49 – Nursing Care
Oznia’s magic had vanished the fantasy, and the forest was filled with silence.
“Ah….”
I was given Oznia’s staggering body.
Now that the illusion has disappeared, Oznia has returned to her usual 18-year-old self, not her childhood self.
“Kyo, official….”
Oznia glanced up at me with her blurry eyes, then she dropped her head helplessly, knocking her unconscious.
I immediately put my hand on Oznia’s neck and checked her pulse.
The pulse and breathing were stable. After confirming that she was just asleep, she let out a small sigh of relief, and slowly picked her up in her arms as she collapsed.
When I went back the way I came, I was able to get out of the forest in no time. To be precise, I came out of the road I made while pushing through the forest a while ago.
She would have had a lot of trouble going back to her dormitory if she only followed the traces of Oznia, so she thought it was a good idea to make a way in advance.
Down!
At that moment, she suddenly felt someone’s presence above her head.
“Oh, no, what the hell is this….”
The person who appeared above the sky was President Heinkel.
In the original academy, all space movement-type magic could not be used because of the barrier, but the president, the academy’s top manager, was an exception to that rule.
President Heinkel seemed to have sensed the commotion of the forest bursting in the distance and appeared here right away.
He looked at the neat path in the middle of the forest with a stunned expression on his face, but soon found me and Oznia underneath and slowly came down to the ground.
“Instructor Ion… ! Hey, what’s all this about? Could it be that Instructor Ion did this?”
“Yes.”
Unlike the pale-faced president, I indifferently nodded.
At my calm tone, President Heinkel made a rare expression of embarrassment.
“Huh, to think that a single person can do this… I wonder if it should be called a continent 7 hero… Gee, this is not the time to admire. Instructor Ion, why did you do this?”
“I was just trying to protect the students.”
“A student?”
At those words, President Heinkel leaned against me and looked at the collapsed Oznia. Immediately, his expression became very serious, and he said while examining Osnia’s condition with a serious face.
“This is… ! Ugh, it looks like your mental energy has been consumed quite a bit. It looks like I lost quite a bit of magic… Could it be that you are caught up in the fantasy of the forest? It wouldn’t happen if I didn’t get off the road….”
“It seemed possessed by something. The moment I took my eyes off it, it disappeared into the forest.”
“Huh… Is it really?”
President Heinkel frowned as if he was deep in thought.
“This has never happened before… Perhaps her forest spirits or some other outside force had some influence on her.”
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“Does this happen often?”
“No, absolutely not. These forest spirits do not welcome outsiders. When an intruder enters, it shows illusions and constantly wanders around the outskirts of the forest, but it has never led anyone inside.”
President Heinkel nodded, brushing his long beard.
“For now, I will take responsibility for this issue and investigate further. Instructor Ion, would you please take Miss Oznia to the infirmary first?”
“Okay.”
“I would also like to stop patrolling the forest for a while.”
Saying that, President Heinkel looked at the shattered surroundings with dim eyes.
“Perhaps it was when there were still places left to patrol….”
“… ….”
If I had to make an excuse, there was no other way.
Aside from the fact that I wasn’t in a very good mood at the time, I had to hurry as much as possible at that time, since I didn’t know what state Oznia was in. The damage to the forest was just a side issue.
Actually, there are still many things I want to ask of President Heinkel.
Oznia once said that the spirits of the forest are guarding something.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about what the hell is in the middle of this forest, why the spirits are guarding it, and why Osnia was summoned.
But rather than asking Chancellor Heinkel about it right away, Osnia, now collapsed, took priority.
General Heinkel’s teleport could only be used on himself, so he had no choice but to walk to his infirmary with Oznia in his arms. But I didn’t really like the feeling of moving through space, so walking was more comfortable.
I walked down the street, moving my steps as gently as possible so that Osnia’s head wouldn’t shake in my arms. Meanwhile, her Oznia’s eyelids fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes.
Oznia looked up at me with blank eyes.
“Instructor… ?”
“Woke up. Are you okay?”
At those words, Oznia tried to move her body to check her own condition, but it seemed that her body had no strength at all, and she just limp.
She slowly blinked her eyelids and then shook her head slowly.
“… No.”
“I guess so. I’m going to the infirmary right now, so be patient.”
“Infirmary?”
Oznia’s complexion instantly turned pale.
She suddenly shook her shoulders as if she realized something, then shook her head stronger than before.
“Poetry, I hate it.”
You hate the infirmary?
That was difficult. Unless you know what happened to Oznia’s body, she must be properly examined in her infirmary by her priest on watch.
So she firmly tried to refuse, but Oznia said, desperately grabbing my collar with her arms that were not even strong enough.
“The infirmary is… No….”
There was still lingering shock and deep fear in her trembling voice. At first glance, that was not a normal reaction.
Then the scene I had just seen flashed through my mind.
A large church built incongruously with a rural village.
The appearance of the villagers pouring curses and calling out to the goddess.
I gave a small nod after a brief silence.
“… Okay. I get it.”
At those words, Ozunia closed her eyes as if relieved and took a deep breath.
After walking in silence, she arrived at the opal black dormitory building before she knew it. Instead of turning to the tram stop to get to the infirmary, I went straight through the dorm entrance.
Although it was already late, all the Opal Black class students were gathered in the lobby.
Titania was the first to open her mouth in a surprised voice.
“Oz! Instructor Ion!”
Titania looked at Oznia, who was limp and limp, and asked anxiously.
“Instructor, what happened to Oz?”
“I was caught up in the fantasy of the forest. They say it consumed a lot of mana and mental power. However….”
I said as I looked around at the students who were all gathered together.
“It’s long past curfew, what are you doing here?”
Then Marian replied in an absurd tone.
“I heard such a loud noise in the middle of the night, can you calmly fall asleep? I thought some kind of large monster was rampaging. Everyone jumped out in surprise, but I couldn’t see where Oz and Instructor went… What the hell happened outside?”
“Hmm….”
A large monster. Isn’t that a bit harsh?
As I swallowed my saliva with a trembling expression, Marian shook her hand and said,
“Oh, no. That’s it. Let’s move Oz first. It looks very bad.”
I nodded slightly.
Right now, the stability of Oznia was more important than explaining the situation to the students.
“Only Titania follow me, the others go back to their rooms. Nothing will happen today.”
At that, the students were relieved and went back to their respective rooms.
Before leaving the lobby, I suddenly met Elizabeth’s eyes. She looked at me and smiled meaningfully for a moment.
Instead of caring about the meaning of that smile, I took Oznia to the room with Titania to prioritize what needs to be done.
I opened the door with Oznia’s student ID and carefully laid her on the bed.
On the surface, it looked like she was simply exhausted, but after experiencing such an experience, I didn’t know what kind of condition she was in unless she looked closely.
If you believe President Heinkel’s words, Oznia must have been caught up in the magic of the spirits, and coincidentally, there was an elf, Titania, who was familiar with the spirits in this class.
“Titania, Oznia seems to have been caught up in the magic of the spirits. Could you check that there is nothing wrong with her Oznia?”
“The magic of the spirits… ?”
Titania opened her eyes wide in surprise, then continued with a serious expression.
“… Something like that happened. I’m not an expert, but I’ll do my best.”
Titania rolled up her sleeves and carefully placed her hands on Oznia’s body.
Warm light flowed from Titania’s hand and seeped into Oznia’s body.
I crossed my arms and leaned my back against the wall, silently watching the two of them.
After a while, Titania let out a sigh of relief.
“First of all, there doesn’t seem to be any trauma. Looking at the traces of magical power left on her body, it seems clear that she was caught up in the spirit’s magic, as the instructor said. Fortunately, only traces remained. She has cast a energizing spell, so she should recover soon.”
“Are you okay then?”
“Yes. Now.”
That sounds good right now, but the potential danger remains.
Titania exhaled and gently brushed her sleeping Oznia’s forehead. And she said, examining Oznia’s complexion with a worried look.
“I can’t be sure because I haven’t seen the forest spirits myself, but I think the spirits really liked Oz. That’s why she wanted to be friends with Oz and hers.”
“… Anything like that?”
Titania smiled awkwardly when I made a puzzled expression.
“Because the spirit’s personality is difficult to predict. The standards of friends they think are often different from human common sense. Trying to take them to their territory without considering the physical differences between humans and spirits… This is a different story, but that’s why you need to carefully consider the conditions when making a contract with the spirit.”
“Hmm….”
Assuming that a fire spirit invites a human he likes into his realm, it will be a comfortable home for them, but from a human’s point of view, it will be just a pit of fire.
The elemental spirits must have their own difficulties.
“My spirits have shown a lot of interest in Oz since before, so I knew they had a high affinity. But I didn’t expect it to be this far….”
“Is it bad if the affinity is high?”
“Yes and no. The result depends on exactly who is interested. As for Oz….”
Titania thought for a moment and continued her words thoughtfully.
“… I do not know. Oz is something different. Is this the difference between elves and humans, or is Oz unique… It seems that spirits aren’t the only ones showing interest in Oz.”
I crossed my arms and frowned.
To be honest, even after listening to Titania’s explanation, I don’t know much about magic, spirits, or affinity.
The important thing now was to find out how it affects Oznia.
“Then what should I do?”
“Ummm, well… Come to think of it, wouldn’t Oz already know about this problem?”
Titania put her index finger on her chin and put on a thoughtful look.
“It’s only been a week, but so far Oz has had no problems. The spirits didn’t even show such an active interest. No matter how much the full moon made the spirit’s mood sensitive, it’s a bit of a strange situation.”
“… Right.”
Come to think of it, Osnia’s condition today was particularly strange.
He seemed even more dazed and unsteady than usual.
I thought maybe it had something to do with it.
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