The Healer Who Wasn't a Healer
Under the pile of rubble, two werewolf corpses were discovered, bringing the request to a definitive close.
They had even found traces of the missing party members’ possessions or remains within the cave debris, and had managed to locate evidence from several other victims. The completion rate could be considered to exceed 100 percent.
“Thank you, adventurers. Thank you so much.”
Each grieving family member of the victims wore sorrow on their faces, leaving them unable to say anything more.
Feeling the heavy weight of their gratitude, Ahin’s mood grew even darker.
Suddenly, someone approached him.
“Ahin, you’re here?”
“...Why? What now?”
It was none other than Jina.
After receiving treatment from Ahin right inside the cave, she could finally walk around with her legs fully healed. She approached with a somewhat discontented expression.
“That survivor... he’s perfectly fine.”
“...”
“From what we saw, his right calf was completely gone.”
He was the person who had been crawling on the ground with his ankle severed, desperately trying to escape the cave.
And now he had personally guided them along the path to the cave, allowing Ahin and the others to rescue them.
“...What were you thinking?”
“Thinking about what?”
“That you don’t have the ability to casually reveal yourself like that. You know that better than anyone.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s fine? What kind of nonsense is that...!”
“It’s better than just rolling around unable to do anything.”
His face looked unusually pale as he spoke.
The amount of blood he had lost from being hit by stone fragments and left untreated for so long was no small matter.
Only now had the bleeding stopped and the wound bandaged, but he had still been oozing blood slightly even until he carried Er and Jina back into the cave.
With his healing ability used as well, Ahin’s condition was probably at its worst.
His Heal skill could regenerate the missing parts, but it required enormous stamina and mental strength.
He probably hadn’t been able to walk properly in the first place. Yet he had climbed the mountain and searched the cave in that state, so of course his condition was terrible.
Noticing the worry in Jina’s eyes, Ahin quickly added, “The severed ankle belonged to the people who were ambushed. The wolf cubs didn’t get to eat much of it, so it was easier to find.”
“You... you’re saying that now...!”
If that had been the case, they would have discovered it long ago.
Right now, Ahin was lying to Jina to keep her from bothering him.
As if it were nothing. As if it were her needless worry.
Just as Jina noticed his thoughts and began to speak with a determined look in her eyes.
“So what are you going to do?”
Ahin changed the subject with that remark, his golden eyes dim as he looked at Jina.
“I’m not going back. In fact, I never had any intention of returning even if you tried to force me.”
“...”
“So don’t exert yourself unnecessarily and get hurt again. Let’s just turn back—”
“No, that’s impossible.”
“Hey.”
Jina, who had interrupted his words, glared at Ahin.
Outwardly, it looked as if she was trying to grab and shake him, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Jina never did things that Ahin didn’t want her to do.
If something was truly something he hated and disliked, she wouldn’t do it either.
Knowing that his mouth said he hated it but his body was honest, excessive expressions of affection—
“Get off!”
Ahin, who had finally peeled her off, watched her tumble some distance away.
Jina asked, “Are you really not going back?”
“Yeah.”
“...You’re serious.”
That was what he had wanted to confirm.
Maybe he was hoping someone would take him back.
Maybe someone was waiting for him to be grabbed.
He had chased after him with that thought, but he really had no intention of returning to the temple.
Coming to Carpe, where the temple’s influence was weak, had been part of that plan.
The temple in Carpe had no knights and its own scale was small, so the church elders couldn’t exert much power there.
If he really wanted to escape the church and live freely, there was no better place than this one.
“I see. If that’s truly your wish...”
“Sorry.”
“...Still, I have to give you something.”
With those words, Jina took out something she had been holding in her arms.
It was a small box wrapped in clean paper, left in the lodging house they had rented in the village below the mountain before the missing persons search.
Ahin took the box from Jina without saying a word and looked at her.
“I saw it after I left. It seems my teacher had already put it in my bag at some point.”
“This... surely...”
“Is that what you think?”
Ahin, hearing Jina’s words, carefully opened the box.
Inside was a single neatly folded sheet of paper and
“...a Rosario.”
“It was because my teacher instructed me not to attend the ordination ceremony. That’s how it’s reported.”
“...”
He had been a priest officially affiliated with the Knight Order, performing his duties in name only.
A young priest who was sent to another place to handle an unavoidable mission just a day before his formal priest ordination.
“The elders removed the pretext to chase after you.”
This was the message his teacher had sent him.
Wear the Rosario around your neck, not someone else’s. Do as you please.
Ahin, who wasn’t slow enough to misunderstand the rough handwriting on the paper, recalled his memories.
She had chased him down like a ghost since childhood and brought him back.
Now that he was older, maybe his teacher had given up too.
Just as that thought crossed his mind and he felt a faint sadness,
“Uwaaaah! Save me!!”
“It’s fine. People don’t die as easily as you think.”
“...Bullshit.”
At that moment, Ahin shuddered while recalling past memories where he had shown off his presence.
Meanwhile, Jina, who had been watching his Rosario, asked, “...Are you going to wear that?”
Ahin shook his head at her question.
“No.”
“Then...”
“Still, I’ll keep it.”
He wouldn’t wear it.
The spot was already occupied by someone else’s Rosario.
But he had to keep it anyway.
“If I throw it away, it’s a waste.”
“...”
Looking at Ahin saying that, Jina smirked and then said,
“In that case, I’ll be going. If you really have no intention of returning, there’s nothing I can do.”
She turned her back with a calm acceptance of defeat.
If he truly didn’t want to go back, she had no intention of dragging him.
She might die if he ended up hating her.
“...Take care of your body. Don’t get hurt anywhere.”
Ahin’s voice, filled with concern for his senior sister for the first time, was directed at her.
Even though she hadn’t turned her back, Jina smiled at his words.
“Yeah. Thanks for worrying, oppa.”
She walked away, her black hair tied in a single ponytail swaying.
The way she moved forward without hesitation was different from the one who only looked back in regret.
Just as Ahin was staring at her retreating back with a bitter smile.
“Ahin.”
Er, who had just met Jina and approached him, said with a somewhat ambiguous expression.
“You two... were you saying something?”
“...Nothing particular.”
“It doesn’t seem that way. You were smiling while going.”
At that moment, the smile on Jina’s face as she passed by him was full of something.
Perhaps she had heard some good news.
Was it just a misunderstanding?
While thinking that, Er showed a puzzled expression.
Ahin, on the other hand, showed a disinterested expression and said,
“Why are you here? Did you finish talking with the villagers?”
“Yes. If it’s a thank-you... you heard it too, right?”
“I heard it. It was definitely a thank-you... but from my perspective, it was utter crap.”
“Because the dead don’t come back to life. And you treated that hunter’s severed leg, right...?”
“That complaint was already taken care of by Jina.”
“I didn’t come to complain.”
Er’s words surprised Ahin, so he asked with wide eyes,
“Then?”
“Ah, well...”
There were several things he wanted to ask.
But just as her voice was about to come out, a memory stopped him.
“You absolutely cannot pretend to know Ahin?”
A story he had heard in the pitch-black cave where he couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
If that was the story of what the man in front of him had experienced.
Was it necessary to put it into words now?
If he got angry and asked how he knew? If he got angry at Jina’s words and turned on her?
And if, really.
His mouth would say that she and Er looked alike?
Would Er be able to handle that?
“...”
“...Why? You were about to say something and stopped.”
“Um, it’s nothing. I don’t need to talk about it.”
In the end, she didn’t have the courage to ask.
She simply changed the subject.
Just then, Er noticed something in Ahin’s hand and said,
“Ahin, what’s that in your hand...?”
“Ah, Jina gave it to me. It was a trade.”
“You... received it?”
It was a silver Rosario.
It was similar to one Ahin had seen before, exactly like the one Jina had shown, and especially a brand-new-looking Rosario.
Ahin, holding it with a dull smile, said,
“This is something I received from someone else. I didn’t even think about exchanging it... but somehow, I ended up receiving it.”
There were many things he wanted to ask her, but he couldn’t say them out loud.
So he hid his true feelings and asked carefully.
“...Then what are you going to do with it?”
“I should keep it well. It’s not something I can entrust to someone else.”
Even as he said that, did he know that he had received a Rosario from someone else?
He had no words to say to her.
He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t.
It was too frightening.
●
The hunter disappearance incident in the village below the mountain had a happy ending.
Just one person had survived with extremely good luck — a tragic ending that could happen anywhere.
No one knew why the werewolf had appeared outside its usual habitat, but the case was considered closed.
Several days had passed since that story had reached the guild.
“Here is the reward. Thank you for your hard work, adventurers.”
Er took the pouch from the unknown guild staff member and immediately handed it to her companions.
“As expected, it’s not much. If I think about getting new swords and armor... it’s a loss. A loss.”
“Still, it’s better than nothing. And I have no broken items to report, right?”
“...How annoying.”
With that remark, Er handed one of the divided pouches to Ahin.
Ahin took the pouch with a smile at the corner of his mouth and began muttering to himself.
“Hahaha, with this I can finally sleep under a roof tonight?”
“...You’re still worried about the lodging? Why?”
“I’ve spent all my earnings on medical bills. What can I do?”
Looking back, this request had been the first time Ahin hadn’t received treatment money.
This request had consumed no special items, so it was the first time he had received the full reward intact.
“Good, good. If it stays like this...”
“Huh?”
“Why?”
“That’s...”
Instead of answering, Ahin showed the hand that had been in the pouch.
In Ahin’s hand was only a few copper coins.
“Copper coins...?”
“No, no matter what, silver coins should be in there...?”
Er was also surprised by this.
She had even opened her own share pouch to check, but
“My share is properly inside?”
“What? Then why only mine?!”
That had only made him angrier.
“Shit! How the hell is this job! Wait, I’ll go to the administration and...”
“No need!!”
It was a familiar voice.
And it was a voice that definitely shouldn’t be heard here.
Creak, creak, as if a wooden puppet was turning its head.
Ahin’s gaze turned to the back of the two.
A woman with black hair tied in a single ponytail and sparkling blue eyes.
She wore a white priest’s robe that looked like it had short hem and sleeves, and an unusually noticeable Rosario around her chest.
Seeing her appearance, a voice of disbelief came from Ahin’s mouth.
“J... Jina...?”
“That’s right!”
“Y... you... why are you here?”
His only senior sister, Jina, had disappeared from in front of him that day.
After that, she had stayed overnight in the village and returned to Carpe to report all the events to the guild, and he had never seen her face again.
“You weren’t supposed to... return...?”
She should have naturally returned to the church.
But the woman in front of him was unbelievable.
“Fufufu, I did say I was returning, didn’t I? I didn’t say I was returning to the church, though.”
“...What?”
“And look at this!”
With those words, Jina showed
“...Scrap Iron Plate.”
“Jina, you... surely...”
“That’s right!”
She smiled confidently and said,
“I’m not just an adventurer anymore!”
“You crazy bitch!”
“What! My teacher said to do whatever I want!”
“This insane bastard...!”
Ahin, who had been about to explode in anger but couldn’t figure out how to be angry, was told by Jina,
“Well, since that’s the way it turned out, just bear with it.”
“What do I bear with?! With a Scrap Iron rank, what the hell...!”
“Ah, I mean bear with it. Just endure it!”
“You crazy bitch... wait, then what about my share...?”
Looking at him with a suspicious gaze, Jina said,
“Thanks for paying my adventurer registration fee?”
“Y... you... you thief!!”
The adventurer guild had quite a few clumsy parts.
Since she had revealed her identity as a formal priest and gained trust, and had appointed Ahin as her guardian, no one had any complaints.
After all, a Scrap Iron adventurer was bound to die several people a day.
If someone like her could prove her identity, a lot of tedious procedures could be skipped.
If the registrant had no money, that was the guardian’s responsibility.
In the end, for the guild that only needed to receive the registration fee, it was simply a matter of withholding the reward from Ahin.
“Thank you, oppa~”
“You... come here. Come here!”
“Really? Are you really going to go?”
“...No, no, I misspoke. Just go, just go! Don’t come!!”
“Ahin, please take care~”
“Uwaaaah!!!”
It was the moment a man’s scream echoed.