Chapter 8: The Duality of Purity and the Woman of Light

Chapter 8:
The Duality of Purity and the Woman of Light

 

“THANK YOU! You’re a life saver!”

Once Flum returned the bag to its owner, the man grabbed both her hands in his and shook them enthusiastically, tears brimming from the corners of his eyes. Seen up close, he was only in his 30s, though his stooped posture and the deep creases in his face made him seem much older. Either way, he definitely shouldn’t have been out in the dangerous West District on his own.

“Sorry, I seem to have forgotten my manners. My name is Leitch Mancathy. I run a simple shop nearby.” He introduced himself like a gentleman, ending with a polite bow. The quality of his bag, clothes, and demeanor did give him a certain air of refinement.

There was also something about his name, Mancathy. Flum felt like she’d heard it before, and recently, too, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Milkit tapped Flum on the shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “That symbol on the bag. Isn’t that the same as the restaurant where we got dinner?”

Before returning to the West District, they’d made a stop at a large shopping plaza dealing in fresh foods. Now that Milkit mentioned it…

“Oh, that’s right! I know you, from Shoppe Mancathy? But…that place isn’t even remotely small!”

The man, however, remained humble. “It’s still a bit of a work in progress, you see.”

Shoppe Mancathy was the largest shop in the entire capital and frequented by pretty much everyone who lived there. Flum couldn’t comprehend why the owner of such a famous establishment would speak so kindly and humbly to a mere slave.

“May I ask your name, madam?”

“I, uh, I’m Flum. I’m an adventurer here in the West District. And this here is Milkit.”

Milkit curtsied politely. “I am here to support my master.” She really seemed to be embracing the role of a maid, as if inspired by her new clothes.

“Flum and Milkit, yes? It’s truly an honor. Now, if I may be so bold, I believe I’ve seen your face somewhere before, Miss Flum.” Leitch put his hand to his chin as if deep in thought. Flum felt as if her heart would jump out of her chest.

The young nun nodded in agreement. “Ya know, I was thinking exactly the same thing.”

Flum wondered for a moment if they’d heard of her before. After all, she used to be a hero—a member of the party sent to slay the Demon Lord. It wouldn’t be surprising if a member of Maria’s church and a man whose livelihood revolved around meeting people had seen her.

Flum tried to laugh it off, perhaps a bit too obviously. “Probably just your imagination, I think. Ha…hahaha.”

Fortunately—or unfortunately—the two seemed to believe her. “Huh, I see. Apologies for the misunderstanding.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing!” Flum felt a pang at having someone apologize to her when they had actually been right on the mark.

“And you, ma’am,” Leitch continued, addressing the nun, “I take it you’re a holy woman?”

“Who, me? I’m Sara Anvilen, don’tcha know? As you can prolly tell, I’m working hard to serve Origin!” The girl’s small-town roots were evident in the way she spoke. It suited her quite well, though.

“Ah, so you are from the church! Thank you for your assistance. I cannot possibly express my gratitude for your kindness.”

Sara put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

“No thanks needed, Pops. Taking out thugs is all a part of a nun’s duties.”

Flum had always thought of nuns as pure, elegant women who were a bit on the weak side—nothing like this battle-hardened girl here. The guy sprawled out at her feet probably hadn’t expected it either.

“So what do we do with these punks, anyway?”

“Now that I have my bag back, I personally think there’s nothing further to be done.”

“You’re probably right. The whoppin’ we gave them’s gotta be enough.”

They were just going to let them go? Flum might understand if the culprits were just poor people making an ill-planned attempt at stealing something, but the goons were adventurers, and D-Rank ones at that. These guys were probably just greedy and out to get some quick money. She seriously doubted a beating would make them repent of their ways.

“I think they should be locked up. If not, they’ll just do it again.” Of that much, Flum was sure.

However, Sara seemed to disagree. “You don’t think people will mend their ways after a good beating? I know I stop what I’m doing whenever my teacher gives me a wallop.”

“That’s because you’re a good person. These…thugs here, they need something a little more extreme if they’re going to learn their lesson.”

“That’s…that’s actually kinda sad.”

The fact that Sara found this sad confirmed Flum’s suspicions about how kindhearted she really was. She leaned down a bit to put herself at eye level with the nun.

“Well, yeah, it is kinda sad. But it’s also true. With a little work, though, maybe they can become better people someday. Like you.”

“Aw’right, I got this!” Sara’s sadness was gone as quickly as it came, further illustrating her cheery innocence. “In that case, we should probably summon the guards, or maybe the knights of the church. What do you think, Mr. Leitch?”

“Since Miss Flum actually lives in the West District, I think it best that we trust her judgment.”

“Gotcha! Then I’ll call the knights. I know a few people there, anyway.” And with that, Sara took off at a run before Flum or Leitch even had a chance to respond. They watched her vanish into the distance like a tornado that had just swept through a town.

“She’s certainly an excited one,” Milkit said.

“You could say that. Ah, the exuberance of youth…” Flum mused.

Leitch laughed wryly. “You’re both quite young yourselves, you know.”

“I suppose that’s true, but she makes me feel like I’m slowing down.” Flum felt sadness well up within her at the thought of her own lost innocence, but she quickly pushed that feeling aside. What was done was done.

“By the way, Miss Flum…”

“Yes?”

The gentle look from earlier had now been replaced with one of grave seriousness as the older man held Flum’s gaze. She felt herself tense up in surprise at just how quickly his demeanor had changed.

“You know, I was looking for a talented adventurer earlier. I was wondering if you might be interested in taking on a job for me?”

“A job…?”

She was officially an adventurer now, but the idea of taking a job from someone she’d only just met—much less the owner of Shoppe Mancathy—was hard to comprehend. She wasn’t against it, exactly, but she figured it’d almost certainly be a pretty big job.

Flum looked down apologetically.

“I’m only an F-Rank adventurer, to be honest. I’m really not all that strong.”

“F-Rank? And you were able to do all that??”

“Well, actually, I only just became an adventurer yesterday. You can see for yourself by using Scan, if you’d like.”

“You… All of your stats are zero? Then how did you even fight like that??”

Flum glanced at her equipment. “It’s all thanks to this.”

The curses on her equipment definitely gave her stats higher than your average F-Rank adventurer’s. But she was still pretty new to all of this, and Flum knew knowledge and experience played an important role in determining an adventurer’s skill. She didn’t quite have the confidence to claim she was anything more than an F-Rank.

“But even with such low stats, you were able to take those men down with ease.”

“It really was nothing…”

“Why, I’d say that your rank is only so low because people haven’t figured out how talented you are yet. And as it so happens, a relatively unknown adventurer would be excellently suited to my purposes.”

Flum had a weird sense of foreboding at this. Preferring a relatively unknown adventurer meant only one thing: that he wanted to keep this matter under wraps. The fact that he was trying to hire her directly, rather than going through the guild, made it even more suspicious.

Leitch seemed to pick up on Flum’s concern, for his expression softened instantly. He seemed to decide it was best to explain himself. “My wife has fallen ill, you see.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But shouldn’t you go to the church and seek out a healer?”

“Unfortunately, magic cannot cure my wife’s condition. I spoke to a priest, and he simply told me to believe in my wife and that she would have to pull through on her own.”

Milkit visibly tensed at this, no doubt recalling the effects of the mustardo toxin on her face.

That could only mean…

“After consulting some literature, I found a mention of something that may be able to cure her.”

“Ahhh. And so that’s why you want to ask me to take the job?”

If he went through the guild, it would likely get back to the church that he was attempting to have some kind of herbal medicine made—something a man like Leitch would want to avoid. The church had chased off the kingdom’s medical professionals in the interests of their own profits, after all. It wasn’t even ancient history. You still frequently heard of underground medicine makers being discovered and charged with the crime of illegal drug manufacturing.

Leitch lowered his eyes to the ground.

“My wife is getting worse with every day that passes. I fear that if I don’t act now to get her the medicine she so desperately needs, it may be too late. Of course, I’ll pay you handsomely for your assistance. I understand that a job taken on outside the guild will not count toward your ranking up, so I fully intend to pay extra to compensate.”

To be frank, Flum couldn’t have wished for a better opportunity to come along. As far as she could tell, this job wouldn’t be harming anyone, and it saved her having to deal with the scum at the guild. Not to mention denying them their cut of the profits from a high-paying job like this.

“What do you think, Master?”

Flum brought a finger to her chin in thought. “Hmm…”

For all the potential rewards the job offered, it also carried with it a great deal of risk. If the church caught them in the act, Flum could find herself in even bigger trouble than she was already in. On the other hand, she also wanted to do this for Leitch. It was obvious his wife meant a lot to him, and that alone was enough to make up her mind.

Flum turned back to Leitch. “I’d be honored to take on your job.”

With those words, the cautious look on Leitch’s face melted away, leaving behind a bright smile. Tears began streaming from the corners of his eyes, betraying all that the man had endured.

“Really? Thank you, thank you so much! The mercantile gods are truly smiling upon me!” He clasped his hands in prayer and raised them to the sky as tears ran freely down his cheeks.

After waiting a moment for him to calm down, Flum decided to ask for more details. “Where can these herbs be found, anyway?”

His expression darkened. “Actually…I don’t know. The book mentioned a blue flower known as the kialahri, but that’s about all that was written on it.”

Considering the lengths the church had gone to to get rid of all books on herbal medicine, it was nothing short of a miracle that even that much had survived. Leitch had almost certainly gone to great trouble to get his hands on that book, in hopes of saving his wife.

“I see. And so you’d like me to go find it?”

“That’s right. I know it sounds like a fool’s errand to go look for an herb when I can’t even tell you where it can be found, but unfortunately I’m all out of options.”

He sounded desperate. Even Flum felt uncertain about taking this job, considering she had nothing to go on, but…

“I accept your request, and I promise I won’t give up until I find it.”

She did, after all, happen to know someone who was well versed in the arts of herbal medicine. If she could find her, she might have a chance. The only problem was whether she’d actually help Flum.

Jean’s words came flooding back into her mind.

“Oh, they hesitated, sure. But they ultimately agreed it was for the best.”

“Besides, let’s face it, you were a greater burden on them than anyone else.”

Everyone in the party had hated having her around, at least if what he said could be believed. Jean’s words sank deep into Flum’s heart, almost like an acid slowly eating its way through her. If he was right, then it seemed unlikely Eterna would help them.

“However, it may take some time.”

“My wife doesn’t have long in this world, but she’s not in grave peril at this very moment. All I can ask of you is to work as fast as possible, though I understand that isn’t very helpful. I have all the information I’ve been able to gather on the kialahri at my home. Please stop by when you have a chance.”

“Got it.”

With impeccable timing, Sara rejoined them just as the conversation was wrapping up. Two soldiers dressed in white plate armor came running up behind her.

“Ed, Jonny, over here!”

“Whoa, looks like you got a whole bunch of ’em this time. Dragging them back is gonna be a pain…”

“Hey, you should be happy for the work. Now hurry up and get these thugs outta here.”

The soldier named Ed laughed and patted Sara’s head affectionately. “Shoulda expected it when you were the one to report the incident.”

She squirmed in annoyance and tried to brush his hand away, though it was clear from the way they behaved around each other that the three were quite close. The knights conjured a magical ring of light and used that to bind the unconscious men. After asking Leitch, Flum, and Milkit for a brief statement concerning what happened, they dragged the men away.

Sara waved enthusiastically after them as they departed. “G’luck!”

It looked to Flum like the girl had been running non-stop since she left just a short time ago. She was covered in sweat, but she was also beaming proudly. This young nun was certainly an excitable one.

Once the knights were out of sight, Sara addressed Flum. “I really hope those guys have a better outlook when they get outta jail.”

“Me too. With any luck, they’ll turn their lives around.”

She really meant it, too. It’d help improve the bad reputation the West District had and also knock Dein down a peg or two.

“So heya, Leitch. There was something I was meanin’ ta ask you.”

Leitch responded casually. “Yes?”

Sara cocked her head to the side as she inspected his face closely. “You’re not worried about something, are ya? Say…about some kind of herbal medicine, maybe?”

Flum felt her heart begin to race. How did she know…?

Leitch paused for only the briefest of moments before responding with a calm face. “Hm, nothing like that, no.”

However, Flum could sense that his heart was pounding much like her own. After all, there was no way Sara could have overheard their conversation. So why would she ask that?

“Hmm…I see.”

“And what makes you ask that?”

“The look on your face reminded me of someone I’d met before. They looked exactly the same, and they had a similar problem. But, ya know, being a nun and all, they wouldn’t exactly open up to me, so I was thinking if you had the same problem, I could go look around and get it for you.”

“You, a member of the church, provide someone with herbal medicine?”

“Who cares about that? It’s my job to help those in need. At least that’s what Miss Maria always taught me!”

“Maria…?”

Sara’s eyes took on a twinkle of admiration.

“Maria is amazing! She’s off on a heroic journey right now, but she always looked after me when we were together at the church.”

Flum was now certain that she was talking about Maria Affenjenz, though there was a bit of a gap between the Maria whom Flum knew and the one Sara described. It was true that Maria was kind, but whenever she came face to face with a monster, her demeanor changed entirely. Also, just as Jean had so cheerfully pointed out, Maria never bothered to use her healing magic on Flum, calling into doubt just how much of a “holy” woman she truly was if she could so easily differentiate between those who deserved kindness and those who didn’t.

To be fair, Flum could still see a certain logic to it. She’d been useless in practically every way to the party, so it may have been easy for Maria to dismiss her as unworthy.

“Honestly, I think it’s strange that the church forbids the use of medicines. If they can heal people of ailments that magic can’t fix, then we should use whatever we can get our hands on! But, uh, don’t tell anyone I said this, ’kay? The church officials would be pretty mad.”

The three exchanged surprised glances at Sara’s comments. This was hardly something they’d expected to hear from a member of the church. Leitch fixed the young girl with a serious gaze, as if inspecting her carefully to see if she could be trusted.

“I get where you’re comin’ from, especially considering everything the church’s done. But please understand that I want to help you any way I can, Mr. Leitch. Besides, the church still has some supplies of herbs!”

“The church has herbs?!”

“Only certain ones, but yup. I’ve seen ’em myself.”

Flum’s mind wandered for a moment over what use the church could possibly have for keeping these around. However, that didn’t matter right now—not if they had any information on where the kialahri could be found.

Leitch had two difficult choices facing him: it was clearly best to not discuss her and risk more than he already had, but talking to her could also solve many of his problems.

“For what it’s worth, I think we can trust her,” Flum said.

“And what makes you say that?”

“The look of innocence in her eyes, really. She doesn’t seem to be lying, in my opinion, and I’m usually a pretty good judge of character.”

Leitch closed his eyes for a moment to think it over. When he opened them again, it was clear he’d made up his mind. “If that’s your opinion, then…”

Caution was key to being a businessman, but so was knowing when to trust others. Both had helped Leitch transform Shoppe Mancathy into the massive complex it was now. Those years of experience now served as the basis for his decision.

“Well, I do actually have a problem concerning some herbal medicine, Miss Sara.”

“I knew it!” Sara beamed.

“You see, my wife has fallen ill, and I need to acquire a medicinal herb called kialahri if I hope to cure her.”

“Kialahri? Hmm… Never heard of it before, but I bet I can find something if I do a little digging!”

“I’m happy to hear that. I’ve already asked Miss Flum here to assist with finding it, so possibly you two could work together? I’ll pay you, of course.”

“No need for that, Pops! Helping people is my job, and besides, I get a stipend from the church.”

Flum couldn’t help but admire this young girl’s selfless devotion to helping others. In fact, it made her second-guess her own morals, considering how readily she’d accepted the payment offered up by Leitch.

“Why, I couldn’t possibly…”

“Really, it’s nothing. Besides, if the church officials found out I was making some cash on the side, they’d be pretty peeved. I’ve had enough whippings, thank-you-very-much.” Sara’s face clouded over and she unconsciously rubbed her lower back, as if remembering a painful incident in the past.

This caused Leitch to chuckle lightly. If that were the case, then so be it. And with that, they set out for Leitch’s house to begin formulating a plan to find the kialahri.

 

***

 

Leitch gave the three girls the information he’d gathered, and they went on their separate ways to see what they could find, with Sara immediately making her way to the church to dig through the records there while Flum did a cursory check of all the book stores and libraries in the capital. Much to Flum’s disappointment, they both came back empty-handed.

Two days after their initial meeting, Sara stopped by Flum and Milkit’s hotel with a memo written in what could only charitably be called chicken scratch. According to her, however, what was written there was the name of the cave in which the kialahri was found.

Sara beamed as she spoke. “It took a little bit of sneaking around, but I finally got the information I was looking for.”

Apparently, the books containing information on the kialahri were kept somewhere hidden from most of the church members. Flum felt a pang of regret over the risks that Sara was taking on their behalf.

According to what Sara had found, the cave was located near a village known as Anichidey.

“It’s apparently a real small town, like, ‘I don’t even know if they have an inn’ kind of small. Would be good if we could find someone to be our guide.”

“You know, I feel like I’ve heard of a place called Anichidey before.”

“Isn’t that where Stude the innkeeper said he’s from, Master?”

“You know, you’re right!”

“You mean that super cheerful guy downstairs?”

The three girls left the room in a hurry to go find Stude. Flum was hesitant to describe the whole herbal medicine situation to him, so she fudged the details a bit, saying only that she had taken a job that would send her to Anichidey.

This took Stude by surprise, but only for a moment, before his gentle smile returned and he gave a hearty laugh. “Now what would possess you to head to a little podunk town like that? Well, you’re certainly in luck! Not only does my family run the one and only inn in Anichidey, but I’ve been planning on going to see my mum lately.”

He’d volunteered himself as their guide before they could even ask. He really was a good guy.

Now that they actually had a plan in place to acquire the much-needed kialahri, the girls made their way to Leitch’s home to get him up to date. His eyes welled up with tears of joy when he heard about Anichidey and their plan. He was a surprisingly emotional man, Flum privately thought. It was actually pretty impressive that he’d made it this far as a businessman.

When they asked about making arrangements for a cart, Leitch insisted on taking care of everything, including all the associated travel costs.

“Now that we have transportation and Stude to help us out, I think Milkit and I can take care of things from here.”

It was a four-day trip to Anichidey and back, not counting the time they’d need to spend there. There was simply no way that Sara could take that much time away from the church. Or so Flum thought. Instead, Sara balked at the mere suggestion.

“I’m goin’, too!”

After several stubborn rounds of going back and forth like this, Milkit finally chimed in. “I don’t see a problem with it, Master.”

This was all that was needed to tilt the balance in Sara’s favor and Flum finally gave in. When she expressed concern about people noticing she was gone, Sara only smirked.

“Don’tcha worry about it. Us nuns are always heading off to go help people.”

She seemed confident, so it must be all right. Or at least Flum hoped so.

Their departure was set for the next morning. They’d leave at first light.

 

***

 

The night before they were set to leave, Milkit lay in bed, her mind a flurry with thoughts and anxiety over what would be the first trip she’d ever taken in her life. She stared at the darkened roof, unable to sleep.

Suddenly a voice called out through the darkness from the other bed. “You asleep, Milkit?”

“Not yet. I’m…nervous, I suppose.”

Flum giggled. “Oh, you, too?” She was feeling much the same way. “Well, why don’t we talk a bit, then?”

“I think I’d like that.”

“Hmm… Well then, what should we talk about? Umm…”

“In that case, may I ask a question?”

“Absolutely! Shoot.” Flum’s voice took on an excited tone at the prospect that Milkit was showing some interest in her.

“Have you ever traveled anywhere before, Master?”

Apparently, despite all the time the two had spent together, Milkit hadn’t yet picked up on the fact that Flum was once a member of the famed party of heroes. She might not even know the party existed in the first place, considering she’d lived her life as a slave. Flum had avoided the topic so far, but now that Milkit had expressed some interest in learning more about her, she figured it was about time to reveal something about herself.

Honestly, it was probably better for their relationship that she mentioned it before Milkit happened to find out on her own.

“Actually, I traveled with the chosen heroes.”

“Oh?”

Flum couldn’t see her face through the darkness, but it was clear from her tone that Milkit was confused. To be fair, she didn’t really have much in the way of proof to back up her claims.

“Heroes… Could you please give me an example of what that means?”

“Hmm. Well, you know, like the heroes you’ve always heard about. I’m sure you know of Cyrill, right? Cyrill Sweechka?”

“I’ve heard of her, yes.”

“Well, I traveled with her, Eterna, Gadhio, and a few other famous people for several months.”

Even someone as disinterested in the goings-on of the outside world as Milkit had at least heard those names before. She rolled over onto her side and stared off into the darkness in the direction of Flum’s voice.

“You mean to say that you were one of these chosen heroes, Master?”

“That’s right. Hard to believe from what you see now, though.”

“I think you’re amazing, Master.”

Flum caught sight of Milkit’s intense gaze peeking through her bandages. It was a look of absolute respect and devotion. She let out a nervous laugh as their eyes met.

“Honestly, I’m really nothing special. I just happened to be chosen by Origin and therefore sent on the journey. That’s all before I was sold off to a slave trader and forever branded with this cursed mark, though.”

Even now, she was still puzzled by the fact that Origin had chosen her. She still often cursed her fate, wishing the god had just left her alone.

“Oh, so that’s why…” Milkit sounded convinced, but of what was anyone’s guess.

“What is it?”

“Even though we were both slaves, there was something that just seemed special about you.”

She was talking about the first time they met, when they were both locked together in that basement cell. There had been something about Flum that just stood out to her.

“I looked at you and could tell that there was still a certain optimism in you. It was like nothing I’d ever seen in other slaves. I couldn’t understand what we were doing in the same dank cell, but it all makes sense now, knowing that you’d only recently become a slave. I’m sure that there’s a place out there where you belong, Master.”

Flum stuck out her lip in annoyance. “Why do you make it sound like you’re already a lost cause?”

“Well, because it’s true.”

“If that’s how you feel, then I guess I have no choice but to take you along with me wherever I go.”

“You’re still going on about that, Master?” Despite her attempt to sound troubled, there was an obvious hint of excitement in Milkit’s voice.

“You don’t like that idea?”

“…I do. And that’s what’s so troubling.”

Flum laughed. “That’s good, then.”

Milkit also laughed, a sound so soft it could easily have been missed over the noise of the wind. “I hope our trip tomorrow goes well.”

“Yeah, and once we get back and get paid, we’ll treat ourselves to a fancy dinner.”

“Today’s lunch was quite good. I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten anything like that before.”

“Lunch? That wasn’t anything special, you know. But if you liked it, then let’s go again, huh?”

There was a hint of excitement in Milkit’s voice once again. “Let’s.”

As the two spoke through the night, their worries over the upcoming trip began to fade, though they never entirely went away. In fact, the longer they talked, the more they forgot that they were even supposed to be sleeping.

After this continued on for some time, Flum finally came to terms with the anxiety she felt and closed her eyes. “G’night.”

“Sweet dreams, Master.”

And with that, silence fell over the room as the moon continued its lazy course across the sky. Once the sun was up, their journey would begin.