Chapter 230: Please Stay By My Side
The hospital room was immaculate. Perhaps to reassure the patients, a calming cotton scent tickled my nose.
“…Did we win?”
It was Maiev who broke the silence first.
I quietly shook my head. No matter how much she had tried, I couldn’t bring myself to lie.
If Maiev had used black magic during the duel, the result might have been different, but since she had only utilized her blue mana, the outco was inevitable.
Instead, I added a single phrase.
“But you didn’t lose either.”
“Didn’t lose….”
Maiev took the letter-shaped match list from my palm. When she confird the word “draw” written on it, a complex expression crossed her face.
“Well done.”
I praised her.
Even if Maiev had lost, I would have said the sa thing. I had clearly observed her abandoning everything related to the Vampires.
But achieving a draw was truly fortunate.
“Well done, you say….”
Maiev repeated my words with a bewildered look.
She blinked awkwardly like a doll moving uncomfortably. Her eyelids went down and then up again repeatedly, revealing blue pupils each ti, which felt distinctly awkward.
The red pupils were nowhere to be seen anymore.
…She was truly human now.
She wore sothing that might have been a smile.
“Is this a complint? For ?”
I quietly nodded.
“Yes. You did well. I watched your efforts closely.”
“It’s strange.”
Maiev’s lips curled up slightly.
“I thought it wouldn’t feel real at all, but it does. I didn’t do it to be praised, but now that I hear it, it feels good.”
Raising a hand to slowly touch her cheek, Maiev had a sentintal look in her eyes.
I genuinely held her in high regard as well.
Not because she had achieved a draw, and not because she had displayed an incredibly high-level magic that no one could surpass. But rather….
Because her attitude was truly befitting of a magician.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“As a Vampire, this might be the worst condition ever.”
Maiev shrugged her shoulders slightly as if to show . My face was reflected in her blue pupils.
Though her tone was light and self-deprecating, Maiev was undoubtedly shaken. It was understandable. She could never touch black magic again.
“From now on… I’ll never be a genius again, right?”
Maiev nodded to herself.
She must have understood well. Her body, having lost the concept of vitality, was quite fragile even among humans.
However.
“No.”
I confidently answered no.
“….”
A mont of silence filled the hospital room.
After a brief pause, Maiev asked again.
“…No?”
“Yes.”
I continued calmly.
“Being a genius isn’t solely determined by magical skills.”
“You an there are other criteria?”
“You will continue to learn magic with all your effort, won’t you?”
“Well, yes.”
Maiev nodded.
“Anyone can decide to give their best. However, continuing to give your best after losing everything, even after realizing your limits, is not sothing just anyone can do.”
“Hmm.”
“I believe that is the line that separates the ordinary from the geniuses. So, if you continue to do your best, I will gladly call you a genius.”
“….”
My words seed quite unexpected, and Maiev stood frozen like a statue for a mont.
After about three minutes of silence, Maiev let out a faint smile.
“Unexpected. I was prepared to hear harsh words.”
She suddenly seed to have a lot to say.
“When I first lost to Flan, and when I first connected with humans and participated in the representation, I always felt sothing peculiar, but nothing as peculiar as this.”
“You will feel it a lot more in the future.”
“So, I… ah….”
Maiev stopped mid-sentence. She hesitated several tis, moving her lips as if she had more to say.
“Is there sothing you want to say?”
Maiev looked at intently, a slight anxiousness in her expression.
She quickly added, “Please wait a mont. After fainting and waking up, my language skills are a ss. I’ll sort it out soon….”
“I’ll wait. We have ti, so take it slow.”
Even though I told her to take her ti, Maiev’s eyes rolled around anxiously.
Normally, I despise hastiness, but given that she brought an unexpected result of a draw, I could overlook this. Another ten minutes passed.
“Ah, right.”
Maiev nodded as if she had rembered sothing. Then she looked at intently and suddenly said,
“A request…. I have a request.”
“A request?”
“Is it right to call it a request? It’s not that difficult. No, it might be a bit difficult and botherso. Hmm.”
“What is it?”
“Well….”
Maiev’s face turned slightly red.
“Thank you for the kind words. I want to continue to do my best, and I need so help with that.”
“What kind of help are you asking for?”
“So…. I need motivation to keep trying. Sothing that drives to give my best at every mont. That’s what I’m asking for.”
Understanding what she ant, I nodded roughly.
“There’s no need to worry about learning. I promise to teach you with all my might.”
“Teaching? No, I don’t mind learning on my own. I’m talking about sothing else.”
“If it’s sothing trivial, you might as well stop here.”
“No, it’s not a trivial matter…!”
Maiev’s face turned even redder. She continued speaking in a louder voice than before.
“What I an is, please stay by my side!”
I didn’t fully understand her aning and was about to ask for clarification, but she spoke even faster.
“I’m now an ordinary, weak human. I’ve abandoned my Vampire origins. I’ve given up on black magic.”
“You’re putting the responsibility on when it was your choice.”
“It’s because you were the reason I made that choice. Ah…!”
After saying that, Maiev bit her lip, realizing her mistake. She had been glaring at with a very resentful look, but now she couldn’t et my eyes.
There were many monts of silence in the hospital room today.
Eventually, it was Maiev who broke the silence again. Her face still red, she waved her hands dismissively.
“Just pretend you didn’t hear that. Forget it.”
“I will stay by your side.”
“Yes. Please pretend you didn’t hear… wait, what?”
Maiev, who had been avoiding my gaze, quickly turned her head to look at . Her eyes were twice as wide as usual.
With a slightly flushed face, she asked,
“What did you just say?”
I quietly watched her dumbfounded reaction.
Was it really such a surprising statent?
She had shown her determination to walk the path of a magician, so it was only natural and reasonable for to refine Maiev like a raw gem.
“Uh… really? Just like that?”
However, it seed she didn’t understand my words or their aning, so I had no choice but to speak again.
“Yes.”
Although I couldn’t fully understand her feelings, I could sowhat guess.
Having abandoned everything that made her who she was, the path ahead must seem daunting. She tried to act cheerful and composed in front of , but she was probably more anxious than anyone else.
So how could I not help her?
“Don’t worry and continue to focus on magic.”
“If I focus only on magic….”
“Yes.”
I nodded once more.
“As long as you don’t give up on magic, I won’t give up on you either.”
Maiev stared at blankly for a while.
She seed to want to say sothing. No, it looked like she tried to say sothing. She seed to mutter sothing in the Vampire language, but only managed to mumble and couldn’t say it aloud.
“….”
After a long pause, she nodded.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“Even if I show terrible magic, even if the mont cos when I grow old and insignificant, as long as I don’t give up on magic, you’ll….”
She extended her hand to , very cautiously.
“…stay by my side?”
I quietly took her hand.
It was a mont when only a few matches remained.
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