The Girl Who Lost Everything (2)

"Are you two alright" The blue-haired girl outstretched her hand to me, and I found myself staring at it. 'She did just help us, but can I really trust her?' I looked back at my thigh, which was pierced by the arrow, and I could only grimace as I tried to pull it out of my skin.

"Are you insane!" The girl grabbed my hand and pulled it away from the arrow.

"Proud Dragons like you are such a pain… more willing to dislodge bones out of your body than ask a specialist such as myself for help." She sighed slightly and held two fingers up, and the water began to spread around the lodged arrow.

The water rose in temperature just briefly, but in a moment the arrow had completely vanished and in its place, the cool water filled the wound up and dissipated. What it left behind amazed me.

'The wound from the arrow vanished?'

I was unaware of such sorcery ever being known of before, but what had just happened was clearly real. Dragons were only able to recover their injuries quickly by using Mythica, but it always had to be used by one's power. There was no known magic that could instantly heal the wounds of others that I had ever heard of.

"Eh? Don't tell me a brat like you has never seen healing magic?" she mocked me as she helped me sit up on my butt. I still was unable to rise to my feet. but it was enough for me to be able to maintain eye contact with her.

"I-I have not," I answered her honestly and sincerely with a pained smile on my face. As we continued to make eye contact her gaze softened.

"You two have probably been through a lot and you don't need to provide me with the information, but if you travel north from here, you will encounter an enormous gate that leads into a city. Hand them this gem and they will take you inside. When you are inside the city, look for a woman named Rumi." The blue-haired girl handed me an amber gem. It faintly glowed, and I lost myself in the cycle of light it was providing.

"Bye-Bye." The girl turned and continued walking forward in the direction that we came from. For some reason I couldn't allow myself to let her leave so suddenly.

"Wait!" I had finally mustered the strength to stand, and I forced my body up while panting heavily from exhaustion.

"Oho? To be able to stand that quickly after such a wound is impressive, even if I did heal you. It looks like you haven't eaten in days and your Mythica is very low. What does such a young warrior wish to ask little me?"

"Your name…" As I fought my body to stand up I stared the girl in her eyes and a warm smile curled her lips. The girl's body briefly dissipated into a large blob of water and reappeared right in front of me. The action was so sudden that I nearly fell over, despite hardly managing to stay upright in the first place.

"You're such a cutie to ask my name after being on the brink of death for weeks." She cupped her hands around my face as she spoke with a warm and gentle smile.

"My name is Ina, the great water sage."

I followed the advice of the Water Sage named Ina and after traveling north for the rest of the day, we both arrived at an enormously vast gate just before sundown. As Fervene and I approached the gate, a tall man in metal armor that my mother had often referred to as a guard was stationed by the gate.

"What is your business here-" The guard spoke firmly, but when the guard observed me and then pointed his gaze at Fervene, the sharp and pointed stare softened and he outstretched his hand. "Are you both alright? Where are your parents?"

Fervene took the guard's hand and placed her face into it as she cried. "Our mother is gone!" as she wailed the guard tried to soothe her, but her continued crying was starting to catch the attention of other guards stationed around the gate.

"You are this girl's sister, right?" The guard finally turned away from Fervene momentarily to try to get my attention.

"Y-Yes I am," I answered without delay.

"We are instructed not to let anyone without a status plate into the city, but we can't exactly just leave you two here." The guard seemed to be trying to figure out what to do with us, but I quickly remembered the gem that Ina had given us, and I unclenched my fist and displayed it to the now multiple guards who had gathered around us.

"That's the gem of the Great Sage!" The initial guard's face lit up with shock when I displayed it to him. 'It's just a normal jewel, right?'

That was how I arrived at the Royal Capital. After I was adopted by Rumi and the Guild Master, I was able to enroll at the Royal Academy just as I turned six years old. I was always stronger than my classmates and I often bested boys who belonged to the 3rd and 4th year classes.

I didn't really care for fighting, but to secure a better life for my sister, I made it my goal to become a Court Mage for the Royal family. It was the highest-paying job an outsider such as myself could obtain.

After I finally became an apprentice for an older Court Mage who was preparing to retire, I knew I couldn't let up yet. The 6 long years of hard work were preparing to show their result. I trained myself even harder during the days before I was appointed as the newest Court Mage to the Royal Family.

"Elder sister, do you have time to play with me today?" Fervene's usual playful tone was darkened with sadness and doubt. I couldn't blame her for this because I was always busy training, so I didn't have enough time to play with my now 10-year-old sister.

"Fervene, don't worry, we will play later. I have to go train with Rumi until sunset. I left your dinner in the cabinet." I carefully explained to her as I patted her head gently.

"Elder sister, can I train with you too? I don't want to be left behind by you." Fervene explained, with a tear welling in her eye.

"I will bring you along next time Fervene, so just wait here for now, okay?" I added with a warm smile as I turned to walk to the door. What followed was a sentence that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Just as I had turned to reach for the door, I felt a sharp pain in my side, followed by the sound of dripping blood. When I turned around, my usual cute and docile little sister had her claws outstretched and reached into my stomach.

"If elder sister won't allow me to stand at her side because I'm not strong enough, then I will reach your strength forcefully!" Fervene pulled an empty cup out of thin air and held it under my wound as blood poured into the cup. 'Since when did she learn Dimensional Magic!?'

"Fervene… don't do this…" I tried to plead with her, but I felt my vision fading as Fervene continued to fill the cup with my blood.

"You won't die from a wound like this, elder sister. You're a Dragoon, after all." Fervene's sudden words caused my heart to stop and my blood to run cold for a moment. 'Who told my sister these things?!'

"Sleep tight… my dear elder sister~"

Last Chapter Next Chapter