Chapter 28: When the Healer Needs Healing

“This is why humans are so interesting.”

A handsome man with black hair, dressed in a neat suit, wore a monocle over one eye.

His room was tidy, just like a modern human’s living space.

On one side was a wardrobe, and on the other side were a bed and a sofa.

The man sat on the sofa with a relaxed expression.

“Other humans I don’t really care for, but that human is genuinely entertaining.”

The man watched Exitra’s stream with great interest.

He had watched other human streams a few times, but couldn’t understand what made them enjoyable.

But for some reason, Exitra’s broadcast stuck with him.

It had something strangely captivating.

Could it be charm?

Whatever it was, he really liked it.

“Now then, what will he show me today?”

He watched the stream with growing anticipation.

But then, someone entered his room.

It was a beautiful woman in a white dress.

“Chronos, what are you doing?”

“Huh? Oh, Moirai? What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here, you ask… sigh.”

The being called Moirai looked around the room.

She stared disapprovingly at how Chronos had decorated his room like a human’s.

“Don’t you think you’ve become a little too obsessed with humans, Chronos?”

“I can decorate my room however I want. What’s it to you?”

“‘What’s it to you’? ‘You’? What does that even mean?”

“Tsk. This is why gods are so boring.”

Chronos gave her a condescending look, clearly unimpressed by Moirai’s inability to understand modern language.

Humans evolved and created new systems of communication, while the gods had stopped evolving long ago.

‘They’re even more outdated than the creatures they created…’

“I’m busy, so if you have something to say, say it. If not, leave.”

“Understood. I don’t want to stay here long anyway. Just one question.”

“You’re gonna bite? If you are, be gentle—”

Moirai’s expression turned cold.

“Wow, look at that sudden shift. Can’t even make a joke without getting the death stare.”

“‘Sudden shift’? ‘Death stare’? What does—”

“Ugh! Never mind! Just get to the point!”

Chronos clearly wanted her gone.

Exitra’s stream was on, and he wanted to focus without distractions.

“Fine, I’ll just say it. Chronos, did you alter time recently?”

“…”

“A few days ago, I sensed a disturbance in fate. It was faint, so I ignored it at first, but it’s been happening more frequently.”

“So? You’re saying I’m responsible?”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

“Because there’s no one else who could’ve done it.”

“There are other gods, you know. Why single me out?”

“Because you’re the only one who’d go out of their way to do something troublesome. You know just as well as I do—the others…”

“Right. Some of them haven’t even left their rooms for thousands of years because it’s too much of a hassle.”

The gods were the very definition of laziness.

Some were so indifferent they had even stopped managing their domains.

Would they really bother meddling in the world?

Of course not.

If there was any possibility at all, it would only be Chronos.

“You’re the only god who would do something like this, Chronos.”

“…”

“So? Did you do something?”

“Well… maybe a little?”

“Sigh. Please be more careful. A lot of fates have gotten twisted, and it’s hard to fix.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Chronos didn’t even look at her.

His response was half-hearted at best.

Moirai sighed and left the room.

As soon as she was gone, the tired expression vanished from Chronos’s face.

His eyes lit up with excitement as he looked back at Exitra’s stream.

“Another fun stream, please, Exitra.”

***

“Again?”

“Yes.”

Alfredo sighed.

He couldn’t understand what kind of territory this was—’why was there some kind of incident or disaster every single day?’

Whenever he thought things were about to calm down, something else would happen.

It felt like he was stuck in an infinite loop.

“This time, you’re saying people from the Architect Guild and some merchants were captured by bandits?”

“Yes.”

“And how did we find that out?”

“A merchant barely escaped and made it back to the territory. He’s severely injured and unconscious now.”

“So that’s why my brother called for me?”

“Yes.”

“Sigh. Guess I have to go.”

Alfredo began walking.

To be honest, if he could avoid it, he never wanted to listen to Exitra’s words again.

But he couldn’t ignore him.

If he did, the entire territory might fall apart.

‘This is a territory I plan to take over one day. I can’t let it fall apart just yet…’

So he had no choice but to follow Exitra’s orders for now.

Still, deep inside, he was sharpening his blade.

Someday, he would stab Exitra in the back and take over the territory for himself.

‘I’ll wait for the right moment…’

His eyes gleamed with the sharpness of an assassin.

He knew the opportunity would come.

And he would wait for it.

“Brother.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Exitra looked up at Alfredo, who had entered the room.

A severely injured merchant lay in front of Exitra.

“Is that the merchant?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like no one treated him.”

“Ordinary treatment won’t work. We’ll probably need a potion.”

“We don’t have any potions in this territory.”

“Figured as much.”

Exitra was already well aware.

There was no way a place like this would have important items like potions.

“Exitra, we must save that merchant. We haven’t heard the location yet.”

[Quest ‘Merchant Facing Death’ has been generated. Accept? (Y/N)]

[Merchant Facing Death]

[Description: On their way to the territory, merchants and members of the Architect Guild were captured by bandits. However, the location of the bandit hideout is still unknown. The only clue is the wounded merchant. Hurry and treat his wounds to obtain a lead.]

[Success Conditions: Heal the merchant’s injuries]

[Success Reward: ???]

[Failure: Merchant Guild Favor -10, Architect Guild Favor -10]

— [Whoa, losing 10 favor from two guilds? That’s harsh.]

— [Even the Architect Guild? This is like a 1+1 special lol]

— [Screw up and you might not be able to trade with them again…]

“Exactly.”

Losing favor with a guild made it much harder to trade or take on quests later.

“Damn reputation systems… it’s so hard to raise them, but one mistake and they plummet.”

— [Just like making money. Earning it is hell, spending it is easy.]

— [Wait, the reward is ‘???’? Is that random?]

If a reward or failure penalty showed up as ‘???’, it usually meant the result was random.

You could get something amazing… or something terrible.

Still, since there was a higher chance of getting something bad, most people usually gave up when the reward was listed as ???—especially if the penalty for failure was light.

‘Well, this can’t be helped.’

That said, not knowing the reward wasn’t a good enough reason to skip it.

Failing would lower Favorability.

And early on, letting Favorability drop was something that absolutely had to be avoided.

“Whew…!”

Exitra checked the merchant’s injuries.

At a glance, they looked serious.

“Ray.”

“Yes?”

“Do we… have a healer in the territory?”

Exitra asked weakly.

To be honest, he didn’t expect much.

In a territory with such dire conditions, the idea of having a healer seemed far-fetched.

But surprisingly—

“We do have a healer.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

“Ooooh!!”

Exitra was stunned.

He had been sure there wouldn’t be one.

But there was a healer?

— [Ah]

— [No fun, confirmed.]

— [What the heck!? A healer? Really!?]

— [Damn! What a waste!]

— [We could’ve sent him off! Tch!]

— [Nobody wants him to be happy LOL]

“Hahaha! That’s great. Go get the healer right away.”

“But, Exitra-nim…”

“What are you waiting for? If this merchant dies, we lose a crucial clue! Hurry up and bring the healer!”

“Alright. Understood.”

Ray rushed out to find the healer.

Then, the viewers asked:

— [But can’t Undine heal? She’s water-type, right?]

— [Yeah, I read a novel where someone healed using a spirit.]

“Oh, that?”

That was true.

The water spirit, Undine, belonged to the recovery element.

Her powers focused on healing.

So she could handle minor cuts or scrapes.

But treating serious wounds like these was another matter.

“I can’t heal wounds like this yet. You need an actual skill to treat something like that… You know how hard it is to get a healing skill.”

Using Undine’s powers without the proper skill would be like pouring water on frozen toes—it wouldn’t help much.

— [Right.]

— [If only there were potions, that’d be perfect~]

— [But getting potions in Molgahub isn’t easy, LOL.]

In Molgahub, healing skills were rare.

You could learn them at the temple, sure, but only if you raised your Favorability with the temple to a certain level.

On top of that, you had to pay a hefty donation “for the sake of the gods.”

And that wasn’t all—there were also several linked quests involved…

Learning a healing skill required a long and complicated process.

It was anything but easy.

Exitra smacked his lips in frustration.

“Tch, if I had even one healing skill, this would be so much easier.”

— [People as unlucky as you won’t ever get it.]

— [LOLOLOL]

— [No need to hit him with facts like that… pfft… haha.]

— [Ebebebebebe~~~ You’re never getting it~ -ㅠ-~]

“Still, it’s a relief we at least have a healer. That saved us. We almost failed this quest.”

Exitra waited for the healer.

And soon enough, the healer arrived.

***

The moment Exitra saw him, his expression soured.

— [Aaaaagh LOLLL]

— [Look at that healer LOL]

— [We thought it’d be boring with a healer—but guess not.]

“This is… the healer?”

“Yes.”

Exitra looked him up and down.

He wasn’t even sure what age to ask—’age’ or ‘elderly’ felt more appropriate.

“How old… is he?”

“Last I heard, he’s around 80 years old.”

“And he can still heal?”

“He’s the only healer in our territory.”

Exitra looked at the old man again and asked: “Grandpa… can you treat this injury?”

“Mm? You mean healing?”

“Yes.”

“Haha, o-of course… I’ve lived as a healer… for so many years… something like this is nooooothing…”

The healer raised his trembling hand.

“One jab of this acupuncture needle… and any illness is cured in a flash…”

Tremble tremble tremble tremble.

‘Was that a tremor? Or just him shaking from age?’

‘He was going to perform acupuncture with that hand?’

At this rate, it wouldn’t be the illness that was cured—it would be the patient that died in one blow.

Exitra suddenly felt like introducing this healer to a healer.

“This isn’t a healer… this is a relic.”

He existed, but at this point, he might as well not.

— [Healer? Maybe 30 years ago? LOLLL]

— [You imagined a healer just now, huh? Nope. Not a chance LOL.]

— [???: Any disease cured in one shot. If you die, the illness dies too…]

Ding!

[You totally screwed up LOL. Look at that expression~ LOLLL]

“Sigh…”

Exitra shook his head.

He had to find another way.

‘What should I do…?’

“Send him back.”

“Understood. Oh, before he arrived, he brought some herbs. What should we do with those?”

“Herbs?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see.”

“Here.”

Ray held out a pouch.

Inside were various kinds of herbs.

But they were all withered and dry.

“Can we still use these?”

— [Don’t think so.]

— [Totally shriveled.]

— [Useless.]

They were completely dead herbs.

“Looks like a good number of different herbs… but I don’t think any are useful.”

— [True that…]

— [What are we gonna do with that junk!]

There was a decent variety of herbs.

But none had been preserved properly—they were all dried out.

Exitra shook his head.

“Sigh… I’ll take them for now. Send the old man back.”

“Alright.”

Exitra took the herbs and dismissed the healer.

“Sigh…”

It was a situation that deserved a deep sigh.

‘Where was he supposed to start? What could he possibly do?’

“Cough!!”

The merchant coughed up blood.

The wound was too serious.

If left alone, he wouldn’t last much longer.

— [Ohhh! Is this the end?]

— [Quest failure?]

— [He’s finally gonna fail!!]

— [The win streak’s over~ Now it’s failure time~]

Until now, Exitra had never failed.

The viewers were practically rooting for it.

More accurately—they were rooting for his pain.

“Hmm…”

Exitra checked what he had on hand.

With the right herbs, he could probably treat the wound.

But these dried-up scraps…

‘Should I go out and search for more now? Would I even find any?’

If he tried hard enough, he probably could.

But—

Cough! Cough!! Gasp… gasp!!

The merchant’s breath was shallow and strained.

If he waited any longer, the man might die.

“Tch…”

Exitra’s mind whirred with possibilities.

Running through every outcome, eliminating anything impossible.

‘What can I use to heal him?’

‘Should I try to get a skill now? But there’s no time…’

‘What about the herbs…?’

‘Would there be any herbs left in the lord’s estate? Hopefully…’

‘Or even a potion…’

‘What can I do right now?’

As he ran through every option, a sudden idea hit him.

‘A spirit. The tree spirit… but it’s not strong enough on its own. Then…!’

“If I use the tree spirit and water spirit at the same time…”

Exitra’s eyes regained their spark.

“I can do this.”

He had found a way.