It’s time to give a short speech about magic, more specifically, healing.

  Magic in name only, when used, it exclusively speeds up natural processes according to the user's proficiency, the total amount of mana, and, of course, the receiver's basic ability to heal.

  It works great for flesh wounds or even blood loss recovery if you know how to activate the marrow slightly.

  With better medical understanding, you can repair bones and organs or, if you are experienced enough, perform magical surgery.

  Even so, your understanding of the human body doesn’t matter at some point. The whole process requires energy from the receiver. Mana is only helpful for starting and maintaining the whole. Sometimes, even if you can heal a lesion almost instantly, it’s better not to burden the patient more than necessary.

  On the other hand, when you are a good mage, you can make use of the user’s mana to convert it to energies and use it instead.

  That’s what most clerics do.

  They know little about medicine, but they are, generally speaking, much more proficient at handling mana. Ultimately, the best is still to have both or someone who can do both.

  But such persons are rare and priceless. How many years must you study the body to be a good doctor? How many so that you can use mana at will?

  In most cases, priests or clerics will focus on light wounds ( omitting their other tasks) while what we call a healer will take care of major injuries and emergency treatment. Depending on the situation, of course, they can also assert their value in other circumstances.

  Looking after poison, dealing with first aid, supporting the other in combat, or even taking care of his teammate's illness and ensuring they’re in their best shape.

  As for Lily... Well, Lily is… controversial.

  During the little time we spent together, I’ve come to learn a bit about her and her story before we met.

  She’s a genius, an absolute genius. She is well served in the medical and magical fields and is familiar with most current knowledge and even some theories still under study. She is, moreover, a good fighter, knows how to cook sweets, and has noble lady manners (even if she doesn’t make use of them).

  On the other hand… she has utterly zero practical experience, no common sense, and she doesn’t know how to take care of herself.

  On the adventure side, she knows how to do her job right, even more in some aspects, but at the expense of your own workload. She has never traveled by foot, survived, or lived in an unfriendly land, and she is utterly useless when it comes to preserving and ensuring her safety.

  That make her a raw gem, she could become la crème de la crème.

  At the same time, she is a danger to anyone who goes near her, enemy and ally alike. I had already been able to experience it twice. Her changes in mood were deadly, and sometimes, she behaved like a child.

  Luckily, the first time, we only had idiots led by a lost cause. An even bigger moron who was lucky enough to have Lily rush into his arms but couldn't handle the pressure and lost his means. The second… idiots again, trolls were really dumb creatures. So they didn’t pose much of a threat either.

  But this time, it’s been different. Even if I was carving the opposite…

  “Don’t leave me behind. If you do, I won’t die! I know how to fight, and I can heal. Even if I’m clumsy and useless, I can easily leave the forest alive and report you! Take me along, or I will ruin all your schemes! I only want to stick together with the hero no matter what happens!”

  Yup, she superbly failed to refrain from opening her mouth once again, dashing my strategy on the same occasion.

  Let's look back in time…

  [Author note] Disclaimer: the following scenes contain nothing but nonsense and can disturb the mind; you may skip to Ch 10 if you don't want to suffer any more than reasons. Sensitive person, read at your own risk. [/Author note]

  “Quick! -gasp-” Lily spoke in total haste; she was sweating profusely. I could feel her skin burning under my hand. Yet, her back was freezing cold, drenched.

  “Don't worry Lily! I’m on it!”

  “Oh my god…It hurts…I gh!! I have never felt so bad… uhh, I don’t think I’m gonna make it…” She was gritting her teeth and started to convulse. Her breath was short and cramped.

  “Hold on! Just a little more! We'll get there soon, I promise. And I always keep my promises!”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Where!? In which direction should I go? God, give me a sign! Just a little longer, Lily!

  “It’s coming…” She had a violent spasm. Her heart stopped, and She was no longer breathing.

  “Stay with me Lily!” FUCK IT, EMERGENCY!

  “I can’t… anymore...” All her muscles relaxed simultaneously, making me almost let her go. Her hand, which until then prevented the precious liquid from flowing out of the body, fell off.

  “LILY!”

  Desperate times call for desperate measures! Too bad, I will need to take care of the damage later on!

  “NOW!” Well, at this point, it was all pointless. She already couldn't hear me anymore and no longer controlled her body. Her eyes were soulless. That was more for me to prepare my mind than alerting her.

  …

  … …

  … … … Maybe we should go back a bit further, shall we?…

  Long after sunrise, following an almost all-nighter on my part, I was woken up in an emergency. Well, yes, I decently couldn’t sleep instead of standing guard, even if I had a light one. When Lily was in this state, it would mean taking unnecessary risks.

  Usually, I take multiple naps while staying on alert instead of full nights, but this time, I couldn’t afford it even for a moment. Of course, Lily knows none of it.

  It didn't even cross her mind that keeping guard was something necessary. But I didn’t want to bother her, so I never broached the subject.

  Who was concealing important data to his teammate now? Still, that should not have been a problem, not yet. I was used to having little to no sleep at all. When you live a life of pleasure the night and of a hero the day, you don’t often have the time to rest.

  And I did sleep, in fact, at the least dangerous times. Before the sunset, and at the end, after the sunrise. I got a few hours, enough to pass the day.

  In short, one or two hours after I allowed myself a break, I was awakened by Lily’s impatient and incessant pinching. She seemed nervous, and it made me startled.

  Enemies!!? I sat up promptly and looked at our surroundings, ear wide open, awakening my senses and sore muscles by the time I had finished my inspection.

  And yet… nothing. Not a single trace of trouble. I briefly gave Lily a stare. She was nervous but not in immediate danger. I could distinguish a mixture of fear and shame. Was she in pain? Did her injuries worsen over the night?

  I paid attention to her legs; they were shivering but nothing more, and it seemed OK. Her chest? Did she lie about a broken rib? Still nothing, I couldn’t notice anything abnormal. That was not it either.

  “Are you awake??!!” Her shaking voice asked me this as if the opposite would have been her demise. Did she have bad news she didn’t want to tell me yesterday? Or something else?

  “Yes? Do you need something?” My questioning look fell on her, and I could enjoy the view from close up. Damn it, with all of those events, I had forgotten her half-naked state to which her illegal cuteness was added, giving me a deadly blow and almost making me lose my composure.

  “...e” Now she was blushing. Well, not really; she was already all red. She was downright turning crimson. Was she shy and ashamed for once? My heavy and meaningful gaze seemed to have more effect than I thought.

  “Uh? Sorry, can you repeat it louder?”

  “I need to pee!”

  “And? What does this have to do with me… Ohhhh!”

  “Do I really need to go into details?”

  “No, no! Sorry, it hadn't occurred to me yet. Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

  “I DID! It’s been several minutes!!!! I pinched you, poked you, and did everything I could in my state! I even shouted until it hurt!!!! YOU IDIOT!!!”

  Light sleep, uh? What a joke. It seems I was really tired. Fortunately, her voice didn't attract anything. Another monster attack would put us in much greater trouble.

  “Alright, my bad. So what do you want? Should I help you stand and walk on one leg? Can you? Do you need protection against peeping?” Her criticisms and bad temper cooled my mind and finished waking me up completely.

  “What peeping! As if you would find any that deep in a for–.” The joke was not to her liking, and Lily started shouting angrily before soon stopping in the middle of the sentence with a strange face.

  “Anyway. I can’t walk, so you’ll have to carry me.” she continued.

  “Okay, let me just stretch myself, and I’ll take you to a place where you will be comfortable. Where do you want to be seated? Will a rock do? Maybe a bit too hard. A fallen tree trunk? You might get a splinter. If you can’t w--”

  “No! This will be unnecessary!”

  “Go on! It was for your own good, after all.” Does she want to show me she’s not made from crystal again? That she can endure the pain and crude reality of adventuring?

  “Not in this sense. I mean, the problem is… you know… I didn’t want to wake you up initially, so I already waited to the limit before trying. It's even starting to hurt!”

  “Yes?” What's wrong with her this morning? I can’t follow her thoughts at a— “I’m already leaking!!!!!! Just carry me somewhere and hold me upward, upfront! The moment I spread my thigh, I… Je ne vais pas te faire un dessin! Can’t you stop speaking?!!! Hurry up!!!”

  Oh!! I was wondering why she was in that unconformable position, legs tightened, clumped together, and her hand pressing hard on her crotch… wait! WAIT!

  “WAIT WAIT!! I’m not ready yet!”

  “If you’re not, I’m gonna dump it all here and now!”

  “OK! OK! Hold tight! I’ll pick you up!”

  “Wait! Help me remove my panties first!! I can’t do it on my own!”

  Yes, well, at least she stays lucid. This was not my case. I did as she said while being elsewhere. Like a golem who executes its order, I striped her lower underwear. Very pretty, by the way, it suited her well. Then I…

  Wait a minute!! Your hands are not just pinned down against the entrance… or exit. Call it whatever you want. It clearly goes inside! Did you have to block the way physically?!! Are you that desperate?!

  “DON’T STARE!! YOU PERVERT!”

  Not without benefiting another glance, I lifted her quickly, paying attention to her bladder and her injuries.

  “Mhhh!” Moan, Some drops of liquid fell on the ground as I was looking for a suitable place in hast.