In short, since she couldn’t heal herself, Dana never skipped her daily workout routine and would always smash through monster curses with a battle cry. “HRMGH!” she would shout, her feet firmly planted on the ground and hands clenched into fists. The sight of this was still engraved deeply in Lacey’s mind.
Lacey recalled that later, her companions had all sat around a crackling campfire and talked about what they would do once the Demon King was defeated and their quest was complete. Lacey was in no way capable of casual conversation, but she still hunched down and listened to what they had to say. During this, Dana had said that she wanted to receive fair compensation for using her powers as a holy woman.
“After our quest was over, I established a medical center annexed to the orphanage. Things got shockingly busy then. I’d like to say that there’s no distinction made between nobles and commoners, but it is a customer-facing job. Handling the haughty nobles is where it gets really annoying. It’s ‘Hey, treat me first’ this, ‘Hey, be my personal caretaker and share your miracles with me and only me’ that. It’s nothing but stress every day.”
Dana let out a heavy sigh. “But!” she raised her voice and asserted. “I’m doing it for the money! Nobles are important customers who pay well, so I can’t let them slip away! All I have to do is plaster a smile on my face and talk a bit, and then they’re like putty in my fingers!”
She was unwavering. This holy woman would forsake her pride for money.
However, no matter how determined she was, it must have worn away at her regardless. Lacey imagined what it must have been like to open a medical center after coming back from their quest and then deal with selfish nobles every day. I see. No wonder the stress has piled up.
“That sounds really hard.”
“It is! And I realized that going in! This is work worth doing to me and I’m trying to be optimistic about it. But one morning, I woke up and my body felt so heavy that I couldn’t move. I could just use a miracle on myself...but I can’t!”
“So, what you’re saying is...”
“My shoulders are stiff, my back aches, and my head is pounding! Save me, Lacey!”
It was all clear to Lacey now. In short, Dana’s request was to fix her stress-related health issues. “Okay, I understand. I’ll do what I can.”
“You accept?!”
“Of course,” Lacey acknowledged.
Dana’s expression bloomed into a smile. She then stood up from her chair and tried to fling herself at Lacey...before clutching her back and crumpling to the ground. “Ooh, owwwwww! My back pain...!”
It was, to say the least, a worrying sight.
∗ ∗ ∗
Dana could stay in Plume Village for two days, today included. She had a packed schedule after that, so she would have to leave on the morning of the third day.
Lacey placed a hand to her chin and mumbled to herself. “Back pain, headaches, muscle stiffness... Something that’ll fix all of these at the same time. Medicinal herbs should work for the back pain, but probably not for the rest of it. Hmm...”
“Lacey? Lacey? Oh my, she isn’t listening.” Dana, still bent over and worrying about the injury to her back, tried getting Lacey’s attention. Instead of an answer, all she heard was mumbles.
“Oh dear...”
Dana had seen Lacey like this before many times during their quest. Whenever she had even the slightest dissatisfaction with her magic, she would lose sleep over devising how to make the formulas more efficient. The girl lived hand in hand with magic, to the point where she herself was like a perfected magic spell.
Lacey was a dependable companion, but she had an unapproachable aura about her. In those moments, Dana simply gave her space.
It would sound positive if she said it was because she was older than Lacey and was reading her mood, but the truth was, Dana could only worriedly keep an eye on her from a distance. Meanwhile, Wayne was able to ignore that aura that Dana couldn’t get past and step right up to Lacey. She was a little jealous of that.
“You know, this is a really sudden request, so you don’t have to strain yourself if it’s too hard. Don’t overdo it...yeah, she’s not listening.”
Since this was a job, there would need to be payment involved. However, Lacey shook her head and said, “You don’t have to pay yet. I haven’t figured out what to make. I can’t charge you when you don’t know what you’re getting.”
Dana sat down in a chair and followed Lacey with her eyes, wondering what was going through her head. She was pacing around the mansion and brainstorming. At Dana’s feet, Tee spread out its wings and swayed to the right and then to the left like a pendulum. Dana chuckled.
“It seems your master’s putting serious effort into this.”
“Nkwee?”
“That’s one of Lacey’s strengths.”
They’d traveled together for a year. Although there was a complex distance between them that couldn’t be surmounted, Dana had always been observing Lacey. She was taller than she remembered, and her aura had changed a little as well. She seemed much more charming than before. Still, there were things about her that hadn’t changed.
“I’m glad I came. This might sound weird, but I forced myself to take a vacation since I wanted a breath of fresh air. I mean, I’ve been going without any breaks and I’m totally worn out. I guess I really was at my limit, so much so that my body’s starting to complain.”
Seeing Lacey, who was very different and yet still the same, gave Dana a little bit of energy. She didn’t know if Lacey was listening or not, though.
Tee kept its big round eyes focused on Dana and kept dancing, wagging its butt. “Kwee kwee!”
“You’re charming too,” Dana said sweetly to Tee. In response, Tee shook its beak in satisfaction.
“I did make a rather big request, so I don’t think I can have very high expectations. Still, I’m glad just to see Lacey. Now I’ve got the energy to work hard again. Besides that...oh yes, there’s something that I absolutely have to thank her for.” Despite what she’d just said, Dana anxiously glanced over at Lacey. “She didn’t hear that last part, right?”
Of course, Lacey wasn’t looking over at her. She was still pacing back and forth across the room.
“Ah!”
She wasn’t looking where she was going. “Watch out!” Dana was about to exclaim, but she was a second too late. Thud! came a heavy sound as Lacey crashed into the wall.
Just then, the bell at Lacey’s waist chimed with a pleasant little ding-a-ling.
There was a visitor.
∗ ∗ ∗
“Dana, the Saint of Light?”
Allen, who had been invited into the mansion by Lacey, had his jaw hanging. As usual, he had a crate full of vegetables in his arms. Dana noticed Allen’s reaction and then realized that she’d forgotten to put her hat back on.
“You’re Dana in the flesh?! Actually, sorry, Lady Dana?!”
“Oh dear. There was no fuss at the restaurant I went to for lunch, but do people recognize me even here?”
“Restaurant? Oh, that guy’s a bit eccentric...wait, I was just at Sasanqua! Come on, Cedric, you should’ve told me!” Allen stamped his feet.
If he knew about Dana, then did he know about Lacey too? Dana tilted her head and turned her gaze to the girl.
Allen wailed at Lacey. “How, big sis Lacey?! How do you know Lady Dana?! Tell me!!!” He was shaking a helpless Lacey back and forth.
I shouldn’t say anything imprudent. Dana hushed up. Unlike me, the portraits of Lacey going around have her age, face, and features completely wrong. She actually has beautiful black hair, but they draw her with red hair just because she’s the Dawn Witch.
She has such a pretty face, so she should’ve shown it more, Dana thought. During their quest, Lacey had always been clutching her large staff and had a black hood hanging over her eyes. Although she shared a name with the Dawn Witch, it wasn’t obvious that they were one and the same.
While Dana pondered this, Lacey had finished explaining to Allen that they’d met in the capital, with some faltering. Allen then announced “I’m leaving your vegetables here! But since Lady Dana’s here, I’ll come by again tomorrow!” and went away...but then turned back, bowed emphatically to Dana, and then ran off.
The mansion went very quiet. Lacey explained the circumstances. “That was Allen. He comes to deliver vegetables often, and he’s a fan of yours.”
“Oh my.”
“Actually, he’s such a big fan that he wanted to name his little sister after you.”
That was a bit hard to comment on, but Dana interpreted it positively and supposed that meant he liked it. There were lots of boys and girls who looked up to Dana and the rest of the party as heroes.
“He wanted to, so that must mean she ended up with a different name. Was the name Lacey on the list of candidates?”
“Well, they were apparently thinking about it, and they kind of settled on a similar name...”
“Heh heh. Then he’d be very surprised if he learned you’re the Dawn Witch.”
“I’m not sure.”
“I think so. I’d love to see the look on his face,” Dana chuckled.
∗ ∗ ∗
After the sun had set, Lacey and Dana decided to go down into the village. After all, they needed to get dinner. Lacey could manage something on her own, but making something that would suit Dana’s tastes would pose some difficulty.
Of course, Dana wasn’t exactly a gourmet. Lacey was just too austere. There had been a spread of cucumbers in the chock-full crate Allen had brought.
“How about this for dinner tonight?” Lacey had asked and offered a cucumber with some salt.
Dana had given it a thumbs-down. “Vetoed.”
Lacey had gotten markedly better at brewing tea, but she still didn’t have any aptitude for making meals. After all, this was the same Lacey who was satisfied with chomping down on raw carrots. She had assumed that most other people would be totally okay with biting into whole raw produce and had therefore suggested the cucumbers, but she found that she was mistaken. Lacey followed after Dana sadly.