Chapter 222: Memories of Galliant (2)

“I will finish it as quickly as possible. Don’t worry. I also took surgery classes at the time.”

Surgery, which performs external operations, uses a different scheme than general medicine. The doctor could also use basic schemes, so he was able to cut the bone quickly.

“I will begin. There may be convulsions, so hold him firmly.”

Tess nodded while crying uncontrollably. Amy and Arin, who were watching the scene, could not say anything.

If it were their choice, they would have run away. But since it was Tess, she had made that decision with the determination to take responsibility for Rian’s life forever.

“Ugh! Ugh! Then I will begin!”

“Stop.”

At the moment he placed the saw on the shoulder, the doctor was startled by the voice and turned around.

Shirone, who had regained consciousness, was getting off the bed. The recovery mages, exhausted, lay on the floor gasping.

“Tess, what are you doing? Why are you trying to cut off Rian’s arm?”

“Shirone, Shirone……”

Tess burst into tears. Unable to decide what to do and leaving everything to the flow of the situation, Shirone’s recovery was like rain in a drought.

“Shirone, what do I do? They’re going to amputate Rian’s arm. Rian now……”

“No. Cutting off his arm would ruin Rian’s life.”

“But then he will die! Rian will die!”

“Even if he dies, it can’t be helped. I won’t allow it.”

Shirone’s words pierced Tess’s chest like a dagger.

Of course, Shirone is Rian’s master. Even if he died, Rian would not blame him.

But then, who would understand her feelings?

“Tess, change the way you think. Rian wouldn’t want that.”

“I know! I also want Rian to become the greatest swordsman in the world! But that’s important to Rian, not to me! I don’t care if he loses an arm!”

“How can you say something so cruel?! Could you say the same in front of Rian?”

“That’s why I’m going to do it! Since he’s unconscious, I’ll do it my way! Rian will abandon the sword! So you give up too! Doctor, start already!”

“He is holding the sword!”

Tess’s face, which had turned toward Rian, turned pale.

“Look at Rian! Even now he’s holding the sword! Even if only bones remain, he’s still fighting! And you want to amputate?! Until Rian gives up, no one can tell him to give up!”

Tess looked at Rian’s arm.

Why wouldn’t he let go of the sword? Did he intend to remain Shirone’s sword until the moment of his death? If so, she could never have him just for herself.

But it did not matter. Because that was Rian. Precisely because he was that Rian……

“I love him too much.”

Tess buried her face in Rian’s chest.

She would not treat him. If he kept holding the sword until the last moment, then even in death he would remain a swordsman.

From Rian’s mouth came a faint voice.

“Te……ss……”

Tess’s head snapped up.

“Rian! I’m here! Are you conscious? Does it hurt a lot?”

“Shirone, Shirone is……”

“It’s okay! He came back safe and sound! This is Jis’s home! You’re the one most injured!”

Rian moved and lifted his upper body. When he looked at his right arm, which was only bone, his friends’ hearts sank.

“What is this?”

Breaking expectations, Rian did not move a single eyebrow. Being able to remain calm upon seeing his destroyed arm showed a superhuman will.

Tess understood that Shirone was right. He knew. From the day Rian made his knight’s oath, how much determination he had engraved into his sword.

“Why is my arm like this? How did it end up so destroyed?”

Rian was only annoyed. Since the nerves had disappeared, he felt no pain. He did not even feel that the hand holding the sword was his.

“Rian, it’s just that……”

At that moment, the greatsword fell from his arm with a dull sound. The bones of the five fingers opened and blood spurted from the shoulder.

“Rian! Rian!”

The doctor pressed his shoulder while shouting.

“The hemorrhage has started! Bring hemostatic agents and bandages!”

No one moved.

As the doctor looked at them with murderous eyes, a strange sound came from Rian’s arm.

Gloop. Gloop.

It was like the sound of a viscous liquid stirring.

The doctor turned his head and, like the others, looked at Rian’s arm in confusion.

The blood dripping from the shoulder was taking shape.

It was impossible. Not even an archmage of recovery could cause a change in the nature of blood.

“You… what on earth are you…?”

Rian calmly watched as his arm was restored. As the nerves recovered, he began to feel it as his own. Carefully checking each muscle fiber, he asked his friends.

“What happened? Can someone explain it to me?”

“You ate a giant’s arm. You cut off his arm, and that giant made you eat it. It turned into something like the liquid used in the liquor of anecdotes and went down your throat.”

“I cut off an arm? From a giant?”

It was not a complete memory, only fragments, but the scene of cutting off Ymir’s arm vaguely came to his mind.

‘At least I landed a good hit.’

When he tensed his arm, he felt a powerful strength. Could it also be a secret of the liquor of anecdotes?

At that moment, the place fell silent. When Rian looked around, everyone had their mouths open.

“What’s wrong? You look like people seeing muscles for the first time.”

“Are you really okay? It looks like even your skin is regenerating.”

“That’s right. I’m fine.”

Shirone shouted.

“That’s not it, idiot! We’re asking how this is possible!”

“I don’t know. It just happened like this, so I guess it’s like this.”

No matter how brave he was, it was his own body. Shouldn’t he at least be suspicious?

Perhaps it was not bravery, but simple stupidity.

“Done! He woke up!”

The mages in charge of Canis shouted.

Canis slightly raised himself, looked around with half-closed eyes, and said with a frown.

“What noise. I’m so sleepy I could die, don’t wake me up.”

Then he lay back down and fell deeply asleep.

After being tormented by the sleep demon’s object, it was a normal reaction, but given the circumstances, his friends felt more confused than anything else.

Arin stroked Canis’s head and whispered.

“Sleep well, Canis.”

***

After returning from the sky, for 3 days Shirone’s group received extremely dedicated patient care from Jis and Yuna.

They slept an average of 16 hours a day, and their routine was to sleep, eat, and sleep again.

When they gathered in the living room at dusk to eat, Shirone told them what had happened in the sky.

But he kept silent about the final war.

Rian frequently broke things with his right arm. His strength had increased to an uncontrollable level. Tess told him it would take time to develop the fine muscles needed to adjust his strength precisely.

Tess, whenever she had time, cleaned and maintained the drone. She did not part from it for even a moment, and even while sleeping she caressed it while making ghostly sounds, which made Amy and Arin tremble in fear every night.

Canis and Arin spent a lot of time talking alone. It seemed they had obtained what they wanted in the sky, but they did not tell anyone. They only honestly confessed that the one who reduced Kadum’s lifespan was him.

Amy walked around with the ancient spirit Jack O Lantern lit. When she pointed at the sparks jumping and said they were cute, Rian would tell her that Amy was even cuter.

When the men and women gathered separately, Amy would look at Shirone for a long time. However, true to her meticulous nature, she never let her friends notice.

Shirone sat on the sofa and often fell into deep thought. At those times, the face of the archangel Ikael was the first thing that appeared in his mind.

The perception of Ataraxia was still engraved in his mind with a lingering warmth.

Everyone who went to the sky obtained certain results, but no one received a gift as great as Shirone.

Canis complained that it was unfair and asked him to teach him the secret, but what he did not know, he did not know.

‘Ikael… are you okay?’

Due to the characteristics of its function, the Metagate could not be brought back and had to be left in the sky. Although the coordinates were reset, with the technology of the sky they might be able to find a way to bypass the labyrinth’s space-time with that alone.

However, at the last moment, Kariel could not disobey Ikael’s recommendation. As long as she remained on the side of humans, the final war would not occur.

On the other hand, he wanted to see her again. Remembering Peophe, who despite grumbling had a soft heart, nostalgia overwhelmed him.

“Shirone, let’s go to sleep. For today it’s better to rest well.”

Amy was standing in pajamas. Her figure illuminated by the moonlight was beautiful.

Both had spent days feeling the need to talk about something. But in the end, they simply looked at each other and smiled.

“Yes, let’s sleep.”

Shirone entered the room where the men slept. In the small attic-like space, Rian’s snoring echoed. Beside him, Canis slept with both ears covered by a pillow.

Shirone sat in a corner and looked into the darkness. Thinking that everything he had experienced was real, a chill ran through his body. In Shirone’s eyes, which smiled with tension, the light of the stars was reflected.

That night.

Jis, who had returned after finishing his work at the port, burst the door open and entered. Breathing heavily, he looked around and ran straight to the room where the men were sleeping.

“It’s serious! Wake up! Quickly!”

As he opened the door and shouted, one of Canis’s pillows flew and hit his face with a “Thump!”. No one woke up. After having gone to the sky, it seemed that nothing could truly be considered serious.

“Wake up already! Don’t get mad at me later!”

Shirone woke up rubbing his eyes.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“Wake the others and come down quickly! We have to leave now!”

With no time to explain, Jis turned around and went down to the first floor. Then he burst into the room where the girls were sleeping.

“Girls! Wake up! Yuna, you too, quickly!”

“Ugh… what is it…?”

Amy, who was sleeping deeply, was sprawled like an animal. But as she regained consciousness, she immediately understood the situation and turned her head with a fierce look.

“Hey! How dare you come into a room where women are sleeping like this?! Do you want to die?!”

“Ah! Sorry! It’s urgent!”

Jis realized his mistake when he saw the girls in pajamas. Tess, who slept showing her navel, looked like an adult no matter when you saw her. But there was no time to lose, so he grabbed Amy’s hand and pulled her.

“Get up, or you’ll regret it later!”

“Alright, alright. Fine. Girls, wake up everyone. It seems Jis has something to say.”

“Ahh… so tiring. What is it?”

Meanwhile, the boys came down the stairs rubbing their sleepy eyes. Shirone, feeling guilty for having stayed awake unnecessarily at night and losing hours of sleep, peeked toward the girls’ room.

Arin and Tess were fixing the blankets, and Amy was being dragged out by Jis with sleepy eyes.

“This better be important. I’m going to hit you twice for entering the room.”

“Whatever! When you hear it, you’ll change your mind!”

After several inconveniences, everyone gathered in the living room.

Jis thought about the best moment to speak without making his friends die of a heart attack, and opened his mouth.

“Do you know what day it is today?”

“No. Your birthday?”

“No! It’s the day that comes once every 10 years…!”

At that moment, Yuna, who had woken up late, ran out of the girls’ room and shouted,

“Brother! Kaios! Kaios!”

Shirone tilted his head and asked.

“What is Kaios?”

Jis, not to be outdone by Yuna, shouted even louder.

“Water dragon! The water dragon Kaios is coming this way!”

***

“Sir, go a bit faster!”

The carriage carrying Shirone’s group sped toward the port.

Amy bit her lips anxiously. Since they had no time to prepare, she was still in her pajamas.