The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

I was swallowed by the skeletons, and when I next woke up, I was in a completely white space all around me.

The people of Samaritan, who were standing around me in the center of this white space, were hurling countless cries of hatred at me.

And as I listened to the cries of resentment, I was also shown the memories of the people of Samaria, which were projected on top of each other in an overlapping pattern. We were forced to watch scenes of people roasted by fire, suffering from hunger, crying in the rubble, and trembling with fear of death.

I grit my teeth, suffering from a headache, unable to look away from the sights that are drilled directly into my head.

"Ugh, ugh ......"

First, we were shown the memory of a man suffering from the poison.

The man who had been suffering from the poison of the evil dragon, his lungs rotting and unable to breathe properly, was sacrificed and his soul was drained just when he thought he could finally show signs of recovery and return to his family.

>

"......gu......!"

Next, we are shown the memory of a woman who witnessed the death of her beloved family in front of her eyes.

She has lost everything that mattered to her, she has lost all hope for life, she is still trapped in a curse on her soul, but she longs for her family whom she cannot see yet, and she longs for their release.

"Gah, guh ......"

Next is the memory of a knight who fought to protect his people from an evil dragon.

No matter how hard he tried, he was hit by the poison of the evil dragon and miraculously survived, but his soul was drained by the merciless king and the sorcerer.

<>

"......ッ"

The skeletons' vindictive cries are piled on top of each other and pounded into my head.

Memories of those who were severely injured by the attack of the evil dragon.

Memories of people whose souls were drained by the atrocious kings and sorcerers, and who died.

Memories of happy days turned into hell in an instant.

In the midst of suffering, the scene changes further.

A pile of rubble fills your field of vision, and a small hand is covered in soot and dirt.

The subject of the vision --- a girl cries inaudibly.

---Guggaooooooooooooooooooooo!

The scream of an evil dragon shakes the air.

The girl, who had fallen down due to the impact, looked beyond the voice, and saw an evil dragon, stronger and more hideous than in my memory, staring at a man standing in front of her, exhaling poisonous breath.

The man wearing adventurer-like clothes and armor, with a long sword and a small sword in sheaths disproportionate to his appearance at his waist, was undaunted by the evil dragon's yell.

---What are you?

---.......

The evil dragon swung its large tail sideways at the silent man.

With tremendous force, the tail approaches, turning the surrounding buildings into rubble.

In response, the man---withdrawing a small sword from his waist, the same as the one I have, he headed for the tail, which was sure to contain a vicious power.

The girl who stood there stunned was hit by a cloud of dust and the impact of the tail hitting the man.

The girl, who rolled on the ground due to the shock, saw a man who had caught the tail of the evil dragon with his fist holding a small sword, leaving her uninjured.

---What the...?

----System reinforcement, sealed.

As the man muttered this, a sphere like Kazuki's magic bullet softly floated out of the blade of the small sword that had caught him. The sphere returns to the blade of the small sword, and this time the blade itself is charged with a golden light.

The man then holds the light-emitting small sword in his opposite hand and thrusts it into his own abdomen.

---Dissolution.

At the same time, the man pulls the small sword in his left hand out of his abdomen. For some reason, there is neither a wound nor a blood mark on the man's abdomen, even though he himself stabbed himself with the small sword.

---!

Without warning, the man runs toward the evil dragon.

His speed is unimaginably fast for a man of his slender frame, and the ground gouges out with every step he takes.

The evil dragon opens its large mouth and breathes out a poisonous breath at the approaching man.

---Seal.

The poison, however, vanishes as if sucked out of the man just as the hero turns the hilt of the long sword at his waist.

The hero strikes the dragon in the chest with his left hand holding the small sword.

The mere force of his fist, without any magic power in it, blasts the huge body of the evil dragon and sends it flying through the air.

---Ggwaaaaaaaaaaah!

--- Rot in your own poison, monster!

The hero, having retracted his small sword, draws his long sword, grips it with both hands, and holds it in the upper stance.

---Release!

He cries out and brings the sword down, sending a purple shockwave through the blade.

The girl who was lying on the ground watching the man's blow that cut through even the dark cloudy sky fainted with a feeling similar to fear or longing, and did not wake up.

>

"......gu......"

Skeletons---no, they are the ones who inflict their prenatal suffering on me in my prenatal form.

Some people still wished to live, some wanted to see their loved ones, some felt resentment for having left behind their precious family members who had died... I had been forced to listen to hundreds of such regretful voices, and to tell the truth, my head felt like it was going to fall off.

<<<<<>>>>>

<<<<<>>>>>

It's your fault <<<<<< >>>>>>

<<<<<>>>>>

<<<<<>>>>>

<<<<<< atone>>>>>>

The vindictive voices of those around you intensify.

The headache intensifies and you can no longer stand properly. I get on my knees and hands on the ground, and my hands and feet are slowly buried in the white ground.

"If I just go to sleep, will I be ...... released from this ...... haha?"

I don't think I can stand it anymore.

I feel like my head is going to explode and I don't even know if I'm looking forward or down anymore.

My spirit is shattered after having been forced to see the dead over and over and over again, and being told bitter things about it each time.

The thought grows inside of me that it's okay to give up, that it's okay to get comfortable.

But..,

"---- shut up, shut up."

That is no reason to collapse now.

He tells the skeletons, forcing them to pull their sunken limbs out of the ground and stagger to their feet.

---What the...?

The skeletons are shaken by my words.

I was a dead man just a moment ago, so it's understandable that they're surprised to see me stand up out of nowhere.

I am indeed a corpse. My head hurts like hell, and my consciousness is fading.

I slowly stare at my surroundings while straining my legs that are about to collapse at any moment, and let out the best voice I can muster at the moment.

"What do you want me to do by showing you this?　Did you want to be pitied?　Do you want me to take you prisoner?　You've got to be kidding me. ......!　I'm not saying you should accept death. I'm not saying you should accept death, but you can't harm Eva who is living in the present!

My head hurts so much that I don't even understand what I'm thinking and talking about.

Still, I have to say out what I honestly think.

"She ...... Eva doesn't ...... know anything yet ......!　She has spent her whole life in this world, in a very small boundary, and she has decided that it's her world!　Still smile and ......!"

You don't really want to disappear.

You want to live more.

You don't want to live more, and you don't want to force yourself to accept an unreasonable ...... story.

"I wanted her to know the outside world!　Not even a few trees planted!　Not a flower in a small flowerbed!　Not a pond with not a single fish swimming in it!　The world he had seen so far was so small. ......!　I want you to know that it's a big world out there, so I'm going to break the curse that binds you!"

I know this because I come from the original world.

This world is amazing. Swords and magic, monsters, and all sorts of unknowns. I was anxious because I didn't know so many things, but I was excited to know that great things were waiting for me that I could never experience in my original world.

So I decided to..,

"To not let you die, to not end up not knowing what's out there: ......!　I will help her!　And I'm going to destroy all the curses that have been tormenting you ......---"

Slowly, he raises his clenched fist upward and gathers his strength.

"Shut up and be saved!"

I shouted and slammed my fist into the white ground as hard as I could. The people of Samaritan who had surrounded me disappeared, and the white space itself shattered like glass as cracks appeared from the ground where I had hit.

My consciousness woke up as if I was rising out of the water.

I remove my hands from around my head, open my closed eyes, and at the same time, I thrust out my arms vigorously as if to shake off the skeletons attached to my body...

I opened my eyes.

I crushed the head of the weird skeleton right after I woke up, and I looked down at the skeleton, snapping my hands.

"He's got a cane and he's wearing a robe, so that means he's the mastermind, right?　Neah."

Pointing to the skeleton whose skull is being reconstructed, I ask Nair why and she takes a step back as if frightened.

"......"

"Neah?"

What?　Uh, yes. That's the sorcerer ...... who is the cause of the curse.

......Leaving aside why I used honorifics, I guess I was right after all.

I had a distinctly different feeling from the other skeletons, and more malicious than resentful, so I had a feeling it might be him.

While I was asking Nair about the identity of this robed skeleton, Master Lucas with Eva in his arms walked up to stand next to Nair.

"Usato-san!　You are safe!

"Yes, I'm fine. Is Lucas-sama safe too?

"Yes, thanks to Néa and the girls, I'm not hurt or anything.

I see. ......, uh, they're ......."

Could it be the translucent figures around Nair and the others?

They look more like ghosts than skeletons, which is a little scary.

"These are the royalty of Samaritan, the generations that the curse has bound."

"...... I see."

Nair's words make me shift my gaze to the only figure that remains clear---a woman who looks exactly like Eva, and she smiles at me with a cheerful smile similar to hers.

When Eva told me her story, I had expected that the royal family members who had been erased by the curse were protecting Eva, so I was not too surprised.

"Oh?"

I realized that the skeleton in the robe --- the sorcerer --- had staggered to his feet, as if the head I had shattered had finished regenerating.

Nair had told me that he had bound his soul to the curse by being executed himself, but how could he have done that for so long?

I feel more disgust than anger. .......

I press my forehead, and the sorcerer points at me, his teeth shaking.

>

"...... you're talking about the memories the people of Samaritan showed you?　I don't know what your purpose was in showing them to me, but how would I know? I snapped and you shut up. That's all."

"No, no, no, you can't shut him up like that. How did you lose your temper? ......"

It's true in a nutshell.

I laugh bitterly at Nair, who has somehow reverted to his owl form and jumped onto my shoulder.

The sorcerer, scratching his head, is confused, looking around at the skeletons and shouting, "I don't understand a word I'm saying.

>

The chains around the skeletons' necks are yanked hard.

But the skeletons remain motionless. They are watching the situation with their hands hanging down, as if ignoring the sorcerer's order.

"What's the matter?

<>

The chains jerk even louder, but the skeleton still refuses to obey the sorcerer's commands.

"I guess you all finally get it now. What you're saying is a lie. ......"

<<>

No, it's not.

I know what I hear in their voices and in their memories.

It's not just hate. They were all clinging to someone because they wanted to be free of their suffering. They were asking for help because they were in pain, and they kept following orders because they couldn't do anything about this suffering on their own.

"The reason why they are doing this now, when they can't speak from the outside, is because Usato was pulled into the same spiritual world as them, and he changed them in some way there?　It makes sense when you think about it that way. ...... It's not a proper way to go about it when you risk breaking their hearts. That's what Usato is all about."

"......"

That was not my intention at all, so I don't want to be called quirky.

But I guess it wasn't a bad thing that I was trapped with the skeletons, even if only temporarily.

There is no more soul left to follow you. I will break the curse here and save Eva and all the trapped souls. ......Nea, I'll decide."

"Yes, let's get this over with."

He clenches his fists and glares sharply at the sorcerer.

The sorcerer backs away as if in a daze at the sight of me, but he shakes himself and leaps at me with an animal-like snarl.

<>

Usato, look out!

Usato?

I put my right hand out to the side to reassure Eva and Lucas-sama, who are panicked by the magician's sudden attack, and I grab the magician by the neck with great force.

At the same time, I feel a dull pain in my head, but it is insignificant now, so I ignore it and lift the magician up with one hand.

"I'm used to that level of mental attack.

>

"I'm used to it."

The sorcerer twists his arms around his captor's right hand in an attempt to escape, but his strength is weak.

>

"My body is mine. If you want it, you'll have to work on it in the next life. It will be much easier than preparing for hundreds of years."

With these words, he swings the struggling sorcerer by the neck and throws him forward with all his might.

He takes the hero's small sword from his waist and covers the blade with healing magic and binding spells.

Gripping the hilt tightly, I throw it at the flying sorcerer, aiming at the altar.

>　

"If you want a hero so badly, I'll give it to you!"

The small sword, spinning in a green trajectory, strikes the sorcerer directly in the forehead without missing a beat, and the momentum of the strike sews the sorcerer and the altar crystal behind him to the ground.

"I will take back what was taken from me!　Sorcerer!"

I ready my right fist and take a giant step toward the altar.

The sorcerer shakes his body pleadingly as he sees me approaching.

"It's too late to regret it now!　You had plenty of chances to repent! If you are the one who created this curse, then share your fate with it until the very end!"

>

"Hey!"

My fist strikes the handle of the small sword that is thrust straight into the sorcerer's forehead, shattering the sorcerer's head with the crystal.

Instantly, light floods from the shattered crystal and many human souls are released into the hall.

Looking behind, the chains around the necks of the skeletons in the room are also shattered, and like the other souls, they are transformed into human souls and disappear.

<<>

The shattered body of the sorcerer is also transformed into a human soul.

I smile as I see the human soul ascending to the ceiling with a wailing cry.

"Go train yourself again, if you can be reborn.

"Is that supposed to be cool?　You don't have very good taste, do you?"

"......"

My peers' tweets to me are cold, man. .......

I'm really pissed off.

Nair, who has been staring at me with a glare, releases her tension and lets out a sigh of relief.

"Well, I'll tell Amako and the others about Usato's line earlier and we'll call it a day.

"......No, not yet, apparently."

"What?"

He says and turns to Eva and Master Lucas.

They looked up at a blue-haired woman.

As the other royal souls disappear one after another, the blue-haired woman --- Lady Eliza --- smiles a farewell smile and slowly reaches out her hand to Eva's blue hair and caresses it gently.

"Oh ......"

Then, light streamed into Eva from the hand that caressed her head.

Seeing Eva rolling her eyes at what had happened to her, Eliza-sama let out a giggle and muttered something small, then turned into a human soul and returned to the heavens as if she had no more regrets.

"Father, I ...... have a ...... body."

"What?"

Eva's words made Master Lucas rush to put her down by a nearby light, and when he illuminated her shadow, he saw that the shadow she had lost more than half of her body before coming here had all been restored.

Seeing her shadow restored, Eva sits down on the ground and touches the floor where her shadow had been.

You saved me, didn't you, mother? She always looked after me ...... and I wasn't unhappy at all. Your father and mother have always been with me. ......"

"Oh ...... ah, yes, that's right. You're not unhappy. You can live like a human being now. ......

Eva and Mr. Lucas are in tears, trembling with joy.

I watch them from a distance, and fall to the floor with relief.

The case is finally closed.

Eva and the souls of the people of Samaritan are saved.

"Neah, you saved my life this time. And thank you for keeping Master Lucas and Eva safe while I was stuck here."

"Hmmm, you should be more grateful. Oh, yeah. Can't you give me something to thank me for that?　Specifically, blood.

"Ha ha ha, okay, okay."

I'm really tired this time.

Mentally, I may be more tired than I was at the time of the evil dragon.

"...... glad I could help. ......"

The fact that Eva is smiling now with a reasonable smile makes me more than happy.