Calliphe’s face turned bright red.

“W-what are you doing!”

Smack!

She was so startled that she hit Lynen’s head.

But Calliphe was the one who felt more pain.

Lynen sent her a silent protest with a dissatisfied look.

But that didn’t last long. He soon started struggling, unable to breathe, so Calliphe quickly had to offer her hand to him.

Only after burying his lips in Calliphe’s hand did Lynen seem to be able to breathe again.

Calliphe muttered in disbelief.

“Ha. Is this what a wolf looks like when intoxicated with catnip?”

“…”

Perhaps lacking even the strength to interpret her words, Lynen just kept his face buried in her hand, staring directly at Calliphe with slightly upturned blue-gray eyes.

His gaze, heated with thirst, was like…

‘Really like a wolf.’

Could be dangerous.

Calliphe’s spine stiffened with tension. The force of his biting was gradually increasing anyway.

She had a feeling she shouldn’t leave him like this. So Calliphe pulled her hand away and shouted.

“Hey! Stop!”

“…”

“Good boy, wait!”

Thanks to her raised voice, Lynen’s movements stopped—he had temporarily regained his senses.

Though his gaze toward Calliphe was full of contempt…

‘W-well, this works.’

The dangerous atmosphere seemed to have dissipated somewhat.

“No biting allowed. You can only rest your face against it.”

“…I don’t need your help. And stop treating me like a dog.”

Judging by his response, he seemed to have definitely regained his senses. Calliphe grinned.

“Hmm, really don’t need it?”

“No.”

Calliphe teasingly brought her hand close to his cheek.

Lynen turned his head away sharply, rejecting it.

But unable to resist the intense temptation, he finally let out a dissatisfied groan and rubbed his cheek against it.

“Of all people, to show such a side of myself to you…”

As he said this, he gently nibbled on Calliphe’s fingers.

Calliphe immediately pulled her hand away.

“I said no.”

“I didn’t mean to… Huu. This is driving me crazy.”

Lynen closed his eyes tightly and rubbed his face with his dry hands.

When his blue-gray eyes were revealed again, they held shame, like he had just realized what he had been doing.

‘Oh, so he knows how to feel embarrassed. This might be kind of cute—’

—No way!

“Am I crazy! This is so gross!”

“…Are you crazy?”

“Yes, I must have been temporarily insane. The cute one is Noah. Noah, Noah, Noah!”

After chanting three times, Calliphe’s eyes widened.

Lynen flinched slightly at her suddenly fierce expression, but she ignored him and recalled something important.

The magical beast incident at the banquet. And the lack of mana condition.

In other words, someone suffering from mana thirst.

The scattered pieces of information came together like a puzzle.

There was no doubt.

‘The silver-haired man was Lynen all along?’

He must have changed his hair color and appearance with magic. No wonder. I wondered why someone like Lynen wasn’t among the guardian candidates, but it was because he was already a helper.

‘But why did he go around hiding his identity?’

“…Ugh.”

A pained groan was heard.

Lynen was suffering in pain, breaking out in cold sweat.

“Just hold on a bit.”

Calliphe rummaged through her bag and took out the illegal magical tool she had brought.

This one was fine since Calliphe had set a separate command for it.

Click.

As soon as she put the magical tool on Lynen’s wrist, his movements stopped.

“Ugh.”

“L-Lynen?”

“I’m… fine.”

Fortunately, he hadn’t lost consciousness. Rather, it was the opposite.

Lynen felt his violently boiling insides becoming calm.

With some composure regained, he finally noticed Calliphe’s face showing great relief while looking at him. It was an unexpected reaction.

“Are you okay now? Have you come to your senses?”

“…I didn’t expect you to worry.”

“Of course I’m worried!”

Calliphe wiggled her thumb pointing toward the door.

“Who else is going to take care of the magical beasts if not you? Now that you’ve gotten what you needed, hurry up and go deal with the magical beasts. Quick.”

“…”

Lynen’s evaluation of Calliphe was about to change but stopped.

Anyway, she was right that the magical beasts needed to be dealt with. But as Lynen tried to stand up, he shook his head.

“I can’t… move.”

“What? Why?”

“I can’t use my strength.”

Lynen clenched and unclenched his fist several times.

“It might be fine after I adjust.”

“Adjust? How long will that take?”

“About ten minutes.”

“Too late.”

Calliphe chewed her lip.

Though surprised by his inability to move, she soon guessed the reason.

The silver-haired man feeling pain in his eyes and eventually going blind was all due to mana abnormality.

The magical beast control tool was meant to stop the flow of mana, at least eliminating the pain.

‘Originally this alone would have been enough… but unexpectedly a quest appeared.’

It seemed that while the magical beast control tool removed the pain, it also made it difficult to move the body at the same time. After all, blocking the flow of mana was like putting on shackles.

But at this rate, they wouldn’t be able to handle the magical beasts in the banquet hall in time.

Calliphe checked the quest again.

[Sudden Quest!]

[Help the ‘silver-haired man’ resolve the magical beast rampage at the banquet hall.]

[Reward: ‘Silver-haired man’s’ goodwill, Helper of the Grand Council ??? obtained]

[Time remaining 00:17:14]

Would the security forces rush in when the remaining time runs out?

‘There’s no penalty for failure, but then we won’t get the reward either.’

To think the silver-haired man turned out to be Lynen.

Since they weren’t on good terms, it would be good to earn his goodwill for cooperation.

And having an unknown helper would be better than none at all.

‘But is there another way besides the magical tool?’

Unless mana suddenly increases…

‘Maybe my ability?’

Calliphe opened the system window.

[Ability: Villainess’s Parenting Method]

[If you want to raise someone’s ability, hit them. One of their ability stats related to that ability will grow.]

Though it was uncertain if she could specifically target mana growth.

‘Oh well, let’s try it!’

Calliphe removed the control tool from Lynen.

“Ugh, what are you doing? Give it back.”

“This is an illegal magical tool. Who knows when it might malfunction.”

“Ugh.”

As soon as the tool was removed, the pain that had temporarily stopped seemed to rush back all at once, and Lynen collapsed toward Calliphe.

“Ugh, heavy. Lynen!”

“The tool, quickly.”

Lynen also tried to get up but slumped back down again.

“I can’t… see anything.”

At those words, Calliphe, who had been struggling to get free, changed her mind.

Right. Who cares about the hitting position!

Calliphe hugged Lynen’s back.

“What are you…”

“It’ll hurt but bear with it. This is all for your sake.”

Since I’m hitting anyway, I might as well hit hard!

Calliphe inwardly grinned and filled her fist with all her pent-up grievances before striking Lynen’s back with all her might.

Pat!

“…?”

“Eek…!”

Pat pat pat! Thump thump thump!

Why isn’t he even flinching! My hand hurts more!

Even sneakily hitting the back of his head had the same result.

Lynen let out a faint sigh.

“Do you think a normal person can hurt a Swordmaster’s body?”

“…T-that’s not why I was hitting you. It’s very unpleasant of you to misunderstand like that.”

D*mn. This is frustrating.

But it had an effect.

[‘Villainess’s Parenting Method’ is growing Lynen Ortega’s mana.]

Jackpot!

Calliphe’s eyes lit up.

The system message continued.

[Mana +0.01]

[Mana +0.01]

[Mana +0.01]

“…”

Though it was a very meager amount, growth was still growth.

All that remained was diligent labor.

Pababababa!

Calliphe started hitting Lynen’s back frantically with both hands. Meanwhile, Lynen remained frozen in confusion.

“What exactly have you been doing?”

“Huff huff… shut up. Just… take… the hits!”

“…”

Calliphe Offensa was always hard to understand, but this time was especially so.

That’s when it happened.

Lynen detected a slow change occurring in his body.

“…?”

The pain that had been crushing his entire body was gradually, little by little, becoming lighter. His blurry vision was also gradually coming into focus.

Like vitality was returning to his body.

Lynen hurriedly tried to sense his energy.

‘Is my mana increasing?’

Though very slowly, the change was clear.

His mana was recovering!

But what was even more surprising was.

‘…This isn’t just simple recovery. This is a change from my mana capacity increasing.’

Mana is like life force, so even if depleted, it naturally recovers bit by bit. However, everyone has their limits. That’s what mana capacity is.

In other words, if mana is water, people can hold more or less of it depending on their container.

Naturally, the larger one’s mana capacity, the more a swordsman could use aura, and a mage could use magic.

But even those who train their whole lives find it difficult to increase their innate capacity.

Making someone else’s capacity increase was impossible.

…Yet this was possible?

“Calliphe Offensa. You, did you restore my mana? Just what are you?”

That’s when.

Whoosh!

Calliphe, who had stopped patting, grabbed Lynen’s collar and ordered.

“10 minutes left. Get out there right now.”