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Chapter 20
“What the…?”
My hands began to shake. I hurriedly removed the gag from the puppy that had been tightly bound.
“It’s okay. It’s over now.”
I let out a sigh as I looked at the puppy’s bent ear, then kept stroking its head to calm it down.
In my previous life, the villains of the underground world had experimented on small animals.
They claimed it was to test the effects and side effects of new drugs, or to see survival rates after injecting illegal stabilizers.
‘And in that process, this puppy died too. With a bomb strapped to it.’
How could anyone do something like that to an animal that couldn’t even speak?
‘I thought they were demons, but it can’t have been just idle curiosity. There had to be a reason they went so far as to kill this puppy like that…’
I looked down at the puppy pitifully and carefully lifted it. But something about its condition felt off.
“K–keening…”
It whimpered and scratched at my arm frantically, which made the cause obvious. I sighed and gently touched its neck.
‘As expected…’
Just then, Paul strode up from behind and spoke.
“Thank goodness—we managed to save the puppy!”
“No. This puppy… it’s going to die soon.”
“What… did you say?”
Paul’s eyes filled with panic as he stared at the small puppy with its ruffled white fur.
“The mana fluctuations are strange.”
“Y–yeah, you’re right.”
“…It looks like they fed the puppy some kind of abnormal drug that increases mana. And on top of that…”
He gestured at the magical device tightly wrapped around the puppy’s emaciated belly, preventing it from moving.
“We need to remove this first. Please help me.”
I quickly dismantled the magic device. Paul took the parts and assisted me as I removed the explosive.
“I’ll try using a stabilization spell.”
I carefully covered the puppy’s mouth. Its tiny body began to tremble violently.
Watching this, Paul’s face turned deathly pale.
“T–that’s dangerous… Ririe, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Huh? About what?”
“You know. Puppies aren’t human. They don’t resonate at all. You know what happens if you force a stabilization spell on something that can’t resonate!”
“Oh, yeah. I learned that it can cause mana backlash, physical damage, or even loss of consciousness.”
That was true for ordinary stabilization mages. But not for me.
I was the best stabilization mage—there was no way I’d ever end up in that kind of danger.
The problem was that I couldn’t say that to Paul. I had no intention of revealing my abilities.
When I nodded in agreement, Paul exploded.
“You can’t gamble with your life when you know that! Just leave the puppy—no, I mean—!”
“If I give up, this puppy dies here. So I have to calm it down, even a little. I’ll try.”
“Y–you… seriously…”
He bit his lip as he looked at me with eyes full of emotion.
“Are you… an angel?”
No, seriously—why are you crying on the deck? Why are you so softhearted?
Ignoring him, I reached out toward the puppy.
“Little one, try to relax just a bit. You’ll feel better soon.”
A faint glow of stabilization magic appeared from my hand. Soon, the puppy’s violently fluctuating body quickly settled down.
“I’ve done what I can. If we take it to a veterinarian, it should be fine.”
I said it calmly, but Paul kept shedding tears.
“If a stabilization mage overuses stabilization magic, it shortens their lifespan! You knew that—so why did you do it?!”
Wait, normal stabilization mages lose lifespan if they do this?
I knew from theory books that overusing stabilization magic could damage the body for mid-tier mages, but I hadn’t realized it could even reduce lifespan.
‘Well, either way, it doesn’t apply to me.’
When I fell silent in confusion, Paul muttered with a puzzled expression.
“B–but you look fine… thank goodness…”
Oh, that won’t do! If Paul starts suspecting something—
I bit the inside of my cheek hard and covered my mouth.
“C–cough…!”
With the sudden cough, bright red blood seeped through my lips.
The blood ran down the back of my hand and dripped onto the floor. It looked exactly as if the spell I’d just used had drained my life.
Paul’s eyes went wide as he shouted anxiously.
“A–are you okay?! My god…! Right! No matter how young you are, that was too much!”
I nodded weakly.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry. This is nothing.”
That only made Paul’s eyes glisten even more.
“Honestly… you were the same when you saved Rend.”
“……”
“Why are you so kind?”
I’m not.
‘Anyway, at least my identity hasn’t been exposed yet… right?’
Pretending to be in pain, I coughed up blood once more.
“I’m fi—cough!”
And that was when it happened. Aldehyde stared at me with a terrifying gaze and strode toward me.
“What exactly did you just do?”
“……”
His voice was colder than I’d ever heard. Completely frozen, I barely managed to move my lips.
“Answer me. Why did you do something so dangerous?”
“Well, it was… the kind of mistake that happens during a mission…”
I’d barely finished making an excuse when, unfortunately, a drop of blood fell from my lips.
“A mistake?”
“Yes…”
I raised my hand to wipe the blood from my mouth.
Just as I slowly brought the back of my hand toward my lips, Aldehyde’s hand touched my mouth instead. With rough fingertips, he wiped the blood away.
Startled, I looked up at him.
Brilliant violet eyes.
At that moment, he looked as if—
“Why make mistakes?”
As if he were about to kill someone.
Two days later, morning.
‘Still, it seems like yesterday passed without incident…’
After wiping the blood from my lips, he’d sent me to the infirmary. Once my treatment was finished, he even forced me to take leave.
But for some reason…
Sensing the strangely cold atmosphere in the office, I hesitated.
‘What is this chilling feeling?’
As I approached my desk, I saw Aldehyde holding something large in his hands.
“Good morning, Sir Aldehyde. G–good morning?”
“Take it.”
“…Huh?”
“I picked it up on the way.”
When Aldehyde placed that thing on my desk, Paul flew into a rage.
“How can you just ‘pick this up on the way’?! What kind of lunatic would—!”
“What?”
“What kind of lunatic would throw away something this precious?! Where was it?!”
Completely unaware that Aldehyde’s expression had twisted, Paul was deadly serious.
Clenching both fists, he looked around as if he might dash off at any moment.
Aldehyde glanced at Paul, grabbed him by the collar, and smiled brightly.
“Where? You—come here. Let’s go to the training hall.”
“Whaaat~? There was something this precious at the training hall?”
Aldehyde smiled sweetly.
“No. I’m saying you and I are going to spar.”
“Whyyyyy?!”
“Why? Because. Come on. You look like you need some sparring.”
Paul screamed as he was dragged away.
Meanwhile, what mattered to me more right now was…
‘What… is this?’
I stared at that thing lying on the table.
