Chapter 15

"Bookmarks, ratings, and gratitude."

After finally finishing the treatment of the expedition team, we were now drinking tea at the guild's table.

"K-Ktoday, there were a lot of them..."

Aura was slumped over, looking completely worn out.

Tore seemed to be struggling as well, probably from overusing her healing magic and running out of mana.

As for Lily, she had fallen asleep on my lap halfway through.

However, I wasn't exactly feeling fresh myself. While I still had plenty of mana, casting healing spells non-stop all day is, well, you know, right?

"Shall we head back?"

Everyone still seemed exhausted, but we couldn't stay here forever.

Since Lily didn't wake up, I had to carry her back.

"Lolicon"

"Hey, you really said that!?"

"Master, are you a lolicon...?"

"No, Tore, that's not it. I'm not a lolicon, okay?"

The next day, rumors spread through the guild that I was a lolicon.

Hey, I treated those guys yesterday!!

Asuna ignored me all day...

---

"Then, it's agreed that we will gather excellent healing mages?"

"Aye, I leave it to you."

I was anxious. My mind wasn't working well in this urgent situation.

But I still had things I needed to do.

So I stood up from my chair.

---

The day after I managed to clear up the suspicion of being a lolicon, I was relaxing at home.

Today was my first day off in three days. I thought about going out somewhere after sleeping until noon, so I went back to sleep.

It was now past noon, and I was wandering the streets alone, which was rare.

As always, the people in this town were all nice, and they would wave at me when they saw me.

Waving back to everyone, I thought about how glad I was to have defeated those goblins back then.

---

"Are you the healing mage, Anest-sama?!"

I turned around in surprise at the sudden voice. There were several people standing there, covered in armor.

"Y-Yes, I'm Anest... Do you need something?"

Of course, I didn't know these people. Yet, they seemed to know me.

"We have been sent from the capital by the king's order to fetch you! It seems to be an emergency, so we need you to come with us."

With that, the armored men grabbed me by the arms.

"Right now!? Wait, can you give me a moment!?"

I needed to let Aura and the others know, or I'd be in trouble later, mainly for my own sake.

"I'm sorry, but it's an urgent matter, so I'm afraid we can't."

Oh man, this is going to be a lecture when I get back...

"Hey, Nest-san?"

It was a coincidence, but the inn's signboard girl was passing by us.

"Ah, perfect! If you see Aura and the others, tell them I was called by the king and went to the capital, so they shouldn't worry!"

With that, I was taken away by the armored men.

---

We were discussing what to do next.

It seemed that Nest had been taken to the capital without our knowledge.

"Really, what is Nest doing..."

A sigh escaped my lips.

Even Lily, who usually smiles, had a dark look on her face.

"Is Nest going to be okay?"

"I think he'll be fine. It seems to be an order from the king."

But even if I thought he would be fine, I couldn't help but imagine the worst.

"Yeah, thinking about it is pointless! We're going to the capital too!!"

"Ooh!!"

Once we made the decision, things moved quickly. We had some money saved from our usual jobs, so that should cover the expenses.

The question was how to get there...

"Asuna-san, do you know of any good ways to get to the capital?"

We decided to ask Asuna, who was at the guild.

"Oh, you must be talking about Nest-san. I want to go too, but I can't leave my job... However, I think you could ask a merchant for transportation. Since Tore can use healing magic, I'm sure they'll be willing to take you."

"Thank you very much."

We thanked the merchant who agreed to take us to the capital and climbed into the cart.

All for the sake of seeing Nest.