---

“Kuh!”

TSSSSSS

“M-Master!”

Undine ran up to me with tears in her eyes after she collected the spirits in the area.

“Y-Your arm...”

She looked toward my left arm which was no longer there.

I smiled bitterly.

“I couldn’t make it in time...”

I looked to my left side.

There was a huge hole in the wall with charred remains. It was during Miss Helen’s attack when the dragon started violently shaking its head. Because it did that, the beam that was fired out of its mouth nearly killed me too. I sacrificed my the arm which didn’t have spirit mana strengthening it.

“...This is a mess...”

While Undine was numbing the pain in my arm using her natural abilities, I looked around.

Four bodies... there were four people that died.

Helen was lying on my lap, unconscious.

“She was really strong, wasn’t she?”

Undine spoke next to me.

“Yeah..."

“Hmm... hm? Is i-it over?”

Sleeping beauty finally woke up.

I nodded.

Undine’s magic was healing Helen as well.

Since the spirits are too little here, her full abilities are sealed.

She then got up and held her head.

“He... hehehehe~”

She began laughing like a crazed person. Her eyes looked dead while her smile reached her ears. It’s like she’s a completely different person compared to the cold person from this morning.

“I-I finally avenged them. Hehehe~”

She then coughed when she realized I was still here.

“Thank you for the assistance even though it was so dangerous. I’ll definitely compensate you for your help. Your arm...”

I just waved my hand so she shouldn’t have to worry. I could’ve escaped from the blast if not for the spell from earlier that I casted. The only reason I have no worries about my arm is because I have the Saintess as a companion. She could heal my wounds even if I lost all my limbs. I have a feeling I shouldn’t risk myself in the future again like this.

“The temples should have an Elixir Healing Potion.” I lied through my teeth. Erica’s existence should be kept quiet. Nations would fight over having a God Ranked healer who is also the Holy Saint in their possession. Look what ensued in the past when the Saintess killed herself just to end the wars.

“But aren’t those things expensive–“

Helen spoke as she looked around and then she froze.

“Guys!!”

She fell down when she tried getting up. With no other choice, she crawled over to the corpses.

Sheila, Billy, and Raymond died along with a mage from Jered’s party. Paula managed to survive thanks to her tough body, albeit barely. She’s missing a leg. The other ones to survive were Lucy, Jered and the rest from his party.

“Hic...”

Helen sobbed as she held Sheila’s body in her arms. Sheila’s entire head was gone along with her right shoulder. It was quite horrific to look at. Chunks of meat were lying around a particular large body. Judging by his spear, you could guess it’s Billy that died.

Paula, despite having one leg left, comforted Helen.

The entire open space was filled with sobbing for the loss of comrades.

□□□

“Don’t Jered. Just don’t.”

When Jered was about to touch Helen’s shoulder, she coldly swatted his hand away.

He gnashed his teeth but obliged with her. She just lost her comrades along with her cousin. How devastated must she feel now?

How could he think of taking advantage of her by using the pretext of healing her heart? Physical comfort for her grief would only work if the person herself accepted him.

The others were silently picking up all the treasures. They earned it after all. Despite having so much money right in front of their eyes, no one was cheering or celebrating their victory.

The horrific battle was over thanks to Helen’s final attack and their support. Everyone was happy to just live even if the reward wasn’t so immense.

If the adventurer guild heard of this then they’d immediately send out teams to salvage the corpse. Dragon material is a truly rare but useful product. Its metallic scales could be used to make impenetrable armour and its blood could be used to make all kinds of potions.

There’s no doubt that there will be an uproar of this. Thus, Helen instructed everyone to take the needed materials before they left. Everyone’s bags were stacked full of treasures. Both teams brought dimensional storages to lessen the burden on their heavy loads.

They managed to procure a fortune worth 500 gold for each bag of goods. Along with the dragon’s gold, they amassed a total of 600 worth of white gold. That’s enough to live each of their lifetimes in leisure without doing anything ten times over.

White gold has a value of 10 gold coins per coin. White gold isn’t necessarily gold since it’s of a different substance. No one knows what the raw materials are called except that the United Empire that fell eons years ago used to make the currency.

Add the dragon’s body materials to the mix and the amount would increase even more. But the officials would certainly not allow the party responsible to take the corpse when the battle happened in their territory. Clyde has finally procured enough money for their journey to their home. Going by his contributions, he should receive more than 50 white gold.

Since everyone was so exhausted, they had to rest before leaving the dungeon.

“Hirk!”

The freezing cold and the snow made everyone shiver when they exited. The inside of the dungeon was so warm that they quickly got too used to it.

It was an hour after noon when they left the dungeon. They still can’t believe they survived that hellish battle.

“…”

The entire group walked in silence as they carried the corpses. Their first destination would be the dead’s families and then the temple to get their wounds treated.

‘Usually when you earn money with your own hands you should be happy, right? This atmosphere is suffocating.’

Clyde grumbled as he held his shoulder still burning from the fire that was used to stop the bleeding. Undine gave Clyde herbs that could help with his injury even if it’s temporary.

They walked through the snow that seemed to fall from the sky nonstop.

Finally, they reached the gate of the kingdom.

Clyde’s heart grew heavy as he thought of how he’ll be scolded by Charlotte. Not only did he take on a dragon and not escape immediately seeing the danger but he also got injured in the end.

It would cost a lot of money to buy an elixir from the temple and usually there’s a wait list if there are many buyers.

‘Is it alright to let them know?’

Only Arielle and Arthur knows of Erica being the Saintess. Both seem far more mature and trustworthy than what their ages suggest.

But the thing that’s bothering him is that Nate and Charlotte are also with them. If he suddenly grew back his arm, it would be strange no matter what.

“This is where we’ll depart for today. Check in at the guild in about a week for our next mission, okay? We have to take care of some other arrangements for the next few days.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Helen stroked Clyde’s head. He’s been a big help in the battle of before. She can’t help but see her little brother in him. Cute, mature and polite. All those categories described her talented late brother. Her hand trailed down before leaving his cheek.

She smiled weakly before walking away with her companions.

Clyde watched them leave and felt the heavy sack of coins in his arm. Helen gave him more than he thought he would receive. With this her team would be promoted to the highest rank for defeating a Disaster Class monster–a dragon.

Creak

The front door of the Inn opened quietly. Arielle and the others aren’t back yet it seems.

‘Now I can finally rest.’

It was the first time he felt mana exhaustion. His other mana is currently inaccessible due to the conflicting natures of his two cores. Battling a dragon was an achievement of itself, not to mention defeating it as well.

Using his most strongest spells naturally exhausted him to the point that he felt drowsy.

He collapsed on the bed and instantly embraced sleep.

***

“We’re back~!”

Nate swung open the door to his and Clyde’s room.

“E-Eh?”

He then spotted a big bag that looks overloaded from something. Curious as to what it might be, he opened the bag and almost screamed.

It was gold. A lot of gold.

‘How did he even–‘

He looked to the bed where Clyde is resting but–

“---!!!”

He saw Clyde lying there but the odd thing was that he only had one arm.

“W-What…?”

He went to check if Clyde is dead but sighed in relief when he saw Clyde breathing.

“Why did you suddenly jump into the room? Clyde could be exhausted from today.”

Arielle looked at Nate as if looking at trash but froze when she saw the spectacle on the bed.

“Is Clyde-sama back?”

Charlotte took off her hood. Her silky blonde hair was tinged with sweat and carried a rather sweaty smell since they couldn’t afford luxury items such as soap.

“Clyde-sama!?”

She ran towards the bed and looked at Clyde’s left side. His arm was missing and only his sleeve of his robe remained.

“Huh?”

Similarly to the others , Erica froze by the door. Her mind blanked when she saw Clyde’s injuries. His face looked pale and sweat was trickling down his chin as he slept.

“C-Clyde…!!”

She shook Clyde’s shoulders repeatedly to wake him up. The poor boy couldn’t even sleep two hours as he opened his eyes.

“Ah, Clementine… I’m up, I’m up… *Yawn*”

“Who did this!?”

Even as he opened his eyes, Erica kept shaking him. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her pupils burned with a golden light as if her power was daring to come out at any moment.

“W-wait. Don’t shake him.”

Arielle held Erica back. She was also wondering who could’ve done this. Was the quests too difficult? Was he abandoned after being hurt? Then those bastards deserve a painful death.

“O-Oh. You guys are back.”

Clyde yawned and instinctively lifted his left hand to scratch his head but realized what happened this morning.

“H-Hehe. Surprise~”

His smile was weak as he saw the three girls that all have dangerous expressions on their faces.

‘The dragon’s bloodlust is nothing compared to these girls…’

Erica’s face was completely scrunched up.

“I knew I should’ve put a mind control spell on him…”

She was mumbling something he couldn’t quite hear.

“What happened?”

Nate choked out the question.

“Well–“

Clyde told them about their accidental meeting with a dragon.

“Are you stupid! Why didn’t you run away!? You haven’t even known those people for long but you chose to stay and fight!? You’re too nice for your own good!!”

Arielle gripped Clyde’s collar. Her anger is valid since she was right about them being strangers to each other.

“S-Sorry.”

Clyde dropped his head with a red face. He definitely felt embarrassed about what happened. He only wanted to test how far his magic has progressed but ended up almost dying. His entire body was screaming in pain from using spirit magic for so long.

Arielle lost her fury seeing Clyde meekly drop his head. For some reason she also feels bad. She and Charlotte are supposed to be the eldest and the most responsible for watching their younger companions. Charlotte was quietly sitting on a chair with a look of disbelief.

‘Clyde-sama almost died… why didn’t I give him an order to stay away from dungeons…’ is what she thought.

“Still…”

Arielle blurred the end of her sentence and thought:

‘If he died, I won’t have been able to tell him…’

Erica’s head was dropped and her face was pale. If the dragon wasn’t already dead then she’d march down to that dungeon and killed it herself. What puny dragon could survive a [Divine Blast] from the Saintess’ successor?

She quietly chanted under her breath. Her eyes were hollow and her lips trembled.

“[Divine Restoration]”

Erica held out her hands and in a few seconds–

CRACK

Clyde’s left arm’s bones started forming.

PSSSSS

Followed by muscle and skin.

Nate and Charlotte doubted their eyes. Clyde’s limb regenerated from magic alone?

Arielle stood there as if she already knew Erica’s abilities.

When the rest of the spell ended, Erica held Clyde’s hand.

“Don’t… do anything d-dangerous again…”

She sobbed and held his hand against her face.

“O-Okay, I-I won’t…”

Clyde agreed as he found her behaviour strange.

“H-How…?”

Charlotte stood up from the chair and walked over to Clyde.

“How is this possible? Even Elixirs need time to grow back limbs.”

Erica looked at Charlotte as if finding her nosiness unpleasant.

Clyde bitterly smiled.

“Princess Charlotte, meet Erica the new Saintess.”

He patted her head. She closed her eyes as she enjoyed his touch.

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Both Nate and Charlotte looked shocked.

“The what!?”