NOVEL FROG Chapter 26: Preparations [4]
I slowly opened my eyes as a familiar white ceiling came into view. Though I say familiar, it was only my second time seeing it. The distinct scent of a hospital room confirmed my suspicion as I sat up in bed. Memories of what happened just before I passed out flooded my mind, and I quickly looked down at my hand.
It’s fine.
My hand was completely fine. The fingers I’d lost were all there, completely intact as if it had all been just a dream. There was only one person at the academy who could perform such a miracle.
I turned my attention to the chair beside me, breaking the stealthy illusion and revealing the occupant sitting there with her eyes closed.
This again?
I sighed as I looked down at my hand.
What went wrong?
"Oh, you're finally awake." The door suddenly shot open, and a young man's voice reached my ears. I turned to look at him, his familiar face causing my heart to race. He wore a long, white coat, a stark contrast to his light green hair. He smiled as he approached me, causing Lily's eyes to open as she looked around, confused.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting. You see, we don't usually allow visitors at this hour," he said, still maintaining his calm smile. Despite being many years older than us, he looked like a young man in his twenties. Even his overall build wasn't as intimidating.
"Um. Sorry. I was just a little worried…" Lily said, looking at me with a gloomy expression, which prompted a light chuckle from the doctor's lips as he shook his head.
"Haha, no, don't worry about it. It's still only the second week, so we hardly have any patients. It's quite lonely, if I had to say."
"Eh, should you be saying that? Isn't it better if fewer students are getting hurt?" Lily asked in a concerned tone, but the doctor retorted without hesitation.
"Oh, quite the opposite. In years where we've treated the most students, we've had to bury far fewer of them. The opposite holds true," he said, turning his attention toward me.
"Hmm. That kinda makes sense," Lily replied after mulling it over for a while. It was indeed a good point, but the fact that he was the one saying it cruelly invalidated it. If he removed his restraints and actually took his job seriously, it would be a miracle if anyone who entered this infirmary died.
So, in conclusion, everything he was spouting was complete bullshit.
"Ian, huh." He called out my name as he looked through his clipboard.
"It's my understanding that you left without consulting anyone last time. That was really dangerous," Dr. Telu said, looking at me with a more serious expression.
"…" I simply stared back without saying a word. He then let out a tired sigh and looked at Lily, who quickly averted her eyes. He must have done her a huge favor by letting her visit last time, but she trampled on it by letting me escape. That’s why she was so insistent on talking to a doctor before leaving.
"I'll overlook it this one time," Dr. Telu said after looking between us. He then placed the clipboard back on the table next to me and continued,
"Now then, Ian. Do you mind explaining what you were trying to do that caused this?"
"I'd rather not say," I replied, giving him a side glance. Dr. Telu simply nodded without showing any concern.
"I see. Then I won’t pry, but as a doctor and healer, I think I’ll leave you with a word of advice." He picked up the clipboard from the table and held it toward me. He then channeled some mana into his hand, and in the next moment, the board snapped in half, a piece of it violently hitting the ceiling. As Lily and I watched the scene in confusion, he continued with a calm tone,
"How physical objects and mana tools react to mana is very different from items made purely from mana. Frankly speaking, it’s a miracle you survived. That explosion should have been strong enough to rip your head off." He finished with an ominous tone, sending a chill down my spine. Did that mean I survived because of my authority? I didn’t have any recollection of what happened, so I couldn’t even answer that.
As he finished speaking, Dr. Telu walked away, leaving the room while waving his hand. The moment he left, I looked down at my hand, trying to use [Recall], but unfortunately, what I remembered was what I already knew.
"You’ve been taking a lot of naps lately, are you sure you’re fine?" Lily asked as she looked at me with glowing, catlike eyes. She seemed to be looking at my arm as if seeing something beyond it.
"Do you see something?" I brought my hand forward, causing her to tilt her head while continuing to glare. Her eyes then switched back to normal, and she placed her hand on her chin as if contemplating something.
"No, it's nothing."
Why are you staring then?
I looked down at my upper body. Since the explosion had burnt up my clothes, I was currently shirtless. I then turned back to look at Lily with squinted eyes as I slowly hid my body.
"W-what?" she shot back with a flustered expression, her face turning bright red. I sometimes wondered what exactly those eyes could see. Do they also have some kind of x-ray feature? A light chuckle escaped my mouth as I spoke.
"By the way, how good is your creation magic?"
Judging from what Dr. Telu had said, it seemed like I needed to create a gun made up purely of mana. Though it would still be a physical gun like any other, it needed to be constructed using mana if I wanted to inject my own mana into it without disturbing the internal reaction inside.
"Hmm, it's not really good. My unique skills have some… problematic restrictions," she said while spacing out. Despite the word choice, restrictions were usually seen as a kind of ‘safety net’ to prevent users from getting overwhelmed by their own Authority. Take, for example, the restriction I had on my [Regress] skill:
[Regress Lv. 1] — Allows the user to revive after death. [Restriction] — Memories of the past life are completely erased.
Depending on how many times I might regress, having my memory intact each time would severely impact my mental health; a recipe for insanity. This was also the reason I was worried about the [Recall] skill, which seemed to oppose that restriction.
"What did you want to create? I might know someone who could do it," Lily's words snapped me out of my thoughts as she asked curiously. Finding a person who can use creation magic wasn't really the main problem here, but…
"Is it a student?" I asked back, curious.
"Yeah, but she's pretty good, I think."
You think?
"No, it's fine," I said, brushing off her suggestion. There was only one person I could think of who would be able to perform this task perfectly, but then again, I wonder if she would agree after what I said to her.
Right, the individual I’m referring to was none other than the Scarlet Arsenal, a mage who’s able to conjure weapons in the blink of an eye.
A sigh escaped my lips as an image of a crying Eliana formed in my mind.
How should I approach this?
