117 Chapter 117 System Iou (1/2)
”The trees are behind you,” she said, lifting an arm heavily to point.
She had carried him all of the way out of the forest and past the barrier!
Turning his head the other way, he saw elves standing just inside the forest, watching from a distance. They were scared.
”I'm sorry, that must have been hard.”
”I thought you had died,” she said, a small hitch in her throat. He turned back and saw those tears swimming in her eyes again.
”I didn't because of you. Thank you.”
Over the next two days, nothing happened. He explained to her how the rune they were using collected the mana to make the capital a high mana area. It also drew mana out of people. He thought it was also meant to kill the royal family.
”Why would someone be so slow if they wanted to kill them?” she asked.
”I'm not sure that just killing them is the goal and not a side benefit. I don't know what the rune is doing with the mana it is absorbing.”
Both of his minds had been strained from what they had done to the royal twins. Stella seemed pretty happy with him taking a slower life.
He didn't say anything about it, but he definitely heard her humming something as she cooked one night. They talked about a lot of different things while he was down. He didn't even practice any of his magic. By the second day, he was probably recovered, but Stella seemed so happy with him resting, he decided to wait to inform her until that second evening.
”What's up with the elves?” he asked, taking the bowl of stew she offered him for supper.
There was a small group of elves keeping a distance from them still. Stella looked down at her bowl.
”I may have injured some of the elves when I was running out of the castle with you. Like on purpose. Most of them,” she grumbled. ”But they were in the way,” she said more loudly.
”Well, I'm sure they got to excellent elven healers quickly enough that it's fine.”
”Uh. Yeah. We can go with that.”
Joseph knew he was unconscious and she was trying to save him at the time, so he didn't really have a right to complain about her methods. He wished the elves a speedy recovery, if that was still possible.
”Also,” Stella continued, ”we are banned from the forest until we find a way to break the barrier without killing the royals.”
”Well, the kids aren't tied to the barrier anymore, so we're banished for what, seeing the queen naked? I saved the royal twins lives.”
”You may not have noticed, but normally people don't bleed that much during deliveries. She was probably pretty out of it. She is convinced you did something to the children, but doesn't remember they were dying.”
”Oh, wow. She must have been out of it. And no, I haven't really seen any deliveries, even if you include before. No girlfriends much less wives.”
”Having someone's child doesn't mean you are in a relations.h.i.+p with them, Master Joseph.”
”Technically no, but I doubt I would have been invited to any delivery rooms after a one-night stand.”
Stella looked at him sharply, ”So, you did…?”
”No, I didn't. Not even once. Now you stop that.”
She grinned. She was his best friend, but sometimes she really confused him.
x.x.xxX
'System, did I earn anything special for saving the twins?'
(ABSOLUTELY.)
'Um. What?'
(…. I'M STILL WORKING ON IT.)