While running away from Nicole, I walk along the edge of the large square, trying my best to ignore the chaos in the center.
I don't have to look far, as I get to see several people being carried and dragged towards... a shop with a large glass display of makeup, creams, and a bunch of little things... Oh, is it a pharmacy? That makes sense.
I hurry to the scene. On the way, I come across a couple of pajama-clad men with long ears trying to lift a man onto a makeshift rescue stretcher. I approach them.
"Let me help," I say as I pull the darkness from under the ground to lift the man gently. He's unconscious, though the movement of his chest shows he's still breathing. There are no obvious wounds, but his chest is covered in blood.
"Please put it under him," I point to the stretcher.
As they do so, taking it from each side, I smoothly drop the man. Either they pierced his chest, or they pushed him just like they did to me. In any case, I focus on minimizing any movement or even vibration in that area…
No matter how well or poorly I did the job, it's a lot better than rolling him onto the stretcher like they were trying to do.
I continue on to the pharmacy, letting a woman with a couple of children on her back in, and walk in behind her.
... The place is much larger than it looks from the outside. Dozens of people of various races line the floor, and many people are running all over the place.
'They shouldn't run like that; they just create more chaos, idiots.'
Mmm... There are more medics than I expected. Of course, I won't just stand at the entrance like a fool. As I walked, the characteristic light green glow of healing magic flared from three different corners of the room.
Well, I'll take my chances. I'll follow my new instincts and go heal those who seem to be in the worst shape.
"Hey vixen! you're in the way, get out of here!"
Eh, sure, it might look like I'm wandering around, but I'm looking for a certain place... I don't bother answering the rude old man because, right then, I found it.
I recalled reading that in this country, people typically separate those who can be saved from those who cannot in emergency situations like this. And sure enough, there are... eight people practically abandoned at one end of the room. Though to call that barely alive pile of flesh 'people' was being generous.
At least they had enough morals not to pile them on top of each other like garbage.
Alright, let's get to work.
Both legs gone, minor wounds everywhere. Can I regenerate new tissue…? Yeah. Well, let's start by closing the wounds. Crushed intestines, let's regenerate; lots of broken bones, same old, same old; broken and swollen skull, let's repair the bone, regenerate and get that blood flowing, okay.
Before I can continue, the old man grabs me hard by my shoulder. Well, hard for an old man. He turns me around and starts yelling.
"Step away from them, girl! Only certified healers of the Crown are permitted here. Don't you dare taint these patients with that filthy magic!"
"... Filthy magic? I'm healing them, eh, sir." I reply, trying to be nice to him for being an older person, doing my best to ignore the saliva coming out of his mouth. Luckily, most of it falls on himself.
"Preposterous! Darkness magic cannot heal; it only corrupts! I will not have my triage ruined by an ignorant commoner. Guards! Remove her at once!"
I decide that saving lives is more important than paying attention to the old man. Let's see... More missing limbs, let's close.
…
I guess the, mmm... I'll call them xenos, although they're clearly different, yes, xenos seem to like to cut off limbs and hit or throw people away, which causes a quick death, but also similar injuries if you survive.
After only a few minutes, I finish treating the supposedly unsalvageable. Luckily, none of them died. Although only one of them might be the same as before, I feel that I could leave them completely healthy. For now, though, let's focus on keeping them alive, not making them perfect.
I move around the place, looking for someone else I can help.
Unfortunately, the old man doesn't seem to be calming down. In fact, he's yelling louder and louder!
"What are you waiting for? I gave you an order! Move and get her out of here!"
That was too loud to ignore. Thankfully, the men are more concerned with carrying the wounded than pleasing him, especially after they see that I'm helping just fine.
'... I've decided that I'm going to show respect to those who deserve it, not to those who are just supposed to deserve it because they're older.' I hate using bad words, even in my head, but... That stpid senile fossilized fcking b*stard is pissing everyone off. Ugh, sorry, Mom. I needed to vent. I can feel a lot of power from him. He must be important, but that doesn't give him the right to act like an idiot.
Well, let's get him out of here first. I quickly approach.
"Um..."
Okay, I started off on the wrong foot. 'Be more assertive, me!'
"Excuse me, sir, but please leave."
Are those the right words to use when ordering someone away? It doesn't matter.
I sounded more submissive than I intended. But that didn't stop me from grabbing his arm and pulling him out. He has slightly longer ears than the average elf, like many other species, so I'm not sure what he is. Maybe a half-elf? There are a lot of them around here. Physically, though, he's no different from your average human elder, so I dragged him out the door without a problem.
"AGH! Unhand me! Do you have any idea who I am?! Let go of me right now, vixen!"
Ignore, ignore, ignore... After dodging some annoying, albeit weak and slow, punches, I manage to lead him to the front door of the pharmacy and throw him out. Oh? And Nicole comes running in! Wasn't she exterminating xenos? But... she looks tired. I couldn't tell earlier because she always has a lazy attitude.
"What are you doing!?" She asks, helping the guy up after I threw him into the street.
"He's in the way."
"That's no reason to—"
"DON'T TOUCH ME, B*TCH!" The guy shoves her as hard as he can, cutting her off. Nicole doesn't even take a step back, but she seems to have felt the blow. Enough of that.
"MY NAME—" I interrupt him this time. A little darkness in his brain stem finally makes the old man stop talking. Nicole and I just stand there and watch as he falls to the ground with a thud accompanied by the crunch of something breaking... Wow, did he break a bone just like that? Sorry. Hmm... Old people are fragile, but I remember a neighbor who was over a hundred years old and rode a bicycle.
There was also my stubborn grandmother. When she was alive, she hated being taken care of. So, when no one was looking, she would try to do whatever she could on her own. This caused her to fall down the stairs several times. She would get pretty badly bruised, but as far as I know, she never broke anything.
"Hey! What did you do to him?" Nicole asks as she bends down to check on the guy. She simply moves him into a better position when she notices he's breathing.
"Uh... He pushed you, and... never mind. He'll be fine. Talk to you later. I'll keep helping. Bye!"
I run away. Damn. Did I overreact...? No, uh, I mean, yes, but that's not important now. He deserved it. The rude old geezer reminded me too much of a certain old doctor.
I start working, but unexpectedly, there aren't as many wounded as I thought, even though we're very close to the academy, where the xenos came from. Remembering all the bodies scattered outside, I guess most of those unlucky enough to be in close range didn't even survive.
Since you can never be one hundred percent healthy, I keep moving. I help those with minor injuries and reinforce the healing of those I left behind. I give them the bare minimum to tend to someone in worse shape.
I notice Nicole come in and sit down near the entrance on one of the display platforms in front of the glass windows. Since things are more quiet here, I approach her.
"Are you alright?" I check her for injuries. She's a little sweaty, and her gaze is more tired than usual, but she seems to be fine.
"Yeah, but I'm tired. I haven't run this much in years. My exhausted magic doesn't help."
"That's good... Why are you looking at me like that?" She has the look someone would have when their aunt tells them that she just chatted with someone who already died... Wait, what? That comparison is silly.
"... Nothing. I just hadn't seen you so focused before. You looked like a different person."
"I know, right? It's a little scary. I feel like I've done this before." I answer, thinking of the familiar feeling of pulling shards of glass out of flesh as I healed the remaining wound.
"Mmm... let's save that for later. Why did you get into a fight with Mr. Blackwell?" She leans back on one display.
"Who?"
"The old man from before."
"Oh, you know him?"
"... Yes. He's a former royal doctor. He used to work directly for the royal family, and he still holds an important position in the castle. Also, he's a bit famous."
"..."
What? That rude old man is important?
"So?"
"Ah, yes. Uh, I don't think he liked that I used darkness magic to heal people. He stopped working and chased me for several minutes while yelling louder and louder. I had to take him out to stop him from making everyone uncomfortable and scared."
"Well, I haven't heard anything good about him. But, stopping treatment on injured people in the middle of an emergency just to scold someone for doing things differently is too much... I'll talk to him about it later at the castle. Maybe he'll finally give up the job to someone younger and more capable."
"I'm glad you got something good out of my suffering..."
"Thank you for your sacrifice." She seems a little more cheerful.
As we chat and treat people who suddenly arrive at the pharmacy, we hear loud explosions outside.
"Are they... soldiers?" I ask, seeing the large group that has arrived and started bombing the xenos, or what's left of them.
"No, they have the crest of Duke Rocagris."
"Who?" I repeat my previous answer.
Her eyes become exasperated.
"All right, that's it, I'll get some books for you to study. You also need to get out more."
"Huh, why would I need to know about nobles? It's not like they have anything to do with me." While there are certainly some nice ones, a lot of the sons of nobles around the academy are some pieces of— sorry again, mom... I mean, they're not very friendly.
"By sheer instinct, you just beat the job of a former royal doctor! That alone will give you plenty of job opportunities."
She says this without changing her expression. Mmm... I haven't thought enough about what I want to do. I haven't found anything I'm particularly interested in. But as long as I have a job to support myself, I'll be fine... Right?
I have a feeling she'll scold me if I tell her that, so let's change the subject for now.
"Well, I don't know, but can't I just avoid meeting them as best I can?"
She looks at me, disappointed... 'I don't like that face. Forgive me.' She seems more serious than I thought.
"You're just trying to procrastinate again. You should live more in the present. That's why you keep moping about William."
Oh... that... that hurt more than she probably intended. Even though my first impulse is to get mad at her, well, I know she's right.
Suddenly, she embraces me.
"Don't make that face. Forgive me. I didn't mean it, and I spoke out of turn. I'm really tired and just want to go home and sleep..."
It takes me a few seconds to calm down. I finally hug her back.
"Don't apologize. You're right. I'm sorry it took me so long to, um, want to change."
After a few seconds, we pull apart a little but still don't let go. It takes me a little while to look into her eyes, but when I do, I see a small smile on her face. 'Huh... Getting that smile of pride feels good.'
"Do you want to take a nap?" I offer, patting my lap to change the subject. I'm not very good at dramatic things, and I notice that the place is getting empty. Except for a few healers and those who haven't woken up or can't walk.
"Oh..." She lets go of me, lies down in my lap, then begins caressing my legs... Oh well, I offered. When was the last time we cuddled like this? We sleep together from time to time, but she's rarely clingy.
A few minutes later, I feel her breathing slow down as she falls asleep. This is so nice! My best friend and family trusting me enough to let me take care of her in the middle of a war zone.
Well... Even though I said war zone, I don't hear any xenos anymore. Wait, if any wounded come in, I'll have to wake her up. Mmm, well, whatever. If it's not serious, I'll leave it to the other unknown healers.
For now, I just have to take care of this puppy— I mean, my cousin.
I've spent the last hour stroking Nicole's hair and playing with her ears. I've discovered that when I gently touch the slightly longer fur at her ear tips, her ears twitch. I can only compare it to how some animals shake to chase away mosquitoes. It's adorable and funny, hehe... Do mine do that, too?
But that could wake her up quickly, so I'll hold off. Besides, my gut tells me that something troublesome is about to happen.
Suddenly, I hear a lot of footsteps coming this way. I put some earmuffs made of darkness magic around Nicole's ears so that won't wake her, and pray that whoever is coming isn't here because of me.
"There's the b*tch, arrest her!"
... Of course, I hate being right all the time. Just kidding.
The old man whose name I forgot is there with several knights behind him. Really? You wake up, and the first thing you do is seek revenge? How on earth did he get such an important position by being so selfish...? Wait, maybe it makes sense. There are precedents, like some of my classmates.
This time, they don't ignore me. They rush toward me. We are relatively close to the entrance, so I don't have much time to react. I just saw some men, much bigger than me, approaching with angry faces. The next thing I see is the knights being pressed to the ground by darkness magic... Eh, what am I doing!?
I panicked when I heard the sound of swords being drawn!
Luckily, before anything else happens, Nicole stands up and yawns. Oh no, it looks like I lost my concentration and stopped covering her ears. I should practice more.
"You dare—" the old man starts, but Nicole cuts him off.
"Anderson Blackwell, mm... what are you doing?" She asks, stretching a bit.
At least someone is calm here.
"You're... Nicole, huh? That f*cking vixen attacked me twice now. I'll have her killed for daring to touch me!"
"Calm down, I heard you were in the way and disturbing the order, so she was obligated to take you out forcibly. As for what just happened, it was clearly in self-defense."
She replies calmly.
"Getting in the way? me!? Do you know who I am—"
He pretends to cough suddenly. Obviously she knows who you are, she called you by name earlier. "I won't stand for—"
"You're someone who screams at the top of your lungs in an area where injured people are recovering. You know what? Let's take this outside." She takes my hand and we leave the place, the knights retreating in... fear? Wow.
The guy says something, but we ignore him and walk to one of the nearest benches in the square, and as we settle in, we notice that he decides to follow us, but not before he makes a face that makes him look like he's going to explode with anger at any moment.
"Don't think you can..."
He starts to say something, but Nicole cuts him off for the third time today, hehe.
"Embezzlement, abuse of authority, obstruction of education, accepting bribes, just to name a few, you want me to go on? I could add dereliction of duty, slander against magic, and obstructing a healer during an emergency, with what happened today. You're pretty active for your age, don't you think?"
He suddenly turns pale. "Y-you know—"
"Yes, the kingdom knows what you've done, and by unjustly threatening a relative of a royal court mage with death just because she dared, as you said, to defend herself, you've just given us the go-ahead to investigate all of your and your family's properties. How nice of you. Now you."
She points to the knights.
"Make yourselves useful and arrest him, unless you want to answer a few questions, like why you were so dutifully helping the former royal doctor?"
'OOOH! Nicole looks so cool! How unusual.' She hadn't finished speaking when a knight had already gagged the old man; what was his name again...? Blackwell, no, that's his last name. Oh, well, who cares.
Another knight had his hands tied behind his back with... what are those? Some metal circles that were attached to his hands, how cool. Some kind of new manacles? The word... 'handcuffs' come to my mind...
"What's going on?" Nicole's voice pulls me out of my reverie. I lift my head to see her worried expression. Damn words that keep popping into my head, I couldn't even enjoy that idiot's arrest.
Now that things seem to have calmed down, I'll take the opportunity to ask something.
"Do you remember a while ago when I said that strange words keep popping into my head? That's happened to me several times today. The word 'handcuffs' popped up when I saw what they tied the old man's hands with."
She looks surprised, then nods as if to confirm something. "I already had my suspicions, but I highly doubt you've heard that word before, especially since the handcuffs were made very recently, and you hardly talk to anyone." That last comment was unnecessary, but I couldn't argue with it.
"I think you might have heard this word and others in another life. Although handcuffs have only recently been used, their mechanism is part of the knowledge left behind by people summoned from other worlds in the past."
"..." Isn't she jumping to conclusions a bit too fast? But she said she had her suspicions.
"Hey, don't think about it too much. It's just a theory. It could be something simpler, too. Maybe you heard the sound they make and their name in the background, but you ignored it, as usual, and then it came back to your mind when you heard it again, or something." It makes sense, but...
"The same thing happened to me with the monsters. The word 'xenos' came to my mind even though they weren't. For some reason, I expected their blood to melt everything it touched." I say, remembering how I spilled a lot of their blood. "Most importantly, I suddenly knew the name of a bone I broke and how to heal it with my new magic..."
"Huh, that's great. Well, even if it's stuff you heard in your past life, like I said, it's not important now. It won't change your personality or anything. It's actually relatively common, and there have been recorded cases, so don't worry too much about it." I turn to look at her. Her usual bored look has returned. She relaxes against the bench and looks down at the still-smoldering remains of the xenos. She seems to really believe it, which relieves me.
"Mmm, even if it is, I'm not as worried about it as I expected. It doesn't affect me except for a little confusion when it happens."
I tell her that to comfort her and myself.