Our Lord is the one who has come to bestow mercy upon this world.
It is only natural that the Lord’s divinity is used to save, not harm. Only the night when the Milky Way blooms could be used as the axe of judgment to cut away sin, but the more I use that axe, the more my body shatters. That is the Lord’s will.
To those who live unable to d*e, the mercy of salvation. To those who wish to live, the mercy of healing.
Our Lord simply bestows boundless mercy and love upon us. His love knows no race, and it is unacceptable for me to discriminate where He does not.
“Ugh, kugh…”
Now, I saw someone who couldn’t even scream in pain, gasping for breath and exhaling hot sighs.
In a room without windows to block the sunlight, a few soldiers lit a lamp. Still uneasy, they closed the door tightly before removing the helmet that covered their face.
Red eyes. Sharp fangs. He was indeed a vampire, not human.
Just by looking at the man’s expression, one could tell how much pain he was in. The other soldiers also removed their helmets and looked at me with concern.
“Can you really heal him? I’ve never heard of a holy power user healing a vampire.”
The leader, Mr. Handel, spoke with worry.
But the Lord is here, and so am I. Even if I fail, it can’t get worse, and it will likely improve. This isn’t my first time, so there’s no need to be afraid or scared.
“My Lord does not hate you.”
I reached out and pointed at Mr. Handel, and a beam of light seeped into his chest.
Mr. Handel’s eyes widened. Even though he was a vampire, my holy power didn’t harm him but instead boosted his strength. Overwhelmed by the sensation he felt for the first time, he let out a gasp.
“So this is holy power! This feeling is new to me. Now I understand why adventurers always try to bring a priest along.”
Then he added, “Priest. If you heal our Hans…”
Listening, I realized he was Hans’ older brother.
“Then the one you serve will have at least two new believers. Me and this guy will definitely worship Him.”
I simply smiled and grabbed Hans’ glove.
The glove was still hot, with smoke rising from it. When I pulled it off, it came off too easily, and a handful of ashes fell out. Gasps echoed around the room.
The hands that held the spear had turned to ashes, burned by the power of the sun.
Only the charred forearm remained, dangling where the glove had been. No wonder he was in such pain.
Mr. Handel, who had thought it was just a burn, collapsed to the floor. Behind him, Roka whimpered and shrunk back.
“I’m sorry…”
The child couldn’t bear to look and closed her eyes.
It was a fatal mistake. Though unintentional, Roka had ruined a vampire’s life.
He would never have been able to wield a spear again. The only saving grace was that I was here and could fix this child’s mistake.
The Lord’s divinity, shaped like light, emanated from my fingertips and seeped into Hans. I hate to say it, but I’m quite confident in healing external wounds.
No matter how severe the injury, as long as they’re not dead, I can bring them back. I’ve proven it through experience, so I’m certain about that.
Sssss!
The searing heat of the sun, which boiled bl**d and burned flesh, couldn’t withstand the Lord’s divinity and subsided.
The forearm area bubbled as if boiling, and soon a new hand grew, extending five fingers. Whether it grew or was created, I don’t know, but it’s certainly better than a prosthetic. It should be no different from the original hand, with full tactile sensation.
“Phew.”
Finally, Hans let out a sigh of relief.
“Ha.”
He took a deep breath and exhaled again. He brought the new hand in front of his eyes, unable to believe it for a while, then waved it around before finally calming down.
The pained groans he had been emitting stopped the moment the holy power touched him. From that moment on, he must have felt no more pain.
“H-how is this possible…”
And only after a while did he become stunned with shock. Looking around, the soldiers who had been watching the healing were also too stunned to speak.
“Three Gods… no, at least not five great deities, but how…”
Mr. Handel grabbed my arm in astonishment.
“My God, I thought you were no ordinary priest since you’re with such an important person, but you exceed our imagination. Are you a bishop from another continent?”
Since there’s no guarantee that the princess is the true first princess of the empire, did he lump her in as an important person?
Unfortunately, I’m not from another continent, nor am I under a bishop.
I’m just a priest, just a believer. The angel seems to call me an apostle, combining the two.
But when I said that, they didn’t seem to believe me at all.
“I will report this matter to the higher-ups. The duke should also be informed. Though our reward may be meager, if the duke sees your abilities, he will be truly pleased. He might even bestow a great gift.”
Mr. Handel hurriedly disappeared somewhere, and the other soldiers also helped Hans disappear elsewhere. Probably taking him to a bedroom to rest.
Only then did the princess whisper to me.
“Saint. It’s best not to reveal your ability to heal demons. If the Three God Faith hears of it, they will surely label the one behind you as a demon god.”
“That won’t happen. The Nemi Church has already verified me.”
When Yurinel first brought me to the Church Country, several priests of the Nemi Church verified my qualifications to join Yurinel’s party.
They didn’t seem to know who was behind me, but they agreed that it was at least not an evil god.
“I can wield the sacred sword without issue, and above all, I’ve defeated several demon kings alongside Yurinel.”
The sacred sword is a sword only heroes can wield, but not one only heroes can touch.
I’ve touched the blade a few times, and I’m still alive. And if I were on the side of demons, I wouldn’t have helped defeat several demon kings, including Grozam, the third-ranked demon king.
“Yurinel…? Are you talking about Yurinel Larkponsia?”
“Yes. The one and only hero in the world. She was also my childhood friend.”
“Now that I think about it, I’ve heard that there’s a priest in the hero’s party who isn’t from the Three God Faith…”
“Though I had to leave midway because I wasn’t strong enough.”
At that time, I hadn’t even received the Phylogenetic Seedling, and though the Milky Way Blooming Night worked, it had its limits.
Rather than Grimudo breaking, I broke more, so I had no choice but to stop after one use.
Even the Observatory of Star’s Dream was overwhelmed. Seeing even a step ahead in battle is a huge advantage, but Grimudo bridged that gap with pure strength alone.
Attacks that can’t be stopped even when seen are beyond the Observatory of Star’s Dream. In the end, nothing I had worked on Grimudo. It was like that then, and even more so now.
“Our party went to Polaris Fortress to defeat Grimudo. We barely made it back alive. I couldn’t do anything to our sworn enemy. I couldn’t help at all.”
The Western Family fell because of Grimudo,
and the Citadel Kingdom became the Citadel Republic. It’s now an open secret that the Republic’s chancellor made some deal with Grimudo and borrowed some of his monsters.
Parnell is from the royal family there and hated Grimudo and commoners. As for me and Yurinel, well, it goes without saying. We barely protected our hometown, but many neighbors left our side.
But that hatred wasn’t enough to defeat Grimudo.
That’s why I left the party. I realized that even if I stayed with them, defeating Grimudo was impossible.
But now that the saint is with them, they will surely achieve revenge someday. Yurinel always succeeds in what she sets out to do.
“Saint, Araidel is with them…?”
Was my explanation insufficient? The princess looked like she couldn’t quite understand.
“So they let you go and took the saint instead?”
Then she tilted her head in confusion.
“Why…? Was their goal to align with the Church Country? I can’t think of any reason for that…”
“Master.”
I felt something soft on my leg again, and sure enough, it was Roka’s tail.
This child seems to have decided to wrap her tail around me whenever she gets close. Roka looked at me seriously and asked.
“Is that Yurinel person pretty?”
“Pretty. But what’s more memorable is something else.”
“Her chest…?”
“Her ambition.”
Yurinel has always been different since she was young,
and she was the same before we parted. For her, success was the most important thing.
Looking back now, maybe it was inevitable that we would part ways. We came together with the goal of defeating Grimudo, but Yurinel and I had very different aspirations.
“Cheer up, Saint. From what I see, they made a foolish decision.”
Still, the princess comforted me.
“None of the three saints of the Three God Faith could heal me, but you did it easily. The Araidel I met was still a child, but she wouldn’t be much different now, just a few years later.”
I was grateful, even if only in my heart.
