Chapter 73
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I joined up with the【Sword Saint】Kureha.
Because of that, the surrounding demons are feeling shaken.
The star rabbit tribe chief, Carol, approaches while smiling, and opens his mouth.
"Kearuga-sama. It is surprising that you are the【Sword Saint's】acquaintance, but how did you call her over?" (Carol)
A reasonable question.
I had Guren transform into me, so I was supposed to have been in this village the whole time.
It's unnatural to be able to call Kureha who is in a human town.
Not only that, they probably suspect that I'm connected to some kind of force in the human side.
Rather than thinking an individual is guarding Eve, they might think some kind of organization is following Eve's back. Or possibly, it might be more natural to think that organization is trying to use Eve.
"With a letter. … You'll probably ask how I sent it, right? Anyone that is wary to a certain extent would at least have an emergency contact method." (Kearuga)
"Excuse me for asking an insensitive question." (Carol)
It was quite an overbearing explanation, but it seems he won't asking anything more than this.
I am more or less Eve's partner, and she is the core for the demon king subjugation. I'll have him show the minimum respect.
… Of course, that is just his outward appearance, and their surveillance will probably become stronger from now.
It's probably for the best if I don't use Guren as a subst.i.tute that much anymore.
"Kureha can live in the same house as us. You did lend us a wide house after all." (Kearuga)
I constrained him so that he wouldn't isolate Kureha.
With a look that says there's nothing he can do about it, he nods.
That reminds me, there's one thing I'm curious about. Since it's a good opportunity, I'll ask him.
"Is the star rabbit tribe's demon king candidate not in this village? I want to greet them once, as Eve's partner." (Kearuga)
Eve said that there is a demon king candidate in the star rabbit tribe as well.
In the first place, they formed an alliance from the agreement they made to give each other favourable treatment if either of their demon king candidates became the demon king.
No matter what, tribes that have been endowed with a demon king candidate get a bigger right to speak.
The star rabbit tribe is the centre of this village. In addition, as far as I've seen from how they behave, there's no way they don't have one.
"We do have one, but my daughter is under medical care… and cannot appear in public." (Carol)
Under medical care, huh.
I want to check if that's an excuse or the truth.
And, that method isn’t too difficult.
"Is it a serious disease?" (Kearuga)
"… Yes. Furthermore, since it is a contagious disease, she is in an isolated condition." (Carol)
Hou, that's a good response.
It's easier to block escape.
"I might be able to heal it. I told you how I'm a hero, right? And, among the heroes, I gained the t.i.tle,【Healing】. I'm the best healing magician in this world. At the G.o.d bird's trial, I even cured the G.o.d bird's disease." (Kearuga)
Carol opens his eyes widely.
I had been hiding the fact that I'm a healing magician to the best of my ability, but there's no reason to hide it after coming this far.
In that case, rather than hiding the fact that I'm a healing magician, I can use it as a card to expose whether his daughter really is here.
If he has the mentality of a normal father, then he would cling to me, even if the chance of curing it is small.
If he were to refuse me, his daughter is either not here, or the story about the disease is false, and there's a reason he made that lie.
"What fortune. To think Kearuga-sama was the hero of【Healing】-sama. Please, could you examine my daughter?" (Carol)
"I don't mind. After all, you're a comrade that will fight the demon king with me." (Kearuga)
At least, it seems that his daughter is in this village.
I will be able to tell if she's a demon king candidate or has a disease from just looking.
If it goes well, I will probably be able to grab hold of Carol's weakness.
… Of course, that would only happen if he cares deeply about his daughter.
After guiding Kureha to the residence that we are borrowing, I was brought along to his daughter by Carol.
It seems that his daughter is living in a detached room from his residence.
Before entering the detached room, Carol and his subordinates blocked their mouth and nose with cloth. They pa.s.sed me a cloth as well, but I refused it.
Diseases don't work against me.
The moment I took one step, I sensed a stench. I see, so the story about the disease wasn't a lie.
"I am very sorry for bringing you to an unpleasant place." (Carol)
"No, it's not a problem." (Kearuga)
It's a special chance to grab the weakness of this village's chief after all.
And then, it will also let me openly use【Recovery Heal】on him, letting me fish through his memories and gain information.
I will endure this much with pleasure.
"Thank you." (Carol)
Carol lowers his head, and rushes ahead.
And then, we come to his daughter's room.
"Who might you be?"
That's a severely hoa.r.s.e voice.
Her throat has been injured.
That girl's whole body is covered up by bandages. And on those bandages, blood and other body fluids have spread on it.
Her skin is inflamed.
I look at her condition with【Jade Eye】.
This is serious. She's been infected with a deadly poison, and even her eye that's covered in a bandage has been damaged.
… This is not a disease, but poison. In other words, this condition was planned.
"Lapis, I brought a doctor. He is a skilled doctor, and might be able to heal you." (Carol)
I carefully listen to Carol's voice.
That voice is the voice of a father that cares for his daughter. At the very least, there are no lies here.
And, introducing me as a doctor was my suggestion. If she was told that it's a human hero, the demon girl would be frightened.
"Is that so. Doctor, thank you for coming here." (Lapis) (TL Note: She doesn't actually sound rude, and is talking formally. Just wanted to say this because 'is that so' sounds really disrespectful to her dad…)
"No, don't worry about it. This is my job." (Kearuga)
That being said, she's quite a patient girl.
With the condition of her throat, intense pain should have run through her every time she says something.
Even so, she is properly using honorifics and is saying what she needs to say.
She's a good child, without a doubt.
I can't think of her as the daughter of the man that is selling other tribes to the demon king.
"Carol, can I start examining her now?" (Kearuga)
"Yes, please." (Carol)
I take the girl's hand. And then, I activate【Recovery Heal】.
However, I purposely cancel it midway.
Doing so won't heal her, but it will let me gain the girl's memories and the present condition of her body.
【Jade Eye】only let me know that it was poison, but I was able to find out the details with【Recovery Heal】.
I see, that's an interesting poison.
Tormenting and making them suffer, all while being careful to not kill them, and her sense of pain has been numbed.
And, it seems that she has been periodically drinking that kind of poison.
With the effects of【Recovery Heal】, Lapis's memories come flowing in.
It's a masterpiece.
The girl thought she was drinking medicine, but was using poison daily.
Because of the component that numbs her sense of pain, she was under the impression that she feels at ease when she drinks the medicine. They even politely gave that medicine an addiction symptom, that makes her feel mad if she doesn't drink the poison.
… They really
It would be simple to heal the girl.
However, that wouldn't be interesting, and it wouldn't give me a weakness to hold onto.
Therefore, I'll do something interesting.
"【Recovery Heal】" (Kearuga)
I use the next【Recovery Heal】till the end.
However, I only healed her outward appearance, and left healing the poison in an incomplete state, reducing the addiction symptom in the medicine.
She repeatedly touches her face and skin, and then starts sobbing after raising a voice she couldn't help making.
"Lapis, are you okay! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what did you do to her!" (Carol)
Carol rushes over to his daughter in a rush, and shouts at me.
He threw off the mask of a young man with a gentle manner and got angry at me with all his power.
I smile.
"Calm down. Before shouting at me, it would be better to listen to your daughter's story." (Kearuga)
Carol looks towards his daughter.
And then, Lapis opens her mouth.
"Father, that is not it. I am happy. My throat doesn't hurt, and my eyes can see beyond the bandages. Besides, my soaking skin is not like that anymore." (Lapis)
She has a sweet voice.
It's different from the hoa.r.s.e voice she had until now.
With trembling hands, Lapis tries to unwrap the bandages, but it doesn't go well as she can't put any power in her hands.
However, Carol was surprised from just that.
After all, until now, she wasn't even able to lift her arm.
While trembling, Carol takes off his daughter's bandages and wipes off the mixture of blood, skin and other body fluids with a cloth.
Underneath that, fair skin with a white tone was there.
He takes off the bandages on her face. Beautiful, red pupils are there. They are slightly unfocused, as she is shedding tears of joy.
Her splendid rabbit ear fur and hair that was shed had properly grown back, and her hair is smooth.
"I can properly see father's face. My skin doesn't hurt or itch, and is fair. Mirror, please show me a mirror. I want to see my face properly after two years." (Lapis)
"Yeah, I can also see your beautiful face. Bio, grab a mirror, quick." (Carol)
Carol shouts at his subordinate.
His subordinate runs in a panic.
There are no mirrors in this room. It's not necessary for the girl that lost her vision, and before she lost her vision, her skin had been unsightly and inflamed.
She didn't like looking at her face, so all mirrors were removed.
The subordinate brings a mirror.
She looks into the mirror.
"Father, this is my face. It really is my face." (Lapis)
She delightfully repeats those words while crying.
To her, that must be the most joyful thing.
Carol hugs his daughter tightly. Strongly, strongly, and while shedding tears.
After coming here, I’m convinced. Carol wasn’t the one that deceived Lapis into thinking the poison is medicine and continued making her drink it.
… If Carol was the mastermind, then he would be a terrific actor.
"Kearuga-sama, how exactly can I thank you." (Carol)
"I only did my job." (Kearuga)
I say that, and then wait for him to separate from Lapis.
Once he separates from Lapis, I start whispering close to his ear.
"… Leaving that aside, I need to tell you something. It’s about Lapis’s condition. If possible, I want to talk to you about it with just us two. Lapis’s disease was planned, and I don’t want to let Lapis herself hear about it." (Kearuga)
Carol’s face turns pale.
However, as expected of a village’s chief, he immediately regained his calm.
And then, he congratulates Lapis and guides me to a different room.
"So, what is the important story you talked about?" (Carol)
"There are two. The first one, is that I only healed her external wounds. I succeeded in relieving the symptoms of the disease itself, but I didn’t heal her completely. If you leave her alone, her skin will inflame again, her throat will burn, and her eyes will lose their light." (Kearuga)
Carol makes a discouraged face.
Well, that's only natural.
He must have been under the impression that she was completely healed.
"The-, then, my daughter will once again, become like that?" (Carol)
"At this rate, yeah. The reason I didn't heal her completely with【Recovery Heal】is because healing her all at once will give too much of a burden to her body. With potions that I can periodically compound… yeah, if she continues drinking it every three days, for three months, her symptoms should stop, and she should be able to complete recover eventually." (Kearuga)
Carol becomes delighted, but makes a difficult face at the same time.
… If it goes as planned, he was planning to trap me in one month's time and kill me.
If it doesn't heal unless she continues drinking it for three months, it's the same as saying it can't be healed.
"Kearuga-sama, please sell me three months worth of that potion. If it's about the money, I can pay you as much as you want. Other than that, I can arrange anything for you with my authority." (Carol)
He requested it just as expected.
However, I won't hear him out. Taking three months to slowly fix it is for my lifeline.
"I don't really care about money… and it's a potion that degrades in quality extremely quickly. It will become useless one week after making it. There's nothing I can do about it but make it periodically." (Kearuga)
"In that case, please sell me the potion recipe!" (Carol)
"I don't mind selling you the recipe, but I'm probably the only one that can make it, you know?" (Kearuga)
I begin writing a random recipe on paper that looks real.
It's something that the best alchemists will only be able to succeed in making it once out of one hundred times. Just in case, I quickly write ingredients that would probably be effective.
Carol preciously put the paper away, but they will probably immediately realize they can't make it and cling to me.
"Thank you very much." (Carol)
"Me too, as it's troublesome to come make it once a week, so there's no loss in having the star rabbit tribe make it. Just in case, I have made two potions for one week. Make her drink it every three days." (Kearuga)
"When did you do that?" (Carol)
"While we came here. Making potions with magic can be done as long as you have mana and the ingredients, so you can even make it while walking." (Kearuga)
… Of course, I purposely made the most important ingredient in it to be the antibody I made from taking in the poison inside Lapis's body.
It's a serum made from my blood. It can't be found anywhere else.
Apart from that vital ingredient, to be frank, anything is fine. What I compounded was just nutrients as well.
Now is the real topic.
I'll be taking advantage of what Carol feels towards his daughter.
It's becoming interesting.
"You healed my daughter's external wounds, and even gave me the recipe. You really are a good person." (Carol)
"As long as they aren't enemies, both demons and humans save people who are troubled. That's my policy. Well, on the contrary, if they are an enemy, whether they are human or demon, I will kill them. Mercilessly, even if they are a woman or a child." (Kearuga)
I make it seem like a funny story and smile at him.
Carol must of heard it as his daughter's life will be gone if he betrays me.
"Also, there's one more thing I'm curious about." (Kearuga)
"Which would be?" (Carol)
"Lapis didn't contract a disease. Those symptoms are from poison. That girl was served poison and became like that." (Kearuga)
I carefully watch Carol's expression.
I can't miss the changes in his expression here.
Whether or not he is personally being deceived, is what I want to know.
Carol's expression shows… surprise and anger. Oh, so this guy was also being deceived, huh.
"Poison, you say. Is that, truly." (Carol)
"Yeah, and her condition was becoming more severe as she was periodically drinking it. She must be taking in a considerable amount everyday. It's not the kind of situation where she was secretly made to drink it. … Do you have any ideas on what that could be? I want you to tell me what Lapis periodically drinks." (Kearuga)
After saying that much, he seems to have thought of something.
While shaking, Carol goes outside.
… It might have turned into the best situation among the situations I predicted.
Carol appears.
In his hand, a small bottle filled with amber fluid is inside.
"My daughter drinks this every day." (Carol)
Carol doesn't say what that is.
However, I, who looked through Lapis's memories know.
It's what Lapis thought was medicine.
"Can I break this? I want to a.n.a.lyze it." (Kearuga)
"Yes, go ahead." (Carol)
I make it look like I'm examining it with a forced, showy magic.
Furthermore, I lick it, and make a grim expression.
"How is it?" (Carol)
"… This is terrible. It's the poison that tormented Lapis. Furthermore, they politely made it numb your sense of pain, so that you wouldn't realize it's poison. If you didn't know anything, it would make you misunderstand that it's easing the pain by drinking it. Moreover, it's also addictive. A mix of narcotic drugs and poison. Whoever made this is quite malignant." (Kearuga)
"Is, th, at, so, hahaha, poison, this is poison. For what reason, did I." (Carol)
Carol is trying to feign calmness, but is failing.
I can tell.
This is hatred. Tremendous hatred is exploding inside of Carol.
Even an idiot can tell from looking at this.
Carol probably sold the other tribes to also protect the star rabbit tribe.
However, the number one reason was to gain the medicine to save his daughter. That medicine comes from the demon king.
Carol was probably used by being told that this poison is the only medicine that can save his daughter.
What a fool. He gladly sold out his allies to obtain the poison that is tormenting his daughter after all.
"You definitely cannot give this to Lapis. If you give her the potion I compound once every three days, the symptoms will lessen and it will cure the origin. However, people that can be healed will not be healed if they are made to drink poison." (Kearuga)
"I understand. Thank you very much, Kearuga-sama. I will definitely show my thanks later on. We will also challenge making the potion with the recipe, but if it isn't possible, please compound the medicine next week as well." (Carol)
"Yeah, leave it to me. After all, we are comrades that are going to fight the demon king together." (Kearuga)
I guess my last words were too suspicious.
Well, it should be fine.
I leave the room, and even after I leave, Carol still had his head lowered.
Umu, it started with just an idea, but it was worth it.
While thrusting the situation of his daughter dying if I die at the star rabbit tribe chief, I also planted resentment towards the demon king.
This will surely be effective later on.
As I thought, helping other people feels good. It's what you call the good you do for others is good you do yourself. As a result, helping other people is for your own sake.
Lapis is quite a beautiful girl as well.
I might as well just flirt with her whenever I periodically check up on her. I learnt that the condition of star rabbits are good at Buranikka.
In that condition, she would probably fall into my hands easily.
… No, I shouldn't. Even if I resent her father, I don't have any resentment towards that girl herself. Playing around with her is an act of a brute.
From now on as well, I will continue doing the right thing as a healing magician of justice.
TL Note: So… I just realized that the author changed the releases to once a weekish – probably because of his new series – which means that I'll probably have time to translate another novel, since I'm like 3 chapters away from catching up~ I don't really know what to pick up though, so I've made a page if you want me to pick up something →