Zavier and Dahila left Valerie in the tent and went outside to give Calista some space for correct diagnosis.
After a while, Calista came outside while rubbing her hands and sighs escaped her mouth continuously. Both Zavier and Dahila grew worried that there might have been some complications.
"Don't be too worried. It's just that her situation is more precarious than I thought. The toxin had been too widespread for me to have drawn it out. Usual poisons take some time to spread but this toxin had been engineered to spread rapidly upon coming into contact with blood. It has already taken root inside her body and drawing it out forcefully would have caused harm to her body too. Therefore, I did what I could. I stopped it from propagating any further and Valerie can even use magic without causing its effect to spread further in her body but the weakness that she has been feeling will remain that way until the school delivers the antidote for the poison."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. What you have done is already good enough. This will help us get through this situation and that is all I need for the moment. We can fight our way out to safety and then I can get treated as well."
Valerie had opened her mouth to answer this time. She had expected that Calista wouldn't be able to do anything at all to help but on the contrary she had stopped the promulgation ability of the toxin so easily.
Calista stared at the wooden box following that. It was still there hanging by the side of Zavier looking all harmless.
"So, this little box is the root cause of all this?"
She was quite curious about the box that had caused them so much trouble and tried to look through it with her perception ability. To her astonishment, even she was unable to look through the contents of the box. The barrier surrounding the box had been cast too ingeniously for her to be able to decipher it.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"This box is not as simple as it appears so don't bother trying to check its contents. The contents are not something that you or I could check. The boundary surrounding the box is so strong that I can't even tell what kind of boundary it is let alone how to break it."
If even Valerie had been unable to look inside, Calista wouldn't even come close to figuring it all out. After all, Valerie was considered to be a genius when it came to boundaries and barriers.
She could set one or break one up in a matter of seconds with her eyes closed. In contrast Calista didn't even come close.
Calista took a look at the box once again and then at the one who was carrying it around on his waist. Compared to them, he was a walking target.
"Why don't you give it to me? It's dangerous for you to carry it around like that. If Shiranui found out that something happened to you during the mission and she might not get a chance to apologize to you, the guilt would forever remain with her. She won only because you were trying to protect her and she not only took the win but also injured you in the process. How could that kind of guilt just go away? So, you better not die and break my most prodigious student."
"It's okay. I can manage this much at least. The responsibility to keep me safe relies on you, after all. If you can't do that then we might as well throw it to the enemies for safe passage."
Calista was dumbfounded after hearing what he had to say. He had so easily shifted all the responsibility to her and had left Valerie out of it all. But she couldn't find anything wrong with it either. She was irritated but she couldn't find fault with a single statement of his after all, no one would pursue responsibility with Valerie when she was injured and Calista on the other hand was perfectly fine.
In his heart, Zavier felt that it was a little unexpected that Shiranui was still carrying on what had happened in the past. He had already forgotten all about it. But surprisingly enough, that girl whom he had thought to be heartless had actually carried the guilt of that event with her with the intent to make everything right soon.
Calista had conveyed what she wanted to anyway so she didn't linger on the topic any longer but had given food for thought to Zavier to ease the way for her student.
They had all been talking out in the open for some time. It was already the afternoon and the situation had been calm ever since the mage had been wiped out. There had been no indication of an enemy or anyone else for that matter. To curb the boredom, the only thing they could have done was chat. As it turned out, Calista was quite chatty and began to tell them all kinds of stories and events that they had not been privy to. Sometimes, Valerie would make an addition to what she was saying but otherwise only smiled to the side.
Zavier was only taking in everything like a whale gulping down sea water. His knowledge base regarding the world came from the Zavier Adam who had never come into contact with magic and was not very learned as well. Therefore, Zavier lacked knowledge that Calista had been imparting to them.
It was then that the partition that acted like the door to the tent parted towards the side and Alissa walked out with a bent posture. She was still rubbing her head and scratching it with her fingers trying to straighten her bed hair. To Zavier she appeared exceptionally cute even when she was acting that way.
She ran her eyes over the people who were busy talking and chatting with each other and noticed someone that shouldn't have been there at all; Teacher Calista. The moment she saw Calista, her mind that was still fuzzy from the excessive sleep that she had just woken from, told her some horror story that confused her further. Her eyes widened and she addressed Calista in panic and fear.
"Teacher you should not be here, It is very dangerous here. Quickly go back."
Everyone was able to hear her words so they all let out a hail of laughter at her.
Alissa was unable to understand what they were laughing about when Teacher Calista's life was in danger.
"Don't worry, I came to solve that danger for you. So, you can rest assured that I will be okay."
Though Calista laughed along with them, she was touched to see that the girl was more worried about her getting in danger instead of asking for help when her own life was at stake.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThis was a moment for all of them to relax and feel better after the stress of the previous day. Nobody had been able to rest considering the threat looming all around them and an enemy watching their every move.
Most of all, Valerie had been injured and had not had a single moment of respite since then because of the effect of the poison.
Arrival of Calista was a big deal to all of them. It had made their morning brighter and the night peaceful, most of all life had returned in their very being. The lost souls had returned to their bodies and they were busy making merry; after all, the threat had already been eliminated by Valerie and Calista earlier. Now, unless there was another wave of even stronger enemies employed by the individual who wanted the wooden box, they were safe for the most part considering they were not more than three days away from home.
But when Zavier saw Calista among them and recalled her words about the yellow skinned girl, he couldn't help but think of her. He lost focus and was in a state where he was able to hear the chatter around him but was unable to understand even a little of it. His thoughts dragged him elsewhere towards the yellow skinned girl named Shiranui.
He remembered how utterly focused and merciless Shiranui had seemed when he had fought her. But he hadn't taken what had happened in the end to his heart. Instead, it was that girl who still remembered it all and probably felt guilty about the way she had won. And that was only if Calista's words could be believed.
From what he had seen, Calista seemed pretty genuine about everything that wasn't related to Valerie. About Valerie though, her opinions seemed a little biased towards herself.
Zavier had felt Shiranui's unquenchable drive to win that he himself had been lacking. He didn't know what made her feel that way about a simple competition but it seemed as if she had been fighting a life and death battle.
Zavier was sure that even if it had been a deathmatch, Shiranui still wouldn't have backed out or conceded defeat. She would have rather died than accept defeat. Zavier knew because he had seen it in her eyes, the resolution to be strong, the fighting spirit and the unbending will. What he wanted to know was why she wanted to win so badly? Was she on some kind of an ego trip? Or was it something else?
He had to know what was the case with her so he proceeded to ask Calista about it.
"Teacher, I want to ask you something if it is okay with you."
Calista saw the look on his face and seemed to understand what he was going to ask but still wanted to hear him say it before giving her answer.
"Ask me anything you want."
"Why was Shiranui so obsessed with winning that match? It wasn't that important a fight, so why go that far for it?"