Chapter 31

When I woke up, I was in the Redgard family's guest room. The familiar wallpaper put me at ease.

Then, when I tried to sit up, my body moved fairly normally. In other words, it seemed I hadn't been bedridden for 10 days this time.

...And to my delight, a lump of blue stone... lapis lazuli, was placed on the pillow. It seemed it wasn't just a dream. Now I had obtained ultramarine blue. I was very happy. Robin's Egg Blue is beautiful, but I really wanted a deep blue too.

With a slightly elated feeling, I went out of the room. As I walked through the mansion, greeting the maids who had become familiar to me, I saw Laocles practicing with his sword in the courtyard.

"Laocles"

When I called out to him from the window, Laocles turned around in surprise and then walked over to the window where I was.

...And he looked at me intently, then said something incredible.

"Are you alive?"

"I'm alive."

I'm alive. ...Did they think I was dead?

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Three days."

I see. Three days.

Three days. ...Ah. That means.

"Just in time. That's good."

"...What do you mean?"

In other words, it was within the three-day limit that Fay mentioned for "magic depletion." That's good.

"I've never seen someone who collapsed from magic depletion before."

Since it was a good opportunity, I decided to chat with Laocles in the courtyard.

"...You looked almost dead. That's what it was."

"Oh, really."

I couldn't see myself when I was lying down, so I didn't know what I looked like while I was sleeping.

"You weren't breathing. No pulse. Your body was cold. ...You looked like a corpse."

"Yeah. It sounds like a corpse."

A corpse. I was almost a corpse. I kind of want to see what I looked like, but if I see myself like a corpse, it will probably be when I'm really dead. I hope I can astral project well at that time.

"Apparently, when someone's magic is depleted, their body can stop time. They absorb magic from the surroundings to recover enough to sustain life."

Oh, I didn't know that. So I was... in a state of suspended animation? I didn't know anything about myself.

"I had the knowledge, but seeing someone actually in that state is still quite frightening."

"I see. Sorry."

I made him scared. I'm sorry.

...But at the same time, I'm a little happy.

"You talk a lot more now."

Laocles talks a lot more now. He used to just say "ah" or "hey," but now he talks a lot. That makes me happy.

"...Is that so?"

But as soon as I said that, Laocles looked awkward and closed his mouth.

...Maybe I shouldn't have said it. Yeah.

"Anyway, I took care of a lot of things while you were sleeping for three days."

Then, Laocles and I went to find Fay and hear the situation from him. He always takes care of things while I'm sleeping.

"First, that pawnshop. They were selling a lot of illegal stuff, so I just rounded them up."

"That's a bit rough."

"Yeah. There are probably a lot of other crimes, but just the possession of illegal summoned creatures is enough of a crime."

Illegal summoned creatures, huh. ...That black ghost, right?

"Oh, the illegal summoned creature is the big black one that kind of floats."

Floats... so it's a ghost. Okay.

"That thing was apparently a summoned creature made from solidified curses. It would have been bad if left alone."

"Solidified curses...?"

Another unfamiliar term. When I think of curses, all I can think of is a straw doll.

"Basically, it wasn't really a summoned creature, but a solidified curse... a magic block that only causes bad things. If left alone, it probably would have destroyed this town."

Fay shrugged, but that sounds like a pretty big deal, doesn't it? Well, it's good that it was prevented before it happened...

"By the way, Fay. I'm a bit concerned about destroying a store."

"You're worried about that...? Well, it's no problem. They were illegal, so the store had to be shut down anyway."

That's true. I'm glad. I thought there might be some liability for compensation.

"By the way, Fay."

"Hmm?"

"I ended up bringing a sword and lapis lazuli..."

In the end, I decided to follow Fay's advice and take it as "compensation."

Well... when they get out of jail, I'll pay them a little as a welcome back gift...

"By the way, I heard from Laocles about what happened while I was out from magic depletion."

I suddenly brought up the topic. Laocles, who seemed embarrassed by his earlier reaction, turned away.

"Oh, right. You didn't even know what magic depletion was."

"I couldn't tell what my own condition was like when I was down."

"Of course not. Yeah."

Fay nodded and then thought for a moment...

"Basically, you look like a corpse."

"Yeah. I heard."

...At least, I learned that when I'm in a state of magic depletion, I look pretty bad.

"...So, try not to get into a state of magic depletion too often. It's quite a shock, you know."

"Yeah."

I was just sleeping, so I didn't feel that way, but seeing Laocles' reaction made me a bit reflective.

"I'll be more careful."

"Yeah... but this time, it couldn't be helped. Laocles' life was at stake. If you couldn't move in that situation, you wouldn't be a man. Yeah."

"Yeah."

Fay and I nodded in agreement. We shook hands.

I'll be more careful about magic depletion in the future.

But when necessary, I'll still use up my magic. I'll do that.

"By the way, the doctor is here."

"Huh?"

"Remember, you were supposed to get a magic stone for your next seal device? I called the doctor in advance, so your treatment for magic depletion was faster."

...Oh, that's right.

Originally, I was planning to weaken my seal device a bit to practice controlling my magic, and I called the doctor to help with that... I was going to draw and materialize gems to sell and use the money to buy what I needed... and then I ended up sleeping for three days.

I really feel bad for the doctor. Yeah.

On the way to the room where the doctor was waiting:

"I told the doctor you were out from magic depletion, so he might ask you a few questions."

...Fay said that.

"What kind of questions...?"

...So, I ended up seeing the doctor.

In the room were me, Fay, Laocles, Fay's brother, and his father, and the doctor.

...I could tell the doctor was nervous. Yeah. I feel bad. 1 to 5 is a tough ratio.

"Well, I was quite surprised. To hear that you collapsed from magic depletion."

"It seems so."

The doctor said that right away. If he came for another reason and found out the person he was supposed to see was out from magic depletion, he must have been quite surprised.

"Has this happened before?"

"Yes."

Magic depletion happens frequently, so I nodded honestly.

"I see... It seems that the sudden increase in your magic power has made it difficult to control, and you're pouring more magic than necessary into your spells."

"More than necessary..."

Two types of gems came to mind. The ones I drew with the seal device on and the ones I drew without it. They looked the same, but the Red Dragon's reaction was completely different.

The ones drawn without the seal device probably had more magic than necessary. That's why the Red Dragon wanted them.

On the other hand, the ones drawn with the seal device didn't have more magic than necessary for materialization. That's why the Red Dragon ignored them.

...Pouring more magic than necessary isn't always bad. Probably. The extra magic made the gems extremely valuable.

Additionally, I might have been able to heal Fay and Laocles' injuries by pouring more magic than necessary. I don't know, but I don't want to test that. When someone's injury is on the line, there's no such thing as "more than necessary." I should give it my all... and if I end up in a state of magic depletion, so be it.

So, I have a clear understanding of the situation, but from the doctor's perspective, it's still quite mysterious.

"By the way, how often has this happened in the past six months?"

Six months? I think I was still in my original world six months ago.

So, I counted the times since I came to this world...

...I don't know how many times I healed the horse.

"Um, probably more than 10 times but less than 20..."

So, I gave a rough answer. But I can't answer any other way. I didn't even know if I was in a state of magic depletion or just falling asleep when I was healing the horse. Oh, by the way, does falling asleep count as magic depletion?

"That's quite frequent..."

Oh, I see. I remember Fay saying before that "it's difficult to reach a state of magic depletion." Before that, the magic doesn't even take shape, right?

While I was thinking, the doctor, who was taking notes (probably like a medical record), asked me another question.

"Then, what kind of spell were you using just before the magic depletion?"

"Huh?"

"No, I just thought that for someone with your level of magic power to reach a state of magic depletion, you must have used a particularly powerful spell."

Yeah. That makes sense. "What kind of spell."

...What should I do?

Should I answer honestly?