Demon's Virtue

675  Clementine's Healing Class

Eiro walked through the halls of the academy, using his magic on the walls to prepare them for the creation of the circuit a lot better. Right now, he couldn't begin carving it just yet; the planning for it wasn't all done yet, and they would need to talk to Solomon about the final plan before they could get started, not to mention the fact that the building was still flooded with students.

However, it wouldn't take long until Eiro could finally get started either; next Tuesday was a holiday, a celebration in memory of a past hero that was born and raised in this region, so the academy decided to give the students an extended weekend by giving them Monday and Tuesday off. There would be a small festival in the city, and due to its cultural importance, the students were practically pushed into attending. There were apparently some professors that gave homework related to said hero as well, though most of the research needed for it could be learned by just attending the festival and watching some of the public plays that were going to be put on.

That meant that this would be the perfect opportunity for Eiro to get started on the base parts of the circuit. Of course, the parts where students were most frequently were going to have slightly more support and as such required denser parts of the array, while the areas of the academy without that many people in it on a regular could receive the more general areas. Of course, no part of the circuit was going to be weak or simply allow an intruder onto the campus, however, there were areas of the circuit that were capable of reacting to intruders or protecting students more directly. For example, the classrooms could be locked down if necessary, and safe-zones with particularly strong barriers would be erected around groups of students. These barriers would also end up hiding the students, since Eiro was supplying the circuit with a large amount of the Ace of Cups' liquid that he had been saving up for a while now. Using that artifact, it was possible to not only protect the students from even being noticed by intruders, but it could also be used to carefully guide said intruder to places where they could be dealt with more safely by directing the places their attention could be focused on. And now, to make sure that the walls and floors of the academy were the canvas that he needed, he was now going around, repairing some cracks and fixing up some other general issues with the structural integrity, something that was wholly needed especially in the areas of the academy where the practical lessons took part.

That being the case, Eiro wound up by the magic practice ground, where Clementine and her class were currently in the middle of practice. This particular class was one specifically for support mages like buffers or healers. That also meant that most of these students had a rather calm temperament on top of being sociable, so Eiro happily watched them as the small crowd around Clementine was happily chattering about. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Though, the scent of blood in the air did confuse Eiro a little bit, since it wasn't fresh blood. It was the kind mixed with pus and dust. And it wasn't just one person either; He couldn't see the people giving off this scent, though he could hear a barrage of heartbeats from the building adjacent to the training ground. For now, he decided to just watch the class. After all, he didn't have any classes to teach on his own today anymore, so he had the time to mend his curiosity.

"Okay, class!" the teacher clapped her hands together with a smile, trying to get the attention of the students. She was one of the people that Eiro had a bit more trust in amongst the faculty; just like her students, she was mild-mannered and cared deeply for the people she taught. Not to mention, she had a lot of practical experience. From what he learned, some fifty or so years ago, she enlisted as a healer during a war in the deep west of this continent. She earned the title of 'Grand Healer' a few years after that, despite being rather young, and many even came to call her 'the other Saintess' once it was found out that she, on top of her work in the army, healed the poor and sickly for free after her day was done, no matter where she was currently stationed. She had a pure heart, and actually poured her whole mana into some spells in an attempt to heal the wounds of prince Charles after the attack on the academy. With her advanced age, she ended up in the sick-bed herself for a while afterward.

"As I told you earlier, today is going to be a little different. We are going to attempt and give you some practical experience today," Melina, the teacher, explained. She nodded at her assistant, who quickly started bringing in a small crowd of injured young men and women. All of them were bandaged up, limping, and some even needed help getting out here. This was something that Eiro had heard about; usually, they were adventurers that had been injured and couldn't afford even a half-decent healer, or simply poorer folk that had injured themselves during their day-to-day work. And then, these people had offered themselves up to be used as... teaching material. They were going to be healed by the students of the academy so that they could get some proper experience with their magic, and in exchange, they would be healed free of charge and given a warm, hearty meal alongside it.

That was the bad part about healing magic. In a perfect world, you wouldn't need it. You only had a reason to use it if people were injured or sick, and of course, that was the only way that a healer was able to get experience. That was the sad reality of this situation, and Melina herself seemed to be quite sad to see these people in this situation as well, not to even speak of the young, inexperienced students.

Though, right now, Eiro's sight was only set on one person; Clementine. Her face had gone pale, and she was holding her arms tightly against her body. She was uncomfortable, and it was clear why; she was feeling hungry in front of this buffet of wounds and ailments.

She generally got by simply by healing the day-to-day injuries that Arc ended up with, and if she got especially 'hungry', Eiro would injure himself a bit and block his own natural healing ability so that she could do it for him and feed off the injury. However, just like any skill, a unique skill also tended to level up. And with her's, the effect was rather simple. Clementine was able to heal things more efficiently and take on more severe injuries, but at the same time, her hunger for these wounds grew stronger as well.

Ever since they had entered the academy, and especially since Arc's injuries became not only more frequent but also more severe due to the fact that they had started practical combat lessons not too long ago, Clementine's skill experience shot up by a lot. Especially after that one time that Arc had broken his foot in three places. Eiro wasn't there when it happened, nor when Clementine healed her brother, and this was a wound that seemed to give quite a lot of experience to her, leveling her up again.

Generally, Eiro tried to make sure that she could take this sort of thing on in a more subtle way, and Melina, who had been informed of Clementine's unique skill, even offered her to skip this class, but Clementine insisted on being here. Eiro wasn't aware the schedule had already been set and that this was the plan for today, otherwise he would have tried to be here anyway instead of just letting it be a coincidence.

Slowly but surely, it seemed like the students started to get to work. Clementine was looking around nervously, approaching the patient that Melina had picked out for her. She was by far the most experienced and skilled healer amongst the students, so it was the obvious choice for her to be given the most severely injured patient.

"If you can't handle it, do let me know," Melina whispered to the girl. Of course, she didn't mean 'if Clementine could not heal him', but rather, if the hunger overwhelmed her too much. Clementine just nodded her head and approached the man. He had a dirty bandage covering his arm that she carefully unwrapped. The smell was pungent and disgusting, and even the other students should be able to smell it. It was basically already half-rotten. It was to the point that the only thing Clementine would be able to do was first-aid, and Melina was supposed to come in and heal the rest afterward in a fairly long session.

Clementine looked at the wound, trying to hold herself back. She swallowed the saliva in her mouth, as she carefully pulled the distilled, clean water out of the flask at her hip using water magic. She took a deep breath, and then started to get to work, cleaning the wound. However, she was taking her time with the treatment. Of course, this wasn't something that should be rushed, but from Eiro's point of view, Clementine wasn't this slow because she was worried, but because she didn't want to be finished so soon.

Her control over the water slipped a bit, and she moved forward. Eiro could tell what she was going to do without even needing to think about it for too long. He shot off the spot where he was standing, rushing through the crowd of students without disturbing them, and then placed his hand onto Clementine's arm, pulling it back from the man's.