24: Explosion!

Healing was the name of the elementary healing spell. It could only treat cuts and minor wounds. Above it was the intermediate spell, X Healing, which could heal larger wounds and even mend broken bones. The advanced spell, Shine Healing, was capable of treating major injuries and could even reattach freshly severed limbs, but it couldn't restore body parts that had already been lost.

People capable of using these spells were rare in Hilda's world, but they could still be found. Unfortunately, they couldn't go searching for someone capable of using them at the moment.

Beyond the Advanced level, healing spells became extremely rare, and most people couldn't even learn them. To common folk, they were little more than legends.

Saint rank healing spells could heal most injuries and even restore lost limbs, provided the original bones were still available.

Which was perfect for Natsuo's situation.

King rank healing spells were even more powerful. They could fully regenerate lost limbs, even if the limbs had been gone for a long time.

And lastly, there was the Divine rank, which was considered little more than a fairy tale. According to legend, Divine rank healing magic could even resurrect someone who had only been dead for a few minutes.

Hilda had never cared much about magic before. Although she had access to countless magic books, she had never bothered to learn anything. She had spent most of her life being a beautiful wife and raising her daughter, never seeing much reason to pursue the study of magic.

But that had changed drastically after this mission. Now, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Natsuo. If only she had learned Advanced rank healing magic, she could have reattached his hand.

"Natsuo..."

Watching his gradually sleeping face, she caressed his palm with a doting look for a very long time. Eventually, she could no longer resist her sleepiness and fell asleep with her head resting against the bed, still holding his hand.

...

"You are awake?"

Early in the morning, sunlight shone through the windows and fell across Natsuo's face as he opened his eyes. He looked around and saw Kana sitting in a chair beside the bed, holding her phone with her legs crossed.

"Where is Hilda?" Natsuo asked.

"She went out with Chelsea." Kana stood up and put away her phone before asking, "Anyways, are you hungry?"

She was wearing blue dolphin pants and a plain white strappy crop top that exposed her midriff and thighs.

"Yeah, I could eat something." Natsuo's gaze lingered on her figure for a short while before he answered. Although he hated to admit it, the girl did have a nice figure.

He tried to get up from the bed, forgetting for a moment that he had lost his hand. He instinctively put weight on his injured side, only to wince in pain and fall back onto the mattress. "Agh!"

"Be careful! Don't move recklessly!" Kana hurried to his side and helped pull him up before asking in a tender, gentle voice, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Natsuo stood with her help, leaning against her body as she supported him out of the room.

In truth, even if he had lost his hand, he wasn't so weak or helpless that he needed someone to help him walk, but why would he ever turn down a woman's help? Natsuo squinted his eyes as he felt her soft body pressed against his, especially her breasts wrapped around his arm.

When the two of them reached the living room, Kana helped him onto the sofa and said, "Wait here; I'll bring you your breakfast. Watch TV if you get bored." She picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and handed it to him before heading to the kitchen.

"So even someone like her can become gentle," Natsuo chuckled as he leaned back against the sofa. He switched the channel to the news, wondering if they had covered their fight from last night. Gotou had caused quite the commotion, after all.

[Breaking News! An explosion has occurred at the City Hall of East Fukuyama City. The entire building has collapsed and is currently engulfed in flames. The number of casualties is still unknown.]

'Holy shit!' On the screen, a large crowd had gathered around the building from a safe distance, smoke rising into the sky like a mushroom cloud while flames still burned throughout the wreckage.

The entire building had been leveled, reduced to nothing but flaming debris, while police stood guard and prevented the reporter from getting any closer. In front of the camera, a female reporter stood speaking with a grave expression.

[The explosion is believed to have occurred sometime between 5:50 and 6:10 AM. Up until now, no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. The police and counterterrorism units, along with the JSDF, have surrounded the area and are currently investigating the scene in an attempt to identify the culprits.]

"They must've been really upset," Natsuo said as he watched the news. It didn't take a genius to realize that Hilda and Chelsea were behind this. No wonder they had gone out so early this morning.

"Yeah, Chelsea said she wanted to cleanse the entire city of them and finish the mission as quickly as possible." Kana came out carrying a plate, placed it on the table, then gave the TV a quick glance before sitting next to him. "Can you eat on your own, or should I feed you?"

Natsuo looked at his right hand before saying, "What do you think?"

"Seeing how pitiful you are, I shall graciously feed you," Kana said with a complacent grin. With a pair of chopsticks, she picked up some fish meat and held it in front of his mouth. "Open your mouth, say ahh~!"

"..." Natsuo's face remained blank as he opened his mouth and allowed her to feed him.

"Are you really not going to the hospital?" Kana asked while picking up another piece of fish. She didn't understand where Natsuo's confidence came from, considering how casually he treated losing his hand and even refused to go to the hospital yesterday.

"No, I don't like hospitals. Besides, even if they managed to fix it, my hand wouldn't be the same as before." Natsuo chewed the food and swallowed it before answering her. The surgery and other procedures, along with the recovery, would take about two years before he could use it functionally again. That was a very long time for him.

"So stupid," Kana muttered softly. Suddenly, she remembered something and said, "Oh! I think I killed Hideo Shimada!"

"Hideo Shimada? Who is he?" Natsuo was confused. The name seemed familiar, but he couldn't immediately remember where he had heard it.

"It's the guy who caused the massacre at West High!" Kana answered with a proud look. "Last night, that stupid guy tried to prey on us, me and Hilda, but he ended up dying."

Last night, when she killed him, Kana hadn't recognized who he was. She had only felt that he looked somewhat familiar. After returning with Hilda, she happened to come across Chelsea's investigation files, and while going through them, she saw Hideo Shimada's picture. That was when she finally remembered who the guy was.

Hideo Shimada was the person Reiko had sent to make contact with Shinichi by enrolling as a transfer student. However, he ended up going on a rampage and massacring the students there.

"Really? Well done! You're surprisingly not useless." Natsuo gave her a thumbs up sarcastically.

Killing Hideo Shimada hadn't been difficult, and finding him wasn't difficult either. He had been posing as a student at a high school, making him an easy target. Chelsea had originally planned to finish him off after dealing with the Mayor and his parasite allies, but now it seemed Hilda and Kana had already done the job for her. All they had to do now was eliminate the remaining hundred parasites, complete the mission, and return to their respective worlds.

"...You're injured. I'm not going to stoop to your level," Kana wanted to retort, but when she saw his missing hand, she stopped herself and merely snorted.

The two watched TV for a while longer as Kana continued feeding him. When they finished, Kana picked up the plate and went to the sink to wash the dishes. When she came back, she saw him standing up. "Where are you going?"

"To take a bath. I can't stay like this." Natsuo pulled at his shirt, which felt as if it were clinging to his body, and sniffed his own sore, sweaty smell. He had worked up quite a sweat after such an intense fight yesterday, and there was blood all over him as well. He had gone straight to sleep as soon as he returned.

"Oh," Kana replied softly and sat down. She wanted to tell him that he didn't smell that bad, but she felt too embarrassed to say it.

...

Splash!

"I wonder how many of them died today."

Natsuo submerged himself in the bathtub, causing the water level to rise and spill onto the floor. He lay back comfortably, his head tilted upward as he stared at the ceiling.

Unfortunately, they couldn't see their progress in real time, so Natsuo had no idea how many more parasites they had left to kill. He had been keeping count before, but with Chelsea and Hilda's indiscriminate attacks this time, it would be difficult to keep track.

Last night, that male parasite said there were forty-four of them. Whether they were all still there or not was unknown. They could have escaped, or perhaps they had all gathered in one place.

"I'll find out when she comes back."

'I'll train for now.'

He raised his hand and pointed it toward the bucket, silently casting a Water Ball. The ball of water flew through the air, drawing an arc before landing neatly inside the bucket.

Since he was obviously not in the best shape, there was no way the others would let him go to the forest to train. So he chose the best method available to him, draining his magic capacity and waiting for it to replenish. Every time this cycle repeated, his energy capacity increased slightly.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Natsuo silently cast three more Water Balls, causing the water to overflow from the bucket and drip onto the floor. People said that bathing wasted water, but he was doing the exact opposite.

Clack!

Suddenly, Natsuo heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. He hurriedly looked toward the door and saw someone stepping inside with only a towel wrapped around her body.

"What are you doing here?!"

...

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