“Sorry, I must have been mis—”
“Wait, Lily? No way. You don’t mean Lily the Lost Sword Saint, do you?”
“Lilythelostswordsaint”? I had never heard that word before. “What’s a ‘lilythelostswordsaint’?” I asked, completely unable to follow what Crumb had said.
“The legendary adventurer, Lily the Sword Saint...or sometimes, the Sword Fiend. Tons of adventurers dream of being just like her. Is this really the first time you’re hearing of her?”
The Sword Fiend? How terrifying. “Sword Fiend, Sword Fiend...” At the very least, that title didn’t fit the Lily I knew. She was the serious type, and really kind.
“She wields a sword as long as she is tall. Enveloped in light, it sunders her enemies in one fell swoop. Lily the Sword Saint, the strongest swordsman in the world! They say her strength rivals that of the Holy Knights’ captain—no, exceeds it.”
“I-Is that right...?” This woman sounded terrifying. Yes, the Lily I knew was amazing and worthy of respect, but she wasn’t a fiend. As I already said, she was the serious type, and really kind. I was pretty certain this was a different Lily. “I’m sorry, I think I’ve gotten my spells mixed up...”
“Well, I guess you must have. After all, she’s already...” Crumb’s expression looked pained. I guess that made sense considering this Sword Saint was one of the few people capable of healing her sister.
I was starting to feel guilty. I searched for something to say that could lighten the mood. “Th-That’s right! I bought some snacks on my way here. Please share them with your sister,” I said, handing over the bag of cute, colorful cookies. Obviously, I wasn’t the one who picked these out. I had just remembered Yui mentioning that this shop sold tasty sweets during our quest to defeat that pack of high wolves. I’d never tried them myself.
“Wait, I love these! Thanks! I really mean it!”
“I-I’m glad you like them.”
Crumb promptly took a cookie from the box and began to chow down. She seemed to be enjoying herself. I was right to refer to Yui’s advice. “Yup, these cookies are the best!” she happily exclaimed as she continued to eat more and more.
Were they really that good? I’d have to try them myself sometime.
Once Crumb had eaten about half the box, she reluctantly closed the lid and turned her attention toward me. She was probably saving the rest for her sister. “So? Do you like hanging with Yui and them?”
“Yeah, I guess...” It hadn’t even been a month yet, but all sorts of things had happened, and each one was much more fun than the time I spent with the Hero’s party.
“They all really helped me out in my hard times too. Honestly, I wish I could still adventure with them.” Apparently, Sylvie’s illness had progressed to its current state about a year ago, which was when Crumb met Yui’s party. As a white mage, she must have had a hard time adventuring on her own. But once Crumb explained all that, her demeanor grew more serious. “They’re a bright bunch, but...they’ve all got their troubles. Like Yui. Her hometown was attacked by monsters, and her parents were victims.”
That’s right. Yui had shared that with me too.
“Thanks to that, she tends to take things way too far. She’d sacrifice herself if it meant saving someone else. Jeez, just watching her gets me so worried.” I could tell from her expression that she deeply cared and was concerned for Yui. “Anyway, I’m relieved. With you around, I can leave the party without any worries,” she said, grinning.
I guess that meant she had recognized my worth as a member of their party. I was thankful, but would she be okay? She had lost her job. Wouldn’t she have a hard time paying the bills? “You’re going to leave the party?”
“Yeah, I wanna focus on taking care of Sylvie. Fortunately, we’ve still got plenty of cash. But right now, I can’t be away from home for all too long...”
That made sense. Her sister’s injury must have been serious. But just what had been able to put an S-rank adventurer in such a critical state? “Was it a monster that hurt Sylvie?” I imagined it was, so I decided to ask Crumb.
For a few seconds, she pondered this question. Then, she slowly began to speak. “I...don’t know. She was attacked from behind, and by the time I got there, she was already starting to lose consciousness.” She looked quite pained. She had arrived too late to save her sister, which must have been hard on her.
“What are her symptoms?” I was hoping that information could be used to determine what monster had attacked her. The single thing I had some confidence in was my monster knowledge, but I hadn’t been expecting her answer.
“Her mana’s rampaging.”
“Rampaging mana?” I asked. You didn’t hear those two words together every day. Newbie mages sometimes had a hard time controlling their mana, but that had never been much of a problem.
“Yeah. You know that high concentrations of mana tend to crystallize, right?”
I nodded. Highly concentrated, crystallized mana—magic stones, essentially. They’d occasionally be recovered from the depths of caves, where the air was dense with mana. But I had never heard of the mana within someone’s body crystallizing before.
“Sylvie’s illness...is slowly turning her body into a magic stone. We’re able to slow the progression by occasionally releasing her mana for now, but it’s progressing faster and faster with each passing year, and we’re having to drain more and more of her mana. It’s only a matter of time before her body fully becomes crystal...” Gloom filled Crumb’s expression. The situation was much more dire than I had imagined.
“A matter of time, huh...?” I pondered.
Hmm? Wait a second. Rampaging mana that needed to be drained. Could that be...? It was only a possibility, but if I was right about this, then...
“Crumb.”
“What?”
Sylvie’s rampaging mana was preventing her from controlling it, and the resulting high concentration of mana was transforming her body into a magic stone. In that case...
“I might...” If I was right about this, then maybe I might...
“...be able to heal Sylvie.”
“R-Really?” Her eyes flew open. I could tell she was shocked.
“I don’t know for sure. There’s no guarantee, but...”
“But it still might work, right?”
“Yeah. Could you take me to her?”
“Y-Yeah. Follow me.” Crumb stood up and led me to her sister’s room.