Law of Space and Time

Chapter 14-2: Healing (2)

Lana had no intention of bickering with Onean any further, and she pulled out an intricate magic potion vial from her waist before carefully applying the potion in the vial onto Erwin's external injuries. The blue magic potion flowed back and forth over blood scabs that riddled Erwin's entire body, and soon, the gashes began to heal. When it came to curing external injuries inflicted by magic, Lana had a lot of experience. After all, she had just cured Erwin from the external injuries inflicted by her own magic swords not long ago.

Onean looked on as Lana gently applied the magic potion onto Erwin's body, then cast her gaze toward Erwin's pale face, which was still a little childish in appearance, and she couldn't help but throw a jibe. "He's not bad-looking, and there's still a little baby fat on his face. I guess you must be into innocent young boys like him."

Lana immediately burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"Don't be fooled by his appearance, Your Highness, he's far from innocent. In fact, I daresay that he's the exact opposite of innocent," Lana said as she turned toward Onean. "If you really do have feelings for him, then you have to be careful, Your Highness."

"Heh, I'm not the one treating his injuries like a caring girlfriend right now. What does this have to do with me?" Onean scoffed with an amused expression.

"Well, if you want to look at things that way, then who was the one that provided the Springlay Fox bone marrow potion? I don't think your argument has any legs to stand on, Your Highness," Lana countered in a confrontational voice.

Right as the two of them were standing beside Erwin's bed, stubbornly ignoring one another, Larwood strode into the tent, and his eyeballs almost popped out of his sockets as he caught sight of the two people gathered beside Erwin's bed. In that moment, he realized that he still had a long way to go if he wanted to reach Erwin's level when it came to wooing women.

An awkward look appeared on Larwood's face, and Lana glared at him with a cold expression, then slammed her magic potion vial onto the bedside table before promptly leaving the tent.

Onean took a glance at the vial hanging in front of her own chest, then removed it with a vigorous tug before also setting it down onto the bedside table and departing from the tent.

Meanwhile, Larwood stood still on the spot, feeling as if he were no different from the air around him. Only after the two women had departed did he realize that he didn't even get a chance to salute the princess. He then cast his gaze toward the two objects left on the bedside table, and he didn't know what to make of them.

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By the time Erwin finally woke up, it was already midnight, and the only other person in the tent was Larwood, who was taking a nap on the sofa.

The burning sensation in Erwin's organs had mostly subsided, but there was not a single ounce of strength in his body, and his throat was feeling as parched as a desert. Just supporting himself into an upright position to take a drink of water was so strenuous for him that his entire body became drenched in sweat. He picked up his cup and gulped down two mouthfuls of cold water, but his esophagus wasn't ready for the sudden stimulus, and he was struck by an involuntary gag reflex that made him throw up all of the water violently. He then began to cough uncontrollably, and some of the water began flowing out of his nostrils, making it look as if he were coughing with snot pouring out of his nose.

Larwood was startled out of his nap by Erwin's violent coughing, and he rubbed his own eyes in a drowsy manner as he said, "You're finally awake."

Erwin coughed for a while longer before asking, "How long was I out for?"

Larwood took a glance at the magic clock on the wall, then replied, "It's been over 10 hours since you finished your match in the afternoon."

"I thought I was going to die," Erwin said with a wry smile.

"You couldn't have died even if you wanted to! Both Princess Onean and Lana from the Lazaar Family swooped in to save you. At the time, you were falling out of the sky, and both of them immediately jumped out of the contestants' spectating platforms together to catch you. I reckon there's not a single person in Sarus who doesn't know your name. If we line up all of the noble men who are envious of you, we'd have a queue that stretches all the way to the twin Reydnold Mountains!" Larwood jibed.

"Princess Onean? Why did she save me?" Erwin asked with an incredulous expression. He had some ties with Lana, so it made some sense that she would get involved, but his only interaction with Princess Onean was a very brief encounter.

"How would I know? Professor Hawk and Master Piro both came to inspect your injuries a while ago. They sat here for a bit, and I overheard them saying that if the princess hadn't used some magic potion brewed from the bone marrow of Springlay Foxes, you'd already be dead! Apparently, it was the princess who convinced Master Piro to save you." A sly smile appeared on Larwood's face as he continued, "Tell me the truth: is there something going on between you and Princess Onean?"

"No, I swear! The only time that I met her was during the opening ceremony, and I barely spoke to her at the time!" Erwin replied with a confused shake of his own head as he thought back to his encounter with the princess. He then began to dig through his memory to try and remember what Springlay Foxes were, but with his lackluster magical knowledge, he naturally had no idea what those creatures were.

"Is that right? Then why did it look to me like both Princess Onean and Lana had some feelings for you?" Larwood asked with a suspicious expression as he looked at Erwin through narrowed eyes.

"Perhaps they've never seen someone commit suicide with their own magic," Erwin said with a self-deprecating expression. He then erupted into a fit of uncontrollable coughing again, perhaps due to the fact that his lungs hadn't completely healed yet, and his eyes were bloodshot by the time he was done.

"What's going on with you now?" Larwood asked with a concerned expression. "According to what I just heard from Master Piro and Professor Hawk, your injuries should be mostly healed."

Erwin took a moment to catch his own breath, then replied, "My goodness, I almost passed out there. It feels like my internal injuries should be mostly healed. By the way, do you know what Springlay Foxes are?"

"You think I would know something like that?" Larwood asked with a resigned expression. "However, judging from what Professor Hawk and Master Piro were saying, these Springlay Foxes seem to be extremely rare."

Erwin nodded in response. Larwood's knowledge of these subjects was inferior even to his own, so there really was no point in asking Larwood about something like this.

"Oh, by the way, Princess Onean and Lana both left something for you," Larwood said as he pointed at the bedside table.

Erwin's brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the two intricate magic potion vials sitting on the bedside table. He recognized one of them as it was the vial that he had seen in Lana's when he first woke up after almost being killed by Lana outside the Redbud Pavilion.

He then picked up the pendant-like vial before taking a look, then turned to Larwood before asking, "Is this one from the princess?"

Larwood nodded in response as a sly smile appeared on his face. "Not only is it from the princess, it's something that was in direct contact with her body."

Larwood pointed at his own chest as he spoke.

Erwin's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he hurriedly picked up the pendant before sniffing at it vigorously with a blissful look on his face. "Hmm, it smells amazing."

It then occurred to him that it wasn't fair to Lana if he focused solely on Princess Onean's pendant, and he immediately picked up Lana's magic potion vial before taking a sniff as well. After that, he inspected his own external injuries, which were mostly healed as well, presumably thanks to Lana's magic potion.

A smug grin appeared on his face, and he suddenly felt like this was very much worth the near-death experience he had suffered.

"Can you stop being such a creep?" Larwood grumbled with a disgusted expression. "Thanks to you, all of us lost all of our Loonies on our bet!"

Erwin was very amused to hear this, and only then did he recall that he had won the match. "You should've bet all your money on me. If you had done that, you'd be rich by now!"

"We didn't know that you would push yourself so hard just to win!" Larwood said as he glared at Erwin.

Erwin knew that Larwood was reprimanding him for being so reckless with risking his own life, and he changed the subject as he asked, "What happened after I fainted? How were the rest of the matches?"

"What do you mean the rest of the matches? You destroyed the entire competition platform, and the tournament committee is busy conducting emergency repairs, so all of the matches after yours were postponed!" Larwood grumbled. "The tournament committee was going to launch an investigation into you on suspicion of intentionally causing excessive harm to your opponent, but I heard that the investigation was canceled under Prime Minister Fuller's orders."

"I didn't really do anything to him anyway, so there's nothing to investigate," Erwin said. "It's a good thing that the matches have been postponed. That'll give me enough time to rest and recuperate."

"What are you gonna do after that? Are you going to use that spell again in your next match? Do you actually want to die?" Larwood asked with furrowed brows.

"Rest assured, I have no intention of dying anytime soon," Erwin said with a reassuring smile. "I've already mastered the spell, so it won't happen again."

Larwood was still clearly rather skeptical as he sighed, "I certainly hope so. If that does happen again, I don't think anyone will be able to save you. By the way, I was watching the match, and when your opponent, Shaun, was getting carried off the platform, he looked as pale as a sheet! I thought you actually killed him!"

"I probably looked even worse when I was carried off the platform, right?" Erwin asked with a wry smile.

"When you were being carried away, the situation was extremely chaotic. I heard a loud commotion going on inside the venue, and after that, around a dozen administrators carried you away, surrounding you from all directions so no one could see what was happening. Not long after that, Princess Onean and Master Piro arrived, and initially, the administrators wouldn't let me come inside to see you," Larwood said.

"By the way, did my father come here?" Erwin asked.

"As I was waiting outside, I saw your father and Professor Hawk come here as well. They probably went back after making sure that you were in a stable condition," Larwood replied. "At the time, the administrators still wouldn't let me come in, so I didn't hear what they talked about."

Erwin nodded in response upon hearing this, and he was feeling quite guilty for always making his father worry and fear for him.

"What about Kaiba and Chase?" Erwin asked.

"They probably can't come into the contestants' area. I've been here the entire afternoon, and I haven't had a chance to go out and find them yet," Larwood replied. "Can you move around now? If you can, then let's get out of here and meet up with Kaiba and Chase. I'm getting bored to death in here!"

"I have no strength in my body at all. I don't think I'll be able to go anywhere tonight," Erwin said with a wry smile. "It's alright, I'll be fine on my own anyway, you can go find Kaiba and Chase. I should be feeling a lot better after having a good sleep tonight. That bone marrow potion from the princess really is something else!"

"Of course! Otherwise, Master Piro wouldn't have been so sad to have used it," Larwood said as he rose to his feet. "Stay here and get some rest, I'll go find Kaiba and Chase."

Erwin nodded in response, and soon, he was the only one left in the tent. He picked up the two intricate vials on his bedside table and stared at him with an absentminded expression.