Picking Up the Abandoned Healer (9)
Hungry lunchtime. As Leana set the table in the consultation room, she grumbled.
"Office manager, let's buy a round table to put in the living room on the first floor. The food smells are soaking into the consultation room—it's really not great."
"I was planning to get some furniture with this quest payment anyway."
"Great. Let's eat and head out. I'm excited."
"I'll go wake the saintess."
I went up to this floor and stood in front of the saintess's door.
"Saintess! Time for lunch!"
I knocked, but there was no sound—she must still be asleep. I went inside, and sure enough, Celestine was lying on her side, hugging her pillow and sleeping like the dead. Her rag of a saintess robe was hanging on the chair, and she was wearing Leana's casual clothes now. She looked like just an ordinary girl from a good home, not a saintess at all.
Strangely, her halo was floating above the bed even while she lay there.
Is there no way to hide that thing?
I was about to shake her shoulder when she suddenly whispered with her eyes still closed.
"Don't worry…."
"What?"
"Don't worry, kids…. I'll protect you…."
She was mumbling nonsense—sleep-talking, probably. Was she dreaming of those dead priests?
"Saintess. Wake up. Lunchtime."
I gently shook her shoulder, and she slowly opened her eyes. When our gazes met, she jolted in surprise, sat up abruptly, and looked around wildly.
"Where am I?"
"This is our guild's room on the second floor. I said I'd wake you for lunch."
"Oh… right…."
Celestine shook her head weakly, and her lush purple hair rippled like waves.
"I suddenly relaxed so much that I passed out without a care in the world."
"Come downstairs. Let's eat."
I left the room first, and Celestine followed me down the stairs.
"Come on in, everyone~!"
Leana, apron on and wielding tongs and a ladle, called out cheerfully. As the saintess sat, Leana scooped steaming tomato stew into her personal bowl.
"It's nothing fancy, but eat up, Saintess."
"Thank you…."
The saintess didn't seem to have much appetite and just poked at her food with her spoon.
"Carla's going to handle the cremations for the priests."
I filled her in on what we'd done that morning over lunch.
"And we got promises from them to keep everything about yesterday completely under wraps."
"Thank you…."
"What about the ashes after cremation, Saintess?"
"Is there a river nearby?"
I glanced at Leana, who answered right away.
"There's the Lumiere River not far from here. That should work."
"Perfect. We'll scatter them there."
The saintess nodded.
"That wraps up things for the dead priests. Now, onto you, Saintess."
Her spoon stopped mid-stir in the innocent stew.
"What are your plans going forward? We already talked it over at dawn, but…."
"Well…. Honestly, I still don't know…."
Celestine set down her spoon and hung her head.
"I can't go back to the sect… but I can't not go back either…. I manifested holy power so young that I never learned any real skills…."
"Exactly. You'll have to use your holy power to make a living, at least somewhat normally."
"Yes…. But I have no idea where or how…."
"Yeah."
I glanced at Leana beside me, signaling with my eyes, and she gave a slight nod. I'd already laid out my full plan to her.
"Saintess, let me make a proposal."
I set down my spoon too and got serious.
"For now, you're not going back to the sect, right?"
"Probably… I can't…."
"Yeah. You'd die if you did. So don't. Besides, to the outside world, you're already dead—killed during a demon hunt yesterday."
"Yes…."
She nodded slowly.
"So you're not a saintess anymore. Just an ordinary woman who can use holy power."
"I guess…."
Celestine's face darkened sharply.
"But like I said, getting a job using holy power is tough. Healer work means joining a guild or opening a clinic, but everything's officially registered, so the church would find out. And you can't do healer work without registering—it's how the business works, even faking poor folks to get subsidies and benefits."
"Yes…."
"Going illegal? If I read you right, that'd be as dangerous as going back to the sect."
"You're right…."
"So join our guild."
"Yes… okay… WHAT?!"
Celestine's head snapped up in shock.
"What did you say?!"
"Join our guild."
"Why?!"
"A guild needs a healer or two. Plus, you can help with other stuff."
Me handling quests as the de facto office manager, Leana buried in admin as guild master—we couldn't run this place with just two people forever. Even if Celestine couldn't solo quests yet, she'd be a huge help with guild chores and odd jobs. And she was a halo saintess. Holy power guaranteed, even if she wasn't the sharpest. You couldn't buy that with money.
Even if her story from dawn turned out to be a lie, no big deal. I held the knife here, and taking in a halo saintess was pure profit.
"What do you think?"
"I-I've never even considered…."
She stammered, avoiding my eyes.
"I deceived you, Brother… and my personality's not great, I'm not sociable, and I'm not smart…."
"Fooling me? Water under the bridge. Personality stuff—we can work on it bit by bit."
Celestine clamped her mouth shut, lost in thought. I waited, scooping up some more stew.
Mm. Honestly, Leana's cooking skills… aren't great. Not just because I'd eaten nothing but spice bombs in my old life. I'd hit up tons of restaurants during great demon raids, and good ones were good. Oh well. Leana wasn't a chef. Once we had more members, we'd hire a cook. I didn't want to run this guild like some cheap office drone slinging lunch.
"If…."
After a long silence, Celestine spoke up.
"If you and Sister are okay with it… I'll impose on you for a while… like that."
"I'm all for it. It's been lonely up here alone anyway."
Leana smiled warmly. I turned to Celestine, who managed an awkward smile back.
"But there are a few conditions."
"What are they?"
"First, no official guild membership. Don't want the church catching wind, slim chance or not."
"Got it."
"No salary for now, till the guild grows. Guild master and I are unpaid too."
"That's fine. Food and a bed are enough."
"Finally, help with guild chores. Cleaning, shopping, that sort of thing."
She went quiet at that. Her official rank on sect orders was Chief Saintess—high enough for a small city region, per the game lore. With the halo, you could guess how pampered she was before whistleblowing. Now? Fugitive "dead" girl doing grunt work for no pay. Not easy to swallow.
"I can do it. Just tell me what."
But she answered with resolve, like she'd made up her mind.
"Good. Now, about titles."
"Call me Celestine. And since I'm not official… you can drop the honorifics."
Surprisingly, she lowered herself first, clarifying our dynamic.
"Alright, Celestine. Let's get along."
"Thank you for taking me in, Guild Master."
"Nah, I'm the office manager. She's the guild master."
Leana raised her hand with a grin. Celestine blinked in confusion for a second, then bowed to her.
"Please take care of me, Guild Master."
"You too, Celestine."
And just like that, the ascetic sect's excommunicated saintess Celestine became our guild's unofficial healer. Time to train her up right.
"Speaking of, that halo."
I pointed at the one floating over her head.
"It draws eyes. Can't you get rid of it?"
"This?"
As she spoke, it started fading. Not completely—it was still faintly visible up close.
"Probably invisible in daylight. But at night, even dimmed, no hiding it."
"Fair enough. Stick to daytime in town."
"Yes, got it."
"Can you grab it or something? Nah, forget I asked."
I waved it off, and she brought up something else.
"Um, I have a request for you and the guild master too."
"Shoot."
"My personality isn't the greatest, and I'm not smart. Please bear with me."
"Sure. We can manage."
No one's ever called themselves dumb and actually been as sharp as her. Up to now, Celestine seemed like an emotional airhead, but hey—a sliver of hope.
With everything settled, she finally relaxed and started on the tomato stew. A few spoons in, she said she was full—Leana looked pretty bummed.
Late afternoon that day. The sun dipping low, casting a red sunset glow. After a thirty-minute walk, at a tributary of the Lumiere River, Celestine scattered the cremated priests' ashes.
Wading in up to her waist, she sobbed continuously as she spread them. It was so heartbreaking that even Leana, watching, got misty-eyed.
"She's a good woman. A halo saintess gets treated like royalty just for breathing, but she stood up to the sect's bullshit anyway. Knowing it could all go up in flames."
"Yeah."
We stood by the riverbank, watching her under the sunset for a long time.
Unofficial healer acquired. Now the real start begins. Before that great demon spawns again, bulk up the guild and cash in big.