I Wanted a Cute Girl to Cast Healing Magic on Me, So I Kept Protecting My Allies—and Ended Up with an Overprotective Party - 17

Chapter 17: Misunderstood Protagonist

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“Ah…!? Something feels strange…! It’s like something is flowing into my mind…”

Emil said that just after using Heal on me. 

When a girl suddenly says “Ah…!?” like that, it makes your heart skip a beat, huh?

“What’s wrong, Emil? What do you mean something is flowing in?”

“I’m not really sure. Or rather, I don’t know how to explain it properly. But I definitely feel like something inside me has changed.”

“Like… You can use a new spell now or something?”

“No, it’s not that I learned a new one. It’s more like…How to use Heal better, or a more effective way to cast it…?”

“I’ve wondered for a while, but… Is there really a difference between good and bad use of Heal?”

“As far as I know, there isn’t.”

As far as Emil knows, huh. Then maybe we should ask someone who knows everything.

“What do you think, Karinka-san?”

“This is something I heard from Mint, but apparently, while talent might play a role, there shouldn’t be any difference in the actual effect of a spell.”

“I see, so Heal is Heal no matter who casts it.”

“Emil, let’s try to see what’s changed. Cast Heal on me again.”

Yes, this was an experiment. Even if Emil had leveled up, it’d be a waste if she couldn’t feel the difference. She wouldn’t be able to make better use of the level up benefit in the future. Yes. This was something we needed to do indeed. 

“Understood.”

Emil said that, and while both of us remained standing, she gently wrapped her hands around my right hand. At this point, it didn’t matter whether Heal worked or not—Emil’s hands were just soft and warm.

“Heal…”

Under Karinka-san’s watchful gaze—she looked like she wanted to say something—Emil murmured the spell. Healing magic gives off a green light. Even potions have green liquid. But nothing happened. It just looked like Emil was holding my hand.

“I figured that would happen. Heal is recovery magic, so if there’s no injury, it won’t take effect. You’ll just waste your magic point without a point.”

So Karinka-san really was about to say something useful!

“Sorry, I should have said that earlier. But you two looked so serious, and I also thought maybe something would happen, so I couldn’t find the right moment to speak up.”

“No, Karinka-san, it’s not your fault at all. On the contrary, thank you for always helping us. Anyway, Emil, do you feel any changes?”

“Um, I think I get less tired after casting Heal. Like… It feels like I’m using less magic power than before.”

In game terms, it’s like her MP cost decreased? That’s actually kind of a crazy good effect. Maybe she’ll eventually be able to use it infinitely.

At any rate, this made it more likely that Emil’s growth was based on skill proficiency. That means she needed to use Heal a lot.

But recovery magic like Heal doesn’t activate unless the target is injured. In other words, someone had to get hurt in order for it to be used. Normally, no one would deliberately get injured. Obviously, it was dangerous, and even minor wounds were still painful.

That explains it—why Emil hadn’t leveled up at all even though she was in that A-rank party with the blond-haired, blue-armored scammer. I remember she said, “I can only use beginner-level magic.”

Wait a second… When I thought back to that blond-haired, blue-armored party, a horrible realization hit me and gave me chills.

“Emil… This might be hard to talk about, but when you were with that blond-blue-armored party before we met, did you ever use Heal on them?”

Whenever Emil healed me or Karinka-san, she always touched some part of our bodies.

Which meant, when she healed those guys, she probably also touched them somewhere… but they were scammers! That was not okay! Actually, even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t like it. That was just my selfish opinion though.

“No, I never used it on them. They were A-rankers, so they never got hurt to begin with. It was like… They avoided fighting strong monsters altogether. I guess I just never had a reason to use Heal.”

Well, that made sense. In that kind of environment, Emil would never get the chance to grow.

“You’re telling me, even though that was the case, they treated Emil like she was useless? So it really was all about money for them.”

In any case, I was relieved to know that Emil hadn’t used Heal on those scammers.

“Karinka-san, it looks like Emil levels up the more she uses Heal.”

“That does seem to be the most natural explanation. I’ve been an adventurer for a long time, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that.”

And then there was my 【Damage Adjustment】 skill. Up until now, I had been using that skill for my own selfish reason, but now it was practically the perfect skill for helping Emil level up.

I got injured. Emil healed me. I got injured again. Emil healed me again. If we kept that up, Emil could become the ultimate healer…! I now had a perfectly legitimate (?) reason to have Emil heal me repeatedly!

“Emil might even become an S-rank healer someday. That’s what I think.”

“Y-you’re flattering me too much! I’m still just a beginner.”

“I think you’re already amazing, Emil.”

“Even you, Rikuto-san…? But Mint-san is way more amazing! She’s beautiful and kind, an A-rank adventurer, and she can heal just by hovering her hand over a wound! I want to be like Mint-san as soon as possible!”

“Yeah, Mint-san is amazing. She can use advanced healing magic and body enhancement magic too. As expected of an A-rank—huh?”

Wait… something about what Emil said just now felt off… Let’s see, she said: “Mint-san is amazing,” “beautiful and kind,” “A-rank adventurer,” “can heal just by hovering her hand,” “I want to be like her soon.” (=There’s clearly something wrong there…

Actually, I had been wondering about it for a while. But I’d avoided thinking about it too deeply.

Emil grew up in a village without a guild or an inn, so she didn’t understand how the world worked. That was how she ended up falling for that scam. But what if…The reason Emil always touched me or Karinka-san when casting Heal was because she thought she had to?

Being treated like she was useless and kicked out despite it being a scam… The fact that only Emil seemed to have a different growth system…That she might even surpass S-rank and become the strongest… And that she misunderstood that touching was required for Heal to work…

It all reminded me of something.

That’s right—she’s just like a protagonist from an isekai story…!

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