Arpious of the Planes

(Aika POV)

I should go shopping and get a gift for when she comes back. I'm pretty sure her taste of clothes is the same as Kumo's, but I don't want to ask her to help me. I'd rather give something I bought myself.

"Did you see the mother nature that dropped by the castle this morning? She claimed to be Arpious's servant and needed money," Kumo said, who was across the table.

We were currently having breakfast and Kumo's question snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh, Mother Nature is real? I thought she was just a myth," I ask.

"I guess she is. Akio already used [Inspect] on her and verified her race," Homura says.

"That's pretty cool… I wonder when Arpious is gonna come back," Kumo says, placing her fork down and slumping down into her chair.

It seems all of us are tired and Kumo is already missing Arpious. I believe in her and think she can seal a deal with the dragon so I'll prepare a preemptive gift. She doesn't have much jewelry besides the rings that are for us, so I'll buy some bracelets and necklaces for her…

"Well, I'm done eating so I'll go shopping for a bit. I can't train in my condition," I say, getting out of my chair and not looking back.

Bracelets, necklaces, what other jewelry can I buy her… oh, I know a good idea for a necklace. Ava should be able to pull it off.

Since she is either going to slay or come to an agreement with the dragon, I should have Ava make a necklace that is like a dragon curling around her neck… now what jewels should I use?

As I pondered about what jewels would fit the dragon-like necklace, I walked towards the entrance and saw the shadow of a giant bird outside.

Could it be the phoenix?

Running out of the grand entrance to Arpious's castle, I see a giant phoenix land. It shrinks and then takes something off its back very carefully.

"Whos that- SOMEBODY CALL A HEALER!" I yell back inside the castle.

The maids run outside and see their master's state, then immediately spreading out, trying to find a healer.

"Huh, what's wrong-"

Kumo and Homura walk out of the entrance and see Arpious's state. She had an uncountable amount of tiny cuts and large lacerations. One of her wings was folded in half while the other had almost no feathers on it, just some skin and bones.

Her left arm was gone and part of her left leg was gone, but that was just the visible injuries. Seeing how parts of her body seem a bit limp, I'm assuming they're either dislocated or broken.

"We brought some healers!" I hear somebody shout from behind.

It was a maid running towards us with 5 healers and 1 that I recognized, Ichika.

"Holy shit… We can't bring her to a bed we need to use healing magic immediately," Ichika says, instantly kneeling next to Arpious.

I covered my mouth in shock while Homura was doing the same thing. Kumo was just watching the healers do their job and not panicking at all. She was what I wanted to be right now but I felt my rate of breathing go up and my pupils dilate in fear.

...

(Ichika POV)

"[Scan]," I mutter.

How did her highness end up in this state? What could she have fought that created these injuries? Broken bones, dislocated joints, loss of limbs, and injured organs… this isn't the work of just any monster.

We were able to stop all of the bleeding, but we have to snap back her joints and bones into place before we heal them. It's not like they're going to magically heal back into place.

Normally I would be asking the family to turn around if they are uncomfortable with unsightly things, but the only ones around us are some maids and her highnesses wives. I've heard many great things about them and they should be able to handle the sight.

"You right there, I'll snap back the bone and you hold it in place while I use [Grand Healing Magic]," I say to one of the healers in front of me.

"Yes, Miss Ichika," she responds.

Her remaining arm wasn't that broken so just snapping it slightly was sufficient. But, holding her other limbs and joints in place proved to be more difficult than I thought because they were so mangled.

"Alright, we were able to heal all the wounds but she should rest for the next 3 days or so. I also don't know when she will wake up, so that is something that will be determined in the future," I say, to her highnesses wives.

"Hmmm… you missed something," I hear Miss Kumo say.

She was staring at her highnesses chest but it wasn't anything lewd. She didn't glance at me and pointed right at her solar plexus.

"W-what do you mean? I'm sure I checked everywhere. I even used my new [Scan] skill," I say.

"Use [Grand Healing Magic] carefully right… here," Miss Kumo says, moving her finger slightly to the left.

A cold sweat runs down the back of my neck as I use [Grand Healing Magic] on where Miss Kumo has her finger. As soon as the golden particles enter her body, I feel something blocking it. It felt like a massive wall that I couldn't break or climb over.

I tried to push through it in one go but felt the particles bounce back.

Improvising on the spot, I manipulated them slowly through the supposed "wall" that's blocking my healing. I started to sweat a bit more as I felt the particles slowly slip through but I knew if I stopped just for a second, I would have to restart and there might be a backlash to her highness.

Almost there…

"Finally!" I shout, leaning back.

A black mist rose from every one of her orifices and once it dispersed, just slightly more color returned to her face.

"Forgive me for not noticing," I say, lowering my head to Miss Kumo.

"It's fine, I didn't expect you to find a curse anyway," Miss Kumo says.

"C-curse?"

"I think I'm the only one who knows this, but she has [Mark of a Berserker]. I'm thinking she either used [Berserk] again or used something similar to it that placed a lot of pressure on her body.

That would make sense though since she did end up like this after the fight. I can't believe the dragon was this powerful," Miss Kumo explains.

"Forgive my rudeness but I don't believe this was caused by a dragon. She has many injuries that resemble weapons and most of her injuries were in specific places.

I've heard of some dragons that can use a polymorph skill so that might be why there are weapon injuries. But if it was in its normal form I believe it would cause more spread-out damage and no weapon damage," I explain.

"I guess we can only wait for her to wake up… Maids! Bring her to the guest room and make sure you check on her every hour! I will not tolerate any slackers!" Miss Kumo shouts.

"As you wish," the maids say before bowing and picking up her highness carefully.

"Does she need any medicine or herbs for her recovery?" Miss Kumo asks me.

"You might want some medicine for fevers since her body is still healing. It also always best for the body to naturally heal after getting a jump start from healing magic. Her status also shows that her mana and stamina got dangerously low, so she might get mana sickness.

I'll have some of my friends prepare the medicine. Make sure you feed it to her only once a day if those illnesses do appear," I say.

Miss Kumo nods her head before she gestures for Miss Aika and Miss Homura to follow her.

…

(Kumo POV)

That's strange? There were no chains wrapped around her heart. It is easy for me to detect them now even if they're invisible.

Maybe she was able to dispel it somehow and the residual curse that couldn't be purged from her body hid away deeper and tried to merge with her body. I saw how hard it was for Ichika to heal it, so that might be the most plausible cause.

"That scared me," Homura says, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Do you think she won?" Aika asks.

"She probably did. If she was injured that badly, that meant her opponent was much, much stronger than her. Of course, they wouldn't let her escape after injuring her so much. Plus, it would be a cakewalk with their level of power," I respond.

"Smartass," Aika says.

"I'm not even gonna try and argue right now. You guys do what you want, I'm going to check on Arpious," I say.

"I'll follow you since I have nothing to do," Aika says.

"Same," Homura agrees.

…

(Homura POV)

We enter the room with Aika and Kumo by my side. The maids had already left and did a wipe-down bath for her since we couldn't just place her in the bath.

My hands were still shaking from the sight earlier as I sat on a chair in the corner of the room.

"Damn, we need to get stronger. Arpious is trying to do everything by herself," Aika says.

Oh, she didn't call her babe.

"I agree… even though we just evolved were nowhere near as strong as her. She might have more skills than us, but that just means she's going to be average at most of her skills and maybe master some of them. But we can master all of our skills and make up the difference in power," Kumo says.

"That's true… but let's raise some children first," I say.

"I know, I know… so are any of you excited?" Kumo says.

"Yeah, I heard it's hard to raise children but we'll see once we get to that hurdle. Also, let's step out now and give Arpious some time to rest… she just fell asleep," Aika says.

Seeing Arpious's chest rise and fall, I nod my head as we all leave the room.