A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 17-18

Chapter 17: Giving Alicia a One-Handed Cane as a Gift

The next day, a little past noon. In Alicia’s room.

“Hey, Alicia-san. So yeah, let’s keep pushing hard with rehab together today too, okay!”

“Yes! Looking forward to it again today, Setsuna-sama!”

I showed up at Alicia’s room and said hi like usual. Alicia’s complexion looked way better. She was getting a ton more energetic, which made me really happy.

“Oh, right. Setsuna-sama. Um, so my little sister Estelle was saying she’d love to invite you over to the Crusade house sometime soon if you’re free.”

“The Crusade house? Wait, isn’t that the family Estelle-san is marrying into?”

“Yeah, exactly. And the Crusade family has been super close with the Elfemina family forever, so to me they basically feel like family too. Back when I was really sick with that illness, pretty much the whole Crusade household came to visit me in the hospital tons of times.”

“Wow, really? So then… maybe Estelle-san’s fiancé is someone the family’s known and been close with since way back?”

“Yep. Estelle’s engaged to the second son of the Crusade house, but they’ve been playing together and hanging out since they were little kids. I used to join them and play a bunch when I was small too.”

“Gotcha. Sounds like you guys had a really fun childhood, huh.”

“Yeah, it was super fun. I can still remember those playtime memories from back then so clearly. Hehe.”

So I ended up hearing a bit about Estelle’s fiancé from Alicia.

Sounds like Estelle and her fiancé are childhood friends just like Gilbert and his wife. I could easily picture how close they must be.

“That’s why the Crusade family was also talking about wanting to properly thank you, Setsuna-sama. Once my health gets better, they were wondering if we could maybe do a little dinner party or something.”

“Hmm, a dinner party? That actually sounds pretty nice and fun. So when Alicia-san’s body is doing better, could you please tell them I’d really love to join for a meal together?”

“Hehe, sure thing. I’ll let Estelle know next time I see her.”

“Awesome, thanks! Oh, and uh… there’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about too, Alicia-san. The truth is, I brought a present for you today. If it’s okay… would you accept it? It’s this thing right here…”

I said that and handed her the box with the cane I bought yesterday.

“Huh? A present… for me? Hehe, of course! Thank you so much, Setsuna-sama. Is it okay if I open it right now?”

“Yeah, go for it! Open it up!”

“Thank you… Oh wow—is this maybe a cane?”

Alicia took the cane out of the box. Inside was a really stylish one-handed cane.

“Yep, that’s right. Alicia-san, even with my support you’ve gotten to where you can walk quite a bit now, so I figured maybe it’s about time to start practicing with a cane too. I thought this color would really suit you—what do you think?”

“Yes… I love this color so much. Thank you for picking it out just for me. I feel like I can work even harder at rehab now. But…”

“But? Is there something wrong with the cane?”

“N-no, it’s not really a problem or anything… It’s just… from now on if I’m using a cane for rehab, I won’t be able to hold hands with Setsuna-sama anymore… and that makes me feel a little sad…”

Alicia said that with a tiny, lonely look on her face. But I just blinked at her and went,

“Huh? I’m still gonna hold your hand from now on too, you know?”

“Huh…? Y-you’re still going to hold my hand… even after this…?”

“Of course! I mean, this is a one-handed cane, right? So your other hand’s gonna be free—and I’m gonna keep holding that one just like always. Let’s keep working hard on rehab together, okay!”

I told her that straight to her face. And the sad look on Alicia’s face instantly melted away. She broke into that usual gentle, warm smile of hers again.

“Setsuna-sama… yeah, that makes me really happy. In that case… hehe, please take care of me from now on too, Setsuna-sama.”

“Yeah, you got it.”

And just like that, we made a promise to keep going together.

—

Chapter 18: Getting a Certain Pendant from Skuld

One morning.

“Hmm hmm hmm～♪”

I was humming to myself while heading into the forest outside the royal capital to gather some medicinal herbs.

Lately I hadn’t taken on any adventurer requests at all, so if I don’t do at least some every now and then, there’s a chance they might suspend my adventurer license, y’know.

That’s why today, for the first time in a while, I picked up a simple herb-gathering quest at the adventurer guild.

“Alright. Got plenty of herbs now, so I guess I should head back to the capital soon.”

I stuffed a ton of herbs into my bag, feeling pretty pleased with myself, and started walking back toward the royal capital. On the way to the adventurer guild…

“Hey. Setsuna. Good work out there.”

“Hm? Oh, Skuld-san. You too.”

On my way to the guild I ran into my senior adventurer, Skuld.

Like always, Skuld gave me a big grin and greeted me, so I grinned right back and returned the greeting.

“Good work. Stuffing your bag full of that many herbs… don’t tell me you’re on a herb-gathering request today?”

“Yup. Lately I’ve been helping a client with rehab the whole time, so I haven’t really done anything very ‘adventurer-ish’ at all. Figured I should move my body a bit, so I went to the nearby forest.”

“Gotcha. Oh yeah, you did mention you were helping someone with rehab. How’s the client doing? They getting a lot better already?”

“Yeah. Compared to the beginning, they’re way better now. Probably just a little more and they’ll be moving around energetically again.”

I told Skuld an update about Alicia—the sick person I’d mentioned to him before—and how things were going since then.

“I see, I see. Sounds like it’s going well, so that’s a relief. Keep up the good work supporting her rehab, alright?”

“Of course. I’m planning to go all out and support her until she’s completely back to normal!”

“That’s the spirit. I’m cheering you on, so give it everything you’ve got. Oh—right. Actually, there’s something I wanted to give you today. Uh… here it is.”

“Huh? What’s this?”

As he said that, Skuld handed me a pendant with a small stone set in it. What the heck is this…?

“This is a pendant I made using a gem that dropped when I took down a dragon way back. I’m giving it to you.”

“Eh? A gem that dropped from a dragon? Isn’t that super expensive? You sure it’s okay to just give it to me?”

“Of course. Plus I think you actually need this. The effect is ‘Curse Reflection,’ y’know.”

“Curse Reflection? Wait, does that mean…?”

“Yup. If someone tries to put a curse on the wearer, it can reflect it back once by consuming the stone. So if you give this pendant to your client, it might come in handy for something, right?”

“Eh!? It has an effect that amazing!? Yeah, that really would help my client, but… but is it seriously okay for me to take it? Getting a dragon-drop item for free feels kinda wrong…”

“Haha, don’t worry about it. To me you’re like a cute little disciple, y’know. Besides, it’s useless sitting with me. Better to give it to you when you actually need it. Consumable items might be expensive, but they’re worthless if you never use ’em. So just take it, no holding back. Here.”

With that, Skuld pressed the Curse Reflection pendant into my hand.

“Ah, thank you so much, Skuld-san! I’m never gonna forget this favor!”

“Haha, it’s no big deal. I know you’ve been working hard as an adventurer all this time. Think of it as a little reward for everything you’ve done.”

“Eh? You say I’ve been working hard all this time… how do you even know that about me, Skuld-san? The way you’re talking, it’s almost like someone’s been telling you about me.”

“Yup. That’s exactly it. Even while I’ve been traveling all over the world, I’ve kept in touch with Douglas every now and then. We’ve been buddies since way back, so I just end up wanting to talk to him. And Douglas would tell me a lot about you—how you’re working hard every day as an adventurer.”

“R-really? The guild master was saying stuff like that about me? That’s kinda embarrassing… wait, huh? But Skuld-san, haven’t you been traveling all around the country this whole time? How were you talking to the guild master so often?”

“Hm? Oh, you didn’t know? Uh… here, I used this.”

“This is… another stone?”

Skuld showed me a green stone that fit in the palm of his hand.

“Yup. This is called a ‘communication stone.’ It’s a handy little thing—you pour magic into it and you can talk to anyone else who has one.”

“Whoa, got it. That really does sound super convenient!”

So basically it’s like a cell phone. Yeah, that’s definitely useful.

“Yup, it’s an incredibly handy item. Wait—Setsuna, you seriously never knew communication stones existed?”

“Nope, not at all. I spent my whole life in a rural town, so there was never any situation where I needed one. But now that I’m out traveling like this, yeah, something like a communication stone would be really useful.”

“Exactly, super useful when you’re away from home. Oh—hey. Since we’re at it, I’ll give you this communication stone too. Here.”

“Huh?”

—Catch!

Skuld tossed the communication stone my way, and I caught it.

“Eh, you sure, Skuld-san? Isn’t a communication stone expensive too?”

“Nah, not really. It’s just a normal item you can buy at any regular item shop. But you do have to register the other person’s communication stone first. Once that’s done, you can talk anytime, anywhere.”

“Register? How exactly do you do that? Is it complicated…?”

“Nope, it’s not hard at all. Just pour your magic into your own communication stone and then into the other person’s. That finishes the registration, and boom—you can talk whenever.”

“Got it. So it’s like exchanging numbers… except it’s exchanging magic instead. Meaning you can’t just talk to anybody who has a communication stone unless you’ve registered them.”

“Haha, yeah exactly. If you could prank-call the king or some noble super easily with these things, that’d be a disaster, right?”

“Haha, true. If that was possible the whole world would be in chaos.”

“Yup. Anyway, so we can actually talk—go ahead and pour some magic into my communication stone. Here, do it.”

“Okay, got it. Here goes…”

—Poff…

I followed Skuld’s instructions and sent magic into the communication stone.

“Is that good?”

“Yup, perfect. Now we can talk through the communication stones anytime. So yeah—if anything comes up and you’re in trouble, just contact me with it whenever. If it’s you asking, Setsuna, I’ll always listen.”

“Okay, thank you, Skuld-san!”

“You’re welcome. Alright, I’m gonna head back to the inn now. See ya later, Setsuna.”

“Yep, see you, Skuld-san!”

With that, I parted ways with Skuld in front of the adventurer guild. Getting both a Curse Reflection pendant and a communication stone… he really is such a kind senior.

Once Alicia’s rehab is finished, I’ve gotta properly thank Skuld again!