(...It's the first time I've seen Christophe-san use healing magic on someone else.)

While thinking about such things, Sylvia stepped into the treatment room with Lillia. Inside the room, several healers were standing against the wall, looking utterly exhausted, and in the center of the bed lay a young male adventurer with a pale complexion, his face reflecting despair. His right leg was covered with painful-looking bandages, but Sylvia could easily imagine the severity of the injury beneath them.

"...Is he the patient?"

Lillie nods in response to Sylvia's question.

"Yes. I administered first aid and used all the healing magic I could... but the nerve damage from the monster's strong acid is severe, and further recovery is..."

Sylvia glanced at the young man's face on the bed. He was still young. How deep must the despair be of having his path as an adventurer cut off just as it was about to begin? Sylvia herself had experienced something similar, so she understood the meaning of his expression all too well.

Sylvia cast a glance at Christophe, standing next to her.

"...Christophe-san. He is―"

"I'll check him right away."

"...Yes, please."

Christophe showed no particular signs of distress despite seeing the gruesome condition and simply approached the patient quietly.

His voice had an astonishing calmness.

Even when looking at the face of a young man filled with wounds and despair, he doesn't raise an eyebrow.

She knew it wasn't out of cruelty.

His steps show no hesitation whatsoever. Without rushing or hesitating, he approaches the bed with a completely natural yet firm gait.

When Christophe stood by the bedside, he first looked into the patient's eyes. In those eyes, there was a sharp, observant gaze, along with a warm, loving color that sought to dispel the other's anxiety.

He does not just look at the wounds. He gazes at the wounded "human" itself.

Moreover, Sylvia was reminiscing about the time she was helped.

The young man in the bed also seemed to have calmed down a bit, his faint sobs subsiding.

"I need to check your condition a bit for the treatment. Is it okay if I touch you?"

"...Will treatment actually cure it? After all that's happened..."

The man is raising his voice, seemingly half in despair. However, Christophe maintains his calm expression, even in the face of such behavior.

"I will work hard to get you better than now. So, could you show me?"

"..."

In response to Christophe's calm voice, the man must have been overwhelmed by a mix of various emotions.

Apologetically, with a distorted expression, he nodded slightly.

Christophe knelt by the bed and unwrapped the bandages.

The charred and burnt foot that appeared had received emergency treatment with healing magic, but it seemed that too much time had passed before it was brought in. The nerves were charred, the muscles were necrotic, and the bones were on the verge of dissolving. This level of damage would prompt any ordinary healer to recommend amputation without hesitation.

As an S-rank adventurer, even Sylvia couldn't help but gasp at the sight of the devastation, as she was accustomed to seeing severely injured people.

However, Christophe did not raise an eyebrow, gently reached out to his foot, and touched it.

And then, he let out a small sigh after a while.

"...I understand the condition of the wound now. As you mentioned earlier, it's due to extensive nerve damage caused by the monster's strong acid."

Christophe announced the examination results with his eyes closed.

"...Yes. The nerves have been completely carbonized by the strong acid, making regeneration extremely difficult. We also recommended cutting it off, but—"

Lillie struggles to speak, her words coming out with great difficulty. In her mind, the adventurer's legs were already beyond the point of regeneration.

"Cutting it off? No, you shouldn't do that. This time... It's still not too late."

At Christophe's words, a fleeting expression of surprise and hope crossed Lillie's face.

"But, Christophe-sama. How could you have caused such damage...?"

Lillie asked desperately. In response to her question, Christophe quietly opened his eyes and turned his gaze towards her.

"I'm going to make the healing magic reach deep inside. By pinpointing the necessary magical power to the deep cells and severed nerves, I can assist in the healing process. I confirmed just now that not all of his cells are dead. The reason the wound can't be completely healed is because there's still some of the monster's magic left... but by channeling the healing magic, I should be able to push it out from the inside."

"Di-directly into the cells...?! B-but, such a thing is—"

Lillie gasped in surprise, but Christophe immediately returned his gaze to the patient.

"There's not much time, so let's get started right away. I'm sorry about this. It might hurt a little, but let's begin the treatment."

The moment Christophe said that, Sylvia gasped. As an S-rank adventurer, she was highly sensitive to the flow of magical energy. The phenomenon occurring around Christophe now was clearly abnormal.

(Magical power... not gathering? No, that's not it. Almost not absorbing the mana in the air...?)

Usually, when casting powerful magical power, the caster absorbs a large amount of mana from the surrounding area and combines it with their own magical power to construct the spell.

However, Christophe was trying to complete everything using only what was within himself.

That was something that was unthinkable from a common-sense perspective.

By its very nature, magic is incredibly inefficient, and no matter how hard one tries to compensate with the magical power within their own body, it will never be enough.

Of course, if the amount of one's magical power used increases, the power of the magic will also rise accordingly. However, the number of times one can cast such magic is at most a few times.

Above all, magic that does not incorporate atmospheric magic cannot maintain its existence in the world for long.

Because the magic is disturbed by the atmospheric magic, it quickly loses its form.

(...If he does something like that, it would put a heavy burden on the caster.)

Chapter 12