Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Treating the Villagers
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"Line up one by one, please."
To avoid any confusion, Karen got the people lined up.
But the elderly wore dark expressions, as if something was nagging at them.
"Is something wrong?"
"There are folks with worse injuries than ours. Won't you see to them first?"
"Don't worry. We'll treat them too."
The number of people gathered here was just shy of thirty.
Simply pressing the starlight shell against a wound was enough to heal it, and the whole process would take no more than ten minutes.
There was no reason to change the order.
That said, there was a reason these people needed treating first.
"You can use healing magic?"
Diana sounded surprised as she asked.
"It's not magic, but I've got an artifact with healing powers."
"An artifact with healing powers?"
"Yeah. Won't take long."
Stia ventured her opinion cautiously.
"Even so, shouldn't we check on the critical cases first?"
"There's something I want to verify in my own way. We still don't know a thing about this village."
I spoke in a quiet voice, low enough that the villagers couldn't hear.
"I'm going to check for anyone suspicious. Cooperate with me."
"……!"
Stia nodded, as if she'd just pieced it together.
"If there's anyone in the village collaborating with the bandits, or acting as their go-between,
they'll perk up and approach when they spot unfamiliar faces.
Aba, while I'm treating, keep watch for anyone suspicious nearby."
"That's what you meant. Got it."
I raised my voice so everyone could hear.
"Stia, head to where the critical patients are and check on everyone's condition.
If anyone needs immediate treatment, call me."
"Got it."
"Someone, please guide Stia to the injured."
"I'll do it."
"Starting treatments. Come forward one at a time."
"Wait, what about me?"
Diana grabbed my arm and asked.
The haughty noble lady seeking my input? That's progress.
But I had no plans to boss Diana around.
It was a call based on her personality.
Best to let Diana do her thing. That's when she really shines.
"I won't give you any orders. Do what you think is right.
That'll be closest to the right answer."
"You can say decent things sometimes."
"Worth taking as my partner?"
"……."
It was a joke, but Diana looked up at me with serious eyes.
"Not yet. But now I see. You weren't trash after all. Sis was right—I've got no eye for people."
……No, I think her sis had it wrong.
But arguing that I was trash wouldn't help, so I stayed quiet.
For the first time, it felt like Diana was seeing me as an equal.
"I'll go with Stia. Can't leave her alone like this."
"Yeah."
Diana followed after Stia.
"Karen. Help me out?"
"Yeah! I'll be Oppa’s nurse."
"There's a reason I kept you here."
The technique I was about to use couldn't be shown to outsiders.
Treatment was simple: just press the starlight shell to the wound.
But I planned to weave in some "hypnotic interrogation" during that straightforward process.
Picking Karen as my accomplice had been essential.
"Make sure everyone gets treated—no stragglers."
"……Got it!"
I addressed the crowd.
"Starting treatments.
Even if you're not hurt, please get a check-up just in case."
"Thank you, hero candidate...!"
"Show me the wounds."
Everyone had nasty gashes on their backs.
The bandits had dragged off the village girls, looted booze and food, and even beaten the frail elderly left behind.
Their brutality made me grimace.
Good thing I could do something about it.
The starlight shell even mended wounds that had started festering from delayed care.
A true miracle.
"How's it feel?"
"No pain! Incredible...! Thank you."
"Check this out."
I snapped my fingers and put them under.
Two keywords:
"Answer my questions truthfully."
"Cooperate with the hero candidate."
"Anyone in the village connected to the bandits? Or being blackmailed into helping them?
Tell me what you know."
"......Not that I know."
Clear.
I glanced at how Karen was handling things.
"Hey! Get checked before you go."
"I'm fine. No injuries."
"You never know! My dad's just worried, that's all..."
"......Ahem. All right, then."
Karen kept the line orderly while smoothly preventing anyone from slipping away under the pretense of being fine—all with a smile that didn't ruffle feathers.
That's no easy feat. I couldn't pull it off without hypnosis.
But Karen's charm worked on young and old, men and women alike.
It let me focus on treating and interrogating the person in front of me.
Hypnotic interrogation has sky-high reliability.
Even without keywords, most folks enter a trance where their unconscious lays bare, making them follow my words to the letter.
If kingdom soldiers had ever come to liberate the village, the bandits would have gotten wary.
They might've planted spies, or coerced villagers into helping.
Or both.
That's what dealing with "humans" entails.
If it were just fighting monsters, my specialty wouldn't come into play much.
But against scheming humans, hypnosis packs a punch.
Sure, the enemy was a pack of worthless thugs—some possibly turned monstrous—so a fight was unavoidable.
But hypnosis devastates the clever ones: the meticulously prepared, the ones weaving intricate plots and conspiracies.
Those tactics rely on hiding motives and playing mind games.
They dangle money or power to command hordes of underlings.
Hypnosis yanks it all out by the roots—nightmarish matchup for them.
Hypnosis's weakness has always been humanity's wild impulses.
Or bombs dropping out of nowhere.
Or events already in motion.
Irreversible things.
Though... could I reverse a knife wound now?
Bella's "gift"—stolen, really—was one-use, but it could revive the dead.
Normally, just carrying it healed wounds.
Even other people's.
Still, I memorized every face as I treated them, interrogating meticulously.
No cutting corners here—I was putting in extra effort.
My party had three women now.
One was planned, sure.
But no slacking off this time.
I'd hypnotize every last soul in this village if that's what it took to cross safely.
That was my resolve.
"Thank you!"
"My wounds are gone—like they were washed clean!"
Once treatments wrapped up, the elders clutched my hands, shedding tears of gratitude.
Freed from pain, their grim faces finally brightened.
"Where are the other injured?"
"In that building over there!"
"Aba! Let's go."
I called over Aba, who'd been scanning from a distance.
"How'd it go?"
"No one acting suspicious."
"Yeah?"
Maybe I'd overestimated the bandits.
They could be passed out drunk, girls in their arms by now.
But I didn't let my guard down.
Aba could've missed something.
Inside the building.
The seriously hurt lay moaning, barely moving.
Most were villagers who'd fought to defend the place and taken grievous wounds.
One kid was burning with fever.
I started with the child.
Fever broke, but prolonged suffering had left the poor thing limp and speechless.
"Karen. Watch the kids."
"Yeah, got it."
Stia came over.
"Decal. Anything I can do?"
"Untie the bandages on the patients."
"The bandages? Okay."
Everyone was delirious.
No good for hypnotic interrogation.
I split tasks with Stia and treated them fast.
One patient's leg had started rotting from neglect.
Stomach-churning.
Made me respect surgeons all over again.
Even just holding the shell there was grueling.
Stia's hands trembled as she undid bandages.
"It's okay. They'll be fine soon."
I reassured her.
"……Yeah."
Only after the last patient could I finally breathe.
"Treatments done."
"Thank you! How can we ever repay..."
The elders wept.
Some even prayed right to me.
No patients left in the village now. But depleted stamina meant they wouldn't regain consciousness or get up right away, wounds or no.
Real help from them would be tough.
Still, with infections gone and injuries healed, vitality would return soon enough.
"Water supply good?"
"We draw from the well. We can start fetching today."
"No need. Bring a large clean container we can fill with water instead."
"Right away!"
They hauled over a massive wooden tub soon after.
I pulled out the goddess's flask and poured.
Everyone watched, puzzled.
But as the water kept flowing without end, gasps rose up.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
Aba blurted, stunned.
"Artifact."
"Having one that heals this many people is wild enough, but a bottomless water flask? First I've seen.
Where'd you even get treasures like these?"
Diana showed curiosity too.
"Collected 'em back when I was an adventurer."
I bullshitted while filling the tub.
"Use this water only for drinking. Scoop out what you need."
"Understood!"
"We'll remember."
"Could we have your name?"
"Decal."
"Lord Decal! Thank you for saving our village."
"Not saved yet. Gather everyone who knows anything about the bandits—even kids who saw something."
"Right!"
The middle-aged villagers bowed deeply to me—way younger than them—then dashed off.
No need to rush like that.
With the villagers gone, it was just us.
I'd tilted the flask until the tub brimmed, then addressed the group.
"I did some checking for liars in my own way.
Everything the folks we met at the entrance said checks out."
I'd scanned for bandit collaborators.
And verified the chief's tales of their atrocities.
Their info was solid.
No clever deceptions.
Stia trembled, fists clenched in rage.
"I had no idea.
Something this awful happening in a nearby village..."
"You were in Melbrit. No way you'd know."
Not unusual.
People can only handle so much news.
Even heroes aren't exempt. They aspire to protect everyone, but threats like this lurk everywhere.
"I can't forgive myself. That's how it feels."
"Think of it as the job. Bandits are for wiping out anyway, right?"
Aba, who'd been silent, spoke softly.
"Um, that...
Means killing people, right?"
"……."
"Sorry. Couldn't hold it in..."
"Yeah. It means killing."
Had I done it once already?
Murder rolled off my tongue without a hitch.
"But I doubt I'd feel guilty."
"Naturally. World's better off without trash like that."
Diana spat it out plainly.
"We'll make them pay."
"……."
The tub was full.
I stowed the flask.
"Time to hear what happened."
I knew the village's ordeal now.
Next up: figuring out exactly who we were up against.