159 – The Lost Lamb (07)

”in short. In exchange for informing me of the whereabouts of the holy sword, there is a person who wants to ask me for treatment. That’s right?”

”Yes, that’s right ♪”

Then, if you just say that from the beginning, where does it add up?

The urge to shout bitterly in a single word stirred in my thoughts for a moment, but I soon gave up.

In my experience, this type of person likes to talk to others, but doesn’t listen to what others say.

Having exhausted all my strength in sending the hero back to the inn, now I don’t have the energy left to engage in a meaningless battle of words with the person I met for the first time today.

”Oh yeah. I still haven’t thanked you for treating Recon. thanks. I’m alive thanks If it weren’t for you, that child would have been looking at the face of her deceased mother in heaven by now?’

”Yes? what the hell is that… ah.”

At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, but thanks to the memory of this morning that suddenly passed by, I was able to realize what she was trying to say belatedly.

The boy I helped this morning. Your name was Recon.

Apparently, she had some acquaintance with the shabby boy I helped.

”That kid! It’s because I have a lot of mouths to feed on the subject of slow hands. It was common for travelers to grab their hands! Just the other day, I accidentally touched the wallet of a group of adventurers who stopped by here for a short time, and I was hit in the ear right away and my left ear was completely devoured! So if you say it in your left ear, you don’t know if you say it openly in front of yourself! hahahahaha!”

·····Acquaintance, right?

As I was sweating and contemplating whether I should laugh or not at the embarrassing farmland street that was handed over so brightly, she spoke to me again in a tone that couldn’t be more cheerful.

”Why are you staring at me like that! I’m saying thank you for saving my little brother I know! Ah, Recondo told me that he would never forget this favor!”

”Oh, that’s right… Please say thanks. I just did what I was supposed to do as a priest.”

”hahahaha, as a priest, it’s natural…”

Maybe it’s because I’m moving forward while having uncomfortable conversations on a narrow street that doesn’t fit my physique.

My heart was uncomfortable in many ways.

”Anyway, the child’s condition is very serious. What were the clergy around here doing? No matter how much you need a donation of a certain amount to be healed by a priest, as far as I know, children in their childhood would have been free from such restrictions…”

”Well?”

To alleviate the discomfort of thinking, I threw a dark question at her throat.

In this world, where clergy who can perform miracles of healing have largely replaced the roles originally supposed to be played by doctors, it was a very natural phenomenon that a certain amount of money was accompanied by receiving treatment from a priest.

If the clergy did the treatment without paying anything, not only would the miraculous value called God’s grace fall to the ground, but all the civilian doctors in this system would starve to death.

However, children who could not take care of themselves were different.

I don’t know if it’s a light abrasion.

If the injury was serious enough to permanently disfigure the body, it could easily be treated at any church in the area.

”Puhahahahaha! Looking at you, you’re a complete city nerd, right? I don’t know if it’s the institutional cabinet. In the outlying cities of these islands, a race that upholds the law is much rarer? ”

”What is that…”

While I was confined to the monastery, what the hell happened in the outside world?

My mind was agitated once more as my actions to alleviate my anxiety actually piled up it.

”Then, aside from the priests of this city, is that why you bothered to ask me for treatment…”

”Do you know me well? It’s because the pigeons around here are full of people who say they don’t know about treatment, while taking money for what they pay for. Didn’t you see one on your way?”

”·····”

pigeon.

It was blasphemous slang for clerical demeaning, like calling cops cops in various media outlets, but somehow I didn’t feel the slightest desire to correct that expression now.

”Well, in that respect, it’s safe for you! Surely, there is no way that a famous adult who is a member of that hero’s party would be unfaithful to a contract with a clue about the holy sword. is not it?”

”Even if there was no contract, as a priest, I have no intention of neglecting the treatment of the sick. It’s okay not to worry about that.”

”Hooheung~♪ That’s right! Come on, get there! This is my house! Think of it as our home~ and be comfortable!”

At the end of the twists and turns, her home, which she arrived at, was shabby even at a glance.

The moment you open the door, the musty dust rises.

The hinges were so rusted that they looked like they would fall off the door any minute.

Wood planks roughly patched over shattered windows.

The stench wafting from the piles of garbage that covered the bottom was almost frowning.

There were traces of human hand burns here and there, but even this barely gave off the impression of a well-organized warehouse, and there was not even a trace of the comfort unique to a space where people ate and drank.

”The person who wants to ask you for treatment is in front of you.”

A serious tone that wiped out all frivolity until now.

My consciousness, which had temporarily relaxed the melancholic emotion contained in that sentence, suddenly stood up.

profit.

”Dad. I’m here·····.”

”this person·····.”

”Okay, let me introduce you. This is my father…”

Following her remorseful eyes, my gaze was naturally fixed in front of her.

Then the sight of a shaggy man with his limbs bound on the bed, drooling like an anesthetized beast, caught my eye.

I had no choice but to be perplexed as I had presumed that it would be a sick person engulfed by a curse or disease, or a severely injured person.

It’s just that he’s slightly thinner than average, and looking at his clean appearance, it’s hard to find anything special about his outward appearance. because it could be measured.

”Ah, drool on the bed again! How many times have I told you not to!”

”Uh, uhh…”

Watching Darby’s bustling back as he was carefully wiping the saliva from the man’s mouth with a clean cloth, my heart suddenly became confused.

The only things that can be healed with divine power are external diseases and wounds.

Because the disease of the mind located inside a human being could not be dealt with by mere human power, even if it was by borrowing the power of a god.

”Ha ha, sorry! From the first meeting, I already showed an ugly appearance! Until just the other day, I was able to say a few words of greeting. Have you forgotten your name and your daughter’s name? how is it? Isn’t it really too much?”

should i be honest

Immediately after seeing Mr. Darby smiling brightly at me, such a gloomy agony passed through my mind once.

Horrible.

A dark chill that sprouted on my back out of nowhere reminded me of a certain time in my memory.

This feeling must be at that time…

”As you can see, what I want in exchange for a clue about the Holy Sword is to return my father to his original state. That’s all.”

Postponing the answer, I was lost in thought for a while.

Because there was something stuck.

I wonder why she, a mediocre citizen, knows clues about the holy sword.

A stern aura wrapped around that man’s body. A familiar sense of incongruity evoked by that aura.

”If you’ll excuse me, can I ask you a few questions?”

”yes? uh, yes any amount!”

”Is your father, by any chance, a priest?”

”Oh oh! You have a good eye! Or is there something that connects the same clergy? that’s right! My dad was once a successful priest. Well, I quit right away because of circumstances~”

”okay. Then one more thing. Was your father’s hair that color originally?’

”yes? no? Originally it was the same black color as me? Hey~ Thinking about it again, I miss it~ Just a few years ago, I often plucked out my gray hair. Now that my hair is completely white, if I pull out the gray hair, there will be nothing left on my head. That’s not going to happen!”

”That’s right… That’s right…”

”Do you still have more questions to ask? Perhaps?”

”Yes, hold on…”

As vague suspicions were revealed one by one, a plausible hypothesis built in my head was being assembled.

Of course, this hypothesis had to be premised on the fact that all the information about my constitution that I had heard from the nun was true, but the nun couldn’t have passed on uncertain information to me, so it must be true.

”Then one last thing. By any chance, before your father became like this, didn’t he say something strange that he had never heard of before? For example, that the person has memories of another world. What kind of…”

”yes? Umm~ Come to think of it… It seems like he drank alcohol sometimes and said something incomprehensible about stocks, coins, etc… but why?”

I did it anyway.

Apparently, this man was born with the same temperament as me. It seemed that he was a reincarnated person.

No, to be precise, a person who mistook himself for being a reincarnated person.

That said, it was possible for me to return him to his original state.

Because I…