I Was Mistaken for the Tall Man (1)
The harrowing night finally gave way to morning. I looked down at Freya, who was breathing steadily. The temperature on the back of my hand, which I rested on her forehead, was normal. The 41-degree fever that had tormented both me and this child all night, the metallic rasp of her breathing, the red rash that had covered her entire body—it had all subsided, as if it were all a lie.
"...It worked."
I had succeeded. Whether it was thanks to the dark magic talent my master had so highly praised, or the sheer luck of being the protagonist of a misunderstanding-filled life, the magic had been successful despite it being my first attempt.
Creak—
Just then, I heard the sound of the door opening cautiously. Through the slightly opened gap, I saw the face of the priestess who had gone out to prepare holy water. Perhaps because she had been praying all night, she looked haggard. She held a small silver cup in her arms.
"Young Master, the holy water is..."
The priestess, who had been speaking, widened her eyes in shock. "Has the fever... broken?"
"Yes."
"How on earth..."
"Shh."
Conscious of maintaining a faint smile, I held my index finger to my lips. "Every mage is bound to have their own secrets. Just as healers usually do."
"My goodness..."
The priestess covered her mouth with the hand not holding the silver cup. The Devil's Disease had been cured. She didn't know the process, but the result was unfolding right before her eyes. It was nothing short of a miracle one might only see in myths.
"Then, was it you who did this, Young Master?"
I did not answer. Instead, I took the holy water cup from her hand while she stood there dazed. "Thank you for your hard work, Sister."
I could see the clear water, shimmering with a faint light. I approached Freya with the holy water. 'Freya's immune system is weakened right now.'
Originally, holy water was a substance specialized in driving away evil things like curses, ghosts, and hexes. It meant it had virtually no regenerative effect like healing magic. However, since it was infused with divine power, one could at least expect a very faint strengthening of vitality.
'She had a high fever until just a moment ago. This would be safer for protecting her internal organs.'
Even I didn't know the proper principles of the magic I had cast. In such a situation, I couldn't risk casting Lesser Heal on Freya again. That was why I had substituted it with holy water. Unlike Lesser Heal, I had never seen a record of holy water worsening the Devil's Disease.
"Freya. I know you're sleepy, but drink just this and go back to sleep."
"Umm..."
I carefully helped her drink the holy water, making sure she wouldn't choke. Only after confirming that her parched lips were moistened did I let out the long breath I had been holding.
"Haa..."
After catching my breath, I called out to the priestess, who had been standing there like a wooden post.
"Sister."
"Y-yes! Young Master!"
The priestess answered with a start. Was it because she had just witnessed a miracle? Or was it because she thought she would have to pay the price for the mistake she made last night? I could feel fear in the way she treated me. If I had any stamina left, I might have corrected the misunderstanding. But since I hadn't slept a wink, I didn't have the luxury to be considerate of that.
"Freya has been suffering from a fever all night, so she must have sweated a lot. I've already told the maids to prepare hot water, so they'll be up soon."
I continued, handing her the holy water that was half-left in the silver cup. "Please wipe her body with water diluted with holy water. If possible, please help her change her clothes as well."
Usually, wiping a patient's body in a clinic is the job of the maids. Just as a doctor wouldn't bathe a patient in a hospital. Therefore, this could be an insult to a priestess. Just as the profession of a doctor was in modern society, a priest was a professional who was respected socially, somewhere above a commoner and below a noble. However, despite my request, the priestess answered without hesitation.
"Understood!"
Last night. She was still keeping the mistake she had made in her heart. "I will look after the young lady well."
"And if her condition changes again, please call me immediately."
"I will keep that in mind, Young Master."
The priestess nodded repeatedly. Just then, I heard the sound of maids approaching in the hallway with quick steps.
"Then I leave it to you."
I bowed lightly and left the room. In the hallway, I encountered the maids carrying hot water steaming with heat and pure white towels.
"Young Master...?"
The maids stopped in unison and bowed their heads. But unlike usual, their gaze as they greeted me was strange. They glanced at my face, and when I made eye contact, they would flinch in surprise. Some of them even had flushed cheeks.
I pointed to the ones with flushed cheeks and said, "Do you two happen to have a cough? Your cheeks are red."
"O-oh, no! It's just... because we came from a cold place..."
"I understand. However, Freya's body is weak right now, so please make sure to wear masks."
"Yes, Young Master!"
Even so, their eyes didn't leave me. Wondering if something was wrong, I followed their gaze. It seemed they were looking at my hair, which was soaked in sweat. 'Oh, dear.'
Since I had been so earnest about nursing, I hadn't been able to pay attention to my hair getting messy. I had always been acting as the elegant and perfect young master inside the house. I had shown them such a disheveled appearance.
'I'm still inexperienced.'
I tidied up my messy hair. A sigh-like sound came from the maids, but I decided to think I had misheard it. They were probably out of breath from filling the basins and coming up to the second floor.
"Please take good care of Freya."
"Yes! You get some rest too, Young Master!"
After sending them off, I headed to my room, which was located at the opposite end of the hallway from Freya's room. As soon as I arrived, I locked the door and slumped down in front of my desk. As the tension eased, the aftereffects that had been buried by adrenaline rushed in all at once.
"Ugh..."
As soon as I sat in the chair, a terrible nausea surged up. A headache struck as if someone were stabbing my brain with a sharp awl, and my vision seemed to sparkle. It was typical mana sickness. A symptom that occurs when a large amount of mana is consumed rapidly.
'Was the catalyst and the chant insufficient?'
It was one of the common hurdles mages face when developing new magic. Unlike existing magic that has been optimized through countless ages and history, new magic doesn't have that, so this kind of sickness often occurs.
'I'll need to optimize the formula later...'
But what was important now wasn't this aftereffect. I slumped in my chair and stared blankly at the ceiling. Enduring the headache, I reviewed what happened last night. Freya's high fever. Cytokine storm. Steroid pulse therapy. And.
'My dark magic...'
I still couldn't believe it. That I had succeeded in dark magic. And that too, impromptu, with a formula I was attempting for the first time.
I rubbed my palms together and covered my eyes. In the warm darkness, I retraced the conditions I had set.
'Wither.'
A debuff magic used by dark mages as a preliminary step to lower an opponent's resistance before casting a curse. I had adapted and used that magic. The catalyst was steroids. The target of the formula was the most active immune cells, and the symbols used were the priestess's Y-shaped cross, and the 'devotion' and 'atonement' intertwined with that cross. It was a perfect combination in theory. So I executed it, and—
'To think this would work on the first try...'
I succeeded. Suddenly, words my master often said came to mind.
— "If you had been born just a little earlier, the Master of the 13th Magic Tower would have been you, not that guy."
The Master of the 13th Magic Tower. The worst dark mage in history. My master would habitually say that my talent was superior to his. I had taken it as lip service and filtered it out by half. But even considering that, it was too lucky that the first attempt succeeded.
'It was too reckless.'
Magic isn't that easy. Even if the theory of magic is perfect, there are many cases where it fails in practice. Just as every normal piece of coding must inevitably have bugs. But I succeeded. Even without properly knowing the symbolism or conditions of that space.
'I managed the scientific conditions with medical knowledge, but I still don't know about the symbols.'
Therefore, it was clearly strange that the dark magic succeeded on the first try. I only knew the conditions vaguely, and I had just pushed through without knowing the symbols at all. Since it succeeded on the first attempt, there was no other way to explain it than that I was lucky because I was the protagonist of a misunderstanding-filled life.
'It was the same with Freed...'
My life is just too lucky. As if I am loved by the Goddess of Luck.
'Luck is indeed the best.'
A splitting headache began to surge. Even if I wanted to continue thinking, my brain was trying to shut itself down. The dark sleep began to cover my vision.
'Let's just sleep.'
Was there any need to think deeply? Freya had already passed the crisis, and I could just study the improvements for the magic with my master later. So, there was only one thing for me to do now.
'What's for dinner tonight...'
I didn't resist my heavy eyelids and fell into a deep sleep.
***
Just before noon, after the early morning had passed, while Julian was fast asleep in his bed, the priestess who had finished nursing Freya walked down the third-floor hallway of the main building, guided by the butler. The place she arrived at, guided by the butler, was the head of the family's office.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
The office, where light scattered by smog seeped in instead of morning sunlight, was filled with the cozy light of magic lamps. However, despite the lights, the air in the room was colder than the coming winter.
"...Sit, Priestess."
Hendel Nihilit, the head of the Baron Nihilit family. At the cold title he used to call her, the priestess trembled. Julian had called her "Sister" from beginning to end. It was the most common and polite title used by commoners outside the church to address a member of the clergy. But that was a title used by "commoners." There was no reason for nobles to unconditionally respect the clergy. No matter how much one declared themselves a religious person free from the secular world, one could never be completely detached from the power relations of the world. Furthermore, considering that even the weakest noble was a mage of the 2nd Circle or higher, there was no reason for them to respect a priest at all.
Therefore, no matter how much she had become a priest. Even if she had become an even rarer healing priest.
The priestess never forgot her true position.
"I think you know why you were called here, Priestess."
"Yes, I know very well, Lord."
Especially in a situation like this, where she had been called in front of a noble who was furious because he almost lost his daughter. The priestess sat on the edge of the sofa, barely resting her hips, and buried her gaze into the floor. Hendel's cold voice came from above her head.
"I heard that you cast Lesser Heal on a patient with the Devil's Disease several times in a row without even properly checking their condition."
It was a low and calm voice. But inside it, suppressed murderous intent was coiled like a snake. "Was there perhaps a reason I don't know? Working in the court, I've encountered various cases. There might be a perspective from the field that I don't know, so I'll give you a chance to defend yourself first."
"...I'm sorry, my Lord. It was all because I was inexperienced."
"You're honest."
The calm observation Hendel made pierced her heart like a dagger. The priestess slid off the chair as if she were about to kneel immediately. Her two hands, trembling like aspen trees, gripped the carpet.
"I'm sorry. I really thought it was a cold. As a priest, and as a mother with a daughter the same age as the young lady, I tried my best to heal her, but..."
"Your best."
Hendel coldly cut off her words. A slight snort was mixed in his voice. "You should know that this world isn't kind enough for that to be an excuse, Priestess."
"...I'm sorry, my Lord."
"There is nothing that kills people as easily as good intentions born from ignorance. Especially in professions that deal directly with life."
The priestess squeezed her eyes shut. A commoner priest who threatened the noble bloodline. It wouldn't be strange if he cut her throat right now and sprinkled her as fertilizer in the garden. Furthermore, considering Hendel's position within the Imperial Palace, it was entirely possible.
"..."
Silence descended between the two. Breaking that silence, a light metallic sound was heard from the head of the family's desk.
Clink.
"I will pay the price, Priestess."
"Y-yes?"
"For this business trip and the treatment. I will pay it properly."
The priestess's pupils shook violently, as if she couldn't believe it. Until just a moment ago, she thought her neck would fly off. But what returned was a pouch of gold coins. Receiving her confused gaze, Hendel rested his chin on his clasped hands.
"Honestly, given my position, I'm not the type to believe in petty good intentions."
"..."
"But it's different if family is involved."
"?"
Family? At the appearance of a word whose meaning she couldn't understand, the priestess raised her head. The gaze of the head of the family looking at the priestess had softened considerably.
"I don't believe in incompetent good intentions. I can't understand them either. But I believe in my son's faith."
"..."
"I heard you nursed Freya together with Julian. So, I must assume that Julian trusted you."
The head of the family turned his chair and directed his gaze out the window. "I won't harm you. Because I have to prove that my son's choice was right and that my son is a good person."
He tapped the window frame with his fingertips. Many calculations were laid out in that decision. As the head of the family, it was a meticulous calculation to thoroughly manage his eldest son's reputation in order to send him to a proper noble family, even as a son-in-law. But as a father, other calculations were also laid out.
"I can't leave a stain on my son's history. So, Priestess. I won't hold you accountable for your mistake last night."
Hendel turned his body toward the priestess again. "The accountability for your mistake will be done by countless historians and gossips in the future. Since it's the story of the first cure of the Devil's Disease, your story will probably never be forgotten."
Perhaps, countless fingers might point toward the priestess. However, she didn't have the luxury to fear that. What was important right now was the fact that she had survived.
"T-thank you! Thank you, Lord...! I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life...!"
"Put aside the thanks, and just keep this in mind."
Toward the priestess who was rubbing her forehead on the carpet, Hendel said with even more emphasis in his voice.
"Working in the court, it's natural to form connections and power that don't befit your rank, whether you know it or not."
Gulp. The priestess swallowed dryly.
"Even if he is merely a Baron, it's possible to hide the rumors that my son cured the Devil's Disease until that child becomes independent. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
The priestess nodded as if her head would fall off. Curing the Devil's Disease is a great achievement. However, great achievements sometimes invite jealousy that is difficult to handle. Furthermore, it's the Devil's Disease. The long-time enemy of the Sun Sect. If it were revealed that it was not a healer but a mage who cured it...
"I only provided holy water to a cold patient today, my Lord."
"Yes. That is how it should be. I've put the appropriate price in the pouch. So, you may go now."
The head of the family pointed to the door with his chin. The priestess took the gold coin pouch on the desk and hurried out of the office.
"Butler. See her out."
"Understood."
Wilhelm followed that priestess. After sending the people away, Hendel, who was left alone in the office, buried his body deep into the chair.
'Whew...'
Being a father isn't easy either. Hendel repeated those words to himself self-mockingly and rested his arms on his forehead. And on the roof of the main building of the mansion. Creak. A Fitch (a polecat) was coiled up, grooming its fur.