Despite all this, his clothes looked simple and were meant for working. He had no weapons, either. Perhaps he was just a staff member, not an adventurer.
“You the twerp that can use healing magic?” he rasped in a gruff voice. I felt myself nearly engulfed by his aura.
Aside from his face, anywhere that his skin was visible revealed scars of all kinds, from blades and monsters alike. This was all the evidence I needed to conclude that this was no ordinary man. Whether due to his lack of weapons, or because his fierce expression was still that of a human, a calm gradually came over me. One of my clients in my past life had been a CEO with a similarly frightening face, but you couldn’t judge a book by its cover. Biases hurt yourself just as much as they hurt others. With that in mind, I offered a proper greeting.
“That’s right. I’m Luciel, a recently registered adventurer. I’m looking to improve both my healing magic and combat abilities, so I was hoping I could receive training in exchange for healing.”
“Do ya now? You’re a strange one, for a healer. What, you bored with your beloved money?” His eyes pierced me like a hunter’s upon its prey.
“Beloved money” caught my attention. Cautionary stares from all around added to my suspicions. Was this how people saw healers? My God-given knowledge lacked that answer. I’d need to do some filling in of the gaps later. Right now, everyone’s gazes made me want to curl into a ball. I couldn’t even bring myself to sigh, but I managed to maintain my composure long enough to get to the point.
“Money is important, but right now I need to boost my chances of survival as much as possible. To that end, like I said to the receptionist, I’d like to undergo training while working to cover the cost.”
“Hm. I get the picture. And ya don’t seem like you’re talking out your ass,” he said. “All right. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brod and I’m the instructor here.”
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“So, kid, you’ve got the Martial Arts skill, but what would a healer want combat abilities for?” He stared at me intently, as if evaluating me, assessing my very soul.
Putting on airs would get me nowhere. I had to be honest. “Because I’m useless in a fight. I’m not even remotely mentally prepared for it. If I ever went on a journey, even the weakest monster would be my last. I want to prevent that. I want to strive to get strong enough to defend myself.”
Brod nodded, then thought for a moment while rubbing his chin. “All right. I’ll hire you as an H-rank healer for our training grounds. You’ll be paid one silver an hour. You decide the training time and duration. When can you start?”
He actually agreed to take me on. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. “In three days, if that’s okay.”
“Got it. Nanaella, do me a favor and arrange everything.”
“Of course,” she replied. “Oh, Nanaella would be me. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nanaella, you said? The pleasure’s all mine.”
When Nanaella and I exchanged greetings, I thought—no, I knew the stares got more intense.
“Ahem.” Brod turned, coughed once, and the hostile eyes turned away from me.
My teacher-to-be sure was something. I could see myself getting a little stronger with this guy as my instructor. After thanking them one last time, I left and made my way back to the Healer’s Guild.
I found my way back safely without any trouble from the Lineage of the White Wolf or any other adventurers.
“You’re dripping with sweat; are you okay?”
Monica stood at the receptionist’s desk and I, apparently, was sweating buckets. I was so frazzled that I hadn’t noticed until she mentioned it.
“Thanks for the concern, but I’m all right. I worked up a bit of a sweat running here, I guess.” I smiled back, then returned to the room they’d so graciously lent me.
I sat on my bed while thinking about these remaining three days, and made up my mind to use them to the best of my ability. If I didn’t, true hardship would await me in this world. At least, that was what my gut told me.
“If I can’t use healing magic properly, I don’t doubt that Brod’ll leave me out to dry. The possibility’s certainly high. If that happens...”
Healers didn’t seem all that well-liked, meaning I could find myself on the bad side of some adventurers. Not to mention the chances of that happening to me would likely be higher than the average healer.
What-ifs could go in circles forever, though, so I resolved to work as hard as possible to stay on Brod’s good side and left it at that. Until one teensy little problem occurred, that is.
I’d anticipated that the amount of experience needed for skills to increase would go up with each level, but I later discovered that the amount of experience you could actually earn decreased as well. With a firm image of the wound in my mind, the very blood vessels, sinew, and bone envisioned, I cast Heal, and unlike before, my skill experience only increased by a total of four this time.
“Does this mean I need to learn more spells? No, even if I did, they’d just use up more magic.”
Thinking in this windowless room sure wore on me mentally. All the same, if I wanted to level up Holy Magic, I had to actually cast the magic.
“At least I know how many I need, so my spirit won’t break.”
My goal was set. I continued to cast Heal, and nothing but Heal, meditating and stretching while taking great care not to overload on stress. My only joy was when Kururu or Monica would bring me food. That one act alone brought respite to my heart. How long it had been since simply talking with people gave me so much happiness.
And so, with these feelings hidden away inside me, my three-day-short Holy Magic Training Camp came to an end. Unsurprisingly, I never managed to make Holy Magic level up, but thanks to my efforts, Focus and Meditation, along with various other skills, did. Some skills must have been easier to improve than others.
“I’m not gonna become some hero overnight. There’s no need to rush.”
I’d spoken with Monica about the Holy Magic skill once before. She told me that increasing it to level five by the time I turned twenty would be quite impressive.
“Ugh, I can’t believe I got all excited over some little promise about a date if I managed to do it. I mean, when you think about it she’s basically saying I’m not even on the menu unless I’m some first-rate prodigy.”
That was probably the oldest trick in the book, too...what all the beautiful Healer’s Guild receptionists used to turn people down. And there I was, giving it my all for three days for a false hope. How simple-minded could I get? I forced a wry smile, bowed in gratitude to my trusty old room, then headed upstairs.
Kururu stood at the desk.
“Good morning, Kururu,” I greeted her.
“Morning, Luciel. If you’re out of your room, then I take it...”
“That’s right. Thank you so much for these past ten days. I’m incredibly grateful to you all for helping me to reach the starting line as a healer.”
“Be grateful to yourself. You managed to actually practice magic in that isolation chamber of a room.”
“You flatter me.”
“You have a workplace settled, don’t you? It might be tough at first, but I know a hard worker like you will make a fine healer. Keep it up, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll devote myself to meeting those expectations of yours. Thank you again.”
“You work hard now! And if you ever meet Miss Lumina, be sure to thank her, too.”
“I sure will, if we ever see each other. All right, Kururu, I’m off.”
She giggled. “Safe travels.”
I left the guild building, her gaze still on my back.
The sunlight outside warmed my cheeks. Yet more beautiful weather.