Abandoned Reincarnation

Chapter 26 – The battle’s aftermath

I saw an unfamiliar ceiling when I woke up.

Also, I could smell the faint scent of chemicals here.

Slowly, I tried looked around, but my vision was quite blurry, and I had a bit of a headache too.

Still, I could notice that I was apparently lying on a bed.

“Ah, you woke up. Are you alright?” I heard Aria’s voice.

I still felt a bit dizzy, but I could notice her small figure appearing in front of me.

Her tone was the same as usual, but her expression was very sad. I could see that she was quite worried right now.

I tried putting some weight on my arms to push myself up and tell her that I was okay, but… I instantly felt a dull pain run through my arms and I instantly collapsed back on the bed.

Ah, I remember it now… I jumped in front of an ogre to help the people that were being targeted by it, and I ended up being directly hit by the ogre’s club swing.

I looked at my arm and saw that it was completely wrapped up in bandages… I could move it, but every time I tried, I felt a sharp dull pain run through it.

“Don’t. I cast a healing spell on your arm, but it’s not fully healed yet. Don’t move it.” Aria told me.

“Aria, what happened afterwards?” I asked her.

My memory after the ogre attack was quite vague… At most, I could remember seeing Ms. Lily kill the ogre.

“After the ogres were wiped out, someone called Sonia cast a healing spell on you, then we all returned to the guild.

“I made use of the opportunity when she was using her healing spell to also cast a healing spell of my own, so the pain in your arms should subside in due time.” Aria explained.

“I see… So, I guess everyone is safe?” I asked.

“Well, some people fell and got hurt while running away, but nobody got fatal injuries.” Aria replied.

“That’s good…” I muttered.

I was quite relieved to hear it.

Ogres were probably too much of a strong monster for that subjugation team. They were clearly something that only higher rank adventurers were meant to hunt.

It was truly a blessing that not a single person was killed even when faced with that kind of enemy.

But then, just as I sighed in relief, my eyes met with Aria’s displeased gaze.

“It wasn’t good at all! Why were you so reckless!? If I hadn’t immediately cast multiple layers of defensive magic on you, you would have been crushed!” Aria exclaimed.

Ah, so that’s what happened?

I thought I had been able to barely withstand the blow due to my own defensive magic, but it seems like Aria was also lending me her power.

I see… Even with a strong multiple-layered magical boost, if you’re still losing the encounter at the start, the inertia will crush you.

I simply did not have enough power to fight back against an ogre… I can only imagine what would happen if I tried to take that attack head on without any magical support at all.

“I’m sorry. I was completely taken in by the situation and was unable to think at all in that moment…” I told Aria honestly.

“I’m glad it was only an arm injury this time, but please don’t ever do something this reckless again!” Aria exclaimed.

“O-okay…” I muttered.

I wanted to thank Aria for her help, but I think that this is not the right moment for it.

Aria’s face was red with anger right now… Thanking her would probably just make her even angrier in this situation.

But honestly… Why did I even do that?

I mean, if there was someone in trouble in front of me, I would definitely help them out if I could, but… I don’t think I’m the kind of person who would aid them while completely disregarding my own safety.

I could see myself doing that if it was Aria that was in danger, but… The people there were people that I had only known for a few hours at most. Why did I risk myself like that?

That’s just not like me… Has anything happened that could have changed me like that?

The only thing I can think of would be remembering the memories of my past life, but… Do those memories really have to do anything with this? Was I really that much of a good person in my previous life?

… I can’t remember being like that at all.

Suddenly, Aria clicked her tongue, “There’s someone here.” then her body immediately melted into the surrounding scenery and disappeared.

Right after that, I heard the sound of the door being opened, and some people came in.

I turned my gaze towards the door and saw Ms. Lily, Ms. Sonia, and a muscular stranger.

“Haku! I’m glad you’re awake!” Ms. Lily rushed towards me and immediately hugged me.

… I could feel my face touching her chest a bit.

I wanted to resist her hug, but as soon as I tried moving my arm, that dull pain shot through me again, so I decided to give up and let her do what she wanted.

Once Ms. Lily had enough and let go of me, Ms. Sonia sat down on the bed and stared directly into my eyes, “I’m really glad… I don’t know what I’d do if you didn’t wake up…”

“You don’t need to exaggerate it like that…” I commented.

“That was not an exaggeration. That’s just how dangerous that situation was. You were seriously hurt by that blow, you know?” Ms. Sonia insisted.

Well, that attack certainly did hurt a lot, and after a while I couldn’t even feel my arms anymore… And if Ms. Lily had been just a bit slower, I might have been completely crushed.

And now that I think about it, Ms. Lily was the one who killed that ogre, wasn’t she? I should thank her then.

“Ms. Lily, thank you for your help.” I told her.

She shook her head, “No, thank you for saving Sonia. If it wasn’t for you, Haku, Sonia might not be here anymore.”

Ms. Sonia nodded, “That’s right. You’ve saved my life, Ms. Haku. I’m very grateful to you.”

As far as I could see, Ms. Sonia didn’t have any visible scars on her.

She might have used healing magic to cure any wounds that she got, but if magic was enough to cure them, then she probably received no major injuries.

I guess it was worth it to jump out recklessly like I did, then.

“Haku, I’m glad you made it out alive.” The muscular man suddenly said.

“Y-yes. T-thank you.” I replied to his sudden comment that surprised me a bit.

“I’m Leon, the guild master of this town’s adventurer’s guild.

“I’m truly sorry for putting you through such a dangerous encounter. This was the guild’s fault, as we did not investigate the situation properly.” He told me.

We were in the middle of rejoicing that we all came back out of it safely when he started talking.

I was wondering who this man was, but it turned out to be the guild master himself… Well, his muscular body does make him look like the kind of person that is fit for the job.

But contrary to his appearance, Mr. Leon had quite the gentle demeanor. He even bowed down to me when apologizing.

That action of his actually made me panic a bit, so I bowed down to him too.

“Thanks to you all, we were able to keep the damage to a minimum.

“Your party being able to achieve such great results against five ogres truly attests to your incredible skills and good fortune.

“Especially you two, Haku and Lily. Both of you were able to defeat two ogres each, and I would like to reward you for your contributions. Thank you very much for all that you have done.” Mr. Leon told us.

I was then told that ogres are monsters that C-rank adventurers usually fight against as a party.

But in this subjugation team there were only three C-rank adventurers, Mr. Roland, Ms. Lily and Ms. Sonia. It was not a party that had enough qualified personnel to deal with five ogres simultaneously.

When the guild was contacted about the ogre sightings, they sent in extra personnel while expecting our group to have been completely annihilated.

However, by the time the support arrived, the ogres had already been wiped out.

I was told that Mr. Roland and Ms. Lily were both exceptional adventurers, but it was only because of me fighting as hard as I did that nobody lost their life that day.

And well, it was certainly a terrifying situation alright. I hardly felt alive while I was surrounded by three ogres.

If I hadn’t cast the physical reinforcement spell on my eyes, I would have surely been defeated very quickly.

I’m really glad that the spell I came up with was useful.

“There are other things that I would like to talk to you about, but… For now, you should prioritize recovering from your injuries.

“Let’s talk about your compensation at a later date.” Mr. Leon said.

Perhaps it was his way of showing care, but Mr. Leon swiftly ended the conversation like that and left the room.

Following that, Ms. Lily and Ms. Sonia also spoke for only a bit more before leaving the room too.

Now, the room was silent again.

… And just as I started calming down, I suddenly felt my headache getting worse.

My vision got blurrier for some reason too… I guess I really did push myself too hard.

“Just rest for now, okay? Get well soon.” I heard Aria’s voice in my ears.

I couldn’t see her right now, but I knew that she was here for me.

Let’s just rest then…

I closed my eyes and my body relaxed… It took basically no time for me to fall back asleep.