“……………This is an unfamiliar ceiling.”
I thought scenarios like this only happened in novels, but here I am, experiencing something new once again.
“Body… Well, as expected.”
My entire body won’t move.
“Recoil, perhaps?”
After all, I pushed myself to the point where I think I surpassed the 20-second mark. It’s almost a miracle that I’m still alive.
My body refuses to obey my will, like a marionette whose strings have been cut. When was the last time I felt like this…?
“Ah, the day after I skied for 12 hours straight at a ski resort.”
My body wouldn’t move according to my will. Fortunately, a friend who came to the ski resort was a top-tier hellskipper and managed to prevent us from having to throw away our car and take a train, so I was quite relieved.
Once again, the familiar memory hits me, leaving me feeling utterly exhausted.
“Why didn’t you pop out after receiving my call!”
“Huh? You’re selling the favor of coming here right after seeing my text! I left Gangneung upon seeing that message and rushed here faster than any Void Steps I’ve ever taken…”
“Favors my ass! How many times did I save your ass when you and Kang Jin-myung were going crazy during your cadet days?”
“T-That was in the past. Didn’t we consider that settled when I handled the Jeju gate incident?”
“Bullshit. If you hadn’t brought a healer, I would’ve already fried you and hung you from the Guild’s rooftop.”
“Ugh… Hey, just now. The girl’s, no… wait, the mana core has been activated.”
“……….!!”
-Woosh!
In an instant, Eve’s gaze turns toward me.
“…So this is the Director’s office of the Golden Guild.”
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to move an unconscious person to a medical room or treatment room?
“Seo-a, are you okay physically?!”
“Aah, aside from some stiffness in my fingers, everything’s alright.”
‘Is this because my mana hasn’t returned yet? My fingers feel quite stiff.’
Though I was trying to showcase the Star Magic too ambitiously and ended up paying the price, this level of injury will heal completely within a day.
“Maybe with some luck, it’ll heal within an hour.”
Looking at how my entire body is stiff from lying down for too long, I’m guessing it’ll take about ten minutes for it to loosen up.
For some reason, Eve’s expression has started to look increasingly serious.
“…Damn, maybe it’s my fault…”
‘…?’
Why is she blaming herself now?
‘Even without Eve, I would’ve been toyed with and killed by Sheena.’
“Th-That’s not what I mean, Director…”
“I’m sorry. Because I was too late…your fingers…”
Could she be imagining that my fingers were chopped off by Sheena?
‘Does she think the tingling in my fingers is because of that?’
This is an emergency.
‘Someone like Eve shouldn’t be concerning herself with someone like me…’
“That’s not what I meant at all. My whole body is stiff, so naturally my fingers feel that way too! If there had been a problem with my fingers, I would’ve noticed something abnormal back when I entered the gate!”
“…”
“…”
‘But wait, it’s the truth!’
My hands feel stiff because I’ve been lying in bed for too long. If you’d like, I could show them right here that I can perfectly control psychokinesis, proving I’m fine.
-Zzziiing…!
‘Nope, not good.’
If the aftereffects last this long, what am I supposed to do…?!
“Cough!”
As I unconsciously put my hand up, instead of dark crimson blood, something purely black began to pour out.
“….!”
Upon witnessing this, both Eve and Lee Cheon-ma went into absolute chaos, desperately trying to heal me. However, their healing herbs and purification magic from an A-rank healer were, disappointingly enough, ineffective. My body showed no signs of improvement.
“No, don’t misinterpret this…!”
I wasn’t just vomiting. The fact is that my body is slowly becoming healthier. However, I couldn’t explain this to Eve.
“Ugh, uuugh….!”
It’s just that there’s a lot of waste inside my body…
“Seo-a, stay strong!”
“Damn it, what is the healer doing?!”
In no time, various high-level potions and healings from the A-rank healer began entering my mouth.
“But, I’m already full…”
“No matter how they healed me, there was no sign of my body accepting the healing magic! According to the healing magic, I’ve already fully healed…”
“There’s no way she’s fine if she’s spitting out such black chunks!”
“But, it’s really not that big of a deal…”
Somehow, it took 15 whole minutes to clarify the situation and explain the truth — who would have guessed?
…
…
…
Thanks to the realization from the Sword Demon, Lee Cheon-ma, the large black chunks that filled the jar were placed carefully by the bedside before I calmly glanced at both individuals.
‘To think all the energy would drain out just from explaining.’
Giving a small movement to my fingers to show that they’re fine, I addressed the guilt Eve was feeling due to believing she hadn’t protected me. Meanwhile, Lee Cheon-ma’s expression was indescribable, looking at me who had gone through an ordeal and remained calm.
By the way, it seems that the part where one of my eyes has the Mephisto implanted was already known.
According to Sword Demon, the moment I collapsed after dealing with Sheena, one of my eyes turned completely black, like a demon’s.
Thankfully, when I look in the mirror now, my normal purple eyes are shining beautifully.
After that, there was a need for clarification.
I was considering using that excuse—since it was an emergency—and whether that would work. Surprisingly, though, the two didn’t interrogate me at all, they seemed to blame themselves for putting me in a situation like this.
‘There’s nothing wrong with blaming the situation instead.’
Even if I say that it was thanks to the two of them that I survived, it won’t serve as much consolation.
If this causes them mental shock enough to mess things up in the future story, that would be quite difficult.
“If it weren’t for the both of you, I wouldn’t be here right now, so you don’t need to blame yourselves too much.”
After saying it’s mostly fine and there are no major issues, it seemed both faces calmed down on the surface.
Then came the questioning for the investigation at the scene of the incident.
Hero Guild officials waiting by the door entered slowly, carrying scanning equipment and explained that they would proceed with questioning, simply asking me to truthfully convey what I saw. I was questioned as a victim of the gate incident, and because I was aware of the weaknesses of the lie detector that only judged between truth and falsehood, I smoothly deflected and changed topics, finishing the interrogation without issues.
“Thank you for your effort.”
“Not at all, we apologize if it seems like we’ve made you go through unnecessary trouble.”
‘Hmm… Who’d have thought, after revealing what Sheena did to me, the interrogation became simpler afterward?’
After a brief description of the encounter—how my fingers were chopped off and my stomach pierced by Sheena, how my neck was strangled, and blood drawn before I fell into a gate full of demonic energy—the investigators clearly concluded that I was the victim.
“Fortunately, they stopped questioning after that.”
“Exactly.”
“After all, who would have thought that Seo-a defeated that humanoid monster when we went in?”
‘They might have asked about what happened after leaving the gate, making things inconvenient.’
If it became known that I was the one who took down Sheena, that would be rather troublesome. First, my name would spread worldwide, and worse, I might become the primary target for all seven demons, preventing me from playing my part in the story and getting killed immediately.
“Anyway, that powerful magic that managed to defeat an enemy even you struggled against, Director Eve… Could you explain it?”
‘…Figures you noticed.’
If you had intervened and attacked Sheena while I tried casting the magic, wouldn’t that have been a better choice?
“Why didn’t you help?”
“Of course, it was to get Director Eve out of the range of the mysterious attack’s influence.”
“…I see.”
‘It was too showy.’
Had I refrained from invoking Sagittarius and only empowered the stars through the Big Dipper, the outcome might have been simpler.
“Is there a mana potion around?”
“Yeah, the one beside me is a top-grade mana potion. I was going to give it to you as soon as you woke up…”
‘Top-grade mana potion, plenty.’
I thought of a perfect constellation, one that could boost the Sword Demon’s good will significantly.
-Chug, chug!
I immediately opened the cap of the top-grade mana potion and glanced at Eve.
“Director, could I borrow some magical power?”
“…Sure.”
“Radiant stars, sketch your image in the heavens.”
As soon as I said that, a dark night sky spread around me.
Using the appearing white lines circling around me as guidelines, I carefully sketched out the patterns of the stars of the constellation one by one.
‘If my magical power had dropped back to A+, I would’ve had to improvise. Thanks to Director Eve, this is manageable.’
Indeed, combining my temporarily created S+ grade magical power with a genuine S+ grade from someone like Eve made things much easier.
The constellation of Sagittarius shone with a lavender hue but this time it illuminated with deep blue stars.
“Giant celestial water pitcher (Aquarius) that blesses dry and cracked land with the fountain of life, bring forth the fragments of immortality.”
The pattern I formed eventually transformed into the figure of a giant water pitcher. Swiftly, I retrieved a nearby tumbler and quickly filled it with the liquid flowing from the pitcher.
Nectar.
A legendary elixir of immortality.
In “Academy Swordmaster,” it was regarded as a legendary potion similar to ‘Elixir,’ but unfortunately, unlike the Elixir which had versatile uses in weapon enhancement or ability awakening, the Nectar was limited to healing purposes only, which was admittedly a painful drawback.
Still, it wasn’t an issue, considering what’s needed for the daughter of Lee Cheon-ma was not awakening or weapon enhancements, but removal of curses.
‘Too much might lead to misuse issues.’
Knowing full well that the main characters, Sword Demon and Eve, were allies, showing them the Star Magic was fine. However, if the value of the Nectar I’m creating is realized by others, it could stir quite the commotion in the world, so let’s limit the quantity to enough for the daughter of Lee Cheon-ma only.
“I’ve heard about a student of yours who is like a daughter to you. If she takes this, her condition will significantly improve.”
Aquarius.
Its effect was the creation of Nectar, capable of perfectly curing all hindrances, diseases, abnormalities, and curses.
‘This Aquarius constellation took time, didn’t consume much mana, but still required Eve’s assistance to complete.’
Fitting its rank as the tenth largest constellation, it consumed a significant amount of time and mana to draw. Just contemplating invoking powerful constellations like Hydra, Virgo, Ursa Major, or Hercules—some of the largest—later made my mind boggle at the thought of mana depletion leading to my potential death.
‘I’ve got to visit Europe soon and undergo proper training in Star Magic.’
“……”
-Clink!
“Hey! Where are you going…?”
-Shatter!
Upon receiving the thermos, Lee Cheon-ma immediately broke the window and fled off into the void with a Vacuum Step.
‘That should perfectly fulfill the favor event.’
“Seriously, it’s the 63rd floor here!”
“…Suddenly using a lot of mana has made me sleepy.”
“Hold on! There’s more about that magic I haven’t heard yet…”
“zzzZ…”
For a moment, Eve’s bustling about to repair the shattered window acted as a lullaby, allowing me to fall into a deep sleep.
Whatever happens next, I’ll leave it to my future self upon awakening.
