"Nola!"

I quickly sprinted and managed to catch Nola from falling to the ground, supporting her back with my arm.

"Nola, are you okay?!"

"Ngh..."

Nola groaned in pain.

I placed her arm around the back of my neck and, supporting her waist with my other free arm, helped Nola get up and walk towards my bed.

I let her lie down. She was breathing heavily, her whole body was burning red, and she was sweating profusely.

A slight touch of her forehead told me everything.

Nola was...

Sick.

"......!"

I didn't know how lethal the pathogen inside Nola's body is, but this actually looks pretty serious.

I tried casting high-tier healing magic to get rid of it, but aside from making her body glow a bit, it did absolutely nothing.

Ahh, right.

I should've expected this.

Healing spells, despite their name, don't fully "heal" the person being cast upon. Since magic is primarily used in combat, healing spells are designed to be used in combat as well. And since mana is being cast from the external body (i.e. outside the skin), it could heal wounds such as open wounds, bleeding, and in very high-level magic, can even regrow limbs.

But for the interior, this form of magic wouldn't work.

This is where portions come in.

Potions are liquids that contain varying amounts of mana and are ingested into the user's body. Since the magic is not inside rather the outside, it could be used not only to heal internal bleeding but to boost one's status as well. Various examples of these are fire resistance, a temporarily higher HP bar, and more.

Going by this world's magic logic, top-tier healing potions might work against illnesses.

Heh.

Magic logic.

It has a nice ring to it.

But anyway.

I quickly sorted through all of my junk and managed to find two low-tier healing potions. Since I had a ridiculous amount of HP healing potions became obsolete, so I didn't need them at all. It explains why these two potions were all that I have in this house.

I went over to Nola but was surprised to see her eyes were closed.

Thankfully, after a quick inspection, she was still breathing. But I needed to wake her up.

"Nola... Wake up..."

"......"

"You have to drink this, here."

Half-awake, I lifted Nola's upper body to make it easy for her to drink the two healing potions.

For now, I'll work on lowering her temperature.

I went out and soaked one of my towels in cold water, and when I went back I brought with me a bowl of cold water as well.

I wiped her exposed skin with the towel, starting from the legs and going all the way to her face.

As I continued to wipe, I couldn't help but notice the beauty of her body. She had good curves and proportions, aside from a lacking in the chest department. In my opinion, anyone would stop and glance at her.

"Mmm..."

After finishing I soaked the towel in cool water, squeezed it, and folded it into a long rectangular shape wide enough to cover her forehead.

Growl.

All of a sudden my stomach started complaining.

It only occurred to me that Nola still hasn't cooked dinner yet. Since she was now confined to the bed, however, she was in no way, shape, or form to cook, which meant that I was the one to do it.

Looking at the pantry downstairs, all that was left was a can of mushroom soup. Nola didn't have a chance to go to the grocery yet, so this was the only thing we can eat.

It was also the only thing I could cook anyways, so I guess this would do.

Plus, sick people drink soup, right?

Yeah.

It could work.

There were step-by-step instructions written at the back of the can, so I had a really easy time cooking it. All I had to do was to add some water and heat it with fire magic, stirring every so often.

Soon, the soup was finished.

It said on the label that the soup was for two servings, so I divided it equally into two bowls. One for me and one for Nola.

I placed her bowl on a tray and carried it upstairs to my room.

"A... Ahh... M-Master... I..."

Nola was awake. As soon as she saw me, she quickly tried to get up, even though she was still visibly dizzy.

"Hey hey hey!"

I once again caught Nola from stumbling to the floor. She was trying to stand but quickly lost her balance.

"No... Please... Sto - "

"You have to rest, for now, Nola," I said, putting her back in bed. "You have a high fever at the moment, so you need to stay still."

"......"

Nola didn't say a word, but she looked at me with teary eyes.

As if she was saying sorry to me.

"Now, sit up properly. I'm going to feed you dinner."

"......."

Nola silently obeyed, slowly sat up, and straightened her back.

I got a chair, sat down hear the bed, and placed the bowl on top of my lap. Then, scooping a spoonful, I carefully brought it towards her mouth, putting my hand under to catch any excess soup that fell.

Nola recently cleaned my room. I didn't want to dirty it.

Nom.

She opened her mouth and swallowed, without uttering a word.

This cycle of scoop and nom went on repeatedly for a while until there was no more soup left in the bowl.

She was getting sleepy, so I decided to put her in bed instead. After five minutes of reading to her The History of the World, According to our Fathers, she was fast asleep.

Haha.

The book is such an effective hypnotic.

Nola seemed hesitant the whole time for me to do these kinds of things, but there was nothing to be done about it.

I took the tray and bowl and brought them downstairs to the sink to be washed.

Yikes.

The soup that I left on the table for me got cold.

Oh well. Can't cry over cold soup.

I ate in silence in the dining room. The whole house was quiet, and the hallway lamps were unlit, save for the ones that I'm using right now to light my dinner.

As I sipped, I thought about my problems.