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Chapter 30 (Part 1) (tw: Arm Dismemberment)
As I turned around, Noel was engulfed by a tornado and blown away while getting slashed all over. My vision turned red for a moment as a drop of her blood splattered on my cheek.
I was totally shocked. I wanted to help her, but the situation was too much for my mind to handle. I couldn’t move my body either because I had almost no mana left.
Noel was flung back further towards an area away from where Miranda and Nina were standing. The ground there was crumbling and sharp from the fight with the dragons earlier. It was dangerous. Someone, anyone, get Noel out of there!
“Ah
wa-water!”
I could hear the chanting of a spell. A large sphere of water materialized in the air.
Splash! By entering the water sphere, Noel somehow managed to avoid getting impaled by the sharp ground. As soon as it slowly lowered to flat ground, the water sphere popped.
“Noel-chan!”
Immediately, Cindy ran over to Noel. She then cast a healing spell on her. Bennett, too. But Noel was not moving, as if she was knocked unconscious.
Why
why is she so wounded? I was not the only one who was exhausted from the battle with the dragons. I was sure Noel didn’t have enough energy to put up a magic wall. Who would have attacked her in such a state?
Nina rushed towards me with an angry look on her face. With the wind blowing about her, she passed by me with great speed.
“Stop, Nina!”
“
Ah-AHHHHHHHH!? It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!”
Camilla, who was supporting my waist, shouted loudly. At the same time, I heard a crashing sound and a woman’s piercing scream. I could smell a lot of blood.
What was going on? I turned my head from Noel, who was out cold, to the other side, where Nina had run towards.
Nina was holding the hair of a mage a short distance away, gripping it tightly. A woman with long green hair. She was crouched and screaming. Even though she was writhing from the intense pain, she couldn’t move. Nina was holding her by the hair and pulling her down.
The sobbing woman was missing her right arm. It had fallen some distance away
along with her wand.
Was she the one who attacked Noel? She was a mage wearing the country’s emblem, yet she tried to kill Noel, who was supposed to be her fellow countryman?–That woman
 to my sister

“
I’m gonna kill her!!!”
My anger reached its peak, and I reflexively released my magic, pointing my wand at the woman. But before I could chant, the tip of my wand was seized.
“No, Zagan! Do not attempt to fire your magic! If you do, your mana will run out, and you’ll die! Miranda, restrain Zagan!”
“Ah—
Yes!”
They pinned me down from behind, and my hands slackened. At the same time, my wand was taken from me. Damn it! I can’t attack like this!
“Move, Miranda, Camilla!”
“I will not move! I will absolutely not move! Calm down, Zagan, this isn’t like you!”
“Grr
but that woman! To Noel!”
“Yes, she did hurt Noel! But Noel was not the target. You were!”
“
M-e?”
At those words, my raging emotions abruptly diminished.
Ah
oh, I see. So that’s what this is about. Noel got hurt because she was supporting me. It’s my fault that my little sister
 Even though I refused to accept it because I didn’t want to hurt her

That being said, I wondered if she was okay. I hurriedly checked behind me. Cindy, whose eyes met mine, smiled and nodded her head. Thank God; Noel was safe.
“Ugh! Let go of me..!! Do you really think you can get away with doing this to me!?”
“Shut your whining. You’re the one who slashed up Noel’s body. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that you shouldn’t do things that would anger people? Ah, I see. You’re an idiot, aren’t you? They say idiots have to die to be cured. I’m going to kill you as you are now!”
With her pupils still wide open, Nina tried to thrust her sword at the woman. But her arm was also caught and stopped
 by Luca.
“You can’t, Nina. If you kill her here, you’ll be charged with murder.”
“
Luca. But she did this to Noel!”
“Yes, I know. I know, so can you just let me handle this? Ah, you can keep your hold on her hair. Somebody, please stop the bleeding. Just enough so that she doesn’t die of blood loss. If you try to heal everything, then I’ll cut off your arm too, so be careful.”
Luca said to the people around him. He even added a few threats. However, most of them did not understand why the woman had attacked and were too shaken to move.
The duke of the 9th city tapped a knight who was standing beside him on the shoulder. The knight nodded silently and poured a potion on the remaining stump of the woman’s arm. The potion wouldn’t fix her missing arm, so I believe he made a good decision in response to Luca’s order. Looking closely, it was one of the knights I had met in the hall at the start of the dungeon diving.
When the woman finally noticed Luca, probably because she was no longer in pain like before, she tried to approach him in a flattering manner, even though she was being held by the hair.
“Y-your Highness. Prince Luca! Please punish this savage woman! This woman, all of a sudden did this to my arm
”
“Shut up or I’ll kill you.”
Luca thrust his sword at the woman’s neck. His eyes were ice cold, emitting a sharp, deadly killing intent that seemed like it could pierce one’s heart. Luca was even more pissed off than I was.
The woman looked aghast, her body trembling. Her face paled at Luca’s murderous intent. The reason why she still tried to speak was probably that she was mentally strong in her own way. It was most likely because she had been dungeon diving from the first one to here.
“T-that can’t be
 H-have you forgotten about me? We’ve met at various parties in the capital, haven’t we!”
“I remember your face, yes. But I don’t really care who you are. Why did you attack Noel? Perhaps it was outrage over the fact that she was my childhood friend? Or could it be that you were trying to kill my lover who was with her?”
“Wha—
 I-is he really your lover!? Isn’t that man a dark attribute user!? And for His Highness to be with a man
 that’s outrageous! He is completely unsuitable for Your Highness!”
The woman knew that I was a dark attribute user after all.
The people of the Ninth City didn’t know that I was a dark attribute user. Since I became an adventurer, I’ve been active from the 12th city to the 4th city, so they didn’t know about me until now. That was probably why most of them glanced at me with surprise.
However, some of the people from the first city knew that I was Zagan, an S-rank adventurer. Just like Miranda did. A few of the people near that woman also seemed to know me, whether they were her companions or not, and while their faces similarly paled, there was a hint of disgust in their eyes as they surveyed me.
I didn’t know that she even knew that Luca and I hung out together a lot. Even though each large city was very broad, I should have paid more attention to my surroundings. I had known it would be a problem if the nobles found out. But I was so weary of the other dark attribute users that I completely forgot that there were people like her. Luca, Noel, I’m sorry for dragging you into this.
The woman continued shouting even though Nina was grabbing her by the hair and pointing her sword at her. She kept ranting at me. Luca’s eyes, which looked down at her in silence, were so cruelly cold.
“He might be the one who summoned the dragons! He’s a cowardly dark attribute user; he must have wanted His Highness to slay the dragons in order to get some high-grade materials. He should be killed at once while he is still vulnerable!”