Dreue and Hazel almost arrived in the town. After he told her about how he was using his body as a magical staff to optimize her casting and how magic flows work, she stayed silent and never spoke another word.
It seems she was still comprehending the new information she gained, surely, they will come in handy in the future.
This knowledge was not particularly a secret, but it just that something of that level is taught only to high-level mages or to talented students at prestigious academies.
Judging from Hazel's situation, it could be concluded that she is not enrolled in any academy. She was a just third-rank mage traveling with a small party doing quests for some money.
It is also likely that mage was taught to her by a wandering mage who only trained her for a short period. It was just too basic, she only knows to cast fireballs, and maybe another low-level spell or two.
If that was the case then she was truly talented, to only learn the basics and then reach rank three by herself was truly something impressive.
As Hazel was lost in thought, so was Dreue, they stayed silent till they arrived in the town.
…..
"let's head to the inn that you are staying in" as soon as they entered the town they headed directly to the inn. Gallien most likely brought John there.
"Hi there, did Gallien come back?" when they entered the inn, Hazel asked the innkeeper.
"Yes, he arrived a while ago, he was carrying John on his back, he put him in his room, it seems he is severely injured, the doctor arrived and now he is examining John in the room."
"Thank you"
Hazel went to John's room, with Dreue following her.
They found Gallien sanding outside, the door was closed.
"Gallien, why are you here? How is John?" asked Hazel.
"John is in the room, the doctor is tending to him now, I was told to stay outside so as not to disrupt the healing process" Gallien was standing with his back leaning on the wall and his hands were folded in front of him.
"It looks like you have been waiting here for a long time" asked Dreue while looking at him.
"Yes, as soon as we arrived, the innkeeper called a doctor, after he saw John's condition, he started treating him directly, what happened to John in the forest?"
*sigh*
Hazel sighed she said slowly.
"When we were fighting the first Hobgoblin. At first, everything went according to the plan, I was casting a huge fireball while John was engaged with the Hobgoblin in direct combat to buy me enough time to complete the casting process"
"When I competed casting the fireball, I did not shoot it directly, I kept it suspended in the air waiting for the perfect moment"
"Meanwhile Dreue held the explosive arrowheads, he approached the fighting John and the Hobgoblin carefully. When everyone was ready, he threw the arrowheads at the Hobgoblin"
"As soon as he threw the arrowheads I launched the huge fireball towards the Hobgoblin, it was supposed to hit the Hobgoblin while he was busy fighting John, combining its power with the arrowheads creating a massive explosion which will take down the Hobgoblin"
"John should have taken the chance jumping away at the right moment so that he will now be affected by the explosion"
"What went wrong?" Gallien asked. the plan was perfect and everything was going smoothly.
"The fireball… when I launched it… it stayed suspended in the air for sometime before flying towards the Hobgoblin"
"So, it did not launch directly, but there was a delay"
"Not only that, when it was launched, it traveled in the air much slower than expected"
"Because it was slow, the Hobgoblin had the chance to notice it"
"Then how were you able to take it down ??" Gallien was surprised by Hazel's words, if the Hobgoblin noticed the fireball, then he should have avoided it.
"The captain… he sacrificed himself to make the plan work"
"What?"
"It is just as you said, when the hobgoblin noticed the coming fireball, he wanted to avoid it by jumping away, but before he had the chance to do so, John threw his weapon away hugging the Hobgoblin directly with his whole body, he held the Hobgoblin in place with all of his might, both of them were hit by the explosion"
"Fortunately, the Hobgoblin was hit directly, his back was facing the fireball, it burned his and dropped him dead on the ground. as for John, he was hugging the Hobgoblin from the front, so he did not suffer any fire damage, it is just that he was thrown away by the impact of the explosion, breaking an arm and a leg"
Gallien was speechless, he did now know what to say. John's sacrifice was truly noble if not for him then surely all of them would have been killed by the two Hobgoblins.
Hazel told Gallien about what happened, Dreue was standing beside her silent all the time, he did not say a word.
But if Gallien tried to blame Hazel for what happened, he was ready to defend her, after all, she did not do anything wrong.
Fortunately, Gallien was sensible enough to stay silent.
Dreue now considered Hazel a true friend, that was why he told her about magic, that why he explained to her what he did instead of making up a story like he usually does.
John earned his full respect; he was a worthy leader capable of taking the best decisions even in the worst circumstances. In that situation, he was able to make a plan, he was able to keep calm while directing the party.
When the plan was about to fall, he made measures to ensure its success at the expanse of himself, sacrificing himself for the bigger picture.
Out of the three, Dreue's relationship with Gallien was not that great, of course, they were able to work together, but outside the work on the personal level they were somewhat always at odds.
All of the three stayed silent.
*Click*
The sound of the door brought the three back from their own words to reality.
The doctor exited the room.
They all looked at him hopefully but his expression betrayed their hope.
"His life as an adventurer will come to end"
"His leg will most likely be permanently disabled, he can no longer walk this path"
The atmosphere became very heavy.