For most people, watching a pretty girl walk in front of them is undoubtedly a very pleasing thing.
But if the girl was holding a bloody arm and dripping blood as she walked... the pleasant sight could suddenly turn into a frightening one.
And if you take a closer look, you will find that the arm is actually the girl’s own—
"Please give way."
Under the panic of a group of students, Sarah calmly passed by the stairs they quickly gave way to, and walked along the upward stairs to the eighth floor of the castle.
"Sarah, you-" Behind her, Maka was walking up with her, "Although you said you were fine, I... well, how should I put it? I can believe that you are fine, and the shoulder is considered to be temporary. The bleeding stopped... But have you considered wrapping it with something first?"
Just now, when Madam Pomfrey said that emergency treatment methods were ineffective, Sarah suddenly interrupted her and put the responsibility of treatment on Maka.
Immediately afterwards, she told Maka that she needed a place where no one would disturb her.
Now that Sarah has gone so far, how could Maka, who had long noticed the abnormality, not understand - taking this opportunity to help, is this girl finally going to say something
So, Maka prepared to invite her to sit in the Room of Requirement.
"There is no need to wrap it up. It will be reattached soon anyway. Over time, the muscles will atrophy, which will not be easy to reattach, so it cannot be delayed for too long... Moreover, I would like to ask you some questions..."
The flat tone, the perceptive answers, and even the change in the way he calls himself... all these subtle changes remind Maka that there will inevitably be some extraordinary conversations later.
"Okay..." Maka shook her head helplessly, and controlled the bald old man floating behind her higher, and then said, "Anyway, I have to thank you for what happened just now - you saved those six The child’s life.”
Sarah, who was walking in front, was silent for a while after hearing this, and then nodded her chin without looking back.
"You're welcome... We've arrived at the eighth floor, where to go next?"
…
After a while, Maka took her to the Room of Requirement. Because the one he used before was too messy, he simply changed to a spacious room this time.
"How do I pick it up? Do you need my help?"
Maka asked casually while placing the unconscious old man on the smooth and new floor.
"OK… "
In fact, Maka's words were more or less out of habitual politeness. After all, Sarah had shown a full face from the beginning, and she didn't look like she needed help. As for what he said to Madam Pomfrey at that time, it was more like a poor excuse.
But he just didn't expect that Sarah would give a positive answer to this polite inquiry without thinking.
"Professor McLean, please help me get it first."
Maka has received many things from girls in his life, ranging from an unknown flower seed to a whole bundle of magic books... But today, it was the first time that he received a whole bundle of magic books from a little girl. A fresh arm!
Even Maka felt a little unnatural.
However, the owner of this slender arm did not show any abnormality. After seeing her hand her arm to Maka quite casually, she took out a pen from the inner pocket of her robe and wrote on the floor. Started writing and drawing.
In Maka's hand, the broken section of the arm was still dripping with blood. In this quiet room, both parties were temporarily silent, and only the ticking sound was particularly obvious.
He noticed that what Sarah drew on the floor was a formation formation.
He has spent most of the past two days watching the competition at the stadium. Although he has not studied it in depth, he has seen a lot of the formations of the players in the competition. The level of alchemy of several contestants is indeed very good, including the fineness of the formation formation, which is obviously higher than that of other contestants, to the extent that a layman can see it at a glance.
But now, when Maka saw the formation on the floor taking shape quickly under Sarah's hands, he found that this was the first time he had seen such a complex formation.
Unlike his rune diagram, which is an irregular formation similar to a tree diagram, most of the refinement formations are circular formations, and Sarah's is naturally the same. But the difference in scale can easily distinguish it from other people's formation formations.
"alright-"
About twenty minutes later, Sarah put down the pen in her hand and stood up, then nodded slightly at Maka.
"Professor McLean, can you bring my arm over here? Just roughly align the position, then hold it up for a while..."
"Oh, we need to remove the curse to stop the bleeding first."
"No, no need to get so close, keep some distance..."
Since the flow of magic caused by magic will interfere with the operation of the formation, even the floating spell cannot be used. Therefore, Maka had to take on the responsibility of the "humanoid support", standing beside its owner with a girl's arm half-raised, and pointed the bloody section at the girl's equally bloody arm. Shoulder.
Sarah stood on a certain half-moon pattern forming the formation. As she softly recited a few words similar to those she had said when dealing with the bald old man before, the translucent silk threads suddenly formed the formation on their own. Each node emerges one by one.
Those threads seemed to have a life of their own, quickly wrapping around the severed arm and Sarah's shoulder, and after passing through the body, they poked out from the section one by one, corresponding to the opposite section one by one. Silk threads extending from everywhere are connected to each other.
And when each silk thread was connected to each other, Maka immediately felt a pulling force on the arm in her hand, as if the threads were trying to reconnect the two sections.
"Just approach slowly."
Sure enough, Sarah gave prompt instructions. Of course, even if she didn't say it, Maka knew what to do. When the two sides overlapped each other little by little, the flesh and blood that had been cut immediately sprouted granulation - healing was proceeding smoothly.
Compared to the time it took to draw the formation, the process of reattaching the broken arm was much faster. After only a few minutes passed, Sarah said that Maka could let go.
Not long after, when Sarah clenched her right hand twice, there was no doubt that the formation had completed its task extremely well.
"Sarah—"
"Unfortunately, Professor MacLean... it can only be used to restore my physical damage, and cannot be used by others."
Maka was about to speak, but was interrupted by Sarah. After he heard this, he had to wave his hands immediately to express that he didn't mean to say that.
"Even if this can be used by others, I don't think it will be used under normal circumstances -" he said. "It can be done with related healing spells and potions, and the effect should not be much worse than the effect of this formation..." I wanted to ask why Madam Pomfrey’s healing spell didn’t work on your injury?”
When Sarah heard this, she couldn't help but pursed her lips slightly, and then suddenly looked up at Maka's face.
This kind of direct eye contact was something Sarah had always tried to avoid in the past - Maka had felt it more than once. At this moment, Sarah finally used her own will to present her gaze into Maka's eyes.
"you-"
It's not like Maka has never seen this look before. The sense of vicissitudes that has withstood the test of time can be easily seen in the eyes of some older people. But for a little wizard who had only entered Hogwarts for half a school year, this look seemed too inconsistent.
However, in addition to the extremely awkward sophistication, Maka also vaguely noticed that there seemed to be something missing.
"Professor McLean, I... I actually have a question to ask you. If possible, I also want to ask you something." Sarah looked at Maka and said slowly in a cold tone. , "I helped you once just now, so I hope you can help me once too—"
Having said this, she paused for a moment, and then continued: "As for the healing spell being ineffective on me... If you are willing to do this for me, then you will naturally know the reason."
"Help?" Maka thought for a while and asked, "What are you doing?"
Faced with Maka's questioning, Sarah just shook her head.
"This is very important to me," she said, "so I can't say it until you say yes."
It is a bit hesitant to want help from others but not to explain the reason in advance.
Maka couldn't help but spread her hands and shoulders and said: "Actually, I know that you have been observing me and testing me since before you entered school, and you have used several methods deliberately. Moreover, I also know that you haven't investigated me yet. Understood... Then why are you willing to take the initiative to speak this time? Just because you helped me just now? "
"Yes," Sarah's answer was surprisingly simple, "because I think you should be the kind of person who doesn't want to owe others something - just like this alchemy competition, the reason why you spend so much energy , just to repay some people, isn’t it?”
Regarding the answer given by Sarah, Maka showed an expression that was not positive.
"I have to admit that your observation is very careful," he waved his hand, "but unfortunately, in the most critical place, you haven't seen it completely enough... Because I will only do my best for true friends. I don’t want to owe something to everyone in return.”
"So..." Maka stared at Sarah and asked, "Are you my 'friend'?"