Among the ingredients for the medicinal tonic, there’s an item called ‘Healer’s Sincerity.’
This is an item that can be obtained when healing people and is important in drug manufacturing.
The Healer’s Sincerity, which can only be obtained when healing a certain number of people or above, was easier to acquire than its high item grade might suggest.
It’s natural.
Because you can gain points just by getting hit a few times in one battle and healing.
When I was playing the game, I also accumulated quite a lot of points this way.
But when it became reality, using such methods became a bit awkward.
In fact, I had tried it a few times.
By catching a thief, stabbing, healing, stabbing, healing.
But after doing this for a while, the subject couldn’t endure the pain and died. How weak.
I tried a few more times after that, but I realized that infinite healing, like in the game, was impossible.
Anyway, since I couldn’t use the easiest method, I had no choice but to use the proper technique.
“You’re saying… you’ll heal us…?”
Perhaps hearing my shout?
An old man who looked about to collapse approached and spoke with difficulty.
It looks like food poisoning, but this level of treatment is simple.
I ground and appropriately combined the purchased herbs and antidote herbs, made a powder medicine, and held it out.
“Oh… I’m cured! I’m cured!”
Perhaps because it’s a fast-acting medicine, it seems to have taken effect immediately.
The old man was rejoicing and making a fuss when he suddenly felt himself get better.
He seems scared that I might ask for money.
“I don’t need money!!”
I just need to gain points!
“He, heal me first!”
“My mother is sick!”
“I’m first! I’m going to be treated first!!”
“Oh my! Sir! There’s a wound on my thigh…”
Perhaps thanks to treating one old man for free?
People who were just watching came running with their eyes rolled back.
Haha. Come on. My points.
“Sowol. Line these people up.”
“Eh? Ah. Yes. I understand! Everyone, please form a line!!”
But there was no way the excited people would listen to Sowol’s shout.
Flustered by this, she finally put her hand on her waist.
“Eek?!”
“Y-You damn brat?!”
“If you get cut by this damn brat, you’ll have more places that need treatment, you know?”
This kid. She already knows how to reveal killing intent. I’m so proud.
As Sowol spoke with a growl, the man about to throw a fit flinched and stepped back.
Seeing the people gradually lining up before me, I applauded Sowol.
“Well done.”
“It’s nothing. By the way, are you going to stay here?”
“Yeah. Until I treat all these people. If you get bored, you can go somewhere else.”
“It’s fine.”
Is that so? Then I’d like you to run some errands for me here.
***
Sowol returned in the evening.
Laila, who greeted her thinking she would have had an enjoyable time with Lee Hyun, was startled by Sowol’s haggard appearance.
“Young miss?! Did something happen?!”
“I’m tired…”
She really looks tired.
Laila was even more flustered by the sight of Sowol staggering in and collapsing on the bed.
What could have made her this tired?
She couldn’t bear the curiosity.
So, while helping Sowol undress, she asked.
“Where did you go?”
“To the back alley…”
“Back-alley?”
Why did she go there?
The back alley only has the dark side of the city, like vagrants and the sick.
It’s not a place for someone like Sowol, who should always be in bright places.
The question remains unresolved.
Laila raised the exhausted Sowol, gave her water to drink, and asked again.
“What did you do in the back alley?”
What did she do?
Even Sowol didn’t know.
As soon as they entered the city, they bought a lot of medicine and went to the back alley to treat people. And for free.
No, is that all?
Lee Hyun’s way of treating people was amazing. That’s all she could say.
He touched rotten wounds without hesitation, squeezed out thick pus from boils with bare hands, dealt with people who hadn’t washed for a long time, and smelled terrible as if it were nothing.
Surely, someone of Lee Hyun’s caliber could live as an upper-class person and receive respect wherever he goes.
But for such a person to go to such lengths?
Even the church wouldn’t treat them with such devotion.
“I don’t know either.”
Sowol, muttering weakly, calmly told about what happened today.
After hearing the whole story, even Laila couldn’t hide her surprise.
“Why did he do that?”
“I don’t know. Me neither.”
“Didn’t you ask?”
“I did ask. But the only answer I got was, ‘It’s for your sake.'”
“For your sake? How is that…”
One of the vagrants had asked.
Why are you treating us like this? Where did the money for these medicines come from?
Lee Hyun answered that question lightly.
Sowol paid the cost of the medicine, and the treatment was being done for Sowol’s sake.
Thanks to that, she received unexpected praise from the people in the back alley.
But what meaning does that have?
What value do their praises have for Lee Hyun to say such a thing?
“Well… this is a story passed down in the East.”
“What kind of story?”
“They say that every person’s actions have something called ‘karma’. Whether you accumulate good karma or bad karma. The story goes that it greatly affects that person later.”
“Does that make sense? Then, shouldn’t all the villains in this world come to a bad end? But the more villainous they are, the more extravagantly they live.”
The world is not so simple.
Live kindly. Don’t harm others.
Don’t live a false life.
These were stories often preached by the teachers who taught her.
But is the world really like that? Sowol didn’t think so.
“That’s true, but…”
And this was a story Laila knew too.
Neither Sowol nor Laila were young enough to be swayed by such old-fashioned stories.
Would Lee Hyun not know this?
“I really can’t understand Master’s thoughts…”
Sowol grumbled irritably while tossing and turning on the bed.
Smiling gently at her, Laila quietly got up from her seat.
“You said Master doesn’t answer properly even when you ask, right? Then shall I ask?”
“Will Master tell you?”
“How about I ask casually, as if in passing?”
“Hmm… Yeah! Please do!”
Seeing Sowol’s bright smile, Laila went outside.
She was currently staying in an inn provided by the Rogen Company.
Coming out of the best room in the inn where the warriors who came together were also staying, she looked down.
The warriors gathered in a large space on the first floor, listening intently to someone’s story.
“When catching a Black Tiger Goblin, it’s best to aim for the legs. Especially the third leg…”
“Puhahaha! Oh, Master! Then what do you do if you meet a female Black Tiger Goblin?!”
“Then just run.”
The atmosphere was very bright.
Usually, when warriors are together during a trade journey, such an atmosphere doesn’t arise.
Going on a trade journey means you can encounter danger at any time.
So, everyone would just quietly drink alcohol, passing the time while worrying and fearing the next journey.
But now it was different. Perhaps because they were with an overwhelmingly strong person, shadows were hard to find on their faces.
“By the way, Master, why did you become so strong?”
“Because I have a goal.”
“What kind of goal…”
“Who knows? For now, I guess the goal of properly raising a disciple?”
Properly raising a disciple. Does that mean he sincerely wants to raise Sowol?
Laila listened to their conversation as she slowly descended the stairs.
Lee Hyun was answering other warriors’ questions without hesitation.
Among them were vulgar jokes, and also talks about martial arts.
But Lee Hyun answered all of them sincerely and in his own way.
‘In this atmosphere, would it be okay?’
“Then, why did Master attribute all of today’s deeds to the young miss?”
A question casually thrown amid the boisterous atmosphere. She thought Lee Hyun, who seemed quite drunk, might answer simply.
That’s why Laila, who asked the question, flinched when Lee Hyun’s gaze turned to her.
His flushed face proved that he was quite drunk.
Looking at the empty bottles in front of him, one could tell how much he had drunk.
Nevertheless.
Despite that, Lee Hyun’s eyes were piercingly sharp.
Laila unconsciously gulped, feeling as if his gaze, as sharp as a spear tip was piercing her heart.
“Because that’s what Sowol needs.”
Lee Hyun said calmly with a slight smile.
There seemed to be not a single trace of falsehood in that smile. An impossibly clear smile from an impossibly strong person.
Laila could only stare at it blankly.
“Come on! Let’s drink!”
The atmosphere became noisy again.
As Lee Hyun started to lead the atmosphere again, Laila slowly put her hand on her chest.
-Thump.
Is it because Lee Hyun’s smile from earlier was still lingering in her mind?
Her heart was pounding.