Lina was resting in the bed since she was completely worn out after the long walk and she knew why that was. She bit her lip and turned to her side grasping at the pillow under her head tightly. Why did this have to happen to her now? She thought she was finally going to get on with her life, adventuring across the land and find new things to discover. All of this save the world crap was supposed to be done and finished with. However they were being chased down by bandits and now she was poisoned by a mazoku. That particular mazoku was like a mercenary of the mazoku world. Paid to do jobs he was told to do by other mazokus who were either too scared to do things themselves or couldn't be bothered.
At least he wouldn't be bothering anyone else but it didn't help, she was still going to die. No more fighting off bandits and taking their treasure, no more fighting with Gourry over food…her Gourry. She closed her eyes and gripped tighter as she fought back against the sting in her eyes.
Her ears picked up when she heard a creak down the corridor. At least the poisoning hadn't taken her hearing away just yet. She sat up from the bed slowly, trying to do so quickly only caused her to ache with unbelievable pain throughout her body. She thought it might have been Gourry but the footsteps were too light to be his. She then watched as the doorknob began turning and quickly she hid behind the wardrobe. In walked a middle-aged woman, her clothing distinctly that of a shrine maiden, apart from the huge dagger in her hand. She seemed surprised that her target wasn't in the bed, unaware that she was about to get fireballed.
At least that was the plan before Lina fell to her knees and began coughing violently. The cough interrupted her chant and gave away her position. The shrine maiden's eyes widened as she turned to see Lina on the floor, but then quickly smirked as she grasped the blade tighter and lunged forward. Lina blocked the attack with her short sword but just barely, her body still being overwhelmed by the cough. Her weakened state forced her to fall back to the ground as the shrine maiden bared her weight down onto Lina.
Lina gritted her teeth as she tried to push back against her but it was useless, and she watched as the blade moved closer and closer, her own short sword moving dangerously close to her own neck. She closed her eyes tightly and wished for it to be quick. At least she wouldn't suffer the poisoning this way, but the pain never came.
The weight disappeared and she opened her eyes to see Gourry pinning the shrine woman against the wall with pure anger written across his face. However instead of doing anything, Gourry just gave the woman away to the authorities who took her away to be locked up. The commotion Gourry caused had brought people following him.
Earlier when Gourry realised the danger Lina was in, wasted no time in trying to get back to her. He charged in towards Gorthar and lashed out with the Blast Sword, cutting the mazokus arm off. He then dived to the side avoiding the retaliation attack, rolling along the ground and getting back to his feet, only to charge back towards Gorthar who left himself open. This time Gourry made the strike true, and cut straight through the body of the mazoku. He didn't stay to watch the result though, but knew that this time, the mazoku really was dead. He left the room and the mansion and started to run back to the inn, with desperation clear in his eyes.