I jerked up straight. My head hurt and my heart pounded as I gasped for breath. Waves of hot and cold pulsed through my body. A twisting crawling disgusting feeling rose up in my chest and I clawed and scratched at it, crying as I struggled to carve out whatever vile creature had dug inside my-

"Tia!"

Warm water splashed into my face.

I blinked.

My blurred vision slowly refocused itself. The sounds of the thundering rain reached my ears. I was sitting in the corner of a beat up town hall, with blankets draped over me. Volunteers weaved their way through rows of injured patients.

And in front of me, sitting on her knees, was a very angry Marina.

"I told you to be careful, didn't I?!" said Marina with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ye-yeah..."

"I told you to keep an eye on your magia levels, didn't I?"

"Yeah..."

Marina drilled her knuckles into my temples. "So how did you end up collapsed out of magia exhaustion?!"

"Ow-ow-ow- I'm sowwy!" I whimpered. An angry Marina is scary.

Marina sighed and crossed her arms. "How are you feeling now?"

I repeatedly clenched and opened my hands. "My body hurts, but I can feel some magic inside of me. I'm exhausted to hell and back but..." I looked around the room. "I can't relax in this kind of situation. How long was I out for?"

"Three hours."

"Shit." I grit my teeth. "I need to get back out there."

Marina steadily helped me to my feet, and hugged me when I stood up. "I'm going to keep close watch over you this time."

I sunk my face into her shoulder as I hugged her. She smelled like rain and sweat, but being able to breathe in the air around her calmed my heart. When I was fully recharged on Marina cuteness I walked over to the patients.

A nurse saw me and pointed me to a group of patients in a corner. "Tia-sama, if it's all right with you, those people need your attention the most."

"Thank you." I nodded and walked over, then turned on my feet again. "Did I introduce myself before?"

The nurse smiled. "When you collapsed, your friend kept screaming Tia! Tia! repeatedly."

Marina blushed and bit her lip. I laughed and pat her head, then turned back to the patients. Thanks to the nurses, they were kept in stable condition and a lot of treatment was already done so it only took me a short while to finish up the worst wounds.

I wanted to keep healing them until they were fully recovered, but a nurse chased me away. Apparently, when I was passed out, there was a discussion to do everything they can without relying on my magic except when it's absolutely unavoidable.

We went outside to check on the environment and coordinate with the other rescuers. The rain had lightened somewhat, but it was still dangerous. Sunrise was still a while away. To compensate, Marina and I launched more flares to replace the ones that were about to be snuffed out.

"Mage-sama!" Someone called and I rushed over to the other side of the town hall.

Rapid water flowed down the side of this street, and on the other side was a group of rescuers carrying and supporting survivors.

"One of our barricades upstream must have broke. Is there anything we can do about this?" asked a man.

"I'll try," I said. I approached the side of the stream and held my hands out. I used my water magic to hijack the flowing water and forced it stop. The street in front of us drained out, but more water kept piling up where I enforced my magic. "Hurry up, I can't hold this for long!" I yelled.

The group on the other side rushed over. It turned out to be Rohan and company. When everyone made it across, I let go of my magic and the water fell back down with a crash.

"Good to see you keep your word," I said.

"I'm not so shameless as to not repay a debt to a little girl," said Rohan, a woman slung over his shoulder.

I smirked. "Debt's not over yet. Keep saving as many as you can."

"Roger roger." Rohan flicked a lousy salute with his free hand and went into the town hall with his group.

"I'm going to look for more survivors from the air," I said. I prepared to jump, but Marina grabbed my wrist.

"You need to conserve your power, so when you find someone throw up a flare," said Marina. "We'll send people to carry them."

"If I find someone dying I'll take care of them first."

"Well, yeah, do that. And come back to take breaks." Marina narrowed her eyes. "Okay, Tia?"

A shiver ran up my spine and I frantically nodded. Where did my innocent and demure Marina go? "I got it."

Marina nodded and let go of my arm. "Be safe."

"I will." I jumped into the air and flew with my magic.

From my vantage point in the sky, assisted with my telescopic magic, I located another family huddled together and threw a flare above them. I scanned the area for a safe course for rescuers to reach them then directed a group down that path.

Next I found a little boy alone on a rooftop surrounded by water, curled up in a ball. I landed next to him and touched a hand to his forehead. His body temperature was really low and he was shivering. His breath was shallow. I healed him with my magic, just enough to get him out of danger. He was smaller than I was and seemed pretty light. I doubt the others would be able to get to him in time through the water. I made up my mind. I scooped him into my arms, and flew him across the swirling waves. I found a rescuer and gently lay him into their arms before returning into the sky.

A loud rumble echoed from the northern mountain. I turned to see more rocks and earth tumbling down. A large boulder was dislodged by the disruption and rolled down the mountain. It quickly gained speed, and was headed straight towards a group of men digging out someone from under the ruins of a house.

I sped forward as fast as I could. I pulled a giant hammer out of my Arsenal and rotated myself, spinning two, three times. I swung the hammer and bashed the boulder in the last minute before it would have trampled the people. A loud bang rang out as the impact blew the boulder backwards into several pieces.

I landed on the ground and swung the hammer over my shoulder, panting from the exertion. The men all had their jaws gaping open at the sight of me wielding a hammer several times taller than me.

"W-wow," was all one of them could utter.

I sent the hammer back into my Arsenal and put my hands on my hips. "Well that was a close one, eh guys?"

"Y-yeah," a man nodded. "Thanks."

I sauntered past them as if nothing out of the ordinary happened, then returned to the town hall to rest.

Dawn broke. The rain gradually turned into a drizzle, before disappearing entirely. With increased visibility and less water swirling around, more and more people could go out to search for survivors or aid in the evacuation process.

I wanted to keep going but I had reached my absolute limit. After all, despite all my powers I was still just a ten year old girl. I sat on the outside steps of the town hall and leaned back against the wall. The warmth of the sun wrapped around me gently and I felt like I was half asleep.

Marina sat down next to me and pat my head. "Even though I told you not to overdo it."

"I mean, I'd feel like it's my fault if someone died while I did nothing."

"Tia, we're just little girls. We can't do everything by ourselves."

Her words reminded me of a song from my past life, about carrying the weight of the world while being powerless to save everyone. It was a sentiment that I felt strongly. Being powerless. I always wanted to help people, to save people, but there was nothing that I could do. I couldn't even save myself. I was given a second chance in this life with my magical abilities, but seeing a natural disaster like this really pounded into me just how insignificant I still was.

"I can't save everyone..." I whispered. I felt my eyes tearing up.

Marina squeezed my hand in front of my chest and wrapped her arm around my head. I was pulled into her embrace as she rubbed me. "You saved a lot of people."

"Did I?" The exhaustion and sleep deprivation swirling around in my head made my emotions go haywire. I cried on Marina's shoulder and held her hand against my chest. "Did I do enough?"

"More than enough," Marina whispered in my ear. "You did very well. You're a good girl, Tia. A good girl."

I wiped my tears against her shoulder. How pathetic was I, having to rely on Marina to comfort me even though she must be as exhausted as I was. But I was still grateful for her words. The feeling of her body pressed against mine helped calm me down.

I heard a rustle, and an old man that had lead the rescue efforts bowed down in front of us.

"As the mayor of this town, I want to express our gratitude to you two on behalf of everyone. We really can't thank you enough."

I wiped my face and stood up with Marina. I held onto her hand for strength. "I only did what I felt like I had to do."

"You really saved us. I'm extremely thankful, but also ashamed that we had to rely on a pair of young girls to this extent. Please go get some rest. It would be the height of shame if we were to let our benefactors die after saving us." The town residents around us also nodded and bowed their heads.

I couldn't think of anything to say. My brain was already fried.

"Ojou-samaaaaaaaaa!" A shout rang out. I turned around to see Lescia and some of our maids running around frantically. "Ojou-sama! Tiana-ojou- there you are!" Lescia ran up to us and bent over panting. "What happened to put you in this state?" she shrieked.

Marina and I looked down at ourselves. We had dirt everywhere, cuts all over our bodies, and our dresses were torn beyond repair. We exchanged sheepish grins with each other.

"Well, things happened..." I said.

"We were all so worried." Lescia came up and hugged me. "You look like you're about to collapse. Let's go back to the inn, okay?"

I nodded and we followed Lescia away from the hall.

"Wait!" said the mayor. "Before you leave, could you please tell us your names?"

I exchanged a glance with Marina. The clouds parted and shone a bright ray on our spot. We both took a deep breath, then performed our most elegant curtsies.

"Tiana Bracklin, daughter of Duke Tigre Bracklin. Mage and Knight apprentice."

"Marina Lauset. Mage apprentice."

The crowd gaped.