Chapter 74: The Impoverished Viscount Household’s Second Son’s Opening Ceremony 6
It happened right after we left the shop, having finished lunch while I was distracted by the flickering Golden Magicka catching my eye.
Screams, the neighing of a horse, and the sound of something shattering and breaking reached my ears.
Before I could even turn to see what was happening, Erica dashed off.
I had to admire my own body for automatically chasing after her the moment Erica started moving.
What had happened was obvious at a glance.
A Freight Wagon’s wheel had broken, causing an accident.
In the middle of the road, the horse and the wagon bed lay overturned.
As expected of a district frequented by many adventurers, it seemed no one else had been caught up in the accident.
Both adventurers and non-adventurers alike are probably used to this sort of thing, for better or for worse.
Even amidst the heat that could already be called midsummer, they remained unperturbed, despite a boy lying collapsed on the ground, covered in a cold sweat.
A girl, perhaps a passenger or the coachman from the wagon, rushed to the side of the fallen boy, bleeding from her forehead as she called loudly for help.
“Someone! Isn’t there anyone who can use Healing Magic!”
Judging by their appearance, the fallen boy and the girl calling for help were clearly adventurers.
Their ages seemed close to mine.
As Erica and I approached them, my ears picked up the surrounding murmurs.
“Oh, just Scrap Hunters?”
While thinking that was certainly a possibility for young adventurers, I tilted my head slightly, sensing the contempt in the words of the adventurer who spoke.
It wasn’t strange that no one was going to help; the world of adventurers is fundamentally based on self-responsibility. Anyone who would blame others for not helping wouldn’t be a true adventurer.
What was strange was the feeling of contempt directed towards Scrap Hunters.
Without any sign of worrying about her clothes getting dirty, Erica knelt beside the boy. Her lack of hesitation was beautiful.
Watching her out of the corner of my eye, I approached the horse, still tethered to the Freight Wagon, which had fallen and was thrashing about, and knocked it unconscious.
Then, I knelt beside Erica.
“Is he okay?”
By which I meant, is he alive?
For a magic user of Erica’s caliber, as long as he wasn’t dead, most injuries were well within the scope of what she could heal.
The boy was covered in blood from his left flank down his left side, clearly seriously injured at a glance, so I thought it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had died instantly from the fall from the Freight Wagon.
“He’s in much better shape than you were the other day, Shin.”
Saying that, Erica used Healing Magic.
The boy’s complexion visibly improved.
“Healing Magic!”
The girl, who had been bewildered by our sudden approach, gasped softly.
When you use Healing Magic so naturally, it’s easy to forget, but in the eyes of the general public, Healing Magic is considered extremely difficult.
It requires extensive training both to learn and to master its use freely.
That’s precisely why adventurers often put off learning it, and why having a Sister or Father from the Church join their party is such a significant advantage.
Saying it takes over half a year just to learn how to heal a scratch is a relatively accurate description.
The boy coughed, spitting up blood.
“No, he looks like he’s suffering more than I was back then?”
I said, recalling the time I was beaten black and blue by the Ogre Knight.
It was a bit late to be thinking about it, but I felt embarrassed that Erica had seen me in such a pathetic state. I swear I’ll get my revenge someday.
“That’s like comparing rock and paper and commenting on their sturdiness—an outrageous comparison, you know? I was truly worried back then. Shin, you really should learn to look like you’re suffering a little more.”
I expressed concern for the boy, and somehow ended up getting scolded.
“Thank you very much! We were gathering Magic Stone Fragments when we were suddenly attacked by Monsters! We managed to drive them off, but Ezz protected me and…!”
That’s rough luck— Before I could say that, the boy coughed up blood again.
Violently, this time.
“He looked pretty close to death, but he’s fine now,” Erica said, calmly performing the Supreme Skill of using wind magic to neatly gather the blood splattered by the boy’s cough and dispose of it on the ground.
She performed such an incredible feat so calmly that no one even noticed, which was frightening in its own way.
“Wh-What… Where am I? Pal?”
The boy, having regained consciousness, looked bewildered, his gaze shifting between Erica and me as he spoke.