The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

At night, the daylight fades and the forest is shrouded in darkness.

There is no moonlight, perhaps because the moon is hidden by clouds. Normally, the absence of moonlight, the only source of light, would make me feel gloomy, but tonight is different. It is the perfect time to take down the necromancer.

I, Amako, and Ark were waiting for the chief and the others at the entrance of the forest, and I was frankly surprised to see him and the people behind him.

"I didn't expect such a large gathering."

A dozen men with farming tools and old swords, led by the village chief, came nervously toward us.

"They didn't think the situation was that good," said the chief. But we didn't have the courage to face it alone. It is thanks to you that we were able to show our will to fight like this.

I was embarrassed by the village head's words, but I was also more determined.

Even if I could get the cooperation of the villagers, if I failed to defeat the Necromancer, the Necromancer's anger would be directed directly at the villagers.

In that case, I have no choice but to crush the limbs of the roaming zombies and block their movements, though it pains me to do so. Since Mr. Aruk's magical power is limited, I have no choice but to take the initiative.

Besides..,

"Chief, I'm late to tell you this, but I'm good at recovery magic. So please bring the injured to me after you defeat the necromancer. I can heal them immediately.

"Thank you, Usato-dono ...... for your concern."

Since we can't reveal that he is a healing magician before the battle, we will go as far as to say that he is good at recovery magic.

The village chief's face is filled with a sense of relief, knowing that even if someone is injured, there is someone who can heal them. After the conversation between the chief and me was over, Mr. Aruku started talking to the chief and the men in the village behind us.

I guessed that he was explaining to them about tonight's mission. Mr. Aruk, who knows how to act in a group because of his position as a knight, is a reliable person.

As I was watching them with this thought in my mind, Amako, her head completely covered by a cloak, looked up at me and spoke to me.

"Usato, are you taking Bulrin with you?"

"I'm sorry, but he's not staying with us tonight because I know he'll scare the villagers if I tell them he's one of ours," said Amako. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be home tonight.???I'm counting on your magic today."

"Not at all. Besides, I have good night vision, so I can be counted on in the dark.

"Ha-ha-ha, that's great."

Even though I am accustomed to the darkness of Lingle, I cannot navigate in total darkness without losing my way. In this respect, the eyes of Amako, the beastman, are truly dependable.

"This is our first time fighting together, but I think I can work well with you."

"......Yes. It's my first time."

What, is he nervous?

Usually he would say

......I'm going to make a joke to relieve some of the tension.

"Well, from what I've heard about the necromancer's ability, I don't think he'll be too much trouble, but if you're ever in a pinch..."

"What if?"

I'll put you on my back.

"Huh?"

I've never heard you sound so cold.

I waved my hand to the side and held up my index finger, explaining to you in great detail what "my idea of today's sorcery" is.

You predict, I move and attack. It's simple, but I think it's an unbeatable combination.

"......"

"To do that, I need you to concentrate on the prediction. If you can only predict for a short moment while moving, I can carry you and take the role of moving for you. Then you tell me what the enemy will do next, what to do, and how to move.

"......"

"With reflexes and foreknowledge, you anticipate your opponent's actions at once and strike the best blow. In other words, if you and I work together, we will be the best.

"......"

"...... sorry."

Amako looks up at me expressionlessly from behind her hood and freaks me out.

I can't see his face, so his eyes, which are shining so brightly, stand out in my mind and frighten me. I silently turned my face away from him.

I am very curious that the top of her head, which is her ear, is moving.

"Usato-san!

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, a voice calls me.

I turn my head and see Nair running toward me. The faint light from the house and the torches of the villagers make it look somewhat brighter, but it is still dark.

She came running up to me at a steady pace, looking at me as she caught her breath,

"Ew!"

---He suddenly hugged me.

The sudden embrace, which I did not expect, made me go beyond being nervous, and I became calm and asked for help.

However, while Aruk-san, the village chief, and half of the villagers ......, or rather adults in their thirties and forties, look at me smiling, the other half, young people in their twenties, look at me with a resentful gaze.

And Amako looks up at me and exclaims, "I'm not going to let them get away with this.

"......"

This is not my role. .......

It's the role of Kazuki and the others. This situation is so incomprehensible that I don't even have time to feel it anymore. I mean, why did she suddenly hug me?

There is no such a thing as a sweet story that she fell in love with you because of the suspension bridge effect. The situation in this village is not the time to have such a flirtatious feeling, and moreover, it is unthinkable that she would have more than affection for me after knowing me for only a day.

Even if it's love at first sight, it's just a passing fancy. It is not the kind of feeling she would have for me, who has to leave.

For now, I grab her shoulders and release her arms around my back.

I try to keep the feeling of regret in my heart.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"......... what?"

What's with that reaction?

Her eyes widen in confusion, but I don't care.

"I will defeat the necromancer who is tormenting the people of this village. I will save this village, its inhabitants, and the corpses being controlled by the necromancer. So please wait here in peace.

"Thank you ............... for ....... Really, you have done so much for us ......."

For some reason, Mr. Nair was upset by my words and bowed his head several times, then moved a little further away from me.

On the one hand, I felt that it would be a terrible thing if my senpai found out about our embrace, but on the other hand, I felt that I had done a very regrettable thing.

In fact, I have been beaten up, kicked in the legs, and abused by women, but I have never been treated in such a gentle manner by a hugger.

Thinking about it any longer makes me tear up at what Rose has done to me, so I turn to Mr. Alc and the village headman and ask them to leave.

"Mr. Aruk. It's time for us to leave."

"...... I see. Is everyone ready?

Mr. Aruk said, and the villagers raised their torches in a brave voice.

The spirits are high. All we have to do now is to defeat the hated necromancer.

We didn't run into any zombies along the way, to the point of being eerie.

I don't know if they're concentrated around the house or if they're just scattered around and left to their own devices.

But we were able to get close enough to the house to be able to see it without anyone getting hurt. The house had an eerie presence, and I could see a few zombie-like figures around it. It is probably safe to assume that there are more of them lurking around than can be seen.

Aruk-san, who was walking at the front with a torch, stopped and turned to me and Amako.

"Let's split up here. We will attract the zombies from the front of the building and you two will try to break into the building.

I understand. Let's go, Amako.

"Yeah."

"Be careful, Mister Usato."

"The chief and everyone else, please take it easy."

Amako and the chief and the people of the village see us off, and we walk out of the cleared road into the dark wooded area with the trees.

It's dark, after all.

"Amako, lead the way."

"Yeah. ...... so we don't get separated, okay?"

I know, I know.

I remove my cloak and follow Amako in front of me, clenching my fists so that I will be ready to intercept the zombies no matter when we encounter them.

"Usato, stop!"

Amako's voice was subdued as she stopped her legs and bent down.

A few seconds later, you hear a rustling in the bushes nearby, and then a zombie passes by with a grunt.

If it hadn't been for ...... Amaco, we would have definitely found him.

Foreknowledge is a powerful thing after all.

>

The loud voices of men can be heard coming from behind us.

Looking behind us, we see the light of several torches a short distance away from the entrance of the Western-style house, and the men of the village and Mr. Alc shouting to inspire us.

Hearing their voices, the zombies that had been passing nearby turned their eyes towards Mr. Alc and the others, and headed towards them, moving sluggishly like canaries attracted by the light.

"...... I see that Mr. Arck and the others have started a diversion."

"Let's take this opportunity and keep moving."

So far, so good.

Now it's up to me and Amaco.

We resume our movement with renewed vigilance. We go around to the back of the building, make sure the zombies can't see us, exit the woods, and approach the window.

I put my hand on the window without making a sound, and it opens without any resistance.

...... seems to be unlocked.

I don't know how to say this to a monster, but you're being careless.

It could be a trap, but we don't have a choice but to back out now. Once we're in it, we're in it.

I enter the house with Amako.

The room we enter is unnaturally clean, and the cleanliness of the room makes us feel eerie.

"...... There are some of them..."

From outside the room, the distinctive roar of zombies can be heard not far away. I approach the door and motion for Amako to make a premonition under my breath.

"They're not right outside. Outside the door is a hallway. It's very wide, but I walked down it and found a turn ......."

There's a wide hallway outside, and if you try to go on from there, you'll run into them around the corner.

I'd really like to avoid that, but I don't want to get into trouble later.

"Okay, then, let's neutralize him quickly and move on.

He walks over to the window and pulls off the dusty curtains. He slings it over his shoulder, approaches the door again, and puts his hand on the doorknob.

It's very painful now that I know ...... where the zombies are coming from, but I have to do it.

"Amako, tell me when they're coming."

"...... will take care of it."

They nod to each other and open the door at the same time. Amako instructs them to move toward the corner of the corridor.

If we know that there will be no zombies by this point, we can take drastic action. They will lie in ambush at the corner and wait for Amako's instructions.

"Usato, now."

As soon as she said those words, I leapt out of the corner without hesitation and slammed two unarmed fists into the shoulders of the zombie whose eyes met mine.

To keep it from blowing away, I stomped down on one of its floating legs as hard as I could, and swung my leg like a reaver, breaking both knees.

Finally, he wraps the curtain around his shoulders and wraps it around his mouth to disable him.

Below me lay a zombie, its limbs shattered, its mouth sealed shut when it tried to scream, and unable to do so.

"...... don't be so sure!"

Amako, her face pale from the momentary occurrence, said to me.

I just hit him with my eyes, held him down with my toe, and broke his knee with a kick, that's all.

I can ............ do that, you know.

"I couldn't see him at all. One minute the zombie was blown off his shoulders and the next he was on the ground with a broken leg. I thought Usato had finally knocked the zombie down with his spirit. ......"

"What kind of super creature do you think I am ......????Hahaha, it's just that you have eyes and a body to go with my image, that's all. Hahahaha."

Ugh," he says, lifting up the zombie lying on the floor while watching Amako's mouth twisted sideways.

It's true that even a living person can do this if they want to incapacitate a zombie without mercy or restraint. Halfa-san can probably do the same thing. But that doesn't mean I'd ever seriously hit a human ...... probably.

I throw the tied up zombie into a nearby room and resume my search inside the building.

Oh, I'm not much of a ...... fighter at all.

The inside of the house is much larger than I had expected, and the security is surprisingly sparse.

We haven't seen any zombies since our first encounter.

However, the fact that the building has been cleaned up to some extent suggests that someone has done the cleaning.

"Well, whoever lives here seems to have a hobby of collecting antiques."

He is amazed as he taps his fist on the armors neatly displayed at the end of the hallway.

I would not have reacted this way if there had been a line of the same type of armor. The ones in front of us now are all different in design, and they all have swords, morning stars, and.......,

"And what's this ...... called a halberd????A normal person can't even hold a weapon this big."

A spear with an axe blade that is well over my height.

The armor that holds the halberd is also quite large, measuring two meters in length.

There is absolutely nothing in common between them in terms of armor and weapons. While I was walking down the aisle with the misguided impression that it looked like a museum, Amako, who was looking at the armor, suddenly opened her mouth.

"I don't think it's that old. I've seen armor like that before when I was traveling."

This means that they are not antiques, but rather relatively new items that have been placed here for some reason.

Is the lack of uniformity in the shape of the armor simply the taste of the owner of this house, or...?

"I wonder if it has something to do with that ...... rumor that Aruk-san mentioned ......."

Strange disappearances that have not happened in the last few years.

If the mysterious rumors about the sudden disappearance of talented people have something to do with the scene in front of us, then the disappearances and everything else could be the work of a necromancer.

But there is one thing that doesn't make sense.

Why didn't Mr. Nair and the villagers tell us about it ......?"

Of course, this is assuming that the villagers know about the rumors.

At least if there had been disappearances in this area a few years ago, the villagers living here would associate them with the work of necromancers. But from what I've heard, they don't seem to know anything about that.

...... if I'm overthinking this.

"Wait."

"...... what's wrong?"

"There's a room up ahead with a light. ......"

As I was walking down the corridor, Amako stopped me unexpectedly and said something like that.

A room with a light. Is it time to face the necromancer at last????As I walked cautiously down the path, I saw a door with a light leaking through the crack.

Is there a Necromancer inside?

"No. ......"

Amako reacts puzzled, as if she had seen what was going on in the room.

Did he sense it????While Amako continues her prediction, she approaches the door and opens it.

The first thing he sees is a small light of a magical tool and..,

"What the ......?

The books are spread out like a library, almost reaching the ceiling.

Upset by the sheer volume of books, too many for a private individual to own, he enters, walks up to where the grimoire is placed, and picks up one of the piles of books.

The book is brownish all over, and when he turns it over, the title of the book catches his eye.

"The Records of the Brave Men of Ka......gui."

The first author's name is illegible, but it seems to be a book, or rather a notebook, about a brave man.

The author probably does not refer to Senpai and Kazuki, but to the previous generation of brave men. Intrigued, I open the notebook.

He carefully rolls up the fragile pages, which look as if they might crumble if handled roughly, but most of the pages are worm-eaten in places, so he cannot read them well.

"Can't you read it? ....... I mean, it's hard to read what you can read just by looking at the pages.

As he was about to close his notebook, a sentence caught his eye and he stopped his hand.

It is a sentence written in large letters in an unnatural blank space in the center of the page.

---He hated men and loved us.

He means the brave man, right????So he hated man and loved some other ...... race????I have no idea. I don't even know if what is in this book is true or not.

But I'm curious, so I'll take it with me.

With a slight feeling of avoidance, he puts the book in his hand into the breast pocket of his coat. You feel guilty, even though you are dealing with a necromancer. .......

You casually pick up another book and look through it.

But..,

"Huh????I can't read it. ...... that's weird."

Unlike the previous notebook, there is nothing written on the cover or spine of this ...... suspiciously black book.

In the first place, when we are summoned to this world, we are supposed to be enchanted to understand languages. And at least I can read and write, but I can't read the words in this book.

When I look through other books, I can read them normally.

This means that there is something wrong with this book.

"Amako, can you read this?

"Hmm????What is this?"

He gives the book to Amako, who has been concentrating on the prediction.

Amako immediately opens the book and looks through it, but the next moment her eyes widen and she looks at me in disbelief. I wondered if she had found something strange, and when I called out to Amako, who was obviously reacting in an unusual way, she opened her mouth in a slightly trembling voice.

"You're lying ...... Usato, this is a book on ...... witchcraft."

"...... witchcraft????You can read that?"

I replied in a voice that was so unfamiliar to me in this world that I couldn't help but sound dumbfounded.

"No, I can't read it. But because I can't read it, I know it's a book on witchcraft."

"How did Amaco know it was that ...... book on witchcraft?"

"I saw one once in the archives back home and it's ...... just like that one. ...... Usato, it's right that you can't read it."

Unreadable is right?

What do you mean????I don't think anyone can understand that, can they?

"Usato, this is not good. Maybe the Necromancer is a demon who deals in magic."

"...... Is that bad?"

"It's not that bad. ......"

Her impatience makes me realize how serious the situation is.

"Witchcraft. It's so difficult that an ordinary person could spend his life trying to handle one field of magic if he was lucky. But in other words, it is a that can be mastered with long years of effort."

......That's too hard to handle if you put your life on the line.

Who made such a thing? At least whoever made it is not a human being.

"Witchcraft was considered at one time to be something like lineage enhancement, but ...... there is no one who can handle it nowadays. Because it is much more meaningful to master the magic you have than to spend time on something you don't know if you can learn.

"That's true, isn't it?"

Even I, who had never heard the word "magic" before, recognized it immediately.

It means that magic is a flawed technology for human beings. The degree of difficulty in learning it makes it obvious that it is not something that people should try.

But the enemy we're after now is not human.

How long do necromancers live?

Many times longer than humans, that's for sure.

...... I guess so.

And what's worse, we don't know what kind of magic this book is about, and we don't know how many books on magic there are in this study.

I don't know how much witchcraft can do, but it is not something to be underestimated.

"We'll find out soon enough. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah. ......"

Witchcraft is a mysterious entity.

How does it affect us? With a vague sense of uneasiness, I left the study with Amako and headed back to the search for the Necromancer.

A little time has passed since Usato and Amako broke into the Western-style house.

The villagers and I gathered the zombies around the house, and with my fire magic as our main weapon, we defeated the zombies.

Fortunately, no one is hurt and we are able to divert the zombies smoothly. .......

"...... funny."

I am not complaining that things are going too smoothly. It's just that the zombies are moving too much the way we want them to.

This aggravating and uncomfortable feeling makes me feel inexpressibly uneasy.

"I feel like I'm being tested. ......"

He cuts down the attacking zombies with his flame-clad sword. Around them, villagers push the zombies away with farming tools, while the sword-bearers are limbed and immobilized.

Most of the zombies were immobilized, but ...... there are still more zombies coming out. As I was taking a breath and wiping the sweat from my forehead, the village chief with his old sword approached me from behind.

"You're good at this, Mister Alc.

No, I could not have handled it alone. It is only with your help that I can wield my power to the fullest.

Thanks to the people of the village, I can safely fight the zombies in front of me without being attacked from behind.

And even though I am clumsy, if I can focus on the enemy in front of me, I can protect the people of my village.

"......Dono Usato, are you doing well ......?"

I'm sure he'll be fine.

"...... you trust."

Of course. Of course.

I know that he is a warrior who has fought on the battlefields of many demons, and I know that he has a strong spirit that will not yield to any opponent.

I do not believe in the slightest that he would be fooled by a necromancer.

But it is about time for us to go to his aid. Even if Mr. Usato cannot find the Necromancer, we can help them by making a conspicuous move in the building.

He tells the village chief behind him that he is going to storm the Western-style house.

"Chief, as soon as we kill the zombies here, let's get into the Western-style house. There are probably zombies inside the house as well.

"......---"

"......Mayor?"

I was suspicious of the village chief, who didn't react, and just as I was about to turn around, the hilt of the sword he must have swung down struck me on the wrist, knocking the sword away.

"......!???The village... everyone????What the...?

I was startled by the sudden violence and reflexively tried to move away, but even the men from the village I had just been fighting with held my hands and feet down.

"Gu......, what's going on!???This is not a betrayal......, this is ........."

I called out to the village chief who was restraining my arms, but his eyes were vacant and he held me down with such tremendous force that I could not believe he was an old man, and I was unable to shake him off.

It was the same for the others who held me down.

"Are you being manipulated ......!

The villagers did not lead us into a trap.

It was the manipulators of the villagers who set us up.

If that is the case, then we have been..,

"......, Mister Usato!"

We must warn Usato and Amako, who are probably still in the Western-style house. ......

I try to scream, but the manipulated villagers hold me down and force me to my knees.

"d*mn it, ......!"

"Just as funny as I thought."

A voice from behind.

I couldn't turn around with my head held down, but the sound of approaching footsteps and the voice froze me in my tracks.

I found myself surrounded by zombies, staring back at me, motionless, like servants waiting for their master's orders. .......

And I know of only one such demon that can control a living ...... person.

"So that's what this is about,......!???You, you were the ...... Necromancer!???And..."

"Kuku, kuku. ...... are very bright. I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot of good things from you."

As if to prevent me from saying any more, one of my captors holds my head down and forcibly exposes my neck.

"......!"

But you're not the main attraction today.

A third party approached me from behind and plunged his fangs into my bound neck.

At the same time, my consciousness gradually faded away.

"Oh, my ........."

He must have leaned against the fangs in his neck, and was implanted with a suggestion. If the "she" behind me is who I think she is, then I'm at her mercy, conscious or not.

But I can no longer resist.

"Usato-dono ...... Amako-dono ....... I'm sorry, sir. If only I had ...... realized it sooner. ......"

The restraints holding his limbs are released, and he falls to the ground.

In a moment, in the space between my fading consciousness, I..,

I saw a girl with blood red eyes and a terrible smile on her face.