Elena kept moving, though she tried to turn Ed's face away from her. Sadly, it didn't work. Helplessly, she could only let him play with her hair and listen as he narrated his tale.

While processing the information, she also assessed Ed's current state by his tone. His voice was drowsy, his words slurred as if spoken in his sleep.

But after a while, she was shocked by what Ed said and couldn't help but blurt out, "Can it really be like this?"

She couldn't understand what had happened to him. Just as she finished speaking, she spotted a figure in the distance and quickly shouted while waving, "Dad!"

Andre was running toward them, accompanied by a beautiful woman.

Elena stopped immediately. She gently squatted down and picked up Ed from behind. He had fallen asleep but refused to let go, still clinging to her tightly. In the end, however, her raw strength won out. She forcibly pulled him free and slowly laid him on the ground with a helpless sigh.

By this time, Andre had already reached them.

Seeing Ed's condition, he quickly turned and shouted, "Vanessa!"

"I can see that."

The woman beside him walked over and crouched down to examine Ed. When she saw his face in the moonlight, she was stunned.

Raising her hands, she conjured pale green light that transformed into threads, flowing into the wound on Ed's chest.

The rags, clothes, mud, and stones lodged in the wound were quickly pushed aside by the silken threads. They passed through skin and flesh, sewing the injury together with precision. The newly stitched areas showed no trace of the threads, leaving only faint scars.

In just a few minutes, the wound on Ed's chest was completely healed, save for five faint scars. Then the threads moved to the bloody hole in his left hand.

"Hiss~"

The sudden pain made Ed, who had been sleeping peacefully, gasp. His dazed eyes slowly opened.

"Bear with it, little guy. It's bound to be a little painful," Vanessa said, winking at him.

Ed, who had been ready to curse, looked into her purple eyes, then at her beautiful face, and closed his mouth obediently.

F*ck! It was indeed her, Ed cursed in his heart.

Seeing his reaction, Vanessa smiled and used the threads to extract the bullet embedded deep in his flesh. A small amount of blood and tissue came out with it. The threads continued their meticulous work.

Since it was a messy wound, the resulting scar looked somewhat ugly and hideous.

"Alright, he's out of danger now, but he's lost too much blood and needs to rest."

The pain in his body faded. Ed, who had been frowning, sighed in relief and began to breathe heavily.

"The one chasing Ed was that madman, Niwek," Elena said angrily, having watched everything in silence until Vanessa finished.

Hearing this, Andre frowned. "It seems our whereabouts on the island may have been discovered. But Wilt would not have given such an order."

He then looked down at Ed lying on the ground and continued, "Today's opportunity is rare. We must check the place you mentioned immediately. Will you come with us, or return to the ship to rest?"

Hearing the question, Ed, though he wanted to roll his eyes at his cheap captain for making an injured crewmate work overtime,weakly waved a hand.

"I'll just be a burden in my current state. I'd better go back to the ship."

Andre nodded, glancing at the blood on Elena's clothes and her somewhat disheveled appearance. "Elena, take Ed back to the boat. Sankaka will meet you on the shore."

"Got it."

Elena nodded. With a helpless expression, and under Ed's bright smile, she squatted down and hoisted him onto her back again. Once they had put distance between themselves and the others, Ed again pretended to be weak (which he was) and rested his head on her shoulder, rubbing his cheek against hers. He really did like her soft, baby-like skin.

Elena, having nothing to say, could only endure it as she ran toward the shore.

Watching Elena leave, Andre turned and moved toward their target.

"We have to act quickly. We never know when the enemy will come looking for us."

With that, Andre, Vanessa, and Jason, who had been standing guard in the distance, ran toward the location Ed had provided.

Looking at the petite figure carrying him on her back, Ed never would have guessed that Elena was a close-combat fighter.

It was totally inconsistent with her exquisite appearance and easygoing personality. It was completely unexpected that such a pretty and lovely girl would fight with her fists.

The old saying was indeed right: you should never judge a book by its cover, Ed thought with a helpless sigh. But thinking it would be boring for the rest of the journey to just let a beautiful girl carry him while he teased her to death, he decided to say something to start a conversation.

"That punch just now was very cool."

"Really? Hehe, thanks," Hearing Ed's praise, Elena smiled proudly and chuckled slightly, clearly pleased.

That's it? This guy has a blank future for sure, Ed shook his head, not knowing what to say next. After all, he had only recently joined Andru's crew and barely knew anything about Elena, except that she seemed especially fond of strangers' children and could easily get along with them. Naturally, he didn't know what else to say. If it had been Jason, they might have already started discussing something interesting.

After a while, Ed felt that he had recovered significantly and seemed able to walk on his own.

Sigh. Magic is really so OP. I must learn it, no matter what, he thought, looking at his injuries, which were healing visibly before his eyes from the simple operation of her waving her fingers and casting a light on him. Ed could only yearn for it more.

"You can put me down; I should be able to move on my own," Although Ed wanted to rub Elena's soft, fluffy cheeks, thinking that his little trick might now be exposed, he spoke honestly.

Hearing Ed's words, Elena didn't try to persuade him, probably because of his childish behavior along the way. She stopped and slowly squatted down.

Seeing that Ed looked a little unsteady, Elena reached out to help him, but he waved his hands to decline her assistance. Although his feet were still a little sore, it no longer affected his ability to walk, and it felt genuinely uncomfortable to accept support from a girl who looked smaller and weaker than himself.

After taking a couple of steps, Ed had recovered and had no problem walking.

He turned his head and looked at Elena's white sailor suit, now completely stained with his blood, and frowned a bit.

"Is everything okay?" Elena asked him. She appeared nonchalant, but with a hint of concern in her voice.

Ed nodded without saying anything. Then the two slowed their pace as they walked toward the beach.

After a moment of silence, Ed, who had finally found a topic, quickly asked, "What were those red thorns on that clown's body? How could they heal his wounds so quickly?"

The flames released from his magic card had been so intense that they enveloped and burned the clown's entire body, yet they didn't completely disable him. On the contrary, the scars were rapidly repaired by the blood-colored thorns.

The healing was so fast it was almost visible to Ed's naked eye. However, with his limited understanding of the supernatural world, he had no idea what that phenomenon was.

Only then did Elena remember that Ed had just recently come into contact with the extraordinary world and was a complete novice.

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