"You good, Sweetheart?" Lily asked, standing over Konrad. And since he couldn't answer right away, she was already shaking her head. "Hmm. No, you're not. Welf, could you lend a hand?"
Weird. He should have been fine, though.
Like, sure. The alien sorcerer had zapped him twice. It was rough, but he got over it.
The little bleeding in the shoulder seemed nothing serious, either, but—
Something still wasn't right.
Being so tired was only one thing. But why was his vision blurry, too? And—
'Oh, yeah. That's on me,' Paula admitted. 'Remember how drunk you were? I have been blocking the alcohol in your blood, but since you seemed hurt, I undid that to numb you.'
Wow. So that's why the world was spinning.
This was way more than numbing. Konrad was drunk again, and wasn't sure which was worse.
Turning sober after drinking at the snap of a finger, or—
Becoming wasted once more without even touching another drink?!
Right now, it was definitely the latter. And why was Welf still fine?
He drank even more than he did, but—
"Oh, I see how it is now," the little demoness smirked, caressing his forehead. "Yeah. That was a good call, Miss Parallel Brain. Here, have some of my healing magic, too—I know you like it."
That he did.
A now-familiar warmth had washed over him, something he hadn't felt in a while.
His body relaxed, and—
Okay, it had relaxed way too much, actually.
Now he was sleepy, but they were still on the battlefield with charred corpses and glassed earth.
Plus, there were two more of these portals nearby that he had to—
"Let's take you home and get you some shut-eye," Lily commanded, pulling back. "You fought well, but please leave the rest to us. We don't want the angels to be wary of you, right?"
Ugh. She said that, but he felt pathetic.
He couldn't fight, even if he wanted to, and—
'No, no, let's focus on you lying low, okay?' Paula protested before he even finished the thought.
Meanwhile, Gabrielle had finally patched herself up.
"I still can't cast a full temporal freeze," she complained. "But otherwise, I'm good to go."
By her looks alone, she was in a much worse shape than Konrad.
Her frilly blue dress was in tatters, but of the two of them, she was the one still sober.
"Think I can use my teleport fine," Lily said, nodding. "Still trying to get my bearings, though. So what say you, Sweetheart? Will ya ride the Wyverns home, or want me to tuck you in bed?"
Those were his only options?
Her sparkling hazel eyes told him she wouldn't even argue with him right now.
"Wyverns," Konrad gritted out, trying—and failing—to get up twice. Not sure how he would pull off flying, but—"If I can't be of any help, at least don't waste your time on me anymore."
It was all his fault, anyway.
If it weren't for his stupid party, Lily and Gabrielle wouldn't have had to fight these things alone.
"Not true," the demoness claimed, putting her hands on her hips. "If anything, you should be proud. You defeated a sorcerer even I couldn't. That's quite something, Konny boy."
"And definitely won't paint you harmless in the angel's eyes," Gabrielle sighed, impatient.
"That was Welf, by the way," Konrad croaked, finally pushing himself up.
But damn, his head was spinning worse than he thought.
"You gave me the opening," his friend noted, supporting him with both hands. "I'll make sure he rests, and, uh—how do we get those things down here again?"
He watched the circling Wyverns overhead, but Paula got that sorted out.
"Let's go," the angel urged. "I finally made contact with Maou Midori, and he's struggling, too."
"He is?" Lily scowled. "But we sent your tiny bishop friend to that portal way ahead of time."
Right. Konrad wanted to ask about the guy at some point, but—
Things got a bit messy, and his head was already spinning while on the ground.
Flying like this?!
'I'll take control of the beast,' Paula noted. 'All you have to do is not fall off.'
As if that was so easy.
Well, even if he didn't get to ask his questions, Welf seemed to have had the same idea.
"So that's why the knights rounded up the tribesmen?" he asked. "Our army is also on its way now, but let's hope you sort things out before they arrive. They're still untested in battle."
Yeah. Dmitry had reorganised the whole thing, and Konrad had no idea how.
"Sure, sure," Lily said, eyes rolling. "Get going already, so we can leave and wrap this up, then."
When and how they got airborne, Konrad had no memory.
The flight back to Halaima was a nightmareish blur, too, but—he got there somehow.
The next thing he knew, Welf herded him towards his bedroom, and—
"Wait, wait," Konrad mumbled, trying not to fall. "You had a wound, too, right? Lily didn't even heal you, but—ugh. Where are those things I brought back with me from the other world?"
Did they burn up in the heavens, too?
He hadn't seen them since his return, but—
Even while drunk, he could feel their strange signature in the room as he reached out.
"That one," he grunted, pointing at a cabinet. "A teardrop shape stops the bleeding, and the one that looks like a chunk of meat will heal you right up. And a blue one that sparkles—"
Flash, or Sparks?
He couldn't remember the name anymore, but it should have revitalized them fast.
Except all the Artifacts they found were inert.
Did they break after all?!
'This is only my theory,' Paula noted. 'But it feels like Kasserlane's strong ambient mana is diluting their effects. Which is great because most of these would be radioactive otherwise.'
Ugh. His head hurt way too much to make any sense of those thoughts.
'Grab one and feed it your mana,' the voice clarified. 'Then it should start working again.'
So Konrad tried that, taking one of those electric ones first, and—
As if someone injected coffee straight into his brain.
Both his deep exhaustion and the drunkenness were gone, but—
The buzzing had also returned to his arm.
"Fuck," Konrad grunted, toning down his mana. "I forgot this doesn't play well with lightning."
"What are even these?" Welf scowled as he yanked his hand back.
Right. Both the anti-bleeding and healing Artifacts were radioactive.
They had to find his Bubble, too, and—
There it was. Still squishy and cool as he remembered.
That one didn't even need his mana to work. He shoved it into Welf's big hands.
"Magical Artifacts," he explained. "They seem to struggle here a bit, but I'll make them work. This is still the closest I've been to healing magic, so—hold all three of these for a moment."
He was more careful with his essence now, and nothing was glowing up or making weird noises.
That included the redheaded blacksmith, too.
"Wow. Feel it now," he muttered. "This is actually nice. Why weren't you carrying them around?"
A valid question. How could he forget?!
But now that the pain and exhaustion were gone, and the world settled down around him?
"Actually, I should," Konrad admitted. "Hey. Could you somehow forge these into my armor?"