“Priest! There are new injured!”
A panicked shout came from outside the tent.
“Bring him in!”
Anjenan’s eyes snapped open.
He rolled out of bed in one motion, grabbed the clothes by the head of the bed and threw them on while shouting loudly.
The tent flap was lifted open.
A burly man walked in, followed by several adventurers carrying a makeshift stretcher made of coarse cloth and wooden poles.
Anjenan had already gotten dressed.
He picked up a round golden pendant from the table in front of the bed, kissed it lightly, hung it around his neck, and then looked at the person on the stretcher.
The injured person this time had lost both his right arm and right leg.
The wounds had been crudely treated with bandages and rags, but for such severe injuries, it was clearly of limited effect.
Anjenan’s expression turned solemn.
“Put him on the ground, gently!” he ordered in a low voice.
The adventurers carefully followed his instructions, gently laying the pale-faced person from the stretcher onto the ground in front of Anjenan.
The priest wasted no words.
He lowered his head and murmured a few sentences.
Under the worried yet expectant gazes of the group, a warm, sun-like golden light bloomed from his palm.
“Divine Art: Healing Spell,” he murmured.
As the light stabilized, Anjenan leaned down.
With his free hand, he pulled away the messy rags and bandages around the thigh wound, revealing the gruesome injury beneath.
The stump was quite uneven, with familiar jagged, tooth-like bite marks on the bone, clearly indicating the culprit behind the wound.
Blood dripped steadily onto the ground.
Anjenan’s expression remained unchanged as he pressed his other hand, radiating gentle light, against the wound.
A miracle occurred.
Flesh buds rapidly sprouted at the wound site.
Soon, the bleeding was completely stopped, and the once-terrifying scarlet wound was replaced by fresh new skin, leaving only a few bloodstains to prove the tragedy that had occurred there.
Seeing that the leg treatment was complete, Anjenan breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to treat the arm wound in the same manner.
The several tense-looking adventurers watched as color gradually returned to the man’s face on the stretcher and slowly relaxed.
The leading burly man wiped the sweat from his forehead, unclenched his tightly balled fist, and a smile spread across his rugged face.
“Truly worthy of you, Priest,” he praised.
Anjenan stood up as the light in his hands slowly faded.
He ignored the praise he had heard until his ears were calloused and turned directly to the adventurers.
“Was it those two bears again?” he asked in a deep voice.
The leading man nodded with a heavy expression.
The priest touched the pendant at his neck and sighed.
“Priest, with his injuries…” The man stepped forward, asking with slight unease.
“Don’t worry, he won’t die.”
Anjenan waved his hand and instructed seriously, “But remember, for the next month, don’t let him engage in any strenuous activities. Otherwise, there’s a risk the wounds will reopen, and you’ll have to bring him back to me again.”
The men nodded like pecking chickens.
The leading man lowered his head, fumbled in the leather pouch at his waist, and pulled out several dull silver coins, offering them to Anjenan.
“Priest, this is the fee for the treatment.”
Anjenan wiped the bloodstains from his hands with a handkerchief, furrowed his brows, and looked at the silver coins that had clearly passed through many hands.
“I should have said it long ago: treatment here doesn’t require any payment. The great Holy Father equally embraces and cares for all His children. To Him, wealth is far less important than your lives.”
The man scratched his head but still didn’t withdraw his hand.
“This is for you, Priest. The Holy… Holy Father surely won’t mind these few silver coins. Please accept them.”
Seeing the sincerity in the man’s and the others’ eyes, Anjenan helplessly shook his head.
He had been in this remote town for several years since coming from the Central Church Nation.
He had a pretty good grasp of these adventurers’ temperaments.
They could usually be called stingy, but if you truly saved their lives, they’d be willing to work like oxen or horses for you.
Seeing that refusal was clearly impossible, Anjenan thought for a moment and finally took only one silver coin symbolically from the man’s hand.
“This will do. Consider it an offering to the Holy Father.”
He made a neat circle over his chest, his expression solemn and dignified.
“He will remember what you have done today. One day, blessings will descend upon you as well.”
The man scratched his head again.
“The way you put it, I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed…”
Anjenan sighed.
“I only hope that the next time I see you before me, it’s not in such a bloody and miserable state. So, those two demon bears still haven’t been dealt with?”
“Yeah, those two bears aren’t just strong; their speed is shockingly fast too.”
The man watched as his companion’s breathing on the stretcher gradually stabilized, let out a breath, and then complained, “Those are third-tier beasts. How could small fries like us handle them? Who knows where they crawled out from. What rotten luck.”
As the man spoke, he spat fiercely.
Suddenly, as if remembering this was the priest’s residence, he covered his mouth in alarm.
“Priest, I…”
“It’s fine.” Anjenan shook his head.
“But have the adventurers in town still not come up with a way to deal with those two demon bears?”
“No. We might be able to kill them if we all go together. We once formed a team of over thirty people to try, but no one was willing to take the lead when we reached the nest—everyone’s afraid of dying. No one wants to be the one sticking their neck out, because that means almost certain death.”
One of the adventurers behind the man answered.
The priest lowered his head slightly and stroked the golden necklace around his neck again.
He was thinking if there was any way he could help Loren Town.
“However—” But the adventurer who had spoken hesitated again.
“What is it?”
Anjenan looked up at him.
The burly man also seemed to think of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He patted the adventurer’s shoulder encouragingly. “Go on, it’s not bad news.”
“Alright… I heard that the kobold camp that had been raiding merchant caravans around the town several times was wiped out by a group of people yesterday.”
“Wiped out?” Anjenan raised an eyebrow.
“I remember there were over sixty kobolds, including a kobold priest that was at least Tier 2. That’s not something an ordinary team could handle.”
Could it be that the empire’s reinforcements have arrived? Anjenan couldn’t help but think.
He and the townspeople had been trapped here for more than ten days.
As a priest, he only knew some basic healing divine arts and had no way to deal with the magical beasts outside.
He could only watch as groups of adventurers went out to their deaths one after another.
It was impossible not to feel anxious.
“I’m not entirely sure about the details.”
The adventurer shook his head in confusion.
“But last night while drinking, I heard someone say that there were two powerful mages in that team.”
“Mages?”
Anjenan narrowed his eyes.