Busy Weekend (3)
A mysterious woman entered my field of vision, glittering with the star-dust the butterflies had scattered.
…What the hell. Who is she?
Even in the original story, Yeon Hajin had simply acquired the star-dust and returned; there had been no mention of him meeting anyone.
I carefully approached the fallen woman.
When I held my hand under her nose, a soft, ragged breath brushed against my fingers. She was still alive, at least.
Her clothes were soaked with blood and torn in places, but the original form looked light and airy, almost antique in style.
The most distinctive feature, however, was her pointed ears.
…A fairy race?
The original had mentioned that fairies had pointed ears. Of course, it had also mentioned that every last one of them was under thirty centimeters tall.
I gripped my sniper rifle and hesitated.
…Do I save her first?
Crouched there, poking at her soft cheek while I wrestled with the decision, I finally got a reaction from her side as well.
“Ugh…”
Oh. If I’m lucky she might come around without any healing at all.
Slap—! Slap—!
“Uuuuugh…!”
When I struck her cheek with more force, her reaction grew louder.
Encouraged, I raised my hand higher to hit her harder—and in that exact moment her eyelids fluttered.
I froze with my hand still raised and watched. Slowly she lifted her lids, revealing unfocused pink irises.
A beat later our eyes met, and her body gave a violent start.
“Wh-who—”
She tried to speak, only to dissolve into dry, wracking coughs.
Watching her, I holstered the rifle and simply cast a weak heal.
In this state she didn’t look like she would become a major threat even if I patched her up a little.
Perhaps she felt the warmth spreading through her body; her eyes widened slightly.
I had carefully controlled the output, so her condition hadn’t improved dramatically, but at least the focus had returned to her gaze.
“A-are you, perchance, a healer…?”
“Who are you?”
“If you are indeed a healer, then hasten and heal this lady…!”
Is she out of her mind?
I was already debating whether I should heal someone who ought to be begging on their hands and knees, and this was what she came out with.
“Why should I?”
“H-how insolent…! What manner of lowborn dares—”
She tried to shout, only to break into another fit of coughing. A thin trail of blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth.
“…Should you save this lady’s life, a vast reward shall be bestowed. Therefore, heal me at once!”
Apparently she had finally realized just how precarious her condition was; her attitude flipped in an instant and she started talking about compensation.
“What kind of reward?”
“T-this lady shall grant you the glory of serving at her side! Count yourself honored!”
Bang—!
“Hyeek—!”
I loaded a round with mana and fired it right past her head.
“W-what is the meaning of this…!”
“Something better than that. Got a real reward?”
“Y-you…!”
She trembled at my words, then suddenly bellowed,
“Do you not comprehend what a magnificent honor it is to serve Aileen Lu Silgrion—highest branch of the World Tree and sole heir of Elenium…?!”
World Tree, Elenium, Aileen—every single word was brand-new to me.
“You a fairy?”
I asked while staring at her pointed ears. Aileen’s face went scarlet and she flew into a rage.
“W-what?! How dare you utter such blasphemy…!”
“If you’re not, you’re not. No need to get so mad.”
“You wench are clearly mad…! To dare place this lady on the same level as those little day-flies…!”
“Pretty sure the crazy one here is you. I don’t know where that confidence comes from, but without a proper reward I’m not healing you.”
I wasn’t cold-blooded enough to ignore a dying person, but I also wasn’t flower-brained enough to start pumping healing bullets into the first life-form I met inside a dungeon.
Demanding compensation right now was less about actually wanting payment for the heal and more about securing some kind of collateral for my own safety.
However…
“……”
Aileen only hesitated, fretting for a long while without managing to speak.
Watching her, I became certain.
“Hey. You’re broke, aren’t you.”
“H-how insolent…”
All her earlier bluster had vanished; she muttered the words timidly.
“Haah…”
At my sigh she flinched, then carefully continued.
“A-at present this lady possesses nothing, yet once I return to the station that is rightfully mine, I shall without fail repay you…”
“…If you’ve got no money, pay with your body.”
“W-what—”
Whatever she imagined, Aileen’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
“…Combat ability, that kind of thing. Got any?”
“T-this lady understood it that way as well…!”
“Who said anything? Anyway—can you even fight?”
Truthfully the question was less about collecting combat power as payment and more about gauging how dangerous she might be.
Of course there was no guarantee she would answer honestly, so I watched her reaction carefully. The deliberately ambiguous “body” remark had been meant to scatter her attention and draw out a more honest response.
Fortunately—if that was the word—Aileen’s reaction was completely transparent.
“This lady is destined to become the greatest Spiritist of all ages…!”
“…Destined?”
“T-though I am feeble now, given time I shall grow sufficiently strong…!”
“I don’t care about the future. How strong are you right this second?”
“……”
At my question Aileen clamped her mouth shut and exercised her right to remain silent.
The way she avoided my eyes suggested she hadn’t seen through my intent; she simply seemed embarrassed by her own weakness.
I pointed at a rock a short distance outside the cave.
“Can you smash that from here right now?”
“……”
So she can’t.
That level was fine with me.
“First explain why you’re lying here like this.”
“Th-then you will heal me…?”
“Depends.”
Aileen hesitated a moment longer, then spilled her story.
It was a long, rambling explanation. The core of it went like this:
Born a High Elf who served the World Tree more closely than any other, she had been raised as the next emperor of the elven nation Elenium. A few days ago, however, several elves who had colluded with the Union Church set fire to the World Tree and staged a rebellion. Thanks to the sacrifice of the other High Elves she had barely managed to flee across dimensions alone.
The part that naturally caught my attention was anything involving the Union Church.
“Union Church?”
“Those vile scoundrels dared set fire to Mother…!”
Even half-dead she still raised her voice, veins standing out on her neck as she spat her hatred.
“Those guys who wear robes with two overlapping circles drawn on them?”
“…! You know those bastards who deserve to be torn apart…?!”
So they really were the same Union Church from this world.
At the same time a memory flashed through my mind.
A few days earlier Yeon Hajin had dragged away the gate boss—Kagel, the Human Butcher of the Union Church.
According to the original, the Union Church worshiped outer gods.
The outer god they served shattered fragments of its will and fired them at random into other dimensions. Those who happened to come into contact with a fragment would then sow chaos in their own world in order to summon the outer god, until finally the descended entity swallowed the entire dimension.
“So you really want to kill a whole lot of Union Church people, huh?”
“Is that not the most natural desire…!”
After a rough power assessment and ideological screening, I decided it was safe enough to keep her alive.
“All right. I’ll heal you.”
“…! Upon the leaves of my Mother I swear I shall repay you!”
I pulled the sniper rifle from my inventory and leveled it at Aileen. Her pupils quivered slightly.
“I-is this truly healing…?”
“Relax. The effect’s great.”
Bang—! Rat-tat-tat—!
I fired successive healing rounds into her. Little by little her wounds closed and color returned to her face.
A moment later a revitalized Aileen sprang to her feet.
“You…! Though your ears are short, your features are handsome even by the standards of my kin. This lady therefore recognizes you as an Honorary High Elf and as her own attendant…!”
“No thanks.”
I snorted and ignored the nonsense she had started spouting again—only for a system window to appear before my eyes.
◈ Under the blessing of the Mother of Life, the World Tree, the effects of healing and support-type skills are amplified.
I jumped in surprise, yanked out my handgun, and fired a healing round into my own forearm.
“…?”
…What? Barely any difference?
Another system window promptly appeared.
Existence of the World Tree cannot currently be confirmed.
Effect of Title: <Honorary High Elf (S)> has been temporarily deactivated.
What kind of scam is this?
Give me back my skill amplification…
While I stared blankly at the system window, Aileen hesitated a moment, then asked,
“P-perchance, can you not only heal but also lift curses…?”
“Curses? I can manage that, yeah.”
Thanks to my Purification skill I could handle curses to a certain extent. My level was still low, so strong ones would be tough, but still.
“T-truly…?!”
Color flooded Aileen’s face at my answer.
She immediately waved her hand through empty air, opened a subspace, and drew out a small seed.
“Th-then, could you lift the curse on this as well…?”
Germination is impossible due to the curse.
Black miasma was steadily rising from the seed she held out to me.
“…Hey. You said you didn’t have anything.”
“A-ahem…! T-this was never something that could be given as compensation…! How could I sell Mother’s legacy merely to save my own hide…!”
“Haah…”
I sighed and took the seed.
Setting it on the ground, I loaded Purification into the sniper rifle and fired.
Bang—! Bang-bang—!
Even after several shots the black aura only wavered briefly and showed no sign of vanishing.
“Maybe later, but not right now.”
“L-later is still possible…?”
“Probably?”
The way the curse was already trembling a little suggested that once my level rose, Purification grew stronger, and I switched to a better gun, I would be able to cleanse it.
Having glimpsed that possibility herself, Aileen latched onto me with eyes full of hope.
“I beg of you…! If you but lift this curse, this lady shall give you everything she has!”
…For some reason I didn’t trust that one bit.
— Aileen Illustration —