Zavier saw her dilemma and gestured to Dahila to remain calm and let him handle the situation.
Dahila let out a slight grunt and agreed but was still overly cautious about Calista whose elven beauty and charm was enough to wipe out a nation by itself.
"Teacher, we really were in a pinch. Thankfully you are here now. Teacher Valerie is injured and is in need of medical attention. She can't fight and we have to rely on you for the next part of the mission. We will be in your care from now on."
Zavier had expressed himself in a good-natured manner which lifted the fallen mood of Calista. She had thought that the one who would react the most strongly to her amongst all of them would be Zavier since what had happened at the competition was not something that she was very proud of. Shiranui had not only attacked him despite him having gone easy one her, she had also won in the end by causing him that injury.
This improved her mood a little bit and color returned to her face. Even Valerie on the other side showed an appreciating smile. She was happy to see that Zavier was not so small minded.
"But there is one thing I don't understand. How come you are here already? It is quite a distance from the school and we only sent the emergency signal yesterday."
They were more than a week's distance away from the school and he was expecting it to be a long wait. Zavier had not expected that the help would arrive so early on, otherwise he wouldn't have burdened his nerves with all that worry.
"I was on my way back from a mission and was only a few dozen miles away from you. Compared to yours, my class's mission was actually an F rank mission so I was done early on. All we encountered were some petty mages and boredom. Since we were done anyway, I sent them back earlier and responded to the emergency signal that was transmitted to me by the school authorities. Since I was the closest to your last position, I was tasked with supporting you. I rushed all night and thankfully made it in time before something irrecoverable happened."
"Oh…turns out that you were already here…but wait, your class was on a mission as well."
Zavier sounded confused since he had thought that only his class had been given that mission in order to trap him.
"Did you think that this was something only for your class? All teachers who want to take their students with them can do so provided that the students meet their standards."
Zavier was even more confused than he was previously. He was starting to doubt whether this was a plan to trap him or not after hearing her words. Maybe he was just being paranoid and this was only them being unlucky in the selection of the mission.
Zavier then turned towards Valerie and shot out the last question in his mind.
"Then what about the fighting noise and the explosive sounds from earlier? Did you find out who it was?"
Valerie shrugged her shoulders and replied: "Why don't you ask her instead?" while pointing towards Calista with her hand.
Zavier moved his eyes in the direction of Calista as if asking for a confirmation from Valerie to which she nodded in the positive.
Before he could have said anything, Calista interjected and explained the whole situation.
"I was on my way to you when I found someone snooping around your camp. He was heading towards the place that Valerie was sleeping in. He saw me and then rushed away at a fast pace. I followed after him for some time and managed to catch up to him. As soon as I did, he attacked me without any indication so I assumed that he must have been one of the enemies. I attacked him in kind which must have startled you, I think. The enemy was quite strong so I wasn't able to neutralize him easily. Thankfully Valerie arrived right then and we fought him off together. And then we came here straight. Would that be all of the questions?"
Calista had used a slightly sarcastic tone towards the end. Zavier could hear the sarcasm but he ignored it since he needed to know everything as well.
Zavier turned towards Valerie and asked her his next question.
"Was he the same guy you fought in the morning?"
Valerie nodded with a solemn face which proved that they had been right all along. The enemy really was lurking in the vicinity and had it not been for Calista who had arrived earlier than expected, they were able to avert a disaster that might have befallen them had they been alone.
"How were you able to avoid his poison? Did he not use it?"
Calista laughed as a result and jokingly replied: "Oh…the poison…of course he did…or at least he tried."
Zavier didn't notice anything funny about what she had said and was waiting for her answer with a straight face.
Calista saw his expression and tsked: "You are no fun. My poison resistance is very high. No poison can affect me as much as it has your Teacher Valerie."
Zavier finally understood how she was still unaffected.by the deadly poison that had so adversely affected Valerie.
Now all that Zavier was worried about was the cure that Valerie still hadn't received for the poison.
"Can't you heal Teacher Valerie. I have heard that your healing skills are very good."
Dahila had spoken this time based on her research. She knew that Calista's elven knowledge may be helpful in dealing with the toxin that was disturbing Valerie.
Zavier heard her words and became hopeful as well.
He looked towards Calista with anticipation waiting for her response.
Calista couldn't bear to disappoint the two students and nodded immediately even though she was sure that she wouldn't be able to remove it from her system completely even if she tried.
Despite her elven heritage, she was only immune to various poisons but was not capable of healing or drawing them away from those affected by it.
That was the reason that she knew that Valerie needed a complete anti-toxin in order to recover completely.
"I will see what I can do. Help her into the bed first, she can barely stand as it is."
Zavier moved forward to help her but then thought of something when he saw the odd look in Calista's eyes.
He pulled back his hand and gestured for Dahila to take over and support Valerie back to the tent.
Zavier grew embarrassed but tried to hide it. The flush growing on his face still revealed what he had been feeling at that moment. Even Valerie forgot about her health for a moment when she saw him blushing like that.
Dahila supported her by putting her arms around her own neck and rested Valerie's weight on her shoulder.
As soon as Valerie was down on her bed, Calista came over, bent down and placed her hand on Valerie's chest.
Magic from her hands was released into Valerie's body. Zavier could tell that this was something that she was doing to check Valerie's condition.
Valerie on the other hand had closed her eyes and was lying peacefully on the bed with her eyes closed. She didn't have much hope that Calista would be able to draw out that poison because she had seen many such instances of unknown poisons. Almost in all the cases healers suggested to wait until the completion of antidote.
This was a fact but Valerie wasn't too worried about it. Her main cause of concern had been the safety of her students after she had been injured. But now that Calista had come to support and protect them, she had let down all her burdens and was resting peacefully after handing everything over to Calista.
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