“Carlos has too much sense of responsibility. I heard Lord Gregory was so great… Ah… I’m too tired.”

“Wait a moment.”

Carlos picked her up and approached a soldier who was still breathing nearby.

Then he placed Mercedes’ hand on the soldier’s shoulder.

Mercedes absorbed his life force very naturally. Her tired face was filled with vitality again.

Maybe it’s because she fought all day. The use of power became much easier.

“We survived.”

“…Yes.”

Carlos nodded. Mercedes smiled and cast a recovery spell on herself, and also cast it on Carlos.

Of course, such magic didn’t work on Carlos. He had already lost sensation in his body due to the curse.

Still, he was thinking that he had to somehow keep his eyes open and take Mercedes to a safe place.

Was it because Mercedes’ magic used life force unlike general mana?

Unlike Mercedes who became stronger as she killed people, he was cursed to become more rigid as he killed people. As soon as he received the recovery magic, he let out a painful groan.

“Ugh…!”

He felt the curse rapidly moving to his heart. The life force she breathed into him became the worst prescription for him.

It was terrible pain. Even though he didn’t want to show it, it was really too terrible.

“Car… Carl?”

Mercedes was startled and raised her body.

Carlos felt a sensation as if his whole body was burning, clutched his heart, and lost consciousness right there.

He felt his life force fading away.

Of all places, in Mercedes’ arms.

Mercedes stood up and grabbed him.

“Carl, Carl! Wake up. What on earth is this…!”

She held Carlos’ body tightly and screamed. Her voice cracked from the shock.

Did he collapse from exhaustion? It seemed different from that. He was still breathing, but his face was too pale and he looked like he was about to… die.

‘Die?’

He really looked like that, but the possibility she just thought of was too frightening and terrible.

“Wh-what… What should I do.”

What should I do. She thought about what she could do and wracked her brain for knowledge.

Fortunately, the soldiers who could be a threat were dying, so they were not a threat. It would be okay to get close and absorb their life force.

However, it seemed like she should first get out of here and take him somewhere to be treated… The only such magic was teleport. Teleport was said to be an incredible magic, could she use such a thing?

When she roughly learned common sense about magic, Mrs. Fisher told her that even the genius Skylar would use up all her power if she used teleport.

“Can I…”

No, I have to use it.

“I can do it.”

There was nothing she couldn’t do for Carlos.

The person who threw away the burden placed on the emperor’s shoulders to settle the war and came running for her alone.

The person who forgot fear even in front of a thousand people and only worried about her.

Mercedes, having made her decision, gently laid Carlos down and began to move around absorbing the lives of survivors.

She was determined to save Carlos even if her body broke from using strong magic.

Yes.

For the first time, she wanted to live.

And more intensely than the will for her own life, she wanted to save the one she loved.

As she gathered power like that… on the battlefield where survivors had almost disappeared. She held Carlos in her arms and prayed to the sky.

She couldn’t return to the imperial palace.

Wasn’t it a place where the guards had already been broken through? She didn’t know what was happening.

So she thought of someone who seemed to be able to give an answer to Carlos in this state. Didn’t she use recovery magic but his condition got worse, and she kept feeling something familiar in his aura?

Was there something in common between him and her?

She didn’t know that such power applied to others, she thought it was only applicable to herself.

Anyway, she instinctively realized that what Carlos needed right now was not a doctor.

‘Skylar.’

What was needed was the genius magician who would know well about Carlos.

If she found her, Carlos’ reliable soldiers would probably be nearby too.

When she thought of Skylar in her mind, it immediately became coordinates.

Soon light began to flow from her body.

She instinctively felt it. This was not something that a novice like her who was just learning about power could handle.

It felt like her whole body would break and disappear soon.

Nevertheless, Mercedes gritted her teeth and endured.

As the white light spread out and overlapped with the dawn sun, embracing and dominating the forest.

She felt a strange sensation as if her soul was being pulled out. She held Carlos tightly so as not to let go of him, so that his breath wouldn’t stop. She believed it would be okay if she took him to a doctor.

And when she opened her eyes.

“Oh my, I wondered what light it was.”

“Sky… Lady Skylar? Is it really you?”

Skylar was in front of her eyes.

“Your Majesty the Empress? My goodness. Did you teleport? Did you know my location? It would take a long time just to set coordinates? Ah, did His Majesty tell you?”

Skylar, having recovered about half of her mana, was looking at the sky while chewing on dried meat. If she stayed like this for another day or two, she would be able to move.

She had left traces for Lord Gregory to follow, so she thought she would probably be rescued by then… when Mercedes suddenly appeared out of thin air with a pop.

“Why are you alone? Where are the others?”

Skylar, with a dumbfounded face, was thinking ‘How did this person teleport?’ when she came to her senses at Mercedes’ painful expression and urgent questions flowing out.

“No, my goodness. Your Majesty!”

Skylar approached on her knees in surprise.

She too seemed shocked to see Carlos with a pale face she had never seen before.

Mercedes stroked Carlos’ face with an anxious face.

“Recovery magic doesn’t work. There’s something, right? Lady Skylar. This is…”

“Damn it.”

Skylar cursed softly and placed her trembling hand on Carlos’ heart.

“Ah, it might still be okay. I’m going to do emergency treatment… damn it. Because I’m still slow to recover. I don’t know if it’s possible…”

This damn boss. I was just starting to recover. Still, Skylar was desperate. She felt like chewing on recovery herbs or anything she could get her hands on.

“Lady Skylar. I’ll cast a recovery spell on you.”

“You’re going to use recovery magic? After using teleport?”

“I think I can do it.”

“Mana… Are you crazy…?”

While Skylar was muttering to herself, Mercedes took her hand and infused power into her.

“Hmmph…!”

Skylar’s eyes widened. Strong life force pushed into Skylar’s body. Like the moment a flower blooms, fatigue faded away.

“…Wow.”

After using her power, Mercedes carefully observed Skylar. She still had Carlos lying on her lap.

“This is… that power. It’s surprisingly strong.”

Skylar muttered without realizing it herself. It was close to pure admiration, so she didn’t even realize she was speaking.

But Mercedes heard it clearly.

‘That power’?

“What do you mean by ‘that power’?”

“…Ah.”

“When we were fighting earlier, and all this time I’ve been touching Carlos. I’ve been feeling a sense of power in this person’s aura that’s neither mana nor anything else… similar to mine. This is what Carlos has been hiding all along, right?”

“…”

Skylar kept her mouth shut, thinking she had made a mistake.

“Please tell me, Lady Skylar.”

“…Um, wait a moment. Lady Mercedes. I think it’s urgent to block the curse for now.”

Skylar decided to buy time for now. Of course, it was also necessary to immediately break through Carlos’ curse to create a breathing space for him.

“…Alright.”

She accepted it for now and backed off. Then she measured the power left in her body. It seemed she had enough power to cast one more recovery spell on Skylar to hear the circumstances.

“I think I can cast one more recovery spell on you, so for Carlos first…”

“…So this is what they call the difference in innate talent, I’m feeling it for the first time.”

Skylar gave a hollow laugh and then quickly became serious, overlapping her other hand on top of the hand she had placed on Carlos’ heart.

And with a ‘whoo’ sound, she frantically drew up mana.

Mercedes couldn’t feel that mana. However, she felt an intense sense of overwhelming from her.

“Ugh… Please hold His Majesty tightly.”

Skylar began to chant a spell.

Originally, she could cast magic without even chanting spells, but now Carlos’ condition was so serious that she had to borrow the power of spells to add strength.

Vast mana flowed from Skylar’s hands and forcibly burrowed into Carlos’ heart.

Carlos, who had lost consciousness, couldn’t even scream. His body just jerked a few times.

How long had it been like that?

Soon Skylar, who had broken through the curse and was drenched in cold sweat, lay down on the undergrowth floor as she was.

At the same time, Carlos’ complexion improved a little.

Throughout the process, Mercedes felt that the things that were full inside Carlos seemed to be forcibly suppressed rather than cured or the curse broken… but it must be right since she said it was okay for now.

‘What on earth is this.’

What kind of person was Carlos? She didn’t understand anything at all.

“Lady Skylar?”

“Ye…s.”

Skylar barely answered. Mercedes quickly gathered her remaining strength and cast a recovery spell on her.

She, who had been drenched in sweat, let out a sigh.

“This recovery magic feels warm…”

“I’m glad you seem to be feeling better, Lady Skylar. Is Carl… alright?”

“…”

Skylar hesitated. Should she answer for sure, or not?

“Lady Skylar. Can Carlos wake up?”

Mercedes thought Skylar was strange.

Even though she knew she could cast recovery magic, she didn’t tell her to recover Carl.

Apart from there being a problem with Mercedes’ magic, she knew that his condition was not a problem that could be solved by recovery magic.

That meant that Skylar knew well what kind of problem Carlos had.

“Lady Skylar. If I take Carl to a healer or doctor, will their treatment work? I feel like it won’t.”

Mercedes easily found the answer.

“…”

Skylar was at a loss for words.

“Tell me. What on earth is all this?”