The Developer Reborn As Archmage

“Where is Seris!” Darya panted, falling to her knees. The elbow that she got hit with had surely broken something. Searing pain pulsed through her entire body when she moved in that direction.

“Seris!” Fominel yelled. “Seris! Where are you!”

There was no answer. Darya’s blood ran cold. She turned to Fominel as she clutched her stomach. She couldn’t move anymore. “Go, look for her. I’ll be fine!”

“Wh-where did you see her, princess? I dropped her far away?!”

“She was running to tell us Sarka was warping. She was outside the circle, though. Shouldn’t have warped away if you’re worried about that.”

“I-I’ll find her right away!” Fominel said. “Don’t move from here, I’ll be right back!”

“Good,” Darya grunted, rolling to her good side.

She was pretty sure at least one or more of her ribs was broken. She had never broken a bone before. The cursed RLP was letting her feel every bit of it. The corners of her vision were darkening each time she blinked her wet eyelids.

She had no idea how long she lay there curled into a ball. She heard footsteps splashing through puddles and grass at some point.

“Princess!”

She let out a sigh when she heard the high-pitched squeal. Seris was here. Fominel had found her. Darya rolled to face the stormy sky as they approached.

“Oh god! You’re bleeding!” Seris yelled, crashing on her knees.

“I am?” Darya asked tiredly. She hadn’t bothered to check, and with the rain washing everything, she couldn’t tell if it was blood or water.

“Wh-What happened!” Fominel asked, hands over his head. He couldn’t have seen what happened in his rage to slash Sarka.

“Sarka elbowed me,” Darya said, coughing. “It would be funny if I died again.” She raised her head to look at her side.

“You shut it!” Seris slammed her wet palm over her mouth. “Fom! Help me!”

Darya lay still as Fominel and Seris opened her dress. Seris covered her chest with a small towel from her bag. She heard them mutter among themselves while checking the damage on her left side. There were gasps and exclamations as well as several unpleasant pokes that sent thunderbolts of pain through her.

“Cracked three ribs, but it’s clean. It’ll take most of my mana to fix the bones. I’ll heal the rest once we get back to the ship,” Seris said, as she loosened the leather straps of her dress.

“You can save mana if—” Darya started. Seris pinched her lips shut.

“No need to save mana anymore,” she said sternly.

She took a deep breath and exhaled hard, starting a breathing exercise. Darya felt winded just watching her chest shrink and expand.

Seris burst with mana around the tenth exhale. Golden green energy cascaded out of her skin pores.

“Fom, hold the princess down. Don’t let her move her ribs,” she said after her final exhale.

Fominel placed his large hands on Darya’s side, one on the side of her chest under her breast, and the other right below the ribs. He clamped his fingers down and held her still like a plank.

“Hold your breath, princess! Bone healing is tricky business! Fominel said urgently.

Darya did as she was told. This was nothing like healing in the VRMMO, where she could drink a health potion to fix everything. Seris was going to mend bones with mana somehow. It had to be an intricate process.

Seris burst with mana after the last exhale, her eyes glowing white-green like headlights. Her skin glowed all over as she started tracing over Darya’s ribs with the wand. Sparks and vapor trails burst from that direction. It looked more like welding than healing. Her wand pulsed with condensed mana, spreading through Darya from within. All her bones vibrated whenever the tip of the wand touched her ribs.

She knew this was going to be painful if Seris actually let her feel it. She was doing something else to numb the pain at the same time. Bone healing was the same level of unpleasant as a dentist drilling a numbed tooth.

Seris kept going over each rib with her wand until the green glow died down. At some point, Darya felt things correct themselves inside her. Fractured pieces clicked into place and hardened each time Seris rubbed the wand tip over her skin. Seris’s eyes returned to normal, and she sighed exhaustedly.

“That’s all I could do,” she said, sitting on the grass.

“All you could do? I feel better already,” Darya said. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to move or not.

Fominel released his tight grip and shook his arms, letting blood flow back into his stiff fingers.

“It’s not fully fixed. If you move too much, it’ll crack again, dammit. I was close,” Seris said dejectedly. “No matter, let’s go back to the ship.”

Seris took the towel from Darya’s chest and laid it on her side. Together with Fominel, she wrapped Darya’s entire torso with bandages. Darya was mummified by the time she was allowed to stand again, but she wasn’t allowed to walk on her own. Fominel swept her off the ground and carried her carefully.

“That Sarka warped again,” Seris said, casting a blob of light from the tip of her wand.

“He was nearly dead too, I should’ve seen that coming,” Darya wrapped her arms around Fominel’s neck.

“I wonder if he’ll come back again,” Fominel said.

“I wonder why he came back!” Seris said angrily. “He took Emil and Rossarie wherever and just came back to look for us?”

“They must’ve escaped from him,” Darya said.

“Or they’re dead,” Seris said bluntly. Darya wanted to be less bleak.

“It doesn’t matter if he comes back. We won’t be here. We leave as soon as this storm lifts!” Fominel said, grabbing Darya tighter as if letting her go would allow Sarka to snatch her from him.

“That reminds me, Fom! Your sword fell!” Darya said, looking at his waist. “Don’t you need to find it?”

“I’ll come look for it after you’re safely in the ship, princess,” he said with a smile.

She didn’t like the idea of Fominel returning here by himself during the storm. Sarka could very well warp back. She also knew he wasn’t going to give up on his sword. She wouldn’t have been able to either.

“Get my staff too, it should be around here,” she said tiredly. It weighed too much to carry even if she had it.

“Um, princess,” Seris held her breath waiting for her reply.

“Yes?” Darya muttered, resting her head on Fominel’s arm.

“S-sarka warped away with your staff,” Seris said meekly.

Darya almost fell out of Fominel’s hands. “He took my staff?!” She yelled. She wanted to throw a tantrum about this. Of course, she had lost it inside the circle! She never got to take it back.

“Please calm down!” Seris said, squeezing Darya’s shoulder.

“Oh, I give up,” Darya mumbled, closing her eyes. She had lost her rare, high-level weapon. She only had it for one full day. She had made so many memories poking a Dreagan and Sarka with it in slow motion. She felt as if her pet had been kidnapped. “This is the worst! I liked it so much!”

Not like I can find another one either. That thing was a relic! Only one of its kind in the world!

“We can find it when we meet a Seer, princess!” Fominel said, adjusting his grip. “I just hope my sword didn’t fall through some crack. No seer can help with that!”

“You two and your weapons. We’re lucky nobody got killed. Think about the bright side!” Seris said, patting Darya on the head.

Darya felt as if dying would’ve been better than losing her best item. Everything had gone wrong. Her ship had been damaged. She had gotten elbowed. The idiot corpse druid has escaped before he could be killed. Her magic stick had been teleported.

“I'd better find it again!” Darya muttered, burying her face in Fominel’s chest. This was enough reason to sulk for a week.

They walked up the clearing in silence, following Seris who lit the way with her wand light. They were cold and miserable in the storm. It was still raining just as hard as before, possibly even more. Darya expected Fominel to fly again at some point, but he was probably uncertain about carrying her safely through the wind.

“Did you hear that?” Seris asked suddenly, just as Darya was about to ask them how they planned to get to the ship.

“Heard what?” Fominel asked, looking around.

“There was something—” Seris said suspiciously, pointing her wand at the windy darkness.

“It can’t be Sarka, can it?” Darya asked, looking around warily. His warping spells were massive light shows. Nothing had changed since he left.

“Can’t be?!” Fominel said, adjusting his grip around Darya to one hand without crushing her injured side to free his right hand. He grabbed his manablade hilt, looking ahead with a worried frown.

Seris suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream. She was jumping around like a maniac, slamming her feet on the ground. The wand fell from her hands and stabbed into the mud on the bright end, engulfing them in darkness again.

“Eeh! What the hell is this!” Seris screamed, kicking the ground with her. “Die! You! Stupid! Eyaa~”

“Seris! What is it!” Fominel asked urgently, drawing his manablade.

A fourth voice came through Seris’s yelps and kicks. It was broken through gaps, almost inaudible against the howling storm winds.

“Stop! Wait! Lady!”

Fominel didn’t react to it. He was distracted by Seris jumping around in the dark.

“Who was that!” Darya asked. “Fom! There’s someone else in here other than us!” She gripped and clung to him tighter. She wasn’t ready to fight again.

“What!” Fominel yelled, outraged. “Who the hell!” Blue light flashed as his manablade extended.