the place where blood flows before me—fifth-tier magic, Pure Heal."
The wound on his arm began to close under the effect of the spell. I believed that in a little while, it would fully heal as time passed.
Drak, drak.
I heard the sound of horse hooves behind me. Loki-san had returned, bringing several others with him.
They hurried over to us and immediately checked on the conditions of Yukito-sama and Luke.
——
Their bodies were carried by several people as we headed toward the barrier at Riruyo.
It took nearly thirty minutes before we arrived and were able to let them rest upon soft beds.
Hime, Yukito-sama, and Luke—everyone was now completely exhausted, to the point that they had fallen asleep.
Ah… I just remembered, there is something I must do as a hero.
I returned to where Loki-san was still assessing the damage caused by the battle, and I could see many people suffering and bearing wounds on their bodies.
At the very least, their number did not reach the hundreds. I believed I could still heal their injuries with my magic.
The three of them had fought with everything they had. That meant this was the place for me to do the same as they did.
——
(Yukito side)
I didn't know what was happening, but little by little, I could feel my consciousness returning, and I slowly opened my eyes.
My eyes opened, and I could see that my body was lying on a bed—one that I believed was in my room at Iris's house.
How did I suddenly end up in this room—
As far as I remembered… I had managed to defeat the demon, along with a spell that came at the very end. I couldn't remember who had cast it.
The demon had also managed to escape, which meant I hadn't truly defeated it.
Ah, right—I need to check on the others—
I tried to rise from my sleep, but my body didn't respond at all. In fact, it felt as though I wasn't moving it in the slightest.
My body wouldn't move, let alone my left arm. Over the wound left by the sword slash, a bandage had been wrapped by someone—meaning our side had won the battle.
But… if I couldn't move my body like this for some time, it would greatly limit my actions.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of my bedroom door opening. I kept my eyes open so I could see who it was.
There was no point in trying to lift my head—it would all be in vain.
"Yuusha? You're awake? Thank goodness~~" The person was clearly relieved when she saw my eyes open.
"I was very worried when you were brought here with your clothes and body in such a mess," she continued.
She placed a plate on the small table beside my bed and looked at me from the side of the bed.
From where she stood, I could see her face and upper body.
"Iris, what happened after I lost consciousness?" I asked.
"I don't really know about that. You should ask your friend yourself—if I remember correctly, his name was Yuu-san, right?" Iris replied.
Yuu-chan? Was he the one who brought me here? If so, then I needed to learn what truly happened from him—
"I know you want to ask him many things right now, but unfortunately, he's already asleep. He was completely exhausted after healing so many people, to the point that all of his Mana was drained," she said with a small smile.
Well then, I couldn't force her to bring Yuu-chan here.
But to be honest, my ears felt a little strange hearing Iris refer to Yuu-chan as Yuu-san—it genuinely puzzled me.
"Luke-san still hasn't woken up yet. As for Hime-san, she's currently staying with Yuu-san in his room."
"She also used a great deal of Mana to attack the enemy forces, but she still has enough stamina to watch over Yuu-san," she continued.
At first, I thought she would leave the room after finishing that explanation, but she didn't.
She sat down at the edge of my bed, picked up the plate from the table, took some food from it, and guided it toward my mouth.
Ah, right—the pillow I was using felt like it had been stacked up one level higher, so I could still eat from Iris's spoon.
Without replying or objecting, I ate the food she offered with enthusiasm. It was very delicious and made my body feel more energized.
Hah… I wonder how long it will take before I can get up and move around on my own again?