The tips of my fingers trembled slightly just recalling the gaze that had glared at me.
“The one drawn this time is the opposite. That one was for hunting, and this is a trap.”
[Hmm. But even that is not simple.]
If the goal back then was to catch monsters for the hunting competition, this one was designed to hunt the person who touched it.
This meant that, as a trap, it was designed to summon something stronger than the victim.
“But the mana contained in that array alone seemed insufficient to summon that monster. That’s why I was weakening the array before it could fully emerge…”
“So, the mana consumption was unexpectedly severe?”
He silently nodded his head.
Klen knows how to erase arrays, so the reason he urgently called me was probably because of that.
He had to somehow prevent the array from fully activating, and attempting to erase it at the same time would have been tricky.
He must have desperately needed me, the person who could use a sword to destroy it.
If he hadn’t stopped it, the monster with the ferocious eyes might have been fully summoned.
Only I saw the creature, but I wasn’t certain I saw it correctly.
That thing… was a type of monster whose existence hasn’t even been confirmed in this world.
“In that case, surely the healer’s medicine is needed…”
“Can you share some of your mana with me?”
[Hmm?!]
“Mana can be shared with others?”
“I am not certain. I think we will know if we try…”
Klen, who has reached a considerable level, would know better than me, who knows nothing about magic.
“How do we do it?”
[Hmm. A method for recovering mana is definitely…]
Aren mumbled softly.
And the sight of its small head tilting sideways was so cute that it momentarily captured my attention.
A Divine Beast wouldn’t have cause to violently expend mana, so perhaps it doesn’t know how to restore it.
Furthermore, it’s highly likely to use a method different from humans.
The hand that had been wrapped around my back moved up to the back of my head.
When my gaze returned to Klen, he looked quietly into my eyes and opened his mouth.
“Aren.”
[Yes? What is it.]
Did he need Aren’s help?
“Go for a short walk.”
[A walk? Ah, okay. Then, I’ll be back in a moment!]
“Aren?!”
Even if Klen didn’t understand the bird’s words, Aren did.
Aren flapped its wings and flew up, soaring away.
Then, the door, which had been securely closed, slowly slid open, and closed again after it went out.
That must have been Aren’s magic, looking as though it was opened and closed by the wind.
I quietly blinked my eyes.
Isn’t Aren’s mana higher than mine?
Despite its appearance, it is a Divine Beast.
It would be better to get mana from it.
“Ah, but my mana isn’t very high, so I might not be of help…”
In the middle of speaking, the hand gripping the back of my head pushed my head forward quickly.
And my mouth was suddenly blocked.
“?!”
My head was held firmly in place, making it impossible to pull back in surprise, and the lips that met mine were hot.
I squeezed my eyes shut because the amber eyes right in front of me held a fierce look, like a wild beast.
‘Ugh…’
But perhaps that was a mistake.
I couldn’t easily open my eyes because I knew what was right in front of my closed eyelids, and because of that, my heightened sense of touch detailed what was happening in my mouth.
It was a kiss that was deeper and more intense than any we had shared before.
There was no part of my mouth that he didn’t touch, and the position, which had been an embrace from the side, had somehow changed so that he was pressing down on me from above.
“Heeu, eub.”
He said he was going to take my mana.
It felt like even the single breath I exhaled was being swallowed into his mouth, as if he truly meant to devour everything.
Not knowing how to handle my rapidly diminishing breath, I stretched out my hand.
The hand, which reached out for help, eventually went around his back and firmly grasped his clothes.
Knock, knock—
“…!”
“!”
At the loud knocking, we froze, as if time had stopped.
“Lord Klen. I have brought the healer.”
“…”
“Kugh, haa… haa, haa…”
As his lips finally pulled away, the breath I had been holding burst out all at once.
I tried to regulate my breathing as much as possible so the sound wouldn’t leak outside.
A quiet sigh escaped Klen’s mouth, who was still right in front of me.
My lower lip, touched by his hot breath, trembled.
“There was no need for that.”
He grumbled, yet he lifted his body off me.
Since the healer had come in person, we couldn’t just send her away.
I quickly got up as soon as he moved away and straightened my disheveled clothes.
My hands trembled as I tidied my attire.
I managed to calm my breathing, but it was still ragged.
Klen used his thumb to lightly wipe my wet lips.
Just that touch alone made my cheeks feel as if heat was collecting and burning brightly.
Then, his hand, now cold, cupped my face.
It was cool and felt good.
As I closed my eyes and focused on the coldness, my trembling body and the heat swimming all around me gradually stabilized.
Only after every function of my body had calmed down did we move to the sofa to receive our guest.
“Tell her to come in.”
Only then did the door open.
Despite having been kept waiting for quite a while, the healer entered without a word of complaint and bowed.
“I apologize for the delay. There was an urgent patient, and it took time to attend to them.”
“…It would have been fine if you were a little later.”
“Pardon?”
She opened her eyes wide at Klen’s words, which sounded like a child’s petulant complaint.
“Ah, no. An urgent patient? Shouldn’t you be tending to them?”
I nudged his foot and had the healer sit across from us.
In her lightly moving hand was only a small pouch, but it surely contained numerous medicines.
“It is alright. I have taken care of the matter and returned.”
“But what happened? There wasn’t any excessive training today, was there?”
“I don’t know if you are aware. The knight named Rodney from the Black Eagle Knights…”
“Rodney?!”
I exclaimed, cutting her off without realizing it.
It was a name I hadn’t expected.
Furthermore, a situation so critical that the healer had to rush out!
If I hadn’t been relaxing, I might have leaped to my feet.
“What about Rodney? What happened?”
My words, filled with questions, naturally sped up.
What on earth happened?
Surely, he wasn’t removed because he couldn’t draw the teleport array properly.
No way.
They wouldn’t know the exact situation here.
Did he self-report his mistake?
“He collapsed from mana depletion.”
“What did you say?”
“That person… caused mana depletion?”
And I wasn’t the only one surprised by her answer.
Klen’s eyes widened in surprise as well.
He was the one who drew a huge teleport array in front of the forest, the one who knew about the absurd curse, and the person who nearly summoned that dangerous monster this time.
‘Ah!’
But the last thought that surfaced immediately struck me hard.
No way. Was it because of the monster summoning?
I pushed all other possibilities aside, calmly took a breath, and asked.
“Is mana depletion common for magic users?”
“It is not common. Life can be endangered if handled poorly, so seasoned mages are meticulous about mana management. On the contrary, people with low mana are more likely to make mistakes because they lack objective judgment about themselves.”
“Mana is…”
I repeated her words and then suddenly stopped.
