小嫂子的味道

Since I was with Ryfin I didn\'t have any problem going inside the campus as the guards let us in immediately when they saw Ryfin. After that, as I was walking inside the academy grounds, I noticed that the students there were a lot more than before. 

"More kids, right? Our Zaforths magic academy has merged with the other three magic academies all over the world to create this new one. It\'s called Silver Garden," Ryfin explained as we walked toward what looked like the main building. 

"I see,\' I replied but didn\'t show much interest in it. 

After all, I already knew about this beforehand. Things had gone just like they were in the novel, and I was actually grateful for that. 

The calamity didn\'t follow the novel and had arrived ahead of time, I was starting to suspect that it would change the plot completely but fortunately, that didn\'t seem to be the case.

Or well, at least not yet. 

***

After that, I entered the main building of the academy and walked through the corridors and hallways along with Ryfin. Of course, given the condition I was in I got stared at by all the students who passed by. But it didn\'t bother me much, I didn\'t have time to mind such things. 

It had taken a few minutes but Ryfin led me to what seemed to be the infirmary, and right now I was sitting on a bed while the nurse here was preparing a healing potion for me. 

"I\'d called for the healers, they will be here soon," Ryfin stated. 

"What about my parents and sister?" I asked. 

"Your parents have already reunited with your sister when all the citizens were transported here and are currently living in the refugee area. And as for your sister, she has been informed of your arrival and I believe she should be on her way here," he explained. 

That was a big relief. It meant that the teleportation spell had worked perfectly and my parents were successfully transported here. I mean, I was sure that it would work but I was still worried. Though now that tension had been cured. 

"Would you take this off? I need to apply the potion and bandage," the nurse said. 

Following that, I took off my shirt and the cloak that was wrapped around the wound on my stomach. Once I was shirtless, all the deeper wounds I had sustained were revealed in the open along with the big one on the stomach. 

"That one looks deep, it\'s a wonder you are still alive," the nurse said, looking toward my stomach. 

"Looks like you had a rough time," Ryfin said, and I could sense a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I mean, he already knew that I was going outside to save my parents. He was the one who gave me the book after all. 

Afterward, the nurse came with two containers of healing potion. She gave me one of them to drink, which I did. Then she started to apply the potion from the second container to my wounds. 

This was a common way to heal your wounds, I\'d used a similar method after my fight with the klauth. Although the quality of the healing potions back then was nowhere near compared to the potions she was using right now. 

As she was doing all this, the healers arrived. This was my first time seeing full-on healers and I\'d expected them to look more like the "classic healers", but they looked just normal. 

In fact, I was sure they were the senior students studying at this academy. 

"Yes, you two. Would you be so kind enough to heal this guy over here? He\'s in a pretty dire condition, as you can see," Ryfin said. I didn\'t know the reason but his tone was still carefree, as if none of this mattered to him. He was the least serious person I\'d seen ever since entering Havenreach. 

There were two healers, a guy, and a girl. They stood close to me and started using healing spells. I could easily sense that they were experienced as I started to feel better soon enough and my remaining wounds started to heal. 

In a minute or so, all of my injuries—including the one on my stomach—were completely healed and my body was back to normal. 

However, just as I was about to say something I suddenly felt dizzy. Everything in my vision started moving around and dancing in strange patterns. Soon, darkness began to cloud my vision completely.

The next moment my eyes closed on their own and I felt myself falling backward. Fortunately, I was on a bed or else I would have ended up smacking my head or something. 

When I fell, I lost consciousness instantly. Everything went dark, and I had no sense of my body anymore. 

***

Slowly but surely, the sensation returned to my body. I regained consciousness and tried to open my eyes. But I couldn\'t. They felt too heavy. 

I didn\'t know why but I felt so weak right now…No, that was not right. I did know. The reason I was feeling weak was so obvious. After all, I had not eaten or drunk anything for over a month. 

To forget such a thing, it seemed like the weakness and lack of energy were starting to get to my brain too. 

\'Req, are you here?\' I asked.

[Yes, I am. Right now I\'m on the bed beside you. But don\'t get your hopes up, I still can\'t manifest myself.]

\'Yes, yes, I know. I just wanted to know that you are with me.\'

[Worry not, I am.]

Was I...high right now? I was not sure if it was just my imagination or not but I felt like I was talking like a drunk person.