01.21 - The Right Way to Use Healing Magic

Reiko’s party of three was surrounded by four normal and one exceptionally large Wyvern.

Reiko’s right arm was almost detached from her shoulder. Her katana lay on the ground next to her, covered in her own blood.

Her two team members were in a slightly better shape, trying desperately to find a way to break free of the encirclement.

“That looks bad,” Tia said. “Should I?”

I quickly looked at our surroundings.

Not a soul to see.

“Go,” I said. “And hurry.”

It had been a while since Kentaro or I had seen Tia in her full draconic glory.

Maybe I was imagining things, but she seemed even taller than last time.

Was she still growing?

Tia closed the distance between our two groups in an instant.

Was that the ‘Void Wing’ Class’ ‘Brave Bird’ at work?

The smaller Wyverns seemed to recognize the potential threat, but the big one was busy delivering the finishing blow and ending Reiko for good.

Her fangs had almost reached the half dead adventurer when Tia bit down on the Wyverns neck and yanked it away from the group.

If the Wyvern was like a house cat cornering an injured mouse, Tia was more of a tiger.

I knew the difference in appearance. A Wyvern had only two hind legs and a pair of wings where the arms would be, instead of the full four limbs in addition to the wings on the back of a dragon. But knowing the difference in anatomy in theory was different from seeing the strength gap for real.

Instead of further escalation, Tia positioned her giant body between the smaller retreating Wyvern, their bigger brethren she had just violently thrown back, and Reiko's party.

The fight had steered additional Wyvern in their far off nests on the cliffside near the outermost edge of the bay.

We probably could have taken on a good bunch of them and come out mostly unharmed.

The same was not true for Reiko and her party, at least not yet. Maybe in a few years.

“What now?” Kentaro asked.

“They're just defending their nests,” I called out. “Let’s recover those three and get out of here.”

“Easy for you to say,” Kentaro said as he used a High Heath Potion to close the gaping wound on Reiko’s arm, but most of the muscles and tendons were still severed.

The other two were in better condition, nothing a couple of regular Health Potions couldn’t cure.

But they were still in shock of the giant chaos dragon that had suddenly come to our aid. They had been too busy with the Wyverns to witness Tia’s transformation.

“The bleeding stopped,” Kentaro said. “But we can’t move her like this, or she’ll lose her arm.”

“This stalemate won’t last forever,” Tia said in an attempt to hurry us along. Her voice in dragon form was nothing like that of either two of her regular human ones.

Should I trade in my secret for Reiko’s right arm, or leave it be?

Stupid question.

I covered the ground next to Reiko with my mantle and moved her almost severed arm closer to the now covered stump wound.

“Potions won’t work,” Kentaro said after I gave him a small push. “I already used one.”

“Just give me a minute,” I said as Reiko’s body began to glow in a blue-white light that covered her right shoulder down to the almost served arm.

The right side of her body became translucent too, just like with Geber.

But this time was different.

Instead of an X-ray vision, there were blurred threads seemingly connecting the various severed tissues.

They began to slowly coalesce back together as I focused on them.

Half a minute later, Reiko’s right arm was as good as new, but she was still out cold. Probably the aftereffects of the blood loss.

“Since when are you a healer?” Kentaro asked dumbfounded after taking in the scene in silence for a minute or two. “You’re not with the church, are you?”

“Not a word of this to anyone,” I said to Kentaro. Then I addressed Reiko’s allies. “Same goes for the two of you.”

“But this…” one of them mumbled to another.

“Hybris,” the other said. “A divine healing by someone not of the cloth.”

“This is sacrilege,” the other whispered back.

“I don’t care for their creeds,” I said bluntly to shut the two up. “If one of you raises an accusation, I’ll send a dragon your way.”

They fell silent.

That seemed to settle the matter for now.

“I don’t care for your threats,” said Kentaro as if in deep thought. “But…”

“What?” I asked again bluntly.

“If you can mend an almost severed limb,” he said, “what about older wounds?”

“Haven’t tried,” I said flat out. “No idea. Didn’t have a guinea pig to speak of.”

I went silent for a moment.

“Why?” I asked. “Wanna volunteer?”

—

Kentaro and I met one day later at the Tria Prima family's workshop and went to a storage room on the second floor.

Plausible deniability was the name of the game.

The members of the Tria Prima family already suspected that I was working on some other secret projects.

If any of the two members of Reiko’s party were to speak out, it would only affect my alter ego Klein.

If the healing was successful and someone would recognize Kentaro exiting the store and trace the change back to me, I could always claim the alchemical breakthrough of the millennium.

Who would question a non divine miracle worker?

Just claim I had created a lesser version of Aqua Vitae or made a breakthrough in Transmutation and achieved an as of yet incomplete Philosophers Stone.

The Tria Prima family, having their suspicions seemingly confirmed, would surely testify in my favor.

—

A week later, and three days after my eighteenth birthday, Tia and I met Kentaro in a specially reserved far off side room of a popular tavern. He waved at me with his restored left arm.

Kentaro looked at me with shining eyes and a big smile.

“Happy birthday,” he said. “I’ve got a special surprise for you.”