Chapter 32 – Privacy

“Privacy Field,” Naiad spoke, the words whispering with power.

A tingle swept through me, and I shivered, turning to look at the girl as she gave me a soft smile.

“A simple spell. It will make it so nobody can hear our conversation. It disables electronic surveillance too.”

I gave her a nervous nod, and she leaned against the wall, folding her hands in front of her.

“First of all, I want to make something clear. I know it can be a bit jarring to get used to at first, but Magical Girls tend to be older than they look. I’ve been doing this for four years now, making me twenty. Thorina, who looks the youngest of us all, has been a Magical Girl for five, and both Ever and Gild have been working together for six. What I’m trying to say is that we have more experience than our apparent age or demeanors might suggest at first.”

I carefully nodded, unsure where this was going exactly. The tension in my chest was already squeezing my lungs tight, and I had to force myself to remember to breathe normally.

“I tell you this to let you know I have quite a bit of experience as a medic, and also a doctor to some extent,” Naiad said slowly. “I’ve taken classes at the academy, and I know what I’m talking about. I also take what I do very seriously. All Magical Girls who specialize as healers are taught the importance of patient confidentiality, because with our magics, we can see quite a bit of personal information if we want to.”

My blood froze, but I kept a neutral expression on my face as she continued.

“Which leads me to my second point. Due to the extensiveness of your injuries, I had to perform magical surgery on you and do what is called a ‘full dive,’ meaning I had to use the full extent of my observational magics in order to heal you. I did this to save your life, but it was, nonetheless, without your permission. Because of that, I know quite a bit not just about your physical condition, but also your body’s past injuries. In that regard, healing magics are very… revealing. I apologize for that.”

She gave me a searching look, but I could only stare back at her, my mouth dry. My heart was beating much faster now, and I clutched the blanket tighter around myself. Naiad continued after a moment, keeping her tone soft.

“Now. There’s obviously precedence for a situation like this. Magical Girls have gotten injured badly before, and others have had to operate. The general rule of thumb is to just move on. Healers pretend they saw nothing and never share any information. It’s a rule that’s been upheld for as long as I can remember, and the few cases where it was broken quickly resulted in the healer being punished and ostracized from the Magical Girl community. So, on that part, you have no need to worry. In fact, I swear on my soul gem that your personal health information will be kept confidential. I will share it with nobody, nor will I make any suggestions or remarks that may lead others to find out the same information. I will also be signing a geas as soon as possible to cement your privacy. For future reference, this is a request any Magical Girl can make of another who used extensive healing magics on them.”

A small weight lifted from my shoulders, but I kept my face a careful, expressionless mask. I’d been in this same situation before, and if I wasn’t mistaken…

“However,” Naiad continued, concern emerging on her face. “While I won’t share what I’ve observed, I was hoping you’d be willing to talk about it.”

And there it was.

I stared at her, and she gave me a friendly smile.

“You’re a Magical Girl now. I don’t know what you’ve been going through, but whatever it is, I’m not here to judge. I just want you to know I’m here to help you if you need it, or even if you just want somebody to talk to.”

My pulse was beating in my ears now, the thorns of anxiety shooting through my like lightning as I forced myself to remain as still as possible. I took in slow, deep breaths through my nose, trying to ignore the pressure trying to choke me. Making myself swallow the lump in my throat, I looked at Naiad.

She had a gentle, compassionate look on her face. So far, she’d gone out of her way to save my life and to keep my privacy intact. Every interaction I’d observed, she’d been warm and kind, even giving me the blanket my fingers were currently clutching. She’d taken care of me, spent points on getting me pajamas and medicine, and generally just treated me like a normal person.

I had no reason to lie to her.

So I took a deep breath, forced a smile, and shook my head.

“Thank you for your concern,” I recited. “But everything is fine.”

The concern on her face changed to one of worry.

“I don’t mean to argue with you, but you have several things going on with your body that tell me things aren’t okay. Some of your bones haven’t had completely smooth heals from previous fractures, and your weight and size are… concerning.”

“Everything’s fine,” I repeated, flinching at her words as shame stung into me. “I’m manaborn. I have some health issues because of that, just like other manaborn.”

“But that’s not-”

There was a whip crack of air, and I snapped my head to the side to see Selene tails bristling.

[Magical Girl Naiad,] she said, her normally gentle voice gaining a serrated edge. [When you came to me with your concerns, I believe I told you I would be monitoring the situation and looking out for the well-being of my Guardian is my responsibility. Part of the reason healers are told to leave other Guardians alone no matter what they find out is the fact that Guardians have Familiars capable of constantly monitoring the situation and acting appropriately. If my Guardian wishes to discuss her personal health issues with you, that is one thing, but I believe she has given you her answer. I insist that you respect it and leave this matter to me.]

I stared at Selene with wide eyes before turning back to Naiad. She was likewise frozen for a moment before blinking her eyes a few times. She turned her head away, an ashamed look on her face.

“Of course,” Naiad whispered. “I apologize to both of you. I’m not your doctor, and you aren’t going through this alone. I shouldn’t have tried to pry…”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, and when she looked back to me she was smiling beneath the slight sheen in her eyes.

“Alright. How about we go over what treatment I provided you, then?”

I watched her carefully for a moment before giving a hesitant nod, the pressure pounding in my head beginning to lessen. I realized I’d barely been breathing during the short exchange, and I forced my muscles to relax themselves as I took in a deep breath.

“Okay,” Naiad gave a wavering smile. “So. You received quite a multitude of injuries. The major ones were two fractured ribs, a punctured lung, moderate damage to your intestinal tract, and your severed left arm. What complicated things when we arrived was that you were already at your healing limit.”

Naiad must have seen my confusion because she stopped herself.

“Healing magic isn’t something that can be done infinitely on somebody,” she quickly explained. “As healing mana permeates the body, you become saturated with it to the point that more healing magic has a hard time finding purchase. It’s like watering a plant, you can’t just keep pouring water into the soil and expect it to continue having the same beneficial effect. Everyone has a set amount of healing they can receive before any further healing becomes much less effective. It isn’t impossible to heal somebody over the limit, but you have to spend much more mana and effort to get the same effect.”

[People with higher Vitality have larger healing limits as well,] Selene added helpfully, and I frowned.

“But why was I at my healing limit?”

[The healing items you used throughout the day were magical in nature. Because they were only common rarity, also known as tier one, they were relatively ineffective at how much they healed in comparison to how much they raise your healing limit.]

“Generally, items bought from Vaults aren’t as effective as magic from a Magical Girl anyway,” Naiad added. “They don’t have a caster with stats and Class bonuses to make the healing more efficient. If you ever have a choice, healing magic is almost always better than items.”

She let out a breath, seeming to steady herself as she went on.

“So I performed full-dive surgery. What this means is instead of just saying the magic words and letting the spell heal you, I… hmm… it’s a little hard to explain. Basically, I narrowed down the scope of my attention to just the inside of your body. It’s kind of like I hyper focused, using a microscope to see all the tiny details of your anatomy. This allowed me to not cast healing spells at your body in general, but at the specific injured parts. I would see a broken bone and begin mending it, or a severed vein and stitch it back up. For every small tear or break in your body, I had to figure out the best healing spell and what intensity to cast it at all while focusing on keeping your vitals stable. I worked at a micro level instead of a macro one, working past your healing limit by casting the spells and focusing them to just heal one small issue instead of simply throwing a spell at your body and trying to brute force it. Does that make sense so far?”

I nodded, but it was hard for me to imagine the scale at which she must have been acting. With how many injuries I had, she must have been fighting a miniature war of her own.

“That sounds… complicated,” I hedged, and she gave a lopsided grin.

“It’s not called surgery for nothing. The full dive part comes from how much attention it takes from a healer to do it properly. In terms of mana and healing limit efficiency, it’s much better to do the micro-level healing, but we often don’t get that chance in combat. Anyway, that should give you an idea of how I went about healing you. I managed to fix all of the injuries you received, but it took the entire week to avoid putting too much of a drain on your body while I fully regenerated the damage to your lung and intestines. Organ damage always takes longer to repair properly than something like a broken bone or even a severed limb. We decided it would be best to keep you out of a hospital and away from prying eyes partly because I’m a high enough level for my magic to easily be capable of taking care of an unconscious individual for extended periods of time.”

She paused for a second, glancing away.

“I’m just below level 200, meaning I can cast tier two spells. That means I’m capable of healing past injuries that didn’t heal quite right, including scars. I didn’t touch any of those, because I didn’t have your approval. If you want… I could heal them for you. No questions asked.”

My throat tightened, and I quickly shook my head, not trusting my words.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Well… I think that covers everything I wanted to go over with you. All your injuries should be fully healed, but if you have any problems like tingling or phantom pains, please let me know. I have quite a bit of experience doing these things so I don’t expect any issues, but it never hurts to be careful. I can remove the IV now, if you’d like. It’s a Zenith mix of fortifying elements that’s given to people undergoing major magical healing. Nutritional supplements and things like that.”

I nodded, and she walked over, gently grabbing my arm and going to work. Feeling the IV slide out of my skin was always a strange sensation, but I managed to suppress a shiver until she finished. She grabbed the IV pole and started wheeling it out, stopping at the door to look back at me.

“Um… If you ever change your mind about your scars or even just want to talk… I’m here. Okay?”

Giving her another strained nod, she smiled back before opening the door and leaving. A second later, there was a soft popping sound, and the faint tingling sensation of the privacy spell disappeared. I let out a long breath, my muscles slowly relaxing.

[She has a good heart and means well,] Selene said, and I flinched.

“I know, but…”

[But meaning well does not always translate into being able to help.]

“I don’t need help,” I shot back. “People just… They wouldn’t understand.”

There was a long pause, Selene saying nothing. Something in me tore open at that, at how she’d continued to respect my boundaries, how she’d been with me through everything without a complaint. Selene never had a choice about being bound to me and having her life tied to mine. And yet she still kept being everything I didn’t know I needed.

It wasn’t fair to her, but I didn’t know how to fix that.

“Selene,” I thought to her. “I… My circumstances… I don’t really know how to explain everything. I just… When we have to go back to my house, you’ll see.”

[Completely reasonable,] Selene agreed. [A complicated situation is sometimes easier observed than explained. It feels slightly unfair to you that we are bound together, and that gives you no choice but to reveal things to me.]

A throb of pain made my heart ache, and I shuddered.

“I should be saying that to you…”

[Nonsense. You didn’t ask to share your life with another entity. As such, I will endeavor to keep your privacy in mind as much as possible. We haven’t had time to set proper, clear boundaries yet, though I think I have a good understanding of what you prefer. Maybe we can go over those later tonight, or, at least, before you return home?]

“That sounds good,” I let out a sigh of relief, and Selene’s tails swished excitedly.

[Excellent. Now, how about you open up the folders to see what Error Machina sent. Then we can begin constructing your Astral Shift!]

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I nodded, the excitement in her tone infectious enough to make me smile softly. I would be lying to say I wasn’t a little bit excited myself. I was finally going to start my path as a proper Magical Girl, getting full access to my stats and Aura. After that, I could unlock my Signature, my Grimoire, my Class, my Skills…

There was a lot coming up to look forward to, and it had ignited a small spark inside me I hadn’t felt in a while. It was a dull, flickering thing, a tempered excitement that I could quickly smother if things didn’t work out. I’d found it was best to keep my emotions pulled back on that front, letting myself be pleasantly surprised by things rather than let down. For some reason, though, I was finding it hard to fully rein myself in.

I opened up the folder to find a single page of paper, and I started reading it.

Dearest Kōhai

Yo! It’s Error Machina, in case Everglaive didn’t tell you. She’s good people, though, so I’m sure she already let you know.

Anyway, I’m happy you made it out okay. I know you were in pretty bad shape when Fantasy Fatale found you, but I’m glad they were able to heal you. Physically, at least.

Listen, most Magical Girls have a hard time after they receive their first serious injuries. They’re used to their Barriers or stat advantages protecting them, and then they experience mortality for the first time and… yeah. It’s rough. I hope you take it easy for a while, let yourself settle and find your calling. The world’s your oyster now, and you can be pretty much anything you want. Plus, you get to do it with magic added on top! No matter what path you choose, count on me to have your back. I wouldn’t really call what happened with the generator and shielding station “working together” as I couldn’t use any of my magics to help you, so I would enjoy the opportunity to properly work with you sometime and show off a little so you know I’m not all talk.

Speaking of what happened, I wanted to talk about your Death Wish quickly. One of the provisions you asked for was to let your classmate Lily know what you did and what happened. Now, I took this as a “if the worst case scenario happens to me” sort of thing, so no messages or anything like that have been sent just yet. If you’d like, I can still carry through, but it seemed wiser to wait and just ask. Just let me know, my contact information is included at the bottom. For the rest of the Death Wish rewards, I’m sure your Familiar probably already explained what’s going on. If not, ask them. They’re better at explaining that kind of stuff than I am.

Finally, there’s one last thing I need to cover with you. One of the services the Zenith provide to Magical Guardians is a sort of monitoring program. Basically, they use their advanced technology and magic to monitor the internet and technology in general for any photos or videos that might be harmful to a Guardian. Whether it’s embarrassing, a breach of privacy, or just downright cruel, they try to find stuff like that and delete it. This is a protection service that doesn’t just cover you while you’re in your Astral Shift by the way, it also extends to your personal identity.

With that explained, a video was found from before you became a Guardian, recorded on a cellphone by a classmate of yours. Per the Zenith accords, a human operator has to review the footage and confirm its deletion to prevent the Zenith from just erasing any footage of a Guardian committing crimes or something problematic like that. It’s kind of stupid if you ask me, because the Zenith could just be doing that anyway, and we’d be none the wiser, but whatever.

The point is, a censorship request came in regarding the video they found during your vetting process. Seeing as I already know your personal identity, it made the most sense for me to be the one to watch it. After reviewing it, I agreed with the Zenith assessment and the video has now been deleted from the cellphone and computer it was found on. I’ve also signed the appropriate geas to keep everything secret, so you’re good to go!

Again, it’s good to hear you’re safe. I’d love the opportunity to work with you in the future, and I’m excited to see where you end up going. You’ve got more heart and guts than some of the best Guardians out there. If you ever need anything, let me know. Even if you don’t, shoot me a text sometime. I’m always down to just hang out and play Rebellion… or any other myriad of games, really. Gotta’ do something when nothing is going on in this control room.