I Work As A Healer In Another Worlds Labyrinth City (Ln) Volume 4 Side Story (1/2)

Translator(s): Yomigaeru    Editor(s): Yuzuha    Proofreader(s): Yomigaeru

Side Story: Fran's Recommendation

A day has pa.s.sed since the succubus countermeasure meeting. As I'm petting Yuel's head while she sits on my lap in the guest room provided to us by the lord, the door suddenly opens.

「I heard it. You, your mana was actually perfectly fine.」

The second I notice that Fran has entered the room, she abruptly a.s.serts that.

I sense a hint of anger in her voice. Her expression is also giving off a sullen, offended feeling.

「A-Apologies for disturbing you so suddenly.」

I take a look, and Sera is with her as well. She enters the room chasing after Fran, and immediately bows her head to me.

「Because you did not tell the truth when I taught you about magic, I consequently misdiagnosed it as mana leakage disease, no? …Why did you not say anything!」

Fran glances at Yuel, but immediately returns her gaze to me, raising her voice at a constant rate.

「Ahh, that…」

…Oh yeah, Fran did teach me a little about attack magic before.

If I recall correctly, back then, she concluded from the large quant.i.ty of mana I was giving off that I didn't have enough left to use attack magic.

Since I could potentially fix it with training, Fran also gave me a magic tool for measuring the mana concentration around myself at that time.

I stayed silent since I didn't really want to reveal my true ability, but I'm pretty sure that for her part, Fran was feeling fairly sympathetic for me.

…Well yeah, no wonder she's mad.

But it's not like I hid it from her just for the heck of it. There was a good reason for that.

「My bad. But it's not like I kept silent about it for no reason. I wanted to keep my ability hidden as much as I could unless absolutely necessary.」

「There was no need for that. What was the problem with letting me know!」

Fran brings her angry face increasingly closer. Looks like she finds it hard to stomach.

This distance is close.

Her face is close.

…This is dangerous, huh.

When this b.i.t.c.h gets angry the fists really come out.

No, rather than her fists, it's magic that comes out.

Furthermore, since she has some halfway-decent ability, she can cast chantless (albeit unstable) magic.

She can't very well shoot magic at me in this situation with Yuel on my lap, but it pretty much feels like she could lunge at me at any moment. My legs tense up.

Then, when I open my mouth to try and explain,

「Fran, I heard that s.h.i.+ki-san's EX Heal was what got him wrapped up in the recent plot by the archbishop… you also saw the shape he was in at that time, did you not?」

Sera preempts me with that.

「T-That was…」

Fran is at a loss for words.

Well, until I was able to borrow the baths at the lord's mansion, I was completely covered in blood.

Thinking back on it, when we arrived at the lord's mansion, I seem to recall Fran looking at my appearance in shock.

Most likely, Fran remembers that too.

「…B-But, I heard it from Father. That miracle from G.o.d during the time with the Krankheit Turtle. That was your work as well, was it not? To do such a thing when you are loath to stand out, is that not a contradiction!」

Nevertheless, Fran still won't back down.

Most likely, she doesn't know where she should vent her anger anymore.

…Maybe it's because she was trying to teach me magic so earnestly.

But I can't answer that question honestly. Yuel's just quietly sitting on my lap getting her head petted, but she's here.

「T-That was, you see… um, right… it was for the sake of the citizens.」

That's what I told Yuel, but I was honestly just doing it to distract Yuel and comfort her when it seemed like she was going to break down in tears.

In front of Yuel, who's still depressed about ”I couldn't protect you”, I can't tell Fran that it was actually to comfort Yuel.

「…F-For the sake of the citizens? Y-You, you mean to say that it was for the sake of this very Merhatz…? You took on such a risk to rescue this city from a crisis…?」

However, Fran ends up being more shocked than I imagined.

…Oh right, Fran is the lord's daughter.

To put it another way, you could say she's the next lord.

I didn't mean it that way, but I might have come off a bit patronizing.

Fran, who is all up in my face at this point, stops and looks at it.

「T-Too close!」

Then she quickly takes her distance as her own face reddens.

…Flipping out about ”Too close!” when she's the one who approached me, it's totally irrational.

「…I am going back to my room.」

After that, Fran turns her back to me in a somewhat despondent-looking mood.

And just like that, she leaves the room.

「Fufu, please excuse us, s.h.i.+ki-san.」

Sera also exits the room with a somewhat pleased face after bowing to me.

…Finally, they left.

All of the tension while Fran was here that she could lunge at me out of nowhere at any moment drains from my legs.

Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but that girl has previously committed the offense of shooting attack magic into her marriage interview partner's crotch. And it was only an attempt, but she did try to fire attack magic at me too.

…Although I more or less understand that Fran isn't a total b.i.t.c.h.

But she's the type where I never know when I'm going to step on a land mine and set her off.

Now that she's gone, I can finally relax.

「Fran, whatever is the matter? …In a place like this.」

「F-Father…」

However, I hear voices from outside the room. The lord's and Fran's.

Sounds like she ran into the lord on her way out of this room.

「Fran, by some chance, d-did you consider our talk…?」

「F-Fran!」

Instantly, I hear footsteps running away from the room.

The shunned lord's saddened voice rings out.

…Fran appears to be in her difficult years. I don't know what kind of talk they had, though.

…And yet I wonder what the lord came here to do?

This room is at the end of the hallway. He couldn't have just happened to pa.s.s by.

I wonder if he's going to hold another succubus countermeasure meeting?

As I'm pondering, there's a knock on the door.

「Pardon me for coming unannounced.」

「…No problem.」

The lord enters the room and sits down on the nearby chair.

His complexion isn't very good. Well, he's probably busy with the succubus countermeasures and whatnot.

「So… what sort of discussion did you have with Fran?」

The lord asks, leaning forward and looking at me eagerly.

That expression kinda looks like he's expecting something.

…It won't make me happy when a middle-aged guy is the one giving me that expression, though.

「It was about my healing magic ability.」

I hesitate over how to answer, but I guess I don't really need to tell him the details.

Judging from the fact that he went out of his way to come to this room, the main topic is most likely something else.

Besides, I'm busy petting Yuel's head.

It's not like I can't spare a little time to talk to a middle-aged man, but only a little.