Abandoned in the mountains, I was adopted by a lizard ~I mastered magic and surpassed my parents, but I didn't know they were legendary ancient dragons~ - Chapter 18

Chapter 18   The Intern Returns

The day after my business meeting with the president of Jason & Jason.

Since the academy was on break… I decided to try a one-day internship at the church.

Although it was confirmed yesterday that I would receive a certain amount of passive income, it’s still uncertain whether it’s enough to secure a lifelong escape from working. Even if I could get enough to live comfortably for life, it’s rare to find people who don’t work at all.

Most of them work on something they love, as my mother used to say.

I don’t have any particular thing I want to do right now, but that’s exactly why trying different things might help me find something I’m passionate about. So, I decided to take advantage of the internship opportunity that fit my schedule.

I applied yesterday, and perhaps because it was a short-term internship, as a student of Zelgius Royal Magic Academy, I was hired on the spot without an interview.

When I arrived at the church, many kids around my age, who seemed to be interns, had already gathered.

Soon, a staff member arrived and explained the day’s internship content.

“For this internship, you’ll experience one of the two types of duties we’ve prepared. One is the ‘Administrative Course,’ which involves various tasks such as potion order management. The other is the ‘Practical Course,’ where you’ll actually perform healing on minor injuries.”

The staff member placed two types of triangular cones, red and green.

“However, only those who have already learned healing magic can participate in the ‘Practical Course.’ So, those who want to join the ‘Administrative Course,’ please stand in front of the green cone. Those who want to join the ‘Practical Course,’ please stand in front of the red cone.”

Following these instructions, the interns, including myself, divided into the courses we wanted to experience.

I stood in the red ‘Practical Course’ line.

In terms of numbers… aside from me and one other girl, most seemed to choose the Administrative Course. Perhaps there were few who had mastered healing magic this time.

But… I feel like I’ve seen this girl in the Practical Course somewhere before. Where was it?

As I was thinking that… she spoke to me.

“You’re Hadar, the special scholarship student, right?”

Special scholarship student…? Oh, a classmate.

I see, no wonder she looked familiar. Though we’ve never spoken, her face from the self-introduction must have left a faint impression.

“Aren’t you going to the Administrative Course? I thought for sure you’d go there since you made an amazing potion during our magic pharmacology class…”

“Making potions isn’t an administrative task…”

“Oh, right…”

Indeed, if the job title was something like “administrative generalist,” there might be cases where such tasks are assigned depending on the department. Administrative jobs tend to have higher demand due to the misconception that they’re easier despite the low pay. In some black companies, there’s a tactic called “administrative illusion,” where they recruit people with job titles that sound like administrative roles but pay them low wages to inflate the number of hires efficiently.

But I’ve never heard of the church being a black company, and this time, it seems the administrative course simply involves general office work…

As I was thinking about how she seemed a bit scatterbrained, the staff gave the next instructions.

“Those of you in the ‘Practical Course,’ please come to the treatment area. I will guide you there.”

Following these instructions, we moved to the treatment area and started the healing tasks.

◇

The healing tasks we were allowed to experience this time involved treating minor colds and injuries with magic for those who came to the church.

The patients coming to the church are classified from Category 1 to Category 5 based on the severity of their symptoms. For the one-day internship, we were only assigned to Category 1, the lightest category.

However, there were no particular restrictions on the healing magic we could use, so I used Perfect Heal on all the patients. The reason was simple: it was too bothersome to change the magic according to each symptom.

Even if the symptoms were mild, they varied widely—headaches, stomachaches, low fevers, coughs, scrapes, sprains, and so on. If I had to listen to each symptom and select the most effective magic for each, it would slow down the process. Therefore, I decided to use the all-purpose Perfect Heal for all the patients.

This method works because we only deal with mild cases. I always check if the symptoms have subsided after applying the magic to ensure no one is left untreated, and so far, I haven’t failed to cure anyone.

In fact, there are even patients like this:

“Thank you. Not only is my knee injury healed, but my eyesight has also improved.”

An elderly woman I had just treated with Perfect Heal said this and left. It seems I inadvertently cured some underlying conditions as well.

After about two hours of treatment, the staff instructed us to take a short break. At that moment, the classmate who had been working next to me spoke up.

“Hey, I overheard something unbelievable from a patient you treated earlier. ‘My eyesight has improved’—what kind of magic are you using?”

“Perfect Heal.”

“P-Perfect Heal!?”

When I mentioned the name of the spell, my classmate’s eyes widened in surprise.

“…Are you that surprised? Is there something wrong with using Perfect Heal?”

“No, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it… Let’s just accept for now that you can use Perfect Heal at your age because you’re a special scholarship student, but aren’t you getting tired? Using such a high-level spell repeatedly on Category 1 patients seems like a waste of magic power…”

“I’m fine, though…”

Perfect Heal doesn’t consume that much magic power. At the pace I’ve been using it, my natural recovery rate keeps up with it, so honestly, my magic power is still full.

“…Sorry, it was a mistake to judge by common sense. For someone who can use Perfect Heal at this age, it makes sense that your magic power is also extraordinary…”

…I wish she wouldn’t come to such strange conclusions on her own.

Anyway, we only have about two minutes left of our break. I should hydrate before we start working again. With that in mind, I tried to take out my water bottle using storage magic.

—But at that moment.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, I heard a groan. I turned to see my classmate falling from her chair, clutching her head.

…What’s wrong!? Did she get sick from being in an unfamiliar environment?

“Hey, are you okay!?” “Hang in there!”

Before I could move, the regular healers rushed over and surrounded her with lightning speed.

“High Heal!” “Vasoconstriction!”

The healers cast various healing spells in quick succession. However, my classmate showed no signs of recovery.

Amid this, she turned to me with tear-filled eyes and whispered weakly,

“Hadar… please… use calming… magic…”

It felt awkward to step in front of the regular healers, but with her looking at me like that, I couldn’t just stand by. There might be a chance that a spell my mother independently developed, unknown to the healers, could be the perfect solution.

I didn’t know what would work, but I decided to try everything I could.