Poisoned no more~!

Melinda was casually strolling around the campus in search for the best places where she and Zane could have some alone time during their second year in the Jade academy, when she spotted a familiar silver-haired woman exiting one of the classrooms.

"Lady Seth~!"

"!"

The gold-haired girl, of course, called out to the elderly woman with a big smile and trotted over without a care in the world, causing the woman to freeze up in shock at the sight of her…

"?!"

Similarly, the other person inside the classroom backed off and closed the door before Melinda could approach close enough to look at them properly.

Still, the gold-haired girl didn't sense anything suspicious, so her happiness did not subside the same way her suspicion didn't increase.

"Young lady Fenrioette! Thank goodness! You look so healthy! I've heard that you didn't actually go back home and was worried sick even though I later learned that the champion of the goddess was supervising you!"

"Whaaaaoh~! So that's how you sound~! You have such a pretty voice, lady Seth~!"

The elderly woman let out a relieved breath before furrowing her brows and scolding the girl out of worry, but Melinda chose a different topic to start with.

"Eh…? I mean, thank you… ah! You regained your hearing, too! To what degree? Damaged senses can be really tricky to heal, even when injuries are suffered in battle. Let me…"

Seth blinked a few times, taken by surprise, before fully getting into her medic mode.

"Do the check-up~? Sure~!"

Melinda finished the sentence for her, reaching out her hands and placing them on Seth's palms.

"As for my hearing, I'd say that it recovered perfectly, if not ended up slightly better than originally~"

"Hmhm~"

The bubbly girl cheered out, and the elderly woman couldn't help but smile.

It felt so nice for her to see the gold-haired girl being genuinely energetic and not forcing herself to smile.

"Let's see… Indeed~! Even with the restricted examination spell, your HP is full, and your defense is functional… Although… there is something bothering me…"

Lady Seth nodded with a relived expression only to furrow her brows and tilt her head in confusion.

"...?"

Melinda used to the examination, didn't say a word and merely tilted her head to the side, awaiting the answer.

"Do you see this mark over here? It showcases suffering from the poison as a status condition… but your HP doesn't seem to…"

As she spoke, the health bar representing Melinda's HP flashed red but didn't visually decrease, not even by a tenth of a hair's breadth.

"...budge…"

Lady Seth finished her sentence, taken aback.

"Could it be that you're suffering from light food poisoning, sweetie? Would you allow me to use a more precise spell to make sure?"

She added apologetically, worried that her words might be interpreted as her trying to get an intel on the gold-haired girl.

"I'd say it's too early for that, Lady Seth… But I do have an idea what the poison thing might be! Here, look."

Melinda furrowed her brows before shaking her head, refusing the offer. She only smiled and pulled up her shirt.

Even though she was healthy, she still had bandages on, covering the spot where the monster's claw was lodged in.

"!!!"

As she tugged on the bandages and lowered them, Lady Seth's eyes widened at the sight of a blob of veiny darkness covering her side and spreading a cobweb of veins along the same path the original wound took.

"It looks a lot worse than it is. It doesn't hurt at all, and it isn't contagious or spreading. But it looks ugly, so I cover it."

"..."

Melinda explained with a lighthearted shrug while the elderly woman was staring at the blob in complete silence.

"...you… didn't try to get rid of it…?"

Finally, Lady Seth gulped down her saliva and inquired, still unable to take her eyes away from the injury.

"Oh, I did. But the store-bought antidotes had no effect. Even Zane's sal… ve… the salve he got for me failed. As did my spells. While we're at it, I discovered something changed about the holy attribute healing spell… please, take a look at it. Blessed Heal."

The gold-haired girl pointed out and was quick to demonstrate her issue.

The moment she used the chant, her hand and the place she was applying the spell began to glow.

But not with a soft white light that was obvious for the spells of the holy attribute...

Not at all.

Her spell was…

"Gold…?!"

Lady Seth let out a gasp of disbelief, staring at the brilliance of the golden light enveloping Melinda.

"Right?! It was normal before! I have been using it quite a lot, and it had been white back then, but now… eh…?"

The gold-haired girl called out in an equally distressed voice, clearly more bothered about the anomaly in her spell's visuals than her own injury, but she ended up crying out in confusion while staring at the floating chart of Lady Seth's examination spell.

Because despite the chart not displaying any numbers, it still showed Melinda's stats in real-time through bars.

Mana Pool was one of those bars.

…and it didn't budge despite her using an intermediate healing spell…

Even her HP bar flashed green when she used the spell, marking the recovery of the minuscule amount that wasn't even registering to the naked eye.

But not the bar corresponding to the mana pool.

It didn't flash red when it should deplete and didn't look as if it depleted.

"Blessed heal."

Using the chance to experiment, Melinda chanted again, activating the healing spell and creating more of the golden light.

This time, the HP bar didn't flash green since it was already full, but the thing was, the spell was used…

…but the MP bar did not deplete…

"Heal."

Melinda used the most basic healing spell, and lo and behold! Not only the mana color was green as it should be, but her MP bar flashed red and depleted a certain amount.

"Blessed heal."

Then she used the holy attribute spell the third time… and the MP bar didn't budge.

"Lady Seth… Is it possible that this injury is glitching… I mean, interfering with holy magic and making it free? Because if it does, I don't want to get rid of it!"

The girl raised her head and declared, about to put the bandages back up and pull down her shirt.

"No! Wait!"

"...?"

The elderly woman flinched and called out, waving her hands to stop the gold-haired girl.

"I've seen this particular kind of poison, and I can assure you that it had never affected holy attribute mana in any way! I can't believe that it doesn't seem to affect you, but I can assure you it is a top priority to get rid of it as fast as possible! It is a particular poison used by demon sympathizers. You are the only case of someone surviving it that I ever heard of!"

"..."

Lady Seth insisted, making Melinda lower her head with a concerned expression.

"It kind of sounds like you don't have a way to get rid of it, though…?"

"...ah…"

After a moment of consideration, the gold-haired girl pointed out, causing the elderly woman to gasp in realization.

"I might have an idea. Can we enter a duel really quick?"

"Pardon?"

Melinda raised her head and declared out of nowhere, receiving a completely normal response to such an outrageous request.

"I want to try something, but it requires me to be able to heal instantly. Duel with someone I can trust is the safest option. And you are a medic trusted by the Emperor of Emperors to boot~"

"...I… I can't believe I am considering agreeing…"

Melinda pointed out, to which Lady Seth breathed out in disbelief.

In the end, she actually agreed, and the two of them entered the duel…

"Well then."

After confirming that the encounter activated properly, which it wouldn't if one of the sides was seriously injured or sick - a countermeasure from the developers from cheesing the function to get infinite healing - the gold-haired girl gritted her teeth and…

*SQUELCH*

"FGGGHGGH…!"

"?!?!"

...she dug her fingers into her side, ripping out the infected flesh and wheezing from pain, all to Lady Seth's horror.

"...G-good… I think I got it all in one go…"

While trembling, Melinda looked at the gaping hole in her side, squelching blood all over the hallway, and yelped after confirming the lack of the dark, veiny mass within.

"Blessed Heal."

She used the holy attribute spell, but this time, the reaction ended up even more different than before.

*UMPH*

Instead of only causing the unusual golden light to warmly embrace the affected spot, the whole hallway ended up basking in a golden brilliance that spread around like a shockwave.

As the light faded, Melinda was standing in the same place, with a handful of her own bloody and infected flesh and an intact side covered by pristine skin with no trace of a wound ever being there.

"...ahah…haa… that was odd. But I guess all well that ends well~!"

"..."

The gold-haired girl who ended up spooked by her own spell acting wildly out of norm let out a nervous laugh before shrugging her shoulders in an awkward attempt to play it off.

"Oh! Look! The mark of poison is gone! it worked!"

Melinda gasped, pointing at the fading screen of the examination spell about to fade away.

"All is good then! End duel. Here, Lady Seth. Maybe you could use it for some research?"

"..."

She then nodded confidently, using the common to back out of the encounter, and then casually handed the infected pound of her own flesh to the bewildered elderly woman, who grabbed it only by sheer reflex.

"Thank you for the help, lady Seth! Have a nice day! Oh, Adi, I'm sorry for making things troublesome for you, but could you clean up the mess I made? Yes, I'm fine already! See? Aww...! Don't make that face. As I promised, I only performed that method under the supervision of a medic~"

"..."

Melinda fixed her clothes and waved the speechless woman goodbye before stopping and pointing at the blood splattered all over the hallway, talking to some imaginary friend of hers.

"...h-humans are not supposed to be able to do that…"

Lady Seth regained her voice and muttered in distress, staring at the bloody mess with the veiny blob still pulsating irregularly, too focused on the matter to notice the blood mysteriously cleaning itself up.