"The Red Stone… wait a moment. You're saying it wasn't in the palace, but here?"
"Yes."
"So, the power that was underground… Ah. My God. This is insane…"
Just a single phrase caused a considerable change in Enon's complexion. He was murmuring and piecing together the information, then turned to look at Yuder with an astounded face. Before Enon could ask further, Yuder nodded his head and opened his mouth.
"We'll talk about the rest later. First, check on Kanna lying over there."
"Do you think you’re my parent or something? Stop ordering me around. What's important now is figuring out what you guys were up to down there…"
"Kanna fainted after using her powers on the Red Stone. There's nothing visibly wrong with her, but I thought you might be able to tell something, so please check on her first. It's a request."
"…Why are you telling me this now?"
Enon, swallowing a myriad of unsaid words, turned towards the bed where Kanna lay and scrutinized her.
"She seems fine. She's not completely drained like those mages. Her energy is a bit unstable, but it's not as bad as yours. It's common for someone with less inherent power to overuse their power suddenly and then be unable to handle it."
"So… there isn't any major problem then?"
"Yes."
Hearing the short response, Yuder exhaled deeply. He felt a slight sense of relief.
"Let me know as soon as Kanna wakes up. And… can you call Priest Lusan?"
"Why, did he get an injury that needs holy power? If that's not the case, just tell me. That guy is busy enough treating those mages."
Yuder fell silent for a moment and then took off the glove on his right hand. Showing was easier than explaining.
"…What's that?"
Upon seeing Yuder's exposed hand, Enon wore an unexpectedly strange expression.
"A bruise?"
"No…."
The problem was that Yuder, who should answer, was also greatly surprised. The purple spot that he thought would be noticeably spreading at least to his shoulder was much smaller than expected. He blinked at the spot, which occupied no more area than a thumbprint, and clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, but the situation remained the same.
"This… appeared after I accidentally got hit by the power from the Red Stone. Whenever I use my power, it spreads upward and recedes when it's subjected to divine power."
"What?"
"I meant to show you this before we left…"
"Wait. Enough. Bring your hand closer."
Enon grabbed Yuder's hand, bringing it close to his face to examine. As he meticulously inspected the palm, flipping it back and forth, his eyes were serious. However, the expression he wore after he let go of Yuder's hand and lifted his head didn't seem to carry any satisfying conclusion.
"…It's not a curse."
Of course, it couldn't be. The spot had formed after getting hit by the power of the Red Stone, and if it was a curse, both he and Kishiar would have recognized it. Yuder looked at Enon's seriously troubled eyes and finally voiced the question he had wanted to ask before heading to the basement.
"I wondered if this might be the cause of the fluctuating energy you mentioned."
"If what you're saying is true, then it's certainly possible…"
Enon was naturally mumbling in agreement, but suddenly jerked his head up and looked straight at Yuder again.
"But you know, compared to when you were leaving, you actually look a bit better now?"
"Better, you say?"
Just as Enon's expression was confused, Yuder also found the situation equally baffling.
'Could it be related to my ability to control the power from the Red Stone?'
As Enon scratched his head, observing the thoughtful Yuder, he mused.
"I really don't know. All you do is pose questions. Let's bring Lusan and see if this truly disappears with divine power."
Then, he called Lusan out loud.
"Lusan! Come here for a bit."
"Sir? I haven't finished infusing divine power into the elder mage yet."
"Leave it. As long as he can eat and go to the bathroom, he'll recover. This here is more urgent."
Enon's gruff and straightforward words might have irked Thais Yulman, but luckily, the Elder Mage had fallen asleep as soon as he arrived at the medical division. A moment later, Lusan appeared, holding a holy symbol carved from stone, and shot a puzzled look at Enon and Yuder.
"Isn't he in good health? Why…"
"He's not fine. Come here and pour some divine power into his hand."
"His hand? Is it injured?"
Lusan's gaze fell on the back of Yuder's hand. He noticed a small, bruise-like spot, and despite his confusion, he assumed it would only require a small application of divine power, so he quickly put his ability to work.
A bright, warm light, silently bursting forth, sprinkled down from Lusan's hand onto Yuder's like powdered light. Then, the spot on the back of Yuder's hand that had absorbed the light slowly began to shrink. Although it seemed like a natural outcome on the surface, both Lusan and Enon simultaneously wore grave expressions.
"…Huh? I thought it was a bruise… What's this? It's not healing properly."
While a light bruise or a minor injury would normally disappear instantly upon contact with the light, the spot on the back of Yuder's hand only began to fade from the edges after pouring in a divine power that would normally mend a severely broken bone. Even after it had reduced to a tiny point, no matter what they tried, it wouldn't completely vanish, which made Lusan momentarily doubt his own divine power.
"You can stop there, priest."
"No, I should be able to heal this… Oh… Why isn't it working?"
Yuder, feeling slightly apologetic, addressed the young priest, who wore a look of injustice.
"I reached the same limit when I tried to heal it with divine power elsewhere. It never completely disappears."
"No, I've never failed to heal anything with my divine power. Let me try a bit more. Just a moment."
"That's enough, stop. Don't collapse yourself."
Enon stopped Lusan by grabbing his arm.
"Divine power isn't omnipotent. The healer's job is to make calm judgments without being stubborn."
"True, but…"
The puzzlement in Lusan's eyes, trailing off his words, never fully dissipated.
"May I ask how this symptom came about, Yuder? It doesn't seem to be a curse…"
"That's for you and I to figure out. This guy here doesn't know either. Let's finish up everything else first, and then we can look into it."
Before Yuder could respond, Enon pushed Lusan away. After displaying his resolve to find a way to cure Yuder's spot, Lusan turned back to attend to the other mages. Watching Lusan's priestly robe flutter away, Yuder murmured to himself.
"Thanks, Enon."
"I didn't do it for you."
Enon spat out his still not entirely honest reply, looking down at Yuder with a scrunched face.
"Didn't such things happen where you came from? If you knew about that strange blemish, you could have avoided it in advance, right?"
"Well…"
Recalling the ghastly face of Kishiar he'd seen in his dream, Yuder casually replied.
"There might have been, but I didn't know about it because it wasn't related to me then."
"Hmph. I see."
"And the blemish isn't such a big problem."
"If a blemish that doesn't disappear even when poured with divine power isn't a big problem, then what is? Ordinary people would despair as if they were going to die if such a thing happened to their bodies. Even if it's a blemish that doesn't hurt…"
"It's not that it doesn't hurt."
"Then isn't it a bigger problem?"
Enon inquired as if he was extremely curious. Yuder slowly opened his mouth, gazing at Enon's face where a keen interest was evident.
"Even if I have a blemish like that, I can still use my power and I don't die. It doesn't interfere with achieving my goals. That's enough, I think."
When the blemish flared up, it was a bit painful, but it didn't feel severe compared to the many injuries and tortures he'd endured in his previous life. It was an exceedingly cool-headed assessment.
"Goals, you mean, protecting your boss?"
"That's right."
And Enon too, and the rest of the people and the world. He swallowed the rest of the words, responding briefly, yet his underlying feelings seemed to have been conveyed well as Enon's eyes darkened.
"If that's your true intention, there are two possibilities."
"…"
"Either he becomes a very important person in the future, or you had a deeply loving relationship with your boss. Or both. Which one is it?"
Yuder couldn't immediately open his mouth. While the former was a logical inference, he couldn't understand how the latter thought had sprung up.
"Love? I don't know why you would think that, but anyway, it's different."
"What's so different? From your expression when you talk about it…"
"Sir Aile, are you still awake?"
Their conversation came to an abrupt end as Nathan Zuckerman entered the room just as the door opened. Enon, with a furrowed brow, stepped back, and Yuder turned his head towards him. Nathan, who had brought the patients to the medical division and then went back down to the basement where Kishiar was, was holding a few unfamiliar papers in his hand.
"Did you receive treatment from the priest?"
"I did."
"That's fortunate. The Duke wanted to ask about that first."
"…Is the Commander alright?"
What had Kishiar, who had been left alone in the basement, been doing? As he recalled the face that looked the most weary since he'd returned to the past, Nathan lightly nodded and drew the curtain around Yuder's bed and came closer.
"After inspecting inside and confirming there was no problem, he went to calm the members."
Enon had said the building shook. He'd felt the tremor, so the other members must have felt it too. He belatedly thought that it must have been quite a chaotic situation outside, even if they weren't aware of it.