Chapter 18: The Past and an Illness

“Um, do you have a moment?”

Having gotten back from the Forest of Magic Beasts in the morning, I had slept until noon, and was now eating a breakfast that was actually also lunch in the guild’s tavern.

Liliella-san had just arrived, probably also to eat.

“Go ahead, it’s crowded anyway, since it’s lunchtime.”

“N-no, I wasn’t asking if I could… well, excuse me then.”

Liliella-san looked like she had wanted to say something, but in the end she just sat down opposite me.

However, strangely, Liliella-san didn’t take a single bite of her food and just stared at me.

“Is something the matter? Your food’ll cool down.”

“N-no.
Right! …Ow, that’s hot!?”

Liliella-san seemed to have burnt her tongue a bit due to having tried to eat in a hurry.

Oh no, did Liliella-san have a sensitive tongue.

Is that why she was waiting for it to cool down.

I did something bad.

“Liliella-san, could you look here for a second?”

“Eh?”

“Heal”

I used healing magic on Liliella-san’s tongue.

“It should be okay now.”

“T-thank you.”

Huh? For some reason her face went red and she went rather quiet.

What happened?

“Man, this is hot.”

“You said it.”

“With it being this hot, I feel like drinking some cold wine.”

Then the adventurers around us all started saying how hot it was.

Is it really that hot?

“U-umm, say…”

Liliella-san called out to me.

“Yes?”

“Umm… thanks.”

“Hm? For what?”

“Umm, well, for the healing magic just now and… well, actually for saving me yesterday…”

“Oh, that.
We’re both adventurers, so don’t worry about it.”

Ah, so that’s why she came over to me.

What a righteous person.

“No!”

Liliella-san said, standing up while slamming her fist on the table.

“We’re not even acquaintances, and I spoke terribly ill of you, yet you still came to save me, and… you carelessly rushed into the Forest of Magic Beasts at night, something so dangerous not even the best adventurers would do! There’s no way something like that is ‘just that’!

I called you a fake, I thought you were the worst kind of adventurer who tricks people but actually has no strength at all! I didn’t know how strong you were, and just decided that that’s what you were for myself…”

Liliella-san said, tearing up and covering her face.

“Umm, Liliella-san, why do you hate these people you call fake adventurers so much?”

Whenever the words ‘fake adventurer’ were uttered, Liliella-san seemed to become filled with anger.

Wasn’t that the very cause of this misunderstanding?

“!”

Ah, oh no, even more tears!?

Was this a question I wasn’t supposed to ask!?

However, Liliella-san didn’t start crying, and began talking about herself.

“My hometown… we were tricked by men calling themselves A-Rank adventurers, and it was destroyed…”

“What!?”

They were fooled by A-Rank adventurers!?

No way, to think there’d be adventurers who tricked people…

“My hometown used to be near the Forest of Magic Beasts.
It wasn’t an especially rich village, but we didn’t freeze to death in the winter, and nobody starved either.”

Perhaps because she was remembering the past, Liliella-san’s expression became a little gentler.

“But, as I grew up, I could tell that the grown-ups were worrying about the Forest of Magic Beasts drawing ever closer.
The adventurers’ guild had issued a permanent request for logging to stop the forest’s expansion, but that was something for larger towns.
What adventurer would go to some small village far away from any large towns to do logging.
And the grown-ups just racked their brains on what to do about the ever-approaching forest.”

The Forest of Magic Beasts really was expansive indeed.

Even I was surprised by how large it was when I saw it from the air while flying to Hexi.

Moreover, the forest’s trees were all monsters, and the number of adventurers who would try logging something like that was limited.

Logging such a forest was truly a Sisyphean task.

“The grown-ups decided to scrape together what little money the village had and make a request at the adventurers’ guild.
To at least halt the forest for a little while.”

I see, so instead of relying on the permanent request, they decided to make their own request at the guild.

Like that adventurers would go to places further away from the town.

“They needed quite the amount of money to issue a B-Rank request, but they somehow managed to gather it all.
They thought they’d be able to slow down the forest’s expansion like that.
I was small and didn’t really understand what was going on back then, but I was also happy because everyone else seemed happy about it.”

But then, Liliella-san’s expression hardened.

“It was then.
A monster I had never seen before appeared from the forest.
It attacked the village.
Most people desperately fled to the next village over.
My father was killed by that monster.”

Perhaps recalling the frustration and bitterness of that time, Liliella-san’s hands balled themselves into fists.

“The uninjured grown-ups steeled themselves and went to the adventurers’ guild.
They wanted to use the rewards for the logging request to issue a monster extermination request… but, it wasn’t accepted.”

“Why not!?”

A request to the guild wasn’t accepted!? That’s ridiculous!?

“The monster that attacked the village was A-Rank.
But the village could only provide enough money for a B-Rank request.
So in the end, unable to pay the reward, we were all forced to continue living in the neighbouring village.”

Liliella-san mumbled with deep regret.

“But, the tragedy didn’t end there.
The people attacked by the monster soon began suffering.
The doctor said it was an illness caused by the monster’s poison.
Many of our villagers were thus unable to work.
And not only had my dad been killed by the monster, mum had become unable to work due to the illness.
I thought it was the end of the world.”

I could hear the bitterness in her voice.

“And then lastly, the worst ones turned up.
They said they were adventurers stopping by the village after finishing a job.
And that they were A-Rank.
They listened to the story of us troubled villagers, and said that they would be able to defeat the monster.
But then the grown-ups told them that they couldn’t afford the rewards for an A-Rank request.
And then they said”

Liliella-san looked up, her eyes filled with hatred.

“they said ‘We’ll keep it a secret from the guild, but we’ll accept the request for a B-Rank reward just this once.’”

She was clenching her fists so tightly that blood began dripping from them.

“Everyone was overjoyed.
‘What nice people they are,’ we said.
And then the grown-ups carelessly paid the reward for a B-Rank request in advance.
Saying that such an opportunity would never come again… They must’ve wanted it done as soon as possible.
They just wanted to believe in something so convenient.
But, there’s no way something like that would come true.”

Liliella-san sighed and sat down.
Perhaps saying she collapsed back down into her chair would fit better, as if out of despair.

“The next morning, the adventurers had disappeared.
They ran away, taking the reward with them.
The grown-ups hurried to the adventurers’ guild, but the guild turned them away, saying they weren’t responsible for requests that hadn’t been set up through the guild.
Looking back on it now, they probably only went to the village because they knew that our request had been turned down.
Well, I don’t even know if they were real adventurers in the first place.”

She heaved a huge sigh.

“That’s what I thought when I was little.
That we had been tricked by fake adventurers.
I was so sad, I didn’t even know if I was sad.”

As she said that, Liliella-san’s eyes had none of their earlier sorrow or anger, but resembled inorganic crystals.

“I couldn’t work very well, since I was little, but luckily, my mum’s brothers lived in that village, so I was taken care of.
Although, I was treated like a nuisance behind my back.
I’m still grateful to them though.
They took care of my bedridden mother too.”

Liliella-san laughed a completely unnatural and dry laugh.

It was an extremely sad laugh that made even the listener feel bitter.

“And then, I thought this.
I thought I should cure my mother’s and the villagers’ illness.
If I did that, even if dad wouldn’t come back, we could return to our village and everyone would return to their happy lives.”

Liliella-san’s eyes regained a bit of their strength.

“And then, I became an adventurer.
I earned money to procure medicine for everyone’s illnesses to gain the strength to retake the village.
To become a real adventurer who protects everyone.”

So those events were the reason why Liliella-san chose to become an adventurer.

“So that’s why, umm, I really talked a lot there, but thank you! I’m still alive because you saved me! I didn’t have to give up on my dream!”

Saying that, Liliella-san grabbed my hand.

“Really, truly, thank you!”

That smile is really dazzling…

“Umm, you’re welcome.”

All I could do was give that weak reply.

“…”

“…”

With the conversation being interrupted like that, I had no idea what to say.

Liliella-san didn’t seem to know what to say next either, and she began trembling a little and squirming, blushing.

“Umm, erm… sorry! I just!”

Perhaps she had become embarrassed, because Liliella-san withdrew her hands.

As she did so, a drop of blood splashed on the table, falling from her hand.

“Your hand, it’s hurt!”

I hurriedly opened her hand and cast healing magic on it.

Her nails had dug into her palm, causing it to bleed.

They had dug in quite deep too.

“Eh? Ah, sorry, I scared you.
I always end up unconsciously doing that when I think of the past.”

They must have been really painful memories if she did this every time she recalled the past; she was bleeding quite a bit.

“Did you go to search for Zenso grass to procure that medicine as well?”

“Yeah, if I just had Zenso Grass, I could make the medicine to cure them.”

I thought that was the case, but what illness did Zenso Grass cure again?

“Um, what’s the illness your mother and the others have called?”

“Eh? The illness? Uum, I think it was called Alza.”

“Alza! Right, that was it!”

Now I remember, Alza.
Zenso Grass will indeed cure Alza.

Huh? I feel like I’m still forgetting something though…

“Hm?”

I was frantically digging through my memories trying to remember what it was.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“…Aah!! That’s right!”

“Eh!? What!?”

Right! I’ve got it!

“We can cure Alza! We can cure it even without Zenso Grass!!”

“Eeh!? How!?”

Suddenly hearing that her mother could be cured of the illness she was suffering under, Liliella-san asked me how, her eyes round.

“Let’s go to your village right away! Where is it?”

“Uum, avoiding the forest, it’s about two days south-east from here.”

“Alright, let’s go right away!”

“Eeh!? It’s noon though!? If we set off now, we’ll arrive in the village on the way at night!”

“It’s fine! Now then, let’s go!”

Pulling Liliella-san by her hand, I rushed out of the guild.

◆

“Hey, why are we going outside the town!? The carriages are in the opposite direction!?”

“We’re not going by carriage, we’re going like we are right now.”

“Eeh!? But it’ll take nearly a week on foot!?”

“It’s fine, we’ll be flying.”

“Huh!? Flying!?”

Flying inside the town’s walls was considered a breach of etiquette.
So if you wanted to fly, you had to properly go outside and do it there.

“Flight Wing!!”

Embracing Liliella-san, I cast flight magic.

“Eh? We’re floating kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Liliella-san hugged me tightly, surprised at us flying up in the air.

…Mm, soft.
And it smells kind of good.

…No no no! Don’t think about that!

“Liliella-san, we’ll be passing over the forest to get to the village, so I’ll leave the guidance to you.”

“Wha-!? W-we’re flying!? We’re flyingggggggg!?”

“Yes, we’re flying due to flight magic.”

“Flight magic!? What’s that!? What the hell’s that!?”

“Flight magic is magic that allows you to fly.”

“That’s not what I meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant!!”

Why is Liliella-san screaming?

“Umm, it was south-east, right?”

Having checked which direction it was in, I began flying towards Liliella-san’s village.

“Uwaa!? We moved!? We’re moving!?”

“That’s because this is flight magic.”

“You can use magic that cleans up monsters easily, you can use amazing barrier and healing magic, and you can also fly, who the heck are you!?”

“I’m just a B-Rank adventurer?”

“That’s definitely a lieeeeee!”

It’s the truth though.

◆ ◆

“No way, we’re actually here…”

We arrived at Liliella-san’s village in the evening just as the sky was beginning to get dark.

Apparently it would normally have taken three days to get here, but not having taken a detour around the forest, we arrived sooner than expected.

Liliella-san slumped over, probably tired from the flight.

We took a couple breaks along the way, but she kept holding onto me the whole time.

“Now then, let’s go cure your mother.”

I held out my hand to her, and Liliella-san looked at me anxiously.

“Say, can we really cure her?”

Liliella-san asked me with a tone that was a mix of anxiousness and hope.

“Yes, so let’s go!”

“…Okay.”

Having made up her mind, she took my hand and let me help her up.

“I live over here.”

◆ ◆

Guided by Liliella-san, we arrived at the house where her relatives were taking care of her mother.

Liliella-san knocked on the door, which slammed open.

“WHO’S KNOCKING ON OUR DOOR AT THIS TIME OF DA- …oh Liliella!? Long time no see!”

The one who greeted us was a woman who gave off a similar feeling as Liliella-san.

“Long time no see, auntie.”

“It’s unusual for you to come.
You said you wouldn’t return until you found a way to cure the illness, and all you did was send money and letters.”

“Yes, I found a way to cure it.”

“Really!?”

Liliella-san’s aunt’s eyes turned round in surprise.

“He says he knows how.”

Saying so, Liliella-san turned towards me, and her aunt also looked at me.

“And he is?”

“He saved my life.
He’s a really strong adventurer who defeated a pack of monsters on his own.
If he hadn’t saved me, I would be dead right now.”

“Oh really, such a little kid!? He don’t look it.”

What do you mean little… what a rude person.

But still, it’s better than being mocked behind my back.

“But, more importantly.”

Liliella-san’s aunt scowled at her.

“What do you mean you’d be dead right now, you silly girl!!”

Liliella-san’s aunt’s fist descended down on Liliella-san’s head with an amazing thud.

“Ooowwwwwww!!”

“Don’t say ‘Owww!’, you silly girl! Be happy it ended with just that! You can’t feel pain if you’re dead!”

Liliella-san was getting one hell of a scolding.

Mhm, at times like these, the wise choice is to not let out a single peep.

If you do, it won’t end well for you.

“Now then, apparently you helped out this silly girl?”

Just as I was thinking those thoughts, I was suddenly also in the line of fire.

“Ah, no no, it’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’m Elicia.
I’m this silly girl’s aunt.”

“Ah, I’m Rex.”

As I introduced myself, Elicia-san bowed deeply to me.

“Rex, I’m really grateful.
Thank you for protecting her.”

From her words, I could tell that Elicia-san had been worried about Liliella-san from the very bottom of her heart.

“Please, don’t worry about it.
Liliella-san is a fellow adventurer, after all.”

“So that was it.”

“Anyway, could we please meet Liliella-san’s mother? If her illness is Alza, we should be able to cure it without Zenso Grass.”

“Oh right, you did say something like that! I completely forgot due to this silly girl having been unbelievably stupid! Come on in.”

Prompted by Elicia-san, we entered the house.

“It’s a small house, but don’t let that stop you.”

It would have been rude to say it aloud, but Elicia-san’s house was indeed rather small.

But that was what farmers’ houses were like.

My home used to be like that too.

“Liliella’s mother’s this way.
Mariel! Liliella’s back and she’s brought her boyfriend!”

“Huuuh!?”

“Hey!? Auntie what are you saying!”

Elicia-san suddenly said something strange, confusing us.

“It was a joke.
Come on.”

Elicia-san pushed us into the room Liliella-san’s mother lived in.

However the room was so dim I couldn’t really tell where Liliella-san’s mother was.

“Is that you, Liliella?”

A slightly slurred voice came from the far end of the room.

“Mum!”

Likely remembering where everything was, Liliella-san maneuvered herself across the gloomy room even though she couldn’t see where everything was.

“I’ll go get a light, so wait a sec, will you.”

Saying that, Elicia-san turned on the light, and the room was revealed.

In one word, the place was a storeroom.

A bed had been placed in a cramped storeroom, and it was now being used as a normal room.

“I’m sorry, but it really is a small house”

Elicia-san murmured, probably feeling apologetic for having pushed me into such a cramped place.

“Mum, you lost weight again…”

As I looked over at Liliella-san’s words, I saw a woman embracing Liliella.

“So she’s…”

“Yes, my younger sister and Liliella’s mother, Mariel.”

She looked, how should I put this, well, terrible.

Mariel-san was terribly thin, and her hair was unkempt.

But the thing that caught my eye more than anything were the light purple patches on her skin.

They were undoubtedly the symptoms of Alza.

Were those patches to ever cover her entire skin, Mariel-san would finally succumb to the monster’s poison.

“Ara, so you’re Liliella’s boyfriend?”

Mariel-san asked, having noticed my presence.

“Eh!? No, not at all! I’m her friend!?”

Hmm, are we friends? Fellow adventurers? No, not that either.

What relationship do we have? I don’t really know either.

“T-that’s right! He’s my friend!”

Having it denied so vehemently makes me kind of lonely though.

“Umm, I’m Rex.
I heard your circumstances from Liliella-san, so I came to cure your illness.”

“Hmm, my illness!?”

“Yes.”

That wasn’t the reaction of someone with an incurable disease at all.

But, I know that it was just acting.

That was because people with Alza would continue to suffer until they died.

Even now, her breathing was laboured and she was sweating a lot.

She must’ve been in considerable pain, but was pretending to be fine for Liliella-san’s sake.

“Rex-san, please heal my mum quickly!”

“Yeah, I’m on it.”

Liliella-san looked at me desperately.

And although she didn’t say anything, Elicia-san was also staring hard at me.

‘You’ll really cure her, right?’ Is what she must’ve been thinking.

“Then, pardon me.”

I knelt down next to Liliella-san, took Mariel-san’s hand, and cast magic.

“Elder Heal!”

Mariel-san was enveloped in light.

The purple patches eroding her body disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Okay, you’re fully cured.”

Elder Heal.
It was a universal cure magic that I had developed in my before-previous life because I found having to use a different medicine or magic for every single illness or poison caused by monsters really annoying.

I mean, instead of switching the type of medicine for every single illness, curing all illnesses with the same medicine would be way more comfortable, no?

The same with magic.
Having to go ‘Umm, let’s see, which magic did I need to use to cure this disease?’ every single time was a real pain in the ass.

Well, in exchange, it did consume a bit more mana than other magic.

“““…”””

Liliella-san, Mariel-san, and Elicia-san all stared at me in silence.

Huh? Aren’t you going to celebrate? She has been cured, you know?

“Umm, you’re cured already?”

“““…”””

Heeeey, please responoood.

“““Eh, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh!? Already!?”””

Ah, they responded.