How had it come to this? I did not know.
Currently, as per the orders of Kira—the boy with the beautiful golden eyes—I was hiding in the shadows. It was evening, and according to Kira, the targets would soon walk down the road I was staring at.
Truthfully, I didn’t really understand what we were doing, but Kira had offered me the opportunity to make money together. To me, that would, of course, be a huge help, and so I hadn’t thought twice about saying, “Yes, please!” and nodding.
But then he’d turned to me and said, “Your targets will be elementary school students.”
“School!” I’d echoed. C-Could it be...? “Are you saying I get to go to school too?!”
“Why would you think that?”
R-Right. I am twenty-eight years old, after all...
To be honest, I’d always longed for school life. I’d only been five years old when I’d first shown aptitude to be a saint, so I’d spent most of my life at the Grand Basilica and never had the chance to be a student. Going to class with girls and boys my age, studying and making friends... It sounded so fun. Instead, I’d been educated to be the saint, which meant I’d studied alone.
Back at the basilica, there were a few young men and a lot—and I mean a lot—of middle-aged and elderly men.
Wow. Though I’d only been kicked out of the Grand Basilica a few hours ago, I found myself growing sentimental all of a sudden. All of those men had been so kind to me, and I hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to them.
“So, here’s how this works,” Kira began. “First of all, little kids get lots of scrapes and things every day from getting into fights and taking tumbles. That makes them perfect targets.”
He says that like he’s not a kid himself...
I’d been thinking about it since we met, actually—Kira didn’t really talk like a young boy. He sounded really mature for his age. Besides, though he apparently wasn’t an elementary school student, I was pretty sure he was still of school age. Not that it was any of my business.
“By the way,” he said. “How many times per day can you heal people?”
“I’ve never counted, exactly, but probably as many times as I want.”
Kira heaved a startlingly deep sigh. “No way. You actually mean that?”
“Why wouldn’t I mean that?” I asked, staring at him in confusion.
Kira sighed even more deeply. “Whatever. I’ll believe you. Anyway, these kids should have decent pocket money, so we’re charging them... Let’s see... Three bronze pieces per spell.”
“Three whole pieces?! They’ll arrest me for fraud!”
“No one’s gonna arrest anyone. This is actually way too cheap.”
“Is it?!”
It had barely been a day and already my understanding of the world had changed so much.
Ignoring my dumbfoundedness, Kira continued, “What else...? Oh, right. Don’t do the floaty red orb thing.”
“Why not?”
“It looks weird and kinda gross too.”
Tears of utter sorrow streamed down my face. Ah, the honesty of children...
“B-But what about the golden lights?” I asked. “I can’t keep those from coming out...”
“Actually, make even more of those. They’ll generate extra buzz.”
Buzz?
I had no idea what he meant, but it sounded like the more golden lights, the better.
“All right, then! Golden light extravaganza it is!” I declared, clenching my fist.
Kira gave me an approving nod. “So, high-ranking noble kids ride carriages to and from school. Only lower-ranked nobles or commoners with enough money to attend school walk down this road, so those are the ones we’ll aim for. Preferably, the ones walking alone.”
“You know so many things, Kira.”
“Not that many, really.”
“I mean it! You’re still so young, but you’re so well-informed!”
For some reason, Kira seemed to take offense to that. I’d meant it as a compliment!
“So, first...”
And then he’d gone on to explain the process.
What was it he said? I thought. First, I should try talking to someone. Right.
In front of me was a road that children crossed daily on their way back and forth between the elementary school and the main street. Behind me was Kira, who’d promised to back me up if anything unusual happened. Very reassuring!
I held my breath and waited quietly for a while, until—
Someone’s coming! I thought, and immediately jumped out of my hiding spot.
Walking alone down the road was a brown-haired boy, maybe about...ten or so? He looked unfriendly and had gauze taped over his right eye. He gave off troublemaker vibes.
“H-Hello!” I said.
The boy looked at me, puzzled.
He’s wary of me!
But I couldn’t back down here! Instead, I thought back on the lines I’d rehearsed.
“U-Um, would you like me to touch you where it hurts?”
“What?!”
“I’ll touch you real good! It’ll feel great! I’ll touch you so thoroughly, you’ll be like, ‘Enough already!’ And all I ask for in exchange is some some mone—”
A pair of hands reached for me from behind and dragged me back into the alley.
“What’s your problem?!” Kira shouted, red as an apple.
Whaaat? “Hey, I tried my best to think of something to say! What did I do wrong?” I asked, pleading with my eyes for him to explain.
Kira turned even redder. He scratched his head roughly, grumbling and groaning. What was wrong with him?
“Okay, okay, that was on me!” he said finally. “I’ll come up with something for you to say!”
“O-Okay. Thanks?”
“So don’t say stuff like that to guys anymore!”
“Stuff like what?” I asked, trying to remember what I’d said that was so terrible.
“Just don’t!” he snapped again. “It’s not allowed! All right?!”
“O-Okay,” I said, nodding as hard as I could.
Kira’s anger finally seemed to subside. “Let’s go, then.”
“All right!” I replied energetically. He was being so helpful, after all! Okay, I’ve got this now!
✦ ✦ ✦
And the result was...
“Wow! Look, Kira, look! I made sixty-one pieces of bronze in one day!”
I was so happy I could’ve danced, but Kira stayed cool. Although...the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, so he seemed pleased with the results too. I had healed twenty-one people total, Kira included, and achieved my goal!
“Listen. It’s important to stay mysterious,” Kira had told me. “You need to draw people in and make them buy what you’re selling, you know?”
Under such capable direction, I’d managed to pull it off. First, I would slip out of the alley and wistfully call out to any students walking alone, like, “Ah, I see the pain and suffering in you. You work so hard. You don’t deserve this.”
It was key to have tears glistening in my eyes, apparently.
When I gazed at these children tearfully, as per Kira’s instructions, both boys and girls would blush dreamily. I wasn’t sure why, actually.
“Wh-Who are you, miss?” one of them had asked.
“Me? I’m a beautiful angel, sent by the heavens to heal the people of this land,” I’d said.
It had sounded absolutely insane even to my own ears, but for some reason, everyone seemed convinced. Though I felt bad deceiving innocent children, I’d told myself this was all so I could have a place to sleep and food in my belly tonight. Thus, I’d psyched myself up and cast spell after spell.
Indeed I had.
And just as Kira had predicted, elementary school students invariably had all sorts of injuries and maladies. My healing magic was effective not just for wounds but also for cavities, colds, and even things like declining eyesight. So, except for the kids who’d gotten suspicious and taken off running, I’d successfully healed pretty much everyone.
This is also apparently unique to me among all saints.
My spells would’ve been even more effective combined with Diagnose, but since these were healthy school children, none had particularly serious injuries. Even though dancing motes of light were all they saw when I used my magic, the children looked awed, as though they were witnessing a miracle.
And that was how that had gone.
Having earned lots of bronze pieces in just about two hours, I was beside myself—and my stomach was stirring back to life. The evening bell rang, and the area was growing dark. With fewer people around, it was probably time to call it for the day.
“Kira, do you have a home?” I asked, just to be sure.
“No,” he replied. “I mean, you can tell, right? Look at me.”
“I don’t either,” I said with a smile. “Why don’t we both stay at an inn?”
“But that’s your money.”
“Which I only earned thanks to your help. More than half of this is rightfully yours.”
Had I been by myself, there was no way I could’ve made that much. Kira still seemed hesitant, but after a while, he gave a small nod.
“Okay, but...no inn around here will take a child in such filthy clothes,” he said.
I clapped my hands together, beaming. “Then let’s go to the public bath! We made plenty of money today, after all!”
Kira’s eyes widened for a moment, and then he chuckled. “Starting tomorrow, I think ‘plenty’ won’t even begin to cover it.”
Oh, he’s smiling! Uh, smirking, more like.
I didn’t say that out loud, though. He looked so happy.