12 — The Mountain Peak at the Welcome Party

12 — The Mountain Peak at the Welcome Party

Another chaotic welcome awaited us at the Adventurer’s Guild. My partners looked so perplexed that they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

“Sir, what’s going on in this town?” one of them asked. “Why are we getting this treatment too?”

“That’s what living somewhere for a few years does. This place is like home to me,” I replied. “I’m sure other healers would get along with adventurers much better if they took the time to heal at guilds like I did.”

I suddenly spotted a familiar set of ears and her companion.

“Welcome back, Luciel,” they said together.

“Thanks, Nanaella, Monica. How have you two been?”

“Doing well,” Monica beamed.

“You haven’t been writing lately, so we were starting to get worried,” Nanaella pouted.

“Sorry, I had so much I wanted to tell you, but every time I tried to write something, I could never think of anything. I’m glad you’re both getting by, though.”

“What about me, huh? No nice words for your master?”

“You’re the least of my concerns. You’d get by fine anywhere as long as you had something to fight,” I responded flatly.

“Someone’s learned how to talk shit. Wanna take this downstairs?” Brod challenged.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, at least let me give a show to all the people here to see us.”

“Saint Weirdo’s Day, huh?”

“Exactly. I’m going to take care of all the injured first.”

“How much?”

“It’s on the house today. I’m here to change people’s image of the greedy healer. Pope’s orders. Oh, but a meal would be nice.”

Brod huffed. “All right, set up shop in the training grounds.”

“Thanks.”

I didn’t have much time to talk to the girls at the moment, but I’d have plenty of chances from now on. I followed Brod downstairs.

A pale light shimmered from the magic circle beneath me and my patients, sealing lacerations and resetting bones. Everyone watching, including the Healer Pentad, was stunned speechless. The Illusion Staff decreased my magic consumption and elevated my abilities far beyond their normal levels.

“Since when’d you get that good at magic?” Brod asked.

“Hey, I’m not all bark. A lot’s happened, and I’d like to think I’ve improved as a healer a little,” I said. “Now, was that the last of them?”

“Looks like it. You know, you’ve got a weird bunch with you.”

“How so?”

Months with my retinue had desensitized me, in a way. I’d stopped noticing the little changes in my team.

“Never thought I’d see healers give beastfolk the time of day. Reminds me of you from a few years back.”

“They’re just patients to us. And we all know you’re here to keep us safe if anyone acts up.”

“Hm. Done? C’mere and face this way.”

“What for?”

I turned with Brod towards a group of young adventurers about my age.

“Hey, newbies! This is the healer who worked here a couple years ago. If you weren’t here back then, you’ve probably never seen him, but I want you all to watch. We’re gonna see just how strong our old pal’s gotten.”

“What? Right now? What about food?”

“Relax, we’ll be done before it’s time to eat, and Gulgar knows we’ll be late. Don’tcha know the hero always shows up at the last minute?”

“You’re impossible sometimes, Master. But while we’re here, I do want you to get my guard into fighting shape.”

“Yeah? I’ll have to test ’em out later, but you’re up first.”

“There’s no getting out of this, is there?”

“Hell no. Let’s go, hand-to-hand. Come at me.”

“I guess we’re doing this now.”

I activated Physical Enhancement, felt the magic whirling inside me, and cast Attack Barrier before launching myself straight at Brod. Then the world turned upside down and a violent thud reverberated off the walls.

“Not a bad tackle, but you gotta be able to knock the guy down or you’ll be wide open.”

Throbbing pain pulsed from my back. That had been one helluva right hook.

I winced. “H-Heal!”

I charged low, towards his legs, and pushed. With one big surge, he started to actually budge. All the strength in the world was powerless against good old gravity. I quickly thrust my right arm beneath his waist, grabbed his right shoulder with my left hand, and lifted him up. Just as I prepared to body slam him to the ground, something wrapped itself around my neck and, before I knew it, I was the one with my head against the floor.

I silently free cast Heal, then immediately tensed my stomach, noticing Brod’s shadow on the ground and anticipating a kick to come. Whatever it was, it blew me across the room, and I only came to a stop after bouncing off the ground a few times.

“Oof, why did you slam my head straight into the ground there?” I griped between grimaces. “That’s how you straight up kill someone! I can’t heal death!”

That kind of DDT would get you banned from pro wrestling in no time. Heads and hard floors were never meant to go together.

“Don’t play with me. I know you’re still good to go. And looks like you did get a bit stronger. Now we can really have some fun.”

“You’re insane.”

“Get ready!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Brod vanished and I instantly went flying straight up. Well, to be accurate, he wasn’t vanishing, just moving incredibly fast. Or so I wanted to believe. I looked down and thought I had him but only for a split second, because the next, he had my legs and threw me to the ground, then followed with a kick straight down. The guy was a monster, the way he moved so fast in midair.

The pain of hitting the ground vanished with a Heal as I quickly rolled to the side.

“Good to see you still know how to react to hits you can and can’t take. I knew you were my apprentice for a reason.”

Where was this dude’s off-switch, and how could I avoid flipping it back on in the future? I could tell he was still holding back.

“I did all that leveling up and you’re still leagues ahead of me. How much further do I have to go? Master, what level are you? Just for reference, of course. Purely for reference.”

“Don’t gimme that. Didn’t I tell you not to focus on numbers?”

“Right, and I promise I’m not. I just thought knowing would make it easier to find a goal to work towards.”

“A goal? Fine. I’m level 451.”

What an absolute beast. Catherine and Lumina didn’t hold a candle to him.

“Wow. Well, the taller the mountain, the better it feels to reach the top.”

Brod cackled, then said, “That’s enough chatter. Come at me with everything you’ve got and more.”

“You asked for it!”

I threw myself against the wall that was Brod for over an hour and lost count of how many times I had to recast Heal and Attack Barrier. After that, we pulled out the blades and sparred with swords. The spectators were a bit rowdy, but knowing that a second of hesitation could be the difference between life and death, I managed to stay focused (and even improved my ability to do so in the process).

I made it out in the end with only one particularly bad gash, which I immediately fixed with High Heal.

“This is a good enough place to call it. Let’s have that party.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I spoke with my pale-faced team afterwards. They’d most likely realized that their training here was going to be nothing like back at HQ. The newbie adventurers who’d watched our fight seemed blown away, their preconceptions about healers having been completely uprooted.

The Healer Pentad were also amazed by the lengths that one of their own had gone to. But during the match, I’d noticed a younger man with a dour expression among some of the older adventurers who knew me. His impression of the fight wasn’t favorable.

“Showed up by a damn healer,” I heard him mutter. “I was chosen. Not him. Play your goody-two-shoes act all you want; you’ll never beat me in a fight.”

I turned towards the vitriolic voice, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

The party was held in the dining hall. Food was lined up buffet-style, and all the chairs had been removed to offer as much space for as many people as possible. Some of the Healer’s Guild staff who’d stopped by were a little huffy about having to eat standing up, but they kept their complaints quiet in front of me.

“All right, folks,” Brod called out, “your favorite healer’s back home, and that means getting healed’s gonna get easier. But he’s here to study up on clinics, so he won’t be around in the afternoons. He’ll be working over at Bottaculli’s place.”

The crowd erupted into boos. I hadn’t even known that booing was a thing in this world.

“He won’t be here all day, but he’ll be living in the guildhall for now. Everyone’s free to come by if you’re in a bad way.” The booing changed to cheers. “All right, the floor’s yours, Luciel. No alcohol for you, though.”

“Um, hi. I’m Luciel,” I began. “It was a long journey from Church Headquarters, so I really appreciate you all hosting this party for us. As I look back on everything, I realize just how important my two years here were. It was the foundation that made it possible for someone as utterly average as me to become an S-rank healer. It’s funny, because it was fear that brought me here. I was so scared of adventurers, I couldn’t live my life without thinking of all the ways I might die. It was that fear, the fear of what might happen if I ever failed to heal someone, that motivated me to keep improving.”

I took a break before continuing. “But then I realized I wasn’t the only one afraid of dying. We all are. And I started to see how kind everyone was. They gave me clothes and gifts, and the world stopped being so scary. There were a few times when it felt like I was being held prisoner, to be honest, but regardless, this is where it all began for me. Here’s to all the guild staff and adventurers who gave me a home. I’ll keep on facing forward, and maybe someday I’ll be able to repay you all. Until then, I hope you’ll put up with me and my new team. I know I’m keeping this a little short, but thank you again. Everyone.”

“No, that’s long enough!” Brod cut in. “Anyway, raise your mugs! Cheers!”

“Cheers!” the room roared.

Things got loud pretty quickly after that. Gulgar enticed my team and the new adventurers, who’d watched my earlier match, with mugs of lighter (presumably diluted) Substance X, saying, “Hey, wanna get stronger?”

While adventurers went down one after another, my unit stood tall, already used to the stuff.

Gulgar grinned. “Look at ’em, losin’ to healers. Shoulda known your team would’ve already had a few mugs.”

“At least one a day.”

The chef continued churning out glass after glass, and the room quickly began to reek, so I had to save everyone with a Purification spell. Gulgar couldn’t hide the fire in his eyes, having found so many new toys to play with. He was also particularly pleased with himself for being able to stop everyone’s grumbling about the lack of seating with his unparalleled cooking.

Throughout the dining hall, theories were spreading about what my nickname, “Saint Weirdo,” really meant. It was almost too much for my poor mind to take.

“Obviously, it means he’s a misfit who uses holy magic. ‘Saint,’ ‘holy,’ it fits.”

“Nah, I think it’s more the fact he’s just weird in general.”

“You think? I figured it was more about, y’know, his fetishes. Like, he’s a great, saintly person, but man is he a freak.”

“What if it’s...”

The idea crafting would go on well into the night, dredging up even other people’s nicknames. Like Brod’s “the Whirlwind” and “the Demon Instructor,” Gulgar’s “the Bear Chef” and “the Immovable,” and Galba’s “the Recluse.”

Speaking of those three, they’d invited me to join them for drinks.

“You’ve got training tomorrow,” Brod said. “You can have that drink with me when it’s time for you to leave.”

“He’s got a point. And you’re heading right into the belly of the beast too. You’ll need to be ready,” Galba added.

Gulgar shoved a plate at me. “Forget drinkin’. I’ve got a new dish! Eat up!”

I reluctantly brought a bite to my mouth, slightly frustrated about the delay in getting to have my first drink, and immediately regretted it.

“This is what I think it is, isn’t it?”

“You got it! Wanted to see if it could be worked into food or not, and you’re the only one who can drink it, so I figured you’d be the only one to eat it.”

“What am I, your test subject?! You can’t even drink the stuff, so stop making food out of it!”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet.”

“This isn’t an omelet.”

“Just eat it. It’s starting to stink like hell,” Brod grimaced.

“I believe in you,” Galba added.

“I swear...” I muttered with a sigh. “Fine, I’ll try it again.”

I cut off another piece of the Substance X-drizzled meat and took a bite.

“So?” Gulgar pressed. “Palatable?”

“Not in a million years. The heat makes it taste even worse. It’s like an explosion of awful in my mouth.”

“Ah, well. Try this one next.”

“There...there are more?”

“Nine, actually.”

“Maybe if we strike a deal. You teach me some of your recipes, and I’ll keep eating.”

“That’s how you wanna play it, eh?” G-Gulgar? “All right, have it your way. One recipe per dish. And I’ve got a lot more where that came from.”

“That crazy look in your eye reminds me way too much of Brod.”

“Gulgar’s always had a curious mind,” his younger brother noted. “I’m sure he’s just happy he gets to try his experiments on someone they won’t be wasted on.”

That was all well and good, but Galba showed no intention of trying to stop his sibling’s mayhem.

“We’re heading home for the night, everyone,” I heard someone say. I turned around and saw Nanaella and Monica.

“Thank you for helping with all this. And for cleaning my room,” I said.

“There’s not a lot we can do for you, but you make the guild a better place just by being here. I hope we’ll still see you around when you’re not working.”

“Let us know if there’s anything you need,” Nanaella said.

“Thank you. Oh, I’ve got something. Would you mind giving me a haircut some time?”

They grinned and nodded. “Sure!”

“You’re killing me over here,” my master interrupted. “You done batting eyelashes at each other?”

“Need some Substance X to wash it down?” Gulgar offered.

“Ah, youth,” Galba said wistfully.

The girls hastily bowed and left in embarrassment.

“You seem pretty calm,” Brod commented, looking annoyed that his teasing hadn’t affected me.

“There’s no reason to be nervous. I know everyone here.” I was already past the awkward adolescent phase. One puberty had been more than enough, thanks.

He paused for a moment. “You’ve changed.”

“Have I? I guess time will do that to someone, but I’m more surprised by how you’ve all changed.”

“You’re right. Time changes people. But not everyone,” Galba said. “Not people like Bottaculli.”

“I actually wanted to ask you about him. What do you know?”

Galba smiled and glanced at Brod.

“Well, he’s not after your life, at least, but watch your ass around his slaves,” Brod explained.

“How does he have slaves in this country?” The slave trade was outlawed in Shurule, but I’d never seen any myself and had no way of knowing if slavery was unofficially still around.

“You’re right to be surprised, but the fact is, Galba’s sources say he buys more every year. Treats ’em like garbage, and their leader’s planning a revolt.”

I recalled something I’d read in the past: a slave revolting was akin to him forfeiting his own life. Vague unease surfaced in the back of my mind.

“Wait, aren’t they bound by magic to follow orders?” By some kind of collar, I thought.

“Yes,” Galba replied. “Normally, yes. But rumors are going around about slaves who are actually defying their masters. And to complicate matters, these aren’t people from some back alley deal. They were sold legally.”

“Doesn’t that break the slave’s contract?”

“Normally, yes. No one knows how, but they manage to violate their pact of servitude while somehow leaving it intact.”

“Is that even possible?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out. In any case, word’s gotten to Bottaculli, so he’s been amassing mercenaries, and the paranoia’s taken a toll on his health, from what I can tell. He’s been buying medicinals for blood pressure.”

“Medicinals? It’s not something he can fix with magic? Wonder if he’s sick.” Extra Heal could probably fix anything from tumors to brain damage, but... I hesitated.

“I’m sure he’s finding it hard to sleep at night when his most trusted servants could stab him in the back. Well, the one thing I can say with certainty is that he blacked out when he heard you were coming back.”

“Really?” I laughed awkwardly. “For the record, I wasn’t the one who chose his clinic. That was Her Holiness. I guess I didn’t object, per se, but still.”

“I believe you. Just be careful and stay on your guard, okay? Don’t take any meals he offers.”

It was clear that Galba was not someone I wanted to fight an information war with. “I’m not worried about poison having any effect on me, but I should probably keep an eye on my team.” I didn’t want any blame falling on me while I had the ability to cure people.

“Right. There’s just something that bugs me. The thing about all this that scares me most is how in every instance of a slave harming their master, not a single one remembers how they managed to do it. We’re running blind here.”

“They just forgot?”

“Anything and everything involving the incident.”

Then the one behind it couldn’t have been a person. Who had that kind of power? If there had been other occurrences like this in the past, the Church would have known.

“So, how’d you find that squad o’ yours anyway?” Brod jumped in with a tonally inconsistent smirk. I could tell from his cheery attitude that he’d decided to put my companions through the wringer, but if he didn’t know how to hold back, I could kiss my team goodbye.

“They just sympathized with my ideas, that’s all.”

“They look pretty sturdy.”

“It took a few months of Substance X and grueling training filled with nonstop healing to get to that point.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t scare ’em off.”

I couldn’t tell him that I’d used girls and barbeques as bait, for fear of incurring the demon’s wrath. You never knew when he’d come out. I had to come up with a decent way of phrasing it.

“I took a page from your book. Just like how Gulgar’s food carried me through your training, I pulled them through theirs by having joint sessions with the strongest knights.” There. That wasn’t technically a lie.

My master sighed. “You sure grew up, kid. I remember when Bottaculli used to be worth a damn like you, but money made him crazy. Hate him or love him, truth is, he made one hell of an enterprise with his clinic. Still makes me gag to call him a healer, though.”

Thank god. He believed me. “I knew he couldn’t have been born like that.”

“Nah, he’s treated us before, matter of fact. Back in our adventuring days.”

“Well, that sounds interesting.” Real-life stories and experiences as an adventurer on the verge of SS-rank weren’t the sort of thing you’d hear just any old bard sing tales about.

“It’s the past.”

“I suppose. I want to see what I can do about Bottaculli, though. Maybe I can do some good.”

“Don’t you gotta go to bed? You’re gonna want to stay awake for training tomorrow.”

“First thing in the morning?”

“You wanna surpass me or not? Your master’s got a lot to teach and not a lot of time to teach it.”

It was at that moment I understood the true meaning of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth. And how arrogant I still was. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. We talked all through the rest of the welcome party, and then it came to a close.

On my way to my room downstairs, I passed the front desk and said hello to the receptionist there, who jumped in surprise and replied with a light bow. But what was there to be so afraid of?

The resting room (aka my makeshift bedroom), was exactly as I’d left it and had been kept perfectly clean. Frankly, it made me a little emotional.

“Better get to sleep. Got my first day at Bottaculli’s tomorrow.” I took out my angel’s pillow and flopped into bed. “So many receptionists married off so quickly. And the new one’s scared of me for some reason. Whatever, time to sleep.”

I closed my eyes and recounted the day’s events in the short time it took for slumber to take me.