Leon shot up from the rattan chair, eyes locked intently on the center of the magic circle, his heart pounding with anticipation.
Gradually, a humanoid silhouette began to take shape above the circle, though there was a small difference compared to the previous two summons of Jeanne and Rose.
For instance...
"Huh!?"
Leon's eyes flew wide open, a disbelieving, cracked cry escaping his lips.
"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell is going on!?"
Without taking time to think, he sprinted forward.
A silver-haired figure lay silently on the ground, a searing red spreading rapidly from beneath her, in a matter of moments soaking the stone tiles of the courtyard into a horrifying pool of blood!
"Injuries like this..."
Leon drew in a sharp breath through his teeth and gave her a quick examination. What he found left him shaken.
The horrifying wounds covering her entire body, some of them deep enough to expose bone, and the completely missing right arm and left leg, made his scalp tingle and cold sweat pour down his back.
What kind of brutal battle had she been through to take injuries like this?
Surviving wounds like these wasn't something you could chalk up to luck!
Good news: the new recruit had been successfully summoned!
Bad news: only half of her!
"Leon, what happened? We sensed a powerful surge of magic just now..."
Jeanne and Rose's voices came from the kitchen doorway. Both still wore aprons, and Jeanne was even holding a stir-fry spatula. Clearly, Rose had been giving Jeanne a cooking lesson.
But the moment their eyes landed on the figure collapsed in a pool of blood in the courtyard, every word caught in their throats.
"As you can see, summoning went sideways."
Jeanne and Rose dropped the cookware with a clatter and rushed forward. Rose cradled the woman's neck and torso, Jeanne scooped under her knees, and the two of them carried her into the house.
"I'm getting the Holy Elixir," Leon called after them, already heading for the storage cabinet.
In the guest room, Jeanne and Rose had the silver-haired girl on the bed. They were wiping the blood off her ruined body with damp cloths when Leon came in with the glowing vial.
"Missing an arm and a leg, this much blood loss, and still alive. It's a miracle."
Jeanne's voice was low.
Leon handed the elixir to Rose. "Here."
Rose popped the cork. A refreshing breath of life filled the air.
She leaned down to begin the treatment, and without looking up, spoke to Laurier and Aura at the wall.
"Leon. She's undressed."
"Yeah, yeah."
Leon raised a hand and stepped out.
...
...
Leon settled into the rattan chair under the eaves and watched the rain come down while he waited.
An hour passed.
The guest room door finally opened. Jeanne and Rose stepped out.
"The treatment's done. She'll live."
Leon nodded. "I'll get you two something to eat after you clean up."
Jeanne and Rose headed for the washroom.
"She's still weak," Rose added over her shoulder. "Don't say anything that'll rattle her when she wakes up."
"I know."
...
Inside the guest room.
The moment Leon stepped in, his entire attention was seized by the figure on the bed.
It was a beauty with a pale complexion, eyes tightly shut, still deep in sleep.
A cascade of silver hair, long enough to drape over her shoulders, spread across the sheets, making her look like a fairy from legend, achingly delicate.
But... even in her sleep, Leon could clearly sense the ever-present, razor-sharp aura radiating from her.
When he focused and took a closer look, recognizing the faintly familiar, stunning beauty of her features, and the distinctive teardrop mole at the corner of her eye, Leon's lips curved up silently.
Silver hair, teardrop mole, sharp and alluring, plus a swordswoman's identity...
Her name was practically on the tip of his tongue...
Kureha Clyret!
The silver-haired beauty from a great noble house, born into a legendary lineage of swordsmanship. Wielder of top-tier sword skills, slayer of countless demons and monsters, crowned by the kingdom with the title of "Sword Saint."
"Kureha... it's actually her."
"If it's her, then these nearly fatal injuries aren't so surprising after all."
He had a faint impression of this beauty's exploits.
She seemed to have always been active on the front lines, fighting tooth and nail in the kingdom's wars against demons and monsters.
And if she was on the battlefield, injuries were inevitable.
As the saying went, you can't walk by the river without getting your shoes wet.
Day after day crossing blades with enemies, once you embraced the resolve to slay them, you had to be ready to be slain yourself. And on a battlefield of split-second shifts and spilled blood, anything could happen.
Like... a high-tier monster suddenly leaping out from some dark corner, silently striking at her back with a fatal blow... running into something like that, even if you lived, you'd still lose a layer of skin.
Clearly, Kureha had encountered an enemy beyond her ability to match, which was why she had ended up in such a wretched state.
"Thank god I had the Holy Elixir. Otherwise..."
Thinking about the alternative, Leon couldn't help a shiver.
Would I have just had to watch her die?
He pressed his lips together, gaze fixed on the sleeping Kureha.
Looking at her, Leon felt the full weight of how cruel and unpredictable combat could be.
This realization pushed him, already a cautious person by nature, to quietly make a resolution:
From now on in battle, he absolutely could not let himself get swept up in the heat of combat, let his blood go to his head. No matter how fierce the fight, he had to keep an ironclad calm.
Only that way could he minimize accidents, avoid losing what mattered to him, and spare himself lifelong regret.
Quietly clenching his fist, Leon drew a deep breath and gradually let himself relax.
"Thank god. A terrible ending like that didn't happen."
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