“Did someone do this to you?” I asked.
“No!” he denied immediately, turning away.
I figured he didn’t want to elaborate. It seemed cruel to keep probing, so I bit my lip and returned my attention to the wound. Gently, I brought my fingers to his uninjured skin. He shuddered slightly.
His leg is hot, and the wound is festering. He’s probably not had much access to clean water.
The wound had probably been inflicted a while ago, and the thought of letting such a young child remain in such terrible pain any longer made my stomach lurch. I held both hands over the injury and focused my mind.
“Diagnose,” I chanted.
Dark-red orbs reminiscent of blood came flying out of the boy’s wound.
He was startled. “Huh?!”
Oops, his eyes are bulging. Hold on, please! Don’t run!
Whether my hopes reached him or he was simply too shocked to move, the boy remained perfectly still, transfixed by the scene before him. One after another, the floating orbs were absorbed into my palms.
I figured my spell looked different from typical healing magic. This two-stage style of diagnosis and healing was something I’d devised myself, inspired by the princess in the story. Healing magic activated when someone with the aptitude for it said an incantation out loud—but the princess had said that wasn’t enough! I had to know what was going on with my patient if I was to truly heal their injuries.
I must understand the pain.
Through the spell, stabbing pain assaulted me. It wasn’t that a similar wound had appeared on my body—I just felt his pain. Searing, terrible agony assaulted my brain, the backs of my eyes, my eardrums, my fingertips. I gritted my teeth and endured in silence. Behind my closed eyelids, the memories of how he’d been injured began to surface.
This was like a side effect of my Diagnose spell. The memories of the target’s pain and suffering were deeply etched into my body and mind both. With that, I could understand at least a fraction of what the boy had gone through. Keeping it in mind, I wished with all my heart to heal his wounds and make it all better.
“Rejuvenate!” I chanted.
Golden light, created from the mass of pain I’d extracted earlier, surged forth from my outstretched palms and scattered into countless motes of light that were absorbed into the boy’s wound. My emotions overlapped with his, and the previously dim back alley was enveloped in powerful, overflowing light.
May your suffering wash away!
When the light settled, the boy had a dumbfounded expression on his face.
“How is it? Can you move your leg without discomfort?” I asked.
The boy lifted and lowered his right leg, and his eyes widened.
“Uh, yeah. It’s...all better?” For some reason, his reply came out as a question.
Success! What a relief!
Still looking dazed, the boy rifled through his jacket pocket and produced a piece of bronze, which he held out silently with both hands. Carefully, I took the mud-caked coin.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed. Yes! I made some money!
Way to go, me! Making money just hours after getting kicked out of the basilica!
I’m so cool! Sooo awesome! Yippee! I’m a genius!
I was so happy that I probably would’ve started dancing on the spot if the boy hadn’t been there. He didn’t share my excitement, however, and still looked out of sorts. I was starting to worry, really.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I mean, a wound like this...” he began hesitantly. “Just, normally, it’d have cost like, a thousand times that to heal.”
“Really?!”
Yet another thing that was complete news to me. Oh no. Maybe I was just as sheltered as he thought! The idea was making me anxious.
As I held my head in my hands, the boy’s golden eyes wavered. “You’re not gonna want it?”
“Huh? Want what?”
“Money, duh!”
“But you already paid me.”
For some reason, he looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. How confusing.
“A thousand bronze pieces would be, umm...one piece of silver, right?” I asked. “I couldn’t possibly charge you all that! That’d be fraud! The neighborhood watch would come for my head!”
Money came in five varieties: copper, bronze, steel, silver, and gold. Ten of each denomination made one of the next, so it was easy to do the math. Wait...was that right? I’d never had to calculate money conversions before. I was getting a bit anxious.
“B-But it wouldn’t be fraud! Everyone knows it’d cost a thousand times more!” the boy said.
“It’s okay! I’m sheltered, you see!” I pointed out proudly. And that settles it!
The boy burst out laughing for some reason. “Really? And you’re bragging about it? Ha ha ha...!”
“You don’t have to cackle,” I muttered. It was so embarrassing! He was laughing so hard he was holding his stomach!
Seeing my sullen look, the boy mumbled, “Sorry, sorry,” and managed to contain his laughter.
Were his eyes wet with tears? They were. I was going to pretend they were not.
“Also, what were those dark red globs and that golden light?” he asked.
“Um... I don’t actually know.”
“What.”
Oh, he’s glaring at me! He must be getting better.
But really, I wasn’t trying to be coy. I really didn’t fully understand it, myself. According to the high priest, there had never been a saint in recorded history whose healing magic emitted particles of light.
“Uh, personally I think I took your pain, used my get-better-please-thanks power on it, and then returned it! Or something...? But I really am not sure,” I tried to explain, gesturing wildly and fully aware that this probably sounded outrageous.
The boy stared intently at me.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually the...” he began, then trailed off.
“Hmm? What?”
“Nothing. Never mind,” he said, shaking his head. He muttered quietly, “There’s no way.”
I was about ready to start walking again. I still needed to find two more people to heal, after all, and...wait, no, if I wanted room and board, I had to find four people to heal.
Got a long way to go still!
“Well then, I’ll be going,” I told him. “If you get hurt again... Wait, no. I hope you don’t get hurt again, but just in case you bump your head or scrape your knee, feel free to reach out!”
“And how would I do that?” he asked.
“I’ll be in the capital for a while!”
Come to think of it, hadn’t Prince Alex said something about leaving the country? Well, I didn’t have the money to do it, anyway, so that was moot. I figured my best shot was to heal people for a while, save up, then take a ship to a neighboring country. Though I’d never actually been abroad before...
The boy brought a hand to his chin pensively. Then he looked up at me and asked in a slightly tense, oddly high-pitched voice, “Then why don’t you stick with me? We can make money together.”
...Pardon?
I blinked, confused.