Chapter 8 : Rehabilitation (1)
Chapter 8 : Rehabilitation (1)
It was the next day when Agnes opened her eyes.
For some reason, even amidst the lethargy, her body felt light and her mind was clear. Also, the stifling feeling she had always felt seemed to have faded a little.
At that, Agnes realized.
'He succeeded.'
That Deltain had once again grasped success in his hands.
Agnes chuckled. It was a pity she couldn't see the expression he must have made after finishing the surgery, but there was still a sense of joy rising within her.
It was immediately after that she sensed a presence. Agnes turned her head at the stirring she felt.
"Deltain?"
There, Deltain was sleeping with his arms crossed on a narrow mat that was hardly worth calling a bed.
As for why he was here, the answer came quickly. It was because characters written in mana were floating on her arm.
'He was treating me.'
As expected, was he determined not to leave any aftereffects? It was truly a sense of responsibility befitting him.
Agnes looked at Deltain's face again. Then she burst into a small laugh.
It wasn't for any other reason. It was because even while sleeping, Deltain was furrowing his brow, as if something was very much not to his liking.
Agnes wiggled her fingertips, then slowly sat up. Then she reached out and poked Deltain's furrowed brow with her index finger.
His brow narrowed even further.
"Puh-hup...."
While Agnes was laughing even louder.
"...Don't call me. You guys handle it yourselves."
A groggy voice rang out.
It was sleep-talking.
Agnes lay on her stomach on the bed, resting her chin on her hand, and listened to Deltain's sleep-talking.
It was mostly mumbling, but there was one word that was clearly audible.
"Residen... like that... quit...."
Agnes tried to piece together the fragmented words.
It was roughly that kind of talk.
He was telling someone named 'Residen' to quit if they were going to do it like that.
Agnes felt curious.
'Who?'
Who is Residen? What is their gender, age, and what was their relationship with him?
Besides that, when and where did he perform the '17th' surgery he mentioned before going into surgery?
'You have so many secrets.'
Deltain had too many secrets. Aside from the fact that he was from a fallen noble family without a title and that he appeared in the world around the time demons emerged, it was said that even the Emperor in the Imperial Palace didn't know information about him.
Agnes, suddenly filled with curiosity, stared intently at Deltain and whispered softly.
"How did you grow up?"
How he spent his childhood, who he spent it with, what his family was like, what the village he lived in with his friends was like, and when he decided to learn magic.
In truth, these were unnecessary questions. Nevertheless, Agnes couldn't shake off that curiosity.
She had to admit that she felt uneasy about the Deltain she didn't know.
'...I just hate variables.'
Of course, what she managed to do was that kind of self-rationalization.
In an instant.
"...!"
Deltain's eyes snapped open. Agnes and Deltain's eyes met.
At Deltain's eyes, which were clearing up as he wiped away the dazed look, Agnes smiled sweetly.
"Did you sleep well?"
"...What."
"Ah, right."
Agnes released her chin from her hand and leaned forward. Then, with a 'chu', she pressed her lips to Deltain's forehead.
As Deltain, who hadn't fully shaken off his sleepiness, made a dazed expression, Agnes said.
"Good morning kiss. How is it? Does it make your heart flutter?"
Deltain blinked. The time it took for him to grasp the situation was about 3 seconds.
Immediately after, Deltain, whose face turned red like a heated pan, trembled and growled.
"...What the hell are you doing the moment I wake up."
Agnes burst into giggles.
*
After Agnes opened her eyes, the Duchy was busy.
Deltain spent the whole day eating just one sandwich while examining Agnes's body, and Duke Levadein watched Deltain with an anxious face, then teared up at his daughter's smile.
The mansion's servants were turning the whole place upside down for Agnes's walking practice, which was planned for tomorrow.
"It feels strange to learn how to walk at 20. It's not like I don't know how to walk, actually."
"Your head might know, but your body won't. Since it's been years since you walked properly, your muscles must have withered away."
"If that's the case, walking practice won't work in just one day."
"I'll combine magic and divine healing. Walking a little at the banquet will be possible."
Deltain said that and erased the mana characters he had engraved on Agnes's arm one by one.
Duke Levadein still had an anxious face. Deltain chuckled at that and said.
"There are no aftereffects. I think we can proceed as is."
"Ah...!"
"Have you arranged for a priest?"
"Yes, thankfully, the Cardinal said he would come in person."
"Oh, you must have donated quite a lot."
The Lastria Church, the state religion of the empire, was a religion that, unbecoming of the name of religion, dispatched priests differentially according to donations.
There were various reasons for that, but it wasn't important right now; anyway, the point of his words was that a Cardinal was a person to whom one had to donate so much money that even Deltain would have a stomach ache.
Duke Levadein laughed heartily.
"It's for my daughter's health."
"Thank you, Father."
As Agnes smiled, pretending to be pathetic, a look of disgust appeared on Deltain's face.
'This woman acts fake even to her own father, so why is she such a pain only to me?'
It was inevitable that such a thought would arise.
Agnes blinked at Deltain's gaze as if asking what was wrong. She looked innocent.
Deltain let out a dry laugh and said to the Duke.
"...Anyway, I understand the Cardinal is coming. Please prepare all meals tomorrow as mana food. The concentration should be 50% or higher."
"Mana food? But that is...."
"It's fine. Ah, not just tomorrow, but from now on, please make all meals the Lady eats into mana food."
Deltain pointed his index finger at Agnes's heart. He was pointing at the 'Heart Supporter'.
"Because the thing I embedded in there consumes a lot of fuel."
"As for her health...."
"It's fine. That thing will lick up all the mana she consumes."
A look of relief appeared on Duke Levadein's face.
It couldn't be helped. Because mana food was like poison to Agnes, whose mana affinity was originally at the worst level.
As such, the Duke had excluded mana from her meals, and in his heart, there was a sense of guilt for not being able to feed Agnes delicious things.
"That's great! I always thought of my daughter whenever I saw refreshments at banquets...!"
"Oh, Father."
Agnes covered her mouth and laughed.
Deltain suddenly had a different thought at that sight.
'Should I just treat her only when the Duke is present from now on?'
It seemed like a not-so-bad method.
*
The next day, a sedan entered the Duchy.
It wasn't just any sedan. It was a top-of-the-line sedan that shone white even when still, with golden lines running along its streamlined body that made that light shine even more brilliantly.
This was one of the seven sedans on this continent that Deltain had personally crafted and donated to the Lastria Church.
Inside it, a middle-aged man, so fat that his flesh jiggled, was wiping sweat from his forehead.
"So, Count Hebron is here?"
"Yes."
"Sigh, what kind of bizarre thing has he done again...."
The middle-aged man sighed with worry, which didn't match his toad-like appearance, and grumbled.
Originally, there weren't many people who could speak to Deltain like this, but he was different.
He was Saint Cargo, one of the six Cardinals of Lastria.
He was a war hero whom Deltain had dragged around as a 'Heal Pack' during the war 3 years ago.
"We have arrived."
At those words, Cargo's face turned dark. He wanted to run away immediately, but the Pope's order had already been issued.
Cargo sighed deeply and got out of the sedan.
"Piggy, you've gained weight again."
As soon as he got off, there was a voice berating him.
At that, Cargo flinched.
"C-Count Hebron! Long time no see!"
Cargo's smile was like that. It was a bright smile that a puppy might show when meeting its master.
One could call it servile, but what could he do? Cargo was that afraid of Deltain.
Of course, considering Deltain, who had put a leash on him and jumped into the middle of demons when the war against demons was in full swing, it would have been strange if he weren't afraid.
Cargo still dreamed of the moment he was dragged around among the demons.
Deltain stood crookedly with his hands in both pockets and said. His tone was irritable.
"Long time no see, my ass. Did I tell you to manage your weight or not? If you keep this up, you'll die of adult diseases."
"Adult diseases... Even though I've received the grace of the Main God in one body...."
"Not the grace of the Main God, but the grace of fat."
When Cargo flinched, his belly fat wobbled greatly.
Deltain clicked his tongue.
The reason Deltain, who didn't care much about others, cared about him like this was one.
'If it's not this bastard, there's nothing else to use as a Heal Pack.'
It was because he was a mercenary classified as S-rank in the game.
Although he couldn't recruit him as a Hound because he already belonged to the Church, Saint Cargo was the most exceptionally performing healer Deltain knew, so he was a partner who had to stay alive and well until he left this world.
"Hey, I'll give you a month, so lose weight."
"What is that...."
"I have work to take you out soon. I think we'll probably go to the North or East."
Despair settled over Cargo's face.
He hurriedly ran to Deltain and said in a desperate voice.
"D-Deployment! Look here, Count! I'm a Cardinal now! M-My schedule is busy!"
"Let's think about who made that Cardinal position for you. And then answer again."
"...."
Cargo was at a loss for words.
In fact, this Cardinal position was a position he had risen to due to the military exploits he had accumulated while being dragged around by Deltain during the war against demons.
Deltain watched Cargo kneel down with a thud, then poked his belly fat with his foot and said.
"Just know that and follow me. Today is for something else."
Cargo began to resent Deltain.
Forcing his heavy body to stay on the floor might have been the greatest resistance he could muster.
Of course, even that resistance didn't last long.
Deltain raised his eyebrows and said to Cargo.
"I called Kaltara, and she'll be here in a bit. Do you want to say hello before you go?"
"Hiiik!"
Cargo jumped up.
His face was like a terrified lamb.
Masochist Kaltara. She was one of Cargo's nightmares.
She was a monster on the level of Deltain, who also treated Cargo like a Heal Pack and dragged him around... no, even worse than Deltain.
It wasn't just simple Heal Pack treatment. She was a woman who committed eccentricities every other day, such as deliberately offering her head to enemies to make him heal it, or ripping out her own heart and throwing it at demons to make him regenerate a new heart.
Just that alone made him nauseous, but there was something worse than that.
-Uhehe! You are truly vigorous!
Night work.
Cargo had to be treated as a sex toy until Kaltara was satisfied whenever her sexual desire surged.
If he lost strength, he had to use Heal to stand back up. If he didn't, it was because Kaltara would use her 'fingers'.
Cargo said to Deltain with teary eyes.
"W-Whatever it is, let's go quickly! As fast as possible! I'll do my weight loss, healing, everything, so please!"
Deltain thought while looking at the terrified Cargo.
'The performance is reliable.'
In fact, Kaltara is not coming.