The room where Sara is resting was quiet and dim. The shutters stood half-open, letting in only thin strips of morning light. Bertha sat on a low stool near the bed, the same one she had barely left since the fight on the road yesterday.
Sara was leaning back against a pile of pillows. The fever had left her face, but a deep tiredness still showed in her eyes and the way her shoulders sat.
Bertha spoke in a low, steady voice, filling Sara in on everything she had missed. "The strike team left at dawn. Guild Master Rhuvia led them, alongside Vessa, I heard. And also, that girl from yesterday, Maya, she went too. It looks like they took most of the strongest fighters with them. At least, the gate got extra bracing and earth magic work overnight before they rode out. Without it surely the council wouldn't have let them go out, leaving the village unsecured."
Sara listened with her eyes half-closed, taking it all in. She stayed quiet for a moment, then asked suddenly, as if remembering something important, "Did you hear anything about Lys? Did he go with them? Did he leave the walls?"
Before Bertha could answer, the door opened. Lys stepped inside first, Selene right behind him. His voice carried into the room before he fully entered. "Of course not. Why would I go running into that forest? I learned my lesson with the hobgoblin. Unless this whole dungeon situation gets handled, I'm staying inside the walls where I belong. So stop worrying yourself sick and just focus on resting."
Sara looked up, eyes open fully. The relief on her face showed clearly. She didn't try to hide it. She simply let out a long breath and relaxed, leaning back into the pillows a little more.
Selene moved to the bedside without being asked. She sat on the edge of the bed and took Sara's wrist with a calm, focused touch, likely to check her pulse and mana flow.
After a few seconds, she glanced up at Lys. "Her mana is still very low. Not dangerous right now, but it's recovering very slowly, I fear."
Sara gave a small nod, confirming it herself in her usual matter-of-fact way. "It's okay, don't worry about it. I've always had a smaller mana pool than most casters at my tier. And my recovery has never been fast, either. On top of that, after years of holding back and not using my magic at full strength, the reserves are even more empty than usual; that's all. So, don't worry, I'll be fine. I just need time and rest before I'm fully on my feet jumping around."
Lys stood near the foot of the bed and nodded along. He listened to her words, but his thoughts had already drifted somewhere else. He kept thinking about his own mana breathing technique, the one he bought from the system, which helped him recover his mana faster. He wondered if something like that could help Sara.
But then very quickly he remembered it came directly from the goddess's system. So, most likely it wasn't something he could just teach or pass on to others this easily.
While Selene and Sara continued talking softly, Lys opened his system screen in his mind. He made sure his face stayed normal so no one would notice anything strange.
[ Sara Thorne ] -
Status: Looking At Host (Physical contact 0%) | Bonded
Strength: 24 -> 26 | Stamina: 35 -> 38 | Mana: 14/60 | Fertility: 60%
Potential: Earth Magic (Tier 4) | Resource Management (Tier 3) | Combat Tactics (Tier 2)
----
He found Sara's partner panel and stared at her mana stat: Mana: 14/60. Then he looked through the interface, searching for any option that might let him help her. A skill transfer, a temporary boost, anything at all.
But even when he tried everything and searched every inch of it, nothing appeared. The panel only showed him information, but it gave him no tools to actually change what was there.
Feeling dejected, he closed the screen with a quiet sigh inside his head, as he still had no clear way to help her recover faster.
Selene noticed him standing there with a distant look. She turned toward Sara and pointed over her shoulder at Lys. "See? He does that sometimes. Just stands there and goes somewhere else entirely in his head. Watch."
Sara looked at him. Lys was staring off with a blank expression, still thinking about the system and what it could or couldn't do. When she saw him like that, a small, real smile formed on her face, the first one she had managed since the fight yesterday.
Selene shook her head, her expression affectionately exasperated. "See! I'm sure he's probably worrying about something he can't control again."
The room settled into something easier for a few minutes. The three of them stayed together without the heavy pressure of the crisis pushing down quite so hard. Bertha moved quietly in the background, straightening a few things on the small table near the window. Soft voices filled the space as Sara asked a few more questions about the village and the walls. Selene answered patiently while keeping an eye on her condition.
Lys closed the system screen completely. When he focused back on the room, he found both girls looking at him with small smiles. Sara's eyes held quiet relief and warmth. Selene's carried that familiar mix of fondness and light teasing.
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed. "What? What are you girls looking at?"
"Nothing," Selene said, her smile growing just a bit. "Just glad you're here with us again."
Sara gave a soft laugh under her breath. "Same here."
Lys felt some of the tension in his shoulders ease, though he didn't understand why they were smiling at him. For a short while, the room held a pocket of warmth amid everything waiting outside. The long wait continued, but at least in this moment, they faced it together.