Picking Up the Abandoned Healer (3)
The moment I spotted that purple cloak, I instantly pieced together what had happened. The purple cloak was the signature garb of the ascetic faction. They were one of the many sects within the Goddess Church, which dominated most of the continent. True to their name, they were filthily conservative and extreme.
I remembered that even when playing the game, the priests from that sect were a bunch of weirdos.
As I approached, the people who noticed me shouted.
"Stay back! It's dangerous!"
It was a man with pale skin and a slender jawline. He had a sword at his waist and a small shield on his arm, but I doubted he could swing them properly.
"There's a very evil aura flowing here."
He seemed to be issuing a grave warning, but his voice was so thin and soft that it felt kinda half-assed. All the priests of the ascetic faction were eunuchs—that's why. They castrated themselves to eliminate lust from the start, as the name implied. But chopping off your balls doesn't kill your sex drive. According to the game setting book, even after castration, they still got hard enough to share some "brotherly love"—or priestly love, rather—among themselves. In other words, gay as hell. Disgusting bastards.
"If it's an evil aura, do you mean demon blood?"
At my question, the other holy priests who had been squatting looked up at me in surprise.
"How did you know?"
"Because I tracked that blood all the way here."
"You came chasing the demon's blood?"
Someone slowly rose from among the group. It was a saintess with purple hair cascading over her holy priest robes.
As the woman approached me slowly, a thick perfume scent wafted on the air currents. Above her head floated a glowing golden ring.
A halo saintess? Those were rare as hell to see for real, and here I was spotting one in this backwater.
As the saintess moved, all the priests bowed their heads.
The saintess greeted me.
"Freedom bound by heavy chains."
"Rest in the silent waves."
I returned the ascetic faction's formal greeting, and a spark of interest lit in the saintess's eyes. The other priests murmured in surprise to each other.
"Brother, what brings you to pursue the demon's blood?"
The saintess asked quietly and demurely.
"I'm a Demon Hunter. I'm tracking it on a commission."
At my words, wariness flickered across the priests' faces. Demon Hunters were rumored to become demons themselves, so it was natural for holy folk to react that way.
But the saintess, her expression unchanged and serene, asked gently,
"Might we know what commission it is?"
"The ranch down that way keeps losing livestock, so they asked me to find the culprit. I checked the broken fence and found demon blood on it."
"Ah, I see. You're doing truly noble work."
"Yeah. But the trail seems to cut off here, so it looks like you esteemed holy folk did something about it."
One of the holy priests stepped forward—a middle-aged man older than the rest.
"We were purifying the unholy, insidious aura with holy power to prevent it from spreading."
Damn. So that's why Hunting Dog's Mark had vanished midway.
"Sorry, but where exactly did you start the holy purification? Once that's gone, I can't track anymore."
"Stay out of it from there on. We'll take over from here."
I shook my head at the middle-aged priest's firm declaration.
"I'm just a poor wretch scraping by on demon hunting. Please have mercy on me."
"We have our own circumstances too. We've been chasing that thing from the Grangtest Empire all the way here. No choice—we holy folk can't ignore evil."
"Even if you hand the demon over to me, you can still achieve your noble goal. I'll handle it cleaner and more thoroughly than you priests ever could."
"True exorcism of evil requires holy purification. That's our duty as priests."
The middle-aged priest showed no sign of backing down.
Figures. For them, slaying demons meant achievements and glory. But with a party like that, fighting a demon would be insanely tough. Holy power worked on demons, sure, but it was basically healing magic at its core. No tank, no DPS—just priests? Good luck against a demon.
Some novels claimed a single holy beam could insta-kill demons, but not in this world. And only that one woman even had a halo.
Plus, the demon we were after devoured a cow or horse a day. Had to be a mid-sized one, at least five meters tall. Those pack unpredictable skills on top of melee attacks—going in like this, they'd all wipe.
"Forget ideals—this is about survival. If you go like that, you'll all die."
"Are you mocking us right now?"
"Not mocking—just stating facts. Seems like only the saintess up front can deal direct damage to demons. What about the rest of you?"
"We can handle ourselves."
Why the hell was this guy butting in ahead of the halo saintess? No halo on him, and he looked way lower rank. Something felt off.
"Hold on."
The saintess raised her hand.
"Brother Demon Hunter, you must fulfill your commission, and we must exorcise that demon."
"Exactly. So hand it over to me."
"Saintess! We can't do that."
The middle-aged priest objected, but the saintess ignored him, eyes fixed on me.
"Brother Demon Hunter."
"Leonar."
"Brother Leonar. I understand your point. As a Demon Hunter, you must hunt demons. But we have our own reasons—we must be the ones to eliminate it."
"I get that, but you'll all wipe if you go like this. I stake my career on it."
"Wipe...?"
The saintess gazed at me steadily, as if weighing my blunt words. After a long silence, she spoke.
"If you show us a bit of faithful sincerity, surely the Goddess would be pleased."
What? So basically, help us out?
"Sure, whatever. I'll show that sincerity. Not that I'm religious or anything."
"Saintess! I told you no! Especially not trusting some heathen like him!"
The middle-aged priest got even more agitated, but the saintess deliberately avoided his gaze.
This was weird. Straight-up insubordination, wasn't it?
"A heathen makes it even better. This is our chance to prove the Goddess's and holy power's greatness right before your eyes."
Holy power's greatness is best shown healing people, but whatever. No real downside to tagging along with priests. And I'm no psycho—I'd feel bad just letting them march to certain death.
"Fine. Let's go. But where exactly did you wipe the blood from on the way down?"
"That mountain over there."
Sigh. They'd erased a ton. Dumbasses. How do you track a demon while scrubbing its trail?
I grumbled inwardly and led the way up the slope.
Man, a halo saintess though. That was seriously valuable. Our guild could really use one like her. But they cost a fortune—no way we could afford it now. Healers can wait till the guild grows bigger.
As expected, no demon blood in the mountainside either. The dense foliage meant Hunting Dog's Mark wouldn't show properly even if I detected any. And with the mark broken, I'd need fresh blood to reactivate it somewhere.
Guess I'd have to use Blind Vision. Sketchy to go blind in a forest that might have a demon lurking, but no choice.
"Quiet down for a sec. Need to detect demon traces."
I knelt in a thicket for cover and activated Blind Vision. My sight went black as my other senses sharpened to the max.
The scuttle of a tiny caterpillar. Steady frog breaths. Dripping water from the ground. Leaves whispering in the gentle breeze.
Grass scent from crickets rubbing legs. Dusty mushroom smell. Bitter wood root underground. Pine sap on bark.
A sudden waft of heavy perfume shattered my focus.
What the hell? The saintess's scent?
I refocused, skirting the thick perfume trail, and scanned further. Just before Blind Vision wore off, I finally detected something.