"Saaya! Shizuku!!"
Arios, who rushed into the hospital, no longer had his usual cold demeanor. He ignored the nurses' warnings and shouted loudly, until he saw Saaya and Shizuku sitting in chairs. He then knelt on the ground and hugged their necks.
"I'm sorry!! I'm so sorry!!"
Even though he had already confirmed their safety, he still apologized loudly, and without even realizing it himself, tears had already slipped down his cheeks and dripped onto his wife's and daughter's faces.
Saaya, who was a little caught off guard, hugged his back after her surprise and kept patting his back to comfort him. Shizuku, who was being hugged by Arios, also seemed a little flustered. She didn't seem to understand why her handsome father was crying at this moment, but she still learned from her mother to comfort her father.
At this time, Guy, who had gone to persuade the nurses, also came over and patted Arios on the shoulder.
"Calm down, Arios. Saaya and the others are fine."
"Sorry, for making a fool of myself."
Arios, who was wiping his eyes with his sleeve, gradually restrained his emotions with the gentle expressions of his wife and daughter. But then he started to look for one person.
"Where's Lancer? I heard he was the one who protected Saaya and Shizuku..."
Hearing Arios ask about Lancer, Guy's expression became a little serious, which made Arios even more nervous. When he arrived at the scene, he was told by his colleague that Guy had taken his wife and daughter to the hospital. He was incredibly nervous and for a moment, he forgot about the 'strange man that Guy introduced protected many people'. Now, looking at Guy's expression, he was even a little scared.
'Did something happen?'
"Slap~!"
But at this moment, a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Who?!"
He turned around instinctively and saw a man with bandages wrapped around his eyes. First, he was surprised, then he was taken aback, and finally, there was a deep sadness.
"Lancer, your eyes... I..."
As a swordsman, Arios knew better than anyone the impact of vision on personal strength. Lancer looked younger than him, and his strength was not much worse than his. The thought that such a martial arts genius had lost his eyesight to protect his wife and daughter made him feel sad, and he couldn't even speak clearly.
Although he had temporarily lost his sight, which undoubtedly had some impact on Lancer's daily life, it was not as exaggerated as it seemed. In fact, because of the 'Blind Fighting' achievement, he could act as if nothing had happened on a noisy street. The only things that were greatly affected were combat and living alone. He had to put in a lot of effort to comfort Guy, who was crying his eyes out before, not to mention that his blindness was not permanent.
Should he say it was worthy of the 'system'? Even though he had lost his sight, he could still see the 'system page'. Among the personal stats, "Blindness: LV·MAX Duration: 162H" was written very clearly. It was only for a period of time.
'Could it be that Arios, who looks like a cold and distant man, is actually a warm man with a rich inner world?'
Although his eyes were wrapped in bandages, when he saw Lancer turn his head towards him, Guy also smiled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Arios was a little too emotional just now, and I didn't have time to tell him that your blindness isn't permanent..."
"!"
For a moment, Arios, who was originally full of sadness, was completely stunned. Then——————
"Guy!!"
The voice was not loud, more like a sound squeezed from his throat, but it directly expressed the owner's thought: 'You just wait!'
Although they couldn't be loud in the hospital, there was no doubt that Arios being pranked also diluted some of the stagnant air.
After being silly for a bit, Arios still walked up to Lancer. Regardless of whether Lancer could see him, he bowed deeply.
"Thank you~"
"It's nothing."
Although Lancer didn't like formalism, he still accepted Arios's heartfelt gratitude.
For Lancer, he originally thought that the matter was over. As for the two warring factions? There was no doubt that Crossbell's officials would definitely cause trouble for them, and it was not his turn to act.
Lancer was still a little confident in his current strength, but even if Guy and Arios went all out, they wouldn't be much worse than him. With the addition of other elite personnel, it was expected that the masterminds behind those two groups would be dug out.
But what he didn't expect was that a few reporters would appear while he was recovering in the hospital?
This was the first time Lancer had come into contact with this kind of person. He hadn't had much contact with reporters before when he was an investigator, after all, the 'CCG' itself was a very special organization. Their goal was to deal with ghouls, which were man-eating monsters. Because of the ghouls' special nature, the CCG rarely gave interviews, as an investigator would easily become a target for ghouls if they were interviewed.
Fortunately, because of his 'patient' status, those people were chased out by the nurse after a brief interview.
"Thank you, Cecile."
Lancer really had no interest in these annoying people who had nothing to do with him, and Cecile also showed a gentle smile after closing the door.
"You're welcome, Lancer. You were injured to protect Sister Saaya and Shizuku. It's no big deal~"
The battle in the square this time affected dozens, almost a hundred, of innocent civilians of Crossbell. A small number of unlucky people were confirmed dead, and most of them were being treated in the hospital. Lancer was also being taken care of by Cecile at Guy's request, and later, he was even assigned a private room at the police department's request. One must know that when he was in the 'CCG exclusive hospital', he either went to the ICU or slept in a regular ward. He had never stayed in a small private room like this before, and now that he thought about it, it was quite interesting.
And after the reporters left, Cecile also said hello and left the room. Although she was helping to take care of Lancer at Guy's request, as an intern nurse, her work was quite busy. At first, she said she was willing to stay in the room all the time, but after Lancer proved with his actions that although his face was wrapped in bandages, he was actually no different from an ordinary person, the other party 'reluctantly' left.
But just as he was considering whether to go out and get some sun, the door of the room was pushed open.
"Lancer!"
Just by the sound of his footsteps and breathing, one could tell that Guy was in a pretty good mood. A smile also appeared on Lancer's face.
"Did something good happen?"
"Yes! You protected many people at the scene of the accident this time, and the director also received public praise. He specially approved a large amount of points for you, so you can exchange for a tactical Orbment directly!"
"That's really good news."
Lancer's original plan was to protect Saaya and her daughter. Others were not in his plan, but as he was being focused on, there was no doubt that the fighting in other directions was reduced. In a way, he had saved many people.
Although it was an unintentional deed, he would not refuse it. It just saved him a lot of time.
But then he found that Guy's breathing had become a little heavy.
"What's wrong?"
"The accident investigation... is out."