“Do you have something to say, Mr. Traitor?”
Lintis hummed in dissatisfaction. In the time it took to say those few words, she poked him two more times.
‘Great… even the way she addresses me has changed,’ Shilo sighed inwardly. He looked at the Holy Lady, who was still acting upset, and estimated it wouldn’t pass anytime soon.
He originally intended to just endure it and keep moving, but a memory of the scene from earlier flashed through his mind, and he couldn’t help but rub his chin.
Then, he turned around with a serious and solemn expression, grabbed the Holy Lady’s shoulders, and looked directly into her slightly panicked eyes as he spoke slowly.
“Holy Lady, I am truly sorry for using such means to force you to leave with me. However, there were indeed urgent matters that could not be delayed.”
“Please believe me, I had no intention of betraying you. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me this once?”
After speaking, Shilo kept his gaze fixed on the Holy Lady’s eyes, seemingly determined to stay that way until he was forgiven.
Lintis’s cheeks flushed a soft red. She turned her face away, her voice sounding muffled.
“Th-That… Mr. Shilo, could you please let go first?”
“Alright.”
As his arms moved away, Lintis placed a hand over her rising and falling chest, clearly letting out a breath of relief.
She took a moment to compose herself, smoothed her hair, and regained her calm expression.
“Mr. Shilo, please do not touch girls so casually in the future. I might not mind, but other girls would report you for sexual harassment…”
“…I understand.”
Facing the lecturing Holy Lady, Shilo wisely chose to be submissive at this moment.
“Mm-hmm, as long as you understand. As for forgiving you… well… let me think…” Lintis pretended to deliberate for a moment before huffing softly. “Since you seem sincere enough, I shall forgive you. But there won’t be a next time!”
Shilo nodded obediently. Seeing the Holy Lady smile again, he couldn’t help but sigh in his mind.
‘She’s so easy to handle…’
“Alright, alright, let’s go. Isn’t this matter urgent?” Lintis waved her hand, urging him forward.
Shilo had no objections to that and took the lead to resume their journey.
“Oh, right, here’s this for you.”
As she spoke, the Holy Lady suddenly reached out. Shilo held out his hand and caught a small, silver-white star. He was a bit puzzled, yet it felt strangely familiar.
“This is a reward. It’s rare for Mr. Shilo to be a good boy, so we have to commemorate it properly.”
‘Is that what this is for?’
Shilo turned around and rolled his eyes in silence before continuing on his way.
As for the star, he tucked it carefully into his pocket. Although he didn’t really want it, throwing it away in front of the Holy Lady would surely make her angry.
He had just finished coaxing her; even if he were to annoy her, it could wait until another time.
Lintis did not notice Shilo’s little thoughts. She was still immersed in the joy of her plan moving one step forward. It wasn’t until Shilo had walked more than ten meters ahead that she skipped after him.
The two soon arrived at the entrance of the Black Forest.
Dark, ancient trees twisted and turned, with withered vines coiled around the trunks like hangman’s nooses. The ground was dotted with puddles of stagnant black water.
The drifting air was a mixture of damp soil, mold, and a faint, lingering scent of blood. The sound of crows echoed sporadically through the woods.
The sight made Lintis shiver. She felt as if her body temperature had dropped significantly, and she shrunk her head back slightly.
At the entrance of the Black Forest, a few adventurers and staff members from the Adventurers’ Guild were gathered, the two groups arguing over something.
As Lintis and Shilo approached, they all looked over simultaneously. Their eyes held the same surprise, but beneath that surprise was another emotion — joy.
“Miss Priestess! Why are you here?!”
Lintis looked at the freckled girl running toward her, feeling that she looked a bit familiar.
“Um… Miss Anna?”
The freckled girl froze, clearly not expecting that name. “Miss Priestess, it’s not Anna, it’s Tina. I’m Tina, the mage you treated not long ago.”
“Ah, right, right. It’s Tina. Sorry, I’m getting old and a bit forgetful…” Lintis rubbed her head awkwardly.
Tina’s expression turned slightly odd. She looked the priestess in front of her up and down; the girl looked like she had just reached adulthood.
‘If that counts as being old… then what am I? An old grandmother?’
However, she quickly shook the strange thoughts from her head and spoke anxiously.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Miss Priestess, putting that aside, could you please help treat my partner? We were attacked in the Black Forest. We were trying to talk to the guild staff to request support to go back and find you. I didn’t expect you to come here yourself. Did you already receive the news?”
Lintis blinked and looked at Shilo, who shook his head, denying the guess. She then turned back.
“No, we just came here to deal with the Filth.”
“I see…” Although Tina was disappointed, she didn’t dwell on it. “In any case, we’re counting on you, Miss Priestess! We will pay the fee properly!”
Hearing this, Lintis nodded without saying much. If they could pay, they were customers.
Following Tina to her partner’s side, Lintis happened to see another familiar face. This one she remembered!
“Yo! Mr. Eric, we meet again so soon. But…” Lintis tilted her head as she looked at Eric, whose limbs were wrapped in bandages. “Mr. Eric, how is it that after just one day, the injured one has become you? Has your little couple been hexed lately?”
Eric, who was sitting on the ground leaning against a rock, couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He had noticed the two when Tina ran over, so he didn’t look too surprised now.
“Cough… sorry… Miss Priestess, I have to trouble you again…”
“Well… it’s no trouble since I’m here anyway,” Lintis said, shrugging as she began to channel her Holy Power.
She treated the other two injured adventurers along with him.
A short while later, Eric and the other two adventurers stood up and moved their limbs. They had clearly regained their mobility.
Tears welled in Tina’s eyes as she joyfully rushed over and pulled Eric into a tight hug, crying as she complained to her partner.
Seeing that they were about to immerse themselves in their own world again, Lintis, having learned her lesson, quickly interrupted them.
“Please don’t squeeze him so hard. This time it was mostly external injuries. I’ve only restored his mobility; the pain hasn’t decreased much. He still needs to rest properly afterward.”
Although she said it to interrupt them, she wasn’t lying.
While Holy Arts could heal wounds, they essentially overextended the body’s resources. Except for things like the Filth that could be directly eliminated by Holy Arts, priests would not provide a complete healing. They would intentionally leave a portion to heal naturally, so the patient would still feel pain.
As expected, upon hearing this, Tina immediately let go and looked at Eric nervously. “Eric, why didn’t you say anything!”
Eric scratched his head and smiled nonchalantly. “It’s just a little bit of pain, it’s fine.”
“Remember to tell me next time!”
“Alright, alright, alright,” Eric promised repeatedly.
Lintis clapped her hands.
“Alright, enough of that. What exactly happened? Miss Tina and Mr. Eric, please describe it in detail.”
Tina and Eric exchanged a glance and nodded. The latter took a step forward and began his explanation.