Chapter 14: On the Precipice of Death

Several minutes later, we finally stop. I’ve hardly registered how Beatrix stole the remaining mana from the fallen Demon Lord’s corpse, using those fresh reserves to get everyone out of harm’s way. With a complex spell, she gathered everyone, made them airborne, and miraculously levitated us away from the demon settlement without anyone crashing into a tree.

Beatrix is beyond amazing, but none of it matters now. As she lowers us back onto the ground, the jumble in my head finally clears. Lance’s groaning means that the perverted spearman gradually recovers his bearing, and Lucy, albeit whimpering, sits upright, her arm battered and broken. Kenneth and Beatrix flank me as my gaze falls on the only squad member who’s no longer conscious.

Berserker…

The axe that felled him remains stuck in his body, limiting the bleeding, but he will soon bleed out even if we leave it there.

“Is there anything we can do?” Kenneth asks. Evidently, medicine is far from his field of expertise.

“I’m afraid not,” Beatrix sighs, and her expression shows that she would have loved to carry us straight to the next city if her mana reserves allowed her to. “The healing spells required to repair such a grave injury require exceptional mana control and large reserves of it.”

…frankly, I have neither at my disposal.

“Couldn’t you… I still have some mana left I could share with you…” Kenneth inquires, but the witch gives a sad smile in response.

“Recovery spells require an affinity for Light-aligned mana,” she says and trails off. I remember her mentioning that to me once during our lessons, although she wouldn’t disclose which element she didn’t wield at the time.

Even a genius like her is bound to the rules… which means she cannot use Light magic.

I curse at my inability to change the outcome of the situation. While I have an affinity for Light magic, it’s not my strongest one, and my general mastery of magic is sloppy and unrefined. If only I had studied and practiced this more seriously when I had a chance. Even then, just standing about idly and waiting until he bleeds out is not my style.

“There has to be something we can do even without magic!” I shout in frustration, but we lost most of our supplies throughout the battle. Retrieving our rucksacks now would equal suicide, not to mention that, Kenneth aside, everyone is impaired in some way or another.

At least it’s not him…

The thought should have been a relief. Yet, as soon as I allow the words to roam my mind, I feel old memories return, and my strength dwindles immediately as I begin to accept that Berserker won’t see the dawn of another day unless the gods bestow upon us a miracle. Not even our victory over the King of the neighboring demon country can comfort me as Berserker’s rattling breaths become less and less frequent.

Finally, I allow some tears to fall. In the end, I’ve failed again.

*

~ Precia ~

Where… am I?

I wake up in an unfamiliar place. I’m deep in the forest, much deeper than I’ve ever ventured. I remember being alone when I passed out. Now, there are people around me, but they aren’t demons like me. They’re humans.

Daddy alerted the village before I passed out. Are these the intruders? Did I… get captured?

I can find no other explanation. One person beside me seems unhurt, but everyone else is badly hurt, especially…

Daddy’s axe!

I sit up to confirm.

Daddy’s weapon is stuck in one of those people. There’s very little life in them, but they’re not dead yet. Daddy must have fought them. Did they win? Or did they escape with magic? Either way…

One of the humans acknowledges that I’ve woken up, but they don’t try to chain me up. At least one of them is crying. Briefly, I think about escaping. What if I run away when they’re not looking? Most of them are badly hurt. I see the huge swollen bulge on my knee and remember my predicament. Besides, I remember why I dragged myself into the forest despite the injury impairing my movement.

I could only think about running away when Daddy said all these mean things. I didn’t know where to go, so I wanted to hide in the forest nearby. There isn’t anyone I could rely on, but I still wanted to get away. Maybe being captured isn’t bad. Perhaps they aren’t bad people.

I begin healing my head injury and the dislocation in my knee. Daddy hates me because I can heal and he cannot. Daddy hates me because he can fight, and I cannot. What’s the point of breaking if no one can fix it? One of the humans sees me using magic. When he opens his mouth, I can hear words in my language.

“Healing magic, impressive.”

His weary eyes observe the rapid improvement of my ailments. Daddy gave me many reasons to practice. That’s why I’m good at it.

“I’m sure you’ve realized. You’re our prisoner.”

I nod. I’m too scared to speak.

“Mind helping us out with your magic? None of us can save him.”

I’m confused. Can I even trust the human? Daddy always says they need to be eradicated because Mommy was killed by one of them.

“I’m sure you have many questions. We’ve seen how you were treated. You needn’t fear similar treatment from us.”

“R-really?” Finally, I manage to respond. The man with the blonde hair smiles a sad smile.

“We were spying, but when that man saw the abuse happen, it stirred him. When we realized you had escaped into the forest alone, we took the chance, but… well, as you can see, our plans were foiled. That man is the reason you’re kidnapped, and we killed many of your people.”

I don’t understand. Why does the human tell me all of this?

“Do you still want to help? Too many lives have been lost in this pointless war. We may be able to end the fighting now that you, Princess Precia, are in our hands, and if you cooperate, we won’t have to treat you like a prisoner either.”

They didn’t tie me up. I’m starting to believe his words. I look at the man who’s close to dying. He’s hurt all over the place, but the cut Daddy’s axe made is lethal. It crushed his liver entirely.

“I know how to stop the bleeding, and I know how to replenish blood,” I answer meekly, still intimidated by the situation. “But I can’t fix the damage inside.”

The only things I can fix are those Daddy broke before...

The human perks up.

“He may live another day if you could accomplish that much.”

“Then I will help,” I decide.

“We’ll be forever grateful for your help.”

The man bows before he leads me to the dying man. If I can win the favor of those people, they could be kind to me. This new prison may be better than the one I was born into.