The lonely three months in prison wore on Zem’s mind and even altered his face. After he was released, everyone turned on him immediately once they saw how his appearance had changed. That was the first time he ever realized how much he had benefited from his looks. But at this point, Zem’s soul had yet to be corrupted. That he felt shame at his unawareness of the advantages of his handsome features was proof of that. He still had hope that he could return to the sanctuary one day and clear his name. Though he abandoned that hope after an incident that occurred when he ventured into a post town, which served as a local post office headquarters, following his banishment. “Welcome to my inn, Father! Are you on some kind of pilgrimage?” “…Yes, something like that.” In a post town that was a week’s journey by foot from his hometown, he met a woman named Velkia. She was a widowed inn proprietress around thirty years old. She had no children and managed the inn while looking after her parents. Her guests consisted only of adventurers. This town was right on the path connecting Teran, the Labyrinth City, to the national border, making it a lively place with much traffic from horse- and dragon-drawn carriages. Velkia’s inn catered to passing adventurers, and looking after the ones with less experience was part of her job. Velkia used to adventure as a warrior. She took marriage as an opportunity to open an inn. She was big and strong for a woman, and while she was a caring person, she was perfectly willing to give a misbehaving customer a good kick in the rear. She had no issue running the inn by herself. Lately, however, she had been struggling with back pain and wondering whether she should scale down her business. She didn’t have many customers at the moment because winter just ended, but it wouldn’t be long before the inn was packed, and it would remain so through the summer. She was considering either hiring employees or reducing the amount of work to be done. That was when Zem arrived. He noticed her back pain and said, “Would you like me to heal it?” Unlike small injuries, healing a chronic issue like back pain required a decent amount of skill. Thinking it couldn’t hurt to let him try, Velkia dubiously accepted his offer. Her face lit up when Zem used the healing spell on her. The pain disappeared from her body as if it had never been there at all. Zem was a talented healer, and even treatment that required a fair share of skill was a walk in the park for him. “Oh my goodness! How many months has it been since I’ve felt this comfortable?!” Velkia exclaimed. “Your back pain will decrease if you watch your posture when lifting heavy objects and when going to sleep. Please take care of yourself,” Zem said. “Oh, hold on. I have to reward you for giving me such wonderful treatment…” Zem interrupted her by shaking his head. “Please, do not worry about paying me.” “Huh… Do you not use your talent for money?” Velkia asked. “It is not that I have no interest in money. I am just happy to have a wonderful person like you giving me thanks,” he explained. Zem had already been rewarded sufficiently. He hadn’t told her anything about his background, but it had been a long time since he’d talked to someone who didn’t ignore, insult, or look down on him. Just being able to speak with her normally satisfied him. That was why he called her a wonderful person. Velkia, however, got the wrong idea. “Wow… Aren’t you a priest, though? Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Velkia asked. Zem also misinterpreted her words. Collecting alms after performing treatment was part of a priest’s job. No matter what a priest said, they couldn’t live without an income. It was forbidden by the sanctuary to perform treatment for free in times of peace. But Zem was no longer a priest and didn’t have to hold himself to those rules. Velkia thought he was requesting a different kind of reward. Zem didn’t notice when she teasingly hinted that he was a naughty priest for trying to seduce a woman he just met. “I am a former priest. It is…a long story, but I left that life,” Zem said. “I see.” Velkia was convinced he was telling the truth. Now that she thought about it, he didn’t have the pendant that priests wore around their neck. That probably meant he wasn’t currently affiliated with any denomination. A night of fun would be no problem at all. Velkia didn’t get many guests like Zem. Her usual clientele were rough-and-tumble adventurers. She knew people saw her as mannish and brash. It was her nature, and she didn’t intend to change. The only men who ever made a move on her were adventurers confident—usually overconfident—in their own masculinity. As such, this was the first time she had ever been courted by a kind gentleman like Zem who knew how to heal. He wouldn’t have been her type if he had been detached and naive like many clergymen, but she was taken by the non-priest-like shadow over his face. Zem lost his chastity that night. “You should go to Labyrinth City and become an adventurer.” It was the next morning. Velkia said that to Zem soon after he woke up. “You could make plenty of money in this post town, too, with that healing talent of yours. But you know it would be best for you to leave here, don’t you?” “I… Yes.” In the end, Zem was overpowered by Velkia and made to learn a woman’s body for the first time. Despite his misgivings, he was a young man, and he ended up enjoying it. If not for the fun he had that night, it probably wouldn’t have been long before he died or hung himself. Zem would have been tormented by guilt if he had still been a priest, but he was well aware he was just a former clergyman without a place in the world. He was ready to allow himself the pleasure of indulging in a woman’s body. When a man spends his first night with a woman, words flow from him as easily as wine from a broken bottle. Before he knew it, he was telling Velkia about everything that happened to him. He didn’t stop with the false charges. He also told her that he wanted to clear his name and become a trusted priest again, even though he realized how difficult that would be. While he knew he should forgive the priests and Myril for their wrongdoing and reflect on his own actions, he actually hated them so much that he wanted to kill them; he deeply resented the innocent people of his hometown; he had lost all desire to live. He laid bare thoughts that he wasn’t even aware of in his heart. Velkia felt both relief and unease as she listened. She was relieved because if she hadn’t embraced Zem that night, he probably would have died on the side of the road in despair. He was betrayed and hurt by people he trusted, but he still didn’t abandon his belief in healing other people, and so he treated the back pain of a proprietress he had never met. The thought of such a good person dying was unbearable. She felt uneasy because she didn’t think she would be able to save his heart completely. Velkia tended to be open with sex. She didn’t frequently sleep with passing men like Zem, but it wasn’t rare, either. She also took care of many men who stumbled into her inn. Tying herself to Zem, however, wouldn’t lead to a good future for either of them. They may have had a nice night together, but a long-term relationship was doomed to fail. Velkia knew she wouldn’t be able to remain faithful. She would hurt him one day. It was also hard to imagine Zem resigning himself to a life of slovenliness while a woman looked after him. Put bluntly, Zem was a little too much for her. “I want you to make friends, fall in love with a woman, have some fun, and explore the world you’ve yet to see. I went on many adventures when I was young, too. That’s why you should go to Labyrinth City,” Velkia said. That wasn’t a difficult conclusion for her to reach. Working as an adventurer was best for people with complicated issues like Zem. “But…I need to repay you. If not for you, I…” Zem trailed off. “We’re even. You treated me for free, remember? Oh, right. I have some items that’ll be useful for you.” Velkia handed Zem a bundle of goods. “These are…” It was an old cassock, a secondhand holy book, and a mace. The cassock had no frayed spots or stains, and while the pages of the book were yellow, the binding was in good shape. The mace was rusty here and there, but it would be more than usable with some polishing. “Many priests work as adventurers as part of their training, but there are also some who become adventurers after giving up priesthood or quitting after violating their precepts. I have these ’cause some idiot left them to pay his lodging charges… You should use them,” the woman explained. “I—I can’t accept this much…!” Zem protested, but Velkia stopped him. She forced the items upon him with the pushiness of a proprietress and grinned. “Time for you to get going. Men are supposed to live life facing forward.” Zem left the inn and arrived at Labyrinth City. It was the most prosperous and bustling settlement he had ever seen. There were merchants and adventurers, mages of scholarly talent, clowns in striking makeup performing in circus tents, and priests. The population was mostly human, but elves, dwarves, and even beast people were not rare. It was a dizzying melting pot of races and occupations. “I should look for an inn first…” Zem had money to spare. He used his healing magic and knowledge of medicine to support himself on the road from Velkia’s inn to Labyrinth City. He understood that performing treatment for free would bring undue suspicion upon him and possibly lead to trouble. He charged slightly less than market value as he healed the sick and wounded, then saved the earnings. Even with the lower prices, he was able to make more than enough because he didn’t need to offer payment to the sanctuary. Those who could combat injury and disease were valued in any era. “I’ll bet the nightlife here is really good… I should get out of the rain and have some fun.” Zem grinned broadly on the side of the road in the pouring rain. He had become acquainted with an unsavory pastime since leaving Velkia’s inn—womanizing. He would drink alcohol at hostess clubs that employed beautiful women, and if there was a girl he liked, he would seduce her and sleep with her. It was a lifestyle Zem could never have imagined when he was a priest. Now that his life had turned out this way, he thought with defiance that he might as well enjoy it to the fullest. He no longer hesitated at all when it came to earning money with his healing magic. He had given his chastity to Velkia, and his feeling of guilt toward spending money on women vanished. Zem had become a textbook example of an excommunicated priest who indulged in desires that were once forbidden. The one thing that remained rooted deep was a fear of younger girls. Just seeing one before him reminded him of Myril and set his hands trembling. He avoided them as he continued to enjoy the city’s nightlife. But he wasn’t used to this lifestyle yet. Nightlife was something one needed to ease themselves into. He had enjoyed himself a good amount since arriving in the city and even found some favorite restaurants. Eventually, however, he realized how much the nightlife had burned through his wallet. Labyrinth City’s hostess clubs were all expensive. “…I need to focus on work soon.” In this country, former priests not affiliated with any sanctuary or people who studied healing magic on their own were not allowed to start a hospital or a treatment facility. They were allowed to set up a stall outdoors and treat people that way, but those operations were seen as less trustworthy than official treatment centers, making it difficult to obtain well-paying customers and run a successful business. Using healing magic to earn money on the road wasn’t difficult, but within a city there was much more competition. For that reason, Zem followed Velkia’s advice and decided to pursue becoming an adventurer. He arrived at an Adventurers Guild called Newbies. A woman at a hostess club told him that most people hoping to become adventurers in Labyrinth City started there. “…That’s why you need to form a party to become an adventurer,” the receptionist told him. “Oh, really…?” Zem responded. He didn’t know the first thing about the profession, and so he did as the receptionist said and approached adventurers looking for party members. Unfortunately, no one invited Zem into their party. He ended up staying out late at a hostess club the previous night and got very little sleep at the cheap inn he found. He still looked slightly intoxicated and smelled of women’s makeup, making it obvious to anyone that he spent the night at such an establishment. That in combination with his priest garb made him look very suspicious. The distrustful gazes of the adventurers throughout the room brought back dreadful memories. Their eyes were just like the people of his hometown when he was banished. “Working as an adventurer may not be for me.” Zem sighed to himself. Searching for party members got him nowhere. It was a vicious cycle of rejection. Zem was forced to leave when Newbies closed. Whether or not they were able to find a party, everyone from the guild crowded into a neighboring bar. Zem was unable to resist the flow of people and ended up in the bar as well. He was undeniably hungry; he hadn’t eaten anything since the previous night. Sadly, the food at the bar was plain; it was even worse than the meals they were served at the sanctuary. His melancholy over the food was amplified by the atmosphere around him. The three adventurers sitting at his table looked just as depressed as him. The contrast between their table and the rest of the bar couldn’t have been greater; they looked like they were in a dark prison cell, while the rest of the customers were smiling and having a merry time. “I’m a priest. I’ll take care of the healing!” “Sounds great! I’m an ax warrior! I killed a hundred kobolds back home.” “From this day on we’re a party—no, a family! Nice to meet you all!” Family. Zem’s temper flared at that word. All who were raised at the sanctuary should have thought of each other as family. Whether they lost their real parents or were abandoned by them, the kids raised under Medora’s divine protection should have been like brothers and sisters. The priests running the sanctuary should have been like fathers and mothers. Zem was betrayed by that family. The simple, idyllic joy audible in the voices of the adventurers was more than he could take. Who needs a family anyway. It’s all so stupid. They will only betray you in the end. ““““I’ll never trust anyone again!””””
Chapter 6
14 min read