The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

The long night with the commotion caused by the half-vampire, half-necromancer, Nair, came to an end.

I, too, was nearing the limit of my physical strength, so I fell down as if I had fainted, and the next time I woke up, I was on the bed in the village where we were staying.

While we were sleeping, Mr. Aruk and the others seemed to have set the Western-style house on fire and burned it down, leaving only the blackened skeleton of the house, a large number of burned books and ashes, the remains of the evil dragon.

After spending the next day recovering from our exhaustion and magic, we went to greet the village chief in order to leave the village.

"Even so, you don't need all the people in the village to send us off. ......"

"How could I be so ungrateful as to send my benefactor off without a fight? Thanks to the necromancer's disappearance, the zombies that used to roam around the village are gone. Now we can live in peace.

I looked behind the village chief who had come to see us off, and saw that the people of the village had come to see us off.

Some of them handed a large bag to Mr. Aruk, who was loading the baggage in the back.

"I've been given so much food. ......"

"I'd rather not give you more than I have."

I am sorry to take any more of your money.

With his hands full of vegetables, he gently declines the kindness of the villagers who approach him. In the middle of this, you notice a woman approaching you with a beaming smile on her face.

"Tetra-san!"

"Hi, I see you're feeling better now."

Yes, thanks to you.

The old woman who raised her hand to Frank was not standing next to the village girl.

I frowned at this, but decided to ask her something that had been bothering me for a long time.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but ....... Did you live alone in that big house?"

"Hahaha, it's nothing rude or anything. I've been living there alone for twenty years now. My husband and daughter were killed by demons ...... and I've been alone in that house ever since."

Alone all the time. You really have forgotten.

But I finally understood the part of her words that stuck with me. What a puppet you are! You've been so hateful to me and yet so lenient.

I knew what I wanted to know and was about to bow to Tetra-san, but... she stopped me involuntarily with a somewhat sad expression on her face.

"But you know, it's very strange. That house where I used to live alone suddenly seemed to be much bigger yesterday. I wondered if I'd finally become a demented person.

"...... No, you are still very much alive. Tetra."

With unspeakable emotion in my heart at her words, I turn around this time and get ready to go.

d*mn, I can't do this. I guess one's memories are not so easily erased. I see the evidence of this in front of my eyes now, and I suppress the feelings that well up in my chest.

Then, Amako tugs at the hem of my uniform, as if she had heard my conversation with her.

"...... Don't worry. I'm not such a crybaby as to cry over sentimentality. I'm not."

"No, I don't mean that Usato is crying or anything, I was just wondering when you were leaving."

"Can I have my sentimentality back?　You know?"

I thought you cared about me.

I can feel the hot feelings in my heart sinking.

"I won't say anything because it's his choice. If you look at the process, he got what he deserved."

"That's harsh. ...... Well, yes, it is."

"And ......."

For some reason, Amako looks at me sharply.

What's with that defiant look?

"Usato is Usato too. Aren't you a little too soft on your enemies?

I'm not too soft on them. I'm the one who's supposed to be helping them, you know?　I'm just not asked to be ruthless.

"But that doesn't mean I don't like the way it ended."

I agree with you, but you don't seem to like it very much.

......Well, that's not important right now. Now I have to finish my preparations.

We check our belongings and put the food and other things we got on the back of the burin. That should be enough to last us until Samaritan.

"Ark! We are ready!

We're just about done here!

I look at Mr. Alk, who has firmly secured the luggage to the horses, and turn to the villagers again.

"Well then, I wish you all the best in your short stay here.

"Yes, you should visit us again if you can. Yes, you can visit us again if you can. We will offer you more hospitality then. Until then, we wish you a safe trip.

I'll be back, or ...... yeah, I'll be here some other time.

I wave to the villagers and depart, feeling not quite satisfied.

The villagers are getting farther and farther away. Among them, the village girl named Neah is nowhere to be found. No one wonders why, and they act as if the girl had been nowhere to be found from the beginning.

They probably don't even know the whole story.

That they were being manipulated,

And the identity of the Necromancer,

And why the zombies were roaming around the village,

Unknowingly, a girl disappeared from the village without a trace.

"Ho!"

Just as the village disappears from sight, a small black owl lands on my shoulder.

The little black owl, the size of my palm, folds its large wings, disproportionate to its tiny frame, and hoots.

I continued walking, not questioning the fact that owls were flying in the daytime, muttering to myself.

"Was this the right thing to do?"

"...... ho."

"Nea, you erased the memory of those people ...... and you're really glad you did that ......."

"Ho."

"...... hey."

Without hesitation, I grab the little owl that jumped on my shoulder and hang it upside down. The owl is visibly flustered, and when I look at it, it blatantly looks away.

This guy: .......

You shake the owl vertically, and the owl, with its eyes rolling back and forth, suddenly lets out a girlish yelp.

"No, no, no!　Stop swinging upside down!

If you can talk, don't play dumb. You're making me sound like a weirdo who talks to birds.

"But I'm an owl now!　Normal owls don't talk!　Ho-ho-ho!

"You're noisy. A normal owl doesn't hoot all the time. And don't give me that fake answer."

I don't know much about owl biology, but I do know that they don't make that kind of deliberate hooting sound.

The owl struggling in my hand now is the girl who disappeared in the village, the demon Nair, who was supposed to have been defeated as a necromancer.

She flaps her wings and I let out a sigh of exasperation and let go of her hand as if to throw it forward. The freed owl flaps its tiny wings and stays on Bulrin's back, and with a bang and a flash of light, it turns into a dark-haired, red-eyed girl.

"Huh, are you sure you want to follow me?"

Of course. Because the deal is already done."

She tilts her head cutely and shows her right palm. In the center of her palm, a magic circle-like pattern is carved like a tattoo.

And my left hand has the same pattern as hers. There is nothing drawn on my left palm now, but if I put my magic power into it, a purple imprint will appear on my palm.

"How did this happen? ......"

"I told you I'd be stuck with you for the rest of my life, didn't I?"

"Then why did you have to burn down the house you lived in?"

The contract she made with me that night---it was neither a curse nor a spell, but a simple messenger contract. However, the contract she used was not the one that is commonly used today, but the one that was used hundreds of years ago before it was drastically changed. It was a very malicious one that allowed her to forcibly establish a contractual relationship with me without my consent as long as there was a price in blood.

The trouble with this contract was that it was more binding than the simplified messenger contracts of today, and could not be easily dissolved.

It is true that Nair is a demon. It is no wonder that she is able to make a messenger contract.

But I never thought that she would go to such an extreme as to become a messenger herself. Moreover, while I was unconscious, he erased the memories of the people in the village and burned down the Western-style house where he used to live... I was surprised that he was completely preparing to follow us.

"Hmph, what's the use of keeping a house we don't need to live in anymore?　Besides, I brought the most important things with me.

He then opened the bag on the back of Berlin, and found several books with black spines.

I thought I saw a bag I didn't recognize ......, but it turned out to be your baggage. It looks like a book on witchcraft. I guess they are too valuable to burn down the museum.

"Ah, well... So why were you in owl form?"

"Well, he looks like a demon. And cuter than anything else."

"If you're a vampire, you're probably a bat or something."

"No. I don't want to suck blood as an animal. If I'm going to transform, I want to be a cute creature.

Do you have a bad impression of bats?

Well, in any case, owls are certainly lovely on the outside, but you're a real mess on the inside in more ways than one.

I can't help but notice the similarity between Rose and Kukuru in terms of having a black creature as a partner.

I look sideways at Nair, who is humming happily and petting Bulrin. Perhaps because they are both demons, or perhaps he has instinctively decided that she has no ill feelings toward him, Bulrin is left to his own devices with a sullen expression on his face.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, master."

"Hmph!"

Amako, who had just been walking next to me with a pouty face, smashed her toe-kick into Nair's shin, who said this with a big smile. Kyan!　with a pitiful cry, and Neah falls off Burlyn's back.

What the hell are you doing out of the blue!

Don't get carried away. Bats!

"A bat?　A beastman against me, a demon against ...... me, first I'll show you who's better!"

Nair leaps at Amako as if to return the favor, but Amako, anticipating this, avoids him by flailing and swatting him away with her foot.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!　Naea unintentionally performs a dynamic head sliding move. After a few seconds of silence, she gets up, wiping her eyes, and begins to wrestle with Amako, sobbing.

It's like watching a catfight, except it's actually a fight between a vampire and a fox.

Well, let's leave it at that. There's a saying that the more they fight, the better they get along.

"I've got a weird guy attached to me. ......"

Ha-ha-ha, it's getting lively.

"Mr. Aruk, you must be on the opposite side."

They manipulated us into doing what they wanted us to do.

"We are going to travel together whether we like it or not. I can't let my feelings alone bring them into discord. Besides, she has already been punished.

Punishment, huh?

If being hurt by the evil dragon is a punishment, and the act of erasing the memories of the villagers with her own hands is a punishment, then maybe she has been punished enough.

"As for the rest, yes, her power will be useful in the journey ahead. That's what I thought."

He nodded his head in agreement with Aruk's words.

She deals with binding spells, resistance spells, and magic that is generally not suited for attacks, but I think she can help us to neutralize our opponents or protect us from attacks.

"No, wait! If you dare to have me perform binding spells on you, you can train me even while you are spending normal time ......."

"I did not even entertain that idea. The idea of using the art of restraint as a restraint for oneself is something that ...... ordinary people would never have thought of."

Is that a compliment?　No, I'm sure it's a compliment.

As I was chuckling at his words, Nair, who had been scrambling behind me, jumped on my shoulder in the form of an owl. I don't need to ask who won, since they are covered in dust and have fled to us.

"......, yes."

Suddenly, I remembered that I had that thing in my pocket and took it out.

Amako looks at the object from behind and exclaims in surprise.

"It was inside the body of the evil dragon. ......"

"Oh, in my world, it's a blade called a sword."

A small sword in a leather scabbard that the villagers had helped me find.

Nair looked at the sword, which gave him a strange feeling of power just by holding it in his hand, and when he heard that it was inside the body of the evil dragon, he rolled his eyes with interest.

"You wrote that in your diary. Usato, you should keep that with you.

"Hmm?　Why?"

It's a weapon used by a brave warrior. Maybe there will come a time when it will come in handy.

Is this gonna help?

I don't use blades, so there's no limit to how often I'll have to use it. On the other hand, if I let Amako carry it, the weight of the sword might be a burden for her, and Mr. Aruku already has a replacement for the broken sword.

......All the same, I'll just stick it in my waistband.

It can be used to peel fruits and vegetables.

He let out a sigh and tucked the small sword into his belt at his waist.

"What's wrong?"

"Nah, nothing. Nothing."

No longer manipulating life and death to drown her loneliness, she has abandoned her stronghold and set out for the outside world.

It does not matter by what means or for what reason.

This reminds me of the early morning conversation I had with her as Neah, the village girl. I think that she was finally able to step out of her search for knowledge.

The girl who controls life and death is no longer in the house.

The girl who protected the village is gone.

The only one here now is..,

"A good-natured messenger, I guess."

He's a bit of a pain in the ass and a bit of a loudmouth, though.