Chapter 17: And So, We Departed for the Borderlands

Several days had passed since Sir Claudius’s arm was successfully healed.

Since we still didn’t know whether it was safe to put it under full strain right away, we were observing his condition while treating it as rehabilitation.

Because of the time he had been unable to move it, some stiffness and loss of strength were inevitable.

How to reconcile that gap would depend on his instincts as a knight, so all we could do was wait patiently.

During that time, I was given ample opportunity to think things through.

But for the most part, my heart was already decided.

That was because I had been able to heal his arm.

…It seemed I truly did have talent.

And there was no doubt that the place where I could make the best use of it was the Grandra Border Marquessate.

After hearing about the unsavory atmosphere of the ducal knight order, I had no desire to work with such knight orders in the capital.

I wanted to be able to heal people like him who were in trouble, using my magic.

That was what I thought.

“Sir Claudius.”

“Yes, Sister Ellen.”

I called out to Sir Claudius, who was behind the church, repeatedly practicing sword forms with a wooden sword in hand.

“How is your condition now?”

“Well, my strength may have declined a bit compared to before, but… in terms of movement, there’s no problem.
It feels as though I was never injured at all.”

“That’s wonderful to hear.”

“…Um, Sister.”

“Yes?”

“…Of course I should be grateful, but.”

Sir Claudius looked at me with a conflicted expression.

“To be honest, it still doesn’t feel real.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Yes.
I had resigned myself to living my entire life with that unmoving arm and the lingering pain.
And now… this.”

As he said that, Sir Claudius swung his right arm energetically back and forth.

“That’s understandable…”

Even I, who had healed him, was shocked.

I mean, I wanted to heal him, but I hadn’t really believed it would completely heal.

I thought that if I gave it my all, maybe the pain would lessen a bit, or he’d regain a small amount of movement.

That was all I expected.

And yet, it was a complete recovery.

We had even ended up exchanging dry laughs, looking at each other like, ‘What do we do with this situation?’

‘Is this real?’
‘Wait, seriously?’
‘It’s actually healed?’

That kind of bewilderment was all there was.

“So yes, I understand in my head that I can never thank you enough.
But the emotion that should accompany that understanding hasn’t caught up yet.
I feel like I should be more grateful to you, but my heart hasn’t reached that point yet.”

Even the person who had been healed was confused.

That was only natural.

To put it dramatically, it was like someone who had lost an arm being told, ‘We might be able to ease the pain,’ and then suddenly their arm grew back.

The shock was overwhelming.

Confusion came first, and the emotion couldn’t catch up.

Honestly, I didn’t quite feel it either.

Still, there was no doubt his arm moved now, and his life had changed drastically.

He would probably come to truly realize it gradually, as he lived with that functioning arm.

“I am grateful.
I truly am.
But I don’t know how to convey that gratitude to you.”

“Well, I’m still surprised myself, so… I don’t really know either.”

“If you are heading to the borderlands, then I will stake my life on serving as your guard.”

“That might be a bit much.
If you died, the arm I worked so hard to heal would go to waste.”

“Haha, you’re right.
It would be ‘wasteful.’”

He laughed brightly.

The gloom that had once surrounded him seemed to have lifted.

Something about his words caught my attention.

“Sir Claudius, are you still planning to go to the borderlands even though your arm is healed?
You mentioned serving as my guard.”

“Yes, that hasn’t changed.
To be honest, I don’t want my former knight order to find out that my arm has healed.”

“I see…”

That made sense.

If they acted out of jealousy again, it would be unbearable.

And I had heard that after being dismissed from the knight order, he had struggled to find new employment.

There might even have been pressure applied from somewhere.

Given who his opponent was, confronting them directly would be difficult.

It would be better to live peacefully in a distant land, without deeply involving oneself with those people.

…He must have had complicated feelings.

During the time his arm wouldn’t move, his resentment must have been deep.

And now that it was healed…

Thinking that far, I spoke.

“Sir Claudius, you might be similar to me.”

“Similar to you, Sister Ellen?”

“Yes, in the circumstances we’ve endured.
I was nearly driven out of the place I once belonged to as well.
Fortunately, I took precautions in advance and managed to escape, but otherwise, I might have been expelled under far worse conditions.”

I had been fortunate, or perhaps miraculously so.

Because of that strange dream, whether it was foresight or regression, I avoided a rock-bottom fate.

A divine will, or mere caprice.

In the vivid dream I later saw, I had even lost my life.

Compared to that, my current circumstances were quite blessed.

Sir Claudius, too, had been unfairly cornered in life.

If he had gone to the borderlands with an unusable arm and somehow found work there, who knew what would have happened.

He surely understood that as well.

If it came to fighting magical beasts, he might have lost his life.

That risk still existed now, but the difference between having his dominant arm usable and not was enormous.

“If that’s the case, then I want to thank you for escaping and coming here as well.”

“For escaping?”

“Yes.
Because if you hadn’t done so and hadn’t been here, my arm would still be unusable.”

“Hehe, I suppose that’s true.”

“Yes, it is.”

What a strange bond.

You never know how life will turn, or what connections you will make.

In the world of my dreams, I had never met Sir Claudius.

And yet now, here we were, laughing together.

Ah, this wasn’t bad.

Could I make more people smile like this in the future?

I surely had that power, that talent.

…So.

“Sir Claudius.”

“Yes, Sister Ellen.”

“I’ve decided to go to the Grandra Border Marquessate.
I want to properly use this power, and if I can make more people smile like you…
I think that would be a wonderful life.”

Perhaps this, too, was something like fate.

If I truly had this level of talent.

Being a baron’s wife was hardly a fitting role.

“…Yes.
I can be proof that it is something wonderful.”

“Hehe, you’re right.
Then, Sir Claudius, would you be willing to serve as my guard on the journey there?
Um, as for wages, I’ll leave that to Father Ryuse.”

“Haha, understood.
I accept, Sister Ellen.
…Would it be romantic to swear a knight’s oath to you here and now, and call you my lord?”

“That would be a bit much.
If every patient had a dedicated knight, I’d never get any healing done.”

“Quite true.
But still… I am deeply grateful to you.”

“I accept your gratitude.”

“…Then, instead of a knight’s oath.”

“Yes?”

Sir Claudius said, smiling brightly.

“Please call me Richard.
Just my given name.”

I was slightly surprised by his words, but I soon returned his smile.

“Understood, Sir Richard.
I look forward to working with you.”

And so, we decided to set out for the borderlands together.