Chapter 136: Arm

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Translator: Soafp

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I arrived with Ashera in front of El’s room. There wasn’t a single sound coming from inside… I hesitated to knock.

If I knocked and El came out naked… I couldn’t bring myself to knock. As I was hesitating, unsure of what to do, Ashera took my left hand.

Resolving myself, I knocked on El’s door… No response. Just a dead silence… Ahem.

I waited for about three minutes, but there was no response.

Finding it strange, I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I decided to use my sonar to scan a 10-meter radius… No one was inside.

Using sonar again, this time for a 100-meter radius, I found them. Two signals were on the roof of the mansion. Some kind of special play… Ahem.

Wondering what they were doing in the snowy weather, I opened the window to find that the snow had stopped, revealing a clear sky with stars and the moon.

“Ashera, El and Marl are on the roof. Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

Nodding once, I launched myself into the air with a space kick from the window.

From above, I quickly spotted El and Marl sitting side by side on the roof, holding hands.

I descended next to El, with Ashera following right behind me.

“El, Marl, I need to talk to you.”

El and Marl turned to us, nodding shyly. They must have expected us to come, sensing our presence through the sonar. We sat on the roof in the order of Ashera, me, El, and Marl.

“Nii-sama, I’ve told Marl everything about the Apostles, the new race, and the country…”

“I see…”

“And then I proposed…”

“! And…?”

“She said she would marry me.”

“That’s great! Congratulations, El. Marl.”

“Congratulations, Elphus. Marl.”

“Thank you, Nii-sama, Ashera.”

“Thank you, Aldo, Ashera.”

“And about Marl, we discussed her taking the transfer exam to the commercial department after the second semester.”

“Commercial department? Why?”

“When we get married and have children, we’ll need to establish a new country.”

“That’s true.”

“At that time, understanding commerce and money flow would be more beneficial to the country than being a healing mage. That’s what Marl thinks…”

“That makes sense, but are you sure about this?”

I addressed Marl.

“Yes. I was originally torn between the commercial and magic departments. This seems like a good opportunity. Also, I’ve realized that I don’t have the same talent for magic as the rest of you. Instead of becoming a mediocre healing mage, I think it would be better to study in the commercial department.”

“I see…”

“And I can still learn magic from Rafina-sama and Elphus.”

Marl smiled as she said this. It can’t be easy to make such a decision lightly. However, it was the conclusion that Marl and El had reached after much consideration. It wasn’t my place to interfere.

After that, the four of us talked about various things. We reminisced about past memories, discussed the series of events surrounding the goblin incident, and its aftermath. When we talked about Ashera’s arm and the time Ashera and I broke off our engagement, Marl looked like she was about to cry.

Our conversation continued until Mom called us from the second-floor balcony.

“Alright, let’s call it a night.”

“Yes.”

“Ashera and Marl, you go ahead and take a bath first. I’ll join later with El.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

El helped Marl down, and Ashera followed.

I stayed on the roof, lost in thought.

Independence in 15 years… It will probably lead to war. It was the same in the previous world. The formation of any country often involves conflict. Wars for independence like those of America and India, or the continuous struggles between the nobility and the people in countries like Britain and France, where the populace gradually gained sovereignty.

Honestly, with Condense Ray and the domain, the war would be one-sided. Winning would be much easier than dealing with the recent goblin incident.

But could I really incinerate people like, Shirea the Knight Captain, Commander Miroku, or Chancellor Dunhill with Condense Ray?

It felt like I was solving an unsolvable problem, a waste of time.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me and turned around to see El standing there with a bucket of clothes.

“Nii-sama, Marl and the others have finished. Let’s take a bath.”

Right… I didn’t need to worry alone. I should consult with my companions who are walking the same path…

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I headed to the bath with El.

The next morning———-

I went to the bathroom with Ashera, Mom, El, Marl, Noel, and Rosa. We were going to treat Ashera’s arm. Previously, Rosa’s treatment was done in a room to avoid dirtying the bath, but I didn’t care about that for Ashera’s arm.

I had asked Noel to be ready to amputate the arm if the treatment failed. Neither El nor I could bring ourselves to cut off Ashera’s arm, even if it was for treatment.

I had asked Rosa to follow up after the treatment, as she was the only one with relevant experience and her advice would be invaluable. Rosa’s leg had been repaired up to her heel. She couldn’t run yet, but she could walk slowly without problems.

“Ashera, how do you feel? If you have any doubts, we can stop for today.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright… let’s start the treatment. Today, we’ll go up to the wrist…”

“Okay.”

Ashera’s left arm had been amputated about 5 centimeters below the elbow. Unlike Rosa’s leg, the volume to be healed was relatively small, so if my healing magic was proficient enough, I could repair it all the way to her fingertips. However, I didn’t have that level of proficiency. I planned to repair up to the wrist first, and then move on to the hand.

I used sonar on my left arm, Ashera’s right arm, El’s and Marl’s left arms, and Mom’s left arm to build a solid image. It took about an hour. I cast sonar dozens of times to get the image as close to perfect as possible. No one spoke, not wanting to disturb my concentration.

El replenished my magic halfway through. Preparation was complete.

“Ashera, here we go.”

“Okay.”

Ashera responded naturally, without a hint of nervousness.

“Heal!”

In the next instant, Ashera’s left arm was restored up to just before the wrist.

“How is it?”

Ashera moved and touched her left arm. Rosa shared her own experiences in detail, asking if there were any odd sensations.

“No problems.”

After testing various movements, touching, swinging, and channeling magic, Ashera finally confirmed.

I wanted to wait a week for the next treatment, but Ashera insisted on having it the next day. She explained that she wanted to be ready for the labyrinth exploration starting soon.

I told her it wasn’t necessary to rush; she could join the exploration after her arm was fully healed. However, Ashera stubbornly refused to wait.

In the end, we agreed that today’s group would gather at the same time and place tomorrow. I spent the rest of the day in Ashera’s room, preparing for the next treatment by repeatedly using sonar to study the structure of the hand.

“Aldo, you don’t need to be so nervous.”

“It’s easy for you to say, but the hands and feet are incredibly complex due to the fingers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’d say the complexity ranks among the top three parts of the human body.”

“I see. Then feel free to study as much as you need.”

“Understood. Then feel free to examine it thoroughly.”

Extending her right hand to me.

It was soft and pliable… white and beautiful… the color!

I compared the newly healed part to her right arm again. It looked fine… the same color as the right arm. I had been so focused on the structure that I had forgotten to imagine this whiteness.

That I could replicate it even without thinking about it… I must be able to visualize Ashera perfectly even with my eyes closed.

While I was using sonar, I noticed that my magic power was less than half.

Just to be safe, I took a nap to recover my magic power and then continued using sonar.

I repeated this process throughout the day.

The next morning———-

Everyone gathered in the bath at the same time as yesterday.

“Thank you all for coming again today. We’ll begin Ashera’s treatment now.”

When I said that, everyone nodded once.

As before, I used sonar on Ashera, Marl, Mom, Noel, and Rosa.

It seemed that there was a difference between male and female bone structures, making it easier to fill in the image with the hands of people of the same sex rather than those of El or myself.

After about an hour, the same as yesterday, I called out to Ashera.

“Ashera, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Here we go.”

Ashera nodded once, just like yesterday.

“Heal!”

With an image clearer than ever, I cast Heal on Ashera.

Before my eyes was Ashera’s cute left hand.

“How is it…?”

Ashera clenched and opened her left hand repeatedly. She enveloped it in magic and dispersed it, then lit a small light on each of the five fingertips and made the lights dance in the air…

Wait a minute… was she always this skilled at manipulating magic?

“Ashera… can you do the same thing with your right hand?”

When I asked, she made a slightly sour face and tried the same thing with her right hand, but it was much clumsier than with her left hand.

“You…”

“Yeah. The magic flow in my left hand is really good. It’s completely different from my right hand.”

“Seriously…”

I might have turned Ashera into a modified human.

When I used sonar on her left and right hands several times, I noticed the nerves were thicker in the left hand… the left hand’s nerves were thicker…

It seemed that either magic traveled through the nerves, or thicker nerves could sense magic better.

A strange atmosphere hung in the air, but I vowed to never let this fact become known.

This technique could ultimately lead to the creation of modified humans. I had to make sure it stopped with me.

“It seems like it just happened by chance.”

Everyone made indescribable faces at my words.

However, they seemed to sense that I wouldn’t explain further, so no one pressed the issue.

“Ashera, let me know if you feel any discomfort. If worse comes to worst, we might have to amputate…”

“Understood.”

Ashera agreed verbally, but she seemed confident that it wouldn’t come to that.

I didn’t understand why she trusted me so much… it was a mystery.

Somehow, Ashera’s arm was repaired along with an unbelievable fact.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be preparing for the labyrinth exploration.

I also want to visit the armor shop. I need to ask the old man to modify my armor for the vernier thrusters.

I should finally ask him his name too.