“Priestess, please! I need healing too!”
“Me too!”
“Damn you! Don’t cut in line! Get to the back!”
Looking at the adventurers who were about to start a brawl, the long line stretching out the door, and her own aching arms, Lintis fell into deep thought.
‘How did it even come to this?’
She remembered that roughly ten minutes ago, after she collected Eric’s treatment fee, the Adventurers’ Association had fallen into a deathly silence.
It felt bizarre to her. What was even stranger was the look on Eric’s face. His pupils had shrunk as if he had just heard something world-shattering.
“Are you… are you for real!? Miss Priestess!”
Lintis covered her face with one hand to block the spit flying from his excitement, simultaneously stepping back to create more distance.
She made no effort to hide her disgust as she began to wash her small hands with Holy Light right in front of him. Only after confirming they were clean did she look back at Eric, her tone quite dissatisfied.
“You’re so annoying… if you have something to say, just say it. Why do you keep getting so close!”
“So what if I took some of your money? I’m telling you, I earned this. The Church doesn’t allow free healing!”
In Lintis’s mind, she still believed he had become agitated because she charged him.
‘It’s just five copper coins and he’s acting like this? This guy is too stingy!’
‘That certain Knight was way more generous than him!’
“No, no, no, that’s not it. I… what I meant was, do you really only charge that little?”
Seeing the Priestess misunderstand his meaning, Eric waved his hands frantically to explain.
“Huh?” Lintis paused, then spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Five copper coins is about right… I remember everyone charges that much. Honestly, it’s just a token fee.”
Hearing this, Eric fell silent. Breaking the silence, an old warrior who had been watching the scene for a long time walked over and asked Lintis a question.
“Miss Priestess, is what you said true?”
“Of course.”
“Here, five copper coins. I’ll pay first. Can you treat me?”
As he spoke, the old warrior unfastened his bracer, revealing a gruesome wound. The injury was also contaminated by Filth and had formed a tumorous growth. It looked no better than Tina’s previous condition.
Looking at the man’s arm—which was nearly as thick as three of her own put together—and the terrible state it was in, Lintis furrowed her brows slightly.
She didn’t take the copper coins immediately. Instead, she channeled her Holy Arts again. A silver-white glow manifested out of thin air, enveloping the old warrior’s arm.
After a short while, the Filth was purified. Only then did she take the coins and nod with satisfaction.
“There, it’s fine now. Uncle, you’re at such an age; you can’t let things like this drag on in the future.”
Unlike her previous tone when scolding Tina’s group, Lintis’s voice was much softer and gentler this time.
No matter how slow she was, she had realized something was wrong.
One person was one thing, but even this battle-hardened veteran adventurer didn’t take care of his own body. This made it hard for her to stick to her previous assumptions. ‘Do they have some kind of unspeakable hardship?’
‘…Is it money?’
Lintis silently arrived at an answer in her heart.
“Haha, I understand. Little Priestess, thank you.” The old warrior laughed heartily and turned to leave.
‘Little Priestess?’
‘Tch… I’m not small!’
Lintis curled her lip in dissatisfaction.
“Miss Priestess, can you treat me too? I’ll pay one silver coin!”
At that moment, another adventurer crowded forward. Simultaneously, even more adventurers began to stir restlessly.
Seeing the anticipation hidden in their eyes, Lintis let out a soft chuckle.
‘Well… whatever their hardships are…’
‘I’ll just do what a Priestess is supposed to do!’
“I can’t do that~ I only want five copper coins. If you offer more, I won’t treat you~”
“Eh?”
“No price gouging allowed!”
***
Back to the present.
Having received dozens of patients, Lintis was currently slumped on the desk like a puddle of mud. She didn’t even want to lift her eyelids. She hadn’t expected so many people to show up in just ten or so minutes.
In fact, this was far from the limit; there was still a massive crowd at the door!
By now, she didn’t even care what the symptoms were. She was spamming Holy Arts recklessly. Forget the patients—even a passing dog would probably get hit by a burst of light.
It had resulted in a bizarre scene.
A cute, beautiful Priestess was sprawled on the desk, flinging orbs of light at anyone who approached. The adventurers struck by the light would immediately start jumping around like they were on stimulants before leaving, only for the next one to step up and repeat the cycle.
“Shilo, did you bring that Priestess here?” The lady at the counter was naturally drawn to the commotion.
Because she had spotted Lintis and Shilo the moment they entered, she asked the question.
After a slight hesitation, Shilo nodded.
“Yeah… she’s my cousin.”
“Oh my~ You have a cousin? I recall Master Thor only adopted you, didn’t he?”
The counter lady was clearly very interested in the topic, her eyes unable to hide her hunger for gossip.
Shilo: “…”
“I only recently recognized her. If there’s nothing else, Miss Wendy, could you please process my business first?”
Seeing that Shilo didn’t want to continue the conversation, Wendy looked disappointed, but she quickly regained her standard, perfect smile.
“Alright, alright, Mister Workaholic.”
“However, I can’t believe the Church sent you again. This has been several times in a row now, hasn’t it?”
Shilo showed a hint of mockery. “You expect those old geezers to do this kind of work?”
“They’d love nothing more than to lie in their big beds all day waiting for servants to wait on them. They’ve probably forgotten how to even swing a sword!”
“Fine, fine.” Wendy smiled. She was long accustomed to Shilo’s reaction. “Let’s not talk about them. But the rules still stand~”
“Even if Shilo is a Knight and has mastered some Holy Arts, you still need a Priestess to accompany you to subjugate the Filth.”
“So, our Knight, Mister Shilo, please go find a Priestess properly~”
Shilo’s expression turned awkward, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
“I can do it by myself.”
“That’s a no~” Wendy refused decisively. “You know best how Master Thor passed away, don’t you?”
Shilo snorted coldly. “That was because he was stupid. I’m not that stupid. I can take care of myself. The fact is, I haven’t had a single accident in the past six months.”
“No. Rules are rules. No matter what you say, it won’t work. Otherwise, you can wait until tomorrow. You can only take these subjugation missions if the time limit passes and no one else accepts them.”
“Oh, right. Why not just go with your cousin? Isn’t she a Priestess? Anyway, no Priestess from the Church is willing to go out with you. I heard that among the Priestesses, little Shilo has been on the blacklist for a long time.”
“Tch…” Shilo clicked his tongue softly. “So you know all about it.”
“If you want to delay me by a day, then go ahead. You idiot woman who only knows how to follow rules and doesn’t understand flexibility.”
After saying that, Shilo huffed and turned to leave, completely ignoring the person behind him who was now bristling with rage. She looked ready to hop over the counter with a bottle to fight him, only to be held back by her colleagues.
As he passed by Lintis, he glanced over. Seeing the long line, he had no intention of getting close.
‘Hmm?’
‘This seems like a good opportunity to get rid of that nuisance.’
Shilo’s brow rose slightly, and he quickened his pace. However, before he could take more than two or three steps, a loud and familiar voice rang out.
“Master Shilo! Where are you going? Please wait for me!”
‘Tch.’
Shilo clicked his tongue inwardly and turned around to see Lintis being ushered through the crowd by numerous adventurers.
“Everyone, I’m sorry. I have to leave for today. I’ll be back tomorrow. Let’s call it a day, okay?”
Lintis, finding it difficult to move, couldn’t help but shout.
“Are you serious, Miss Priestess? I came here specifically for this.”
“Exactly! I’ve been waiting in line for so long. At least treat me first.”
“Miss Priestess, don’t listen to him. I’m actually the next one in line.”
…
The overwhelming wall of voices made Lintis’s head throb.
Just as she was about to let out a Holy Explosion and drop a flashbang, someone suddenly grabbed her by the waist.
“Wait!” Lintis gasped in surprise.
In the next moment, she was pulled out of the crowd and tucked against someone’s side.
Seeing the familiar figure, Lintis blinked. A trace of lingering shock remained on her face, making her look quite dazed and cute.
“A bunch of idiots! She’s treating your injuries, and you’re still pushing your luck? If any other idiot decides to be ungrateful, I think you really do need to taste a sword.”
After saying that, Shilo punched an adventurer who tried to rush forward in the face, kicked another one away, and then slung Lintis over his shoulder, running out the door.
He moved so fast that he left only a group of grumbling adventurers inside the association and the sound of the counter lady scolding them.