50. Chapter 50
Trees that had been struck by a storm-like catastrophe had fallen, and the ground had been furrowed by claws with innumerable scars. The cause, a dragon subspecies called “Crawler,” had been knocked down. When Ayane tried to see the outside from the inside of the wagon, she was amazed that only one monster had caused so much destruction. At the same time, she couldn’t relax when she thought of the people who had suffered in the battle with the monster.
Also, Ayane thought that perhaps, no, that for sure, the soldier who had been escorting and taking care of her, a soldier named Walm, who had kidnapped her by burning the Craist soldiers and some knights belonged to The Order of Reharzen with blue flames, must have been injured.
A moment of silence occurred as the erratic roar of the earth and the roar of the monster ceased. Immediately after, Ayane sensed the Highserk soldiers rushing over and approaching the wagon in a loud voice.
“Carry him, fast, don’t let him die!!”
The cloth covering the wagon was opened, and Ayane could see the user of 《Demon Fire》 with half of his body in a mess. She didn’t know how could he fight so much, injuring his own body to that extent. For Ayane, it was as if he had jumped into death on his own.
“The crawler has been killed, but. But, Captain Walm was seriously injured. He kept his hand on the crawler until he burned it to death.”
“How reckless! Take off his clothes and armor, quickly!”
Moritz, who was mild-mannered among the Highserk soldiers and had been treating Ayane and Maia kindly all the time, spoke in a slightly upset tone.
“Ayane-dono, please treat him.”
Ayane fluttered. This was because Moritz bowed to her, who was supposedly a prisoner of war.
“Ayane-sama, please check the limbs, I’ll check the internal organs and the head.”
Ayane nodded and Maia began the palpation. Surprisingly, Walm was still conscious, albeit hazy.
“Does it hurt?”
“ah, yes? It hurts.”
“You’ve crushed your ribs, there are fractures. Luckily, none got stuck in your lung. Your left arm is dislocated and the humerus is broken. Some of the skin is also missing.”
“Ahh, aaAAHH, uuUUHH. Can you, heal it?”
“It may be hurt, but it can be healed.”
Ayane had healed more badly wounded soldiers. Walm was badly injured, but it wasn’t an incurable injury. Ironically, Ayane’s technique was improved by her continuing to treat the severely injured who were brought to the battlefield in rapid succession.
Maia removed the dirt that had entered the wound with water magic. Some gravel and pieces of wood had dug deep into the body.
Ayane grabbed Walm’s dislocated shoulder and pushed it back to its normal position all at once.
Walm endured the treatment without screaming. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel pain. He clenched his teeth, his breathing was rough, and his eyes were wide open.
“You were seriously injured when I treated you before.”
Walm was in a pitiful state at “that time”. Patients with third-degree burns continued to be brought in, and Walm was one of them. Ayane never imagined that the man she treated there was a Highserk soldier in disguise.
Anyway, the man full of wounds responded to the words Ayane casually said.
“Aaa, yeah, that’s, right. At, that time, when, I was, defending, the layer, suddenly, I got, blown away, by, a magic, attack. It was, so, painful. When I, woke up, I was, dying, and all, around me, it was, full of, my friends… my, comrades, their corpses.”
Hearing the words, Ayane felt remorse. There were a lot of Craist soldiers who celebrated that they had blown away the nasty soldier, the user of《Demon Fire》. And the attackers also included two childhood friends of Ayane.
“…..sorry.”
Walm tilted his head a little in confusion at the apology leaked from Ayane’s mouth.
“? Why, apologize?, after all, it’s, a war. I’ve, also, burned, a lot, and took, Ayane, and Mai, a, as hos, tages. Even, your, child, childhood, friends, I, attacked, them, with, the inten, tion, to, kill them, those, “high schoolers”……”
Ayane thought that Walm, who had kidnaped her and tried to burn her childhood friends, was a cold-hearted war maniac.
Now, Ayane realized that Walm was also a human being who had the same red blood flowing in his body, who was no different from her. She faintly realized that the soldier before her had been keeping a clear sense of distance. But in a short span of time they spent, she finally felt that he was actually being considerate to her and cared about her.
Ayane remembered Walm’s words, “Unhygienic conditions will have a negative effect on giving treatment. You can’t bathe in hot water, but you should wet your body with hot water and clean yourself.” He then boiled water in a bucket with magic and had Ayane and Maia cleanse their bodies with a water bottle, every night.
When Walm found out that Ayane and Maia couldn’t drink fruit liquor, he arranged for a replacement. The same was true when she was about to be assassinated. He stopped the treatment for the day, because she was depressed, and bowed to the general who rushed in.
Ayane gazed at the soldier before her, thinking that perhaps he had taken dangerous measures in the battle to protect her and Maia, who were the targets of escort.
So far, Ayane and Maia had been suspicious of Walm because they thought he was trying to gently pull them over to his side. But now Ayane thought that perhaps Walm was just a soldier who took his duty seriously, swaying on the border between good and evil. A soldier, who would do his duty in war and killing seriously, perhaps too seriously.
“Such a thing is――”
Ayane, who was about to say something, felt a sense of discomfort and fell silent. She couldn’t put into words what she felt, and she kept trying to find the right words. But before Ayane could grasp the true nature of the discomfort, she was jolted back to reality.
“… Walm-dono, please stop there. You are in pain. Ayane-dono, you should treat him first.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Moritz, who was watching over the treatment, advised Ayane. He indirectly told her that she would have more time to think after the treatment was completed.
And so, Ayane concentrated on using the healing magic.
TN: Did Ayane properly hear the word “high schooler” that Walm said? Well…
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Thanks for the chapter!
This chapter… Noice!
Thank you for the chapter
Well, she probably though she just misheard it. It was just a single(?) word after all right?
By the way, can you call this stockholm syndrome taking effect?😅
That depends if she noticed the slip of the tongue, and considers playing Walm as a chess piece herself. If she can seriously consider who can be an enemy and what her options are, that’s closer to growing up.
it’s already stockholm syndrome with the craist kingdom. they literally kidnap them and now they are helping them just because they help them accustom with the world. its like saying the killer is a good guy because he stab you and cured it.
They not find it weird that Walm knows they are “high schooler”????
Anyone knows, when is the next update? 🙁