Chapter 68: Snowball
Chapter 68: Snowball
When I came to, there was a pair of soft buns right in front of my eyes.
No, they were breasts that looked like soft, pillowy buns.
The size and shape were strangely familiar, and a single word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"Car...la?"
"Master...? You're awake?!"
Carla, who had been staring intently at my face in silence, suddenly bolted upright.
Ah, I see.
She had been leaning in so close to look at me that, from my perspective, all I could see was the underside of her breasts.
I stared blankly, lost in that thought for a moment.
Suddenly, Carla began to fumble over my face, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Master... thank goodness... I'm so glad you're safe. The priests said you'd be fine, but I was so worried... I was just so..."
Starting from my forehead, her slender fingers traced my eyebrows, nose, and cheeks.
The sensation of her touch moving down my face made me feel strangely like a child. It tickled where she touched, making me instinctively tuck my chin, but I couldn't bring myself to pull away.
Carla's expression was simply too sorrowful for that.
"I can't go on without you, Master... I really can't..."
"......"
Now, fat tears were rolling down her cheeks like raindrops.
Seeing her sobbing quietly, the fog that had been clouding my mind instantly cleared.
"Come here."
I reflexively pulled her slender arm toward me, and Carla climbed onto the bed without any resistance.
I laid her down beside me and slowly stroked her hair, from the back of her head down to her back.
"I just woke up, so I'm a bit out of it, but seeing as I'm lying in a bed like this, it looks like everything turned out okay. So why are you crying?"
"...Turned out okay? You were hurt, Master."
"Hey now. Before I passed out, I pulled out a few top-grade potions, didn't I? The others must have treated me, so by the time I got here, there probably weren't even many scars left."
"That's true. The wounds have healed. The wounds have. But potions aren't a miracle cure, Master. When you're hurt this badly, there are usually aftereffects."
Carla spoke in a low, hushed voice as she buried her face in the crook of my neck.
I remembered hearing about this in class. It was the difference between healing through divine arts and healing with potions.
Something about how, in cases of severe fractures, the bones have to be set properly before treatment, or how phantom pains can persist afterward...
"I feel perfectly fine, though?"
"That's because you've been receiving the best possible care in the Academy's intensive care unit for three days straight."
"......"
So this was the intensive care unit. No wonder the ceiling looked unfamiliar.
According to Carla, professors from the Theology Department took turns pouring divine power into me, professors from the Magic Department cast all sorts of mental stabilization spells, and professors from the Production Department fed me expensive elixirs.
Apparently, I had been treated with the kind of devotion usually reserved for a VIP.
Well... I think I know why.
After all, wasn't I the freshman who took down an Archbishop of Confused Unity?
Of course, I didn't fight alone, but the fact remained that I was the primary instigator.
There was no way the Academy—an institution dedicated to the extermination of cultists and monsters—would treat me half-heartedly.
Above all, I had already revealed to Elisha that Edmerec's target was me.
Even if I hadn't, the other students must have seen Edmerec obsessively targeting me.
If only for the sake of their investigation, they had to make sure I was healed properly.
...And for Carla, who had watched this entire process, it must have been terrifying.
She probably wondered just how badly I had been hurt if I required that level of treatment.
I spoke softly, continuing to stroke Carla as she lay in my arms.
"It's okay. I got banged up here and there because I pushed myself a bit too hard, but none of it was life-threatening. The Academy was probably just being a bit dramatic."
"Dramatic? I... I saw the state of your clothes when I changed you into your patient gown. The back was completely torn away, the rest was nothing but tatters, and your side was absolutely soaked in blood. And you call that dramatic...?"
Her gaze was firm, as if demanding I tell her exactly what happened.
But perhaps because her eyes were still wet with tears, she only looked pitiful.
To lighten the mood a bit, I pressed my forehead against hers and let a grin tug at the corners of my mouth.
"And if I do? What are you going to do about it?"
"...I'm going to wail and cry until you tell me the truth, Master."
"You're already crying, though."
"I'll wail at the top of my lungs."
"Well, I guess I have no choice then."
Chuckling at the sight of Carla pouting, I leaned down.
Mwah.
A short kiss. But the lingering sensation lasted quite a while.
Perhaps she liked the tingle it left behind, because Carla's grumpy expression soon melted away.
"Ugh... You're so unfair, Master. If you do that, I can't say anything..."
"It's fine. Even if you weren't curious, I was planning on telling you what happened. I was actually pretty badass. Let's see... First of all, the party members I met there were quite unique..."
.
.
.
.
.
"So, that's pretty much how it went. At one point, I thought I was well and truly fucked, but somehow it all worked out."
"What? Your dick is hard? It's still soft... oh, now it's hard."
"Hey! You said this was the intensive care unit. People will hear us if we do it here, so stop tempting me."
"Okay~"
Having realized that while I was seriously injured, it wasn't fatal, Carla nodded.
Her voice sounded much more relaxed now. At the very least, the anxiety from before was gone.
This should be enough for now.
I continued speaking while fiddling with Carla's platinum blonde hair.
"Now it's my turn to ask. What happened while I was out? What about the dungeon? And what happened to Edmerec?"
"Ah. You did just wake up, Master."
Nodding at my question, Carla began to explain the events that had transpired.
First, once I defeated Edmerec's true body, all his clones collapsed simultaneously.
That was to be expected, since they were clones.
What was unusual, however, was that all the regular monsters inside the dungeon vanished as well... meaning the practice dungeon had been cleared.
Perhaps Edmerec had taken over the role of the boss when he consumed it to create his clones?
The students, who had been busy celebrating their victory and treating the wounded, reportedly scrambled out as soon as they realized the dungeon was cleared.
They probably didn't want to spend another second in that hellish place.
The clear reward was supposedly given to me as the primary contributor, but Carla said she only saw a mass of white light being absorbed into my body, so she didn't know exactly what the reward was.
I could check that later by opening my Status Window.
In fact, even now, there were more than a few notifications blinking in the corner of my vision, begging to be checked.
Anyway, what greeted the students who had narrowly escaped wasn't a warm welcome from the professors, but a base in total shambles.
The faculty had been under attack themselves.
The only silver lining was that by the time the students emerged, the battle was already winding down.
Just as I expected. There was a reason they couldn't focus on us.
After that... well, once the enemies realized their plan had failed, they began to retreat. Iona, though fuming, opened a teleport gate back to the Academy instead of pursuing them.
That was the end of the dungeon practice.
The wounded, including myself, were immediately moved to the medical facilities, leading up to the present.
"Heh... They managed to stall for time and fight even with Professor Iona there? Just who the hell showed up?"
"I'm not sure about that..."
Well, it made sense. As a slave and attendant, the only information Carla could access would be rumors.
Regardless, it wasn't something to worry about right now. If I really needed to know, I could ask Iona later.
"Oh, and they said Class A is on temporary hiatus for about two weeks, Master."
"What? That long?"
"Yes. Quite a few students died this time, and many were injured, even if not as badly as you. Plus, there are the formal complaints being sent by the students' families."
"That... can't be helped. Yeah."
Who wouldn't be furious if they sent their child to school only for them to die or nearly die?
I thought I had prevented the entrance exam attack, only for it to return as an even larger, all-out war.
Should I call it the butterfly effect? This was a "snowball" I truly hadn't anticipated.
Still, thanks to the quick response from Elisha and me, the death toll wasn't that high.
I had also released my stash of potions to treat all the wounded.
But if preventing the entrance exam attack led to something like this, what would happen from now on?
The current damage, and the fact that we had captured Edmerec—who was particularly troublesome even among the cultists.
Neither was a minor incident, so events might start deviating significantly from the H&A scenario.
Well... this incident had made me painfully aware that I don't have the ability to predict exactly what will happen next.
I just have to stay on guard for all sorts of possibilities and do my best to get stronger.
I nodded at the conclusion I reached internally.
After a moment, I began to hear rhythmic breathing from Carla, who had been quiet for a while.
"You must have been exhausted."
I wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but seeing how dark it was outside, it must be quite late.
I gave Carla my arm as a pillow so she could sleep more comfortably and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
It would be nice to get another wink of sleep like this... but there was one thing I wanted to check first.
'Status Window.'
Just what has been blinking at me this whole time?