The Ideal Volunteer

“Let’s work together to build a beautiful Lindel.”

A strange expression entered my field of vision. Her lips were clenched tight, and her face was so solemn it was almost reverent.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected Sun Heeyoung to be this motivated.

Of course, I had set a few things in place, but she was moving with far more enthusiasm than I’d anticipated.

I had expected her to be frightened, to hesitate. But it seemed her thoughts were headed in a somewhat different direction.

Is the medicine kicking in that well?

Still, looking at her trembling hands and feet, it did seem that somewhere deep in her unconscious, she was resisting this situation.

Her mind, already worn down beyond repair, seemed incapable of allowing her to think normally anymore.

Nice.

The expression on her ruined face was one of duty.

I couldn’t be sure my guess was right, but there was no doubt that what lived in Sun Heeyoung’s face right now was a sense of mission.

The way she walked forward slowly, holding a dagger, somehow reminded me of a religious ritual.

So did the brief prayer she offered, or the way she lifted her hand toward the sky.

On the surface alone, she looked as if she didn’t resent them at all.

Huh….

“Priest… we… we were wrong.”

“We just, just went crazy for a moment. We really did go crazy.”

“Please, save us, Priest. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Please, have mercy on us. Just once… if you forgive us just once….”

“Mage-nim… y-you promised you’d save us, didn’t you? You said you’d save us….”

Even now, the sight of these people begging for their lives was pitiful beyond measure.

Already bound hand and foot by Jung Hayan’s magic, they only had to wait for the dagger to come down on them, and yet Sun Heeyoung turned around and looked back toward me.

“R-really… really do it?”

Her voice sounded as if she wanted me to hit the brakes.

Of course I had no intention of doing that.

“Yes. There’s no need to worry. Just think of it as the same kind of work you’ve always done. This is, in the strictest sense, helping others. If there’s trash, it should be taken out.”

“Yes….”

Sun Heeyoung was talent I needed to move with us.

I sent her a bright smile, and immediately she brought the dagger she had raised high crashing down.

Screams rang out.

The way she awkwardly drove the blade down was not grotesque, but sublime.

“Aaaagh!”

“Priest…! Save me….”

“Help….”

“Aaaahhh!”

If it was horrible, then yes, it was horrible.

Blood kept splashing everywhere, and the screams never stopped.

No one answered the cries for help. Of course, part of that was because this place was sealed off with mana, but even without such precautions, there wouldn’t have been anyone coming to save them.

Just as they’d said, calling for help in a place like this was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a fool’s errand.

Everyone in the Slums was too busy struggling to survive to help anyone else.

Just imagining her devoting herself to people who never even thought to help others made me want to laugh, and yet she still didn’t curse them or resent them.

She simply looked as though she intended to calmly finish what she had to do.

Even with a hand that trembled awkwardly in my eyes, and at times with fear blazing in her gaze, she went on without asking for my help.

“Priest! Priest! Please….”

“You fucking bitch! Are you even human?”

“I’m sorry. Please… please!”

“Aaaaghhh!”

Maybe she had been abnormal from the very beginning.

Thinking about it by my own standards, there was no way a person that selfless could exist.

After a little time had passed, the choking cries gradually began to thin out.

A faint smile settled at the corners of Sun Heeyoung’s mouth as she stood there, breathing hard in silence.

“How is it?”

Her face was slightly flushed.

With swollen eyes and blood streaming from a torn brow, she smiled at my words and opened her mouth.

“It’s… really rewarding.”

Her voice was a little chilling.

And yet, for some reason, the sight of her seemed beautiful.

What I’d been worried about was her mental state, but it didn’t seem to be all that bad.

There had been help from a number of conditions, of course, but the new values I’d implanted in her had likely taken root inside her very well.

Success.

“Then shall we go?”

“Go… where?”

I didn’t even bother with the obvious invitation to join me.

I simply reached out a hand, and I felt hers take mine.

Jung Hayan seemed a little uncomfortable, but this much wouldn’t be a problem.

“This new kind of service isn’t something you can do alone. And unlike before, you’ll need to operate a little more quietly. I’ll be with you.”

“Together.”

“Yes. Together. There’ll be many problems in carrying out your values. Ordinary people won’t understand it, after all.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll prove to you that you weren’t wrong.”

“Yes… Kiyoung-nim.”

“For now, let’s get you treated….”

“It’s okay. I can do it myself.”

Sun Heeyoung quietly began to chant.

Before long, her recovery was almost absurd to watch.

I had tried that ring Jung Hayan carried once myself, and even then, she returned to normal far faster than I had felt myself recover.

Competent.

Priests were incredibly rare in this place.

Not only was it hard to find anyone suited to the priestly path, but even truly proper priests were nearly impossible to come by.

Just thinking about traveling with a woman who possessed Legendary holy talent put me in a good mood.

At the very least, I wouldn’t have to worry about getting struck by some stray arrow and dying.

All that was left was to return to the clan with this woman.

Even as I slowly started walking, Jung Hayan kept leaning into me.

She seemed worried about how kindly I was treating Sun Heeyoung.

Sun Heeyoung stayed a little farther away, speaking softly.

She wasn’t saying anything important, just making small talk. If I thought back to what had happened a moment ago, the fact that she was making casual conversation at all was a little ironic, but seeing Jung Hayan gradually responding to her made it seem as though the two of them didn’t find each other strange at all.

It was right then that I felt a familiar doll-like figure approaching us.

“Hyunsung?”

“I thought it might be you, Kiyoung. Running into you here is quite the coincidence. I expected you to be in the laboratory… did you come out for a stroll with Hayan?”

“Ah. Well, actually….”

When I glanced at Sun Heeyoung, she smiled brightly and spoke first.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Sun Heeyoung. I’ve come here briefly for volunteer work….”

“Ah. Pleased to meet you. I’m Kim Hyunsung.”

They looked at each other as complete strangers, and the moment felt a little awkward.

Then a small child slowly came into view behind Kim Hyunsung.

The child still looked too young to have shed the traces of childhood, and it was hard to tell at a glance whether they were a boy or a girl.

There was an unreadable ferocity in those eyes, and the face smeared with dirt looked as though it proved the child came from the Slums.

Could it be?

The moment I quickly activated Mind’s Eye, what I saw was a sight to behold.

Huh….

Except for Kim Hyunsung, this was the first time I’d seen someone whose every stat pointed toward Heroic or Legendary.

I could immediately tell that the one he’d been after wasn’t Sun Heeyoung.

From the beginning, the reason he’d gone to the Slums had been to bring this child back.

When I glanced downward, I also caught sight of the child hurriedly hiding behind Kim Hyunsung.

They seemed frightened, or perhaps ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just confused by the unfamiliar situation.

I noticed that Sun Heeyoung’s eyes toward the child weren’t especially warm, but thankfully, no trouble broke out.

“Ah. This child is….”

“I met them by chance in the Slums. They seemed talented, so I brought them along with the idea of teaching them a few things. They seem quite thoughtful, and it looks like they’ve already obtained a class as well. They’re a bit young to go hunting, though… ah! They still seem shy around strangers, so it may take some time for them to get used to you.”

“Ah… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I see.”

“And Kiyoung?”

“Same for me. While I was looking around the Slums, I happened to cross paths with the priestess… and after talking for a bit, we found that we got along rather well.”

“Ahhh.”

Kim Hyunsung, quietly looking at Sun Heeyoung, really did seem to be seeing her for the first time.

He looked as if he were assessing her in silence.

Does he really not know her?

If I were Kim Hyunsung, I would have tried to recruit her no matter what, even while taking in that child.

Her holy talent limit was Legendary or above.

For whatever reason, she was one of the people with the power to shake the future.

In truth, it didn’t make sense.

The Slums were large enough that maybe they had crossed paths a few times.

Sun Heeyoung was always moving around with a crowd of people, after all.

And yet, the fact that Kim Hyunsung hadn’t bothered to recruit her suggested he hadn’t made much of an impression on her.

Could that really happen?

She was a priest with a future already guaranteed to her.

Not only now, but in the future she would only grow stronger.

The thought suddenly struck me that if she had suffered some unforeseen accident in the near future, that would explain why Kim Hyunsung hadn’t focused on her.

The Kim Hyunsung of the first turn must have been overwhelmed with everything at this point in time.

It made sense to think he’d been moving desperately just to adapt to his environment.

He may not have had the luxury of paying attention to rumors drifting out of the Slums or elsewhere.

Lindel was vast, and all kinds of things were happening everywhere at once.

If he had gone out hunting to survive, or locked himself away somewhere to throw himself into training, he might never have heard the stories about the Saint of the Abandoned.

The idea that Sun Heeyoung might have continued living this life as she was flashed through my mind, but realistically, the odds of that were low.

When I thought of the saying that a gem rises above the dung heap, the conclusion I was drawing seemed a little more persuasive.

But it was nothing more than my own brain rot.

Still, the thought that Sun Heeyoung had died in the past without ever doing anything stuck in my head for no reason.

How she died, of course, I had no way of knowing.

She may have died during an expedition after accepting an offer from a clan or guild. Or perhaps a war broke out in the not-too-distant future and swept her away.

She might have fallen ill, or gotten caught up in the interests of a clan or guild and been harmed because of it.

Maybe…

Maybe she was killed by the people of the Slums.

Anything that had happened before Kim Hyunsung’s regression was beyond my knowledge.

All I could do was speculate, but for some reason I found myself convinced that Sun Heeyoung had lived a rather bitter life in the previous turn.

No.

I was almost certain of it.

“Please take good care of me from here on, Heeyoung.”

“The pleasure is mine… please take good care of me too, Hyunsung. I imagine I’ll be relying on you for a while.”

She was the ideal volunteer, after all.