“……What are you doing?”

After somehow crawling out from the 【Hideout】, my eyes met Seriana’s as she sat on the sofa in the bedroom reading a book.

I’d only been inside for about 30 minutes, but it looked like she’d woken up during that time.

She had already changed clothes as well.

Seriana looked exasperated, but maybe she could tell I wasn’t feeling well—she came over, picked me up, and laid me down on the bed.

“And then… what happened? You didn’t look sick while you were sleeping, though?”

She asked as she dried my hair.

“I started feeling kind of sick while I was in the bath… Seria-sama, are you feeling alright?”

After getting out of the bath, my body was starting to feel even heavier.

Headache, fatigue, nausea… Maybe it’s because I was down in that underground burrow all night?

Thanks to alchemical technology, the underground facility might not have had mold or dust… but there were Undead there, so it wouldn’t be strange to feel sick afterward…

“I’m fine. …You don’t seem to have a fever. I’ll call Fiora, so stay put and rest.”

After drying my hair, Seriana said that, then floated toward the door on her 【Floating Orb】.

I hadn’t seen it earlier, but it looked like she’d left it rolled under the bed.

Seriana left the room, and I could hear the door to the adjacent room open too.

So instead of sending someone, she went to get Fiora herself…

Using the 【Floating Orb】 just to go to the next room—could it be that Seriana isn’t feeling well either…?

That thought crossed my mind, but it seemed like I was just overthinking it.

So… I’m the only one feeling unwell?

There were a lot of things I wanted to ask—like what happened while I was unconscious—but I figured I’d save them for later.

◇

After a while, Seriana came back into the room with Fiora.

It had taken a bit of time, but Fiora should still be using one of the rooms in the mansion.

If it was just to call her, it shouldn’t have taken long… but she was carrying something like a medicine box. Maybe getting that ready took time?

“Good morning. I heard you’re not feeling well.”

As soon as she entered the room, Fiora said that with only a brief greeting, looked at my face, then sat on the sofa beside the bed, placing the box on the table and starting some kind of preparation.

Is my complexion really that bad…?

“……Yeah.”

Either way, the fact that I wasn’t feeling well was true, so I gave Fiora a reply.

“I see. Can you sit up?”

“Yeah… here goes.”

I sluggishly raised my body, and seeing that, Seriana spoke up.

“You don’t have a fever, right? What about your right arm?”

“My right arm does hurt, but… it’s not that bad? Was it actually broken?”

“I didn’t examine it in detail, but yes, it was properly broken. The bone seems to have fused already, but you shouldn’t move it for a while.”

“Huh…”

Earlier, I moved my right hand quite a bit while washing my hair…

Maybe that’s what caused the pain to flare up?

That might’ve been careless of me.

Anyway, while Seriana and I were talking about that, Fiora seemed to have finished her preparations.

She sat down next to me with something in her hand.

Then she took my left hand and placed something in it…

“…What’s this?”

It was a small flask-like container, with a blue liquid inside and something like a thermometer sticking out of it.

A thermometer… maybe, but you could just touch someone to check their temperature.

“You’ll see in a moment. …Just channel a little magic into it.”

“Hm? Like this?”

As instructed, I let a small amount of magic flow into my hand… but there didn’t seem to be any change in the container.

After about 30 seconds, Fiora said “that’s enough,” then stirred the container and stared into it.

“…Seria-sama, do you know what that is?”

“I’ve never seen it before either…”

Seriana and I watched Fiora carefully, and after a moment, she seemed to figure something out and raised her head to face us.

“It’s just as I suspected. Sera… how much do you remember before you collapsed?”

“Huh? …Umm, up to when I destroyed the stone pillar…?”

I remember slicing it with the 【Shadow Sword】 and then falling to the floor, but that’s it.

Well… I probably passed out there, but what does that have to do with anything?

Fiora nodded once and continued speaking.

“You were exposed to the magical essence stored in the stone pillar. You’re suffering from magic essence poisoning.”

“…Oh.”

“Does that cause any abnormal symptoms?”

Magic essence poisoning… sounds bad. Is it dangerous?

Seriana must’ve been concerned too—she encouraged Fiora to continue.

“It’s alright. You didn’t drink any alcohol, right? It’s similar to a hangover. Taking in a large amount of magical essence disrupts the flow of magic within the body, and you’ll feel unwell for a while afterward.”

“…That’s really okay?”

I kind of understand, and kind of don’t… but if your magical flow is disrupted, it doesn’t sound all that okay to me…

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera ・Blessing・【Hideout】+1 【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Water’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 ・【Area Detection】・【】・0 cards

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

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