The Gloomy Alchemist, Part 6
The clash between the dark mages and the knights in black iron armor who had breached the Great Hall plunged the scene into instant chaos.
Even the dark mage in the red-patterned robe could not hide his panic.
Marc Visus did not miss the opportunity.
The other dark mages nearby rushed to stop him, but a subtle flow of mana suddenly froze their movements.
"Go, young man! Strike now!"
Principal Rium Kitokal had squeezed out the very last drops of his remaining mana.
Now, there was no one left to block Marc's path.
His blade flew straight toward the neck of the dark mage in the red-patterned robe.
Though he was merely a freshman who had just entered the academy, he had trained extensively in his own right, making his strike incredibly sharp.
Slash.
The head of the dark mage, who appeared to be their leader, severed and fell to the ground.
An explosion erupted somewhere with a deafening roar, but that hardly mattered now.
Soon, the dark mages' puppets lost their control and began collapsing like broken dolls.
The magic circle covering the floor of the Great Hall also faded, losing its shape.
Even the dark mages locked in combat froze, sensing that something had gone terribly wrong.
The eyes of the dark mages, the hostages, and the knights in black iron armor—including Seraphina Serion—all converged on a single spot.
A boy holding a blunt sword, which he had taken from a guard, had defeated the leader of the dark mages in the red-patterned robe.
"Their leader is dead! Clean up the remaining stragglers!"
Seraphina Serion barked the order.
The sharp blades of the knights snuffed out the lives of the dark mages one by one.
The dark mages, their morale shattered by the loss of their leader, were quickly subdued.
"You did it... young man...!"
Principal Rium Kitokal stared at the boy standing proudly in the center of the Great Hall.
And he thought to himself: Perhaps I am witnessing the birth of a new hero.
"Pant... pant... N-No... No..."
By now, the black spears piercing Rofel's body had completely vanished.
It was likely because the caster of the spell had died.
However, the wounds inflicted by the purple spears were still critical.
Even though she had torn her clothes to bind his wounds, the bleeding would not stop.
Rofel, having squeezed out every last drop of his strength earlier, seemed to have lost consciousness, drawing only ragged, painful breaths.
Elisio supported Rofel's weight as she hurried out of the building.
With his large frame and her abysmal physical stamina, she was already gasping for breath, but she refused to stop.
He had thrown himself in harm's way for her, even though she was nothing but dead weight.
She couldn't abandon his kindness over something like this.
Forcing her trembling legs forward, she moved even faster.
"P-Please... Please... You can't die...!"
He was the first precious friend she had ever made in her entire life.
Tears welled in her anxious eyes.
His injuries were far too severe.
No matter how fast she ran, she wouldn't make it in time.
As panic threatened to consume her, a storage room caught her eye.
Under normal circumstances, it would have held props for the department introductions during the entrance ceremony.
In that split second, her mind raced.
"C-Could it be...?!"
Elisio carefully laid Rofel down on the floor in a comfortable position.
Then, she frantically rummaged through the various boxes in the storage room.
If there were items from each department, there had to be alchemy supplies here as well.
"T-Thank goodness...! They're in bad shape, but... there are enough ingredients!"
Many of the ingredients were crushed under debris or spilled, making it hard to find pristine materials, but time was of the essence.
She gathered the dirty, trampled herbs, throwing them into an empty flask.
Lighting a fire, she adjusted the temperature and began brewing the potion.
Soon, a healing potion emitting a faint red glow was complete.
Just because the ingredients were there didn't mean any alchemist could brew a potion so rapidly under such pressure.
This was only possible because Elisio Gremlina was a true genius of alchemy.
She rushed back to Rofel, clutching the freshly brewed potion.
She gently pried his mouth open and slowly poured the liquid inside.
Gulp, gulp.
Rofel instinctively swallowed the liquid entering his mouth.
One second.
Two seconds.
A suffocating silence fell between them.
Anxiety gripped her.
Was the ratio wrong?
Or were the ingredients in too poor of a condition?
"Cough!"
Rofel's sudden cough shattered the silence.
His ragged breathing stabilized, and his pale complexion returned to normal.
Though his severe wounds hadn't fully closed, the bleeding had stopped.
He hadn't regained consciousness yet, but his condition had visibly improved.
The potion had worked.
"T-Thank goodness...!"
As the tension drained from her body, she collapsed onto the floor.
"Sob... sniff... Thank goodness... really... I'm so glad, Rofel..."
Her heart had nearly stopped at the thought of losing her very first real friend.
Murmuring those words, she rested her face against Rofel's chest.
Thump, thump. She could hear the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart.
Listening to that steady pulse, she felt a strange sense of peace wash over her.
Afterward, Elisio and Rofel were rescued by the guards and knights who entered the scene and were transported to a medical facility.
And now, Elisio stood nervously outside Rofel's hospital room.
She had been discharged quickly since she wasn't seriously injured, but Rofel was a different story.
The side effects of repeatedly using Advanced healing potions during his fight with the dark mage Arise, combined with the severe injuries he sustained immediately after, were critical.
As a result, he had been confined to his hospital bed for three days now.
"Phew... H-Hold it together... I-I'm just going in to thank him...!"
She muttered to herself, yet she couldn't stop her body from trembling.
Taking one deep breath, she opened the door.
"H-Hello...!"
"Elisio! Hey, good to see you."
Rofel greeted her with a warm smile from his bed.
He had been reading the newspaper, his body still wrapped in bandages.
Seeing him like that filled her with guilt.
"I-It's nothing major... I just... I didn't get to t-thank you properly back then..."
"Thank me? For what? If anything, I was worried I dragged you into danger when you would've been perfectly safe hiding on your own."
Rofel replied with a chuckle.
"Besides, if it weren't for the potion you brewed, I probably would've died right there. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
He reached out and gently took Elisio's fidgeting hands.
"It's a bit late, but I wanted to say it. Thank you so much for saving me, Elisio."
"Huh? Ah... Ah...! I-It was nothing...!"
Her face flushed red before she even realized it.
Then, she remembered the items inside her bag.
"O-Oh, and... here. I felt like I should g-give you something in return... I brewed these myself..."
She began pulling out various potions from her bag.
"T-This one is good for fatigue... and this one is best taken right after waking up... and this one helps with studying...! Oh! But you shouldn't drink them together. You need to space them out to ensure the effects..."
Rofel's bed was quickly covered in all sorts of potions.
Elisio continued to explain the characteristics and benefits of each one.
To anyone else, it might have sounded incredibly tedious, but Rofel listened intently to every single word she said.
Her explanation went on for nearly an hour.
If left uninterrupted, she looked ready to trace the history of alchemy back to its very origins.
Belatedly realizing she was the only one talking excitedly, she shyly changed the subject.
"B-By the way... did anyone... ask you about what happened?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. They did ask the victims about the details of the incident. Well... I just told them I ran into a dark mage while trying to escape and got hurt."
"Y-Yes... it was really dangerous back then..."
"Exactly. I heard the dark mage who led the attack was someone else entirely, and he was incredibly powerful. The grunt we ran into was tough enough, so I can't even imagine how strong their leader must have been. Man, just thinking about it gives me the chills."
Rofel shuddered, as if the memory alone was enough to make him sick.
"R-Right...! That's... that's why the outside world is in such an uproar right now... They say the one who defeated their leader is actually one of our fellow freshmen..."
"I know! I was so shocked when I first read the news. I don't know who he is or where he came from, but he's amazing. Look, it's right here in the paper I'm reading."
"Commoner Freshman Saves the Academy!"
"His Opponent Was a High-Ranking Dark Mage...! A New Supernova Emerges?!"
Guaranteed by the Academy Principal! "We have witnessed the birth of a new hero."
Below the headlines was a massive photo of a proud-looking freshman from the Knight Academy, with Principal Rium Kitokal's arm draped over his shoulder.
That freshman was none other than Marc Visus, the original protagonist of the game.