Chapter 63: Overdose of Care

"Um... Lady."

"What?"

"I can take care of my own body. You two don’t need to go through all this trouble."

Evelyn gave a small laugh covering her mouth.

Elysia then answered Elias.

"No. Your body still hasn’t fully recovered. Think of this as our way of thanking you for standing up for us earlier."

Elias understood that they wanted to do something for him out of a sense of debt. Maybe he could have accepted it if the help were limited to feeding him or fetching things he couldn’t reach.

But the way they were caring for him was completely beyond Elias’s expectations.

They had given him so many potions to drink, from healing potions and regeneration potions to recovery potions. Elias might have been able to hold himself together if it were just one or two bottles.

But the amount they gave him was far, far more. Each type of potion even ran to more than ten bottles.

There were at least thirty-something potion bottles lying on the floor of his room.

’I’m starting to feel bloated...’

Elias’s face instantly turned green as nausea began to hit him. He even felt like throwing up. But the two girls didn’t react at all.

They figured the potions were starting to work. To them, Elias’s reaction was a sign that his body was in the process of recovering.

So when Elias’s face really did turn green, they just looked at him without a hint of worry. If anything, there was a little pride in their hearts.

’I’m scared I’ll have to run back and forth to the bathroom to pee.’

It was a fairly reasonable worry for Elias.

While he was fighting off his nausea, Elysia suddenly took another potion out of her storage ring.

Elias panicked the moment he saw her take out another potion. He really did not want to drink any more potions!

But if he refused, Elysia’s face would immediately turn sad and disappointed.

’She even said before that she wanted to kill herself just because I turned her down. In the end, whether I like it or not, I have to drink it. Damn it! What is wrong with these two?’

Not wanting to drink another potion, and also wanting to avoid making Elysia angry, Elias quickly said he hadn’t eaten anything and was starting to feel hungry.

Hearing that Elias was hungry, Elysia handed the potion she had already taken out to Evelyn.

"While I go get the food, Big Sis will help you drink this potion."

Hearing that, Elias panicked again. He immediately looked at Evelyn, who was holding Elysia’s potion with a flirty smile.

"In that case, I’ll feed you mouth to mouth~"

Realizing that things would only get worse if Evelyn were the one to make him drink it, Elias snatched the potion bottle straight out of her hand.

"I can drink it myself. I think it’d be better if you helped Lady Elysia get the food."

"Eh? Why’s that? Don’t you want to experience it directly from my mouth?"

The sweat at Elias’s temples increased. He was scared just hearing Evelyn’s words.

"That’s not what I meant!"

"So you do want it, right?"

Evelyn leaned her body toward Elias. The smile was still on her face.

As Evelyn got closer, the scent of her perfume reached Elias. At such a short distance, Elias could even feel the heat of her body.

But instead of feeling awkward or embarrassed, Elias felt scared.

And not without reason. Behind Evelyn, Elysia was watching the two of them with a sharp glare. Elias could almost see a demon’s shadow behind Elysia’s body.

Sweat poured down his face even more as he imagined Elysia suddenly stabbing both him and Evelyn.

’Why is she giving off killing intent all of a sudden?! This is so hard. I wanna cry~’

"I haven’t eaten for days, so I’m super hungry! One plate of food won’t be enough! There’s no way Lady Elysia can carry that much food by herself! So I think you should go with her to get the food!"

Elias hurried on before Evelyn could answer.

"Don’t worry, I can drink this potion on my own. You don’t need to worry about me, Lady Evelyn. Maybe meat with sweet potatoes would be really good! Especially paired with some snacks! If there’s Mandrake, that wouldn’t be bad either! It’s good for my body!"

’Please, just go! I don’t wanna die here with you. If you wanna die, please don’t drag me along!’

Elias said all of that very fast. He couldn’t hide his fear, so much so that the tempo of his speech got out of control.

Evelyn just stayed silent as she listened to Elias. Even though Elias was talking fast and his sentences weren’t well put together, Evelyn could still understand what he meant. Besides, the reasons Elias gave sounded sensible.

"Alright~" Evelyn said, moving away from Elias and standing up.

At that very moment, the demon’s shadow behind Elysia vanished.

"I’ll help Elysia get your food. You stay here and don’t go anywhere. And make sure you drink that potion, understand?"

Elias nodded over and over, almost excessively, smiling at the two girls as they started to leave his room.

*Thud.

Once the door to his room closed and the sound of their footsteps grew more distant, Elias immediately shoved the potion in his hand into his storage pouch with a sigh of relief.

*Sigh~

"I’m saved..."

He wiped the sweat from his temples while looking up at the ceiling.

Taking advantage of the chance while he was alone in the room, Elias quickly opened his system board.

[Ding!]

[The Marquis’s wife is in critical condition and only has days left to live! Find the cause and cure the Marquis’s wife!]

Reward: 1000 EXP, 10 Stat Points, 50 Grade B Mana Stones, and the trust of the Marquis.

Penalty for failure: Death.

Time limit: 7 days.

[Complete!]

[You have received 1000 EXP, 10 Stat Points, 50 Grade B Mana Stones, and the trust of the Marquis (to follow).]

[Ding! You have leveled up!]

[Your level has risen to level 60! Your wounds are recovering rapidly because you leveled up!]

"Wow... Straight to level 60? That’s quite a lot. But... What’s my power rank if I use this world’s system?"

[Thinking... Calculating... Ding! Your power rank is D+, up from E–.]

Elias stared at the system screen, a little surprised.

"Wow, so you can do this too. In that case, calculate the power rank of Evelyn and Elysia."

[Thinking... Calculating... Ding! Evelyn’s power rank: B (?).

Elysia’s power rank: B– (?).]

Elias raised an eyebrow when he saw the question marks that appeared on the system screen.

"Why are there question marks?"

He was clearly confused by the results the system displayed. Elias didn’t know whether it was a bug or whether the system really couldn’t read the two girls’ power rank.

Going by some of the novels and Webtoons he had read in his previous life, question marks like this usually meant that the system couldn’t read the target’s strength.

Either because the target was deliberately hiding their strength so the information couldn’t be stolen, or because the target was so strong that the system couldn’t read it even without any barrier.

"Maybe this isn’t important... or maybe it’s really important. But whatever. It doesn’t look like this will be a problem going forward."

[Ding! Your first Main Quest has been completed!]

[You have received 100 Grade B Mana Stones, 10 Grade A Mana Stones, 1 Grade S Mana Stone, 1000 EXP, and 20 Stat Points.]

[Ding! 500 EXP has been accumulated to automatically restore your body.]

[You have leveled up to level 70.]

"Leveling up doesn’t instantly heal an injured body, it only speeds up the recovery process. Well, it’s a little disappointing, but it’s better than nothing."

Just as Elias was about to close the system board, another notification suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Ding! Adding a reward for the Host... Calculating...]

"Did it say anywhere that I could get a bonus from this Quest?"

[Calculation complete. Your courage and fighting spirit deserve great appreciation. The loss of your left arm is something the system regrets. Therefore, the system will provide compensation for your injuries and the loss of your arm.]

"Compensation?" Elias murmured, tilting his head as he looked at the notification screen.

[10 Grade S Mana Stones, 10 Stat Points, 500 EXP, your Mana Manipulation rises from level 2 to level 5, and one Grade S item.]

Elias’s eyes bulged as if they could pop out at any moment. His tongue lolled out while drool dripped heavily onto his pants like a dog seeing food.

"Show me that Grade S item, quick!"

Suddenly, a blue light appeared above Elias and lit up his entire room. Even though it was daytime, the light it gave off was blindingly bright.

The light then slowly descended before stopping right in front of Elias’s face.

"Hoho~ Flashy visuals like this should mean it’s a good item~"

Elias reached out for the light. The blue glow slowly dimmed, revealing a black object that looked like an iron rod with a pointed tip.

Elias looked at the thing in his hand with a flat expression. Then he looked at the system with the same expression, though there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"This is what you call a Grade S item? This is just a piece of iron painted black."

[Nonsense! The system would never hand out cheap junk like that. I have my own standards when it comes to picking items!]

After reading what the system displayed, Elias looked back at the "iron" in his hand. He turned the thing around several times to inspect it, in case there was something special about it.

But he didn’t find anything.

"Then what is this?"

[Ding! You have obtained one of the bones of a monster that once nearly destroyed the world. The monster that nearly killed the Ancient Hero in the Era of Destruction. One of the 5 Calamities, The First Ancient Black Serpent.]

Elias frowned and looked at the system suspiciously. He didn’t know anything about the Calamities, the Ancient Black Serpent, or the Era of Destruction the system mentioned.

’Could it be that the system is just exaggerating so I’ll believe this is an Epic Item?’

Just as Elias was about to check the specs of the Black Serpent’s bone, the door to his room suddenly swung wide open. Evelyn and Elysia stepped inside.

*Creak...

Startled, Elias quickly shoved the bone into his storage pouch and put his normal expression back on.

"Ah, ladies. You’re here," Elias said, smiling at the two of them.

Elysia looked at Elias before nodding.

"Mm. We’ve brought food for you."

"You have to eat a lot so you gain your weight back~"

Evelyn pointed at the food they’d brought with her usual faint smile.

Elias looked where Evelyn was pointing, but didn’t see any food there.

He looked at Evelyn in confusion while scratching his head.

"Um... Where’s the food?"

"Ah! We put it in our storage rings because it was too hard to carry it directly. Besides, there’s way too much of it."

"W-what? Too much?"

"Mm." Elysia nodded to answer Elias’s question, then pointed her left hand to the side of the bed.

Light appeared from the ring on Elysia’s ring finger. A moment later, a mountain of food poured out of it and landed on the floor.

’This is going overboard...’

Elias could only give a sour smile. A drop of sweat appeared on his cheek as he looked at the pile of food.

"And for drinks, we replaced water with a whole lot of potions!"

’W-what?’

Before Elias could grasp what Evelyn meant, she pointed her right hand toward the other side of his bed.

Light began to appear from that ring, and then dozens of potions popped out right there.

*Clink! Clink!

’T-this is seriously going overboard!’

"Now finish all of this and hurry up and get better," Elysia said with a proud expression, as if seeking Elias’s approval.

"We get lonely if you keep lying in bed. Eat all of this so you recover quickly!"

On the other side, Evelyn was no different from her younger sister. She walked up to Elias, snorting with pride.

Their thinking was actually pretty good. They wanted Elias to recover quickly. But it seemed like, by the time Elias’s body recovered, it would be his stomach that had the problem.

’How am I supposed to finish all of this?’

* * *