Thirin Chases the Trend: "From Today On, I'm a Super Rare Class Magical Healer and Medical Doctor." (3)

The battle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠between Thirin and the eight-man bandit gang ended in an embarrassingly anticlimactic fashion. Calling it a battle felt almost insulting. From the start, there was never any chance of a proper fight. Just as Thirin had pointed out earlier, these guys were bottom-tier trash with zero competitiveness even in the criminal underworld. They'd been pushed out of the Empire's well-patrolled main highways and were barely scraping by, skulking around these godforsaken backwater roads where nobody ever passed through.

If this had been the martial world, they might have stumbled across a third-rate manual after falling off a cliff. But this was fantasy land. All that waited at the bottom of any cliff were starving magic beasts or sticky slimes. These idiots didn't even have the luck to stumble into an opportunity. What could trash like them possibly do against a female master who'd just stepped into the first-class realm?

Crack! Crunch! Snap!

"Aaaargh!"

"M-my arm! My arm's bent the wrong way!"

"My... my back... it's bent like a bow...!"

Thirin's elegant and refined battle plan had gone completely to shit, but her fists and kicks were mercilessly precise. Each bandit experienced the miracle of having some part of their body twisted into an anatomically impossible angle, or their joints stretching to twice their normal length, or simply getting smashed to the ground and left rolling in the dirt.

Thirin panted heavily as she tied them up tightly with rope.

"...Ugh..."

A faint groan came from the direction of the carriage. Only then did Thirin remember that there had been victims under attack by the bandits.

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue and walked toward the carriage. Annoying things always came in batches.

The scene beside the carriage was miserable. A young woman with her clothes half undone was curled up, trembling violently. Her tears had already dried, leaving only pale streaks on her cheeks. Beside her, a blond priestess stared down at a collapsed man with a grave expression. Crimson blood oozed from his abdomen, soaking the ground in a sticky puddle.

"...Thank you... thank you so much..."

The fallen man looked up at Thirin and barely managed to squeeze out his voice.

"Thanks to you... huff... my wife is safe. I know it's shameless of me to ask this of my benefactor, but... could I trouble you with one more request?"

Before Thirin could answer, he continued.

"Please... at least take my wife to a safe place. I'll give you everything in this carriage. Please..."

"You're not coming with us?" Thirin asked indifferently.

"I... it seems I'm done for. Even breathing is difficult now. But it's fine. As long as my wife is safe, that's enough for me. Please..."

"......"

"It was my mistake not to hire escorts. There were only rumors about magic beasts appearing near the Sea of Trees to the east. Who could've guessed bandits would show up here? I was a fool for believing the Empire's public safety had improved. Damn it..."

The man was growing delirious, rambling about things no one had asked.

Thirin's brow twitched. As a proud K-MZ girl, she had zero tolerance for melodramatic sob stories.

Just as Thirin was about to say something, the priestess stepped forward.

"I'll stop the bleeding."

With those words, the priestess rolled up her sleeves.

"Stop the bleeding?"

The moment Thirin repeated the words, the priestess raised her fist without hesitation.

Thud! Thud!

"Guh...!"

She slammed it down twice—precise and merciless. The man passed out instantly.

Thirin was stunned. Punching a patient who'd just been stabbed? This wasn't treatment; this was a mercy kill!

The trembling woman beside them nearly fainted at the sight and threw herself over her husband.

"Eek! P-please! Don't kill him! Please...!"

But the priestess remained perfectly calm. The crazy blonde shook the blood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off her fist and spoke in an utterly serene voice.

"Money... I'll give you all the money, please, please...!"

"The bleeding has been stopped."

"Please, the money is... Huh?"

The woman doubted her own ears. When she looked down at her husband with trembling eyes, the blood that had been gushing out moments ago had stopped as if it had never happened.

Thirin was now completely dumbfounded.

"Wait, you stop bleeding by punching the patient?"

The priestess gave Thirin a narrow-eyed look.

"Sister. You know very well it wasn't just a punch. Please don't make me feel like I've wasted my time."

"......"

Thirin had to give her that one.

The priestess pressed her blood-stained fingers against several points on the man's abdomen.

"For now, I've only forcibly injected vitality to block the flow of blood. It's a temporary measure."

"Does it really have to involve hitting?"

"......My ability is still lacking."

At Thirin's question, the priestess showed a slightly troubled expression for the first time.

"If I could transmit vitality inward properly, there would be no need for this method. It's simply that my skill is insufficient, so unless I do it this way, the vitality won't flow correctly."

"....."

Thirin was stunned once again.

It looked like she hit him way softer than when she hit me.

That meant when the priestess had treated her, she'd deliberately put emotion into it and smacked her with everything she had.

When Thirin stared at the priestess with suspicious eyes, the priestess sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Unlike her usual bright and relaxed demeanor, she looked somewhat exhausted.

...There's something going on here.

The woman asked in a trembling voice.

"U-um, so... will my husband be able to live?"

The priestess's face hardened.

"He was lucky. The blade barely missed his vital organs."

"Then...!"

"However, he's lost too much blood. The wound remains, so leaving it like this is dangerous. He needs immediate treatment."

"Ah... t-then what should we..."

The woman began trembling again. She had fallen into a kind of panic and didn't know what to do.

Thirin looked around. The carriage and horses were intact. In that case, the solution was simple.

Thirin spoke bluntly.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"Y-yes?"

Thirin didn't give her time to think and spoke quickly.

"As soon as it gets light, head straight to the nearest village. The closest one with a Temple of Ten Thousand Gods. Since you're a merchant, you probably know the geography around here."

Thirin jerked her chin toward the carriage.

"Abandon the carriage and ride the horse. You should arrive in a day."

"Ah..."

The woman's eyes went blank at those words. Thirin spoke a bit more firmly.

"I can't help you any more than this. I have somewhere I need to be."

"......"

"Dawn will break soon. If you don't move now, you'll end up spending another night on the road."

"!"

The woman's eyes snapped back into focus at Thirin's warning. She finally stood up and began moving.

When dawn broke, the couple mounted one of the horses as Thirin had instructed. The husband leaned weakly against his wife's back. Before mounting, the woman shed a flood of tears and bowed deeply at the waist.

"Thank you... thank you so much... I will never forget this kindness for the rest of my life."

"Ugh, just go already. Your husband's gonna die at this rate."

At Thirin's words, the woman jumped in surprise and urged the horse forward. She didn't show the slightest reluctance to abandon the carriage. It seemed she considered simply surviving a blessing.

If they had insisted on taking the carriage, Thirin would have beaten their asses black and blue to drive them away.

Anyway, that was the end of the melodrama.

"Uuuuugh..."

All that remained were the carriage and the tied-up bandits groaning in pain. The next task was obvious.

Thirin licked her lips.

Thirin drove the carriage. Of course, she had zero experience driving horses. But that was fine. One must never forget: throughout humanity's long history, before livestock, people themselves were the labor force.

Whip!

"Aaaargh!"

The ones pulling the carriage were the seven bandits. As a woman raised in a capitalist society, Thirin knew exactly how to utilize idle resources without any waste. The couple had taken the horses, so all that remained were these useless mold-spore carriers. Perfect recycling.

"Hurry up, will you? We've got a long way to go!"

Thirin sat in the driver's seat, cracking her whip to urge them on.

Whip!

"Aaaah!"

"If anyone falls behind, I'll cut their throat. That'd be more convenient for me too. Less weight to pull."

"Please, please...!"

"You think I won't do it? Do you have any idea how many necks like yours I've cut?"

At those chilling words, the bandits finally realized the true identity of the woman sitting in the driver's seat. The masked lunatic bounty hunter from the rumors—the one who enjoyed torturing people with her whip. The crazy bitch who casually chopped off third legs when she got bored.

"I knew she was no ordinary crazy bitch...!"

"Witch! Witch! The Castration Witch!!!"

"No! No no no no no!!!!!"

"Don't disqualify me from being a man?! Kyaaa!"

Whip!

"Aaaargh!"

Before these idiots could throw another tantrum, Thirin cracked the whip again.

Whip! Whiiiip!

"Kyaaaaaaaah!"

"Shut up!"

At Thirin's sharp command, the bandits fell silent. The whip had an excellent focusing effect.

But perhaps because they were sobbing, the speed at which they pulled the carriage gradually slowed. Thirin spoke in a voice that almost sounded merciful.

"Tired? If you're tired, should I let some of you ride in the carriage? I suppose one or two of you could take turns."

"N-no!"

The man at the very front pulling the carriage shouted desperately.

"Pulling the carriage brings me such joy! Such happiness! Please, please let me continue pulling the carriage!"

"How boring."

Thirin grumbled and turned around. In the back of the carriage, the priestess was letting out a deep sigh. Beside her, the bandit with the shattered ankle was trembling all over, wrapped head to toe in rope.

Riding in the carriage meant becoming a living practice dummy for Heavenly Demon Heart Technique—just like the useless bastard whose ankles were broken and couldn't walk.

In truth, Thirin had considered simply abandoning this useless piece of trash, but the priestess had talked her into it, so she had no choice.

"Why the hell are we taking this guy?" Thirin grumbled.

"If we just leave him here, won't he naturally become one with nature? He'd make excellent fertilizer."

"Sister. Didn't you say you wanted to learn my technique? The one that manipulates pressure points."

The priestess jerked her chin toward the trembling prisoner.

"Use him for practice."

"......"

Thirin was starting to like this crazy blonde priestess more and more. After all, Thirin was a woman who judged people by both appearance and personality.

And so began Thirin's first clinical trial.

Using the bandit with the shattered ankle as her subject, Thirin began crudely imitating what she'd seen the priestess do over her shoulder moments ago.

"Hmm... was this the pressure point for the liver? Or the heart?"

Thud!

"Kyaaaaaaaah!"

"Nope. Here?"

Crack! Crunch!

"Keeeeeek! My bones! My boooones!"

Thirin didn't know blood points, acupoints, or pressure points, but she was damn good at Bone Dislocation and Muscle Rupture.

The priestess, unable to watch any longer, stepped in. She thumped the prisoner's back several times, forcibly correcting the twisted flow of his qi and blood.

"Just what are you doing?"

Rarely, a note of rebuke colored the priestess's voice.

"There's a saying about 'just giving it a try.' I'm a practical learner, you know."

The priestess let out a deep sigh.

"Sister. As I told you before, if you keep wielding power with such malicious intent, your mind will harden."

The priestess looked at Thirin with pitying eyes.

"If that happens, your body itself will become a spring that endlessly produces evil energy. In the end, you'll become just like these bandits."

"Hmm......"

Thirin suddenly grew curious.

"Then when you were treating that dating violence scumbag and the child abuser before, were you smashing the evil energy spring that their bodies had become?"

"That's correct."

"......"

Thirin found it strange.

"Is personality something that can be fixed by physically beating the evil energy out of the body?"

The priestess stared at Thirin intently.

"Sister, have you not already taken a Divine Core?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"A Divine Core is the materialization of a god's will and temperament."

"And?"

"Gods and humans are the same. The temperament of an ordinary human can also materialize in the form of evil energy."

"Heeeh......"

So human nature had a physical form that could be fixed through physical means. What a fascinating fantasy land this was. Come to think of it, her beloved home world had done similar things. Barbaric procedures like stimulating specific parts of the brain or outright removing them to change someone's personality—lobotomies and the like. In the early days they'd produced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠horrific results, but as medicine advanced, it wasn't quite so clear-cut. In the end, the principle was the same. The mind and body were not separate.

"So basically, personality correction is possible through certain surgical procedures."

"It's not easy," the priestess shook her head.

"If they lack the will to change, no matter how much you disperse the evil energy, the spring will simply produce more filthy water."

The priestess sighed.

"My ability is still too weak to change a temperament that has already hardened. That is something only the person's own will can accomplish."

"Then if your ability gets stronger, it becomes possible?"

Thirin's eyes sparkled.

"For example, couldn't I use my Samadhi True Fire—my intent flame—to burn away that fixed personality, that spring that endlessly produces evil energy?"

"......"

The priestess fell into thought for a moment.

"...It's not entirely impossible, I suppose."

"Right?!"

"But how would you do it? How would you make your intent flame penetrate inside a person's body?"

Thirin pondered for a second before giving a clear answer.

"Cut them open with a knife and stick my finger in?"

"......"

The priestess was speechless.

"That would kill the person."

Pretty sure that's not something you should be saying.

Thirin clicked her tongue internally but didn't say it out loud.

The bandits listening to the two crazy women's horrifying medical discussion trembled in terror.

These crazy bitches. What the hell kind of experiments are they planning to do on our bodies...!

I wanna go home...

Completely ignoring their fear, Thirin and the priestess continued their medical debate.

"Anyway, if you accurately press the right pressure points in the proper sequence, you can achieve various effects. You can stop bleeding like before, or paralyze someone, silence them, or knock them unconscious."

"Ooh... that's actually really useful?"

Thirin's eyes gleamed. It was an incredibly versatile technique.

"Sister. But keep this in mind. This technique is..."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Don't use it recklessly."

Thirin answered half-heartedly and cracked her whip at the men pulling the carriage.

"These bastards slacking off again?"

Whip!

"Aaaargh!"

Along with the bandits' screams, a shout came from far ahead.

"Carriage over there! Stop!"

The men pulling the carriage cried out as if they'd met their saviors.

"It's the Imperial Army! It's the Imperial Security Force!"

"Save us! Please save us!"

"Shut up!"

Whip!

"Aaaah!"

In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the distance, security officers holding spears were galloping toward them on horseback.

"Stop......"

The lead security officer couldn't even finish his sentence.

"W-what the...!"

He was horrified by the bandits' wretched state. Seven men were desperately pulling a carriage with thick ropes over their shoulders. Their faces were covered in sweat, tears, and snot, twisted in terror. Clear whip marks scored their backs, oozing red blood. Not even livestock would be treated this harshly.

The security officer gritted his teeth and raised his spear.

"Stop the carriage, woman! You are..."

Thirin lifted her chin arrogantly.

"I am what?"

"......"

"Under arrest? On what charges?"

Her utterly shameless attitude left the security officer completely lost for words.