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 36

Chapter 36: Waking Up on the Bed in the Elfemina Family’s Room

“…Huh… wha…?”

When I came to, I was lying on a bed. The room was one of the ones in the Elfemina house where they’re letting me stay.

And my whole body was wrapped up tight in bandages, like round and round. Kinda looked a bit like how Alicia was not too long ago… Wait, right—A-Alicia…!

“Oh, you’re awake. You okay?”

“Huh…? Ah… Skuld-san…!”

I slowly sat up on the bed, and Skuld, who was sitting in a nearby chair, called out to me.

Right, yeah—right before I passed out, Skuld and Rufus came to help, didn’t they.

“Really glad you got your consciousness back properly. How’s your body feeling?”

“Y-yeah… well, my whole body hurts like hell, but I’m basically okay. But uh… what’s with all these crazy-tight bandages…?”

“That? The young lady you saved did it for you. Lucky you, getting such thorough care from a super beautiful big sister, huh~”

“Huh? Alicia-san wrapped these bandages on me? W-wait, more importantly… is Alicia-san okay? Like, she didn’t get hurt or anything…?”

“She’s fine. Not a single scratch on the Elfemina family’s young lady. You protected her with everything you had, right? Haha, that’s pretty damn cool. As expected of my disciple!”

“Huh? Whoa—!”

—*rub rub rub!*

“Hey, hey—ahahaha, that hurts, Skuld-san.”

Skuld laughed really loud and ruffled my hair hard. It kinda hurt, but weirdly it also made my chest feel all warm.

“Haha, my bad, my bad. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that you were badass. But when we got there, I didn’t expect you to be beat up that bad. Sorry we were a little late.”

“No no, you guys were actually super fast. And anyway, thank you so much for coming to help, Skuld-san. I used the communication stone on the spot, so I was worried maybe it wouldn’t connect or something…”

“If it’s a message from Setsuna, of course I’m gonna react right away. And you clearly said out loud exactly where you were being attacked, so we could rush over immediately. You were surrounded by those thugs and probably couldn’t talk much, yet you still managed to tell me the location without making them suspicious. Your quick thinking in the moment is seriously impressive, Setsuna.”

Just like Skuld said, the second I reached that back alley, I poured magic into the communication stone in my pocket and connected to Skuld and Rufus.

But I figured if I straight-up told them through the stone that I was calling for help, the bad guys would notice immediately. So I casually said the location out loud in a way that wouldn’t make them suspicious.

And it worked—the transmission went through perfectly, and Skuld and Rufus showed up in that back alley right away.

“Yeah, thank you. Oh, right. So… who were those guys anyway?”

“Ah, Rufus is interrogating them right now, but sounds like they’re small-time crooks who were doing all kinds of shady stuff back in some little territory out in the countryside.”

“Shady stuff in a rural territory? So they weren’t people from the royal capital?”

“Yup. According to them, they got noticed by the locals back home, so they left the area for a while and came to the capital to make some quick cash. Basically just arrived in the capital recently.”

“Hmm, hmm. Just got here recently, huh. Got it…”

So that means they weren’t the ones who put the curse on Alicia.

When I ran into the back alley, I saw them attacking her, so I thought maybe they were the curse culprits… but if they only just arrived in the capital, then they probably have nothing to do with the curse thing.

It was a little disappointing they weren’t connected to Alicia’s curse, but honestly, the important part was that we managed to save her without her getting hurt at all this time. That really was a relief.

“From what they said, they came to the capital about a month ago or so. But anyway, anybody with even a tiny bit of common sense would never try pulling crimes in this capital. So those guys were just clueless, dumb country bumpkin thugs who didn’t know their place—that’s the punchline.”

“…? Why wouldn’t anyone with common sense commit crimes in the capital?”

“It’s simple. This capital has the Scarlet family—the strongest martial clan there is. And that Scarlet family controls everything: the knights, the guards, the adventurer guild, all of it. If you get on the bad side of the insanely powerful Scarlet family + knights + guards + adventurer guild all at once, your life is 100% over. So basically, any crook with half a brain avoids doing crimes here. The only ones who try are either total country bumpkins, people with a death wish, or just straight-up idiots.”

Skuld answered my question while laughing really big. Sounds like the Scarlet family is way more incredible than I even imagined.

“I-I see… The Scarlet family is that amazing of a clan, huh. Of course I already knew Rufus-san was strong, but still.”

“Yeah, exactly. That’s how insane they are. And the people in the Scarlet family are scary strict and terrifying, almost to a fault. So watch yourself too, Setsuna. When Rufus gets mad, she’s seriously terrifying.”

“Huh? Rufus-san is scary? Hmm… I don’t get any scary vibes from Rufus-san at all. She doesn’t really seem like the type to get angry either. Isn’t she more the gentle, ‘let me explain it to you nicely’ kind of person?”

“Gentle explaining type?? Pfft haha, no way in hell is she that type. Her nickname is literally ‘Ice Ogre Sword Princess.’ People say just getting glared at by her can freeze the whole area in an instant—she’s famous for it.”

“Ice Ogre Sword Princess?? W-what the heck, that’s an insanely scary nickname! It’s nothing like the gentle vibe Rufus-san gives off.”

“That just shows how terrifying she gets when she’s pissed. Not too long ago I forgot to turn in a quest report, and she gave me the strongest glare ever and chewed me out so bad—ahahaha!”

“No, that’s just you being at fault for forgetting the report, Skuld-san. Ahahaha.”

Saying that, me and Skuld laughed together. And knowing Alicia was safe really put me at ease. I wanna go see Alicia soon.