First Healing and Return to the Surface

The screams echoed through the dungeon chamber like a chorus of the damned.

.

.

.

“Contractor.”

“No thank you.”

“Kkyu!”

To get straight to the point, my first attempt at magical healing was a resounding success. If the patients who got stabbed by my healing knife were sobbing tears of gratitude (question mark) while thanking me, then I’d say the results speak for themselves.

I’d spent my entire existence tearing things apart, slicing them up, smashing them to bits, and looting the remains. This was the first time I’d ever actually healed someone. I felt strangely proud.

Unfortunately, I concluded that my magnificent healing magic would have to remain sealed away unless my contractor was injured or someone’s life was in immediate danger. It wasn’t the kind of spell you could spam like some overpowered healer or prince from an RPG. There were two main reasons for this.

First: the incantation was way too long.

I’m a demon who starts breathing heavily if a conversation goes longer than two sentences. I prefer short, blunt answers. This cursed spell’s chant was far too complicated for me. After reciting it once, I felt like my tongue had been twisted into a knot.

And the second reason—this was the big one.

The magic consumed an absurd amount of mana.

See that? My precious mana, the first digit dropping from three to two?

The lovely spell called Recovery consumed a full one kkachi—one million—points of mana just to cast. On top of that, it drained about four mana per second while active. That alone made my hands shake. But that wasn’t the end of it.

This insane magic also sucked up extra mana depending on the severity of the target’s injuries. Each person ended up costing me between ten thousand and thirty thousand additional mana.

A single Thermal Pressure Round only costs ten thousand mana. One healing cast ate over a million. The ancient sages were right—killing is easy, but saving lives is hard.

Oh, and speaking of Thermal Pressure Rounds…

“Raven-nim. That… explosion magic? Authority? Whatever it is, I think you should be more careful when hunting Entities.”

“Why? Gathering them in one spot and wiping them out seems pretty efficient, doesn’t it?”

“I thought so too, but the mana stones…”

“…You don’t mean?”

“Yes. They all shattered.”

“…I didn’t think of that. Sorry, Contractor.”

“It’s okay. Thanks to you, Raven-nim, everyone survived. And Sion-nim said we can sell the fragments too, so let’s collect them diligently.”

For that reason, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my ten-thousand-mana Thermal Pressure Rounds were also temporarily sealed. Adventurers make their living by harvesting and selling mana stones from Entities. If I destroyed them all, there’d be no point in hunting.

From what I heard, Entities also dropped “special materials” that could be sold for a high price. To loot those properly, I’d either have to cut them apart myself or adjust the explosion power so it wouldn’t damage the stones or materials.

‘Around a thousand mana should be about right.’

With that thought, I quietly stared at the five one-thousand-mana bullets loaded in my cylinder. That was when I heard soft voices coming from among the charred black corpses of the Entities.

“Yuri-nim. It looks like we’ve gathered all the mana stone fragments that have any purchase value.”

“Oh, you really didn’t have to help this much. Thank you for your kindness.”

“Not at all. We caused you harm and then received your help. How could we do otherwise? And please accept this as an apology.”

The ill-mannered party leader set down a large sack filled with mana stone fragments in front of my contractor with a heavy thud, then handed over a yellow slip of paper marked [100,000.D].

Yuri accepted the paper with both bandaged hands, a question forming in her eyes.

“…What is this?”

“It’s a Bastion check. If you take it to the vault called the Golden Nest near the Adventurers’ Guild and show it to the owner, they’ll give you one hundred thousand dallants.”

“O-one hundred thousand…? Ohhh, thank you so much…!”

At the mention of one hundred thousand dallants, Yuri couldn’t tear her eyes off the yellow paper. Her earlobes turned red with excitement at the unexpected windfall.

“…Haha, it’s nothing. When I think of it as payment for healing, it doesn’t feel that expensive. Yes…”

The man gazed mournfully at the check clutched between Yuri’s hands, like a lover staring at his departed beloved. He looked utterly devastated.

Had he expected her to refuse out of politeness? If so, I wanted to tell him he was dreaming. ‘Hmm. His name was Jackson, right?’

I’d originally planned to beat the crap out of him, loot his stuff, and hand him over to the guards if he turned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out to be a creep. But after getting thoroughly scolded by Sion, I learned he was actually a fairly decent and polite young man. So I decided to let this particular act of rudeness slide.

It definitely wasn’t because the hundred thousand dallants made me soft. Absolutely not.

“Our party is about to head back. Would you like to return with us?”

“Hmm, I’ll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have to discuss that with my party members.”

“I see. There are about eight minutes left until the return circle finishes channeling. If you decide to join us, please come over before then.”

“Yes, I will.”

“By the way, Jackson. You’re the party leader, nyang. Why do you keep talking to the adventurer, nyang?”

Jackson flinched at Sion’s words and averted his eyes. What was this? I thought he was a polite young man, but was he actually a sneaky snake with ulterior motives toward my contractor? Looked like I’d have to keep an eye on him a little longer.

“Ahem. Dungeon Sherpa Sion. Remarks that could lead to such misunderstandings are rather troublesome.”

“Hmmmnyang… suspicious. Well, whatever. What do you think, Crow?”

Sion, who had been staring at Jackson with suspicious eyes, suddenly whipped her head toward me and asked. Hmm. I’d crept up behind them because my mouth was feeling a bit lonely, but I got caught before I could scare anyone. She really is sensitive—must be the cat in her. Maybe I should’ve gone after Jackson instead.

Feeling a little disappointed, I licked my lips once and answered.

“We’ll return as well.”

“Hmm? Didn’t you say you were going to the Green Zone?”

That had been the original plan. But thanks to a certain party dragging a whole train of Entities from the Green Zone, I was satisfied with today’s results.

“This is enough for today.”

When I lifted the pouch heavy with mana stone fragments, my contractor nodded in agreement.

“That’s true.”

“Crow is right, nyang. When you consider that most adventurers earn less than four hundred dallants on their first expedition, this is way above target, nyang! Let’s head back for today, nyang. We still have to exchange everything at the guild and deposit the dallants at the vault. Time’s tight, nyang!”

With everyone in agreement, our party decided to return to the surface. As we walked toward the buzzing noise, we saw a glowing circle slowly expanding clockwise and Jackson’s party sprawled across it like corpses.

Their wounds had been healed, but the mental trauma remained. Every one of them had exhaustion etched deep into their eyes.

As we slowly approached, Jackson, who had been blankly staring at the ceiling, flinched and turned toward me.

“Hmm? Ah, so you decided to return after all?”

“What is the leader suddenly… ugh! The demon!”

“Whoa, you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scared the hell out of me! Make some noise when you walk, would you?!”

“I thought my heart was going to stop…”

“…My apologies.”

I appreciated the sweet fear, but since I hadn’t actually tried to scare them this time, it felt a little unfair.

“Make some room so we can join you, nyang.”

“Y-yes…”

“Ugh…”

“Okay…”

The adventurers answered feebly and rolled aside from the center of the circle to the edges. Thanks to them, there was now enough space for the three of us inside the blue circle.

“Ooh.”

My contractor plopped down in one corner of the circle. She seemed fascinated by the magic formation that was automatically constructing itself and glowing with light. She turned to Sion, who was lying sprawled beside her.

“Sion-nim. If we stay inside this magic circle, can we go back to the Black Hole?”

“The return circle doesn’t send you to the Divine Spear itself, but to the Square of Return nearby, nyang.”

The return circle was literally a magic formation that allowed people to return to the surface. If you strongly wished to leave the dungeon, a magic circle would automatically begin drawing itself on the floor. It took about ten minutes for the circle to complete and activate. If the caster was attacked or stepped outside the circle during that time, the formation would be canceled. That’s why most people used return circles in safe areas like the White Zone.

“Oh, I see. Hmm…”

After nodding briefly at Sion’s explanation, my contractor looked around for a moment, then slowly crawled over and leaned her back against me.

“Haaam.”

She let out a soft yawn, as if the tension had finally drained away. She hadn’t shown it much, but she must have been quite tired.

“Hmm.”

Feeling oddly proud, I gently stroked her head. In response, she simply laid her head on my lap.

“….”

“….”

Our eyes met through the messy black hair tangled with sweat and dust. In the gaze of that person—or rather, that girl—who carried the crow-headed Entity within her eyes, I saw stability, warmth, peace, and tranquility.

And trust. And affection.

Everything I had ever longed for.

The return circle was almost fully formed, radiating blinding light. I gently covered her eyes and spoke softly.

“You worked hard, Contractor.”

Her reply came immediately.

“You too, Raven-nim.”

Wrapped in blue light, our first adventure came to an end like that.

It was time to go home.