After I healed Bazack, who seemed to be the leader of Ebiza, my comrades and I were finally allowed through the town gate under the welcoming gazes of the adventurers and mercenaries.
Bazack showed us around town, but it seemed that his attention was still on his newly grown arm. I saw him open and close his right hand over and over again as we walked through town.
Still, the man seemed to be loved by the adventurers and mercenaries. They had all thanked me even though they hadn’t been the ones who’d been healed. It reminded me a bit of the Adventurer’s Guild in Merratoni, and I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me.
However, as we progressed farther into the town, I gradually felt wary gazes returning to us, this time, from the townsfolk. Perhaps there was a rift between Bazack and his group, who made their living through combat, and the regular townspeople.
Bazack must’ve noticed my confusion, as an apologetic look crossed his face. “Please do not be too harsh on the locals. These past few years, there has been an influx of wandering healers coming around and charging exorbitant prices for mediocre treatment, as well as former imperial soldiers turned bandits who stole and caused us trouble. The town is a lot less safe now than it used to be.”
Immoral healers and imperial soldiers turned criminals... If that was true, we could consider ourselves lucky that all we got were suspicious glances.
“I thought they were overreacting a bit, but I understand now,” I said. “I suppose these kinds of things tend to happen when your town is located so close to a battlefront.”
In places like these, experienced and honest healers were an absolute necessity. However, it was difficult to convince good healers to stay in such dangerous and sparsely populated areas. Not every healer was willing to risk their own life to save others. Even I had hired Lionel and the rest to keep me safe in Yenice even though I already had a group of knights protecting me at all times.
Still, one’s impression of a place sure can shift from merely hearing rumors to actually experiencing its atmosphere firsthand, I thought idly.
Meanwhile, Brod and Lionel seemed less concerned about the healer situation and more furious about the former soldiers wreaking havoc in the little town. I once again felt glad that Merratoni had been the first place I’d visited after my reincarnation. I’d only chosen to become a healer to have a chill, grounded life, but if I hadn’t met Brod, I wouldn’t have been where I was now.
Thank you for bestowing your blessing upon me, Monsieur Luck.
If Ebiza had been the first town I’d visited, I might have settled here for the rest of my new life. Or perhaps I’d have become an adventurer or a mercenary and aimed to explore the outside world...though I had a feeling I would’ve quickly found myself worn out physically and mentally from having to battle for survival day after day. Perhaps this world was actually much harsher than I’d initially thought.
As we walked along the main street of Ebiza, I noticed that the Healer’s Guild and the Adventurer’s Guild stood directly opposite each other.
“This is the heart of the town: the plaza. All guild halls are located around it.”
Turning around, I saw that we had indeed walked past the Merchant’s Guild and the Doctor’s Guild, which stood opposite each other as well. It was only then that I noticed how clean and well-maintained the place was, especially considering it was filled with “rowdy” folks according to Estia. I would never have imagined it was situated so close to a battlefront.
As I looked over the townscape, my eyes met Estia’s. Oh, right. Now that I think about it, she might have friends at the Healer’s Guild.
“Estia, you should go to the Healer’s Guild if there are any people you’d like to see,” I suggested.
“Thank you, sir, but I’m fine,” she replied, plastering a smile onto her face. But I could tell from the way she had been staring at the building that she was pretending. Judging by how warmly the adventurers and mercenaries had welcomed her, I was sure the people of the Healer’s Guild must’ve been just as fond of her.
But then, I realized something: Estia could use a little bit of Healing Magic thanks to the Spirit of Dusk, but it wasn’t like she could do it over and over again. Maybe the healers had mocked her, and the Spirit of Dusk had erased their memories. Or no...that was probably just my imagination running wild.
I decided to stop thinking about it and not confront Estia either. “Got it. If you feel like going there at any point, you’re free to do so,” I said simply.
“Thank you, sir,” she replied with a smile, but it felt to me like she seemed a little sad.
Turning my thoughts back to the town, those crappy healers and bandits were still weighing on my mind. I really didn’t want to have to deal with any more hassles while we prepared to head to the empire (which was a huge hassle in and of itself), but I couldn’t bring myself to ignore the issue when healers were involved.
Now that we’d reached the center of town, I decided to ask Bazack what he really wanted from us. “Mister Bazack, did you bring us all the way here to show us to an inn?”
“No. I would like you to heal our wounded.”
Right. The adventurers who had rushed into town earlier had mentioned something about gathering all those in need of healing. Since we were in the middle of the town square, it was likely that there were a lot of people for me to heal, and some of them might be sporting serious injuries.
I didn’t hesitate before saying, “I refuse.”
My words seemed to have caught him off guard, and a hint of anxiety crossed his face. “May I ask why?”
“You have a Healer’s Guild, and I’m sure there must be clinics in town. The only reason I healed you was to prove that we aren’t your enemies.”
The man clenched his teeth. “But some of our wounded can only be saved by a sage!”
“If I heal them, I’ll be taking work away from the healers at the clinics.”
Back when there had been no guidelines for healers, there had been cases where some of them had used high-level spells on their patients without reason, simply to inflate the cost, and sold anyone who couldn’t pay into slavery. Ever since we’d put the new guidelines in place, most healers must’ve seen a big loss in their profits. If I went around and started healing people for free, the healers would likely see their livelihoods threatened even more.