She savored the intensely bitter liquid in her mouth and the gradual subsiding of her thirst, and finally, Susanna gave up the struggle.
'Is this what they call end-of-life care? But my end-of-life care being a bottle of distinctively bitter water is a little too miserable, isn't it?!'
But the thought had barely surfaced before she pushed it back down. After all, thanks to Caesar and this unknown man, she had already lived for quite a while longer. To die peacefully without having to experience the agony of an Ethereal's blade cutting into her... what more could she ask for?
But time ticked by, second by second, and soon a full minute had passed.
Yet Susanna didn't feel any discomfort. In fact, even the excruciating soreness in her limbs from her earlier, desperate sprint had returned to normal, no longer trembling. She could feel the spot in her abdomen that had been faintly aching was now completely fine, and even her body was gradually regaining its strength.
A little dazed, she met Caesar's eyes for a moment before turning her head again to look at Andrew in bewilderment.
For an instant, she even suspected this man she'd just met was playing a cruel joke on her.
But his deadly serious expression from before didn't seem like he was joking at all, not to mention he was now carefully observing her with the look of someone evaluating the treatment's efficacy.
Her lips parted and closed several times, but in the end, Susanna simply curled up where she was like a well-behaved cat, resigned to waiting for Andrew's observation to conclude.
After confirming the girl's complexion had fully returned to a healthy blush and her breathing was no longer shallow, Andrew finally relaxed.
It worked.
But just to be safe, he handed another Healing Potion to Susanna.
As Susanna, now mentally prepared and knowing what to expect, grimaced and began to silently sip the Healing Potion, Andrew turned to Caesar and explained.
"Don't worry! A little internal bleeding? Tell it to my Healing Potion!"
As he spoke, Andrew shot her a thumbs-up with his right hand, declaring loudly with an expression worthy of DIO himself.
"It can treat almost any injury on the body. She'll be all better in no time."
To prove he wasn't exaggerating, Andrew undid the cloth bandage Caesar had just applied, revealing the area where the wound had been.
As the cloth fell away, the skin underneath was once again exposed to the air.
It was not the wound Caesar remembered, but flawless, fair skin. The sight made Caesar subconsciously think she must have remembered it wrong.
It wasn't until she had rubbed the newly grown skin over and over that she finally accepted that a wound had completely healed in just a few dozen seconds.
And judging by Susanna's appearance now, even her severe internal ruptures were completely healed.
Such a powerful healing effect was truly beyond Caesar's imagination, making her look at the two empty bottles before her in disbelief as she said to Andrew:
"Wait! Hold on! Something this precious must be incredibly expensive, right?"
Using something so costly, didn't he feel even a shred of hesitation?
For Andrew, however, recovery potions weren't exactly scarce. Now that he had a field to grow herbs, Healing Potions were even less of a concern.
Besides, aren't Healing Potions meant for saving people? Was he supposed to let them gather dust in his inventory?
So, Andrew didn't try to be coy or pretend they were expensive to indebt her. He just said casually:
"It's something I grow myself. While it's not exactly easy to get right now, it's far from a rare commodity anymore. At least, not for me."
Although it was a bit hard for Caesar to believe, she didn't press the issue, instead silently committing everything she was seeing to memory.
Unlike Susanna, who believed him right away, Caesar, whose main job was delivery, was not so clueless about the value of this item.
Caesar frequently traveled between the Outer Ring and New Eridu, and at least among the medicines she could access and buy, a healing potion that could practically bring someone back from the dead was completely unheard of.
But Andrew had used it without a second thought, which left Caesar speechless whenever she thought about it.
When Caesar represented her 'Boar's Rush' crew in negotiations with the merchants in New Eridu, their profit-above-all-else attitude had left a deep impression on her.
But now, Andrew's attitude of complete indifference to these things was carving a new impression into her mind.
Caesar said no more, only subconsciously tightening her grip on the one-handed sword in her right hand, then continuing to study Andrew's face closely.
For some reason, as Caesar stared, the memory of him catching her in a princess carry during their fall kept involuntarily surfacing in her mind.
Before she knew it, it was as if a pink filter had suddenly been applied to her vision of Andrew, making her feel her heart start to pound uncontrollably once more.
Oblivious to Caesar's gaze behind him, Andrew, after confirming Susanna was completely fine, helped her up from the dusty ground and said gently:
"Don't worry, you're fine now."
After helping Susanna up, Andrew re-offered her the water he had set aside earlier and continued:
"Drink some water to steady yourself, then we'll go find your sister together."
Susanna glanced up at Caesar's dazed expression, and the sharp-witted girl instantly understood everything.
She turned to look at Andrew. In her opinion, she had to admit that this big brother seemed quite compatible with Boss Lady Caesar.
Silently giving a thumbs-up in her heart for the future of their relationship, Susanna stood up without further delay.
After all, now wasn't the time to be thinking about such things. Her own sister was still alone in that small room.
She didn't know she'd been saved and was probably heartbroken right now. After all, at that moment, Susanna herself never thought she would survive.
The Healing Potion had mended all her injuries, and with the rest she'd had, she had already recovered a good deal of her stamina. She patted the dust off her clothes, full of energy.
"Thank you, big brother. I'm all rested up now."
Then she turned to find Caesar still staring blankly at Andrew and couldn't help but shake her head, feeling helpless about her romantically inept boss lady.
After all, Caesar's romance manga were hidden everywhere, something Susanna had discovered long ago when she went looking for her.
And looking at her boss lady now, had someone finally appeared in real life to make her girlish heart go wild?
Although she felt a little bad interrupting, this was not the time to let her boss lady's head fill with pink bubbles.
She poked Caesar in the waist with her finger and shouted:
"Boss Lady! I'm all rested up!"
Startled back to her senses by the shout, Caesar became flustered for a moment. As if to cover it up, she waved her hands and said loudly:
"Huh? Oh! Susanna, you're rested? Then let's go!"
_____
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