Episode 208

“Come here!”

“What do you mean come here? Stop talking nonsense and just go away, kid.”

“It’s my choice! Do you want to die, you Red thing?”

“I’d rather you leave, since I don’t want to die.”

Sereina waved her hands at Rurin, but Rurin ignored her and confidently stepped into the clinic, tilting her head.

“What are you doing? Who is that?”

What Rurin was pointing at was a woman lying in front of Sereina. The woman looked young, but she was not a child.

When she got close to Rurin’s bed, Sereina answered curtly.

“Of course, she’s a patient.”

“Why are you the one seeing the patient? Are you an elf?”

It was a natural question from Rurin—why would a dragon be tending to a patient? It was not Sereina who answered, but Elena.

After all, it was Elena who had asked Sereina to look at the patient.

“Well…”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not my field, so I asked Miss Sereina to help with it.”

“Our dragons don’t know anything about medicine. What kind of nonsense request is this? That human is going to die, as a subject for an experiment. No, no, no.”

Rurin clasped her hands together in prayer, directed at the perfectly healthy patient.

If El had been there, she would have received 200 temple strikes, but in the clinic, there was no one who could touch Rurin. The only one left was the elf, who was trying to explain the situation in a flustered manner.

“Well, it’s not really related to normal medicine… We found her collapsed on the outskirts of the city, and she had no memory at all. There was no physical trauma, but I thought it might be a mental issue, so I asked for help. When she briefly woke up, I asked her some questions, but she couldn’t remember anything. And then, the shock of losing her memory made her collapse again.”

“Why is this so complicated? I don’t understand at all.”

“I-I’m sorry. But what brings you here today?”

“I came on an errand, and stopped by on the way. I need to yell at that red thing to relieve some stress!”

Rurin’s provocation.

However, Sereina once again ignored Rurin’s provocation and simply looked for Elena.

“Elena.”

“Yes, yes!”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know either. Amnesia is quite ambiguous. We can’t know when the memory will return. It could be right away, or it could be years from now.”

“I see. I thought so too. In that case…we need to find someone who knows her?”

“That’s the best course for now. We can’t keep her in the clinic forever.”

Sereina nodded in agreement, but Rurin furrowed her brows.

“Losing memories? Ugh! I hate that! If I lose my memory, I’ll forget about El too… Ugh! I can’t stand that more than death! Ugh, spit!”

“Why are you spitting? Clean it up and go, kid!”

“I was told that when I hear nonsense like that, I should spit and step on it.”

“So, should I constantly be spitting every time I listen to your nonsense?”

“If you’re listening to me, you should be kneeling, not spitting! Have you finally gone crazy?”

“What’s going on?”

Brrrr-!

Aaaaahh-!

And so, the dragons began to fight.

Elena didn’t even think about stopping them. This wasn’t the first time, and she didn’t even acknowledge it. She just looked at the woman lying there, then placed her hand on her forehead.

‘Her body temperature seems normal, but if she collapsed on the outskirts of the city, she might not be a foreigner. There could be a guardian, so we should try to inquire about her… In that case, I should ask El for help!’

If they need to find someone in the city, it’s faster to ask El for help.

When Elena thought of that, she looked at Rurin.

She thought about going to the restaurant together, but the fight didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

Normally, it would go on for hours, so Elena decided to go alone.

“Alright, I’m definitely not letting you off today.”

“That’s something I should say, you stupid Red thing!”

Bang! Crash!

Crunch crunch.

“I told you, there’s no stopping them.”

Elena said that and casually left the clinic, heading toward the restaurant.

“I’m back! Hehehe! Today’s reward is…huh?”

Rurin dropped the shopping basket on the table and was about to run to El, but stopped in her tracks.

“Y-you?”

El was collapsed in front of her, and strangely, a rock had fallen beside his head.

“What is this? A meteorite? Some asteroid thing?”

Rurin, shocked, checked El’s breath. As she did so, it felt like her own heart was about to stop. But upon realizing El’s pulse was fine, Rurin breathed a sigh of relief.

“You?”

“Hmmm?”

After calling him several times, El finally woke up. Rurin was relieved.

As usual, Rurin opened her arms.

“You! You’re hurt, come into my arms! No, I’ll hold you tightly! How could you be hit by something like a meteorite!”

“Hmm? I answered with a ‘hmmm’ without thinking… But who am I, and where am I?”

“What? What are you saying? You are you!”

“My name is ‘you’?”

“Eh?”

“Ah, no. You are El. Your name is El! No, no, I mean, what is this joke?”

“El? Is my name El?”

“…You?”

“So, where is this place?”

“This, this is your restaurant…”

“Then who are you?”

“What?! This is boring! You…you didn’t forget me, did you?”

Rurin, surprised, grabbed El’s face with both hands and looked at her reflection in El’s eyes, then asked loudly again.

“Look carefully, El! It’s me. I can never forgive you if you forget me!”

“Hmmm?”

“…What is this! Is this what that Red thing was talking about, amnesia? Did it happen because of that rock? Did you get a blow to the head?”

Rurin’s eyes started spinning wildly. She couldn’t accept this or bear it.

Has he forgotten her?

“No, this can’t be! I don’t want this. What should I do?”

In the end, what came to Rurin’s mind was the clinic.

Rurin quickly hugged El from behind and teleported straight to the clinic.

“Elf!”

“Yes, yes?”

“El is strange. Hurry, examine him! Fix his memory immediately! I… I might cry. El doesn’t know me!”

“What, what?”

At Rurin’s outburst, Sereina entered the clinic room, and Elena looked at Rurin with a shocked expression.

“Pl-please calm down, Miss Rurin. I’ll take a look at him. What’s going on? You’re saying his memory needs to be restored, does El have amnesia?”

“Who are you?”

“Huh? I-I’m Elena…El?”

“It seems my name is El.”

“Of course! Don’t you remember Rurin, Sereina, and me?”

“Yes…”

“This can’t be!”

Rurin, who had been stamping her feet, felt her eyes start to tear up as she watched. Elena, with a flustered face, cast a recovery spell on El’s head. Then, with a look of surprise, she shouted at Rurin.

“Did El perhaps suffer a blow to the head?”

“It seems so. There was some rock-like thing that fell. I think it was a meteorite!”

“Please calm down, Miss Rurin. It looks like a case of short-term amnesia. As you said, it happened because of a strong shock.”

“How… How can we fix it? Tell me quickly!”

“Oh, don’t worry too much. Unlike the woman who collapsed, this is definitely short-term amnesia, and after a day, everything will settle, and his memory will return.”

“That’s not okay! I absolutely don’t want that! I hate it! Ugh!”

“Huh? …You just have to wait for a day?”

Rurin, about to sob, paused and pondered Elena’s words. Then, with a stiff posture, she tilted her head.

“Huh? Did you just say a day?”

“Yes. It’s nothing serious. If he would just rest for a day…”

“What, is that all? Why didn’t you say that earlier? I’ve already cried. Ugh.”

Rurin wiped her tears, and Elena began to give her some important advice.

“Yes. Also, people with this condition tend to listen well to others around them. If you take good care of them for a day… Huh?”

As soon as she heard Elena’s words, Rurin disappeared.

Hearing that he would recover in a day, Rurin was already fully reassured and, upon hearing that people with the condition listen well to others, she ran back to the lair in a hurry.

“What are you doing right now? This is such a silly play.”

“Huh?”

“This is something El told you to do, right? What kind of amnesia makes you get your memory back in a day, and makes you listen to others? Where in the world does that kind of amnesia exist?”

“T-T-T-That! It’s because…something good came to mind, so he asked me to say it…”

“So, you agreed to go along with such a silly trick?”

“Y-yes…”

“You really are pathetic. Even if that wasn’t the case, you’d listen to whatever El says, wouldn’t you? You’re such an elf.”

“N-no, that’s not true! And I was just grateful because you said you’d find out the identity of that patient…”

“You’re making me laugh. Put your hand on your conscience. You’d do anything if asked, even without that!”

“No!”

“Really?”

“Ah, maybe…”

Elena nodded her head slowly, though after quite a long pause.

“Your name is El.”

“I heard that… Then who are you?”

“I’m Rurin!”

Rurin said as she puffed out her nose. El looked blank.

For some reason, it was cute.

“Hmm, what kind of relationship do we have that we’re together?”

“Y-you are my…”

“My?”

“I-I-I’m your…wife!”

“Huh? Am I your wife?”

“A-ahh, no! I misspoke. I am your wife. Y-you’re my husband. Do you understand? Do you know what wife and husband mean?”

“I know those things. I remember the basics, but other things I can’t remember…”

“Is that so? Then, we’re married! Hehe.”

Rurin said that, and her face turned red. Her heart was racing. When else could she proclaim this so confidently?

“I see. We’re married then.”

“Yes!”

Rurin’s eyes sparkled. It was so easy to admit it. As Elena said, El really seemed to listen well.

So, Rurin followed the next procedure.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Married couples have certain things to do.”

“What is that?”

“Y-you need to say you love me!”

“Huh, me?”

Rurin shouted forcefully but then shrank back, still embarrassed in this state.

Maybe feeling pathetic, Rurin grabbed El’s arm again and shouted.

“Say it! Say you love me! Say ‘I love you’!”

“Is that something a married couple does?”

“I think it is!”

It was the one who asked who was so hesitant. However, El looked directly at Rurin and began to answer as instructed.

“I love you.”

“Ohhh! I-I can’t believe it! Wait, no! I forgot my name! I have to say my name too! Did you lose your memory and turn into a fool?”

“I love you?”

“No! It’s Rurin! My name is Rurin!”