"However, this won't just happen once. What if I encounter this situation again during my next adventure? I don't have many useful abilities, and even if everyone gets injured, I can only watch helplessly..."
"But wasn't our success this time also due to your efforts?"
Seeing the girl's mood gradually decline, I had to try to comfort her instead: "It's thanks to you activating the ring before the battle that we were able to find a glimmer of hope to break the deadlock, and that Alice was able to sacrifice herself to cover our retreat. Otherwise, that basin would probably have become our graveyard too."
"I don't want that. I hope everyone can be together happily, just like this was originally a fun trip."
"I should have just stayed on the safe route."
Hikari, unusually showing a vulnerable side, shook her head vigorously, tears welling up in her eyes with each movement.
“Mr. Yumi, why don’t we go straight back to the Little Garden after we pick up Sister Hui? Even if we encounter any danger, with the three older sisters there, there will always be a way.”
A dark shadow spread behind her; it was a figure illuminated by the firelight, but now it looked like a restless, dancing demon.
Left with no other choice, I could only try to gently place my hand on the girl's shoulder and stroke her long hair on the back. After a while, I could barely feel the breath in my arms return to a stable state.
Thinking about it this way, there's another thing that really bothers me.
“Speaking of which, Hikari, do you remember how you had your ring removed?” I asked.
I was very concerned during the previous battle. Hikari's research and dedication to magic were not as good as mine. Sometimes, even her magic circle would fail to be activated. So why did she suddenly activate the magic ring, the symbol of a high-ranking mage, at that moment?
Hikari stopped sobbing and looked at me with surprise and a bewildered expression.
"Open-loop? What's that?"
I explained it to her again, but Hikari frowned and responded with confusion. Only after I mentioned the spell she had just cast did she manage to recall some fragmented memories.
“I…I’m not quite sure what ‘opening the ring’ means.” Hikari shook her head after several attempts to recreate the previous situation. “But if you’re talking about that healing spell from before, I just felt it was necessary to cast it at that time, so I used it.”
"That was just a healing spell?" I was genuinely surprised.
Hikari nodded: "Yes, besides Voidwalk, I only know one healing spell. By the way, I vaguely heard a sound in my ear back then, it sounded a bit like... uh? that powerful lady who visited the Little Garden before?"
I silently looked up at the sky.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
