Chapter 20 (2/2)

It is a necessity for a healer to have an escort or guard.

「After all, Leone, you’re a tomboy. I’m sure no one else would look after you. Since I’ve got no choice, I guess I’ll become your escort, Leone. Be grateful.」

Rou, acting tough as usual.

I couldn’t hold back, I was so happy.

「Rou! Thank you!!」

I hugged Rou.

Rou faltered, and his sunburnt skin became slightly redder.

「Did you catch a cold?」

「It’s not a cold! Hey, Leone!! You need to fix that habit of hugging just anyone.」

「I don’t hug just anyone. Only Rou……and my father, I guess?」

Rou let out a bigger sigh than last time.

He murmured something like ‘This is why girls with no self-awareness are…’.

What a weirdo, haha.

「Ufufu, it’s a promise. I will save a lot of people. Rou, I’m counting on you to stay by my side and protect me.」

Rou said how that’s something that I would say, on that hill where dandelions blossom.

After that a lot happened, and I safely began my walk down the path of healers and Rou always stayed by my side as my guard.

And a deep affection came to bloom between us.

It was inevitable.

「Leone, we’re getting married. I’ve decided that I want to be by your side not just now, but forever more.」

The answer was obvious.

We vowed to be with each other forever.

But it also began with that vow on that hill.

It being what had already been determined.

We began wearing matching earrings on one of our ears each.

When we came to tell the news to our parents, they answered with ‘what are you saying after all this time’.

It seemed that the more we talked about it, the more our feelings came to be known by our surroundings.

Rou and I lived a happy life.

And then the time of destiny approached.

It was in a cold winter when I was 19.

My heart froze like ice, and since then time has also frozen and refuses to be thawed.

A winter that I could never forget.

「Her fever isn’t going down.」

In a certain small village, I was looking at a small girl.

That girl’s name was Emilia.

At first, it was Emilia’s grandfather. He had come down with a cold, and his fever refused to go down. He pa.s.sed away, his elderly body being unable to handle the high fever.

Eventually Emilia and her parents also caught it, and it spread even to their neighbours, deceased appearing all over town.

I then came to hear such a rumour, and headed to that small village that was covered in a veil of death.

I put my hand on Emilia’s forehead, and as I pray, imagine in my head her fever dispersing from her body.

「Hear me, fever. Leave this girl. Grant her peace.」

If it was any normal cold, like that the fever would gradually lessen and she would be healed.

But that was the sixth time I had used that magic on Emilia.

Still, she showed no signs of recovery.

That was a first for me.

I felt a bad premonition, and as alarms ring in my head, I pretend not to hear them.

I was not the first to hear this rumour and stop by this village. Before me, Selia-sama, an elderly healer, also stopped by.

At the beginning Selia-sama was looking after patients, but recently she had been unable to perform examinations and had been stuck in her room due to her elderly body.

Although she hadn’t examined any patients recently at the time, her experience as a healer exceeded mine.

Since she didn’t say anything, I convinced myself that everything was fine.

「Healer oneechan, will I get better soon? Will I go to the land in the sky like ojiichan……it’s scary.」

Emilia started letting out large tears.

To have to be scared of death at that age…….

「Of course you’ll get better in no time. Who do you think’s looking after you? I’m a healer.」

I wiped away Emilia’s tears with my finger.

To relieve her fear, even if it’s only a little.

「That’s right. After all, oneechan is a healer-sama. You can heal me too. It’s a promise.」

Until just before, she was frozen stiff, but she had got back her cute smile.

「Of course. I will definitely heal you.」

「Thank you, healer oneechan.」

We both laughed.

And then there was a knock on the door.

When I turned around to face the door, I heard a voice from the other side.

「Leone, mind a moment? Selia-sama is calling for you.」

「Okay, Rou. Just wait a moment. ……Then, Emilia, I’ll be right back. I need to go, since I was called for.」

I turned back to face the girl lying on the bed, and stroked her head.

「Okay. I’ll try my best to get even just a bit better for when you come back, healer oneechan.」

「Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it.」

I said goodbye to Emilia, and leave the room.

And there rou was standing in an imposing pose, waiting for me.

「If you’re here, then Selia-sama’s escort, Giese-san is back, right?」

「Yeah, that’s right. Also, about him, it seems he has something important to say to you. He’s clearing people out of the village chief’s house. We’re going, Leone.」

Rou said and began walking.

So I didn’t fall behind, I started following.

「I wonder, did the Feudal Lord end up helping us?」

「Dunno.」

「Hey, Rou. You don’t need to get that angry.」

「I’m your escort.」

Actually for the past two days Rou wasn’t acting as my escort, but rather he was asked to be Selia-sama’s guard.

Of course Selia-sama had Giese-san as a guard, but thinking of the village people who couldn’t be healed, Selia-sama implored Giese-san to try to arrange for medicine from the feudal lord.

That being the case, since I was still young I could run and oppose, but that would be difficult for the elderly Selia-sama.

That’s why Rou was requested to be Selia-sama’s guard.

But since Selia-sama had recently been stuck inside, Rou said that it would be fine leading to him getting into a fight.

It concluded with Rou slowly being forced to yield, and he was made to be Selia-sama’s guard.

「Right now the village people are stuck in bed, but even without that the village was originally a peaceful village. And nothing dangerous has happened, right?」

「It would be too late if, and once, something happens to Leone.」

Although imprudent, that curt way of speaking showed how much he was worried about me, and it made me happy.

「I’m sorry for always worrying you, Rou.」

「It’s fine if you understand.」

Rou’s normal walking speed was actually faster than at that time.

But he would always match my speed for me.

Thank you, Rou.

And like that, the two of us arrived at the village chief’s house.

There, only Selia-sama and Giese, Rou, and myself were there.

「Missy, thank you for coming. And thank you too Rou for bringing the missy over.」

Even though I was already of age, Celia-sama still called me ‘missy’.

Well, thinking of Selia-sama’s age I might have been a ‘missy’, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

It felt like I wasn’t being fully accepted as an adult.

「So what is this important discussion that you called me for? To even go out of the way to clear out everyone from here……」

An alarm rang in my head.

As if to say that I mustn’t listen any more.

「Missy, it is impossible to heal the people of this town.」

「-!? Why is that? It’s just a cold. It’s just a bit more resilient than normal.」

Selia-sama shook her head in silence.

「Missy, this isn’t any normal illness. It is a fever-inducing miasma that appears only once every few decades. Especially recently, outbreaks of this miasma have been becoming more common.」

「A fever-inducing miasma!? That’s……Something……There has to be some way!!」

Miasma.

That is an unknown thing that humans cannot fight against.

Miasma……is contagious.

「No matter what we ordinary people do, we cannot do anything to miasma. There’s nothing we can do but give up. That’s why I sent a message to the Feudal Lord. There is only one way to stop it. That is to sever the root of evil. In time, this place will be blocked off.」

But that’s……Then, what will happen to Emilia?

What about her parents?

What about the people of this village?

There are still people here that haven’t caught the miasma.

My hands, my feet, my whole body shook without stopping.

「Missy, listen good. We are precious ‘healers’. And we have yet to catch the miasma. The Feudal Lord has given permission for only us to leave this village. Taking advantage of the darkness, we will leave this village at midnight together with our escorts. Although it may seem heartless, this is the correct treatment measure. Do you understand, missy?」

After that, Selia-sama talked to me about a lot of things, but I could no longer hear her words.

Selia-sama and Giese-san realised my mental state and, while leaving the room, sighed.

Are you saying that, although there are people that deserve to be healed, we should abandon them?

Oh G.o.d, is this an ordeal granted unto me by You?

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