It Wasn't Healing Magic?
It wasn't healing magic? Cough… hack! I couldn't even tell if the food was going into my nose or my mouth. I nearly spat out the mouthful I'd been chewing.
“God! Is that really true?”
“God is going to stay with us from now on?!”
Expectant gazes poured in from every direction. The two rabbit beastmen who had carried my food over stared at me with sparkling eyes.
“If God stays with us… we can be saved from the church’s persecution. Then my mother could also… hic.”
“God didn’t abandon us after all.”
They were tearing up with joy. I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth and ruin the moment.
“So what do you think, God?” Yuho asked again, flashing a radiant smile. The crescent-moon curve of her eyes suddenly felt terrifying. Did she plan this? The thought crossed my mind. With all those hopeful looks surrounding me, refusing outright felt too cruel.
So I simply smiled without saying a word—an ambiguous expression that could be read as either yes or no depending on interpretation.
“That’s more than enough.”
Fortunately, Yuho seemed satisfied and didn’t press further. The two rabbit beastmen, however, burst into cheers.
“Kyaaaah—!”
“Thank you, God!”
In their minds, it was already a done deal. I was seriously starting to wonder if I should start planning an escape route.
“While you stay here, these two will serve as your escorts, God.” Yuho gestured toward the lion beastman, Ria, and the cat beastman, Reina.
“Escorts?”
“We don’t believe any of our tribe would dare lay a hand on God’s sacred person, but this is simply a precaution. They’re both happy to do it, so please don’t feel burdened.”
“We’ll take good care of you! Heehee!”
At Yuho’s explanation, Reina gave a bright greeting. Ria offered a small bow. I returned the gesture with a nod of my own.
Isn’t this more like surveillance than escort duty?
The mood had stayed positive so far, but the fact that I’d been kidnapped hadn’t changed. And then there were Yuho’s earlier words.
—I hope you’ll stay with us forever, God… forever.
These escorts were probably meant to stop me from running away.
I’ll have to assess the situation first.
Since I hadn’t achieved my goal here yet, there was no need to rush. I was worried about Soho, Nero, and Akasha, who were probably losing their minds searching for me…
But Akasha will definitely come to rescue me.
This was the beastmen’s hideout—the very place we’d originally planned to visit together. So I wasn’t too anxious.
“As you all know, I can use healing—”
“God, please speak comfortably. There’s no need to be so formal with us.”
“R-right. Got it.”
At Yuho’s firm request, I nodded and continued.
“Like I said, I can heal. I want to cure your curses. Should I start with the ones right in front of me?”
I asked with a slightly excited flutter in my chest. My fingers were already itching to start flinging spells everywhere.
“We’re truly grateful, God! We don’t know how to repay you for bestowing this miracle upon us. But please be patient just a little longer.”
“Why?”
“First, we should assess the most severe cases among the tribe and proceed in order. We cannot waste your precious miracle.”
Yuho’s additional reasoning made sense. To them, healing magic was a truly sacred miracle. They were worried it would drain me too much. Even though they saw me as a god, I still had a human body. They probably assumed there would be limits if I overused healing.
It was true that spamming heals sometimes made me feel tired, but lately I hadn’t really hit any wall. Still, I agreed for now. Treating the most urgent beastmen in sequence was something I could get behind too.
“And surprisingly, some of our tribe have already overcome their curses.”
“Overcome the curse?”
“More accurately, they’ve harnessed it. Ria and Reina have conquered the demonic transformation of the curse and use it as their own power. So it seems we can leave their curses as they are.”
That was surprising. Ah! Akasha! Now that I thought about it, I remembered that the original Akasha could freely use demonic transformation too. To think they could utilize the curse like this—it was fascinating.
“However, nine out of ten lose their sanity to the transformation and never return.”
So it wasn’t something that could be mastered unconditionally. Reina and Ria, who had turned that power into their own, were exceptional cases.
“I see. Still, I’d like to heal Yuho’s curse first.”
“M-me? You can save me for last, so please conserve your miracle…”
Yuho shook her head in refusal. But I had other ideas. While she’d been guiding me, I’d noticed her occasionally frowning. Each time, she would unconsciously stroke the thorn tattoo on her wrist. She wasn’t showing it, but she seemed to be enduring pain.
“If you insist that strongly… I understand. I’ll come find you after I’ve cleansed my body.”
When I firmly pushed back against her attempt to postpone due to her position as chieftain, Yuho finally nodded. I was about to activate the magic right then, but she insisted on purifying herself first.
“Please allow me at least that much. Hehe.”
Respecting their reverence for the miracle, I agreed.
“I have some urgent matters to attend to, so I’ll come see you tonight after I’ve taken care of them.”
She did mention she had something pressing to handle.
“You’re really just going to follow me in silence like that?”
“Th-that… just pretend I’m not here! Hahaha.”
Reina looked sheepish at my question. The two who had become my escorts quietly trailed after me no matter where I went. It was impossible not to feel self-conscious.
From what I’d heard, they even planned to watch over me while I slept.
“You’re not following me into the bathroom, right?”
I asked with a look that said you wouldn’t, would you?
“Is that what we’re supposed to do?!”
“Of course not, you idiot Ria!”
When Ria tilted her head in confusion, Reina shouted at her.
“We can’t?”
“Isn’t that obvious? God is a m-man!”
“Ah…!”
“Having to stick with this girl is exhausting. Goddamn it.”
Watching Reina react so earnestly to every little thing Ria said or did made me laugh. I finally understood why Yuho liked teasing her. Her reactions were just too good.
The sight sparked a mischievous impulse in me.
“What if I said it was okay, like Ria suggested?”
“Huh?!”
“What would you do if I said you could follow me into the bathroom?”
“Uwehuehueeeh?”
She broke instantly. Her face flushed red as she averted her eyes, then she clutched her head and started spewing incomprehensible alien noises while radiating heat.
“Don’t worry, I was kidding.”
“God…! God…! God! You actually believed me…! Even God is bullying me now. This is all that Yuho bitch’s fault…!”
Pat pat.
Ria gently patted the rampaging Reina. It seemed to be her version of comfort.
“By the way, is there a place here that holds old documents?”
“Documents? I’m not really sure about that…”
Since healing would happen gradually, I asked about my second objective: researching my own abilities.
“Over there…!”
Reina scratched her head like she had no idea, but fortunately Ria pointed in a certain direction. She seemed to know.
Following Ria’s lead, I entered a cave. According to her explanation, it was a passage leading to the basement of the temple. Since I was their god, I could enter without the chieftain’s permission.
“Cough cough!”
The room didn’t seem to have been used in a long time. The first thing that greeted us was a thick cloud of dust so dense it obscured our vision.
“Ria… you dummy! Are you sure this is the right place?”
“Yeah. The oldest room.”
Reina was coughing even harder than I was and looked miserable, but Ria seemed completely unfazed. Was this the dignity of a lion? They were both from the cat family, yet the difference was huge. The king of beasts really was on another level.
“And here are the oldest documents.”
Following Ria’s guidance, we reached the deepest part of the room. It was packed with books like Nero’s workshop, with shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling lined up tightly together.
I brushed off the dust and slowly examined the documents.
“This is it.”
Finding what I wanted wasn’t difficult. I just needed to look for a document with Korean writing on it. There was exactly one document whose cover was written in Korean.
I pulled it out, intending to read it.
That was when it happened.
Rumble rumble rumble—!!
The room began to shake. Was it an earthquake? The entire space trembled as if it might collapse at any moment.
“Kyaaah—!”
Reina’s ears stood straight up as she went on high alert.
Boom—!
The vibration stopped as suddenly as it had started. What appeared was a small passage—just big enough to enter if you ducked your head a little.
When I looked at Ria, she seemed just as clueless, frowning as she scanned the area.
“Shall we go in?”
With two reliable escorts by my side, I stepped into the hole without hesitation. Fortunately, the passage was short. It led straight into another room.
“This is…!”
A massive mural awaited us. Or should I call it a wall painting? It depicted a figure with the form of a god, along with beastmen worshiping it.
And in the center were inscribed characters.
"From a higher dimension descended a god possessing mighty authority......
with the miracle to heal anyone.
⟨ The New God Shall Realize ⟩
The secret held within that authority."
It explained the characteristics and powers of the beastmen gods.
"......The new god shall come to realize.
The secret that authority holds."
A secret? My eyes widened at those words.
"It can strengthen and create followers...... and place them under dominion.
Any being whatsoever.
And the followers shall be bound......"
Bound? What the hell did that mean?
"They shall become slaves...... and obey the words of their god."
According to the text, every time I used my magic, the target would gradually become my slave.
Which meant my magic wasn’t simple healing magic after all?
It was Conditioning Magic.