The Healer’s Burden
It was a seasoned hunter.
Even if it had aged, even if it had been pushed to the bottom of the pack in the hierarchy of its group, it remained a predator that could easily hunt down the weakest prey.
That was how it had made its home in the burrow—a matter of recent days.
It held the old spear it had stolen from some nameless human, just as it always did, enjoying the tense-free hunting of lesser prey.
The moment it spotted the group fleeing into the tunnels, it claimed the burrow.
When bored, it stabbed the trapped prey to death inside; when hungry, it dumped the food they had stockpiled into its maw.
A life of dull, unexciting routine.
It was the only thing that bothered it.
The prey were timid.
They never even thought of rebelling against it, and remained utterly powerless until their very last breath.
That was why it needed fresh prey now.
It had decided the overflowing pack of kobolds in the outer forest would make good targets—something that, upon reflection, pleased it more than it expected.
Kobolds were stupider than the prey, yet far more agile, and they knew how to flee, so the hunt was enjoyable.
Whether a few of them died or not, it was its hobby to lure the kobolds to it and drop them into the burrow.
When released, they initially tried to attack.
But after a few stabs from its spear, they turned tail like defeated dogs and fled.
It would chase them down and snap their necks.
That was what reminded it, even now, that it was still a hunter.
But like everything else, it had an end.
Eventually the kobolds got tired of being hunted too.
That was why, right now, it was agonizing over whether to leave the burrow forever.
Humans.
In the past, when it was still young and strong.
The memory surfaced of the humans who had attacked its group back then.
They carried weapons that reeked—stinking of filth—and the sunlight made them glint as they hacked its comrades without mercy.
But in the end they died too.
Pierced through the neck, they became just chunks of meat.
Its young days, chewing their flesh and clutching the stolen blades, had been so radiant.
Blood that had never cooled still flowed inside its body—the blood of a lifelong hunter, a warrior.
That was why it waited.
For the human female who had blocked its spear.
For the shimmering human who had stopped its attack that never missed.
It wondered how much that would excite it.
How delicious her flesh would taste.
—Kieeeeeek!!!
An excited howl burst from its maw.
It was eager.
It couldn’t wait.
●
—Kieeeeeek!!!
“That sound…”
“…It echoes a bit, so they’re probably a ways off.”
It was a monster’s cry it had heard before.
A faint, tearing wail that spread through the air.
Both of them recognized it instantly as the lizardman’s howl.
Hearing it made its wrist throb even more.
By the time Er had unconsciously swallowed dry, the spear’s power still burning in her mind,
“Ahin, that’s…”
Ahin, who had been leading, pointed with his finger and spoke.
“…Our luggage?”
“Really?”
Startled by Ahin’s words, Er hurried over, crouched, and checked the object lying on the ground.
It was a bag.
The lizardmen had dropped it while fleeing for their lives.
It was covered in dirt from being rolled along the floor, but Er’s voice brightened anyway.
“Luck’s on our side! With supplies, this will be much better!”
“…If it’s actually decent supplies.”
“Excuse me?”
Er tilted her head, puzzled.
Ahin, having passed her, lifted the bag and flipped it upside down.
The moment it hit the ground, a loud clatter rang out.
Er yelped in surprise.
“Ahin! What the heck is…”
“Look, see how many useful things we have.”
He aimed the light in his palm at the ground while speaking.
The result left Er speechless without realizing it.
It was nothing but pebbles.
Not even the upper half of the bag had been worth carrying—just a handful of rations and a little water, the rest rocks and mud clumps.
“W-what is this…”
“The new arrival loaded the bag. He probably meant to feed me nothing but garbage from the start, you bastard.”
If they had been unlucky, the contents of the flipped bag might have been something else.
Evidently someone had prepared the explosives used to block the cave entrance with the sole intention of trapping Ahin inside.
“…”
Er’s face, already pale from realizing the truth, grew even more ghostly.
Had her outstretched hand caused this?
This time too, had she meddled unnecessarily—
“…Er!”
“Huh? Yes?”
“Snap out of it! Why are you thinking so deeply?”
Ahin said this while selecting rations and water from the pebble pile.
It was just enough to restore them properly, so they would have nothing left after eating.
Ahin handed a few sealed rations to Er.
“This is all we have. There’s a bit more water, though…”
“…Even if there is, it’s no use. We’ll either get killed by a lizardman before we finish or escape—either way, we’re done for.”
Er loosened the knot on the ration bag, reached inside, and pulled out a simple unleavened bread.
She bit into a few pieces, swallowed them with the water she had been carrying, and spoke.
“Ugh… not exactly delicious.”
“…It’s just bread, what else?”
Ahin, following suit, swallowed the same, tossed the bag aside, and added:
“…It would have been nice if we still had the magic-stone lantern.”
“Excuse me?”
The tip of Er’s finger, pointed at the shattered lantern lying beside a blood-soaked fragment, made Ahin shake his head.
Passing the spot where the bag and lantern had been, Er reached the deeper, unexplored part of the cave and spoke in a low voice.
“…We should be careful now. Lizardmen have excellent senses.”
“It’s already too late, isn’t it?”
“I think it’s okay because the howl was far away. Besides… there might still be a few goblins or kobolds left.”
Statistically, the lizardmen had probably killed them all, but they had to prepare for the worst.
Right now the only one who could fight was Er herself.
This man Ahin could not attack because of that terrible curse.
If he didn’t take responsibility for dragging them here—
“…Er, that…”
Ahin’s voice cut through her thoughts again.
The one who had been leading with faint light now asked in a small voice.
“That… isn’t it a goblin?”
“…It looks like one.”
A goblin stood with its back to them.
It gripped a crude stone axe and stared at the ground as if searching for something—
“…I’ll take care of it before it notices us.”
Er gripped her sword, now mud-caked, in her left hand and spoke.
Her shield and sword were both buried in mud, yet they were unharmed.
And since the opponent was careless right now, even her unfamiliar left hand could easily slice a goblin.
Er thought this, lowered her body, and swung the sword.
The goblin’s reaction was strange.
No matter how quietly it moved, it should have reacted when so close.
Or even before that—it hadn’t moved at all.
It was like a corpse—
“Er, to the side!!!”
Ahin’s piercing scream gave Er enough reason to twist.
Reflexively she twisted and stepped aside, and what she saw was the rusted, bloodied tip of the spear.
And in that instant,
Er realized the goblin she had replaced was not just stabbed through the head—it had no head.
She gulped.
Before she could even adjust her stance, the lizardman burst out with its cry—
—Kieeeeeek!!!!
It lunged with the spear dripping blood, aiming at Er.
It was a trap, a calculated strike meant to exploit carelessness.
The expert hunter’s trick—hiding in the darkness, waiting for the prey to expose its opening.
Er barely twisted her waist in time to avoid it.
“Ugh…”
—Kieeeeeek!!!
Even though the distance was closing, why didn’t it close in right away?
Was it confidence that it would win even if it rushed?
Or was there something else it wanted from her?
The lizardman kept pounding the ground with the spear shaft.
Watching it wave the shaft as if expecting something, Er finally understood the meaning only after it took its throwing stance.
“…Is it telling me to raise my shield?”
She instinctively reached for the shield on her back, and the lizardman roared again.
The reaction was almost like a child watching a fun toy, so Er couldn’t help but shiver.
It knew she was strong.
It knew she could never beat it alone, and it planned to toy with her.
Just for fun—pure, momentary excitement.
“Cluck…”
That was a lie.
She had not become an adventurer to become some monster’s plaything.
There was still work to be done, and she could not suffer such humiliation.
She had to do something.
It acted so confident, as if it had already won.
Even though Er made no move, it only slammed the spear shaft on the ground.
Then, if that was true, maybe it was exploiting her carelessness.
It believed its spear could pierce her shield.
If she could only deflect it once—
Piercing its neck in that moment of weaponless panic might be possible—
Whoosh!
“Ugh…”
Her wrist was the problem.
The wrist that had already blocked one of the lizardman’s spears was swollen enough that anyone could see it even in dim light.
If it was broken, that was unfortunate.
It was a powerful attack that even a full-body barrier might not stop.
With this condition—
The moment.
“Ahin, close your eyes!!”
A blinding flash exploded in the pitch-black underground.
Er’s eyes, accustomed to dim light, screamed silently as tears poured out.
—Kieeeeeek!!!
Even monsters panicked at this, and the lizardman’s howl rang out.
And in that instant, several pebbles flew toward its face.
“Ahin, run!”
Ahin grabbed her wrist and took off running.
“Ah! Ahin! What are you—”
“It's just mud! Even a little time is enough…”
Tears streaming, Er carefully lifted her eyelids and finally understood that the flash had come from Ahin.
How had he lit such a small candle-like light?
Before she could even form the thought, a horrifying howl tore from behind her.
—Kieeeeeek!!!
It was the lizardman’s roar, full of rage.
The hunter’s cry of a proud predator who had been denied its prey’s escape right in front of him.
“It’s chasing us!”
“Damn it, how…”
Ahin glanced back at Er, realizing how close the echoes in the cave were.
“Er, can we fight that?”
It was a question he already knew the answer to.
He probably couldn’t abandon that faint hope even now.
But sadly, there was no way.
Not even a full-body barrier could fix her wrist—
“If the wrist is just fine, we can try, right?”
“…What?”
Er asked in a dazed voice at the unexpected remark.
Ahin asked her again in urgent tones.
“If your wrist is okay, try it!”
“Ah, no… even then it’s too much…”
“…Damn it, what else can we do?”
Ahin muttered this and stopped in his tracks.
He had probably given up.
It was understandable. He could not attack, and the only one who could swing a weapon—Er—was injured.
There was no other choice; even if she died here, nothing could be done.
In the end, her life would end here.
Without accomplishing anything, she would only meet a pathetic death—
“Where are you supposed to say that now?”
The light that shattered her despair was not the faint candle-like glow.
It was the warm, comforting radiance that resembled sunlight, the kind one would never expect underground.
An inexplicable, warm, bright light seeped into her body.
“Th-this is…?”
It was on her wrist.
The light flowed from the wrist Ahin had gripped tightly, trying to drag her away.
Looking back, Ahin had only grasped her injured wrist.
Despite gripping it so hard, she felt no pain.
As if it had been fine from the beginning.
In fact, it felt better than when they had first started exploring.
The mana stored in her heart began to move more vigorously thanks to the warm energy, her steps quickened, and even the sword in her hand felt lighter.
All of it had started with one man.
A man whose mysterious, beautiful golden eyes shone, wrapped in faint light, spoke:
“With this, it should be possible.”
“W-wait a minute! What the—!”
“This is what adventurers say: you need at least one special skill to become an adventurer.”
Ahin spoke this, then curled the corner of his mouth in a small smile.
“With this much skill, you should be able to act like an adventurer.”
It was a lie that no one would believe.
No one in the world could heal a broken wrist in a single moment.
If anyone said such a thing, they would be labeled a scam and told to stop lying.
But right now, in this situation, the only way to survive was to believe this lie.
Whether it was a lie or just a hollow trick.
There was no way to tell.
But.
“The duration won’t be long. Honestly, I’m tired too. I can’t keep recovering or reinforcing…”
“W-wait! What the hell is this!!”
“Details don’t matter here. Right now, that isn’t important.”
The man’s face showed an exhaustion that could never be washed away.
She knew.
Why Ahin was far more covered in mud than her.
Even though he pretended otherwise, his shoulders moved unnaturally.
He had saved her life.
Yet he had kept moving her body, ignoring it all.
She could not see the details, but she knew this ability was a heavy burden for him right now.
That was why.
“I fixed the wounds that interfered with using my skills. If my strength is lacking, I’ll fill it for you.”
“Bu-but…”
“Ahin.”
The golden eyes that never lost their light even in darkness spoke.
“What I believe in right now is only you.”
The eyes filled with sincerity.
Er looked into them and spoke in a low voice.
“I might mess up. Maybe I’ll die in one shot because I’m not skilled enough.”
“It’s fine. That’s not your fault.”
“Then you’ll die too.”
“If I don’t move, I die anyway. Even if I die, I should fight back.”
The man spoke to her.
“I can’t die yet. I still have things to do.”
“Th-then…”
“Ahin, you—you really don’t mind dying like this?”
In that moment, her trembling hand stopped.
It was not relief, nor was the tension gone.
If she died here, it would be over.
She had done nothing she was supposed to do and had only been a fool.
At that thought, the fear of death vanished.
What was scarier than the terror of death.
That was why she had held the sword all this time.
She had held it because of that.
The fear in her emerald eyes disappeared.
What replaced it was a thread of hope and the burden that squeezed her throat.
That was why her answer was already decided.
To not die, she had to stand up.
“…I still have things I must do.”
“Alright.”
“So you’ll help me too, right?”
“Of course.”
To the man who said this, she replied:
“You can’t do it alone. We’re going to defeat it together.”
“…Together?”
“Yes, together.”
She threw in the dice.
Just as she had to believe in this man because he had no choice, he had to believe in her.
They would only live or die together.
That was all.
●
It was furious.
Against the human who had interfered with its hunt, the one who smelled of filth.
It was the stench the kobolds had left behind after being beaten by it several times.
It was a familiar scent to it— the smell prey released when they were terrified.
So it hadn’t minded.
It had only postponed chasing the prey that wanted to snap necks because it wanted something stronger than terrified prey.
It could not forgive even this insignificant thing for toying with it.
—Kieeeeeek!!
The enraged howl burst from its chest.
Because the foul stench kept coming, even if it had missed one step, there was no problem chasing it.
Its heart burned to tear the creature apart, but first it had to deal with the human female holding the shield.
If the human was strong enough to block its spear, it would threaten her life while she was distracted with other things.
After hunting the female, it would tear the human apart.
The hunter’s fury at being disturbed could not be stopped by anything.
At that moment, the backs of the humans hiding in the dim darkness came into view.
Still not giving up, the humans ran forward; Ahin pulled his hand holding the spear back as far as it could go.
The prey that had blocked its spear was a rare one.
But no prey had ever blocked its spear twice.
If a prey was strong enough to block its throwing spear, it was valuable enough that he would kill it himself.
That was more enjoyable, and it woke the hunter within him.
So it gripped the spear shaft and prepared to thrust.
Pierce the female, then tear apart the pathetic creature that was now trembling in fear.
The male human hiding behind the female and doing those filthy things was far from his glorious prey, but he would tear it apart himself out of mercy.
Just as he thought this and heightened his senses, the scent of one human split into two.
Was it trying to do something stupid again?
There was only one creature that needed to be guarded—the human female.
A coward who threw mud at best—what could it do? Right now it was just holding the female as a shield and running.
The dim cave landscape hid the prey.
The human male’s foul stench paralyzed its sense of smell.
But it was fine.
The human male who spat foul stench was not its target.
If it killed the female holding the shield right now—
In the end, both rabbits would become the hunter’s.
—Kieeeeeek!!!
With a roar, it rolled its body with explosive power.
The hunter charged at terrifying speed and thrust according to the senses it had trusted its entire life.
The sound of cutting wind echoed sharply, and the humans gulped.
Joy filled its vertically slit eyes.
The moment it tore the prey’s flesh, that was the reason it lived.
So.
SQUISH!!
With the sound of metal tearing, the shield the human held was pierced.
But there was no pleasure in tearing flesh.
It was just a little short, or maybe its strength was gone.
But it didn’t matter.
The prey that lost its shield could no longer resist, and a second thrust—
“Don’t resent me.”
At that moment,
A voice it could not understand spoke.
“I have to live too.”
The instant the spear pierced the shield.
The moment it realized that the enemy it had thought would be easy was releasing an unbelievably foul stench.
A dizzying flash had stolen its vision.
—CRAAAAK!!!
It was different from the earlier trick.
The strong light that erupted from close range was enough to completely take its sight and unleash enormous pain.
The one that had especially good vision writhed in agony.
Behind it, as it howled like a trapped mouse after forgetting it was a hunter, someone ran out.
A human, smaller than the one wearing the cape, flipped the cloak to change the stench.
The shield and armor had all been handed to the man.
To create an extremely small opening, to make the tiniest chance.
What she held was only one sword.
Her gamble, having entrusted her entire spare life to the man, had returned as the best opportunity.
She leaped over the man rolling on the ground, grabbing his shoulder and arm.
The lizardman swinging its spear wildly while blind and in pain.
However, the lizardman, who had lost judgment and sight, was no match for her.
Light rose.
It screamed while squeezing the last mana from its parched heart, but it gritted its teeth and endured.
The man had repaid her trust splendidly.
So this time it was her turn.
The chance was only one.
“[Pierce]!!!”
With a blue light that pierced its neck.
They had survived.