Ch. 24 - Do You Know Resolve?

All the preparations were going smoothly.

Antidotes, wound salves, and anesthetics. Potions for large-scale injuries. Even holy water for cleansing wounds was ready.

…Too smoothly.

A luxury perhaps, but it left me uneasy.

Restless, I glanced around and found Enzo sprawled across a bench, smoking a pipe with the worst manners imaginable.

“Hmm… Enzo, give me a drag.”

I hadn’t smoked since arriving in this world, but the habit still clung to me. Enzo eyed me with suspicion, yet I snatched the pipe from his hand and drew deep.

“What’s this garbage? Got nothing better? Might as well stuff weeds from the yard in here.”

Enzo only shrugged, like a man humoring a troublesome child.

“…Doc. You sure you’re a kid? Talking to you feels like talking to some old man.”

Naturally. 

On the outside, I was a pint-sized brat, but inside I was past thirty—an adult man, through and through.

“Enzo, you ought to care more about your luxuries.”

I’d thought a smoke might calm me, but it didn’t. I shoved the pipe back at him and turned away.

“What’s wrong, Doc? Got that hard look again.”

“It’s nothing… just a bad feeling I can’t shake.”

Probably just nerves. I gave a bitter laugh, noticing the change in the adventurers’ expressions.

Silence stretched.

“I say we head for the dungeon entrance. Now,” said Enzo at last.

“I agree,” Marielle added.

Even Annette, usually fussy about payment, sprang from the sofa and barked,

“Pack a backpack. Medicine and tools, everything we can carry!”

“We’ll have two carriages ready,” Enzo added. “Priority is getting Doc there. The rest can follow, but quickly.”

“I have some medical knowledge. I’ll go with Doc,” Marielle said.

So this was what seasoned adventurers looked like. Even Annette, once obsessed with rewards, was issuing sharp orders, and the clan house turned frantic.

The maids bustled. Enzo wrapped his freshly treated foot tightly in bandages.

“Doc. At short distances, I’m faster than a horse. I’ll carry you.”

“A-ahh…”

Still dazed, I had a backpack shoved into my arms by one maid.

“Doc, we’ve packed the essentials. Please check inside.”

Needles, thread, medicines. A scalpel. An iron probe for incisions…

“One of each is fine. Add a blue stone and a red stone too.”

“We’ve run out of holy water.”

“That’s fine. I’ll manage.”

Holy water was just blessed water. The true difficulty was summoning it—a matter of magic, not medicine.

Still… the pack felt strange. Sized for a child, yet impossibly spacious inside. No doubt, a fantasy item.

“Let’s go, Doc.”

Without hesitation, Enzo slung me over his shoulder like a sack.

That was when Ashita, silent until now, shrieked.

“Waaaah! Wait, wait, wait! Don’t you dare step outside dressed like that!!”

“Huh?”

Enzo froze, frowning as he finally noticed my clothes.

“…Yeah, that’s a bad look.”

My Riasa outfit? Ashita and Zoë had complained before.

“This outfit’s that bad?”

Enzo raised a brow as if I’d lost my mind.

“Bad? Walk around town like that and the church will snatch you up in seconds.”

He said it as if I were a criminal. But I wasn’t—I hadn’t stolen or killed anyone. I was just a decent orphan.

“The church? Why?”

“Why… because, Doc, someone like you—”

But before he could finish, Ashita shrieked again.

“Waaah! Waaaah!”

“You’re too loud, I can’t—”

I tried to scold her, but Zoë shoved a fresh stick of incense between my lips, silencing me.

“Mmph—!”

The sharp peppermint bite rushed through my nose; a sweet, intoxicating sensation. The first kick was especially divine.

“Mmm.”

While I savored the taste, Enzo coughed and told the maid to bring me a cloak.

It was a heavy hooded cloak, the kind a mage might wear. Ashita continued to fuss about the collar still showing, but I said nothing.

I knew Abby and Ashita were hiding something. And that something tied back to the church—specifically, its bond with priests.

“Di! Say something to him!”

“I refuse. Why should I pander to your convenience?”

I, Priest Dietrich Becker, had no fondness for idle chatter.

Ashita looked stricken. Zoë’s gaze darted nervously between us.

“You’ll have to decide one day,” I said.

“This land has many roads, and they all lead to many places. But in the end, they converge at one final destination. You can walk there in a crowd, with a lover, with friends…

“But the last step—you alone must take.

“And so, there is no wisdom or power greater than the resolve to walk alone.”

Silence fell.

Words are strange things; they pierce each listener differently. This was why priests’ words were feared.

“Well then, let us go before death bursts from the darkness and reaches my ears.”

And I—

I always walk this path alone.

Until the day Mother’s playful fingers trace my name in the void.

But may it be so…

That the pure silver star above guides me to a new road.

◇◆

Inside the carriage racing toward the dungeon, a boy sat deep in meditation.

Enzo, the warcat, and Marielle the elf both broke into a cold sweat.

The words spoken by this boy were not those of a ten-year-old. His blessing was too strong. His words, though abstract, were prophetic.

Asclepia.

In scripture, the pale-lipped woman. In truth, a serpent. A being who delighted in vengeance and self-sacrifice.

Revered as a mother for her healing power, yet denounced as a demon-god for her love of revenge.

Perhaps because of this, many priests strayed from the path.

But this boy… they felt certain he would not.

Marielle, with her Mystic Eyes, feared him.

She remembered the words he had spoken earlier, in that trance-like state.

“Our existence will not extend your lifespans. All humans live only the number of years allotted by heaven. Whether those years are lived in health, or in misery like a wounded beast—that is where we hold meaning.”

Those were the words of Asclepia herself, describing the role of her children. They existed in scripture, yes, but they hadn’t sounded like the boy’s will. It had been the weight of a blessing too strong.

Asclepia’s serpent had already laid the path for this boy.

To save—or to take.

Asclepia’s playful fingers wandered freely between the two.

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