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Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

- ~~~ - (Omnipotent)

*VWOOOOM* The instant the disaster began, every single person capable of sensing mana noticed it.

At first, quite a number of them tried to run out and help those who may have fallen to mana exhaustion, but before long, those numbers thinned out.

Very few of the original group could withstand the horrible, nauseating sensation created by mana being forcibly ripped out of their reserve.

But still, somehow, some forced themselves through it. Whether it was the idea they would receive compensation or simply out of a good heart, a few persisted.

And among them just so happened to be Michael, Mollie, and Udall.

- Michael Cotorel ~

After having my heart shattered a few days prior, I had spent my days drinking my problems away and drowning them in alcohol, but thankfully I didn’t stay like that forever.

When I finally felt the immense suction of mana towards the palace, I finally recognized just how much time I had been letting waste away. -I’ve gotten this far with my own sweat and blood, so what am I doing letting the result of that effort go to waste?!-

As that thought ripped through my mind, I leapt up from the table and darted out of the smithy behind Mollie and Udall.

Throughout the afternoon, while the suction in the upper district was still too strong to withstand, we ran around the lower districts and saved all those we could.

Once the suction finally started to subside, we worked our way towards the upper district, leaving the areas behind us to the knights and rallying as many people as we could to sweep through noble estates and heal those that needed it.

Not long after the suction subsided enough to allow it, we ended up running into multiple people who were trying to steal from the huge, unguarded noble estates, but thankfully, most of them were caught or killed before they could harm the nobles themselves.

The whole situation was horrifically chaotic, but it worked wonders on my mind.

For the first time since I returned to Kaelallan, I could finally turn my attention off of Maria and back to myself. -How long has it been since I’ve felt this free?-

After continuing to cover the rest of the upper district, the suction finally vanished completely.

-Time for the royal palace!- Although it was definitely considered trespassing on royal property and there was a chance I would get charged for it, I couldn't let myself leave the chance that one of the royal family was severely injured in the air.

After secretly breaking off from the group, I hastily made my way toward the palace but had to stop at the closed gate first. "Hey, are you guys alright?" The guards by the gate were slowly waking up as I ran up to them.

"Huh, what happened?" They held their heads like they had headaches, but they looked alright for the most part.

-They might be able to help…- Thinking they were awake enough to maybe understand me, I tried to explain a little.

"There was a disaster in the palace that made people pass out from mana exhaustion.

I need you two to get up and come help me.

The royal family could be hurt and almost no one in the upper district has awoken yet. "

"We can't let you in the palace, sir…" The knight, not realizing the severity of the situation, turned around to his buddy. "Hey, go inside and see if everyone is alr-"

Before he could finish, the doors to the palace slammed open. "The king is injured! Please, someone, come help!" A maid stood dizzily in the doorway with blood dripping down her face.

Seeing the blood flowing from her forehead, the knights immediately broke into a panic. "Okay, we'll let you in. Just stay with us at all times!"

As we ran into the palace, the knights lethargically stopped to help the maid and find out where the king was before continuing into the palace.

"That maid said he should be around here…" Quickly rounding a corner, we saw Sir Lawton Keen laying on the ground next to King Oliver who also had blood coming from his head.

"Okay, sir mage, I need you to help move Sir Keen there. I will take care of the king." Mustering up all his available strength, the knight bent down and turned the king onto his back whilst taking out a small number of bandages.

Giving a quick nod, I tried to play my part and reached down to move Lawton, but was immediately stopped by a mature woman’s voice.

"Wait, take my husband to his room. I found a maid that will take care of it from there." Queen Helen lethargically walked around the corner with a very young maid next to her. "Follow her, she will show you the way to his room."

"Right away, your grace." The knight acted quickly on her orders, gently picking up Oliver and following after the young maid, but that left me alone with the Queen and Sir Keen.

"Michael, I need you to try and wake Lawton. He shouldn't be hurt so give him some of your mana."

As a Nation rank mage, waking someone up from mana exhaustion wasn't a big deal, but I was yet to do it to anyone since it could cause some major problems. -But orders are orders-

Quickly reaching down and setting my hand on Lawton’s chest, I injected quite a considerable amount of mana into him. Thankfully though, he seemed to be close to waking up naturally, so it didn’t take much mana.

*Gasp* Vividly remembering the incident before he passed out, Lawton awoke in a panic. "What about the lord?!" He looked around in a hurry without noticing Helen.

"He should be okay. Lawton, I need your help."

Realizing he failed to notice her presence, he shot up onto one knee. "Order me as you wish, your grace."

"I need you to find the grandmaster. She should be around here somewhere, and she might have a better grasp of the situation than most of us." As she spoke, the Queen’s lethargic look steadily vanished.

-She’s strong enough to recover that quickly?!-

Before I could give it much thought, Lawton gave a strong nod and disappeared down the hall. "Right away, your grace."

The Queen gave me a harsh look the instant he left our line of sight. Her eyes simply didn’t belong to someone who just woke up from mana exhaustion. "I don't like you but you can be helpful. I need you to find an older elven maid and bring her to my office for me. Can you do that?"

I hesitated for an instant as her eyes felt like they pierced into my soul. "O..of course, your highness." Following her orders, I immediately started heading down the hall.

Elves were far more resistant to mana exhaustion since they had far better mana absorption compared to other races, but nonetheless, when I found her, she was still dizzy enough to need the wall's assistance to walk.

"Huh?" Seeing me at the end of the hall, she jumped to conclusions and pulled out a knife from under her apron.

"Miss, I was sent by her highness to find you. She asked me to bring you to her office." I put my hands up to show I wasn’t armed.

Finally realizing I wasn't a threat, she lowered her knife. "Alright, I can.. walk there myself…"

To keep her from losing balance, I quickly ran over and supported her. "You probably just woke up from mana exhaustion, just let me lend you my shoulder."

With a bit of reluctance, she finally moved off the wall and onto my shoulder. "T..thanks…"

After supporting her down the hall for several more minutes, simply following her directions, she finally managed to recover enough to comfortably walk on her own.

-I always knew elves were fast with recovering mana, but my goodness…-

Finally getting to the hallway the office was on, the elven maid turned to me and gave a polite bow. "Thank you for your assistance during all of this chaos."

"No problem, Miss. Please be careful in case you haven't recovered completely." I gave a formal bow as well.

"Thank you, but your concern is unnecessary." Before even letting me respond, she turned away and disappeared down the hall.

-I wonder if she is married…-

- Helen Kaelallan ~

"Haah.." I was sitting at my desk, simply trying to slowly piece together the situation.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in." Looking towards the door, I saw a young human maid in a deep bow.

"I have put the lord in his bed, I'd also like to inform you that the princess has returned."

-Already?!- Deep down, I wanted to go kill whoever let her leave the academy right after the incident, but I held myself back. -At least I can confirm her safety…- "Please bring her in."

"As you wish." Giving another bow, the young maid left the room again.

It wasn’t even a few minutes after that though, that the door opened again.

As expected though, it wasn’t Lucy.

Martha gave a deep bow as she finally came through the door.

"Hey, Martha... I called you in to ask a favor. Could you head down to the guild and put up an announcement saying people who keep track of the injured will be rewarded? I need to see the scope of this incident."

Martha gave a nod and paused before reluctantly turning to the door.

-A reward for only a select few isn’t enough…

- But that was when a good idea came to mind.

"Add to it that anyone who lost a family member will be compensated depending on the family's total contribution points.

" This way, hard-working families that lost family members will be greatly compensated, and the slackers wouldn't.

Giving yet another bow in understanding, Martha finally turned to the door and left the office.

*Creak* I leaned back in my chair once she was finally gone, with a look of anxiousness all over my face. -Just what in the world happened…-