“Tch, a dragon!? The same one from yesterday!?”

Frillia said in an agitated voice.

Cure who was already sitting down suddenly got up.

“Thas damn oversized lizard.”

I couldn’t see her expression as I was behind her, but from the chilling voice she put out I could guess it’s not something I would want to see.

Even as we spoke, the dragon was flying over the town, shooting what looks to be fire from it’s breath.

“Cure!”

Frillia called out to her but she didn’t seem to even be listening.

“I’ve let you go twice, and this is how you repay me? This time I’ll make sure not even a speck of ash remains.”

Her voice was very cold and chilling, there was no trace of her usual gentle tone at all.

“Cure wait! Calm do-…..”

Without even hearing Frillia, Cure immediately disappeared from sight, following it a large crater was left on where Cure was standing, along with a deafening shockwave that blew me off my feet as I fell on my butt.

When she dissapeared, Frillia could only look at where she was in frustration.

“That idiot! Everyone, we need to head back to town now!”

Frillia said in a desperate voice while taking out her ID card, it looked like she was trying to call someone with it.

While I was helping out El to get up, I noticed something in the corner of my eyes.

Frillia and Ru seems to have noticed too.

“Tch, pack wolves, and we were too late to react.”

In front of us there were 3 wolves blocking the way towards the capital, and before we noticed, 2 wolves from each side and another 3 wolves from the back were already there.

“W-We are boxed in!”

“This is looking bad.”

Tch, we can’t escape like this!

“Frillia, can’t you do something about this!?”

“Cause of yesterday’s expedition I’m not holding any offensive magic! And hand to hand combat is not something I can do againts a pack of wolves! El! Can you teleport us back to the mansion!?”

“El can only cast teleportation twice before running out of mana......”

El said in a shaky voice.

“Then El, go teleport back with Frillia!”

“Wait Rurune, what are you....!?”

Frillia was about to voice disagreement against Ru’s suggestion but Ru immediately followed up with her reasoning.

“El has to return. And amongst us the only one who’ll benefit the most from returning is you Frillia. Go grab your device and come back quick!”

“....Sorry, I’ll leave it to you 2.”

With heavy voice she ended up agreeing with Ru’s suggestion as there was no better option.

Still, she wasn’t the only one in disagreement.

“B-But Nii....”

El was holding onto my dress as she looked at me.

“El, go! We have no other option!”

I didn’t ever want to shout out to El like that, but there’s no other choice.

Probably shaken from the fact that it was the first time for me to shout at her like that, El did as I told and teleported away with Frillia.

“Still, for them to not approach us.....”

“Heh, it’s the bluff technique I was taught by Cure-sensei. If you can look confident and fearless, most wild monsters would hesitate to attack you directly. Though well, the best it can do is buy us a bit of time.”

Ru was standing proudly with a grin on her face.

“Still, can we.....”

“Seems like the answer is no.”

One of the wolf started inching closer to us, still being wary.

“Then it’s time to put Cure-sensei’s lesson into practice!”

She charged at the close who inched closer.

Though the wolf reacted, it was not fast enough and Ru was able to land a hit to its head.

The other wolves immediately move towards Ru, launching an attack together.

Ru dodged their attacks one after another.

While I was watching Ru fight, one of the wolf sneaked up behind me.

When I noticed, it was too late.

Splash.

I blocked the wolf’s bite with my right arm.

The wolf’s fang digged into my arm, splattering my blood around.

It’s biting tightly and wouldn’t let go.

I could feel excruciating pain from my arm.

Using my other left hand, I got it dirty with the blood from the wound and punch the wolf in the eye.

It staggered back from my action and let go of it’s bite as it shook its head wildly.

Still, before I noticed another wolf already jumped towards me as it aimed for my neck.

My body was unable to react on time.

I closed my eyes in fear.

When I opened them, I could see blood scattering.

But it was not mine.

“RU!”

Ru was in front of me, her back got deeply gouged by the claws of the wolf.

Her body lifelessly fell towards me.

Her breathing was rough, unimaginable amount of blood was coming out from her back.

Every second, I can feel her temperature dropping bit by bit.

“Ru.....”

A wolf jumped towards me, I immediately use my body to cover Ru.

Before it could reach me, its body was shred to pieces, only leaving a puddle of blood.

The other wolves too, as if they melted, turned to puddles of blood.

“MISA, RURUNE!”

I could see Frillia and El in the distance, running towards me.

“Frillia! Ru, Ru is.....!”

The moment Frillia, looked at Ru’s condition, she immediately took out her ID card.

“KANAE! Get me a high healer to my location, NOW!”

She ended the call and a gentle green glow started to envelop Ru’s back.

“Tch, the bleeding is too much! If this keeps on going then.....!”

Even if she didn’t finish her sentence, I knew what she was about to say.

Ru....is going to die right.....?

Because she protected me.....

Because of me Ru is.....

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

WHY!?

WHY AM I SO USELESS!?

BECAUSE OF ME.....!

WHY WHY WHY!?!?!?

Die

Die Die

Die Die Die

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

I SHOULD’VE JUST DIED BACK THEN!

IF I DID, RU WOULDN’T.....!

IT’S ALL MY FAULT!!!

.....

Yes that’s right.

It’s all my fault.

If only I’m not so weak.

If only I didn’t accept Cure’s invitation to come.

Even though I knew it’s dangerous.

Even after I heard about how many died in Frillia’s generation.

I still carefreely thought it was okay.

This useless me, who only wanted to be protected.

If only I died back then, this wouldn’t have happened.

No, if only I didn’t exist, then that accident wouldn’t have happened, and they would still.....

My fault.

Everything is my fault.

All because of me.

This useless self.

I should’ve died.

I should’ve never existed.

“Nii, snap out.”

Two small hands slapped my cheeks from both side.

El.....?

“If Nii hadn’t exist, then El wouldn’t be here.”

“El....”

“If Nii hadn’t exist, El would’ve died back then.”

“But....!”

“Nii is the kindest, coolest, most awesome brother El could hope for. The Nii El know wouldn’t be acting like this.”

“But....!”

“No but! If Nii ever thought about dying, then El will also die with Nii. If Nii ever thought about not existing, then El don’t want to ever exist too! Is that what Nii wants!?”

The small hands that were holding my cheeks were shaking.

Tears were welling in her eyes.

And yet even so, she mustered her trembling voice.

“El.....”

“The Nii El know wouldn’t give up here. So, Nii can’t give up here either. Since if the Nii El knew is gone, then El would not have a reason to live anymore.”

.....

That’s right.

El is my everything.

I'm not allowed to fall in despair as long as she's still here.

Grief, blame, regret, I'll take them all on.

As long as I can make her happy.

That’s the resolve I made on that day, right?

What am I doing, making her cry!?

There’s only one thing to do.

To not show her that uncool side.

To make her happy.

No matter the cost, I have to save Ru!

Hmmm? You’re an interesting one aren’t you, human? To bounce back from the depths of despair only from your little sister’s small speech.

I could hear an unknown female voice, reverbrating in my mind.

And yet even if you make that resolve, there’s nothing you can do, is there?

That unknown female voice hit me exactly where it hurts.

That’s right, even if I want to, I have no method to save Ru.

But even so.....!

Then, would you like me to lend my power? With the right price, I could hold her life long enough for the high healer that girl called to come and save your precious friend.

.....And what’s your price?

Hmmm~ I wonder? How much can you offer me?

I’ll give you anything except my life.

Hoho?

I can’t die since I can’t leave El alone, but anything other than that.....

Interesting. Even after thousands of years, humans continue to be so amusing. Then.....

The grasses around unnaturally got carried by the wind.

It covered both me and Ru in a hemisphere shape, slowly becoming bigger and pushing away both Frillia and El.

“Misa!?”

A woman with grassy green hair and green eyes was now standing, no, floating in front of me, seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“Then, to fulfill your wish, would you make a contract with me?”

“A contract?”

“Indeed. Though I would like to offer fully healing your friend right there, the amount of mana in your body is too little so you’ll definitely die if we were to agree on that. That’s why, I offer to keep your friend alive until the high healer your other friend called come and save her.”

“And what would I have to offer?”

“Your full devotion to me.”

.....

“Haaahhh!? You want me to become something like your w-wife then…..?”

“Ahhh, I might’ve worded that wrongly. Once the contract is set, you won’t be able to use magic of any other element that’s not under my control, that is you can only use plant magic. In exchange I’ll also devote my whole self to you. This contract can’t be broken without my agreement and if you do forcefully end the contract, I’ll be taking away your life as a compensation. If you agree, then take a hold of my hand.”

The woman extended her right hand to me.

“Then I’ll accept that contract.”

I didn’t think about it much as I took a hold of it with my unbroken left hand.

If i can save Ru with just this then I will not hesitate.

“No hesitation is it? I like it. With the agreement of both parties, this contract is now established. I’ll be in your care from now on.”

An unbelievable amount of pain surged through my body.

The pain from that wolf’s bite was nothing compared to this.

It’s as if vines were growing inside my body rapidly, trying to burst open my body from the inside.

It then flowed to the back of my left palm, a crest of a rose entertwined with spiky vines embedded itself there.

That excruciating torture that felt longer than it should have, ended.

I could only feel a sense of relief after.

“Since we took too long, I need to take drastic action. I’ll be borrowing every drop of your mana, so good night~”

As the woman said that, I can feel strength leaving my body.

My consciousness blacked out soon after.

 

When I woke up, I felt completely sluggish.

My body was sore all over, it’s hard to move.

“Good morning.”

The woman, no, spirit from yesterday was the first thing that came to my view.

I then remembered why I fell unconscious in the first place.

“Is Ru......safe?”

“If you’re talking about the heavily injured girl that started your wish, then yes she’s safe. Not too long after you fell unconscious a healer tended to her wound. Magic that can be used by humans are not omnipotent though so even if it closed off her wound, she’ll still take some time to recover. Well, you can rest easy since her life is not in any danger.”

“I see.”

I could only feel relieved after hearing that.

“Still, to think that you’re not a girl, but a boy instead.”

I heard some disturbing words following my relief.

“You…..didn’t know that?”

“Of course. I don’t think anyone would be able to guess that you’re a male at first glance.”

“....Did I breach the contract somehow, then?”

“Since I could only contract myself to females and the contract got established, then there’s only one natural course of action.”

“Wait, you don’t mean.....”

I checked down there.

It was not there anymore.

“EHHHHHHH!?!?”

“Misa, are you okay!?”

The door swung open as if in response to my surprised voice and Frillia entered the room.

“I....I’m now actually....”

“Hmmm? For what reason did you enter? Did you think I would let any harm come to her while I’m here?”

“Of course I would when she suddenly screamed like that!”

“Its nothing, I simply told her of the consequences.”

“Ahhhh, that. Then I guess I could understand her surprise.”

Frillia nodded understandingly and walked closer to me before taking a hold of my hand.

“Isn’t that good Misa?” She gave a really kind expression.

“H-How could it be good!? I-I mean.....”

“Hmmm? But you were smiling though.”

“Ehhh!? Did I really show…..”

“I lied though. Well, your reaction told me all I need to know.”

Frillia grinned at me.

“AHHHH GEEZ!”

She let out a little giggle before suddenly showing a serious expression.

“Misa, I’m sorry for what happened.”

“No, that…..”

“It was my negligence that brought upon that situation.”

She lowered her head to me.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

“I-In the end everyone is safe so it’s okay.”

“Tch, if only I wasn’t so careless…..”

“F-Frillia….”

She let out a depressed sigh before going into detail on what transpired.

The reason there was no monster that approached us on our trip was because of Cure.

Her presence itself would already scare out most lower level monsters thus none even dared to approach us.

Frillia knew how strong Cure was and thus was the source of her carelessness of not bringing her combat device on the trip, since she thought that there’s nothing that could put them in danger while Cure was there.

Of course that was true, but she didn’t account for the dragon attacking the town, as well as Cure’s pent up frustration against the dragon since it had been eating away at her free time.

There’s no other people who can dispatch the dragon alone other than her and the first knight commander who’s busy with other things already so because of that the job would always get pushed to her.

Thus whenever the dragon was sighted she was called to come and help since she has a position as the second knight commander of this kingdom.

“It was all my bad, I’m really sorry!”

She lowered her head again.

I did understand what she was saying and what she’s getting at, but still it’s not my place to get angry to her.

In the end, I was the most useless out of the bunch after all.

If only I was stronger, if only I didn’t drag Ru down……

“Misa…..?”

“A-Ahhhh, like I said its fine! In the end everyone is safe and that’s all that matters, so I don’t have any grudge against you or anything Frillia.”

“G-Geez, you’re too kind for your own good.”

Frillia let out a sigh and smiled to me.

“Still, thanks to Ru’s quick thinking and your selflessness, we were able to avoid the worst case scenario. Thank you.”

“N-No, there’s no reason to thank me! It was all Ru’s and El’s doing, and also thanks to you too Frillia. I didn’t do anything at all…..”

I bit my lip before trying to put up a smile to not worry Frillia.

“Misa…..”

Frillia looked like she was about to say something but the door swung opened with great momentum and from it, Cure entered the room.

“Misaa~ Are you awake~?”

She quickly got close and hugged me.

“It’s good that you’re okay now~ I’m sorry for leaving you back then, I hope you’ll forgive me~”

“N-No, it’s okay. It was no one’s fault, it just kinda happened.”

“You’re so kind Misaa~~”

She hugged me tighter and rubbed her cheek against mine.

Still, maybe she’s managing her strength by looking at my reaction but I didn’t feel like I was squeezed to the point of being uncomfortable.

“Cure, she’s still sick so let her go.”

“Doesn’t look that way to me though, she looks completely fine~”

Even though she said that, Cure still let go of her hug from me.

“Anyway, we’ll let you rest for now. Call us if you need anything.”

“Speaking of which, where are we?”

The room was quite luxurious, though it’s definitely not the room I was in when we were at Frillia’s mansion.

Still, it could just be another guest room in the same mansion.

I mean, if this was indeed Frillia’s mansion then I would feel rather scared to be left alone.

Who knows if she would sneak in and suddenly restart her lesson again.

I doubt she’ll do it considering what just happened but can’t be too safe around her.

“Ahhh, we’re at a high-class inn near the border of the town. Lunch should be brought to your room soon but in case what’s served isn’t to your liking, then feel free to ask for whatever you want from them. Anyway, we should really be going now but if there’s anything urgent, immediately call us!”

She pointed at my ID card which was at the table next to me.

“See you Misa~ I’ll visit again soon~”

Both of them then left leaving me in the room alone.

….mnnn? Wasn’t there also the spirit I made a contract with in the room?

“You called?”

“Whoaahhhh!!?”

She appeared again out of nowhere, now floating right in front of me.

“N-No, nothing.”

“Hmmm, is that so? Well, this is a good opportunity regardless. Let us introduce ourselves to one another.”

“Come to think of it, we haven’t really done that.”

“Indeed. My name is Rosa, a spirit of plants. Whether it be grasses, flowers, trees, or even mushrooms and vegetables, any types of plants are under my control.”

I felt a bit overwhelmed by her grand introduction.

“I-I’m Misa…..”

I didn’t know what else to say after that.

I have nothing else, how am I supposed to respond!

Still, Rosa was seemingly satisfied by just that and nodded.

“Misa, it is a good name.”

Ghhh, t-this reply is the most troublesome to deal with.

How am I supposed to reply? “thanks”?

Let’s just go with that…..

“T-Thank you.”

She didn’t say anything else and just floated there looking at me.

What is with this awkward situation!!!

She didn’t seem particularly bothered by it unlike me.

I tried to think of a topic of conversation and finally landed on one.

“Ummm…. thank you for coming to my rescue.”

“Hmmm? Do not concern yourself with that, I simply did as I pleased. In the end it benefits both of us.”

I don’t think she benefitted anything from me though.

It was something I was quite curious about so since I had the chance, I asked her what’s on my mind.

“Why did you come to help me?”

“Like I said, I simply did as I pleased. You could say that it was on a whim.”

“On a whim….?”

“Yes. I will talk about it some other time, for now you should get some rest.”

“Y-Yess…..”

She abruptly ended the conversation like that.

was it a topic she’s uncomfortable talking about?

She said her goodbye and vanished off from my sight in an instant and I was left alone in the room once again.

I hope I didn’t offend her or anything…..

With that uneasiness in my mind, I decided to close my eyes and take another nap before lunch.