Chapter 105: Injection
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105: Injection
Yohan opened his eyes in a hotel in the Empire.
The experience of having his stomach blown open was by no means a pleasant one. So much so that, having just woken up, his head was too muddled to easily recall what had happened.
Yohan clutched his head and staggered, then took a deep breath and surveyed his surroundings.
'Scented sheets, a bed, a plush pillow, ornate wallpaper, a mirror, a spacious room. A hotel? Why am I here…'
As he became aware of his current situation, memories of the past also came flooding back.
He had received a vacation and traveled to the Empire.
Here, he had spent money lavishly, enjoying his leisure time, and had run into the witches who had followed him.
In the process, he learned that his teacher was wandering the streets in tears. After driving Margaret away, he had searched all over for his teacher and eventually found her.
The moment he found her, something had flown through the air and pierced his stomach.
"Ugh—!"
Phantom pain from the memory. Yohan rubbed his stomach and lowered his head. With a hole that large, his life should have been in danger. Thinking it was a miracle he was still alive, he pulled up his shirt.
'…It's gone?'
A hole that big wasn't an injury that could be healed just by applying some medicine and wrapping it in bandages. It was the kind of wound that would require at least several months of recovery to even leave just a scar. How?
Unable to overcome his confusion, he was still rubbing his stomach when the hotel door opened and Linne entered.
"……!!"
Startled, she stopped halfway through opening the door and quickly darted back out. Yohan wondered if the person he had just seen was really Linne.
'What the heck, how did she get so thin…?'
He wondered just how many months he'd been lying there; Linne was even skinnier than when he'd first seen her. Her chest, however, was the same—no, it seemed even bigger.
"Where am I…"
He couldn't just lie in bed forever, so Yohan slowly pushed himself up.
Judging by Linne's condition, he figured he must have been bedridden for at least a few months, yet his muscles hadn't atrophied much.
No, if anything, he felt even more vigorous than before he collapsed. Considering that muscles are organs that don't lie, and that they atrophy if not used—regardless of whether one has magic power or not—this was strange.
"─Yohaaaan!"
Just as he got out of bed and was carefully planting his feet on the floor, the door flew open and a silver-haired beauty came rushing in.
She charged at him like a cannonball. Yohan swiftly caught her and tumbled back onto the bed. Stroking the back of his teacher, who was now in his arms, rubbing her face all over his chest, Yohan let out a soft smile.
"Teacher, are you okay?"
"Sob—Yohaaaan... Why, why did you run away...? I'll, hic, I'll do better from now on...."
"Huh? Run away? What are you..."
It was only then that Yohan remembered what Margaret had said. That Evangeline didn't even know what a vacation was. He'd thought it was a joke, but it seemed to be true.
Flustered by the fact that his teacher's common sense was so abysmal, Yohan decided he'd have to educate her properly later. He squeezed her butt and sat up.
“Kyaa!?”
“Well, we can do that later... For now, shall we get something to eat?”
“Mhm, food? Already...?”
“...What do you mean, 'already'?”
Hearing Yohan, Evangeline pointed to Linne, who was standing awkwardly in the distance, and said.
"Linne said she ate with you earlier."
"Huh? What does that..."
A thought struck Yohan, and he asked how long it had been since he collapsed.
“...Teacher, by any chance, how long has it been since I collapsed?”
"About three hours?"
"Th-three hours?"
He'd collapsed with a hole in his stomach, having lost a ton of blood, so he'd assumed he was out for at least a few days, if not weeks—but only three hours?
At this rate, it was no different from a regular nap.
'...No wonder she didn't seem that worried.'
If a critically injured patient woke up in just three hours, he'd probably react the same way. Yohan gave a wry smile and headed to the dining hall with Evangeline.
Clatter—!
The clattering of empty plates echoed continuously as Yohan's table was refilled with food as quickly as the empty dishes piled up.
This was because Evangeline, seeing him empty his plates, was tipping the waiters to constantly bring new dishes.
Every time they brought a plate, they received a day's wages. Receiving a day's wages every few dozen seconds, it was impossible for even the most well-trained hotel staff to maintain their composure.
They plated the food as sparsely and widely as possible to make this moment last, which was one of the reasons Yohan was able to clear so many dishes.
"Phew—, that's enough. Stop here."
When Yohan refused to accept any more plates, sighs of disappointment escaped the waiters' lips as they realized their money-making opportunity was over.
But not everyone was disappointed. Some waiters had earned a month's salary in just a few minutes. Amidst this, Yohan ordered a drink.
"Imper-shat, sir."
The waiter, now extremely polite after receiving his tip, poured the wine into a glass. Yohan downed it in one gulp and let out a light burp.
'Phew, this should be enough...'
Having refueled, Yohan clenched and unclenched his fists, checking to see if his blood was circulating properly.
An entire organ had been blown away, so even if the wound had regenerated, there could still be a major underlying problem.
"Yohan? Are you okay?"
"Yes... I don't feel anything particularly wrong with my body."
"Of course. It wouldn't do for you to not be okay...."
As Evangeline said this, she glared at Linne. Linne, who had become attractively slim, was now emptying plates at a rate comparable to Yohan's, as if trying to regain her former figure.
Linne flinched and looked at the two of them. She swallowed the mouthful of food—gulp—and carefully opened her mouth.
"C-created to the same specifications as the original...."
"Ah, okay, okay. I wasn't trying to blame you."
Linne tried her best to make an excuse, but Evangeline just waved her hand, telling her to keep eating. Watching Linne, who finally relaxed and stuffed her mouth with food again, Yohan realized someone was missing.
"Come to think of it... where's Beatrice?"
“...Ah, right. Beatrice?”
"Yes, she was definitely with us when we were looking for you, Teacher...."
As Yohan mentioned Beatrice's name, he noticed the other two avoiding his gaze. He clearly remembered being with her, so why were they reacting like this?
A dreadful thought crossed his mind. The battle with the powerful witch—he didn't know how it had ended.
What if someone had died in that fierce battle? They say there's no superiority among abilities, but in terms of power alone, wasn't Beatrice the weakest of them all?
Unlike the other witches, a single mistake could have killed her. She could lose her life so easily.
"Don't tell me, she's... dead...."
"She's sleeping. In another room."
“...That’s a relief.”
However, the strangeness didn't end there.
If she was simply sleeping, something that didn't need to be hidden...
...why had they hesitated so much?
Yohan narrowed his eyes and looked at Evangeline. Evangeline cautiously turned her head away.
Beatrice was asleep.
Very peacefully, in her room.
However, the moment he saw her, Yohan understood why Evangeline had kept her mouth shut and turned away, why she had intentionally tried to hide what was wrong with her.
'She looks... dead.'
Beatrice was in a state much like a corpse. She was breathing. Her heart was beating, and her complexion was healthy.
But the most important thing for a witch—her magic power—could not be felt. Could this truly be called living?
Can you call a bird that cannot fly a bird?
Can you call a human who cannot think a human?
Can you call a witch who has no magic power a witch?
“...Beatrice.”
Yohan gently stroked her sleeping forehead. One might expect some kind of reaction, but she showed not even the slightest response.
“...How did this happen?”
"That... I don't know either. She definitely 'did' something. After that, she just collapsed...."
An Awakening, unknown even to the witches. At the time, Evangeline couldn't have realized that Beatrice had Awakened.
She only knew that Beatrice had somehow completely purged all the magic power from her body, leaving her in a state of being alive, yet not truly living.
"Is there a way to wake her up?"
"Well... maybe she'll wake up on her own someday...? Or maybe she won't...."
“...What kind of answer is that?”
"B-but! I've never seen a case like this before! Do you have any idea how absurd it is for a witch to use up all her magic power?! It's like an athlete using up all their stamina!"
Of course, even when an athlete pushes their stamina to the absolute limit, they don't actually use up all of it.
Even when they can't move a single finger or toe, their heart still beats and their muscles still twitch. By common sense, it's impossible to use up every last bit of one's strength.
That impossible thing had happened to Beatrice, and naturally, the method to solve an impossible problem was also unknown.
As Yohan stared down at Beatrice's face with a grave expression, Linne cautiously spoke up.
“...Um.”
"─What is it?"
"Th-the magic power injection...."
“...What are you talking about?”
Yohan turned his head at the words 'magic power injection'.
Flinching under his gaze, Linne hesitated for a moment before carefully making a circle with one hand and repeatedly inserting and removing a finger from the other.
"Through sex... magic power injection...."
Yohan stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.
He had never in his life heard that such a thing was possible.