Eastern Strait Blockade
Episode 30: Field Trip (End)
The alleys of the slum were always dark.
Sunlight didn’t shine through for even an hour a day.
The spaces between the buildings were too narrow.
Moss covered the walls, and some unknown liquid flowed across the ground.
I was hungry.
I was always hungry.
That was our daily life.
My older sister brought home some food.
I didn’t ask where she got it.
Because her hands were shaking.
Because she hadn’t wiped the blood from her nose.
I knew I shouldn’t ask.
Half a loaf of bread.
My older sister gave me half.
I pushed my half back toward her.
My sister pushed it back again.
I pushed it back again.
In the end, we each ate half.
I could feel my sister’s hand stroking my head.
A warm hand.
The only thing that was warm in the slums.
The world was nothing but cold.
People were cold, too.
My sister was the only one who was warm.
So as long as my sister was there, nothing else mattered.
When we were being chased.
That person appeared.
My sister was bleeding, and the sword was closing in.
“What are you doing there?”
I heard that person’s voice.
Ice surged up and engulfed the assailant.
That was the end of it.
He approached us.
He staunched the bleeding from the wound on my sister’s leg.
Without a word. Skillfully.
It was the first time.
The first time someone had approached us first.
The first time someone had helped us.
He introduced himself as Enoch.
We arrived at the Academy.
It was a world I’d never seen before.
Clean floors.
Streetlights powered by mana stones.
People smiling.
A scene I could never have imagined.
The day he took me to the infirmary.
I froze at the door.
Because I was scared of this unfamiliar place.
I hid behind his robe.
The door opened, and there was someone inside.
Orange, slightly wavy hair.
Brown eyes like a puppy’s.
He was smiling, waving his bandaged hand.
“Teacher! Where were you yesterday?”
He was a noisy kid.
He saw me.
I hid.
Deeper behind that person’s robe.
But the child kept smiling.
He climbed down from the bed, crouched down in front of me, and brought himself down to my eye level.
“My name is Benny Finch. What’s your name?”
I didn’t want to answer.
Because he was a stranger.
He nodded.
It meant it was okay.
I opened my mouth.
“Sankta…”
The child’s eyes sparkled.
“So your name is Sankta. I look forward to getting to know you!”
It felt warm.
It was the first warmth I’d felt from anyone other than my older sister.
In the open field, the child swung a sword every day.
From morning till night.
— Slash! Slash! Slash!
She repeated the same motion hundreds, thousands of times.
Blisters formed on her hands, burst, and scabbed over.
“Sankta!!!!!!!!!!”
Every time, she would shout my name loudly and ask me to heal her.
Whenever I healed her, she would grit her teeth.
I knew it hurt.
But he pretended it didn’t.
While looking at me.
I asked him.
“Why do you push yourself so hard?”
He thought about it for quite a while.
“It’s just fun!”
It was a short answer.
But it wasn’t a lie.
He answered with his true feelings.
What a strange child.
I didn’t mind being by that strange child’s side.
That child fought a giant.
A man over 200 centimeters tall.
A face covered in scars.
That child was sent flying by the man’s fist.
He rolled across the field.
He didn’t move.
I thought his heart had stopped.
I tried to run over.
But the boy got up first.
With a start.
“……It doesn’t really hurt, does it?”
He tilted his head and tapped his side.
‘How can he be so calm?’
That child, who had been looking down at the broken sword with regret.
“……Oh. It was the sword the teacher gave me.”
I felt like a fool for worrying.
Still, I went to treat the wound.
I placed my hand on the child’s side.
Someone was running toward me.
It was a scary person.
Their eyes were strange.
That child stood in front of me to protect me.
Arms outstretched, they didn’t back down a single step.
“Get out of the way.”
“No!!!”
Their voice was loud.
It was always like that.
That child always shouted loudly.
The scary person stopped.
That person came over and resolved the situation.
And now.
That child is holding me.
Their embrace was warm.
It was similar to my older sister’s embrace.
No. It was different.
It was a different kind of warmth.
Blood is flowing from their back.
Not from mine, but from that child’s back.
A wound sustained while trying to protect me.
That child collapsed.
“……Are you okay?”
It was that child who asked.
The child whose back was torn open.
The child who was bleeding.
Asked me.
Something seemed to well up in my eyes.
It was hot.
That child’s eyes closed.
‘No.’
My hands trembled.
My chest tightened.
I couldn’t breathe.
‘No.’
I can’t lose this child.
The same terror I felt when I nearly lost my sister in the slums washed over me.
‘I have to treat him right now.’
I reached out.
I placed my hand on the child’s back.
Blood trickled through my fingers.
I summoned my mana.
“Wave.”
I recalled the wave that person had taught me.
The wave I saw in the valley.
The gentle ripples created by a small stone.
Whenever I tried to conjure it with my mind, I always failed.
So I conjured it with my heart.
I thought of the feelings I wanted to convey to this child.
Please, don’t be in pain.
Gently.
Slowly.
Like a ripple.
— ……
The light changed.
It was different from the healing I’d done before.
It didn’t burst forth all at once.
The light that blossomed from my fingertips drew a circular ripple.
It spreads out gently.
Just as a wave spreads across the water’s surface.
The wave of light enveloped the child’s back.
The light seeped into the torn wound.
It feels as though mana is melting into the flesh.
The bleeding stopped.
Flesh began to regrow from the edges of the wound.
With each passing wave, the wound healed a little more.
There was no pain.
Enoch stopped as he was running toward the children.
He stared at the light.
“That’s definitely… a heal.”
The wave that had failed time and again.
The heal I couldn’t even get a handle on.
Sancta had succeeded.
The light envelops Benny’s entire back.
The three wounds are healing at a visible pace.
Benny didn’t flinch.
He didn’t clench his teeth.
His tightly closed eyes looked peaceful.
It was proof that he wasn’t in pain.
A smile spread across Enoch’s lips.
‘To pull this off in such a dangerous situation… she really is a saint.’
Benny’s eyes opened.
“……Huh?”
The pain in her back had vanished.
The agony that had been burning just moments ago was receding like a wave.
Only a warm sensation remained.
A soft, comforting sensation.
Benny turned her head to look at her back.
Sancta was raising her hand.
Light was streaming out.
A light distinctly different from before.
It was soft and warm.
Benny could see Sancta’s face.
She was crying silently.
Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
“Sancta?”
“……You idiot.”
Sancta said.
It was the most emotionally charged thing Sankta had said to him so far.
The wound had completely healed.
The claw marks had vanished without a trace.
Blood remained on his clothes, but there was no wound.
The light faded.
Sankta lowered her hand.
Benny jumped to his feet.
“It doesn’t hurt! It really doesn’t hurt at all!”
He felt his back here and there.
“Sankta, what is this?! It’s completely different from before!”
Sankta turned her head away, wiping away her tears.
She was trying to avoid Benny’s gaze.
— Grrrrrrr.
The werewolf bared its fangs.
It seemed displeased that its prey had stood up.
It extended its claws and charged again.
Benny shoved Sancta behind him.
He picked up the sword he’d dropped when he fell.
His body felt light.
Enoch shouted.
“Morse! Blind it!”
Golden eyes stared directly at the werewolf.
“Obscuro!!!”
The tattoo on his thigh glowed faintly beneath his clothes.
A black light radiated from Morse’s eyes and pierced the werewolf.
The werewolf’s eyes wavered.
Its charging foot stumbled.
It lost its bearings.
“AAAAAAARGH!”
The werewolf, having lost its vision, let out a scream.
It lashed out with its claws in all directions.
Unable to see, it was instinctively lashing out at its surroundings.
“Edelin! Now!”
Enoch’s voice rang out.
Four water balls were spinning around Edelin.
She had been preparing them even before Enoch gave the order.
“Water Balls!”
The blue water droplets flew in a straight line.
They struck the side of the disoriented, staggering werewolf with precision.
— Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!
They exploded one after another, sending water spraying everywhere.
The werewolf’s body was pushed sideways.
Stumbling, one of its knees buckled.
Its balance was shattered.
‘Good. An opening has appeared.’
It’s not over yet.
He raised his hand and inscribed a rune.
ᛇᛋᛖ
— Crack!
Ice surged up from beneath the werewolf’s feet.
It encased both ankles, pinning him to the ground.
‘I won’t kill him. It’ll be a good learning experience for everyone.’
Enoch’s gaze turned toward Benny.
“Finish it off!”
Benny was already running.
Engine activated.
— Thud!
My heart was pounding.
Even though I’d just given it my all, my body felt light.
Thanks to Sancta’s healing.
The werewolf, its feet pinned, dug its claws into the air.
Unable to see ahead, it swung wildly.
Benny dodged the claws.
He’d learned this from his sparring sessions with Garrett.
Dodge and strike.
Right in front of the werewolf’s face.
My mind went blank.
I raised my sword high above my head.
I gathered all the strength in my body.
The power surged up from my feet, through my waist, up my shoulders, and into my hands.
“Downward strike!!!!!!!!!!”
— Kwaaaaaaang!!
The sword struck the werewolf’s head with a vertical downward blow.
A shockwave spread in all directions.
The grass was flattened, and dust swirled into the air.
The werewolf’s body stiffened.
Its claws clenched at the air once, then released.
It collapsed forward.
— Thud.
It didn’t move.
The field fell silent.
The wind rustled through the grass.
The dust settled.
Benny lowered his sword and gasped for breath.
“I… got it.”
Edelin leaned her hands on her knees and exhaled.
Morse relaxed and dropped his shoulders.
Enoch stood with his arms crossed, looking down at the werewolf’s corpse.
‘We took down a C-rank monster through teamwork. Morse gained the upper hand by blocking its line of sight, Edelin created an opening, and Benni finished it off.’
Enoch smiled.
'I just tied its legs. Everyone did their part brilliantly. It’s touching to see how much you’ve all grown.’
Benny ran over to Enoch.
“Teacher! We won! We won!!!”
“Yes. Good job.”
Edelin approached and checked on Benny.
“Your back? Are you okay?”
“I’m totally fine! Sancta healed me, so it didn’t hurt at all!”
Benny turned around and looked at Sancta.
Sancta was standing a short distance away.
Traces of wiped-away tears remained on her cheeks.
But her expression was different.
It wasn’t her usual blank face.
How should I put it?
It was the face of someone who had accomplished something.
Benny walked over.
“Sancta.”
The girl looked up.
“Thank you. I’m alive because of you.”
Sancta stared at Benny.
She looked at him for a long time.
She opened her mouth.
“……Don’t do that next time.”
Benny grinned.
“I’ll protect you next time, too.”
Sancta opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Enoch watched the scene and thought to himself.
'To have successfully cast a heal. She’s mastered one of the healing rites faster than anyone before.'
The healing rite that would one day lead to her being canonized as a saint was taking root at this very moment in Sancta’s fingertips.
The healing rites were techniques perfected through countless trials and errors during the war.
I never imagined their origins would stem from emotion.
'The desire to heal someone without causing them pain. That is the essence of the Healing Rite.'
Enoch looked up at the sky.
The clouds were drifting slowly by.
‘If only I could have told her this story while Grandma was still alive, she would have loved it.’
Enoch approached Sancta.
Sancta looked up.
“Good job, Sancta.”
Enoch stroked Sancta’s head.
Sancta bowed her head slightly.
Her shoulders trembled ever so slightly beneath his stroking hand.
It was impossible to tell if she was crying or laughing.
It seemed to be both.