The wizard is reincarnated last Time

Chapter 31

Even after several more days, I was still confined to the hospital room.

I thought I’d recover quickly and be able to leave the medical center soon, but as expected, my inability to sleep at night held me back.

As much as I couldn’t sleep at night, even when I tried to sleep during the day, I couldn’t fall into a deep slumber.  My appetite waned, and I couldn’t eat properly.

The accumulated fatigue began to show outwardly.

It would have been strange if my mother and Grain, who were always by my side caring for me, hadn’t noticed.

I’d made them worry again.

I opened the window and let the cool night air into the room.

The low-grade fever that had started in the evening hadn’t subsided yet, so the cool air felt surprisingly good.

I tried to fall asleep somehow, but it felt impossible.

It was agonizing to be unable to sleep despite feeling heavy and drowsy.  Not knowing what to do, I ended up picking up a book.

Just like that, I ended up reading all the books on the bookshelf.

The medical center was incredibly quiet in the middle of the night.  It felt like I was the only one awake.

That was probably the case.

I lit a small lamp.

I had stopped generating light with magic power a while ago because it also consumed stamina.  My condition was so poor that I was reluctant to waste even that small amount of energy.

It was fortunate that the seizures weren’t happening anymore, but at this rate…

I leaned against the window and looked down at the nightscape of Prion spread out beyond the medical center.

Even though my head was hazy with fever, sleep wouldn’t come.

It would probably be better if I just collapsed from exhaustion.

“…Liv?”

I blinked and turned around at the familiar voice coming from behind me.

Grain was standing at the open door, looking at me with a surprised expression. He was even in casual clothes.

“Why aren’t you asleep? It’s late.”

Grain closed the door and came inside.

Ah, right.

Because I had left the lights on in the room, Grain, who was about to go home, had found me.

“…I couldn’t sleep. I’ll sleep soon.”

Probably. Around sunrise?

I tried to laugh it off, but the perceptive Grain quickly saw through my lie.

“Don’t tell me… you haven’t been able to sleep properly at night this whole time?”

“Well, I sleep during the day…”

Even though I knew it was a flimsy excuse, I found myself making excuses when Grain’s expression turned serious.

Grain let out a deep sigh and strode towards me.

“You’re not recovering your stamina because you can’t sleep at night, Liv. Come here.  Your fever is…”

I sat obediently on the bed and waited for Grain to place his hand on my forehead and check my temperature.

“At this rate, it’ll get worse by tomorrow morning. You need to rest well for your fever to go down.”

Grain closed the window and covered me with a blanket. He gathered the books scattered on the bed and put them back on the shelf, staring at the corner of the bookshelf as if deep in thought.

“I’m fine…”

“No, you’re not. I need to stay here with you.”

Grain put down his bag and started taking off his coat.

Surprised, I sat up.

“No, you don’t have to…”

“Just tonight.  It’s too late for me to go home anyway, so I was wondering what to do.  This works out perfectly.”

Grain pulled a chair over, sat down, and laid me back down on the bed.

“Don’t worry and go to sleep. Don’t think about anything, just relax. That’s the only way your fever will go down by tomorrow morning.”

Grain pulled the blanket up to my chest and held my right hand.

Warm life force began to flow slowly through his hand.

A cozy warmth slowly enveloped my body.

Divine magic usually didn’t work well on me. But I was so exhausted that it took effect almost immediately.

My eyelids grew heavy, and my vision blurred.

Feeling my consciousness slowly fading, I looked up at Grain.

“But… Brother Grain, you must be tired too…”

“I told you not to worry.”

Was he really okay? He wasn’t planning on using divine magic on me all night, was he?

That worry was short-lived, as I was quickly swept away by a wave of surprisingly rapid sleep.

Midday, with warm sunlight streaming down.

I woke up with a clear mind for the first time in a while.

There was no sleepless midnight, no painful dawn, just broad daylight.

Instead of the sound of birds chirping, I heard my mother’s bright voice.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

My mother was smiling brightly beside me, as if she had been waiting.

Grain was nowhere to be seen.

Thanks to a deep sleep, my fever had completely subsided, and the heavy fatigue that had accumulated over the past few days had lessened considerably.

I thought, as I ate my breakfast-lunch combined, that I had to thank Grain when I saw him again.

Although I felt fine until the daytime, in the afternoon, my body became heavy again, and I drifted in and out of sleep.

It seemed that one night of good sleep wasn’t enough to relieve all the accumulated fatigue.

At this rate, it was obvious that I wouldn’t be able to sleep again at night.

But Grain couldn’t hold my hand every night…

While I was worrying, my father and Grain visited my room in the late evening.

As I had intended, I immediately thanked Grain. He smiled and said it was a relief.

“I heard from Grain about last night.”

My father sat on the chair next to the bed and spoke to me with a hardened expression. I had made him worry after all.

I carefully adjusted my posture.

It was something I couldn’t keep secret forever.  I just hoped I would get better and be able to sleep before worrying anyone.

“Actually, that was what Luwen was worried about too. He said you were afraid of being called out by the demons in your dreams. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to pay attention because I thought you would be okay now.”

“No, it’s just my problem…”

“It’s a problem we should solve together.”

My father stroked my hair with a warm hand.

“So, Grain and I thought of a solution. I’m still not sure if this is the right way to go, but…”

I didn’t understand what my father was talking about.

He let out a deep sigh, his eyes still filled with concern.

“What solution?”

“You’ll find out soon. Grain will watch over you while you’re in the medical center. You don’t have to worry, just focus on recovering your strength.”

My father and Grain said they’d see me tomorrow and left the room, leaving me filled with confusion and questions.

Night fell again in silence.

While I was worrying about how to spend the night, a small presence pushed the door open.

In the darkness where nothing could be seen, a silver, shimmering wave of magical energy called out to me.

‘Liveric.’

A welcome voice entered my mind.

I lifted my head, which had been resting against the window.

“Ash!”

A large wolf was walking silently into the room.

Jumping out of bed, I immediately hugged Ash’s neck.

Fluffy and soft mane and shimmering magic… It was definitely Ash.

“How… I heard you were imprisoned… What happened?”

‘They decided to release me. Klaus and… your father.’

“My father…?”

I couldn’t believe it.  My father, who had been so stubborn, had decided to release Ash.

‘Yes.  But he set a condition. To protect you from threats.’

A tiny symbol was shining on Ash’s neck.

A faint magical power emanated from the symbol. It seemed to contain some kind of magic.

“What is this?”

‘Klaus’s contract magic. A contract between me and your father. It must have been the best he could do.’

So this was the solution my father had come up with.

Contract magic. It would be very effective on Ash, who depended on magic power to live.

‘He thought I might hurt you.’

“I never thought that.”

I laughed and hugged Ash tightly.

A certainty that only I knew, that neither my father nor Klaus could understand. Perhaps it was also because he had ‘changed.’

‘Yes, I’m certain too. But there’s one thing I need to tell you.’

Ash took a step back from me.

He sat down, gathering his paws, and looked directly at me with brightly shining eyes. His eyes were red like a demon, but they held a warm glow that other demons lacked.

‘I need magic power to sustain my life.  A normal demon would harm a person to gain magic from their life force.’

“…I know.”

I nodded.

‘But I won’t harm anyone. That’s one of the conditions of my freedom.’

“Then how?”

‘As you know, you possess quite unique magic. I intend to use that.  Just by being near you, I can gain enough magic power to survive and act. You won’t even notice it.’

I blinked and looked at Ash.

I hadn’t thought of that at all. I didn’t know such a thing was possible.

‘…It won’t harm you in the slightest.  Don’t worry.’

“I’m not worried.”

I rubbed Ash’s sleek, triangular face. His fur was soft and pleasant to the touch.

“But if my father finds out, he might worry unnecessarily…”

‘Klaus knows. He doesn’t seem to have told your father.’

Ash quickly moved and pulled his face out of my embrace.

He shook himself once and then, with invisible speed, hopped onto the bed.

‘That’s enough talk.  Go to sleep.’

“What about you, Ash…?”

‘I don’t need to sleep. If you crawl out in your dreams again, I’ll bite the back of your head and bring you back.’

Despite his threatening and fearsome tone, I burst out laughing. A great sense of relief washed over me.

If Ash was by my side, I could sleep peacefully.

If Selina’s dreams led me to the demons again, he could wake me up and tell me to come to my senses.

I crawled into bed. Before closing my eyes, I hugged Ash one more time.

“Thank you, Ash.”

He slipped out of my embrace as if annoyed, but he didn’t go far.

He settled down quietly at the foot of the bed, seemingly intending to watch me fall asleep.

Under his warm gaze, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

A week later.

Having recovered my health, I was discharged from the Ervan Medical Center.

I was also completely free from the previous aftereffects.

Grain assured me that I would no longer experience the sudden coughing fits, high fever, and seizures.

Everyone was surprised and overjoyed.

Thanks to Ash being by my side, I no longer suffered from sleepless nights, and my stamina steadily increased.

As I began to study Imperial magic with Klaus, I quickly learned how to control my magic power in a way that suited my body.

Not long after I started living like a normal child of my age… I realized that a new option I had never considered before was now before me.