When Owen drew closer, he found that Newbie was still breathing normally.
Of course, the fact that he was breathing did not mean he looked particularly well.
“Newbie! Wake up!”
Owen’s heart grew frantic when he checked the boy’s pulse and found it so faint that it seemed ready to disappear. For the moment, he laid the boy flat on the ground and hurriedly undid a couple of buttons on his uniform.
‘How could I have been this stupid! No matter how grown-up he acts, Newbie is still a kid! And I just kept relying on him without a care in the world!’
Looking back, there had been more than enough warning signs.
Newbie’s overwhelming displays of power had simply made them easy to overlook, but the boy’s complexion had been worsening by the moment.
Owen felt as though his chest were burning up with self-reproach and anxiety.
‘What do I do? If something happens to Newbie in a place like this, without a priest or even a physician…!’
Desperately forcing the worst possibility out of his mind, Owen vigorously rubbed Newbie’s arms and legs.
Fortunately, his efforts were not in vain.
Before long, the boy laboriously lifted his eyelids.
“…Stop shaking me around so much, Owen. I’m fine.”
“Newbie!”
For a moment, Owen nearly burst into tears.
“Where does it hurt? What happened to you all of a sudden?”
“It’s just the usual backlash. I only forgot for a moment that Father and I are in rather different positions.”
Apparently, deliberately interfering with…