52
Chapter 52
"W-What are you talking about? Why did you even come here?"
The girl speaks, her eyes full of wariness. Well, it wasn't an unexpected reaction.
If a suspicious person suddenly showed up claiming they wanted to help,
no one naive enough to believe that right away would have survived this long in a place like this.
Most people around here are terminally suspicious like that.
Because of that, even when handing out food to starving people, I had to take a bite right in front of them to prove it wasn't poisoned or laced with sleeping pills.
When we opened the Relief Center, I told the kids to spread this common sense and advised that we'd need to take our time to prove we were harmless.
'Things are a bit different right now.'
When I saw that kid in the crowd, she was limping slightly and looked injured, so I followed her.
If I had been just a little later, there would have only been a corpse left.
And then there's the appearance of that collapsed woman.
She seems to be this girl's mother, and judging by the progression of her illness, it wouldn't be strange if she died at any moment.
In this kind of situation, I didn't have the time to prove I meant no harm to this child.
That was why I quickly approached the collapsed woman.
"S-Stop! What are you trying to do to my mom?"
"I told you earlier. I'm here to help."
The girl struggled to tear me away from her mother, but there was no way that was going to work.
It might have worked on me a few months ago.
Think about how many Elixirs I've consumed so far, and how many one-on-one lessons I've received from two Star Tutors.
It would be stranger if I was overpowered by a kid like this.
"Let go... I said let go of my mom..."
As the girl sobbed and said that, it made me feel like the bad guy instead. But hey, hadn't I already declared it earlier?
That I would save her by force even if she told me not to.
My conscience was clear.
I took out the Syringe I received from Rubia and jabbed it into the collapsed woman's arm.
The green liquid flows into her veins.
It hasn't been long since the Relief Center opened.
I'd experienced handing out food rations and treating injured people with Potions, but this was my first time meeting a real Mana Poisoning patient.
And in such a critical state, no less.
But... there was no reason to feel anxious.
-The performance is certain! I can bet my name on it!
I don't know why she would bet her name on something someone else developed, though.
Rubia wasn't the type to make empty promises.
I trust in her competence.
I trusted her abilities; she could be a bit clumsy at times, but she always got the job done.
"I'll do anything, so please don't touch my mom..."
The girl said that while tears streamed down her face. However, I replied with a calm smile.
"If you have time to spout nonsense, go to the Relief Center and bring some blankets and water. She'll need to rest for a while."
At my words, doubt filled the girl's expression.
The girl was taken aback for a moment before speaking in a dazed voice.
"Mom...?"
The woman, who had only been lying down, slowly raised her body. She held her head as if she was dizzy.
And step by step.
She stumbled toward the girl.
I knew enough to read the room.
I quietly stepped aside so as not to get in the way of their reunion.
I watched the mother and daughter from a distance.
'I guess I'll have to get the water and blankets myself.'
It would be better to bring enough for two.
After crying like that, that girl would definitely be exhausted.
With those thoughts in mind, I watched the two embrace. I watched them as they just kept repeating their apologies to each other.
A story that would have surely ended differently was being changed by my hands.
That was a more pleasant feeling than I had expected.
*****
After chatting with her mother in her arms for a long time, the girl finally came back to her senses.
The current situation.
It was obvious what had happened.
For some unknown reason, the man in the black robe had healed her mother.
She had heard that there was no cure for Mana Poisoning. The existing medicine only prevented the symptoms from worsening, and it was so outrageously expensive that a Commoner could never obtain it.
By some means, that man had cured it.
He had so easily cured a disease that had never been cured before.
It was nothing short of a miracle.
But the girl knew.
That there are no miracles without a price.
So, after talking with her mother for a while, she made a decision. She decided how they were going to pay the price.
Before long, footsteps were heard.
The man wearing the Wolf Mask from earlier returned, carrying blankets and food.
The moment they saw him, she and her mother fell to their knees and spoke.
They said they would do anything, whatever he ordered them to do, as long as he didn't separate them.
However.......
The man's reaction was somewhat strange.
After pondering for a moment, he spoke.
He said he hadn't done it expecting anything in return.
That he had simply saved her because he could.
However, if there was one favor he could ask, it was whether they could tell him the locations of others in similar situations.
He wanted to save as many people as possible, so sharing that information would certainly be a big help.
It was a completely unexpected reaction.
Her mother was flustered for a long time before eventually telling him about the people who used to work at the same Mining Site.
"Thank you. And you... you seem injured, so go to the Relief Center. Someone more skilled than me will treat you right away."
A gentle tone of voice.
The man demanded nothing in return for this miracle.
He merely asked for their help in saving others.
Despite performing such a miracle.
Even though he had saved someone they thought was dead.
The man just smiled casually, saying he was glad things worked out well.
Before long, the man vanished.
Just as suddenly as he had first appeared, he was gone in an instant.
Only then did the girl realize.
The true identity of that strange man.
It wasn't hard to guess.
The black robe, that incomprehensible power.
An unidentified organization using those things to help people.
There was only one name that came to mind when thinking of such an organization.
Black Fang.
That unidentified organization. They were the ones who had helped her.
The girl stared blankly at the spot where the man had been... before finally standing up.
Her body hadn't fully recovered yet, and she ached all over. Her mother tried to stop her with a worried face, but.
This time, she had no choice but to put her foot down.
She had to see it. She had to properly see the outside world once more.
Because she had an inexplicable premonition.
Stumbling out the door, a strange sight caught her eyes.
She saw sights she had missed while trapped in depression and despair.
She saw people in black robes repairing crumbling buildings. She saw them handing out food to the people.
And above all else,
She saw people smiling.
How long had it been since she last saw someone smiling in this desolate place?
The girl thought about that, then soon realized something.
A smile had unknowingly formed on her own lips as well.
She didn't even need to think to know the reason why.
"Ah..."
Days of endless falling.
A life that seemed like it would never get better no matter how hard she tried.
In that dreadful life, a light was finally beginning to appear.
For the first time, the girl held onto hope for tomorrow.
Hope for tomorrow's happiness.
Hope for a tomorrow that would be better than today.
*****
Rumors about Black Fang were spreading throughout the Empire. The story that Black Fang had appeared and was helping people was spreading far and wide.
One Possessor saw this and smiled, thinking the plan was progressing smoothly, but.
That Possessor was unaware of the weight of this matter.
He failed to realize the true significance of what was happening.
A life lived just because they couldn't die.
A life where merely struggling to survive was overwhelming enough.
To the people who suffered through those days, the news of Black Fang brought them hope.
An organization that could stand against that monstrous Empire.
A group that could fight the Empire on equal footing.
And, an organization that would one day save them.
No one dared say it out loud, but everyone in the Empire was thinking it. That Black Fang might bring a better tomorrow.
That Black Fang might actually be able to pull it off.
And that trust unknowingly set off a butterfly effect.
In a way, it was only natural.
Believing in something, and being convinced that it would bring a happy future.
Because the name for that was 'faith'.
The Possessor was unknowingly becoming less and less human.
*****
[Your Believers have increased!]
[Your Believers have increased!]
[Your Believers have increased!]
[......A change has occurred in your Spiritual Rank.]
[Your existence becomes closer to ■■.]