It seems the flow of magic power inside my body has worsened, but before giving a detailed explanation, Fiora continues the examination.

An examination, huh… In my previous life, what would come after a blood test?

Maybe listening to the chest with a stethoscope?

In contrast, right now I’m being made to grip some kind of stick, or having a strange board pressed against my forehead.

Is this the standard kind of examination in this world, or is it something more magical…? I can’t really tell, but judging from Fiora’s expression, it doesn’t seem all that serious.

For a while, I let Fiora do as she pleased, but it seems the examination is now finished, and she starts putting the tools back into a box.

Once that’s done, she comes over to me.

“Alright… Now then, let me explain. You can lie down now.”

“Okay.”

I had been sitting for the examination, but my body still feels sluggish.

If I’m allowed to lie down, I’ll gladly take her up on that.

I lie down on the bed and pull the blanket up to my neck. Fiora, who had paused the conversation, opens her mouth again.

“As for your symptoms, it’s just as I explained earlier. When you destroyed that stone pillar, you were exposed to a massive amount of magical particles, which has caused the flow of magic in your body to deteriorate. It’s not a commonly known condition, but among alchemists, it’s actually quite frequent.”

“…Hoh.”

As I let out a small murmur, Fiora continues.

“Alchemists often imbue or extract magical energy from tools and materials for medicine, but inexperienced ones can’t regulate it properly and end up absorbing too much. It’s similar to that.”

I kind of get it, but not really… She compared it to alcohol earlier, so I guess it’s like a kind of overdose. Still, magic and food or alcohol poisoning are totally different things, right?

I glance over at Seriana. She also seems unsure, tilting her head in confusion.

“…So, in the end, is there a treatment? From what you said, it doesn’t seem like it’s that serious…”

Seriana asked Fiora while occasionally glancing at me.

Well… that’s the crucial part.

She did say it’s relatively common, so if there’s a way to deal with it, I want to know.

“You’ll need to wait for the magic in your body to be naturally replaced. The more magic power someone has, the faster the circulation, so recovery is quicker… But in your case… hmm. One week to ten days… maybe a bit longer.”

Knowing how useless my magic is, Fiora gives a wry smile.

So, I won’t recover immediately, but I will recover properly.

That’s a relief.

If this was something incurable that would leave me suffering for life… I might have regretted pushing myself back then. But if it’s just this much, I can handle it.

In that case…

“I see… So I’ll recover, but is there anything I should be careful about?”

Seriana asks what I was just about to say.

Since she mentioned the magic will naturally cycle out, maybe I just need to rest quietly?

“Don’t use magic. It won’t make the condition worse, but it will affect your overall health. Sera, your face looked quite pale earlier—did you use a blessing?”

“Yeah. I thought it was from the bath, but… maybe it was because we went deeper inside?”

I didn’t use 【Floating Orb】, but I had activated 【Hideout】 at the time.

It seems that 【Hideout】 uses magical particles for various functions, and the activation might have used my own magic power.

Just as Fiora described, the symptoms felt like a headache or a hangover… So that’s probably it.

“Since blessings haven’t been thoroughly researched, I can’t say for certain, but they often use at least a small amount of magic. From what I just examined, your magic flow was quite disrupted—using 【Hideout】 was likely the direct cause. This is one of those cases where my potions won’t help, so just stay still until it heals naturally. And of course, don’t use any Blessed Items either.”

“Nnnngh… Got it.”

So even potions won’t work, huh.

I don’t usually rely on them, but I still had this image that, depending on the quality, they could heal just about anything… But I guess potions aren’t omnipotent.

Well, most potions derive their effects from normal ingredients with magical energy added in, so maybe they’re just not a good match for this.

Still, even if potions don’t work, the ban on blessings and Blessed Items too… Not long ago, I went through a period without using 【Floating Orb】, but this time, it’s everything.

No 【Prayer】, no 【Mira’s Blessing】… It’s been a while since I’ve gone without anything.

Ah, that’s right.

“I wonder… will Akame be affected?”

The snake I coexist with.

He supposedly feeds on my magic, so I wonder if this will affect him.

From what I saw earlier, he seemed normal, though…

“Oh right, your contracted beast. Since he doesn’t use magic per se, I don’t think there will be a problem. But I’ll be staying in this mansion for a while, so if anything happens, just call me.”

With that, Fiora grabs her belongings and leaves the room.

“…She seems really busy, huh?”

It’s a relief that Akame and the others don’t seem to be affected, but I didn’t even get a chance to thank her.

“After you collapsed, she recovered some of the stone pillar debris. When I went to her room, she was writing something… I imagine she wants to analyze it in the underground lab.”

Leaning against the bedroom door, Seriana shrugs as she watches Fiora leave.

“…Ahh, I see.”

I remember her mentioning it’s banned within the country…

Even though she had the knowledge, it was probably her first time seeing the real thing. Maybe something in her was triggered by that experience?

“This time it happened here, but there might be similar things elsewhere in the country. Researching it isn’t a bad idea for future preparation. Anyway, how’s your appetite? It’s almost lunchtime…”

“Ugh…”

My stomach feels like it’s churning a bit.

I don’t feel like eating anything heavy…

“Something light would be nice…”

“Alright. I’ll have something brought to your room. You just rest.”

“Ah, okay.”

Before I could finish my sentence, Seriana had already left the room.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・ Blessing ・【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】 【Mira’s Blessing】 【Wind’s Garment】 Blessed Item ・【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】 +1 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 【Monkey’s Arm】 ・8 cards

Seriana ・【Range Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena ・【】・【Green Fang】 【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec ・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards