Despite the pain, It took Lily several minutes to calm down and stop her laughter.

  Great, I would gladly wait for her to stop. It only meant that everything had given us more fear than harm. If playing the fool could make a cute girl smile, it was all worth it. But seeing her good mood gradually disappear in favor of the pain, I ended up stopping her.

  “ At your service, glad you liked it. I could repay your cookies with fun, at least. But calm down, or your wound will worsen. How are you? Something’s broken?” I smiled back at her laughing face. Happy myself that my worries were all for naught.

  “..Ahem... Yes, sorry…” She wiped away a tear. “Honestly, not very good. I stopped the bleeding from all open wounds, and my head seems fine, although she received a shock. But I think I got a broken ankle and leg plus some rib fractures… maybe more? It hurt a lot, so I anesthetized myself lightly with magic, but I can still feel pain.”

  “Let me see… tell me if you can’t stand the pain.” I got by her side on the knee, took her hurt limb on my lap, and proceeded to take off her shoes.

  “Eeeeeyoutch!”

  “Don’t move; it’s very swollen. I will cut your boots and stockings. When we return, we will buy you a new pair of both.”

  The sexy attires were already ruined anyway, long past any chance to save them, even for a role play. The whole lower leg was definitely in a bad state. Well… Both wounds were located in the same place, so it was coherent.

  The bulge was understandable, and the stockings state too, but that one was irrelevant.

  “It’s not necessary. Better not touch if it’s swallowed. I will walk with a crutch anyway and heal over time...”

  “No!! If it’s completely broken, and given the extent of the fall, sure it is, we need to check the damage. If you have a displaced bone, or worse, a sticking-out one, we need to take care of it as soon as possible, and you know it.

  Even you cannot be sure if everything is hidden and squeezed by your shoes. We won’t move again today. I’ll set up the camp right there. If necessary, I’ll carry you tomorrow and then.”

  There is no way you would be walking. I wouldn’t have let you, even if you could. Or I won’t be the hero anymore. I started cutting off the shoe and ripped off the garment’s fabric with a knife.

  “But...argh!!!!”

  “No speaking! I will get angry. Why are you so stubborn when it comes to yourself? Here! It's already over… what the… what is this...” Suddenly, something odd caught my attention, something that shouldn’t have been there, or at least not as much.

  “…” She stayed quiet, pretending not to notice my reaction.

  “Lily, hold out the other leg to me.”

  “Why? I only had a small flesh wound, which is already close.”

  “LILY!! Do I need to threaten with a divorce so you listen to my words without making a fuss?”

  “…” Again, she remained silent, and tears got in her eyes. Nodding negatively, she put her other limb at my disposal. Here, too, the shoe was stuck. So, without asking or losing time either, I severed the leather and tore it off. The loose fishnet wasn’t an issue yet, so I left it on.

  “Lily… Why?…” Refusing to look me in the eyes, she faced the horizon.

  “Looking away, eh? Are you a child? Should I spank you? Why didn’t you tell me? I might stay unmoved and insensitive to you, but I’m not evil… you’re making my heart bleed.”

  What concerned me was not the ankles’ bad state, even if they were both inflated to an abnormal degree, meaning the second one was also at least sprained. Nor was it the above-broken part

  But the feet… swallow, full of bruises and blisters, covered in dried and fresh blood.

  “Spank you? I should beat myself hard instead.” How could I call myself a hero, a protector of women? When I can’t even see that a girl is worn out. I didn’t pay attention to the signs. I should have.

  “No!!… It’s all my fault...I’m useless!” Lily, unable to take it anymore, began to speak

  “The forest was fine. The pace suited me. But even then I...I got a sprain at the end! Tripping over a damned root! It hadn’t even been a few days! Already there, I was in pain…sniff.

  I didn’t want to be seen as a weakling. I was already a dead weight in the first fight…I…sob…didn’t want to hear you say I was a burden! Sob sob.”

  It was my turn to remain silent. I was stunned by what had happened because of my negligence and the weight of my words.

  “I thought I could hold it...hic...that...hic...that it would teach me how to endure pain… So I didn’t magically cure it on purpose. I was a fool…hic...sob.”

  “I understand, and then?.” How could you end up in this way? How? Oh, Lily…

  I wiped away those tears that came one by one; she was dying of embarrassment and regret. She spoke through tears and refused to look at me, avoiding my gaze to hide her miserable face as if I couldn't see her any other way.

  At least I must’ve managed to comfort her a little as she continued with longer and uninterrupted sentences.

  “Then, when you took me off the mountain path, I had trouble following you, and things only worsened. Eventually, I could barely stand properly, and the second ankle was about to give up too! Sniff

  When I asked for a break, I actually wanted to heal myself secretly while you were eating. Or at least I intended to. But you didn’t give me enough time and were so cheerful…”

  Embarrassment became shame, and her slowing-down tears returned more numerous, changing from a whimper into a lament.

  “I didn’t want to break the mood. Sob sniff, at the end...hic...when you...hic...let...me-hic...off to climb, I got an opportunity… sniff. Perfect!...hic... uh...I said to myself!...hic... But I…hic tripped agaaaiiiinnnnn! Waaaaaaaahaaa!!!”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  She started crying profusely for a while before slowing down her sobs and resumed her speech.

  “I was scared…hic, I thought you would abandon me!! Sob sob”

  I‘m a scumbag. Now I understood her troubled face when I abruptly interrupted our rest.

  Her complaints about the difficult terrain made sense, so I didn’t take them into account. Nor did I care about her fatigue.

  She didn’t want to eat, not because she was afraid of gaining weight, but because she was already dead tired and didn’t want to exhaust herself further while digesting.

  Now she was shedding tears in my arms, her legs in pieces, feeling bad about the situation and taking it all as she was the source of our problems, while I was the main accountable without a doubt.

  “I won’t, okay? I won’t. Rest assured, I promise I won’t throw you for that. After all, I’m your knight at the moment, am I not?”

  kiss, pat “Mmmh?”

  I slowly kissed her on the forehead while gently stroking her head for a long time until the cry slowed down and ceased.

  “Are you okay now? Did your fears fade away? I likely won’t treat you well as a wife, but at least I will treat you as a party member. Sorry, seriously, I hadn’t taken you into consideration enough.”

  Without speaking, she nodded in agreement, her eyes all puffy and irritated, the tear trails not even having dried yet.

  “So, no more secrets about your well-being, alright? Whenever you are hurt, whenever you are tired, no lies, no concealment. If I’m too fast, if the terrain doesn't suit you, even for a small inconvenience, let me know. D’accccccooord?”

  Another nod

  “Let’s continue the inspection then. Tell me if I’m wrong. The leg seems to be okay. No blood, bone sticking out, or hematoma in view. But you should check yourself when you have recovered a bit. I’m not a doctor. The other one’s fine. I think the ankles can be sorted with a bit of magic and good sleep. Your head is fine, so you said. I’ll take your word for it. Now, for the libs… how many fractures?”

  “A few...”

  “I have trouble hearing? What did we just agree on?”

  “Sorry... five.”

  “Yay! Better late than never. But that was the last time. If I catch you back again, I won’t let you travel with me and make you a perfect housewife. Waiting home alone for her husband to return, compelled to masturbate out of frustration.”

  Maybe I should have done that straight away. Locking her in our base would have been safer, allowing me to flee temptation, and… that’s it.

  To be fair, she was not incapable, far from there. She was very good in melee, easily matching average adventurers specialized in the front line. She seems to be a good healer; her flesh wounds were all taken care of even though she was nearly exhausted and seriously injured. She just needs some time to get used to her new life.

  Gaining some field experience should suffice; stamina wasn’t the problem here. Above all, she endured a greater pain and for longer than most I know of, without saying a word.

  If she hadn't been so crazy in love, had I encountered her earlier, I would have taken her on my journey to push back the demon, no questions asked.

  “Five, so be it, nothing worse? No broken one? Be careful; I have the means to keep you on a leash until the end of the trip, Literally!”

  No. Let's not lie to ourselves, given she is this young and already as capable as. Even if she were to rape me beforehand, I wouldn’t have minded teaming up with her in the war after some training. I wonder how well she will grow.

  “With the tail and ears? Dog or cat?” Regaining some confidence, she eventually returned my joke back to me. It seems I succeeded in lightening the mood.

  “Ah… yes, that could be taken as a reward for you… Thus, how about I bound you to a tree for a few days and let you alone? And why not a rabbit?

  Seems fine to me, a hurt and naked starving rabbit, trembling in fear and cold. Leached to a tree without provisions. You would make good prey for wildlife if you don’t die from hypothermia.”

  “Pffff, I would like to see that, but I don’t think the wildlife would be of any concern. The wild hero-sama, on the other hand… That’s a predator I can’t ignore, but wouldn’t that reverse the roles? -smile- No cover-up this time, I swear. Only fractures, no broken ones.”

  “Fine, I’ll believe you. Let’s not leave those injuries unattended, then. You come first, and next come the supper. I won’t set up the camp until later. Let’s eat well and rest nicely. As for what’s left, we will advise tomorrow morning. Okay?”

  And we did just as I said.

  I took care of Lily's injuries; a healer was not an excuse to leave serious ones unattended. I put on bandages to compress and keep in place her broken and cracked parts. Then, I made a splint with wood and some leftover tights for her legs.

  In the end, I proceeded to give her a massage where things were fine to release some pain and relax some more. No more magic would be allowed today, as she was already quite weak.

  We ate whatever we had, so it was a bit too light to fill Lily's body needs. Her blood and bones were far more hungry than she was herself, after all.

  She would need to eat more than that to recuperate. We were not gonna last with only dried meat and pottage rest. But since it appears she had difficulty eating in any case, that would be enough for now.

  …

  Fortunately, Lily was very preoccupied with her tear-stained face and struggled to clean it, so she didn’t pay attention to what I was doing while making food.

  It was a great opportunity, and I was able to secretly add some of my life-saving belongings to it… Well, it was not supposed to be one, but that’s all I could afford and save from my past equipment, and now it was.

  And no, I stop you right there, I did not use drugs, okay?!

  Although not of the highest quality and not at all made for this situation, an elixir was largely capable of improving her condition. A few drops in her meal and the effect should reduce pain and speed up the recovery process, even if using it as a simple tonic was a pure waste…

  Don't make me say what I didn't say. I always take my responsibilities seriously and acknowledge that I was wrong, so it seemed to be the right thing to do. Using my precious elixir was a natural course of action, of course.

  What justifies so much secrecy, then? Well, simply because, knowing her, she would’ve blamed it on herself beyond reason if she came to learn I had one in my possession and decided to squander it.

  Elixirs were NOT miracle potions. They couldn’t instantly treat ailments, nor could they quickly restore a severely injured body part.

  Well, the best could presumably be... That bullshit was a fairytale that spread among the common folk probably because some divine one may have saved someone that way once. But everyone concerned knew its weakness very well.

  What they were, however, were costly, if not overpriced, custom-made general medicines with light long-term effects. Their power and lasting time varied and heavily depended on the price. Even the weakest ones could cost you several months' salary as an adventurer.

  You tend to use them for absolute necessity before the need comes. Yes, it seems inconsistent, but that is the whole paradox. You need to use them in advance for them to be effective, but they cost a lot, so you generally falter.

  Anyway, mine mostly provided a stamina recovery effect, with a detox counter for numerous poisons, slow mana replenishment, modest adrenaline boost, and very light wound recovery that’s more for blood coagulant than wound treatment. And that in the long run.

  See, I told you. It does nothing perfectly but is a must when forecasting long fights with unplanned events. Fortuitously, It might be that it had unlikely but useful uses, and another purpose may have been to replenish and boost stamina through my overlong lingering nights, but that's another whole story…