Even Natalie, the caster herself, couldn’t close her gaping mouth at the power of the spell she had unconsciously cast.

Kieeee! Kraaaak!

The three variant goblins that had risen behind McClain were instantly engulfed in blue flames, staggered, and then tumbled to the ground as blackened lumps.

Orlando, who had been rapidly firing arrows beside her, couldn’t hold back his admiration for Natalie’s unexpected prowess.

“Wow! Pereira! That was truly amazing!”

“Miss, you’re strong!”

“Pereira, you’re powerful!”

Even the Munash brothers, who had caught up a moment later, burst into exclamations.

McClain, who had been unexpectedly saved from danger, stared at her briefly with surprise before promptly urging his men.

“What are you doing! There are still many left, stay focused!”

“Yes!”

Following his instructions, the members began to move in unison again. Perhaps because Natalie’s contribution meant they could finally see an end to this battle, they picked up the pace in taking down the remaining goblins.

McClain glanced at Natalie, who was staring blankly at her own hands with rounded eyes, and his lips moved as if about to say something.

Just then, a shout from Jorel, who had been sent to the back of the village, diverted his attention.

“Commander! There are quite a few variants on this side. It seems a witch doctor is hiding somewhere in the village!”

McClain immediately raised his voice to issue new orders.

“Everyone spread out and find the witch doctor! And, Orlando!”

“Yes, Commander!”

“Our new mage appears to need some rest.”

“Understood.”

As McClain indicated Natalie with a nod, Orlando nodded in understanding.

Orlando approached Natalie, who was standing in a daze, and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Pereira, that was truly impressive just now! You must have expended quite a lot of magical power. How about waiting in the carriage for a while?”

Natalie decided to follow his suggestion without putting up any unnecessary resistance.

She hadn’t checked her remaining magical power yet, but as he said, the magical consumption had likely been significant. Besides, the risk seemed too great to follow them deeper into the village.

“Yes, yes. I’ll wait quietly in the carriage, so don’t worry and please rejoin the formation.”

After she shooed him away with a wave of her hand, Orlando winked at her, saying he would return soon, then hurriedly disappeared into the village.

When Natalie entered the carriage, the child who had been crouching in the corner asked in a trembling voice. Judging by his face covered in tears, he must have been crying in the carriage the whole time.

“What about my mom and Maria?”

“Let’s wait just a little longer, Billy. The knights will rescue them soon.”

She hadn’t yet heard news that the villagers had been rescued. But she could give a definite answer without the slightest hesitation. That’s how much she believed that those brave members would certainly rescue the surviving residents.

“Will everyone be okay? I’m so scared. Sob sob.”

“It’s alright. If you wait patiently for a little while, you’ll be able to meet them safely.”

Natalie patted the back of the child who had started to tremble and sob again.

By now, the monster howls and the clashing sounds of blades had faded into the distance toward the village interior. While stroking the back of the child who had been sobbing but was now leaning against the carriage wall from exhaustion, Natalie became lost in thought.

She was puzzled about the magic she had reflexively cast earlier.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand how such a thing had happened.

She had practiced a few combat spells before the expedition, but this wasn’t one of the spells she had practiced.

The way it had flown straight to the creatures and hit them accurately without even aiming, as if using some kind of targeting skill, and the power of the flames that instantly incinerated the variant goblins.

Since her transmigration into “Natalie,” she had invested quite a lot of time in magic training. It could be considered an effort to adapt to this world as quickly as possible by staying true to her setting as an exceptional mage.

However, despite all her training, magic had never manifested in this way before.

Without memorizing it in advance, intermediate magic of fifth circle or higher could only be completed after meticulously calculating the formula to be used for the magic, concentrating for at least ten seconds to chant, and finally with tremendous magical power consumption.

Considering the amount of magical power one possessed and level of proficiency, one would need to at least be at seventh circle to memorize or cast such magic without incantation.

Yet she, who hadn’t even reached seventh circle, had cast such magic without incantation. And just by raising her hand, magical power had moved automatically to create the spell.

‘This is exactly like using a skill.’

While thinking with a deeply furrowed brow, Natalie suddenly noticed something flickering along her line of sight.

It looked like a wisp of smoke wavering, or like half-written letters scattering and clumping together repeatedly.

Did I develop acute floaters?

Wondering if something was wrong with her eyes, she rubbed them vigorously, but the afterimage in her vision didn’t disappear—instead, it occupied a corner of her sight even more clearly.

Pressing her brow and glaring at it, Natalie suddenly widened her eyes. The smoke had scattered and clumped together momentarily to form letters very familiar to her.

؁؂؃؄ acquired ؁؂؃؄؎.

While Natalie was staring at the letters in disbelief—

The noisy surroundings had quieted down at some point, and someone knocked on the carriage door.

“Pereira? You can come out now.”

Orlando’s voice, mixed with heavy breathing, could be heard as if he had rushed over immediately after the cleanup was finished.

However, Natalie was so captivated by the sight before her that she couldn’t immediately respond to his words.

“Th-that…”

“Pereira? What’s wrong? Is something happening inside?”

Only when the carriage door flung open with an urgent tone did Natalie come to her senses.

“Ah! Oh! Is it over?”

“Yes. It’s completely finished. Ah, look, the child’s mother and sister are coming too.”

“Did you hear that, Billy? Shall we go out now?”

Just before stepping out of the carriage with the child who had been crouching in the corner, Natalie glanced again at the corner of her vision where the strange letters had appeared. However, her vision had already returned to normal, and nothing unusual caught her eye.

Natalie let out a small, hollow laugh as she stepped out of the carriage. It was a self-deprecating laugh for having momentarily hoped that she too might have gotten something like a status window.

“M-mom!”

As soon as he got out of the carriage, the child dashed like an arrow toward the village.

Turning her head in the direction the child had run, she saw McClain and Jorel walking with a middle-aged woman covered in blood and a girl who appeared to be around fourteen years old.

They seemed to be Billy’s mother and sister.

“My goodness! Billy! So you were the one who brought these knights!”

“Mom, are you badly hurt? I should have come faster.”

“No, I’m fine. This much will heal quickly after applying some white herb juice and resting for a few days.”

Despite the woman’s casual demeanor, the wounds looked quite deep even at a glance.

Natalie watched the villagers walking behind Billy and his mother with the support of the expedition members, and asked McClain.

“Commander, are we just going to leave these people and depart? I think it would be better to provide some basic treatment before we go.”

At her words, McClain nodded with a small sigh as if he had expected this.

Judging by how quickly he agreed, his expression suggested he had already prepared for this when accepting the goblin extermination quest.

After roughly counting the number of injured, the man asked Natalie.

“There are more injured than I expected… Do you have enough magical power for healing magic? It seems you used a tremendous amount earlier…”

“Ah! Just a moment.”

Natalie suddenly remembered that she had been so preoccupied with impossible thoughts that she hadn’t checked how much magical power remained, and hurriedly circulated the magic within her body. This was to check her internal magical power level.

However, as soon as she stirred her magic, she flinched again at the tremendous force she felt.

“What’s wrong? Is your magical power depleted?”

A worried look crossed the man’s face. Natalie, who had been staring with wide eyes in surprise for a moment, quickly shook her head and awkwardly raised the corners of her mouth.

“No, I have plenty of magical power. Enough to treat everyone here and still have some left over.”

She tried to answer casually, but couldn’t help the tremor in her voice. Far from being depleted, her magical power had actually increased from normal.

Trying not to show her confusion, Natalie deliberately raised her voice.

“Now, everyone who’s injured, please come to this clearing. I’ll treat those with the most severe injuries first.”

As Natalie began the treatments, McClain took the remaining members and helped restore the village.

Thanks to the expedition members rolling up their sleeves to help, the village, which had been in shambles from the goblin attack, had mostly returned to its original state by the time the sun began to set.

All the patients who had filled the clearing with injuries large and small had finished their treatments and returned home.

The village headman adamantly refused McClain’s offer to set up a temporary tent in the village clearing and guided them to his own house instead.

“How could I let you sleep outdoors when we have such a lovely mage with us? We can sleep in the village common lodging, so please stay comfortably at my house, knights.”