Chapter 161

On the day of the duel with Icarus, I was lying in bed with my head in my hands .

To be honest, there were signs of a cold .

I think I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts since I exercised my cloud gathering magic and suffered heavy rain .

After that, it was the development of the Ortem Gourd every day .

I had tricked my body into overworking it with the Abel Potion, but the moment I could no longer control it, the bill seemed to crush my body at once .

I felt a throbbing pain behind my eyes .

It was an insidious pain, as if the nerves were being scraped away .

The pain was feverish and wanted to melt my brain .

In addition, something was rising up from the bottom of my stomach .

Various pains were invading my body from all angles .

“…………”

I open my eyes and suddenly look to the side .

For a moment, my vision blurs, and then slowly comes into focus .

I see Mea staring at me with concern .

“…… Abel, I see you’re awake . ”

I had woken up once in the morning and was so sick that I went straight back to my room to sleep without eating breakfast .

“A, are you okay? Your head…… has a great fever . ”

“…… suffering, I want to die now . ”

“Ple-, please brace yourself! If Abel dies…… mea will… mea will……”

Mea knocked over the round chair when she stood up and gripped my hand .

“Well, what about the duel?”

“There’s more to it than that! I hear there’s some soup leftover from the morning…… you can’t eat it now, right?”

I gave a small nod .

If I ate something now, I’d probably reverse the whole stomach juice .

I’m sorry to Lark, but it certainly wasn’t the time for the duel .

I suddenly saw a bow propped up on the round chair where Mea was sitting .

“…………”

“Oh, do-, don’t worry about this!”

“Oh, ahhh, okay……”

I could understand why Icarus had brought up the Vernasse-style duel .

When I looked into it later, I didn’t find anything strange about the rules of the duel itself, and I had no idea why Icarus was so obsessed with it .

But it was a little questionable that the preparatory phase required a day of mental unity .

It was this one day’s reprieve that Icarus was after .

Perhaps during this time, he had placed a curse on me to activate the disease .

No, it’s strange that I couldn’t detect it at all .

Probably, he hit my weakened body with the illness that he had activated from the beginning .

Otherwise, the cold wouldn’t have been so painful .

I have a feeling it’s much harder than the last time I sulked up a cold . No doubt about it .

This was a trap of Icarus .

I shouldn’t have taken the rules the enemy brought up so easily .

I hate myself at that time .

I’ve been able to get by with a single staff for relatively everything, so maybe I was a little overconfident in my own magic .

Real malice was not such an easy thing to do .

“What did Lark-san…… say……?'”

I was the one who ignored Lark’s advice and thought it would be profitable if it became a contest of strength .

I can’t help but feel bad about the fact that I’ve dragged him to this point and the result is this end .

“It’s okay, don’t worry! The lord also said that Abel’s body was the first priority…… so there was no need to take it too hard . Take your time to rest your body . ”

“…… Lark-san . ”

Just then, I heard a thumping sound at the door .

“Excuse me, um…… Abel-dono must have woken up . Can I come in……”

It was Euris’ voice .

Mea stood up, bent back, bow in hand, and pointed towards the door .

“Hey, Mea……”

“No! Abel is beyond that! I told you so much in the morning, how can you still not understand!”

“But! But! We’ve made it this far and if we don’t go today……, Icarus will regain its momentum! With Abel-dono’s power, we still have a bit of a chance to win……”

Softly, the door is opened discreetly .

An arrow stabbed sharply into the wall right next to the gap .

Euris startled by that backed away in a hurry .

“Abel, Abel is in so much trouble, but Icarus Icarus is…… unimportant, that’s not the point!　What’s more important, the territory or Abel! From your lord’s point of view, you don’t care about the lives of third parties! Next time, It will hit! Step back, please!”

“B-, but, but ……!”

“Close it now! Mea says she’ll hit it next time! I’m not threatening you, you know!”

Mea’s face was beet red, as if her head was completely filled with blood .

The hand holding the arrow was also trembling .

“Pl-, please calm down, Mea-dono!”

“Stop! Stooooop! Lower your bow, for now! Geho!”

When I raised my voice, it caught in my throat and made me cough .

The headache became even stronger .

“Ahhh…… Guhhhh…… Geho! Keho!”

“Abel, you shouldn’t speak out too much……”

Mea looked back at me and stopped moving for a moment, her eyes widening .

Then she stopped shaking her hand and quickly fired an arrow .

The arrow went slightly above me and hit something through the window .

“Tuhh!”

A high-pitched, short scream of sorts escaped .

Outside the window, something was lurking .

This was the second floor . It’s hard to believe that an ordinary person was passing by .

Considering the circumstances, someone must have been trying to kill me .

I quickly picked up my wand from the side of the bed and pointed it out the window .

“Wind, form, ball”

The storm turned into a ball with a gust of wind, and followed the arrow to chase something else .

The windowpane shattered, and in the next moment the wall was torn down, and the recoil caused me to fall off the bed, instantly messing up everything in the room .

“I, I knew I couldn’t control it at all, after all…… but I’m pretty sure I hit it . ”

“Abel! Ge-, get a grip! Euris-san, I’ll rent another room for you!”

Mea stares at Euris with narrowed eyes as she hoists me up .

“I, I knew you could go ……”

Euris enters the room, mumbling in a whisper, and looks out through a large hole in the wall .

“…… No one is there . Sure, I had a feeling there was something outside the window, too . ”

“What?”

I lift my head and look at the large hole in the room .

Indeed, it was a palpable blast of wind magic against the one outside the window .

The power was unstable, but if it hit them directly, they would not be safe at first .

“No, no way, I’m sure just now……”

Slamming, small footsteps approaches from the corridor .

When I looked in that direction, a girl peeked her head towards me from the door that had been left open .

It is the servant Marias .

“A-, are you alright! Um, just now, what……”

“…… Oh, no, I may have been a bit delirious . ”

“De-, delirious……?”

Marias looked unsure and compared me and the remains of the room .

“…… Marias, the fact that you’re here means that Master Lark is at……”

Euris asked, and Marias shook his head sadly .

“It has been proposed to postpone it . However, inexplicably, there was a great deal of opposition from the residents …… . The lord was pleased that he was finally able to expel that sorcerer, but…… that may be as far as it goes . ”

Euris slumps her shoulders disappointedly .

Then it’s somewhat, and she turns her head to me so .

“U-, um…… can’t you do something about it……?”

Unfortunately, my body is not moving properly .

My consciousness is also in danger .

I have little control over my magic, and I’m not likely to be able to produce much power .

To the extent of collapsing the walls, it’s useless in a battle between magicians .

It would end up being pushed back by other magic bullets .

With the current brain, which doesn’t have the ability to concentrate, the number of continuous shots and multiple simultaneous deployment of magicians is also quite limited .

It’s clearly not a match .

“Please don’t say the same thing many times! You’re in the habit of pretending to be respectful while you’re benefiting from Abel…… and now you’re asking him to put his body on the line, even if it means dying when things get a little worse……!”

“Uh, ugh……”

“I don’t blame you, Euris-sama . I’m not in a position to say that it’s unavoidable . Just because you’ve missed this opportunity yet doesn’t mean there won’t be a next one……”

Marias seemed to know that I couldn’t move, and she agreed with Mea and tried to stop Euris .

Euris seemed to be lost for something as she bit her lips and closed her eyes, but she quickly opened her eyes and shook her head to shake off her hesitation .

“I understand……”

It seems that Euris has finally given up too .

“…… If you are willing to appear in a duel, regardless of whether you win or lose, I will advise my lord of permission to apply for the use of the bio-magic that was previously rejected from Abel-dono . ”

…… Huh?”

“…… B-, but that, wouldn’t pass… . ”

“My lord must feel that he owes you a great debt if Abel-dono puts his body on the line this time . If you take advantage of that, you may be able to get through . I will support you . So…… . ”

…… I have a chance?

At the very least, they might be able to make a case to Lark .

Of course, I’m going to take safety considerations into account, but I’m also going to do it strictly .

On top of that, while carefully exploring compromises, we’ll be twisting the interpretation of state law and using illegal, borderline de-legal magic …… .

“You’re so persistent, Euris-san! Mea is already mad, you know!”

“You, you can’t! The permission to apply for that magic is absolutely not possible! My lord will never allow it, and I don’t want you to do it!”

I gulped down the Abel Potion that had been lying around as a reaction to the magic and banged my head a few times with all my might .

My vision gurgled and spun around, and my headache became even worse .

The nausea swept over me, but I managed to win with my energy .

My semicircular canal was constantly shaking .

I feel sick . It’s not at the level of being sick anymore .

I stumbled to my feet and almost fell, but Mea supported me as she screamed .

“N-, no! Okay? Let’s get a good night’s rest today, okay? Your feet is even unsteady……”

“I’ll go …… I can do it……”

All I could see was a blur and a figure, but I shouted out to the shadow that looked like Euris and declared .

“…… Thank you very much . Well then, let’s go . ”

The reply came back from a completely different direction .

As I squinted, I realized that the figure I had been looking at seemed to be an Ortem .