The Healer Refuses
I overexerted myself yesterday. Mainly mentally, I still feel drunk from all the emotions and memories stuffed inside of my head. Sadly I don’t have time to be resting. There are too many things I need to do since they already had the advantage of making the first move. If I stop moving now, there would never be any way to catch up in the future. I woke up and got changed into my day clothes.
Guren, who was sleeping next to me was still sleeping soundly. She did a great job last night so I’ll let her sleep well for today. With Guren’s help, I was able to figure out that the important people in this Kingdom are still untouched by the black power. This situation, which should give me relief, actually scares me. If the situation was that Bullet couldn’t do it yet and he doesn’t have the power to bring the black power into this country then everything is okay. But if the fact is that he doesn’t even need to bother with this country then our current situation is the worst. I need to prepare so that I can cope with the worst case scenario. While I was deep in thought, the door opens. Standing by the doorway is Setsuna in her underwear.
“That’s too bad. It seems that Kearuga-sama is empty right now. I can’t give you my morning service if it’s like this.” Setsuna said as she looked down sadly at my lower body.
“Sorry about that. I kept going a bit too late into the night. I’ll make sure to spoil you later this afternoon.” I hug and kiss Setsuna while saying this. Since she’s my favorite I need to do at least this much.
“Okay, I’ll look forward to it!”
“Okay then. I’ll be going to Ellen’s room but what will you do?”
“I’ll follow you because I think there’s something I can do to help too.”
“Yeah sounds good, it’s better if you’re next to me.”
“Okay.”
Setuna immediately collects the clothes outside the door and changes into them. It appears that she took off her clothes right in front of the door just for me. She must have done it since she knows that it excites me when she appears in her underwear…
When Setsuna and I reach Ellen’s room, we see that she is already working hard on the paperwork at her desk with Kureha at her side. Our next battle is not just a battle of force. It’s a war of information and politics of other countries too. I can’t afford to lose Ellen at such a dire time. To make sure of this, I made Kureha sleep in the same room as her.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Ellen,” I say to her.
“Kearuga nii-sama is working hard so I need to work hard too. Thanks to Kearuga nii-sama, I do not need to doubt the important people inside of this kingdom. Thankfully I can think of a few paths we can take.”
“That sounds promising.”
“These are the possible movements that Brett might take that I have thought up.”
She hands me single sheet from a large stack of papers on the edge of her desk. This one paper is probably just a summarized version of all the calculations and research that she had done. It ’s interesting, the emphasis is on Brett’s ability, the ability of the Empire of Grantsbach, the surrounding environment, political factors, and above all, the human mind. This is the power of a feared genius who was once a military genius.
“At this rate, Brett will take over the world in three months’ time.”
“Yes, currently, the only power we have that can fight against their black power is the power that Kearuga-sama and Guren wields. In just a few hours’ time, the number of people infected will grow and as we saw before, ordinary people will suddenly turn into monsters. If this happens in every country, then all the other countries will be suspicious of the neighboring countries and will be destroyed from the inside.” Ellen says, with a voice laced in worry.
What she said is correct. That power is indeed too terrifying. No matter how we move, we are still at a disadvantage. They can continue to expand their power with the black power but we can’t even increase the amount of people who can purify it.
“Time is not on our side in this war.” I say, feeling dejected.
“We need to stay cautious at all times. Afterall, our opponent is Bullet the [gun] hero.”
A black monster that is stronger than a black Knight, has great battle power, excels in command ability, and information warfare that commands it. Troublesomeness cannot be expressed in words. If I had the power to beat a few of those monsters, I would have already defeated Bullet. I knew that I couldn’t so I ran away. The more I think about it the more my mind gets messed up.
“So what do you think we should do Ellen?” I ask.
“It might be impossible to win with human power. I can’t think of many things that can make us win, but there are definitely some ways to win. Even if the possibility is slim, it is still a possibility. That’s all we need.”
“…To borrow the power from Eve. In the first place, that black power was given to the King of Dioral from the previous Demon King. That is the power that the Demon King uses. Eve should have a higher control over it than Bullet.” Ellen suggests.
I’m surprised she noticed that too. I only knew because I had used [Recovery Heal] on the Demon King. That power is a power that makes the Demon King go mad and crazy but it is still the Demon King’s power nonetheless. If it’s Eve then she can most likely use the same power. But that means Eve was attacked by black power. If someone deliberately uses that power, they will go mad like the predecessor Demon King, and eventually, Eve will not be Eve and will become a Demon
King in a true sense.
“There is also one more thing, borrowing the power of the godbird Caladrius. If you are a godbird, you might know something about the black power. On the contrary, even a countermeasure for the black power could be found. It might be able to make a disease that even kills it, because Guren the god beast, can kill it.”
“We’re going to need to rely on Eve a lot huh.”
“Yes she’s one of our best assets we can get to counter our opponents.”
I cannot deny her words. But that’s a method that I don’t want to use. If we make Eve use the black power and win, Eve gets corrupted and the god bird will take lives. Eve has already used the god bird’s power twice, there is no guarantee that she will survive the third time. There is also the chance that she would be reduced to a vegetable. I can’t afford to do this because Eve is very important to me, she is my lover.
“What other ways are there?”
”There are two other ideas that I thought of. The first one is where we bet using Kearuga nii-sama’s life, and even then the chances of succeeding are low. That man is obsessed with you and we can only let you get captured and find a chance to kill him as he uses you as a toy.”
“That’s a good plan. It’d be easy to create a one on one situation with him if we do that.”
“Yes, but we are talking about Bullet here. He should have already seen through this plan by now and is probably ready to accept it with open arms. He must have already placed counter measures and in the worst case scenario… no, if a miracle doesn’t happen, then Kearuga nii-sama will be his toy for the rest of his life.”
So if a miracle doesn’t occur, I’ll definitely lose. And even if do win, I’ll lose things of great importance to me. But the trade off might be worth it if I win.
“Tell me the second option now.”
“Yes. In truth even our current situation has a 90% chance of us losing so I feel like it is best to just return the Chabudai.”
“I’m not too sure since it’s so abstract.”
“Kearuga nii-sama’s [Recovery Heal] has too many functions and advantages that I feel like it is not a [Recovery Heal] anymore. It’s quite strong.”
“Of course. It’s my power after all.”
“So, that’s why I thought to think outside of the box! What if we choose to heal the world itself and rewind time.”
I was surprised. I was surprised because she reached the same conclusion that I reached in my first life.
“It is certainly possible in theory. But it is only theoretical. Even at our current level, we cannot take out that much power.”
“You do have the necessary power. You just need to use the [Philosopher’s Stone] as Bullet did. If you have that, will you use [Recovery Heal]?”
“Since the [Philosopher’s Stone] was taken away, isn’t it too troublesome?”
“Isn’t there something similar that you can use?” Ellen asks casually.
“Are you talking about Eve?”
“The current Demon King Eve Reese. If you kill her you can get it, no? If it’s Kearuga nii-sama, you should be able to sneak attack her anytime you want.”
“That’s a bit too much.”
“I know. I too do not want to do this since I see her as a friend. But I think that as soon as you use [Recovery Heal] she will return back to life and you can kill Bullet and everything would be okay.”
Seeing Ellen smiling like that while she said it I knew full well at that time that she was Princess Norn’s sister. As a genius she would choose the best decision no matter what. Even if it wasn’t the morally right decision.
“I won’t do that.” I said firmly.
“You mean you won’t? It’s not that you can’t?”
“Yeah. I won’t use the god birds power but I’ll at least listen to what the god bird wants to say. And then we’ll continue planning. Let’s start the process of putting me out as bait.”
“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure your gonna regret it later.”
“Yes I’m sure. Since there’s a possibility, I’ll bet on that slim chance.”
“If that is your decision then I will go along with it. I don’t want to lose my memories of my time with you, Kearuga nii-sama.” Ellen says, smiling.
Surprisingly, Ellen agreed instantly to the plan where the only success would happen if a miracle occurs. It’s quite strange, it’s surprising that Ellen will do something like give up on her duty as a soldier and agree to something like this. If it was the Ellen I knew, then she would have tried really hard to convince us otherwise.
“I’ll do my best to even up the possibility of us winning by so little as to 1%!” I say, with conviction.
“Yes, please do.” Ellen says, cheerfully.
I push down the suspicious feeling that rises inside my heart. Perhaps there is something that she is hiding from me. It is impossible that she would betray me because I made it that way. No matter what she does in the end it would be to aid me. Since the decision has been made, I won’t butt in and say anything else. I’ll leave this to Ellen and just work on things that I can.