40 Lasting consequence

Andrew wakes up from what felt like a long slumber to him and he finds himself blankly staring at an unfamiliar stone ceiling while lying on an unfamiliar bed.

His consciousness gradually comes to and he feels that he's holding onto someone's hand with his left.

Turning his gaze towards the person whose hand he's holding, he sees Lucifia sitting near the bed, smiling and staring at him. However, looking closer he sees her exhausted appearance behind that caring smile.

    "You look like you haven't been sleeping. Are you alright?" He asks holding Lu's hand tightly while he leans forward to check on her, but in doing so causes his body to wrench in pain in different areas.

Drew looks down at his body and sees that under his clothes he's wrapped in bandages that reach up to his neck.

   Transfer le sien blessure in maine

      "Transfer."

As if on instinct, Lu mumbles out the spell and severe burns begin to appear on the spots where Andrew felt pain when he moved.

    "Stop! That's enough Lu!" Andrew begs. He doesn't understand what's happening to his body and what these burns are a sign of, but he does know that the last thing he wants is for Lu to keep doing this to herself for his sake.

He takes his hand away from hers and stares at her not knowing what to say as she heals from the burns she took on.

    "It's good to see that you're finally awake," she says looking at Drew and falling right onto him as the fatigue finally sets in.

Drew catches her and holds her around his arms, staring at her with eyes filled with worry as he doesn't know what's going on.

Dazed as he is rattled with the situation he's in, Drew couldn't do anything but take in his surroundings. The room they're in is similar to the barracks one that he was holed up in, but It's much more spacious.

The brick and concrete walls were painted white, the stone ceiling above their heads have wooden beams supporting it, and the floor is covered with light gray stone tiles.

Unlike the room in the barracks, this one has a single large window with its curtains drawn. The furniture also looks better than the ones that the barracks have, and there's even a bathroom connected to this guestroom.

    "Where are we? And how long was I out for?" Andrew asks himself as he turns his attention back on Lu who he starts to petting.

    "You've been out of it for the past six days," a familiar voice answers him as they barge into the room waking up Lu from her short slumber.

    "And in those six days, as we made our way here, she's been doing an excellent job taking care of your vis corrosion," Adela says as she stands at the foot of the bed staring at Andrew with contempt in her eyes which is inconsistent with the sweet smile she's wearing.

    "Vis corrosion?" Andrew suddenly remembers all the times he drank the vis phials to regain energy. "In a worst-case scenario, my body should be tearing itself apart while I get severe burns across my body. I shouldn't be alive!"

    "Yeah, you shouldn't be. However, every day for the past six days, Lu's been using the same spell over and over to heal you.

It's the only 'healing' spell that's fast enough to counteract the damage from the corrosion.

Also, you aren't fully recovered yet and your body will probably still keep destroying itself," Adela elaborates to the oblivious Drew and he responds by looking at Lu who's pulling herself away from his arms.

    "How long will it take for me to fully recover then?" Drew says wanting to know how much more he's going to have to burden Lu.

    "Hmm, a week or two? Give or take. It depends on how well your recovery goes," Adela answers which causes Drew's brows to furrow.

    "You forgot to tell him that he can't use magic or else it'll make things worse," Lu adds which made Drew's shoulders tremble at Lu's relaxed tone. He begins to wonder if this is how Cecil felt with him.

    "Lu, isn't this painful for you?" Drew says out of pure concern for her.

    "Of course it is, but you left me with no choice. You recklessly jumped into the fray to give us time, so I'm recklessly jumping in to save your life."

Because of her words, the archdemon sees Drew make an expression she hasn't seen before, a stern look that's peering into her eyes. She doesn't know what to make of that face.

    "Thank you, not just for this but for everything else. For sticking by me, for listening to me, and for keeping everyone safe when I wasn't there. 

I, -I don't know how I can repay you." The reason for Drew's stern look is because he couldn't figure out the exact words to convey his gratitude for Lu and how he can even begin to return the favor.

Lu's lips curve into a smile as the corners of her cheeks turn flushed by Drew's heartfelt words to her. 

Adela ruins the moment by groaning at the two as she walks towards the window and pulls the curtains open, letting sunlight into the room.

    "If you want to repay her so badly why don't you go out with her?" Adela suggests as she points at the window to show Drew a lively town below where they are.

It's nothing as busy as Aspen, but there's still a lot of kiosks around and strangely enough animals which weren't as prevalent in Aspen. Birds and other winged creatures are flying in the air, almost looking as though they're all dancing together.

    "You never answered my first question, where are we?" Drew asks again and Adela's smile grows as the intent in her eyes changes to fit her gleeful smirk.

It's as if she's proud to introduce this place to him.

    "Welcome~ to the sanctuary of witches, Haven. You and your group are quite lucky to have arrived here just in time for the witch's festival." Adela's grin stretches from ear to ear and it unnerves Drew to see the infamous Cerulean Witch acting so human.

    "Where's everyone else? I at least expected Melissa to be here," Drew says finding it strange that Melissa isn't here talking with Lu. He thinks that perhaps they have already in the past six days he's been unconscious.

    "Oh my! How narcissistic of you to think that other people care about you!" Adela scoffs at Drew who rolls his eyes in response.

    "You'll take any chance of making fun of me won't you?" Drew groans.

    "Only if you make it that easy for me."

    "In any case, we just got here last night. We would've returned two days earlier if Lu hadn't insisted on spending those days in the cabin until you recovered enough for travel.

What I'm saying is, none from your group know that you're here yet. But if you're asking where they are, last I heard the old guy and the two other knights were out together in the town to enjoy the festival.

The Cerenian girl and the timid one with the large rack are also out in the town together, but they're helping with the festival."

Drew lets out a sigh of relief knowing that everyone made it out safe and that they're enjoying themselves.

    "By the way, what is this festival anyways? It's the first time I've heard about it." Out of simple curiosity, Drew asks.

In response, Adela throws the paper bag she's been holding to Andrew who catches it with both hands. The Cerulean Witch gestures him to open it and he does.

What's inside is a bunch of fruit tarts with beautifully minced fruits filling the crust. Drew didn't think that something delicate would be in the paper bag since Adela did dispassionately threw it at him, so his hands ended up crushing some of the tarts inside the bag.

    "If you're so curious about the festival, why don't you go out with Lu and find out with her?" Adela advises as she walks out of the room. She only checked on the two of them to see how Lu is doing.

Andrew looks back at the paper bag and takes out one of the tarts. Taking a closer look at it, the strawberries on the tart look like horns. 

    "Lu, say ah."

    "Hah? No wa- -Hmph?" Drew softly places the tart between Lu's lips and as she goes to glare at him, she sees Drew keenly staring at her with a smile on his face.

    "Do you want to go out with me?" Is the conclusion Andrew comes up with to repay Lu for everything she's done. He's also come to a decision that from here on out he'll think about how his actions will affect others.

He doesn't want Lu or anyone else that he cares for suffering with him.

    'I get it. I'll start doing better that I won't have to resort to drastic measures,' Drew begs to his conscience to stop nagging at him.