120 Chapter 120 - Necessity is the Mother of Invention (1/2)

Jessica eventually caved in when she realized that Gren wasn't going to open up about his problems and gave him the information on the request from the Church of Healing Light after the two were alone.Down in Valkland, a mysterious disease had started spreading.What started as a few sailors getting sick soon became hundreds of sailors and there's no simple solution.Healing magic was only treating the symptoms but the underlying disease would flare up and cause people to become sick again.To make matters worse, the healers began displaying symptoms as well and they were in a fragile state of constantly needing to be healed by one another.If they all managed to display the symptoms at the same time then the entire Church in Valkland would come crashing down.

It's no wonder that Jessica said that Gren would be able to deal with the situation.He was able to keep healing for a long time so him being there would be able to turn the situation around.The system would also be helpful in identifying the disease but Jessica didn't know how it worked so she probably didn't count on it like he did.The priestess that came to deliver the news said for him to make his way to the Cathedral where they were getting ready to go on an expedition south.When he finally reached the Cathedral's doors they were tightly closed and nobody seemed to be outside.After walking around the building, he confirmed that there really was nobody from the Church waiting outside for him.Although it was embarrassing, Gren knocked on the main door; hoping that someone was inside that would let him in.

After a minute of waiting and the sound of a wooden bar being moved, a small acolyte struggled to open the large door enough to pop her head out.”Are you here for healing?”The little girl nervously asked him, wondering why someone that didn't look injured was knocking on their door when they were so busy.

”No, I was asked to come here by a priestess.My name is Gren; the Church wants me to help with the problem in Valkland.”After hearing Gren's words, the little girl looked left and right before pushing the door open widen enough to allow Gren to come in.

”They're all downstairs.Mom said to let you in if you came.”The acolyte was struggling to close the door behind him so Gren pulled it shut and put the bar in place for her.”Thanks.The stairs are over here.”Gren already knew where the stairs were but he followed her anyways.

”Do you know how they plan on traveling to Valkland?”While the two were making their way through the halls, Gren tried to make some small talk and get some information.

”I don't know.”She was just a kid so perhaps it was stupid for Gren to expect her to a question like that.”Mom might know since she's going with them.She's one of the healers, after all.”The little girl was proud of her mother and seemed to be bragging.

Gren didn't want to rain on the girl's parade by bragging about his own magical prowess and instead chose to praise her.”I'm sure that your mother is an impressive person.The Church's healers do a lot of good for the people in this city.”They did it for a fee but that didn't change the fact that the city relied on the Church's healers.

Gren's comments only made the little girl act smug with her lifting her chin and pointing her nose upwards.”One day I'm going to be a healer just like she is.”Gren felt that it was nice seeing a child aspiring to be a healer.He knew how to heal people but he didn't consider himself a healer; the only difference being that he only healed people on a whim while they took it up as a job.His own job--being a mercenary--was much less interesting than he thought it would be and he was beginning to realize that he wasn't very good at it.

The idea of changing his job had occurred to Gren already.He could still supply the guild while doing something else that was more fulfilling.”Maybe I'll become a healer one day.”There were several paths that Gren could take but it was hard to decide what to do next.

”You're too old and mom says that boys don't get to learn magic.”That seemed to come out of nowhere.”Mom says that the Goddess told the Church not to teach the boys magic.”This was the first time that Gren had come across this.There was nothing in the healing spell book that said that men couldn't learn healing magic and he was proof that men could learn healing magic.

It didn't seem productive to talk with a kid about the dogma of the Church so Gren would have to wait until he could talk to Gabriella.He didn't want to chastise them since it was something that would need to be discussed with his mother but Gren was still curious whether or not that was an actual rule and why the rule was formed.”In that case I guess I'll need to come to you if I get hurt in the future.”

The rest of the conversation on the way down to where the Church members were preparing for their trip was mostly about things the kid was interested in.Choir practice, tending flowers, and learning how to read seemed to be the main things that the kids did in the Church which was different from what Rodge said he experienced.From a young age, most boys and some of the girls were taught to pick up a sword and fight.

That didn't explain why the women in the Church were the best fighters but that might have something to do with them learning magic.Gren hadn't yet learned the spells from the Toughen Up spell book but after the owner of the bookstore mentioned it he decided to look at the descriptions of some of the spells.The spells were meant to increase his body's strength and speed at the cost of using magic energy.The tier one spells were large improvements in short bursts but the book had some tier two spells that had some long duration spells with weakened effects.There was also a warning that the spells could cause damage to the body with too much use in a short period of time.

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The Church members were loading dried food into sacks and rolling water barrels towards the back of wagons.Gren looked for Gabriella or Georgia so that he could talk to them about the expedition and quickly spoted Georgia in her shiny armor as she was directing her knights to help with gathering supplies.”Georgia!”Gren called out to her and quickly got her attention by waving in her direction but his blue jeans and white t-shirt made him stick out so she he was easy to spot even if he hadn't waved.Georgia excused herself from the knights and started walking towards Gren.”Sergeant Gren, reporting for duty.”Gren's salute earned him a small whack on the head.