Chapter 362 119 - Tournament arc (part 20)

Even though Zoemi was not actively participating in the tournament as a fighter, it did not mean that there would be no injuries among the competitors.

To tell the truth, some injuries were even more severe than those caused by the black-haired boy.

"Please, hold still."

The blond-haired heroine sighed as the twitchy patient was trembling like a leaf, watching as the girl was attaching his arm back to his torso.

"Sir, I am not questioning your courage, but did you never before challenge a wind magician?"

Zoemi, who killed time by helping Burushi out in the sickbay, asked, getting the terrified man's attention away from his severed limb.

"I... I thought that the earth enchantments would be enough to withstand a wind blade..."

The brown-haired man spoke up both ashamed and extremely worried – which should not be surprising after losing a fight in a rather spectacular way with his arm flying off the bounds of the arena as he stupidly charged right into a fissure of boiling air that could only be an accumulating wind blade.

And he clearly paid the price for being so hot-headed.

"A point-blank wind blade – sir, both you AND your opponent are lucky – if either of you would jump around at the wrong time, this would be your head."

Burushi breathed out with an annoyed expression while she applied a healing spell after a healing spell on each separate layer of the body while keeping the bloodloss at a minimum with another spell active in the background.

"She's right, you know? Earth enchantments are best suited to toughen up the body. They help withstand shockwaves and blunt trauma, but do almost nothing against heat and spells that specialize in cutting or piercing."

Zoemi chimed in and added, tapping the man's other, healthy, arm and getting back his attention.

"...but my enchantments stopped swords and arrows..."

The earth magician muttered, sounding disappointined with himself.

"Enchanted ones?"

"N-no... Enchanted weapons are expensive to maintain and the barbarians at the border barely use them – but when they do, let me tell you about their hexes!"

The black-haired boy asked and the man responded awkwardly before straightening his back and living up.

historical

"Please, don't move – unless you want to never raise your hand above your head anymore."

"...sorry..."

Burushi sighed and glared at her patient with a bitter expression, making the man lower his head apologetically.

"While I would love to hear more about the barbarians, let's get back to the weapons – an object without mana and a spell created by mana are two separate things. Even when the spell uses a physical object, it also makes a difference. You could block conventional weapons because you were protected by mana – but the earth mana is stagnant as the real thing – if you push it aside, you can get through its layer. That's exactly what spells do to earth enchantments, they literally push the protective layer aside to deliver a hit. The water bubble of the water magicians is the other way around – it protects against spells because it deflects mana. You should know that this is useless against conventional weapons. See? No single element is perfect."

Zoemi smirked and nodded at a man before continuing his explanation.

"Well... I guess I shouldn't have been skipping on duels back in my Academy days, I guess... Our territory isn't as crucial as Perserios territory, but we do have our fair share of skirmishes with the barbarians... fighting another magician is rare..."

The earth magician lowered his head even more getting angsty because of his shortcoming.

Although he had seen what the boy in front of him was capable of doing, he still felt rather awkward listening to someone almost half his age tutor him about fighting with such confidence.

"Alright – only the skin left – we saved your motor functions, now to make it pretty... or do you prefer a tough-guy scar as a souvenir?"

Burushi breathed out and nodded to herself with satisfaction before raising her head and glancing over at her patient.

"..."

Interestingly enough, although the blond heroine was actually joking, her question seem to be really tough for the man to answer.

"...she said her culture sees scars as marks of honor..."

The earth magician muttered to himself – which was actually not him trying to be heard but rather a mishap caused by a side effect of one of Burushi's anesthetic spells that she used on him.

"..."

"..."

Zoemi and Burushi exchanged intrigued looks but neither said anything since the patient clearly wasn't intending on sharing it with them originally.

"If it's not a problem, I would actually like you to leave it as a reminder of my recklessness that should not be repeated, Miss."

The man ended up deciding and speaking out loud properly this time with a serious expression.

"Your body, your choice, sir. But it will be more sensitive than the rest of your skin. Maybe even sting at the change in the weather."

Burushi shrugged her shoulders and nodded before pointing out.

"I can deal with that."

The man snickered and smiled in response.

"Oh, and if you want to close the distance between you and your opponent next time you get a chance, if you are really averse to zigzagging, raising up a few vision obstructing barriers can be a good strategy too."

Zoemi added on his own.

"Making the opponent move around instead of me... a bit risky, but can be implemented in my fighting style nonetheless."

The man furrowed his brows with a concerned expression before nodding to the black-haired boy.

"Now then – the healing is complete, you have a nice scar as a reminder like you wanted – and if I see things correctly, the next duel is about to finish and both contestants will require the heal..."

Burushi said, climbing on her tiptoes to look over the sitting man's shoulder and peek through the window added to the sickbay by Zoemi.

"Stay here for at least ten minutes and tell me immediately if you will feel that there's something wrong – Zoemi, you don't mind helping me out with the next patients, do you?"

The blond heroine instructed the earth magician before looking over at the black-haired boy and beckoning him to come over to her.

"I do not feel confident with healing internal organs and recreating veins."

Zoemi answered with a concerned expression while looking through the window just like Burushi did a moment earlier.

"I will do the check-up first and we'll split the work then... Oww...! That looked like his arm got boiled... good idea with blocking the fire with a water sphere – bad idea that he put his arm inside the same sphere though..."

Burushi waved her hand dismissively before flinching as the deciding attack had been struck and the fire magician with a knee crushed by a frozen ice sphere and a hole in her abdomen from the water spear was announced the winner over the unconscious water magician with a slightly charred face.

"Heat of the moment, most likely - and sure. No problem. Sir Parrats, if you don't mind, I would love to learn more about the hexes that the northern tribes use – if you don't mind let's have a talk about it at a later date, I'll send you a message about the details."

Zoemi nodded at the blond girl, then looked over at the brown-haired man and asked.

"O-of course! I would be honored, lord Banemor!"

Hevoroy Parrats gasped in disbelief before nodding his head vigorously as both Zoemi and Burushi walked away from his bed and moved towards the door seeing the two wounded duelists being hurriedly carried over to the sickbay.

"...you know that this guy is the older brother of Senria Parats, the wind magician girl who helped spread the rumor about you raping Sifra Ralia...?"

Burushi glanced over at the earth magician patiently sitting on his bed just as he was instructed, and murmured to Zoemi in a conspicuous voice.

"Yeah, I do – but he doesn't seem to know about it, although that doesn't mean that I can't use it to my advantage later on... also... why are you keeping tabs on people who wronged me...?"

The black-haired boy nodded his head with an indifferent expression before asking in surprise, raising his brows.

"Miriette takes helping me out seriously, not long after you were suspended and left to Banemor territory, she presented me with a list of previous offenders she learned about and instructed me to tell her if those people will try to do something again."

The heroine explained as the black-haired boy opened the door for the people coming in.

"Oh, I see."

Zoemi raised his brows and nodded.

"Teo was at the very top of the said list... No, not there – here is enough. Lord Banemor will help move them far apart in case they will not be able to act like adults. Thank you for your cooperation, now, move along."

Burushi pointed out before instructing the servants where to put the new patients.

"Oh, I see."

Zoemi made an awkward expression and sighed.