------ Momo's POV------
When I arrived at the scene, the street was littered with holes, most likely from the Fallen Angel's light-based attacks.
My attention was drawn to a mysterious tall figure battling three Fallen Angels. As the Peerage members rushed to aid the mysterious figure, I noticed a familiar figure past the fight.
They were battered, the uniform that I barely recognized was cut and blood-drenched. An arm held limply at their side.
As the figure started to fall forward I recognized that stupid annoyingly attractive face, my instincts took over as I rushed to catch them.
As I held Sam in my arms, I looked over his visible wounds.
As I took it all in, a rising sense of horror started to set in. The hole in his shoulder is twice the size of a 100 yen coin (roughly the size of 2 U.S. 25¢ coins), and the slash to his side was gushing blood.
Looking back at the other fight, I saw the Fallen Angels deploy some kind of device that covered the area in bright light. Sensing that it stung my skin, it was probably something with holy energy.
I wasn't as affected as the other peerage members as I saw them drop one by one; oddly enough, the mysterious figure I initially saw was no longer there.
But it didn't take long before I knew where they went, as I felt a blade poke the back of my neck along with a quiet feminine voice that seemed to be whispered directly into my ears. "Put him down."
"D-Do you know him?"
"If you wish to keep your head, listen to me, Devil."
Even though they specified my race, I felt no hostility within the voice.
"You can heal him, right?" I responded as I sat Sam carefully on the ground.
"With his vitality and natural healing, as long as he gets some treatment, he won't die. Complete recovery remains to be seen." Said the mysterious figure as she removed the blade from the back of my neck.
As she walked around me to Sam, I heard her mumble, "This would be easier if I was summoned with a flask."
Despite my confusion, she began to administer first aid. "You need to return to your teammates. My l- Sam was targeted and attacked. Let your lord know."
"R-Right!" As I was about to turn away to return to my teammates, I took one last look at Sam and whispered, "Don't die, idiot..."
------ Sam's POV ------
As I started to gain consciousness, my eyes fluttered open to look at the ceiling, and before I could think of a witty comment, my body seemed to decide to scream at my brain that it was injured.
After taking a moment to adjust to the pain, I looked around to notice that I was in my room. Alone.
Trying to think what happened, I remember that Tiche was still in a fight.
Wait... Did Tiche win and bring my unconscious body back home? I take back the tank being the best thing the Gacha has given me; Tiche will be the undisputed #1 from now on.
As I was trying to piece together what happened after the fight, my door opened to reveal Tiche with a bowl of water and a washcloth.
"M-My lord, you're already awake?"
"Eh? How long have I been asleep?"
"It's only been about 10 hours."
For some reason, Tiche looks dissatisfied that I'm awake now, but pushing that aside, my traits must be accelerating my recovery more than I thought, but I'm also no doctor, so maybe me waking up this early isn't that crazy.
"Tiche, how did you win your fight? The last I saw was a pretty even fight."
"Ah, the allies from the school arrived when you collapsed, and that turned the tide of battle in my favor. Unfortunately, the opponents had a way to force the Devils back, so they escaped shortly afterward."
Well, it sucks that they got away, but at least Tiche wasn't injured.
"Wait, were the allies the ones I usually hang around with at school?"
"That's correct, my lord."
So it looks like I'm going to need an excuse for Tiche before too long.
Rubbing my temples with my good hand.
"I'll need to call the school to request leave until I'm healed." As I go to get up, pain shoots up my body from my two major wounds.
Yeah, never mind, I'll do that later.
Tiche, seeing that I couldn't get up, walked over and sat down in the chair next to my bed.
"My Lord, you shouldn't move carelessly, but don't worry, I'll be responsible for your recovery." She says as she dips the washcloth in the bowl of water and reaches over to wipe my forehead.
"T-tiche, what are you doing?"
"Taking care of you, my lord."
And what followed was probably one of the most embarrassing things that ever happened to me. She hand-bathed me, despite all my protests; ordering her did nothing to stop her as she ignored me.
After it was done, I was like the dead, unmoving and no longer caring, but out of the corner of my eye, as I watched Tiche leave, I thought I saw a faint blush.
I must be hallucinating from embarrassment and my injuries.
As I slowly recovered my dignity, my thoughts were drawn to the previous fight, playing it back in my mind to see how I did now that I wasn't running on adrenaline.
My opponent was tough, but he was overly confident against me, which worked in my favor. The air superiority was taken care of pretty easily, but against a proper opponent, that's a death sentence to jump like I did.
The grapple in the air was a good play, as I would have taken more damage either from the fall itself or from the opponent taking the opportunity as I fell. What I wasn't accounting for was the gap of strength between us. Without holy energy, I was like a toddler against a grown man, and even with holy energy, it seemed like I couldn't match up properly.
When we ended the grapple, I had no real plan as I defaulted to trying to tire the opponent out. Which didn't work. I had to rely on the opponent's overconfident nature which treated me like a child to launch a final surprise attack.
Honestly? If I had fought any other opponent with that level of strength, I wouldn't have landed a hit, but the fact that I won was pure luck.
Sighing in frustration as I look at my ceiling, I think, 'I need to get stronger; I can't keep getting surprised like this.'
Determined, I vow to double my training once I'm recovered. After all, the risk of my exercise injury is pretty much zero with my traits.
Traits!
My mind buzzes as I realize that the Gacha hasn't alerted me to a completed mission.
[The host was unconscious; the alerts did function correctly.]
Oh, so I did finish the quest. Good to hear. The tension that had unknowingly built up disappeared in an instant due to the system message.
'Alright, system, bring up the alerts that went off while I was asleep.'
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Ding! Detected completion of the quest.
You have gained a 1x Gold Ability Ticket!
Ding! Due to the host's action, the world line has been permanently derailed. Compensation is given.
You have gained 2x random gold tickets!
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What the fuck did I do?!?