Treatment

Erza stared in astonishment at the braised pork ribs, boiled prawns, steamed sea bass, and cabbage tofu stew on the table, then turned to look at Cain, who had taken off his apron.

She simply could not understand it. They were clearly about the same age, so why was Cain so capable?

Erza did not even need to taste the dishes. The aroma alone told her they had to be delicious.

Gray and Cana, who already knew how good the food tasted, had rushed to the table and begun fighting over it, a rib in one hand and a prawn in the other.

Seeing Erza still standing there, Cain urged, "Erza, come on. If you're too slow, they'll eat it all."

"Mm, coming."

Snapping out of it, Erza joined the scramble as well.

"Whew, that felt good."

Gray lay sprawled across the sofa with a satisfied look after eating and drinking his fill, rubbing his bulging little belly. Cana and Erza were no different.

Cain knew how much they could eat, so while there were not many dishes, the portions had been generous.

Seeing that no food had gone to waste, Cain was in a very good mood. After the four of them cleaned up the dishes together, Cana and Gray said with wicked grins:

"Don't do anything naughty."

Cain was speechless and chased the two of them away. Erza blinked in confusion. Do anything naughty? What kind of naughty thing?

Seeing Erza still deep in thought, Cain stepped forward and patted her head. "Don't mind them. I'll show you to your room."

"Oh." Remembering something, Erza suddenly said, "Don't keep patting my head. I won't grow taller."

"Alright, alright, got it."

One look at Cain told Erza that he was just brushing her off, and her cheeks puffed up.

If Cain had turned around then, he would have seen Erza looking like an angry pufferfish.

After taking Erza to her room, Cain returned to his own, took a comfortable bath, and quickly fell asleep in his soft bed.

The next day.

After waking up, Erza left her room but did not see Cain anywhere. "Is he still sleeping?"

Thinking that, Erza went to Cain's door and knocked. However, after waiting for a while, there was still no response from inside.

So she entered the room and found no one there. She could not help wondering, "Did he go to the guild? Honestly, he didn't even call me."

Just as Erza was about to head to the guild, the sound of the front door opening came from downstairs. Peeking over, she saw Cain returning from outside.

Cain walked in and saw Erza coming out of his room. He raised a hand in greeting. "Erza, come eat breakfast."

As he spoke, he lifted the breakfast in his hand.

Erza walked downstairs and only then noticed that Cain was drenched in sweat. She asked curiously, "What happened to you?"

Cain looked down and realized he looked a little disheveled. Smiling, he explained, "I just finished my morning training. Go ahead and eat first. I'm going to take a shower."

With that, he headed upstairs. Erza looked at the breakfast on the table and decided to wait until Cain had finished bathing so they could eat together.

After washing up, Cain looked much fresher. Seeing the untouched breakfast on the table, he asked in surprise, "Is it not to your taste?"

Erza shook her head. "No. Let's eat together."

Cain paused for a moment, then smiled. "Mm, alright."

While they ate breakfast, Erza asked what exactly Cain did for his morning training.

Cain explained that whenever he had not taken on a request, he would usually run a few laps around Magnolia every morning. Hearing that, Erza said she wanted to join too.

Cain did not refuse. "Sure. I'll call you tomorrow."

After breakfast, the two headed deep into the woods east of Magnolia.

Before long, they arrived at Porlyusica's home.

Porlyusica did not waste words upon seeing them. She said to Erza, "Come over here and lie down."

After Erza lay down, Porlyusica continued, "First, I'll anesthetize you. Then I'll remove the necrotic tissue around the wound. After that, we'll rely on recovery medicine and his Holy Light Magic to nourish your right eye until it fully recovers."

"Any questions?"

After roughly explaining the procedure, Porlyusica asked the two of them. Seeing that there were no issues, she began the operation.

Porlyusica took out a small bottle and had Erza smell it. Before long, Erza became groggy.

After confirming the anesthesia had taken effect, Porlyusica did not drive Cain away and immediately began the surgery.

After removing the bandages, Porlyusica drew the scalpel in her hand across Erza's right eye, slicing off a piece of rotten flesh.

"Take it away."

Cain did not understand at first, but then immediately realized she wanted him to remove the piece of flesh she had cut off.

So I'm the assistant too. Though that was what Cain thought, his hands did not slow. He stepped forward and used forceps to pick up the rotten flesh.

Once Cain understood his job, he no longer needed Porlyusica's reminders. He proactively removed every piece of rotten flesh she cut away.

After an unknown amount of time, the rotten flesh around the eye was finally cleaned out. Next came the damaged tissue within the eyeball.

Porlyusica took out a pair of forceps almost invisible to the naked eye, aimed them at Erza's right eye, and slowly inserted them to search for fragments of the shattered lens and remove them.

The process was extremely taxing. Even Porlyusica had to concentrate fully.

It drained a great deal of her strength and energy, and Cain, standing beside her, was quick to notice.

Without interfering with the operation, he wiped away the sweat on Porlyusica's forehead.

As night quietly fell, Porlyusica slowly let out a breath. "Alright. Bring me that ice-blue potion. Put one drop in her right eye, then use your magic to nourish it for around thirty minutes. That will do."

Hearing that, Cain understood that the surgery was essentially over. He helped Porlyusica to a seat nearby.

Then he picked up the bottle of ice-blue medicine and dropped a single drop into Erza's right eye.

[Holy Light: Heal]

This was a spell Cain had developed based on healing magic. Unlike other spells that vanished in an instant, healing-type magic required the caster to maintain the magic circle over a long period.

Of course, it was fine not to maintain it continuously. It just meant the illness would not be completely cured.

A magic circle unfolded in Cain's hand, and golden light enveloped Erza's entire body.

Cain could clearly sense that most of the golden motes were flowing toward Erza's right eye, while a small remaining portion was absorbed by her body.

Erza's right eye was like a bottomless black hole. The golden motes were swallowed the instant they touched it. Seeing this, Cain understood that Erza's eye would heal as long as he filled this black hole.

When the motes of light stopped being absorbed by the black hole, Cain knew the nourishment was complete. Sure enough, Porlyusica's voice rang out. "That's enough."

Cain opened his eyes. At some point, Erza had already awakened, and the bandages over her right eye had been wrapped again.

Aside from her pale complexion and some weakness, Erza did not feel any other discomfort.

After Porlyusica gave them some instructions on what to watch out for, she handed them the bottle of ice-blue medicine and indicated that they could leave.

"Thank you, Grandma."

After thanking Porlyusica, Cain supported Erza as they walked home.