First Battle, First Cooperation

Vim and Hana arrived at the location caught by his search magic.

“This is… gruesome,” Vim muttered.

“It certainly is,” Hana agreed.

Several small dragons were prowling the area. Even though they were called “small,” they were larger than Vim’s height; it was strictly a categorization relative to the rest of the dragon kin.

“That’s bad.”

In the center of the clearing, a woman dressed in knight’s armor was down on one knee. Her clothing was tattered, offering a glimpse of the fierce struggle she had endured. At this rate, the female knight was undoubtedly in grave danger.

“Let’s do this.”

“Yes!”

Disconnection Barrier.

Vim deployed a barrier to encircle the female knight. A look of shock crossed her face as the barrier shimmered into existence. With this, the dragons could no longer harm her.

“Hana, I’ll provide support. You take the front line.”

“Understood!”

Hana drew her sword and charged toward the dragons. One of the creatures was preparing to unleash its breath from its maw. Vim quickly deployed a physical barrier in front of Hana, deflecting the dragon’s attack effortlessly.

“Haa!!”

With a swift swing of her blade, Hana severed the dragon’s neck, killing it instantly.

“Oh, not bad. I can’t let myself be outdone, can I?”

Watching Hana’s attack lit a fire under Vim.

Explode.

An immense explosion erupted beneath the feet of three dragons. Vim protected Hana from the blast with a Disconnection Barrier. For Vim himself, an explosion of this magnitude was hardly a concern.

“It’s over.”

The remaining dragons were blown away by Vim’s attack.

“Good work—”

“I barely had a turn at all,” Hana murmured, sounding a bit dejected.

“That’s not true. You took one down yourself, didn’t you?”

For their first actual combat and their first time coordinating together, it was an excellent result. Having said that, Vim turned his gaze toward the female knight and deactivated the Disconnection Barrier.

“Are you alright? …Actually, it doesn’t look like it.”

Upon closer inspection, her knight’s uniform was in shreds, and she was bleeding from various wounds.

Heal.

Vim held his hand over the knight’s forehead and cast recovery magic. Her wounds closed before their eyes, and the bleeding stopped instantly.

“The pain… it’s gone…”

The knight looked up in astonishment.

“I took the liberty of casting a healing spell. Are you okay?”

“So this is recovery magic… You have my thanks,” the knight said as she stood up.

In this world, the number of people who can use recovery magic is limited. Even among mages, one cannot use it without a specific aptitude. However, Vim’s magic was different from the standard fare. What he had just used was a simple Heal, yet its effect was significantly higher than normal. There was likely a reason for this, though Vim didn’t fully understand it himself; he suspected it was related to his massive mana pool.

He was also capable of using Extra Heal, the highest tier of recovery magic, though he rarely encountered situations that required it.

“No, I only did what was natural.”

“Truly, thank you. I am Misa, a knight serving the nobility of the Cyrus Empire.”

A knight of the Cyrus Empire. Vim thought it might be better not to get too deeply involved.

“I am Vim. We are in a hurry, so we’ll be going now.”

Vim tried to leave with Hana immediately.

“Wait! At least let me offer some form of gratitude.”

Knights are a proud people. She likely couldn’t bear to do nothing after being saved.

“I am operating under the backing of the King of Leoria. If I ever find myself in a predicament, I would ask you to lend me the strength of your sword. Let’s call this a favor owed.”

Vim had the backing of the Leorian King. If anything happened, that King would surely find a way to handle it.

“Understood. I shall certainly accept that debt. I promise that should you face a crisis, I will wield this sword for you.”

“Thanks. Well, we’re in a rush.”

With that, Vim picked Hana up in a bridal carry.

“Hold on tight.”

“Y-yes!”

Shrink Ground.

The moment Vim spoke the words, they were instantly transported back to the carriage.

“Ah, wait…!”

Misa tried to call out to him, but they had already vanished.

“Ah, he’s gone.”

Advanced sorcery, a Disconnection Barrier… and he said he was moving with the backing of the Leorian King. Leoria was a meritocratic nation. To be backed by the King in such a country… that was Vim.

“It seems I may have incurred a debt to someone truly extraordinary. I look forward to seeing what kind of ‘predicament’ such a person could possibly face.” Misa remarked, looking over her fully healed body.

“Um, what was that just now?” Hana asked, looking stunned.

“It’s a type of Sage Art called Shrink Ground. It’s a technique that makes it feel like you’ve moved instantly by shortening the distance,” Vim explained as he set her down.

Vim had never seen anyone else who could use this. After all, it was a skill fundamentally different from magic.

“Well, putting that aside, let’s keep moving.”

Vim boarded the carriage, followed by Hana.

“We’re ready to go,” Vim called out to Rolf on the driver’s seat.

“Understood.”

The carriage began to move forward once again.