The Wise Sheep Is My Friend (3)
#142
Inside the cave—or rather, looking at that disaster zone—what exactly had Estelle been thinking?
I did not have a mother, but if I had, she probably would have told me to clean my room and then, after spotting the woman sprawled in the middle of the floor, said something like—
"Oh, our son's all grown up now! Bringing a girl home and everything."
Actually, I had never had a mother, so I wouldn't really know...
Ah, wait, is that the kind of thing dads say?
Anyway, what mattered was that the person standing next to me wasn't an imaginary, illusory mother — it was Estelle, whose favorability toward me had already plummeted as low as it could go.
"......I'd prepared myself mentally, but — it's worse than I expected."
Surprisingly, she didn't react with that much shock.
Honestly, I'd been expecting Estelle to shriek and blush furiously.
"Hoo... First, I'll check on Lily's condition, so Do-yun, please take care of cleaning up here. Surely you're not planning to dirty the place yourself and then ask me for help, are you?"
"Got it. Leave it to me."
Anyway, just what did this woman think of me?
I was not that shameless!
The only disappointing thing was that a cave Estelle could've made spotless with a snap of her fingers was, for me, going to be a job requiring considerable effort.
Actually, if I could figure out how to properly use my unique magic, I felt like I might be able to pull off versatile spells like Estelle too...
Anyway, experiments could wait. And practice to develop versatility — I'd have to work on that steadily someday.
***
***
I focused on cleaning up the fluids that had been splattered all over the cave floor.
How had I cleaned it? Well... I'd grabbed some dry towels from the corner of the cave and wiped it all up. There was no running water, so... I'd leave that to the imagination. There wasn't enough blank space to write out every dirty detail of the process.
While I worked, Estelle placed a hand on Lily's back and began to chant.
『—Quiesce placide—』
—Slumber peacefully—
I felt golden mana fill the space and flow into Lily.
"Oh, what kind of magic is that?"
"Be quiet and clean. I cast a sleep spell so Lily won't wake up during treatment."
"Yes, ma'am."
I shut my mouth and went back to wiping the cave floor.
Scrub, scrub.
Scrub scrub scrub!
Hmm. It wasn't coming off!
The masterpiece Lily and I had created had, in just a few hours, dried and crusted over — showing no sign of budging.
If this was a trace of love, then love was apparently a concept much harder to clean up than I'd thought.
"Hah..."
A low sigh escaped me on its own.
So fleeting were human desires!
Last night had been filled with nothing but mind-blowing pleasure —
And come morning, all that remained was an unconscious Lily and toilet duty. Truly, life was empty.
"Do-yun."
"Yes?"
"If you've got time to sigh, move your hands instead."
"......"
Scrub scrub scrub.
It was disgustingly hard to clean.
Estelle seemed to be checking Lily's condition, meticulously observing every corner of her rear. Maybe it was a woman-to-woman thing? Her touch was remarkably unfazed.
"......"
Seeing how red her face was, maybe it wasn't just that.
Anyway.
When I stole a glance at her, Estelle was staring at the widely gaped back hole with a troubled expression.
Rustle, rustle.
She rummaged through a leather pouch, pulling out a strangely shaped glass bottle and grinding some dried herbs into a fine powder.
Several minutes passed.
Then, without even the presence of mind to notice my hands had stopped, she finally spoke, still deep in concentration.
"......This isn't going to work."
No, goddammit, that couldn't happen, seriously!!!!
"What do you mean it's not going to work?"
"It seems treatment is impossible with the medicines I have on hand. The supplies I brought are strictly for battlefield emergencies, so..."
"How can it be impossible? If Lily wakes up like this, I'm dead. Please, ma'am, think of it as saving a life and figure something out..."
"Who said you could call me 'ma'am'? In any case, since medical treatment is impossible, I have no choice but to attempt to use my unique magic."
"Unique magic, you mean..."
"From now on, I will exercise my unique magic, 『Contract』, on Lily. I'll cast a spell on her body to rewind its time just a little."
So it was time travel again, dammit.
As if she'd read my expression, Estelle smiled faintly and spoke.
"It's not that complicated of a spell. It merely restores Lily's body to its state one day prior."
"Uh... to my ears, that still sounds plenty complicated."
"Seeing it in person, even your brain, Do-yun, should be able to understand it well enough. Anyway, I brought a waterskin precisely in case a situation like this arose, so — give me the waterskin."
What exactly was she planning to do with water?
Though I tilted my head quizzically, I handed her the waterskin.
And the blonde girl took it, carefully opened the lid, and gently poured the water onto the cave floor.
For an instant, the thought crossed my mind that the filthy cave floor might cause problems — but the sight unfolding before my eyes swept that thought away like the wind.
Hummm—
Because the clear stream of water absorbed Estelle's power and began forming a regular pattern, and golden mana started spreading across the water's surface.
Oh! A Magic Circle!
"Don't come closer. You'll be in serious trouble if you step on it."
"Ah, yes."
I at least knew that much. It was common sense that stepping on a Magic Circle meant getting screwed.
Watching a golden Magic Circle being drawn with water was a fascinating sight.
Like ink seeping into paper, brilliantly glowing letters I couldn't read began engraving themselves onto the floor.
I couldn't read them, but I knew instinctively.
This was probably a 'contract'.
Words containing the contents of the contract being concluded between Lily and Estelle.
But why use water, of all things?
I couldn't hold back my curiosity. I immediately spoke to Estelle.
"Is there a reason you're drawing the Magic Circle with water specifically? You don't normally do this when you use magic."
"Hah... Please speak to me only in moderation, as you're distracting me. I'm using water to control any unforeseen variables."
Answering everything thoroughly even while annoyed — that was the charm of Professor Estelle. So I kept asking.
"What kind of variables?"
Estelle wrinkled her brow slightly and replied.
"......Variables are things like magic failing due to insufficient mana or lack of concentration. The reason I can answer Do-yun's nonsense one by one and still cast magic is that I'm using a medium for the contract — 'water'."
Nonsense, she says...
"Think of the contract's medium as a vessel that simultaneously mediates the contract and stores its terms. Anyway, ask about the details separately later — from now on, you must not speak to me."
Hummm———
With a resonant tremor in the air, Estelle exercised her unique magic.
『Pactum—Contract』
O Tempus, placide retro labere.
Ad illam horam redi,
qua dominus tuus nondum morbo tactus erat.
O Time, gently rewind.
Return to that moment when your master had not yet been touched by illness.
Sicut unda ad fontem suum recurrit,
flue, reflue, atque retro duc,
quod olim integrum fuit.
As the wave returns to its source,
Flow, and flow again, carrying the time that has passed back with you.
Spiritum ante vulnus,
calorem ante ruinam,
formam ante iacturam—
The breath before the wound,
the warmth before the collapse,
the original form before the loss—
Huic corpori iterum restitue.
Restore them once more to this body.
Kiiiing—!!!!!!
The moment the final verse of the lengthy chant ended—
Scritch.
A sound rang out, like an invisible pen writing something down.
Maybe no real sound had been made, but at least to my ears, it was unmistakably that. The sound of some nameless, immense power signing the contract between Estelle and Lily.
Immediately after, the Magic Circle drawn on the cave floor began to glow intensely.
What rose was a hazy mist.
With a certain regularity, it began to coil around Lily, Estelle, and me, who had been standing there like an idiot on the side.
Time, rewinding backwards like a spring.
I could see the tips of Estelle's fingers, resting on Lily's back, trembling ever so slightly.
"The events Lily experienced before her anus was ruined will rise, one by one, as illusions. If we wholly negate the impact those events had on Lily's body, this child's rear will also return to its original state."
"Excuse me?"
Whaaash—
"Rest assured, there won't be any memory loss or anything like that."
No, young lady, that's not the problem—
"Quiet. Commencing."
A softly murmured voice.
At the same time, the hazy mist solidified into forms.
And just like a projector screening a film, the moment the golden light beamed onto the mist—
"..............."
Estelle froze, her mouth agape.