I reincarnated as a losing heroine, the hero’s childhood friend who lost to the main heroine, so I switched jobs to alchemist 

Chapter 21: A new goal

What I remember was a loud voice running through the hallway.

"The Commander Vake has returned!"　

Someone exclaimed.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and everything went black, I've lost consciousness.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a bed.
When I woke up, I looked around nervous, even though I was in a daze.
Then a familiar figure from behind the door came into view.

"Mr. Arnold...?"

"So, you woke up"

The person who turns around at the sound of my voice, Arnold, walked slowly closer to my bedside.
From what I've checked, this doesn't seem to be my room.
I think it's the castle infirmary.

"When I came back, you were lying in the laboratory's floor. I think you were just sleeping ... but to be sure that there was nothing wrong with your body..."

With that short explanation, my consciousness became a little clearer.
It's possible that the tension and stress piled up on me and... Yes, I passed out.
After hearing the voices of the people near the laboratory who were cheering that Vake had returned safely, the demons were defeated and that the mission was over, I couldn't resist anymore the onslaught of fatigue and sleepiness, and fell asleep.

... How much time, I had been asleep is still unknown to me.
But perhaps Arnold had come back from the battlefield, found me asleep in the laboratory, and brought me here.
Yes, Arnold was on the front lines, I was told that Mr. Olivelle never left his side.

I huffed and got up without even having time to think clearly.
It was so sudden that I felt a slight dizziness, but I didn't have time to worry about it!

Vake has returned - and by "return" I mean he must have come back on his own two feet - but is his injured right eye okay?

"Where! Where's Mr. Vake??!"

"He lost the sight in his right eye, but is still alive. He has to rest for a while, though."

He lost the sight in his right eye... as I returned to the bed again, muttered.

"I see..."

Vake... I wonder if he would not have lost the sight in his right eye if I had advised him in advance what was going to happen.
That event, I had a hunch that it might be in this battle.
But it was a little uncertain, and a girl, like me, would not be listened to if she said something outrageous like that suddenly.
And most of all - I was hesitant to make any differences with The Last Brave story's plot on my own.

What's the point? After all, "Laura" is the difference itself, I noticed it long ago.
But unlike me, who has a little non-important role, Vake is a major character.
My fears were that if his fate changed, the effect it would have on this world's future would be much greater.

"You've had a hard day."
"No, it's not like..."

Shaking my head to deny that fact, is true but... I don't know if this path was the right one or the wrong one, but it's certainly that we're at least another step closer to The Last Brave main story events.
After glancing towards Arnold, I dropped the gaze to the floor, the air around him seems much colder than usual.
No, maybe Arnold is tired too.

--He fought the demons directly in the middle of the front lines.

In the first place, why did he choose to become an alchemist master while possessing magical power strong enough that even the Knight Order's High ranks rely on him?
The question swelled up inside me, and finally I couldn't contain it.

"Mr. Arnold, may I ask you one thing?"

At my words, Arnold sank into a chair, where he previously put a pillow. Given that calm behavior, perhaps he's allowing me to continue and ask the question.

"Why did you decide to become an alchemist?　... You have a very strong magical power, don't you?"

For a moment, Arnold's frozen.
If we have to stay here for a while, it's better to use that time to clear the doubts we still have on our minds.
When I was giving up in the waiting for an answer, I heard some words telling me he was thinking about how to explain.
It's all just my imagination?? But I think I saw Arnold nodding his head, and then he opened his mouth.

"Even though I had magic power, I didn't have any talent for recovery magic at all. I was pretty good at attack magic, though."

I looked at him thoughtfully. Then he changed his position in the chair.

"I'm sorry... I heard rumors and... I."

I was about to bite my lips for a second, but on a second thought, I decided to close my mouth... Arnold and I are not close enough to share personal secrets.
A moment's silence.
The one who broke it was, surprisingly, Arnold himself.

"...I told you I have a sister."

"Huh?　You're right, Elvira."

The word "sister" that came out of Arnold's mouth made me cringe.
Elvira Rocco.
She is Arnold's sister and a major character in "The Last Brave".
In a few years, she will, too, embarks on a journey to save the world.
I stared at Arnold's face, waiting for his next words, he had a pensive look on his face.

"Elvira has autonucleosis."

At those words, I swallowed my breath.
--An auto catalytic disease.
It's a disease unique to this world, where the person's magical power causes damage to his/her own body, the reason is still unknown.
Not only does the magic hurt the tissues within the body, but it has also been observed that some parts of the body suddenly ignite.
And in the end, every patient is burned to death by a fire that burns from within.

And above all, it is said that only one in a million of people suffer from this rare disease - a so-called incurable disease.
I've read about it a few times in books and don't know the details.
And yet, I remembered only the basic information -- thanks my unnatural memory "nearly a cheat-skill" that only works for alchemy -- but I remembered it because I was greatly shocked by the symptoms of the disease.
Most of all, the auto catalytic disease is a disease that didn't appear in The Last Brave story, but it's seared deeply into my memory with a sense of fear, wondering if there was such a terrible disease in this world from the beginning.

Autonucleosis? Elvira ?!!

There should have been no such thing on the original setup... It wasn't even set up to say that she was weak, let alone ill.

I remember it as.... -- From her childhood, she had too much magic in her small body, and that caused trouble for her because it was too active.--

"I wanted to heal her... But I didn't have a talent for recovery magic. That's why I chose the path of a alchemist. That's it... The reason"
"... I didn't realize it--"

He's not lying, I can confirm it in his expression, however, I don't know what to say.

The unexpected differences with the original "Last Brave" are worrying me up more and more. ... Why? , as I wondered that, I came up with a theory.

If... If the plot of Elvira having an auto catalytic disease was eliminated by the staff in the production stage along with the character of Arnold?

Maybe they created the story thinking of showing a flashback or something, where were shown that she had autonucleosis.
And as a means of solving that problem, his older brother, Arnold, was born....
He had to be a good sorcerer and alchemist to solve the problems his sister was having.

But for some reason, that story of Elvira was shortened.
As a result, even Arnold, who had a deep connection to that subplot, eventually became a dead character due to budget and other production's reasons.

It's a hypothesis... Created in my head on the spur of the moment, but it's not an improbable story... I think.
But if by any chance this hypothesis is true, then why are the deceased settings and characters still alive in this world?

--yes, that's right. It may not be only me, Laura, but Arnold who is trying the most to change the "Last Brave" plot in this world I live in now. It's easy to see the difference in the motivations of the two of us, but Arnold doesn't know about the original story to begin with.

"I'm counting on you to do the same."
"Huh?"
"The development of a medicine or treatment for the auto catalytic disease.

As I was thinking about my hypothesis, the words * poof* * poof* flew rhythmically from Arnold's mouth to me.

The development of cure for the auto catalytic disease?

There is still no cure for autonucleosis! However, the disease is not immediately fatal, and even if you develop it in childhood, you can live for 10 to 20 years, according to the studied past cases...
The patient who lived the longest was nearly 40.

Despite being an intractable disease, autonucleosis is a sickness of slow progression.
The disease, which at first caused inflammation of organs similar to the symptoms of a small burn or a cold, progresses steadily over a long period of time and eventually burns the body from within.
It is said that patients who die from auto catalytic disease, when they die not even a bone is left.

--Yes, there should be plenty of time to find a cure. However, it's a different story when the patient is Elvira.

The time limit is shortened to just three years or less, if my memory doesn't fail, when Elvira sets off on a journey with Lucas.
We have to get there in time for that day.
The hero's companion, the genius sorcerer Elvira Rocco, did not suffer the auto catalytic disease.

"I told you, I want to borrow your talent."

Arnold's expression of indecision... yes, that day came flooding back into my brain.
It makes sense, it's what Arnold was referring to. But on the other hand, my heart began to beat louder and louder.

There's less than three years left!
In that time, we must somehow manage to come up with a recovery potion for Elvira's auto catalytic disease.

There was a part of me, that whispered that the character Arnold had been the one given the mission to create it.
However, this is just a hypothesis that I have come up with.

Three years counting from now, if Elvira remains afflicted by this sickness - the fate of the world could change drastically!

Perhaps this disease is the trial given to the original Elvira and Arnold... This may be the fate we must defeat for the future of this world! ...

If Elvira does not accompany him on his journey to save the world because she is ill, it will be very different from the journey of the brave heroes that I knew, to defeat the demon King and... return alive.
No! Even, if she's forced to accompany them, in that state, it'll be the same.

When Lucas sets off on his journey... I wanted to make as fewer differences with original The Last Brave as possible!
Where the safety of Lucas and his friends, as well as the future of this world, are guaranteed.
If I change the situation to follow the path that my old self knew, none of them will die, and the world will be saved from the threat of the Demon King.

It's not an exaggeration or anything, but the fate of the world rests now on the shoulders of Arnold and me..

"I'll do my best!!"

But, do we have enough hours of work left?!! It's an important detail to take care of... Anxiety crashes in like a wave!
One in a million of people have this disease for which there is no established cure.
It is very rare, and because the number of patients is so small in the first place, many of the surviving documents aren't accurate.
If it had appeared in the "Last Brave" I played, the cure would have been known in the game, but autonucleosis does not appear in the story.

Still, we have to do it!
Perhaps from anxiety, I felt a choking feeling in my chest, I tried to get through this by pressing my hands against it.

"How are you and your younger siblings doing, by the way?"

Excuse me? Did I lose track of the conversation or...
I was puzzled by the too abrupt and forced change of topic.
Even so, it was good for me... to get a bit of relief from the heavy atmosphere from before.
That's probably the reason why he decided to get on another topic, even though I didn't understand what he was talking about.
'Younger siblings? I'm an only child.' The moment I was about to answer that.

"Didn't you tell me... almost five years ago?"

--I'm glad I didn't rush to answer.

I managed to swallow all the words that nearly came out to my throat.
Yes, it was... The first time I met Arnold, I lied to him in an attempt to get Elvira's information.
- "I might have a sibling soon" I said back then.

"Ahhhhhh!　That was... I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but it was a mistake... Hehehe"

"When I was little, I had heard my parents talking about a child and so... but they were talking about a child that was going to be born in the house next door"
That's the excuse I made up and told him, then Arnold sighed in disbelief.

Yes, I know, but even if it isn't very believable, at that time the most important was to confirm the information I had.
Arnold told me to finish my story and walked out of the room.
Before leaving, he ordered me to go back to sleep, so I let me fall down on the bed and ordered the covers.

As I stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, I remembered Elvira.

--Auto catalytic disease. From the book, Incurable diseases for which there is no established cure.

The time limit is three more years.

I clench the fists still holding the bed cover.

In order not to become a losing heroine, I set out to become a Royal Alchemist Master ...to leave the village.
The goal I set that day is almost achieved.
But today, I have a new goal!

--To find a way to cure Elvira's auto catalytic disease.

This time, not for myself, but for Elvira!
And for the future of this world!

In order to achieve this goal, I need to get enough rest first! As I was thinking about that, closed my eyelids.
All my skills and knowledge is going to be put at work from now on.

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