Two Options

"Hm?"

Erza looked at him in confusion. Was there something wrong with her? How had she not noticed?

Cain was instantly charmed by Erza tilting her head toward him, a puzzled look on her face.

Seeing Cain stare at her without saying anything, Erza had no choice but to ask, "Is there something wrong with me?"

"Oh, right." Cain came to his senses and hurriedly looked ahead to hide his embarrassment.

"There are quite a few things wrong with you. For example, the strenuous labor has left you with internal injuries, and you're malnourished from not getting enough nutrients for a long time."

As he spoke, Cain berated himself inwardly for being so useless.

Erza understood all of this. After all, she had been forced to work at the Tower of Heaven, and getting even a single bite to eat had been a blessing.

Cain composed himself and said, "Of course, those are minor problems. I can take care of them, so there's no need to trouble Granny Porlyusica."

"The main problem is your right eye."

"My eye?"

Erza touched the bandage over her right eye. She had lost her sight in it after she and the others had plotted to escape the Tower of Heaven, failed, and been captured and tortured by the Magic Council.

But Cain meant that Granny Porlyusica could heal her eye.

Seeing the hope in Erza's eyes, Cain nodded firmly. "Granny Porlyusica is an excellent doctor. She can definitely heal your eye."

Cain's confident words filled Erza with anticipation for the trip.

Soon, they arrived at the treehouse. Cain opened the door with practiced ease and called out loudly, "Granny, I'm here to see you!"

An impatient voice came from inside. "You don't have to shout. I'm not deaf."

"Hehe."

Cain didn't mind Porlyusica's scorn in the slightest.

Porlyusica came out of the house and glanced at Cain, then turned her attention to Erza, who stood beside him looking a little uneasy.

"You want me to look at this girl's eye?"

Porlyusica knew better than anyone how strong Cain was. The girl with him, on the other hand, was clearly malnourished. Her hair was dry, her cheeks were sallow, and she was thin and frail.

With her eye wrapped in bandages, it was obvious who the patient was.

"Granny, you're amazing."

Cain first complimented Porlyusica, then explained Erza's condition.

Porlyusica paid no heed to Cain's flattery. She went over to Erza, and a green magic circle appeared beneath her feet.

After examining her, Porlyusica nodded. Cain had been right: Erza had several internal injuries and was suffering from long-term malnutrition.

She wasn't checking because she distrusted Cain. It was simply a doctor's duty to be thorough.

"Come sit over here."

Porlyusica led Erza to a seat, then unwound the bandages around her head.

Soon the bandages came away, revealing the ghastly, festering wound. It looked horrifying.

Porlyusica examined it without so much as a change in expression. Erza watched her, nervously twisting her small hands together.

Cain went over to Erza and took her hand. Smiling, he said, "It'll be all right."

With Cain's encouragement, Erza relaxed a little.

About ten minutes later, Porlyusica finished her examination. "It's a serious problem, but not beyond treatment. I have two options."

Hearing that her eye could be healed—and that there were two ways to do it—Erza looked happily at Cain. He was just as glad for her.

"First, I can remove her badly damaged right eye and make her a prosthetic. It'll be just like a normal eye in everyday life."

"But it won't react as quickly to fast-moving targets, and it won't produce tears."

"Second, we can keep the damaged eye and gradually stimulate it to heal with medicine. The advantage is that it'll be no different from her other eye, but the recovery will be very painful."

Erza didn't hesitate. "Granny Porlyusica, I choose the second option."

Porlyusica didn't say anything about Erza's choice. She simply nodded, then turned to Cain. "The second option will require your help."

Cain was confused, but he didn't refuse. "What do you need, Granny?"

Porlyusica explained, "I have most of the ingredients needed to make the healing medicine, but I'm missing the most important one. You'll have to go get it."

"The ingredient is called a Nectar Dew Crystal. It's usually found in extremely cold environments. If it isn't treated soon after it's collected, it loses its medicinal properties. That's why I don't have any in storage, and it's rarely available on the market."

"Leave it to me, Granny."

Porlyusica trusted Cain's strength. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked him.

"I'll go too."

Seeing how serious Erza was, Cain froze for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Sure, we'll go together."

As the two started to leave, Porlyusica stopped them. "Wait. I haven't finished."

"After you use the healing medicine, Cain, you'll need to use your magic to help nourish the eye. That's the only way it can fully recover."

Only then did Cain understand why Erza had a prosthetic eye in the original story.

No one in the original story knew Holy Light Magic. Without its nourishment, Erza's right eye couldn't fully recover, even with the healing medicine.

That was why Porlyusica had made her a prosthetic eye.

After saying goodbye to Granny Porlyusica, the two decided to go home and prepare first, then set out for the Northern Great Snowy Mountain the next day to look for a Nectar Dew Crystal.

Erza looked at the boy beside her. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Cain, thank you."

Cain waved it off. "Hey, it's nothing. We're guildmates, and more than that, we're family. If I were in trouble, you'd help me too, right?"

Erza nodded firmly. "Yes. I definitely would."

When they got back to Magnolia, they bought some warm clothes together on the street, then went their separate ways.

On his way home, Cain remembered that in the anime, Natsu and Lucy had gone to the Great Snow Mountain to rescue Macao.

Could they really survive in such flimsy clothes without freezing to death? Oh, Natsu was a Fire Dragon Slayer Mage. He'd be fine.

As for Lucy, just imagine her tight T-shirt, miniskirt, and curvy figure. It was certainly a nice look—but she was freezing her butt off at the time.

Cain had thought that having magic would be like having inner power in a novel, making him impervious to cold and heat.

But he'd been wrong—very wrong.

It was true he had magic, but magic was also distributed throughout the surrounding environment. That meant cold places were freezing, and hot places were scorching.

So this was like me getting stronger and him getting stronger too. If both sides got stronger, then neither of us had really gotten stronger. Zero-sum, right?