The Master's Influence
Master had gone around to all the clinics in vital locations—the ones he believed must never close—passionately persuading the staff not to obey the orders. The truly astonishing part was that those same clinics, moved by his words, really kept their doors open and continued treating patients.
Was his influence truly this strong? Our master’s?
He had complained that everyone back in the Holy Empire had already forgotten him, yet if that were true, his round of persuasion could never have succeeded. This was a risky business; it wasn’t the sort of thing people would agree to simply because an acquaintance asked for a favor.
When Sister Melody first told me about it, I hadn’t fully grasped the weight of Master’s position. Only now did the true scale of his stature hit me anew. If he hadn’t gone around persuading them in person, would public opinion have shifted the way it had?
And on top of that, he said he’d taken care of my disciplinary matter as well.
If every clinic had shut its doors, the backlash would have been far worse than this. The other nations watching the situation would no longer have kept silent. They would have thrown themselves into pressuring the Holy Empire with even greater enthusiasm.
The Holy Empire’s fatal weakness was corruption. If someone openly criticized the empire’s appalling coldness—an empire that was supposed to follow the will of the gods—the damage would have been far greater than it was now.
“I seem to have caused you a lot of trouble.”
“Trouble? Hardly. If anything, I was moved. If this place had closed its doors, all the hard work I’ve poured in would have become meaningless. From what I hear, you refused the order outright?”
“Yes.”
“You did well. To be honest, I expected you to act that way, so I didn’t contact you beforehand. Still, I was a little anxious about how it would turn out.”
“After the way you raised me, Master, you really shouldn’t doubt me like that.”
The man who had trained me to snap to attention the moment I even thought about stepping out of line was none other than Master himself. Following his teachings had hammered into my mind the importance of living properly, making it impossible for me to simply overlook something like this. It was then that I realized remembering my past life might not be as extraordinary as I once believed.
“The rumor that you refused to follow the order spread quickly. Thanks to that, persuading the others became much easier. Honestly, without someone setting a precedent first, it’s not easy to find the courage to act.”
In the end, what Master wanted to say was simply praise for doing the right thing. Amid all the worry and concern from those around me, this was the first time someone had purely congratulated me for handling the matter well. The fact that the person offering that praise was none other than Master made the warmth in my chest even stronger.
“I didn’t do it to be praised, but hearing it from you feels good.”
Learning that a formal disciplinary action had nearly come down made my heart sink. Of course, since Master said he had taken care of it, I no longer needed to worry.
I was concerned whether Master had overexerted himself this time, but…
Seeing how satisfied he looks, maybe he didn’t push himself too hard after all.
Since Master said everything turned out well, I could set my mind at ease for now. Yet because not everything was truly over, I couldn’t let go of my worries completely.
“I can’t even imagine how the situation will develop from here. What do you plan to do next?”
“I intend to head to the Deltrack Empire.”
“Why there?”
“Obviously I have to go. I need to find out why they’re shielding Prince Loras even at the cost of opposing the Holy Empire.”
“Hmm…”
If my body weren’t tied down here, I would have followed Master to the Deltrack Empire. The time left for Princess Canaby was passing faster than expected.
Dragged off to the Deltrack Empire and then complete silence.
Finding out how Princess Reciel was doing and when she might return was quite important to me as well. But there was no one I could trust to look into it on my behalf.
What should I do…?
With patients flooding in because of me, leaving this place alone was out of the question.
“While you’re in the Deltrack Empire, could you find out what happened to Princess Reciel?”
“The princess??”
“Yes. I was part of her team. After we emerged from the Labyrinth, someone from the Deltrack Empire came and took her away. There’s been no contact since.”
“Now that you mention it, why do you keep entering the Labyrinth in the first place?”
“There are circumstances involved.”
“Circumstances, huh…”
No matter how close I was to Master, I couldn’t speak about anything related to Princess Canaby.
“If it’s something you can’t talk about, I won’t pry. I’ll try to look into it, at least.”
“Thank you.”
“If I get busy with other matters once I’m there, I might not be able to. So don’t wait with too much hope.”
“I understand.”
That evening, Master finally kept his promise to the priests and shared dinner with them. He departed for the Deltrack Empire at dawn the next day.
While I waited for Master to return with good news and focused on treating patients, an unexpected visitor appeared.
“Hello.”
The woman who could not enter the temple had become far more mature than when I first met her.
“Oh?”
I recalled how she had despaired after unintentionally ending up on the temple’s blacklist, unable to heal her younger sister, and how she had been saved. After accepting my commission, she had periodically obtained books and delivered them to me. Because she could not enter the temple, the books had been passed through the guild that acted as an intermediary for requests.
“What brings you here?”
Coming near the temple was a risk she had chosen to take.
“I… heard the rumors. The temple’s been incredibly noisy lately. I wanted to make sure you were all right. I was also curious whether the things I sent were okay.”
Throughout this time I had accepted every book she sent. Some were duplicates or had different covers but the same content, but knowing she couldn’t distinguish those details, I never made an issue of it. Had she been an ordinary visitor, I would have invited her inside for a comfortable conversation. Since she was on the blacklist, however, she could not enter the temple, so I suggested otherwise.
“Shall we talk inside a shop nearby?”
“I didn’t intend to take up much of your time. I only wanted to see if you were doing well.”
She had claimed she didn’t want to take much time, yet she looked horrified when I suggested having a cup of tea together. Still, the moment I saw her, a good idea occurred to me and I couldn’t simply let her leave. Despite her reluctance, I practically dragged her into a quiet café.
“Sigh, so priests really do visit these fancy places.”
“Is it… uncomfortable for you?”
I hadn’t expected her to feel uneasy about entering a café.
“No. It’s just unfamiliar.”
It was true that mercenaries rarely patronized such refined, quiet establishments.
“I don’t think it matters. No matter what occupation someone has.”
“Huh, is that so?”
“The cake here is delicious. Why don’t you try some?”
“Cake? Sorry, but could I give it to my sister instead? I’m not fond of sweet things.”
“I’ll have them pack a separate portion for your sister. Please, try it.”
Seeing how she always thought of her sister first whenever something delicious appeared made my heart ache. I thought I had given her quite a generous commission fee, but perhaps she needed more money than I realized.
“I’m thinking of raising your commission fee a little.”
“What?! You’re already giving me so much and you want to give more?”
“Actually, I have one more request I’d like to ask of you.”
“The money I’m receiving now is enough. Just tell me what it is and I’ll do it.”
“There’s no such thing as simply doing it for free. If you’re doing this because of your sister’s treatment, please don’t. If you insist, I’ll have no choice but to ask someone else.”
“It’s just that I feel I’m receiving more than the work is worth…”
There was no way she would have squandered the money I gave her. She was surely saving it diligently for her sister’s future.
“I’d prefer to entrust this to someone I can trust. Could you accept it as a formal request?”
“Ugh, why do you hate it when I say I’ll do it without extra pay? Are you that desperate to spend money?”
“I simply don’t like getting things for free. I believe cheap work yields cheap results.”
“But I am receiving money.”
“Then you’ll pay more attention if I give you more, won’t you?”
Only after I stubbornly made up excuses did she finally agree to accept the additional payment and take the request.
“Please go to the Deltrack Empire.”
“To the Deltrack Empire and…?”
“Find out how Princess Reciel is doing. And if possible, I would like you to deliver this letter.”
“P-Princess?”
She was visibly flustered by the request involving royalty.
“How could someone like me possibly meet a member of the royal family…?”
“I’ll give you this.”
I took off the item I wore around my neck and handed it to her.
“It’s essentially my identification. If you present this and request a meeting with Princess Reciel, it should be possible. Of course, given the current situation, it might not work. I can’t say there are no risks involved.”
Meeting her as a mere mercenary would already be extremely difficult, but it might be safer than announcing that she had come as a priest’s messenger. I explained this carefully and urged her to be cautious.
“If it looks like the letter is about to be taken from you, burn it. If that’s impossible and it gets taken, it can’t be helped, so simply abandon the task. There is no critical information inside.”
Even if someone read the letter, they wouldn’t be able to discern anything truly important.
“…Understood. I’ll do my best. I’ll try everything I can.”
Her expression was so determined that I began to worry.
“This is not an absolute must-complete request! If it seems impossible, give up and return.”
“Yes!”
“Hmm…”
Her answer was loud and clear, but her face didn’t look as if she had properly taken the warning to heart. I realized that trying to stop her now would be pointless, so I simply gave up. I only decided I would add a little more money than planned.
Since I don’t know what her sister likes, I should ask them to pack one cake of each kind.
Since she cherished her sister so deeply, perhaps this was a good way to express my gratitude.