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Chapter 9
My pointing finger made the soldier’s eyebrows twitch.
If you lie down in a place like this, you naturally stand out to everyone in and around the village. It also serves as a warning to traveling merchants and other healers who might enter without knowing the situation.
I spoke quietly.
“I’ve already treated two villagers who were in contact. I’ll rest for a bit and confirm whether everyone is uninfected or fully cured. After that, it would be much safer to move on to another town…?”
As I was speaking, I realized Noel was already looking at me with a strange expression. I even heard him whisper something to Krad about my abilities.
Ah—wait. Did I just sound too full of myself?
I quickly added,
“This is standard epidemic response procedure taught in the military.”
“Are you really capable of healing three people?”
“After I sleep.”
“Then… entering the village might not be a bad option. I’ll speak with that soldier a bit more.”
Noel left Krad, who was seated on a wide rock, in my care and stepped forward again.
“….”
Krad, despite sweating coldly, was sitting perfectly upright, wasting unnecessary strength on maintaining posture. Was that noble pride? Impressive.
I, on the other hand, was fine with the ground or anywhere else, so sleeping conditions didn’t matter much. But of course, a place with a bed and ceiling would be better—for the patient too.
I need to recover my healing uses as soon as possible.
Come on, Noel!
“You’re quite tolerant toward people who aren’t fighters.”
Huh?
A voice came from near my ear. I thought I misheard.
Krad, pale-faced, was looking quietly at Noel.
His tone was almost like he was talking to himself, but it was clearly directed at me.
Should I respond? I don’t know any noble etiquette.
Whatever. I’ll just agree vaguely.
“Uh… yes. He doesn’t get angry even when people block our way. He’s amazing. I’ve never seen a fighter like that.”
“….”
Thankfully, Krad didn’t glare at me or take offense. He had no reaction at all.
I couldn’t tell what he meant. Still, I agreed with what he said.
Noel really is very polite to that village soldier.
…Wait. Is Krad actually thinking the same thing as me?
A fighter like Noel could probably just knock out a village soldier—some fat middle-aged man in armor struggling to fit into it with a halberd—and toss him aside somewhere out of sight.
By the time the soldier wakes up, suspicious outsiders would already be long gone.
But Noel doesn’t do that—and I’m cheering him on instead, thinking “hang in there!”
If Krad truly thought the same, I might actually feel a bit of goodwill toward this noble guy.
Still, a knight should behave like Noel.
“Sir, please consider the travelers’ circumstances. We are exhausted after a long forced march, and we need proper rest in an inn tonight. As you can see, there is even a young woman in our group.”
I was slightly surprised by Noel’s calm persuasion.
…Young.
Young?
I’m twenty-three!
I was so shocked I froze with my mouth slightly open. I instinctively looked at Krad.
Was he seriously calling me a young woman?!
…No, no. Impossible.
He probably just said that because I’m short.
Still, that’s a dangerous lie. Even if my face is hidden under a hood, no one would believe I’m a “young woman.”
I barely held back the urge to speak up.
The soldier had been half-listening to Noel from the start. He didn’t seem interested in either Noel with his sword or Krad with his noble, pale, striking appearance.
Then he looked directly at me and said,
“You’ve got a strange outfit for a healer. Are you a healer?”
I looked down at my clothes. It was clearly a decent robe. Strange outfit—how rude.
I could guess what he meant, though.
Since we were a few meters away, I raised my voice a bit.
“Yes. I’m a healer.”
“How many healing uses do you have left?”
“Zero. I need to sleep.”
“You brat, what kind of tone is that?”
The older soldier finally lost patience after a few exchanges and shouted while stepping closer.
I immediately stood up, curling the corners of my mouth.
“You, what are you to—”
“Are you this healer’s superior? Her guardian? You just spoke to her rudely first!”
Noel suddenly shouted.
Huh?
Before I knew it, Noel had drawn his sword and was pointing it at the soldier’s throat.
The movement was too fast to see clearly.
The soldier’s halberd fell to the ground.
Noel spoke sharply and formally.
“Job discrimination, personal questioning, and inappropriate language toward a young woman you’ve just met! Someone who cannot even maintain basic manners has no right to expect respect as an adult. If you continue being rude to our group, I will not remain silent!”
He stole my line.
Well… I wouldn’t have been able to say it that long anyway.
But seriously, Noel. How young do you think I am?
The soldier fell silent.
It seemed the sudden threat of Noel’s blade—who had been calmly negotiating just moments ago—had done its job.
Fighters had a low threshold for anger. Even those who seemed cheerful could explode like a short-fuse bomb.
People often said they looked like completely different individuals when angry.
If a fighter’s values were seriously violated, their rage was said to be as terrifying as a monster’s roar.
Still, Noel didn’t feel that frightening. He was probably still trying to remain polite.
Even with a sword in hand, the fact that he was giving a warning meant he was still in control.
And he had called me “our group” without hesitation. That felt oddly reassuring.
“….”
When Noel slowly sheathed his sword, the soldier fumbled his halberd back up from the ground, steadying himself.
“If you have a healer, you may pass. But there’s no inn in this village. If you want to stay, go to the mountain ranger’s lodge over there.”
Following his gesture, I saw a small hut on a hill at the edge of the village.
We had already climbed all day, and now another mountain.
Still, there was no helping it.
After the soldier stepped back, Noel stopped protesting. He helped Krad and gathered the luggage.
Meanwhile, the soldier spoke to me again in a slightly softer tone than before.
“Hey, girl.”
“What is it, gatekeeper?”
“Don’t even think about staying at the shrine just because you’re a healer.”
“Why not?”
“…There’s a Saintess there.”
Noel, busy with luggage and preparations, reacted a beat late.
“From what I heard earlier, what do you mean there’s a Saintess? The Saintesses of this country are all in the Great Temple—four of them.”
“I don’t know. People around here say there’s a fifth Saintess.”
Huh? A fifth, not four?
Even I, who trained as a healer, was hearing this for the first time.
A Saintess refers to a rank-4 healer. In the 500-year history of the Lukahon Kingdom, only about ten have ever appeared—an extremely rare talent.
Normally appearing once every fifty years, the kingdom currently had four Saintesses at the same time, which gave it great prestige among neighboring countries.
If a fifth Saintess truly appeared, it would cause a national scramble as every country tried to bring her under their control.
There’s no way someone like that would be in a rural place like this.
As expected, neither Noel nor Krad believed it.
The soldier himself also looked somewhat gloomy as he continued.
“Enoch is a village rarely visited by priests. If a healer shows even a little skill, they’ll start worshipping them as a Saintess and try to keep them in the shrine. If you’re going to use healing in front of people, you’d better make sure you don’t look too skilled.”
