Chapter 2
“Yes.”
I gave a brief answer to the child's question about whether I was a priest.
“Then you're a priest of the Goddess of Flowers?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I heard priests who worship the Goddess of Flowers put pretty flower patterns like this on their clothes!”
The child seemed to like my shirt and cautiously stroked its flower pattern.
‘This kid has a discerning eye.’
Being complimented on my favorite shirt put me in a rather good mood.
My opinion of the Church of the Goddess of Flowers, whose priests wore flower-patterned clothes, rose as well.
‘The Goddess of Flowers, huh? Not bad.’
I had naturally decided which religion to impersonate as well.
“Yes, I serve the Goddess of Flowers.”
Though I had only just started serving her.
…
The innkeeper repeatedly examined the child's perfectly healed forehead.
Not only was there no trace of the stitches, there wasn't even a scar left behind.
“Good heavens..”
Only after running their fingers over the child's forehead several times did the innkeeper finally relax.
But soon, the innkeeper made an awkward expression, as though struggling with something.
“I don't know how I should repay you. It's not much, but perhaps I could make a donation.”
“No, your kindness is enough.”
What I really wanted was to get my lodging fee back.
But since I was playing a priest, I couldn't act in an unpriestly manner, so I made a point of refusing.
Instead, I made another request.
“If you really feel indebted, just tell me where the clinic in the city is.”
“The clinic?”
“I plan to remain in the city for a while due to personal circumstances.”
That wasn't a lie.
It was true that I needed to stay, and my circumstances were indeed personal.
“So in the meantime, I intend to do whatever work I can.”
I needed to work to earn money, and I needed money to remain here.
But the innkeeper looked deeply moved, as though she had witnessed the very embodiment of a priest.
“If that's the case, then of course I should tell you! The route to the clinic is a little complicated, but don't worry.”
Then she gestured toward Sean and said,
“This rascal Sean will guide you.”
“..Just telling me the location would be fine.”
I was just about to refuse because it felt like I was making a young child work for me.
“Hehe. It's okay, Priest! I have an errand to run nearby anyway!”
But Sean himself, the person in question, stepped forward and said it was no trouble.
“..Then please show me the way.”
Since he said he was headed that way anyway, it felt awkward to refuse outright.
In the end, I had no choice but to nod and accept his company.
After finishing the breakfast I hadn't been able to finish earlier, I left the inn and found the city quite bustling.
Merchants were laying out their wares on stalls, while carts loaded with vegetables and other goods passed constantly through the streets.
Sean slipped deftly between the carts and pedestrians as though he knew the way by heart.
I followed behind him and asked,
“The clinic must be quite far away?”
“No, it's surprisingly close. The route is just difficult and complicated.”
I wondered whether there was any need to put a clinic in such a complicated location.
I soon got my answer.
“I heard it used to be in an obvious place, but after the old priestess learned to use healing miracles, so many outsiders started coming that the lord had it moved. He said there was no point if the actual residents couldn't get treated.”
That was certainly a reasonable explanation.
On top of that, the information coming from Sean was quite useful.
Small details about the city that were difficult to learn through the Gallery kept spilling out of his little mouth.
‘I heard priests capable of using healing miracles were rare, but is there really only one in a city this large?’
Even that one priestess attracted people from outside the city.
The supply was woefully inadequate compared to the demand.
In other words, it looked like I could make good money.
After turning off the road several times toward the outskirts of the city,
we finally reached our destination.
“There it is.”
Sean's fingertip pointed at a building that looked to anyone like nothing more than a large house.
They had certainly hidden it away well.
“Then I'll be off. I have an errand to run!”
When we reached the front of the clinic, Sean bowed his head.
His claim that he had business nearby hadn't been a lie; he really did guide me only as far as the clinic before running off toward the market.
After seeing the child off, I slowly stepped inside.
The smell of herbs and a faint scent of blood stung my nose.
Compared to a modern hospital or clinic, the smell was distinctly raw.
Yet despite the odors filling the space, the clinic itself was quieter than I had expected.
An elderly man coughing and a young man clutching his wrist were seated and receiving treatment.
It seemed minor illnesses and injuries were treated with medicine.
“What brings you here?”
I was looking around the clinic when
the priestess who had just finished treating the young man rose from her seat and approached me.
“I'm Plowy, a servant of Iris, the Goddess of Flowers.”
It was a name I'd made up on the spot, but I was secretly pleased with how convincing it sounded.
“So you are a priest of the Goddess of Flowers.”
The priestess examined my flower-patterned shirt and nodded as though she understood.
“But what brings you here?”
I got straight to the point without beating around the bush.
“I'm here for a job interview.”
“Pardon?”
She looked startled for a moment, then made an awkward expression.
“Thank you for saying so, but our clinic isn't exactly well-off. I'd have to ask whether we can take on another priest, but..”
It was an obvious rejection, no matter how tactfully she phrased it.
But I trusted that she wouldn't refuse after seeing this.
“My talents may be insignificant, but I believe they'll certainly be of help.”
Fwoosh-
No sooner had I finished speaking than a radiant light bloomed above my outstretched palm.
At the same time, everyone nearby turned their eyes toward the hand giving off the light.
The clinic briefly grew noisy at the sight of the rare healing miracle (not).
The troubled priestess's eyes widened as well.
“A healing miracle..”
“By the grace of the Goddess of Flowers, I've been granted permission to use it, feeble though it may be.”
It was a lie, of course.
The priestess stared blankly at the light gathered above my hand for a moment.
Then, as though she had only just come to her senses, she jumped and turned around.
“Just a moment, please wait!”
The priestess hurried into the back of the clinic and returned a short while later with an elderly priestess.
However, she did not have the kindly appearance people commonly imagined when they thought of an old priestess.
Rather, she looked more like a cantankerous old woman.
Her tired complexion only reinforced that impression.
“You can use healing miracles?”
The elder priestess cut straight to the point.
She even stepped closer before hearing my answer.
“Show me.”
“Certainly.”
I used Heal again, a little tense.
Fwoosh-
A bright light bloomed above my hand.
The elder priestess narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the light for a long while.
Had she realized that it wasn't actually a healing miracle?
I began to feel nervous, but the elder priestess's stiff expression soon relaxed.
“Good.”
“Pardon?”
“Help us at once.”
“..Certainly.”
I was startled, but at the same time, I felt relieved.
‘If even a priestess can't tell the difference, I really don't need to worry about being caught.’
The Gallery hadn't been wrong.
“I'm the only priestess in the city who can use healing miracles, so I've been struggling, but Gaia has helped me.”
The elder priestess muttered that as she strode down the corridor toward the back.
We reached a separate ward that looked unmistakably like an intensive care unit.
The inside of the room was quite gruesome.
Patients wrapped in bandages and fitted with splints lay on every bed.
There were no fewer than eight patients who wouldn't make it through even this week without immediate treatment.
“Huh. Did you run into a monster as big as a house?”
“If it had been an ogre, we wouldn't have even recovered the bodies. It was a pack of orcs.”
“..I see.”
“Still, I've dealt with the immediate emergency. The patients left can hold on for the rest of today.”
Only then did I understand the reason for the elder priestess's exhausted complexion.
She had squeezed out every last bit of strength she possessed to save the patients who had been on the verge of death.
‘This is practically elder abuse.’
No wonder the innkeeper's daughter had returned without receiving a healing miracle.
“Then I'll start the treatment at once.”
Thinking there was no reason to waste time, I slowly began channeling Heal.
The way I used it was slightly different from usual, though.
“Don't overdo it. Even if all you do is extend their lives for the moment, that'll be enough..”
The elder priestess couldn't finish her sentence.
Before she could continue, a radiant light spread until it filled the entire room.
‘Healing Wave.’
There were too many patients to treat one by one, so I cast an area-of-effect Heal, but its effect was outstanding.
Mangled flesh knitted together, and damaged organs recovered.
The patients' rough, precarious breathing gradually calmed.
The treatment ended only after the light filling the room had completely faded.
“It's done.”
“..You're already finished?”
The elder priestess asked again as though she couldn't believe it.
Instead of answering, I removed the bandages from the nearest patient.
The gaping wound had vanished without a trace.
The same was true for the other patients.
Unable to believe her eyes, the elder priestess hurried between the beds, checking the condition of each patient.
She palpated the places where the wounds had been, checked their pulses again, and even opened their eyelids to examine their pupils.
Each time she confirmed another result, the shock on her previously rigid face only grew stronger.
“Huh..”
The elder priestess rubbed her face and fell into thought for a moment.
“Why are you only showing up now instead of coming sooner?”
“How could a dandelion seed choose for itself where it will fall?”
“Damn it.”
The elder priestess cursed with a sour expression.
I thought it was quite a priestly thing to say, but apparently she hadn't liked it.
Still, I couldn't miss that her reaction stemmed from regret.
‘It seems I've passed, at least.’
Taking the elder priestess's reaction as a sign of that, I wrote a post on the Gallery to mark the occasion.
Title : I Got a Job.
Author : ㅇㅇ(123.123)
Looks like she likes it.
[Did the priestess not see through you?]
ㄴ[I don't think she suspected a thing. She didn't realize even though I used it right out in the open.]
ㄴ[You'd better practice holding your breath for a long time in advance..]
ㄴ[Why?]
ㄴ[(Take a hint.. con)]
ㄴ[Splash!!!]