“Then...!"
Clearly, my consciousness was clear until I spoke.
However, the only thing I was touching was Belled’s strong arm, and the moment I blinked, an incredible pain shot through my entire body.
“...!”
I opened my mouth slightly without saying a word. It was a pain so dizzying that I couldn’t even make a sound.
“Beryl?”
Belled, who felt something strange, looked back at me. However, I was already in a situation where I could not answer.
My vision seemed to turn a blurry gray. Then, the world slowly shifted to the side, leaving an afterimage.
“Ah.”
I thought for a moment before understanding.
I was falling. Everything that touched my skin felt hot. The next thing I felt was a rough pulse of power as if something was going to burst out of my entire body.
“...!”
Beryl!
I seemed to hear a voice shouting that again.
My vision completely blacked out.
“It’s awakening fever.”
Belled quickly concluded as soon as Beryl collapsed. Other than that, there was no other illness that could explain this symptom. The problem was...
“The symptoms are very different from those of ordinary demons.”
Ronove said with a worried face. Belled shook his head slightly.
“It’s not different.”
The symptoms were the same.
The process of drinking the spring of desire with a human body and changing the body into a demon’s body to accept the magical power boiling in the body.
It was natural that extreme pain and fever would accompany the process.
“Then why is this...”
Ronove couldn’t continue. Beryl’s fingertips were trembling unconsciously, unable to overcome the pain.
Belled’s hand grabbed her cold fingertips.
It was rare for her to even have convulsions. Belled narrowed his eyes.
“...Normally, the physical transformation would occur within twelve hours of drinking the spring water, but the fact that it took so long means that there was a lot of magical power that could be accepted even in a human state.”
Of course. Beryl was someone who could drain a great deal of magical power even in her human form.
“Are you saying that symptoms did not occur until the limit of the magical power that Her Highness could receive was exceeded?”
Belled nodded at Ronove’s words.
At that moment.
Thump thump.
“Your Highness, it’s Marbes.”
“Come in.”
Marbes and other demons rushed in through a door that had opened wide. They were the demons who were serving as maids.
Belled carefully picked up Beryl. The handmaids who were trying to take care of her shook their heads slightly and bit back.
It must mean that they would take her to the bed themselves.
Even though he had known this would happen and had prepared himself mentally, he couldn’t help but feel on edge.
Perhaps sensing this, the servants, including Marbes, moved more quickly and quietly than usual.
Thud.
My vision completely blacked out.
***
“It’s awakening fever.”
Belled quickly concluded as soon as Beryl collapsed. Other than that, there was no other illness that could explain this symptom. The problem was...
“The symptoms are very different from those of ordinary demons.”
Ronove said with a worried face. Belled shook his head slightly.
“It’s not different.”
The symptoms were the same.
The process of drinking the spring of desire with a human body and changing the body into a demon’s body to accept the magical power boiling in the body.
It was natural that extreme pain and fever would accompany the process.
“Then why is this...”
Ronove couldn’t continue. Beryl’s fingertips were trembling unconsciously, unable to overcome the pain.
Belled’s hand grabbed her cold fingertips.
It was rare for her to even have convulsions. Belled narrowed his eyes.
“...Normally, the physical transformation would occur within twelve hours of drinking the spring water, but the fact that it took so long means that there was a lot of magical power that could be accepted even in a human state.”
Of course. Beryl was someone who could drain a great deal of magical power even in her human form.
“Are you saying that symptoms did not occur until the limit of the magical power that Her Highness could receive was exceeded?”
Belled nodded at Ronove’s words.
At that moment.
Thump thump.
“Your Highness, it’s Marbes.”
“Come in.”
Marbes and other demons rushed in through a door that had opened wide. They were the demons who were serving as maids.
Belled carefully picked up Beryl. The handmaids who were trying to take care of her shook their heads slightly and bit back.
It must mean that they would take her to the bed themselves.
Even though he had known this would happen and had prepared himself mentally, he couldn’t help but feel on edge.
Perhaps sensing this, the servants, including Marbes, moved more quickly and quietly than usual.
Thud.
The place where Belled carried Beryl was the bedroom. Beryl, lying on the bed in the bedroom, had already turned pale and bluish.
Her lips were pursed. Belled tried to gently stroke her lips.
“...!”
But her reaction was fierce. Even when he laid her down on the bed, her fingertips seemed to be tense, perhaps because of the pain, and it seemed like the very act of touching her body was painful.
“Her condition seems very serious. First, let me calm her magic.”
Marbes moved quickly. Then, he put the ornament he was holding down next to Beryl.
Saaaa...
Then, Marbes’ poison slowly began to flow out of the ornament.
It was a poison that suppressed magic.
However, it was a thin sheet of paper.
Beryl’s face, which had bitten her lip to the point of bleeding, began to calm down a little.
“...”
Belled let out a short sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness it worked right away,”
Said Ronove. That was why Marbes was Vine’s doctor. A poison and cure that you inhale through your skin and breath has to work faster than a medicine you take.
Thump thump.
Then, there was another knock. Belled's sharp gaze turned outside.
As one of Marbes's demons cautiously left, Ratley stood outside.
"The priests who came to the temple are looking for Her Highness..."
He seemed confused by the situation inside.
"Are she okay?"
"Her Highness's awakening has begun."
The devil who went to meet him explained the situation briefly.
Only then did Ratley, who had finally figured out the situation, bow his head.
“I will send the humans back somehow.”
“Don’t tell the humans that Beryl has collapsed.”
Belled opened his mouth. There was no reason to confuse them by telling them.
“Understood.”
After Ratley quietly went outside, Belled examined Beryl.
Her fingertips, which were tightly gripping the bedsheet in pain, repeatedly scratched at it. Was the pain particularly severe?
Belled recalled the time when he had drunk the spring of desire a long time ago. He too had suffered severe pain as he had received powerful magic, but his consciousness had completely disappeared and he had no memory.
“Haa...”
However, Beryl was different. Her eyes opened dimly here and there.
Beryl, who had been unconscious at first, was gradually coming to her senses.
It would have been better for her to have lost consciousness.
“...It’s okay.”
Don’t speak in such a dry voice. Belled shook his head at her.
“I know even if you don’t say anything. So don’t say anything.”
In fact, it didn’t look okay, but he wanted to save Beryl’s strength even like that.
It was going to be a long fight against the pain.
Was there no way?
He bit his lip.
***
“The evil monsters still remain! Please help us!”
The one who heard those words was the demon Naberus, who was called evil by humans every day.
“Where are you?”
The gazes of the humans who looked at him asking that were truly the gazes of a savior. It was also a gaze full of hope that Naberus had never seen in his entire life.
“Over there, beyond the northern hill!”
“Understood. Please guard the village entrance.”
Naberus’s words were the words of a savior to the villagers who were about to be attacked by a group of monsters.
“Thank you, thank you!”
“You’re alive!”
“Isn’t that one of those ‘saviors’?”
“That’s right! Look at the white cloth wrapped around his clothes!”
It seemed that the humans felt sacred just by looking at the color white.
Naberus tilted his head, tapping the horse’s head, no, Hanar’s head.
'It would be good for demons who go to slay monsters to wear white cloth in common. Well, rather than the regular white cloth...'
Beryl chose a cloth with a black branch-like pattern and gold embroidery.
'This would be a symbol.'
As expected, the people called the branches on the cloth she had chosen 'God's Fingertips'.
They thought that the gods were sending these knights as a hand of salvation to humans, like branches extending down from the cloth.
"Let's go!"
Naberus, who seemed more excited for some reason, kicked Hanar's side which had transformed into a horse.
Hehe!
Hanar's cries, which sounded more bewildered than excited, accompanied the two demons as they approached the monsters on the hill.
"About two hundred?"
With that many, the surrounding villages would have been swept away.
"We swept away the large colonies, but where on earth did these guys come from...?"
“That’s right! Look at the white cloth wrapped around his clothes!”
It seemed that the humans felt sacred just by looking at the color white.
Naberus tilted his head, tapping the horse’s head, no, Hanar’s head.
'It would be good for demons who go to slay monsters to wear white cloth in common. Well, rather than the regular white cloth...'
Beryl chose a cloth with a black branch-like pattern and gold embroidery.
'This would be a symbol.'
As expected, the people called the branches on the cloth she had chosen 'God's Fingertips'.
They thought that the gods were sending these knights as a hand of salvation to humans, like branches extending down from the cloth.
"Let's go!"
Naberus, who seemed more excited for some reason, kicked Hanar's side which had transformed into a horse.
Hehe!
Hanar's cries, which sounded more bewildered than excited, accompanied the two demons as they approached the monsters on the hill.
"About two hundred?"
With that many, the surrounding villages would have been swept away.
"We swept away the large colonies, but where on earth did these guys come from...?"
Naberus understood the situation immediately after seeing the wolf-shaped monsters, the horned snake-shaped monsters, the walking tree-shaped monsters, and even the rock-shaped monsters with arms and legs.
“They just came from all over the place.”
The monsters did not get along well with each other.
However, since they were in danger of being wiped out of the human world, they must have joined hands as a last resort.
If the opponents were ordinary paladins or humans, that strategy would have been effective.
However, in front of Naberus, they were nothing more than someone kindly placing trash in front of a dustpan.
“Let’s sweep them all away at once!”
Whoosh!
The tip of his sword was filled with powerful magic. Now, he didn’t need to worry about the priests’ reactions when using his magic.
In the past, he would have had to get out of the way in case the priests chased him the moment the powerful magic spread. But now, wasn’t it an era where not only humans but also former priests used magic?
“Haa!”
He swung his sword cheerfully.
Whoosh!
A sword as large as an adult cut through the air.
A magical power that extended from its tip like a crescent moon struck the monsters.
Koooooo!
The monsters that had gathered around him, thinking that he was only a human, split up and screamed.
Then, the monsters that had barely avoided the attack hesitated in confusion.
Thump!
Naberus got off his horse and jumped forward swinging his sword.
“Hanar, catch those who jump!”
Woong!
Then the horse standing behind him quickly transformed into a humanoid. He shouted with a discontented face.
“The humans will take care of the rest. Why is a great man like Naberus doing this...!”
“Don’t spit on a great man!”
Bang!
Naberus’ sword split the ground. The rocks that flew up as if there was an earthquake tore through the ground and pierced the monsters.
The battlefield was cleared up in an instant.
Wheezing...
Naberus, with a refreshing expression in the place where only the wind remained, approached Hanar.
“What are you complaining about? The guy who was there before you was doing well.”
Hanar lowered his head to hide his discontented expression. However, Naberus did not miss that expression.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, what are you complaining about?”
At those words, Hanar hesitated a little and said,
“..I don’t understand why Lord Naberus would go out of his way to seek them out and help them with such great power.”
Hanar’s face distorted.
“Since humans have power, won’t they soon be able to deal with the monsters themselves?”
In short, he was asking why they were bothering them.
At those words, Naberus folded his arms.
A magical power that extended from its tip like a crescent moon struck the monsters.
Koooooo!
The monsters that had gathered around him, thinking that he was only a human, split up and screamed.
Then, the monsters that had barely avoided the attack hesitated in confusion.
Thump!
Naberus got off his horse and jumped forward swinging his sword.
“Hanar, catch those who jump!”
Woong!
Then the horse standing behind him quickly transformed into a humanoid. He shouted with a discontented face.
“The humans will take care of the rest. Why is a great man like Naberus doing this...!”
“Don’t spit on a great man!”
Bang!
Naberus’ sword split the ground. The rocks that flew up as if there was an earthquake tore through the ground and pierced the monsters.
The battlefield was cleared up in an instant.
Wheezing...
Naberus, with a refreshing expression in the place where only the wind remained, approached Hanar.
“What are you complaining about? The guy who was there before you was doing well.”
Hanar lowered his head to hide his discontented expression. However, Naberus did not miss that expression.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, what are you complaining about?”
At those words, Hanar hesitated a little and said,
“..I don’t understand why Lord Naberus would go out of his way to seek them out and help them with such great power.”
Hanar’s face distorted.
“Since humans have power, won’t they soon be able to deal with the monsters themselves?”
In short, he was asking why they were bothering them.
At those words, Naberus folded his arms.
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