Chapter 13

In front of the main entrance of the assembly hall.

In the central square, many villagers had gathered, busy with preparing food and treating the injured.

The village's self-defense group had defeated a bear-like monster, but Mika and the others had remained in the assembly hall.

It seemed that the south gate had been destroyed, and they were checking to ensure that no other monsters or beasts had entered the village.

Emergency repairs to the south gate were being carried out at a rapid pace.

Now, the front of the assembly hall had turned into a makeshift field hospital and refugee camp.

The injured self-defense group members either went to Kifurodo, who was in front of the assembly hall, or were carried inside.

Inside the assembly hall, Rady was performing healing through the "Miracle of God."

The defeated monster was in the central part of the square.

The monster, which had received a fatal blow from Diego, had tried to escape but was stopped there.

Mika had seen it from a distance just a moment ago, but it was only a large, black, fuzzy something.

Deciding to take a closer look, Mika was stopped by an adult standing nearby.

Perhaps out of concern for any unforeseen circumstances, even though the monster had been defeated.

From the glimpse through the window and the size of the black, fuzzy mass, the monster was probably over two meters tall when standing, and perhaps even three meters.

It resembled a bear, but its roar was extraordinary.

A roar that could make the entire building vibrate was not something a normal bear could produce.

If Mika had been with family, they might have been able to muster the courage to say, "I'll give it a hit!" but if Mika had encountered it alone, they would have probably given up immediately, thinking, "Ah, I'm dead."

It was that kind of roar.

"Sir Priest, can I have a recovery potion?"

A self-defense group member came to receive a recovery potion that Kifurodo had brought from the church.

The kindly Kifurodo offered words of encouragement and blessing to the self-defense group member before handing over the potion.

"Yes, use it as you see fit. There are more in that box. Even minor scratches should be treated immediately. More people might come, you know."

"Don't say such scary things."

Kifurodo laughed heartily at the exasperated self-defense group member.

"I understand your concern, but it's too early to relax. You should tell the others as well. There are plenty of recovery potions, so use them without hesitation."

The self-defense group member thanked Kifurodo and uncorked the recovery potion.

They poured about half of it on their scratched arm and drank the rest.

Immediately, the wound closed and healed.

(Recovery potions are amazing! What is that? It has the same immediate effect as "Healing"!)

As Kifurodo stacked boxes in one corner of the assembly hall, self-defense group members kept coming to receive something and then returning.

At first, Mika didn't understand what was happening and was curious enough to come closer.

Mika couldn't hide their surprise at the mysterious medicine that closed wounds right before their eyes.

Moreover, there were many bottles of such medicine in the boxes.

All of this medicine seemed to have been brought from the church.

(This is impressive, but if Rady's "Healing" is available, is it really necessary?)

Mika thought, but it might be a matter of convenience.

For minor injuries that can be treated with medicine, they were using the medicine, and Rady was focusing on more serious injuries that only Rady could heal.

It seems that six self-defense group members were seriously injured in this monster hunt.

One of them was in a critical condition.

Rady had been praying to God and giving "Healing" to the critically injured self-defense group member for a while.

Thanks to Rady's efforts, the critically injured self-defense group member regained consciousness and was able to communicate.

This critically injured self-defense group member was named Yasukeri.

When the monster charged through the main entrance of the assembly hall, Yasukeri pushed an empty cart in front of the monster, causing it to collide head-on.

As a result, Yasukeri was slammed into the main door with great force, sustaining critical injuries.

If Yasukeri hadn't acted quickly to slow down the monster's momentum, the main door might have been broken, leading to unimaginable disaster.

(That was truly a life-or-death struggle.)

Mika, who had only watched, or rather, only heard, couldn't imagine the fierce battle that had saved the village of Rish.

It was a battle that defied imagination.

As Mika watched the scene in the assembly hall, the surroundings became noisy.

Everyone was smiling and cheering.

Diego, who had just arrived from the crowd, walked through the cheers with the air of a village hero.

Diego was wearing a well-worn iron chest plate and gauntlets, but the parts not protected by these were torn and bloody.

Although he didn't have any major injuries, he was covered in minor ones.

He walked with a slight limp in his right leg and headed straight for Kifurodo.

"Ah, Diego. It's good to see you safe. Here, use this."

"Yeah, sorry. I'll use it."

Kifurodo handed Diego two recovery potions, which he accepted.

Diego applied the recovery potion to the larger wounds on his left shoulder and left leg, then drank the remaining bottle in one go.

He exhaled deeply and placed the empty bottle in an empty box.

"Was that an Ag Bear?"

"Yeah, it was a bit bigger than usual."

Diego lightly rotated his shoulder and twisted his neck.

A loud crack was heard.

"Being a self-defense group member is tough, especially for that class. Some nearly died. If it weren't for the priest and the sisters, who knows what would have happened."

"Ha ha ha. I didn't do much. But having Rady in this village is almost a miracle. Normally, such a skilled healer wouldn't leave the cathedral."

"Really... Why is he here in this village? And he uses the 'Miracle of God' for free."

Diego said this with a look of amazement and glanced at Rady.

It seemed that Rady had just finished treating all the critically injured people.

Kifurodo laughed heartily in response.

"Rady must have thought about it a lot. If he's not doing anything wrong, I'll let him do as he pleases. I'm just an old man, so I'll watch silently."

"......Is that okay?"

Diego, looking even more amazed, seemed to decide not to pry further.

It wasn't something to be discussed behind someone's back, and Kifurodo wouldn't talk about it anyway.

"So, how is the village? What's the damage?"

"Along the path the Ag Bear took, a few windows were broken, but that's about it. The biggest damage is to the south gate. We'll seal it off temporarily and search the village. Once we confirm it's safe, we'll disband. But it's night, so it might take some time to confirm."

"Of course, you know that. Prioritize safety. It doesn't matter how long it takes to confirm. We can stay here until morning. Please do a thorough job."

Diego nodded and was about to leave when he noticed Mika standing nearby, listening to their conversation.

"Hey, kid. Were you scared?"

Diego grinned and ruffled Mika's hair.

It was hard to believe that this man had defeated a monster that looked like a monster.

Despite his somewhat stern appearance, he looked like just an ordinary man.

"You're scarier, Diego. I almost cried."

"What, you little brat!"

Diego grabbed Mika's head with the hand that had been ruffling it and shook it from side to side.

Mika laughed heartily, and Diego also laughed boisterously while shaking Mika.

The ability to joke and laugh like this was thanks to Diego defeating the monster.

"Thank you, Diego. Thanks to you, we were saved."

Mika suddenly thanked Diego, who turned away, blushing, and simply said, "Yeah."

"That's amazing. You can defeat something like that."

"Yeah, well, I didn't do it alone. I'm not as strong as I used to be."

Diego sighed deeply.

"......Weaker? After defeating that thing?"

Diego said something unbelievable.

(You defeated that monster and still say you're weaker? What does that even mean?)

Diego hesitated, then sighed as if giving up.

"Because of old injuries, I can't move like I used to. ...In the past, I could handle something like that on my own."

Diego chuckled and tapped his right leg, then dropped another bomb.

(You're serious? You could defeat that thing alone? That's even more monstrous than the monster itself!)

As Mika was stunned, Rady approached.

She looked a bit tired, but still smiled and gently stroked Mika's messy hair.

"Diego used to be an adventurer. I've heard that those who excel in combat have that kind of strength. Thanks to him, the village was saved. Thank you very much."

Rady smiled and thanked Diego.

"Don't worry about it, Sister. We were also saved thanks to you. I'm grateful."

Diego bowed, and it seemed that almost all the critically injured people were already moving around normally.

Yasukeri, who had been in critical condition, was still resting but was talking with his family.

Without the "Healing" and recovery potions, it's likely that all the critically injured people would have died in this world with low medical standards and poor hygiene.

Even those with minor injuries might have died from infections.

Thanks to the recovery potions and "Healing" provided generously by the church, it's not an exaggeration to say that over ten lives were saved.

"All this is by the grace of the gods, Diego. ...Let us thank the great six pillars who watch over us from the heights."

Rady offered a brief prayer to the gods.

Usually, Diego would smile wryly at such words, but today was different.

He joined in the brief prayer and said, "I'll be going back now," before returning to the self-defense group members.

"Good work, Rady. How are they doing?"

After Diego left, Kifurodo spoke to Rady, referring to the injured people.

"They're all fine now. But I want to use 'Healing' on Yasukeri again tomorrow."

"I see, that's good to hear."

Kifurodo looked at Rady with a kindly expression.

"So, how many more times can you use 'Healing'?"

"......Two more times."

"Using it until you collapse isn't really 'usable.' How many times, really?"

"......I'm sorry."

Rady apologized.

It seemed that her magic power was exhausted.

"What if another monster comes after this? Or if someone with a serious injury is brought in? I've told you this before, haven't I?"

"That's......Yes......"

Rady's tone changed from the previous one, and Kifurodo's words were stern.

Rady was at a loss for words.

Without the ability to heal, what would happen to the injured?

It was obvious.

(......It feels like my heart is being torn apart.)

Mika, who had been listening in, was shocked.

Kifurodo was telling Rady to always have some reserve in case of emergencies.

Kifurodo's words, meant to make Rady reflect on not having a reserve, pierced Mika's heart as well.

(Using up all your magic power is a huge risk.)

Mika reflected deeply on the monster incident.

Thinking that it would be bad to have a gas shortage and accidentally overuse magic, Mika had been running out of magic power by evening every day.

However, recently, some "conditioning" had taken shape.

It might be better to stop using up all the magic power.

During the "restriction," the flow of magic power was quite heavy even without conscious effort.

Even if the "spell name" was spoken, the slow flow of magic power could be stopped by willpower.

While the ideal would be for no magic power to flow at all, it might be safe to say that the risk of an accidental overuse was almost eliminated.

As Mika was thinking about this, Kifurodo handed a recovery potion to Rady.

"Take this. Leave the rest to us and rest. Okay?"

Rady hesitated, saying, "But......," but bowed to Kifurodo and entrusted the rest to them before entering the assembly hall.

Her back was clearly dejected.

As Mika watched Rady leave, a hand was placed on Mika's head.

It was Kifurodo.