“Where am I...?” I heard the raspy voice of a woman from my back—my literal back.
“You awake?” I glanced over my shoulder at the beastwoman, who was now conscious.
Thank goodness... She had finally woken up.
“Can you speak?”
“Huh? Oh, y-yes...” She was calmer than I had been expecting. Not only could she speak, she didn’t seem to be suffering from any major psychological damage. “Um... Where are we?” she asked, glancing around.
“We’re in the city of Ishtar, which is inside the kingdom. Are you familiar?”
“Ishtar... Yes, I’ve heard of it before.”
“I see...” If she had only heard of it, that meant she had never visited. I was usually quite ignorant, but I was oddly knowledgeable about this sort of thing. “What were you doing back there?”
“That’s right! What happened to them?!” she asked in a panic after seemingly and suddenly recalling some memories.
“Them? Were there other beastmen with you?” She was the only signal I had picked up on with my detection magic. Was there something I had failed to sense?
“No... The monsters! They were being controlled by magic.”
“Oh, about that...” I glanced at the monster horde.
“How awful...!” Color drained from the beastwoman’s face as she watched the swarm. So, the two really were related.
“Is this your doing?”
“I-It is.”
“What’s your name?”
“Um, it’s Cl... Claire.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment. Had she given me a fake name? Well, if she had a reason to hide her identity, I shouldn’t be pressing her about it. There were more important things.
“Can you control monsters, Claire?”
“I can, but...my mother always told me it was taboo to manipulate them.” So she had been banned from it. I guess that made sense. Not even the Heroes could control monsters, and if used irresponsibly, it could even topple entire cities—like what was happening right now.
“I understand it’s taboo. But we don’t have much time. If we leave things as they are, the monsters will attack the city. Can you change that?”
Claire pondered this for a moment. “If I don’t use my magic, then what will happen to the monsters?”
“All of them will die. That’s the only future I can see waiting for them.”
“B-But...” Though it was exactly because killing them would be impossible that I was trying to rely on her powers. “I’d like to agree to your plan, but as I am now...”
I could tell just from carrying her that she had run out of MP, and that her body was terribly emaciated. She likely couldn’t cast proper magic even if she wanted to.
“What if I replenished your MP and supported your magic?”
“You can do that?”
“Yeah.” My skills were limited, but if it would help her, then...
“I’ll give it a try. I think it might be possible, but without a rather skilled supporter, then...” She glanced at me as she trailed off.
“Well, I’m technically a supporter.”
“Um, would you be willing to try? If we don’t, then...then those poor monsters will be forced into attacking the city,” she said, watching the monsters with doleful eyes. The fact she had called them “those poor monsters” suggested as much, but I could tell she really cared for the beasts.
“Got it. I’ll try. But first...” I glanced back at the knight. “Do you have any mana potions?”
“Yes, we still have some left.”
“Could I have about ten of them?”
“You can, but what do you plan to use them for?” That’s when Yui and the others approached. She put her hand on the knight’s shoulder. “Lady Yui?”
“Don’t worry! Lloyd will figure this out for sure!” she said, urging me to hurry with her hand. “You’ve got a plan, right?”
“Well, it’s got a low chance of success, but I want to at least try it. You guys go and keep the monsters in check. I’ll be undoing your buffs for a bit. Is that all right?”
“Of course! We’re plenty strong without your buffs.” They really were S-rank adventurers... How reassuring.
“Do your best out there,” I said before dashing over to where the mana potions were stored. I secured a few and stowed them away with my storage magic. Then, we climbed up to the high ground where I could get a good look at our surroundings.
“Claire, take this.”
“Right.” Her thin arms trembled as she took the potion. Then, she slowly drank the contents. Once I ensured she had drunk the whole thing, I took the empty bottle from her.
“Let’s do this, then.”
Claire silently nodded back.
I also drank a mana potion before activating my magic, undoing the buffs on Yui and the rest to instead focus on strengthening Claire alone.
“Huh...?!” Her eyes shot wide open.
There was probably no use for physical strength, defense, or status effect annulment buffs here. I drank another mana potion before casting another spell. “I’ve activated mana transfer. I don’t have much left, but use what there is.” I supported Clare’s magic by becoming her mana tank. “Do you think you can do this?”
“Yes... I won’t be able to control all of them, but my words should reach the majority.”
Relief washed over me. I was glad my magic could be of use to her.
“Um...?”
“What is it?”
“Who and what are you, exactly?”
What was I? All I could do was look back at her in confusion. “Nobody suspicious.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. This is my first time experiencing such amazing support magic...” She spoke too quietly to pick up the rest of her sentence. Well, whatever.
“Anyway, please. Drive the monsters back to the forest.”
“Right.”
Claire began to speak in an unfamiliar language. Since I could feel my mana being rapidly depleted, I knew she had to be using magic. So, she could cast this spell without either a staff or enchantment. Wait. Actually, was this the enchantment? It felt a little too long for that, but...