“Are you uncomfortable?”
“No.”
In fact, touching the injured area directly is the most efficient method.
However, since I didn’t think they would willingly tell me where they were hurt, I started by spreading holy power from the wrist through the entire body.
‘In the past, I used to use it much more clumsily, but now my skills have improved, and I can control it much better.’
Every time I engage in battle in the labyrinth, I feel like my skills improve.
It turns out that the rumor about training efficiency being high in the labyrinth is true.
‘If every priest improved like this, it would be too much.’
If this were in the past, a tremendous amount of holy power would have been required just to do this one thing.
But since this happens often, I’ve tried to develop an efficient method to check the body.
I recall the time I tried to create my own curse cure for Princess Kanabi.
‘It’s thanks to my improved skills. If it were my old self, I would never have been able to do this.’
And that attempt resulted in a very satisfactory outcome.
I scan the whole body with minimal holy power while checking the injured areas and focus the holy power on those areas.
I think I might be the best healer when it comes to body scans.
“Treatment is done. How do you feel?”
“It feels much lighter.”
“After the battle, please show me even small injuries.”
“Other people also leave small wounds untreated.”
“Sister, you are my bodyguard. It’s only natural to show favoritism like this.”
“…Favoritism?”
It seems like she didn’t realize she’s receiving favoritism from me.
“Of course, you deserve favoritism. You’ve come this far because of me, and you’re trying hard for me. Everyone understands that much.”
So, I told her not to worry about other people’s opinions and enjoy my favoritism to the fullest, then popped a well-cooked ham into my mouth.
“Hmm! This tastes amazing.”
I gave her a thumbs up and encouraged her to eat, and she also lifted a branch with a ham on it.
It seems that food tastes best when you steal it from someone else.
It seems that Melody, who had been somewhat alienated among the team members because of her quiet nature and strong wariness of others, has gained recognition after her performance that day.
Since she’s usually quiet and cautious around others, I thought it would be hard to get close to her, but after just one battle, the situation completely changed.
“This world values skill above all. Even if a person’s personality is completely broken, as long as they’re skilled, we follow them. Why? Because skill keeps our necks safe.”
“Ah…”
“In that sense, that person would be fine among us. There are no ordinary personalities in this line of work, and compared to others, they’re actually quite mild.”
“So, it’s skill-based. But our Melody sister isn’t strange in personality. It just takes a bit longer to get close to her compared to others.”
“Haha.”
One of the team members who was agreeing with me replaced my words with a rotten smile.
Looking at that grim expression, I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Is he looking at Melody like a hedgehog baby?’
“She’s coming over here. Well, I’ll be off!”
She had stepped away for a moment but was now returning from afar.
As soon as he saw her, the man quickly ran off to another place.
Since she’s human too, she couldn’t avoid leaving her post from time to time, but even then, she didn’t want to leave me alone, so she asked someone else to stand guard for me.
The man had briefly stood in as my guard while she was away, and that’s when they spoke.
“I’m back.”
“Yes.”
“But why is that person running away like that? Did you do something to him, Priest?”
“No.”
“Hmmm. I won’t ask that person for help again.”
“Really, she only left for a moment. There was no need to ask someone else. Nothing happened.”
“No. For anything related to guarding, please follow my opinion.”
It wasn’t a fighting situation. It was after waking up in the morning, packing up the tent, washing up, and having breakfast.
“You didn’t stay up all night guarding, did you?”
“No. To guard efficiently, I need to sleep properly.”
“That’s a relief.”
I had been worried because she looked very tense, but since she said she takes care of herself at night, I was relieved.
Since we had a fierce battle yesterday, everyone was slow to get moving in the morning.
It’s strange for them to recover immediately after all that struggle.
I finished my morning task by using a little holy power to loosen the muscles of the team members who were suffering from soreness.
‘Being a healer is great.’
If I hadn’t decided to become a priest when I was young, would I have ended up doing one of those tough jobs?
I’m not belittling their profession.
‘I’ve gone through hardships to become a priest since I was young.’
Moreover, being a priest means living a life of service forever.
You have to study the scriptures your whole life, and never skip prayers.
There are many rules to follow, so it’s not easy for someone who’s not suited to this lifestyle to become a priest.
“They say we’ll be moving soon. Have you packed everything?”
“Yes, Priest.”
Melody and I took positions near the middle of the group.
Even after encountering a group of mole monsters, we continued to face monsters regularly.
“I’ve found a hole here!”
Moreover, the newly hired guide was good at finding hidden paths, so our group’s load grew heavier quickly.
The discovery at the mole tunnel was a jackpot, and since the guide also found hidden spaces, the load could only get heavier.
“This place…”
“Priest! You should come over here!”
“Me?”
The people who had entered a suspicious hole were urgently calling for me.
It was clearly a suspicious situation, so I hurried over.
And as expected…
“It’s an altar.”
“Yes.”
The altar in front of me was one dedicated to an evil god.
Thanks to our previous experience, it seemed like the group notified me as soon as they discovered the altar.
“No one’s touched it, right?”
“No. No one has. Since you gave a detailed explanation last time, everyone has been cautious.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But this altar seems a bit different from the one we saw before.”
I nodded at the leader’s words.
“Yes. This altar is on a completely different level. The one we saw before was a small altar, but this one looks like it was made by dozens of people.”
The items placed on the altar and Melody were already inspecting the area as soon as they realized it was an altar to an evil god.
“Could you make sure others don’t get too close?”
“Of course. But how long do you think it will take to handle it?”
Since we had discovered the altar of an evil god, we knew we had to deal with it before leaving.
But if too much time was spent dealing with the altar, it would cause trouble for the rest of the group.
“We might need to discuss that. But there are people much better at this than I am, so I think it will be done much quicker than last time.”
“I understand.”
The reason Melody was guarding me so closely was because of the altar of the evil god.
I might be unskilled, but she is an expert in this field.
I believed she would handle it much faster than I could.
“What do you think?”
When I told the group and approached the altar, I saw that Melody had a serious expression on her face.
“Hm… It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a properly made altar to an evil god.”
“Do you think it will take a long time to handle?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll need to take a closer look. There are probably many hidden things apart from what’s visible. To do that, we’ll need to dig…”
“We’ll need tools.”
“Yes. That seems to be the case.”
Melody said she would go get the tools and asked me to keep an eye on the altar while she went out.
As she left, I circled the altar, inspecting the altar placed in the center of the hidden room, just as Melody had done.
“It’s horrific.”
The altar was piled up with golden coins, gleaming as if the stones had been coated with gold.
In between the altar, there were gems embedded, and I imagined that touching them would result in a major disaster.
“How can people do something like this?”
I took holy water and poured it over the parts where the gems were.
Chi-iiiik~!
Dark smoke began to rise from the gems that touched the holy water.
A terrible, decaying stench began to fill the air.
And once the black smoke disappeared, the true appearance of the gems was revealed.
“It’s human eyes.”
I sprinkled more holy water over the wider areas.
The gems that had been embedded in every corner slowly revealed their true forms.
Some turned out to be fingers, and others were toes.
The full image of the altar that had been revealed was nothing short of horrific.
“Disgusting. These vile creatures did something vile.”
Suddenly, Melody appeared and pushed me away from the altar.
“It’s too ugly. I’ll handle it. Priest, please don’t look.”
“I’m also a priest, so I can’t just leave it all to you. There are things I can do too.”
“There’s probably something even worse inside the altar. It was built with human lives.”
I realized anew.
I had experienced the horror of handling heretic corpses before.
If this was at a similar level, I could handle it.
“I pray that the souls of those sacrificed may rest peacefully in the embrace of their gods.”
“There will also be those who offered their bodies to the evil god, not just the victims. Your prayer might be too much grace for them.”
“If there is even one unjust victim, then my prayer will have meaning.”
Melody, who had been hesitant at my request, nodded and gave her consent.
“…I understand.”
“Thank you!”
I hurriedly made a small prayer room from my belongings.
“Please do it a little further away.”
“Is this far enough?”
“Yes, this is fine.”
I finished setting up the prayer room and knelt down.
“I’ll begin.”
As Melody spoke, I started praying to comfort the souls.
Meanwhile, Melody…
‘Huh?’
She suddenly brought down a huge axe with both hands toward the altar!