Prologue
In front of a thick and overgrown forest, far from human civilization...
Liselotte and Aria had been carried several kilometers away from the capital of the Holy Democratic Republic of Erica by Aishia. The intense battle between Rio and the divine beast was so fierce, they could observe it even this far from the capital.
However, with the naked eye, they could only see the large-scale attacks at this distance. They could just make out Rio evading the light beams when they used a physical ability enhancement to boost their vision, but the larger attacks had stopped a few minutes ago. The sky was a clear blue right now.
Aishia had returned to Rio just a short while ago. While they had succeeded in retrieving Liselotte, the mood in the air was anything but celebratory.
“...”
Liselotte and Aria both gazed at the capital with bated breath; they remained that way for some time.
“It seems they’ve returned.”
“Oh...!”
Aria spotted Aishia first, approaching from afar with Rio in her arms. One beat later, Liselotte saw them as well. She started running to shorten the distance between them as much as possible, with Aria following her.
The distance between them was soon closed, and Aishia landed before the two of them. Rio lay limply in her arms.
“Aishia! Is Sir Haruto okay?!” Liselotte said in a panic, panting for breath as she worried for Rio’s well-being. She leaned right into his unconscious face and stared at him.
“He’s fine. His life is not in danger,” Aishia informed her plainly.
“But...”
There were red stains by his mouth, as though he had coughed up blood. He had been injured enough in the battle to render him unconscious—that was more than enough reason for her to remain concerned. He had to be allowed to rest right away. And in order to reassure Liselotte...
“Yeah, I want to let Haruto rest.” Aishia’s voice was usually monotonous, but she nodded firmly and lay Rio on the ground. She then started pushing her magic essence into the ground, preparing the foundations for the stone house. Small stones on the ground sank into the dirt, and the lumpy terrain flattened in the blink of an eye.
“...”
Aria was familiar with the sight from her travels with Rio, but Liselotte’s eyes widened seeing it for the first time. That being said, there were more important matters to address right now, so she merely looked on with apologetic impatience.
Ignoring Liselotte, Aishia picked up Rio’s arm. It was the arm with a bracelet; the Time-Space Cache was attached, but it could only be activated by the person with the registered essence wavelength. A maximum of two people could be registered. The armband Rio normally used had Celia’s essence wavelength in the other slot, so Aishia wasn’t registered, but...
“Dissolvo.”
Aishia uttered the spell and activated the Time-Space Cache. It was a feat only possible because Aishia was contracted to Rio and had his magic essence flowing through her. “Come in,” she said.
“Okay.”
Aishia picked Rio up gently and started walking towards the newly installed stone house. Out of her worry for Rio, Liselotte dashed for the entrance before Aria to open the door for them.
◇ ◇ ◇
“You two should rest here. I’m going to look after Haruto.”
The first thing Aishia did after entering the stone house was, of course, tend to Rio. She gave Liselotte and Aria directions to wait in the living room, then made for the back of the house with the unconscious Rio in her arms. However, the two of them weren’t about to sit down obediently.
“U-Umm, is there anything I can help with?” Liselotte asked after Aishia’s back, her face filled with regret.
“His clothes are stained with blood, so I’m going to change them and wipe him clean.” Aishia stated her intentions as though she was open to receiving help.
“If you’re going to wipe him, you’ll need to take him to the bathroom. I’ll get the tub and towels ready first.” Aria had stayed in the house for the entire journey to the Holy Democratic Republic of Erica, so she knew where everything was located. She went first into the changing room that connected to the bathroom.
“You come too, Liselotte.”
“Okay!”
Aishia started walking with Liselotte. Aria had already retrieved towels and washing agents from the shelf and was opening the door to the bathroom. There, she fiddled with the magic artifacts attached to the washing area to start filling a tub with warm water.
“I’ll support him while you remove his coat and shirt,” Aishia said to Liselotte.
“Okay.” Liselotte lifted Rio’s arms gently and removed his coat first. Next, Aishia held Rio’s arms up high while Liselotte took his shirt off too. Rio’s upper body entered their view.
As a noblewoman, Liselotte had never seen a naked man in her life—not even her father, Duke Cretia—but now was not the time to worry about that. And yet...
“Uh...”
Liselotte stared at Rio’s naked body from up close and swallowed her breath. It wasn’t because his body was firmer than she had imagined, but...
“These wounds...”
She stared at the countless small scars he had.
“They’re not wounds from the battle with the saint, so don’t worry. They’re old scars from his childhood. They’re all healed already,” Aishia said to reassure her.
“I see...” Liselotte’s expression didn’t brighten. If wounds were treated with magic before they healed, then no scars would be left behind. The fact these old scars remained meant that Rio hadn’t received any magic treatment when he suffered those wounds.
Even then, light wounds would naturally disappear over time, yet Rio’s body was covered in clearly distorted scars. An unobservant eye might have dismissed them as battle wounds, but Liselotte’s eye was unfortunately observant. She suspected they were scars from some kind of torture or abuse.
“...” Aria squeezed the water out of the towel in her hand and stared closely at Rio’s body. But while Liselotte’s expression was pained with her grief, Aria had an odd look on her face.
“Is something wrong?” Aishia asked, looking at the two of them curiously.
“No... Please use this towel.” Aria shook her head slowly and offered Liselotte the damp towel.
“Right.” Liselotte accepted the towel and began to wipe gently at Rio’s mouth, which was dirtied with blood and spit.
Sir Haruto... Sir Haruto...
Tears welled in her eyes, but her hand never stopped moving. She was worrying so earnestly for Rio, who had gotten wounded for her sake, that the affectionate movement of her hands appeared to be shaking.
“If we’re just removing the blood clots, then there should be no need to remove his pants. I’ll wash the dirty coat and shirt.”
Aria picked up Rio’s coat and shirt and began to wash them.
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