Level Up Saintess

Seems like I wasn’t that far away from the guild when I first met those two rude adventurers. I know better than to think that every adventurer would be like the two of them, and well… I don’t think I’m in any position to hold grudges right now anyways. So yeah, if I can find people to heal here then I’m gonna do it, rude or not. Just to be safe though, I cast [Benediction] on Chella and I before we got too close to the building. Can't be too careful after all.

 

It was amazing watching Chella work. She didn’t even spare a glance to all the people staring at us when we came in, she just marched right up to the front desk and told the receptionist to call the Guild Master over. The receptionist started to say something about making an appointment, but Chella just pointed to the both of us and told her to look at our clothes. Less than 5 minutes later we were called over to the Guild Master’s office.

 

“Hello, priests. What’s the occasion?”

 

The Guild Master, a man who must have been in his late 50’s with a rough but distinguished gentlemanly look, stood up from his desk and walked over to us. He gestured to the couch for us to sit, but since Chella didn’t move from her spot, I didn’t either. The way Chella looked completely unfazed and just stared right into his face was absolutely awe-inspiring to me. Thank everything that she was the one attracting all of the attention; If I had to stand face to face with such an authority figure, look them right in the eyes, and tell them what I want… Honestly, I think I might just break into tears. I hate to say it, but it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time that happened. I’m really not cut out for this kind of tension filled interaction. The only thing that helped me through that first meeting I had with the Head Priest was just the surrealism of the situation, otherwise I’m not sure I would have made it through that, either.

 

Chella, with her hand on her hip, replied like she was bored with the situation.

 

“I brought this girl here so that she could heal up your adventurers. Don’t worry, it’s free.”

 

When Chella motioned towards me, the Guild Master’s eyes of course moved along with her, and my hand automatically went to grab a part of Chella’s robe for protection. I’m sure I must be shivering or something, but hopefully it’s not too noticeable. Let’s at least try to bow my head and give a good greeting. That’s all I need to do. It’s simple. Simple.

 

“H… Hello, I’m the Saintess… Arissa.”

 

The Guild Master’s eyes stayed on me for a short while, but soon they moved back to Chella, with a disbelieving look. Chella looked displeased at my introduction, but after rolling her eyes and sighing, she once again looked back at the Guild Master and crossed her arms.

 

“Look, take it or leave it. When else are you going to get free healing like this?”

 

I guess the Guild Master realized he had nothing to lose from all this, because less than a minute later he’d gone to the front room with us and made an announcement. He told everyone present that I was a prospective Saintess, and that they’d be getting free healing, on the house. He even told some receptionists in a back room somewhere to go and gather up whatever adventurers they could find milling about on the streets. Before long, I was stationed in a side room with a nice long line of people stretching all the way outside of the building.

 

As happy as I am that he organized all of this, saying that I was a ‘prospective Saintess’ and saying that this was ‘on the house’ like he’d paid for it all, was… Well, like I said, rude or not, I was going to heal these people. I’m a Saintess, a Saintess. I heal all who need it. That's me now. Yup.

 

Obviously, some people here didn’t believe that I was a Saintess, either just from the way I looked, the way I acted, or because of that ‘prospective Saintess’ thing that the Guild Master had said. But either way, even if they didn’t believe it, for the most part people were kind to me. I guess it’s like going to the doctor; You don’t want to piss off the person who has your wellbeing in their hands.

 

There were a good number of people who just needed basic healing, which was unsurprising. Out of the 60ish people that I healed overall, 32 of them had cuts, bruises, sprains, wounds, and scars that needed treating. For the first time I found out that even if people don’t say thank you to me, so long as their treatment is finished, I still get the exp. Honestly, if it turned out that I only got exp when people thanked me, I would have sicced Chella to wring it out of them so fast. You’re not taking my hard earned exp away from me. No sir.

 

Some people had a debuff or sickness ailing them, including some of the people that needed healing. In fact, a lot of the people who had cuts, wounds, or stabs also had some kind of minor infection messing with them. I honestly don’t know how people would survive here if they didn’t just run to the church to take care of them when their infections got too bad. It’s insane, really. No wonder the church is doing alright without actively seeking out money.

 

So yeah, all in all about 26 [Cure]s were cast.

 

For the record, it was interesting to finally see a debuff in action. There were people whose status said they were ‘dazed’, but it really just looked like they were only slightly out of it, or drunk. There was a man who was limping, but the only thing wrong with him was a debuff called ‘movement reduction’. There was even a guy who had a ‘poisoned’ debuff on him, which worried me greatly, but didn’t seem to be killing him very quickly, at least. Honestly, debuffs seemed scarier to me than just straight up wounds, since most of them seemed like they’d be hard to identify by the naked eye. Thank you, Goddess, for that [Appraisal] skill, because it's really putting in a lot of work for me these past two days.

 

Let’s see, there were about 11 people that needed a [Greater Heal]. A lot of those ones were brought in by other people who had gotten treatment and verified that my healing was real. Most of them couldn’t move easily by themselves, and some of them couldn’t even walk anymore. Usually such people would have been taken to the church to have their injuries healed, but apparently it’s quite costly, and their teams or families were still busy saving up the money to get them healed it seems. Lucky for them I’m here doing all this for free, right? There were even some people that thought they might die soon who cried when I healed them. About 3 of the people who I used my [Greater Heal] on had a body part that had necrosis or gangrene setting in and thought they would have to lose it, so it’s understandable why they ended up bawling, for sure.

 

Watching all the types of wounds that there were was astonishing. It was amazing seeing hideous and horrific looking wounds just vanish by magic. Although, I can’t say I was always happy to have to touch some of the grosser looking ones. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use a few unfocused skills here and there just to avoid having to touch some particularly icky ones.

 

All in all, by the end of my hours of treatment, I netted myself a clean 400 exp. I started out with 1200 energy now that I was level 3, but I was eating through it like hotcakes. Overall, including the 2 [Benedictions] from earlier, I burned through about 1000 energy in this one session alone. It took 4 hours, which meant I’d gotten plenty of hourly energy refreshments, but at one point I was very worried about running out. At least, that was the case, until I leveled up about an hour before everything finished. Turns out all my energy gets refilled on a level up. I’m now level 4, with a max of 1300 energy, so I handled the rest of the healing easily.

 

…For the record, just like with the brothel, there were of course some people that I didn’t get to treat. I still can’t regenerate limbs yet, and my [Cure] is only basic. I told people that I’d come back again when I learned how to do those things, but they didn’t look like they really believed me. It made me feel like I had a stone in my throat each time it happened, for a number of reasons. But on the other side of the spectrum were those lucky people who didn’t have a single thing wrong with them, which always feels like the fish that got away. Those ones just made me feel a tiny bit annoyed, and then guilty that I didn’t just feel happy for them. What a catch 22, really. Oh well.

 

I hadn’t gotten many chances to glance over at Chella while all this was going on, but every time I did turn to look at her, she was just sitting in a nearby chair with her hands clasped and a serious look on her face. It’s amazing to me that she was able to sit there and watch for so many hours without a word or any kind of distraction. Maybe everyone is like this? I’m used to a world of distractions and things to keep me busy, but maybe here where there’s not as many things to do, people get used to just… sitting and waiting? If that’s the case, then I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage doing the same; I'm far too impatient to be okay with that, for sure.

 

Anyways, when I finally finished with the unending feeling line of people, I once again looked back at Chella, but she was already getting up. She marched the short distance over to me and crossed her arms, looking me up and down.

 

“You’re all done?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“...Are you feeling okay?”

 

“Yeah, nothing’s wrong. I mean I had to sit on this stiff chair for a long time so my butt aches a little bit, but-”

 

“No you idiot, I’m talking about your energy.”

 

“Oh, you meant that? Yeah, I’m good. I could probably keep going for another hour or two if I had to.”

 

Chella’s face looked like she didn’t want to believe me, and honestly, I don’t blame her. I healed so many people, enough to burn through well over 1000 energy for all she knew. From what I saw when I peeked at that balding priest, he only had about 150 max energy, right? Even if his numbers were a little low for a priest, it wouldn’t be so low that he would be some kind of outlier. And it certainly wouldn’t ever be a match for me, who cast all kinds of high costing skills for hours upon hours straight. I’m only level 4 now, but I’m sure even at level 1 I was leagues ahead of even the Head Priest’s energy. And on top of all that, Chella had personally seen that I didn’t even know how to use my skills a few days ago, but I was already using [Greater Heal] like a pro.

 

Yes, I couldn’t blame her.

 

“You’re not just bullshitting me?”

 

I gave Chella a little childlike head shake and she just sighed.

 

“Fine. I guess I won’t have to get someone to carry you back at least. Let’s get moving before they start throwing a party or something in your honor, then.”

 

Yup, definitely not one for parties. We’d better scoot.

 

That’s easier said than done though I guess. Seems like people were staying outside of the building to be respectful, but once I made it out I was practically swarmed. People were crying and cheering and waving and crowding around Chella and I. I’m not a person who likes crowds, just like I’m not a person who likes parties. They’re basically the same thing, really.

 

In the end Chella just grabbed my hand and ran away, so at least the torment didn’t last for too long. Thanks again, Chella. You're the best.