The Cost of Healing Magic (2)
After Soho vomited blood and collapsed, the area descended into pure chaos.
“Someone’s collapsed!”
Even in Marleryung, the very heart of the healers’ domain, it was rare to witness someone coughing up blood and falling unconscious right before your eyes.
“What do we do? Just leave her like that?”
“Why are you all just standing there staring? Call a healer right now! She’s going to die!”
The crowd grew frantic. The situation looked that dire. Who could possibly ignore a person screaming in agony while spitting up black blood?
“I… I’m fine… hngh!!”
Even if she insisted she was okay.
From the outside, it was clear she was anything but. Soho thrashed violently as fresh waves of pain tore through her. The symptoms were so severe it looked like she might actually die.
“Wait, just a second!”
I stepped forward before things spiraled further out of control. The crowd had surrounded her, so I had to ask for permission before I could even reach her side.
“Heal—”
The moment the healing light enveloped her, the bleeding stopped. Color gradually returned to her face, and Soho let out a deep sigh of relief.
After taking several steadying breaths, she examined her own body, twisting this way and that.
“This is impossible… It healed completely in a single cast. That curse has plagued me my entire life…”
Her eyes were wide with disbelief. She couldn’t even close her mouth.
Soho grabbed both my hands and bowed her head in apology.
“I’m truly sorry. To think I doubted a healer of your caliber. I have no excuse.”
Still clutching my hands tightly, she made a new promise—to teach me every single day.
“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure you study properly! Hehe.”
In the end, I was satisfied. I had gained a connection with someone from the notoriously closed-off White Night family and secured help preparing for the upcoming exam.
The only downside was the overwhelming attention.
“No way! A male healer? Could he be a high-ranking official from the Church?”
“Healing a condition that severe in one go? He must be a Saint!”
“Hurray! Long live the One God Church!”
Because the results had been so spectacular, I ended up drawing far too much interest. I had used magic freely whenever the opportunity arose without hiding it, but this was the first time I’d cast in front of such a massive crowd.
Perhaps that was why. The very people who had been worried about Soho were now cheering, and more curious onlookers began gathering, wondering what the commotion was about.
“What are you doing? Let’s get out of here, quickly.”
Thankfully, with Soho’s help, I managed to slip away before the crowd could swell any larger.
After that, I met Soho at the library every day. Our lessons began in earnest the very next morning.
The written exam focused primarily on the Church’s holy scripture.
“God said that man shall not live by bread alone… Man must be reborn through the Holy Spirit…”
What on earth did any of this mean? No matter how many times I read it, the words refused to make sense. It felt like trying to decipher an entirely foreign language.
Having been non-religious in my previous life probably didn’t help. If I’d been studying alone, I might have seriously considered giving up.
“Of course it’s difficult. That’s precisely why becoming a certified healer is no easy feat.”
She was right. It was never a simple path. In truth, I hadn’t fully grasped the weight of it until now.
Healing magic could only be learned by those born with the aptitude. Those who possessed it trained rigorously from childhood to maximize their potential, studying the scriptures without rest to refine their art. The acclaim that followed official certification rivaled passing the bar exam or the national physician’s test. It meant becoming one of the realm’s true elites.
Hearing it directly from Soho carried far more gravity than simply reading about it in a novel.
“Still, the fact that you have any chance at all of passing such an exam makes you incredible, Sieg-nim. The practical exam, at least, should be an automatic pass.”
Her words only deepened my gratitude for my unique magic. While ordinary healers exhausted themselves on something as minor as a cold or a bruise, I could cure almost anything in a single cast.
“I’ve never heard of power like that except from the Saintess herself.”
After a brief tangent praising the Saintess, Soho returned to explaining the scripture. As confident as she had been, she proved to be a genuinely gifted teacher. Concepts that had left me pulling my hair out alone now clicked instantly.
If I kept studying like this, the written exam would be no problem at all.
Except for one small issue.
“Yes? Did you need something?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Soho kept subtly pressing closer. Sitting side by side at the table, I couldn’t help but be hyper-aware of her. Thanks to the open sides of her clothing, her generous bare breasts would brush against my arm.
At first I tried to ignore it, but the soft, yielding pressure was impossible to dismiss. When she leaned in to brush her hair behind her ear, her scent would tease my nose. The faint fragrance of her hair and the exposed skin of her neck proved far too distracting.
“This section here…”
She gradually shifted even closer. It was a little overwhelming, but I didn’t pull away. In this gender-reversed world, I figured such initiative from a woman might be considered normal.
Besides, even if I tried to avoid her gaze out of discomfort, she would simply look up and ask, “Why aren’t you concentrating? Is there some special reason?”
So I decided to simply enjoy it. This level of contact wasn’t enough to actually disrupt my studies. If anything, pretending not to notice might have been the polite thing to do.
“That’s all for today.”
“Thank you. I learned so much.”
We left the library and exchanged farewells. We were about to part ways with promises to meet again tomorrow when—
Thud.
Soho collapsed. A purplish hue spread across her skin as her body temperature spiked. Her eyes were unfocused, and she groaned in clear agony. The way her flesh appeared to be melting away made it obvious—if left untreated, she would die.
I thought I’d completed the healing last time?
This was a first. A previously healed condition had returned. Was my magic not truly omnipotent after all? Doubt crept in. Had I failed to heal her completely? Or had I simply not examined her thoroughly enough amid the crowd?
A flicker of unease passed through me, but I pushed it aside and did what I could.
“Heal!”
This time I poured every ounce of power I had into the spell so it would never happen again.
“Th-thank you…”
Soho regained her senses almost immediately. She brushed the dust off her clothes and stood up with renewed energy. Seeing her like that, I asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’ve troubled you again. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
With those words, she vanished. She had mentioned not feeling well, so I had no chance to press for details before we parted.
Healing the same person twice in two consecutive days left me confused. The healing magic I had believed was all-powerful… perhaps it wasn’t.
After parting with Sieg, Soho wore a bright smile the entire way home.
To heal even Medusa’s poison in a single cast? He’s incredible!
She clenched her fists and swung her arms in excitement—an odd habit she unconsciously fell into when she was overjoyed. In other words, her mood was at its absolute peak.
He said he was a male healer, but he’s exceeded all expectations. What should I do? Should I really kidnap him?
The symptoms she had displayed before they parted had been entirely self-inflicted. To be precise, she had dosed herself with a small amount of Medusa’s poison from her research samples purely to test his healing magic.
She had been astonished that even an outstanding healer could cure it instantly.
At this level, he might even be able to heal my sister’s condition!
The reason Soho had come to Marleryung was simple: to find a way to lift the curse that afflicted her entire family, including herself and her sister. As the one with the weakest curse, she had set out on a research journey. Meeting Sieg had been pure coincidence.
After years of studying the curse, Sieg appeared to her like a single ray of light.
But this alone might not be enough.
In the end, it was still only healing magic. History showed clear limits. There was no guarantee he could completely lift her family’s curse.
That was why she had decided.
I’ll keep testing him from now on.
She needed to verify exactly how far his power could reach. Her body was doomed anyway if the curse couldn’t be broken, so she resolved to test him even if it meant sacrificing herself.
Still… why is my heart racing like this?
Teaching Sieg had been difficult in more ways than one. Simply sitting beside him left her breathless, her heart pounding wildly. No matter that he was a man, she had never experienced anything like it in her life.
So she denied her own feelings.
It… it must have been the poison.
Definitely not because of Sieg.
Rationalizing it that way, Soho returned home with light steps.
I wonder what Sieg-nim will do once he returns to his lodging.
Even after arriving home and right before falling asleep, she didn’t realize how often her thoughts kept drifting back to him.
Click-clack. Click-clack.
At the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor, Akasha’s ears perked up. Her eyes, which had been lazily closed while she basked in the sunlight streaming through the window, opened on instinct.
She had heard it enough times now to recognize it immediately.
“Sieg-nim is back!”
The moment he arrived, Sieg handed her the snack he had brought—chicken skewers, Akasha’s absolute favorite.
“Thank you!”
She accepted them excitedly and took a big bite. It was delicious. The flavor mattered, of course, but what mattered more was that Sieg had prepared it specifically for her. Even if he had brought her plain bread from the roadside or cookies made of mud, she would have eaten them with joy.
“How did you spend your day?”
Whenever Sieg returned home, he always asked how she had been. He felt guilty about leaving her alone while he studied.
“I was learning more about my tribe!”
In response to his question, Akasha pulled out a book. It was a history volume Sieg had borrowed from the library for her.
“Really? Well done.”
His hand moved naturally to stroke her head. Akasha leaned into the touch without hesitation. She loved this. She loved the skinship so much that she often spent the entire day wondering how she could earn even more praise from him.
Just as a happy smile spread across her face—
“Sniff, sniff—”
An unfamiliar scent stung her nose.
Every morning she made sure to cover him thoroughly with her own scent. There shouldn’t have been any other smell. Yet today, an unpleasant odor clung to Sieg.
This is a female’s scent?!
She didn’t know who the female was, but some wretched woman’s body scent was all over him.
Akasha’s expression grew icy cold.