If Vita died, the progression of the Speerd Tribe's plague would resume.
I'd been told about this in advance, but I never imagined it would be this dramatic.
Perhaps Vita hadn't been slowing the disease's progression at all.
Maybe she'd simply been paralyzing it.
And now, with her dead—having possessed me and then died—the divided body was destroyed.
The symptoms surfaced all at once... or something like that.
I'm not going to say I defeated Vita.
That was straight-up self-destruction.
It was somewhat reassuring that the Hitogami's side had a screw-up on my level too, but right now there was no room for relief.
"Lord Rudeus!"
I was standing there, unable to do a single thing for Ruijerd as he suffered, and when I rushed out of the house wondering if there was anything I could do, Shandor came running over.
"Shandor!"
"You've awakened! Just moments ago, the villagers suddenly began collapsing one after another—what on earth happened?"
"Underlord Vita fell. The plague must have advanced as a result."
"What!? When? Where did you defeat the Underlord!?"
"Just now—she collapsed on her own!"
Like that mattered right now.
"Explain in detail!"
"Um..."
I explained.
What Ruijerd had told me last night.
That Vita had been fed to me mouth-to-mouth, that I'd been shown hallucinations, and that I'd brought her down with the Death God's Ring.
"...I see. So the Underlord challenged Lord Rudeus and was defeated in return... Ruijerd was merely being controlled, then?"
"...I won't know for sure until he wakes up, but if he were an enemy, I don't think he'd have carried me all the way back to the village."
"Understood."
"Now it's my turn to ask questions. What's being done right now?"
"For the time being, I've sent those still able to move to bring back the hunters who are out in the field. Once they return, I'll have them take up defensive positions at the entrance."
Shandor, as expected—efficient as always.
The plague had only just started spreading moments ago, and he was already on top of it.
"How about Doga?"
"Doga is gathering the sick in one place."
I followed his gaze and spotted Doga carrying a woman in his arms, hurrying along with heavy footsteps.
Trailing behind him was a Speerd Tribe child wearing a worried expression.
Their destination... was the lecture hall where the tribal chief had been.
That made sense—it was the largest building in the village, so it was the natural choice.
According to Shandor, no one had died yet.
However, more than half the villagers were reporting symptoms severe enough to leave them immobile, just like Ruijerd.
"Lord Rudeus, what should we do?"
"...What should we do, he asks."
When asked what to do, I was at a loss for words.
This situation.
What should be done?
The village was stricken with plague.
It needed to be cured.
Right—detoxification magic.
But I'd already tried detoxification magic on Ruijerd.
It had no effect whatsoever.
I hadn't tried every single healing spell in existence, but I had a strong feeling detox magic wouldn't work.
There were plenty of diseases and poisons like that.
If detox magic was out, it would be better to leave it to a specialist.
But when I said "specialist," who was actually available?
Should I ask Ariel to arrange for a doctor?
Then again, the person in this world who knew the most about disease was Orsted.
But Orsted didn't care about the Speerd Tribe...
No—I'd at least try.
First, communication.
It would take three days to reach the magical circle we'd set up...
No—just in case something like this might happen, I'd prepared a spare teleportation circle in the basement of the office.
I'd set up a circle and communication stone tablet here in this village too.
Move to the office, explain the current situation to Orsted.
Then, from the president's office, send word to everywhere about the Speerd Tribe's current condition and symptoms.
If that didn't work... I'd figure it out then.
Right.
"I'll set up a teleportation circle in the back of the village, move to the office, and from there contact everywhere to summon whoever can provide treatment."
"Understood. I'll handle the village's defense and care for the patients in the meantime."
"Please."
We quickly finalized our plans, and I hurried to the far end of the village.
This was deep in the forest, so the mana density was high.
A teleportation circle that didn't require mana crystals should be workable here.
Just to be safe, I'd brought extra stone tablets from the office to use as well.
With all of that running through my mind, I made my way to the back of the village.
I stepped outside the fence, cut down trees with magic to clear a clearing, then used earth magic to construct a small shed.
A shed with no entrance.
From the floor of the shed, I dug an underground tunnel connecting to the inside of the village.
That way, no monsters could get in.
I pulled out my notebook and verified the formula that matched the spare magical circle.
Since it would likely vanish if drawn directly on the shed's floor, I created a stone tablet with magic and drew the circle on that instead.
Panic was the enemy.
Even the slightest mistake would prevent the circle from functioning.
Considering the time it would take to debug, I wanted to succeed on the first try if possible.
When you're in a rush, that's exactly when you need to stay calm...
"Ah, damn it..."
Just as I was thinking that, I made a small error.
"Whew..."
Deep breath.
Calm down. Deliberately, I'd draw even more slowly than usual.
This was a flat, two-meter-diameter magical circle.
Rushing to finish it would naturally leave mistakes.
I drew it carefully.
The teleportation circle itself was something I'd drawn many times before.
I'd always had confidence in my precision.
Reassuring myself, I meticulously completed the teleportation circle.
"How's that?"
The moment it was finished, I channeled my mana.
Mana flooded into every part of the drawn circle, and it began to emit a dim glow. Success.
"Good."
I jumped on it immediately.
---
After a momentary loss of consciousness, I emerged in the basement of the office.
I confirmed the circle was functioning normally, and at the same time strode out of the room.
I didn't need to follow the arrow marked "Those seeking an audience with Orsted—Rudeus, step this way" to know where to go.
I passed through the basement lined with teleportation circle rooms, climbed the stairs, and was already in the lobby.
"Ah, Chairman, welcome bac—"
"Is the president in!?"
My ferocity made the receptionist's ears twitch, and she flattened them with a somewhat frightened look as she replied.
"Y-yes, he is."
I didn't wait to hear the rest of her words before opening the door leading to the president's office.
I passed through the short hallway and opened the office door.
I don't think I was that rough about it, but I did forget to knock.
Perhaps because of that, Orsted wasn't wearing his helmet.
"Lord Orsted."
"..."
Orsted looked somewhat displeased, but he didn't avert his gaze—he looked straight at me.
After staring at me for a few seconds, his expression started to look like it was saying "Got a problem?" and I could feel anger welling up inside me.
I knew this wasn't the time to be angry.
Even so, what came out of my mouth was an interrogation laced with irritation.
"So... you knew about the Speerd Tribe's disease, didn't you?"
"I knew."
"Is there a way to cure it?"
"No."
He said it flatly.
Not "I didn't know"—but "there isn't one."
"If you'd told me sooner, I could have at least tried to find a treatment. Why didn't you say anything?"
When I said that, Orsted shook his head.
"When you became my subordinate, the Speerd Tribe was already supposed to be extinct."
"Supposed to be... as in, in the normal loop?"
"Correct. And Ruijerd SpellDia was never supposed to encounter the surviving members of the Speerd Tribe either."
Since they were supposed to already be gone, he hadn't mentioned it.
Ruijerd was originally unrelated to their demise.
So while he'd considered the possibility, he'd chosen not to speak up. That about covered it.
"But you went to check on them a few years ago, didn't you?"
"...Yes."
"And when you found the Speerd Tribe and confirmed that Ruijerd had made contact and contracted the plague, you kept quiet?"
"That's right."
"If you kept quiet, the Speerd Tribe would die out and Ruijerd would disappear too. So you just figured—Rudeus doesn't know either, so just let it go?"
Before I knew it, I was shouting.
I felt betrayed.
"No. I thought it would be a waste of time."
"A waste... of time?"
"Yes. I too once tried to save the Speerd Tribe.
I tried every detoxification spell, tested every medicine that might have worked.
But it didn't cure them. That plague cannot be cured."
Orsted had tried everything he could think of?
"For me, the extinction of the Speerd Tribe is a foregone conclusion. But you—you would never give up. You'd have tried to look after them right up until they were wiped out."
"Well... of course I would have."
But two years ago... or maybe even earlier?
The right timing would have been after the incident in the Shirone Kingdom, when he brought up gathering forces since Laplace's resurrection location was unknown.
If I'd been told about the Speerd Tribe back then and had spent that time scrambling to cure the plague, what would have happened?
At the very least, I wouldn't have accomplished a year's worth of work.
I wouldn't have been able to reach out to Atofe, Randolph, or the other Demon Lords.
I might not have gone to Millis either.
I might still not have realized that Geese was an apostle.
"But whether it's a waste of time or not should be... my... well, maybe not my decision, but still..."
I understood the logic.
But my heart couldn't catch up.
No excuses came to mind.
This time, Orsted hadn't simply forgotten to tell me.
He had deliberately chosen not to.
He had schemed to prevent me from going to help the Speerd Tribe, of his own free will.
I understood that reasoning, and yet I just couldn't—couldn't forgive it.
He'd been willing to let my benefactor die.
Orsted was this way and that way, so it couldn't be helped.
Usually, words like that would surface in my mind.
But I couldn't forgive him.
This was bad.
At this rate, I'd end up declaring Orsted an enemy.
Right in the middle of our operation.
While there was an enemy in the Begaritto Continent, while everyone was there...
I needed to come up with an excuse—some excuse that would let me forgive Orsted.
"...Is Ruijerd an obstacle to your plan?"
That was what came out.
Words that didn't fit the flow of the conversation at all.
If he affirmed that, what was I planning to do?
But Orsted told me.
"He is not an obstacle. His daughter will be the most crucial piece when we fight Laplace."
"His daughter? How is she crucial?"
"The Demon God Laplace becomes immortal, but he has a weakness. The only ones who can perceive it and deliver a fatal blow are the Speerd Tribe, who possess the Third Eye."
The only ones who could exploit the Demon God's weakness were the Speerd Tribe.
"Ah."
And then something clicked into place inside me.
The reason Laplace had transferred his curse to destroy the Speerd Tribe.
The reason Ruijerd, who was a tier below the other three heroes in combat power, had been able to deliver a blow that Pelgius would later be grateful for.
The reason the Speerd Tribe had contracted the plague.
The reason the plague had spread later than planned—after Ruijerd arrived.
The reason... I had traveled with Ruijerd all the way to the Central Continent.
"The Hitogami... huh."
All the strength drained from my body.
I staggered backward.
Something caught my foot and I sank into a chair.
I braced my weight on the armrest, barely keeping myself from sliding off.
"In the original timeline, Ruijerd survives, doesn't he?"
"Yes."
"He doesn't die along the way, and in the end he even has children?"
"Yes."
"Lord Orsted, you were planning to use those children to defeat Laplace, weren't you?"
"In the beginning, yes. Once I learned that Laplace wasn't immortal the moment he was born, I stopped intending to use them."
"I see."
So this, too, was part of the Hitogami's setup.
How about that.
And this time, he'd tied it into a scheme to eliminate me...
Classic Hitogami—going for the two-for-one deal.
"Lord Orsted. It seems we've been dancing to the Hitogami's tune once again."
"...The Speerd Tribe's extinction and the plague's spread are not natural phenomena—they're the Hitogami's doing.
For the Hitogami, it seems it's more convenient for the Demon God Laplace to be alive."
If it were the Dragon God that would be one thing, but against Laplace the Demon God, there was no benefit for the Hitogami.
After all, Laplace had forgotten all about the Hitogami.
On the contrary, Laplace was trying to destroy humanity.
Perhaps during the Laplace War too, Laplace had been manipulated by the Hitogami.
It was hard to believe they could control the Dragon Race directly, so it must have been through an apostle.
"Haah..."
Somehow, an unexpected revelation had made me feel lighter.
Orsted not telling me about the Speerd Tribe—well, I was still a little bitter about that.
But even if I unleashed my anger at Orsted now, it wouldn't solve anything.
In the end, it would only make the Hitogami happy.
He'd be grinning ear to ear, saying everything went according to plan.
"..."
I hadn't been able to think of this before, but maybe feeling lighter had helped—I'd come up with an excuse too.
He didn't know how to cure it and thought they were already extinct, so he'd left it alone.
Originally, in Orsted's mind, the Speerd Tribe's extinction and Ruijerd's life or death were unrelated matters.
He'd probably assumed Ruijerd was alive somewhere regardless.
But then he'd gone to check, just in case, and Ruijerd happened to be there.
And Ruijerd was already infected.
What could he even say to me? Maybe it was better not to say anything. But there was no point dwelling on that.
"How were you planning to defeat Laplace without the Speerd Tribe, Lord Orsted?"
"If I use the God Sword, it's not impossible. It would be a struggle, but you've been gathering allies—something could be worked out."
"But the God Sword uses a lot of mana, doesn't it?"
"There's no other choice."
On top of that, Orsted had been planning to bear the penalty himself.
"I intended to apologize. But I couldn't bring myself to say it, and it ended up like this. I'm sorry."
With that, Orsted bowed his head.
"...I understand."
Orsted wasn't perfect either.
Things like this happened.
I should be the bigger person and forgive him.
"Lord Orsted, I'll forgive you just this once."
"Yes."
That settled it.
All right—time to move forward.
First things first.
"One more thing—confirming for my own peace of mind—to defeat the Hitogami, you still need mana, correct?"
"Yes."
The Hitogami had prevented the identification of Laplace's resurrection location in the Shirone Kingdom.
Furthermore, he was trying to unite Ruijerd—the key to defeating Laplace—with the Speerd Tribe and exterminate every last one of them.
If the Speerd Tribe were wiped out, Laplace could be pitted against Orsted.
Orsted would have to expend enormous amounts of mana to defeat Laplace.
That was the Hitogami's winning formula.
And I was going to crush it.
No using the God Sword either.
Avoid combat as much as possible and minimize mana consumption.
I'd gather the forces to defeat Laplace, and Orsted's mana would be reserved for the explosive showdown with the Hitogami.
But to do that, I had to keep the Speerd Tribe—the key to Laplace's weakness—alive.
"I'll ask one more time—is there really no way to cure this?"
"...At the very least, I don't know of one."
"But you don't know a lot of things, Lord Orsted."
"...That's true."
Orsted made an even more terrifying expression than usual when he said that.
Recently, I'd been getting used to his scary face.
This one was the look he wore when he felt helpless.
"Then there might be a way to cure it after all. Let's fight a little harder."
Even Orsted had been plagued by things he couldn't do because of his curse.
There were surely things he hadn't tried given his current situation.
So I had to try.
"Understood... I'll go to the village too."
Orsted nodded.
---
It was three hours later when I returned to the village.
After that, I'd filed my report on Underlord Vita.
When I told him that Vita had self-destructed using the Death God's Ring, Orsted had worn a frightening expression laced with surprise.
Judging by that look, he hadn't known Vita had been possessing me.
It really had been a failsafe, then.
After that, I used the communication stone tablets to reach out to various locations.
About the Speerd Tribe's symptoms and arranging for doctors.
There were so many stone tablets that sending messages everywhere was tedious.
I needed a carbon-copy function.
While waiting for replies, I also drew additional spare teleportation circles.
Setting up a teleportation circle required a process: first draw two circles, confirm they activated, then copy one formula somewhere before erasing it.
There was no rush to replenish, but once used, I'd make sure to restock.
I had the receptionist wait in the president's office to reply to Orsted's messages during his absence and guide anyone who arrived via teleportation circle.
Recently, there were so many teleportation circles that it was becoming hard to tell which connected where. For Orsted and me it was fine, but first-time visitors would probably need a map.
For the destination end, I just needed to note which part of the village to head to.
Incidentally, Sylphiet had already headed to the Sword Sanctum with Ghislaine and Isolte.
Apparently Ariel had also made an appearance and spoken with Sylphiet at that time.
Neither the receptionist nor Orsted had heard the details, but since there was no message for me, she'd probably just stopped by for a quick look.
Maybe it was because of that dream I'd had, but if I'd run into her, I might have felt self-conscious.
The last thing I wanted was to blush at the sight of Ariel in front of Sylphiet.
After that, I confirmed whether the other members scattered across the Begaritto Continent had successfully set up their teleportation circles and communication stone tablets.
Everything was operating smoothly.
They appeared to be making steady progress.
Messages had come in as well.
Aisha plus the mercenary group—no issues.
From Zanoba—a report that the subjugation force was gathering in the capital.
From Roxy—a report that she was investigating the location of the Death God.
I sent them all emails about the current situation too.
At the end, I added: "I'll handle things on this end—just do your duty."
Otherwise, Eris might come flying over.
Now, the replies from various countries had mostly been favorable.
Many nations reported they would "look into historical records regarding the disease."
The Asura Kingdom was sending doctors as soon as tomorrow.
Millis, however, had only sent a reply about the reinforcements from last time.
Sending Temple Knights through the teleportation circle was proving difficult—things weren't looking too positive.
As expected, replies from Millis were always slow.
In any case, I'd done all of that before returning to the village.
With Orsted.
"..."
Right now, Orsted was examining the fallen Speerd Tribe members one by one.
He probably had more medical knowledge than the average doctor, but if he hadn't been able to figure something out before, it wasn't going to suddenly become clear now.
Besides, he wasn't a doctor.
In past loops, he'd probably tried to cure someone's illness at some point, but that wouldn't have been medical practice.
It was more like an RPG fetch quest.
On such-and-such date, Rudeus-kun falls ill.
Rudeus-kun will die on this date, so cure him before then.
At that point, the cure would be unknown.
But after a few loops, he'd learn that Sylphiette had contracted the same disease.
And that Sylphiette was cured by Roxy-sensei using a certain item.
All Orsted had to do was use that same item on Rudeus-kun in the next loop.
Something like that.
Well, maybe diagnosis was about cross-referencing past cases with the current one to find a treatment—I wouldn't know, since I wasn't a doctor either.
The point was, Orsted wasn't strong with unforeseen events.
"As I thought... I don't know."
After examining everyone, he shook his head weakly.
"I feel the symptoms are slightly different from any plague I know of..."
"How are they different?"
"It should never have deteriorated this rapidly."
"So... Vita had been paralyzing it, and now it's just resurfacing?"
"If it's the Hitogami's handiwork, that's plausible."
Pretending to suppress a disease while actually doing nothing.
Exactly the kind of thing the Hitogami would do.
"Did you find anything on your end?"
"...No."
While Orsted was examining the disease, I'd been asking the village's medical practitioners about their treatments for the plague.
They'd been boiling popular Central Continent herbs and highly nutritious vegetables into a mush and feeding it to the sick.
I didn't know much about the nutritional value of those herbs and vegetables, but I didn't think they were doing anything terribly wrong.
This approach wasn't working.
Maybe I needed to change my way of thinking.
For example... right.
Originally, the plague would have spread much earlier.
That meant the Hitogami could control this plague. So perhaps it could have been brought in from somewhere as a poison?
Or maybe, simply because of the teleportation incident, the timing of the Speerd Tribe's infection had shifted.
The Hitogami had only been trying to exploit that...
Ugh—none of that mattered right now.
What mattered now was not the Hitogami's schemes, but the method to cure this disease.
The more I thought about it, the deeper I sank into a quagmire.
The feeling that maybe there really was no solution.
A bad premonition.
But it wasn't over yet.
At the very least, the combination of me, Orsted, Shandor, and Doga couldn't cure it.
But doctors were coming.
For now, I'd focus on keeping the patients clean and well-fed.
With that thought, I spent the entire day alongside Shandor and Doga, caring for the sick.
---
The next day, the medical team from the Asura Kingdom arrived.
Two doctors, four nurses, and a variety of food supplies and medical equipment.
They'd apparently assembled a team that wouldn't fear the Speerd Tribe.
Upon seeing the patients, they immediately began their examinations.
Whether they'd keep the teleportation circle secret—that was something I'd have to leave to Ariel's charisma.
"We'd been forewarned, but these are symptoms we've never seen before."
However, for all the risk they'd taken, the medical team turned out to be of little help.
"We've examined demonfolk domestically before, of course... but when it's a specific demonfolk race under specific conditions, there's simply nothing we can do."
No understanding whatsoever.
That was the doctors' verdict.
At minimum, it didn't match any past cases.
Well, I'd expected as much.
If human doctors could figure it out just by looking, Orsted would have figured it out too.
"We'll continue examining them, but please don't get your hopes up."
The doctor said that, and to their credit, they were still providing treatment.
But... just as I feared.
I hadn't had high expectations, but hearing it said so plainly was more discouraging than I'd anticipated.
"Whew..."
Sighing, I looked around the lecture hall.
Dozens of Speerd Tribe members were laid out there.
Some groaning, some too lethargic to move, some sleeping.
Others were preparing meals and feeding the sick.
The sight of so many lying there being cared for was like a field hospital.
No one had died yet, but there were plenty in serious condition.
It was only a matter of time.
And among those in serious condition was Ruijerd.
Currently, he'd lost consciousness and was in a comatose state.
Every now and then, he'd suddenly snap his eyes open and cough violently, and watching that made it painfully clear he didn't have long.
I wanted to save him.
I sat down beside Ruijerd, thinking that.
But there was nothing I could do in this situation, and no breakthrough came to mind.
Time just kept slipping away.
Even if doctors from Millis or the Dragon God arrived, the chances of finding a treatment were slim.
If no treatment was found, what came next?
Who would know?
What should I do...
What could I possibly do?
"Lord Rudeus."
When I looked up, Shandor was standing in front of me.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry to bring this up in such a situation, but what about the information broker?"
The information broker... right, what was that again.
Oh, right.
In the second city of Eris, I'd hired an information broker to search for Geese.
"How many days until the promised date?"
"One day from the city to the town, two days from the town to here, one day while you were asleep, then yesterday and today are almost over—so about four days, I'd say. A day's delay probably wouldn't be fatal."
Already at the halfway point.
Come to think of it, I hadn't actually been unconscious that long.
"I've set up the teleportation circle, so there's some leeway with the schedule..."
"You're right. When the time comes, I'll go myself."
I didn't want to leave this place, but tracking down Geese was something I had to do.
There was no other choice.
"I'll accompany you."
"...You'd leave just Orsted and Doga here?"
"It's more dangerous to leave you alone."
For a moment I wondered if there was some ulterior motive, but it was a fair point.
Going solo never ended well.
"Lord Rudeus, the information broker aside—what about the subjugation force?"
"The subjugation force?"
"The one the nation is assembling. You heard that it would be formed within a month and would attack here, didn't you?"
"Oh... that."
Right, that was a thing too.
"I think we should take action on that front early as well. What would you like to do?"
To be sure, if we wanted to protect the Speerd Tribe, we should act early and negotiate with the nations.
But that was only possible if the Speerd Tribe's safety was fundamentally assured.
Of course, the Speerd Tribe harbored no hostility toward humanity.
That could still be proven, but...
"In this state, they might say they need to burn everything down because of the plague. At the very least, we should wait and see whether the plague can be cured..."
"And if we leave it alone?"
"...That wouldn't be good either. What do you think we should do?"
"I think it would be meaningful to make contact with the information broker, then travel to the royal palace and report the demon's identity and current situation. If they say they want to burn it down because of the plague—then it's war. If they say they want to save them—then negotiations are complete. Right?"
"Ah... you're right."
Start by trying.
That was the plan.
Regardless, the next action would be in four days.
There was a mountain of things to do and no thread to pull.
I felt the restlessness of knowing nothing was making progress.
This was exhausting...
With that thought, I fell asleep that day in Ruijerd's empty house.
---
Someone was shaking me awake.
Before my eyes was a beautiful girl.
Golden hair, cut straight just above the eyebrows.
I didn't even need to think about who it was.
"Brother, wake up, brother...!"
Norn.
Ah—another dream. Another hallucination.
Was Norn my wife this time?
Did that mean Vita was still alive?
If so, I wished the Speerd Tribe's current situation was a dream too.
"Vita, you're really out of ideas, huh."
"Vita? Are you still half asleep!? I have so much to say!"
Norn was furious.
Recently she hadn't been like this, but back in the day, it felt like Norn was always angry at me.
Nostalgic huffy-Norn.
"Why didn't you tell me that Ruijerd ended up like this!?"
Ruijerd... like this.
Those words jolted my consciousness into full alert.
"...!"
I sat up.
The floor covered in beast pelts.
Ruijerd's house.
This wasn't a dream.
"I've had Ruijerd help me so many times too...!
How could you not tell me at a time like this... that's just too much..."
Tears began rolling down Norn's cheeks.
She didn't bother wiping them, gripping the floor pelts tightly.
I gently reached out and brushed away her tears with my finger.
"Ah, I'm sorry..."
At the same time, a question arose.
Why was Norn here?
She was supposed to be busy.
"Norn, um, I know this might not be the right time to ask, but wasn't there some kind of event at your school?"
"That ended ages ago!"
What!?
Did that mean her graduation ceremony was already over too?
No way...
Wait, no, that wasn't the point.
"...How did you get here?"
"Cliff-senpai told me everything and brought me here!"
Sniffling, Norn turned around.
At the entrance of the house.
Two figures stood against the backlight.
One had a slender silhouette.
Golden hair that sparkled in the light.
The ascetic physique typical of the long-eared race gave off an air of refined sensuality.
The other was a man.
Slightly below average height.
Not particularly broad either.
And yet, for some reason, he looked impressively large and dependable.
Was it thanks to the eyepatch covering one of his eyes?
"Rudeus."
Cliff Grimoire was there.
"Sorry it took so long to get here.
There were a lot of procedural delays... the Millis faith isn't a monolith, you know. Forgive me."
He'd come.
He'd read the message on the communication stone tablet and tried to come right away.
"Now that I'm here, everything will be fine. I studied medical术术 specifically for times like this."
"But, Cliff-senpai..."
"Yeah, I know. I heard everything. But I have this."
Cliff tapped the eye above his eyepatch.
One of the magical eyes he'd received from Xylira.
The Identification Eye.
"A magical eye or two is going to fix this?"
"Maybe one magical eye alone can't do much. But Rudeus—the one who has the magical eye is me."
Cliff declared this with his chest puffed out proudly.
"I'm a genius."
Perhaps he'd said it to reassure Norn, who was on the verge of sobbing.
Ah, but.
Cliff looked enormous to me.
Had there ever been a day when Cliff's figure appeared this large?
Cliff grew bigger every time I saw him.
He exceeded my imagination in size.
Was he already twice my size now?
If anyone could do it—it was Cliff-senpai!
Cliff-senpai, who had even broken his own curse!
"A genius can do anything. Leave it to me."
He'd handle it.
There was absolutely no basis for that claim, yet I found myself believing it naturally.