“Cordelia!”

Before that voice reached her ears, Cordelia’s body floated slightly and was pushed sideways.

“Huh.”

Looking to the side, she saw sharp claws embedded in the floor.

If she had been a moment later, Nazabut would certainly have split her in half. She felt chills down her spine. As his attempt failed, Nazabut twisted his lips and turned around.

As expected, Leonard was glaring at him, breathing heavily.

“You’re annoyingly persistent till the end.”

Nazabut raised his hand once again. However, soon twelve snakes created by Leonard coiled around Nazabut, binding his limbs.

“Such trivial things!”

The demon raised his hand and cut off all the snakes wrapped around his body. Taking advantage of that moment, Leonard stood in front of Cordelia.

Cordelia was overcome with fear that Roti, who had fallen to the ground bleeding, might have died. But she couldn’t stop here. She held back her tears and continued the magic.

“I’ll kill you all.”

“Not if I can help it.”

Nazabut and Leonard clashed again. However, as time passed, Leonard was at a disadvantage. Although Nazabut’s power had been greatly weakened by Cordelia’s magic, he didn’t crumble easily.

Nazabut raised both hands. Sharp wind blades formed at his fingertips. One of them flew towards Cordelia’s neck.

Noticing this, Leonard embraced Cordelia and rolled on the ground.

“Master!”

The smell of hot blood permeated the air. Leonard grimaced and let out a short groan.

“Ugh.”

“Atilei!”

“Leo!”

Screams erupted from all around. Leonard turned around. Then, gathering all his magical power, he swung his fist into Nazabut’s abdomen, who had come close. The whole sequence happened in the blink of an eye.

“Gah, mere human!”

Having received a blow from quite close, Nazabut groaned and staggered back a few steps. The magic of Matilda and Keinon, who had belatedly rushed in, hit Nazabut’s back precisely. With that impact, Nazabut fell forward.

Not missing that opportunity, Leonard created the sharpest and coldest spear. A white snake with its mouth wide open pierced through Nazabut’s heart.

“Aagh!”

Nazabut rolled on the ground, impaled by the spear. Cordelia looked up at the sky, trembling. The sky, which had been as dark as if covered with storm clouds, gradually brightened. Moreover, the magical power that had been sucked towards Nazabut completely stopped.

‘Is it over?’

However, as if mocking her thoughts, the demon staggered and stood up again. With a spear as thick as an adult man’s arm stuck in his left chest, Nazabut smiled. That smile was chillingly beautiful.

“See you next time, Cordelia.”

Nazabut spread his wings and flew into the sky. It was so fast that Cordelia thought it might have been teleportation. In an instant, Nazabut’s figure disappeared. Only then did Cordelia relax and stop her magic.

“Roti, Roti!”

Roti, who had been crouched on the floor panting, suddenly twisted his entire body. Then there was a cracking sound as if bones were breaking. Cordelia knelt down and approached Roti in surprise.

“Roti, are you alright?”

Fortunately, that process seemed to be part of the recovery. Rather, Roti’s expression became much more relaxed than before.

Just as she thought she could breathe a sigh of relief, this time Leonard couldn’t stand properly. Looking closely, his back was completely soaked in blood. His complexion was also very pale.

“Master, Master.”

It was clear that the wound was from when he had embraced her. Cordelia’s eyes welled up with tears. But instead, Leonard looked her over and asked,

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“It’s not me, you’re the one who’s hurt. We need a doctor, or healing magic…”

Cordelia looked around, stamping her feet anxiously. That’s when Keinon clicked his tongue and approached Leonard.

“Tsk tsk. Come here.”

He muttered a short healing spell against Leonard’s back. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped, but Leonard kept stumbling as if it was difficult to stand, and eventually sat down on the floor. Cordelia hurriedly stuck close to his side.

“Lean on me. I’ll take you to the Magic Association…”

“My lord!”

Finally, Baron appeared. Behind him, an old man who appeared to be a doctor followed, fumbling. Cordelia quickly gestured to the doctor.

“Here, hurry this way. His back is severely cut.”

Tears that she thought had finally stopped started to flow again between her eyes. Cordelia was restless, worried that Leonard might be in danger because of her.

Baron examined Leonard’s back and said with a rather serious expression,

“Oh my, the wound area is quite large. Shall we move to the mansion? Since outsiders can’t enter the Magic Association, that might be better for recovering from the wound.”

“That sounds good. That demon will need quite some time to recover from that level of injury too.”

Leonard frowned and took a deep breath. He turned to look at Cordelia, who was sniffling beside him, and wiped her wet cheeks. His touch was quite gentle.

“Stop crying, my crybaby disciple. I won’t die from just this.”

“But because of me, because of me…”

“What did you do? The one who cut my back was that Nazabut or whatever demon.”

“A demon, you say?”

Baron, who didn’t know the whole story, asked with round eyes. Leonard briefly explained its identity and what had happened. Meanwhile, the doctor continued to apply simple treatment to Leonard’s back, sweating profusely.

As Leonard continued speaking, Baron couldn’t stop sighing.

“Good heavens. A summoning, of all things. I’ve only read about it in books, this is the first time I’ve seen it actually happen.”

“I never thought Lydia would go this far.”

Leonard also exhaled a low sigh, as it was an unexpected event. By chance, at that moment, Rosenblur and Leonard’s eyes met. Limping as if his leg was injured, Rosenblur approached.

“Leo. Are you alright?”

“Not bad enough to die.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Rosenblur’s face was contorted with pain. Or perhaps it was regret, sadness, disappointment. So many emotions rushed in at once that it was impossible to guess how he felt just from his expression.

“It’s your sister who did this, not you.”

“No, this is all my fault. If only I had dealt with Lydia sooner…”

He writhed with guilt, shaking his head repeatedly. Leonard cut off Rosenblur’s words abruptly. His tone was cold, but the content was not.

“No matter what you did, Lydia would have made the same decision. So stop talking nonsense and help clean up here.”

“Right. Leave this to me and go rest. Cordelia, you’ve worked hard too.”

“It’s only natural.”

Rosenblur saw them off with a very faint smile. Cordelia carefully picked up Roti, who was panting on the floor, and followed her master.

The place they arrived at was a mansion not far from the Magic Association. Although smaller than the Atilei town house, it still had an impressive presence.

Although the pain that made Cordelia want to faint right away was weighing her down, she clenched her fists and endured it. Leonard was far more important than that.

As they entered, a servant managing the mansion came running. He was very surprised to see Leonard’s blood-stained clothes and fumbled.

“Oh my, should I call for a doctor?”

“No need, we’ve already brought one. Rather, prepare the bedroom so the master can rest.”

“Yes, understood.”

Baron calmly organized the situation. Leonard lay face down on the bed, taking slow, deep breaths.

The doctor tore his clothes and began treatment in earnest. Cordelia watched from a short distance away.

When the clothes were removed, the extent of the wound was starkly visible. Cordelia unconsciously held her breath at the long gash that crossed more than half of his back.

“Please drink this. It’s an anesthetic.”

Baron handed over a bottle from his chest. Leonard frowned and received it, drinking it in one go. The doctor wiped the sweat from the bridge of his nose and began to suture the wound.

As she watched the process, Cordelia felt her own body aching. No, it wasn’t just a feeling, her whole body really was throbbing.

In fact, Cordelia’s body wasn’t normal either after using strong magic three times in a row. However, her pain was nothing compared to Leonard’s.

Cordelia endured and persevered until Leonard’s treatment was finished.

Her legs were trembling and cold sweat ran down her back, but she felt she could only be at ease after confirming with her own eyes that Leonard was safe.

The doctor who finished the treatment exhaled a long breath and said,

“You must absolutely lie down and rest for a few days. If you’re not careful, the wound could reopen. This is an ointment to apply, and these are medicines you must take daily.”

“Good work.”

Baron collected the medicines given by the doctor and sent him back. Cordelia approached Leonard’s side, hiding her trembling hands. After clearing her throat several times because her voice wouldn’t come out, she said,

“Master, are you alright?”

Leonard was lying face down, so he couldn’t see Cordelia’s face. So he didn’t know that she was streaming tears.

“I told you I’m fine. A day or two of rest and I’ll be better.”

“Don’t… don’t do that again next time.”

“What?”

“When a dangerous moment comes, *sniff*, don’t shield me.”

She said, wiping her tears with her sleeve. Leonard’s expression instantly turned sulky.

“Is it that hard to say thank you for saving you?”

“Your life is much more important than mine, Master. So please don’t do that. If something were to happen to you because of me…”

“Who says so?”

“Pardon?”

“Who says my life is more important than yours?”

Leonard didn’t listen to her further and abruptly sat up. He looked straight into Cordelia’s eyes and said,

“You are far more important to me. Do you understand?”