Any seasoned expert standing here would probably tell at a glance that the two figures locked together in the yard, one blue and one silver, had pushed the fight to a life-or-death struggle.
But oddly enough, not one of the onlookers around them made a move to stop it.
In fact, some were even egging them on, shouting from the sidelines:
"Both of you, hit harder! It's a fight to the death, so go for the kill! Or do you not trust Iri's healing magic?"
Hearing Laurier stir the pot without a shred of restraint, both Leon and the called-out Iri turned their faces away in embarrassment, the corners of their eyes twitching.
But in the end he said nothing. In fact... a faint anticipation rose in his heart too.
Women fighting, and going all-out at that, holding nothing back. Forget how good that looked!
It looked great, he loved watching it, he wanted to watch!
Sure enough.
As if sensing the crowd's brimming anticipation, the blue-haired woman in the yard, Rose, glanced at the bunch lined up against the wall, raised a hand to tuck her slightly mussed hair behind her ear, gave a helpless little smile, and drew in a deep breath.
Then she lifted her head and looked at Kureha, the Sword Saint, standing not far away with her blade held level and her expression growing ever more grave. Parting her lips, Rose gave a warning:
"Kureha, now that the warm-up's over... from here on, I won't be going easy on you. Watch yourself!"
The Sword Saint tightened her knuckles, steadied her grip on the hilt, and the soft click of the mechanism locking into place settled her nerves.
As long as she had a blade in hand, she feared no one, not even Rose, who stood a full level above her and likewise possessed a permanent ability to fight across level gaps!
"Bring it o..."
!?
Kureha hadn't even finished speaking when the onlookers saw a streak of pure white light flash past.
The next second...
Kureha, who'd been braced and ready, went flying backward at high speed, blood spraying through the air like a kite with its string cut.
Her back slammed hard into the courtyard wall with a dull, heart-stopping thud.
There was no need to look. Just from the heavy sound of the impact, you knew she hadn't gotten off lightly.
The crowd swallowed in unison, throats bobbing furiously.
They stiffly turned their necks, eyes fixed blankly on the yard.
Rose stood there in a forward lunge, slowly drawing back the left elbow that had just landed a brutal critical hit on Kureha. Noticing the crowd's stares, she lifted her head and gave them that same familiar, gentle smile.
Only... that smile, normally so reassuring, was anything but reassuring to them now. It was downright terrifying!
Laurier shivered, forced out a stiff smile, and muttered under her breath to Aura beside her:
"Aura... don't you think Rose's personality is... maybe just a teensy bit cunning?"
Leon's mouth twitched. He silently looked up at the sky and said nothing, but inside he was already lighting a candle for the loose-lipped elf girl.
Laurier, you've already found yourself a way to die.
And sure enough, Rose's smile froze for an instant, and then her gaze locked, slow and quiet, onto the elf girl who'd been whispering about her behind her back.
She narrowed her eyes, the corner of her lips curving into a meaningful arc, her tone gentle but drawn out long:
"Oh ara~? Laurier~~ what was that you... just said~~?"
Laurier went rigid all over, alarm bells screaming in her head:
Rose right now is terrifying!!
...
...
"Ohhhhhh nooo!"
"Rose, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Stop hitting me, aaah!"
Leon, Jeanne, Aura, and the others turned their faces away, biting back laughter, and pretended not to see the brutal scene of Rose disciplining (read: beating) Laurier. Instead, with practiced ease, Leon took Iri's little hand and gave it a squeeze, then jerked his chin toward Kureha, signaling her to go help the Sword Saint still coughing up blood in the rubble.
"Iri, I'll leave Kureha to you."
Knowing it was her turn to step up again, Iri's flushed little face went serious, and she nodded earnestly.
Then, without so much as moving closer, she unfolded a magic circle right where she stood and quickly chanted her magic.
A milky-white magical radiance spread out with the magic circle, enveloping everyone nearby.
Feeling the comfort that set every cell in her body cheering, Jeanne marveled:
"White Grail, huh. Iri's healing magic, the way it feels to me... it's practically on par with Miss Heith Velvet's Zeo Gullveig and Miss Airmid's Dia Fratel..."
"For our familia, Iri's ability alone has raised our team's overall combat strength by a huge margin."
Leon nodded in agreement with Jeanne's assessment.
"Tsk, whether a team has a top-tier healer anchoring it is a completely different story."
Unlike ordinary healers who still needed to get close, or even make physical contact, to cast their healing magic, the long-range, wide-area healing magic Irisviel commanded had long set her apart as something entirely different from them.
Look at the Freya Familia's Golden Witch, then look at the Dian Cecht Familia's Dea Saint. The reason they could sit firmly at the top of Orario's healer rankings was precisely the same type of wide-area healing magic Iri had.
And Iri, even though her level was currently stuck at only Lv. 1, that did nothing to diminish the outstanding performance of her healing magic. After all, those two renowned healers were themselves only Lv. 1 and Lv. 2.
In other words... the moment Iri received her Falna and awakened her healing magic, she'd already stood at the finish line that countless healers spend their whole lives unable to reach.
"Tsk, looks like healing magic is just born a cut above the other types of magic. Even without the boost of levels, Basic Abilities, development abilities, or skills, it can easily steamroll magic of every other attribute."
"Truly the noble team healer."
The mere thought of having Iri backing him up on future Dungeon runs stretched Leon's grin god knows how wide.
Heh heh, Iri's existence was about more than just being a healer.
Maybe Jeanne, Rose, and the others only saw Iri's importance to the team in terms of her terrifying wide-area healing. But what Leon valued more was something else entirely: having Iri, this "mobile fountain," along for the run would save the party a massive pile of money on medicine!
Potions, High Potions, and the sky-priced Elixirs...
Every deep dive into the Dungeon, weren't they burning through them by the crate?
Was what they drank really medicine?
Bullshit. What they were drinking was clearly Leon's blood!
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