Chapter 1447

Receiving the noble’s paltry reward, Davey burst into laughter out of sheer disbelief.

The lord clicked his tongue, clearly displeased. He turned to Aris. “Hero over there. I told you before, change your mind immediately.”

Aris stood up with resolve. “I’m sorry, milord, but I cannot back down from my duty!”

“What good is a mere child going to do in the extreme region?! That’s a job for a noble and a knight! A commoner child has no right to overstep their bounds just because they're a hero!”

“If I don’t do it, a lot of people are going to get hurt,” she insisted.

The noble frowned and backed off. It seemed he was quite used to that kind of exchange, clearly not his first rodeo.

“Hmph! Then, what's the big plan in taking not a mercenary, an adventurer, or even a knight, but a doctor, to such a dangerous place?”

“Lord, this man is the only person who can solve the crisis brought by the beruul curse! Even the Great Saintess's power has its limits, yet his does not.”

Seeing the absolute resolve in her smile, the man scowled. “Enough! I’d rather just wash my hands of this instead of arguing about it further. Take this!”

He threw a small metal emblem at her.

She caught it, confused. “Huh?”

“Hire a dedicated coachman with that! You’re so frustrating! You walked here, didn't you? Because you can't even ride a horse properly?”

Her companion told him, “Girul is scared of horses, and Aris is a bit clumsy, hehe.”

“Hmph!”

Watching him turn and walk away, Davey let out a hollow laugh.

Aris turned to him, still smiling. “He always does that, it’s just who he. Last time, he even came to the battlefield and bickered with me.”

“Haha...”

The boy who introduced himself as Ballin, a priest, exasperatedly confirmed, “He really means no harm, even if his mouth’s a little rough.”

“Alright, so can you give me a definite answer?” Aris felt it was time to cut to the chase. “Your healing power. What limits does it have?”

“There are no limits for that level of healing,” he calmly told her. “As long as you just tell me the location of the extreme region and officially grant me free access, I’ll heal as many people as you want.”

She smiled brightly in satisfaction. However, he caught a righteous madness hidden behind that smile, as well as the desperation of someone driven to the edge, making him see her in a different light.

“Then it’s settled!”

Honestly, Davey wasn't too thrilled to see a child bear such a huge destiny and burden, just like the noble from moments before had felt.

* * *

Hero Aris, the fairy mage Mary, the priest boy Ballin, and finally, the young orc Girul bought a carriage using the emblem the lord gave them as credit and headed for the extreme region.

Due to the long distance, they eventually left the carriage behind and used a mana gate along the way and soon arrived at a half-ruined fortress.

“Here we are!” Her lips were smiling, but her eyes weren’t.

The fairy Mary muttered bitterly, “It's always such a tragedy here.”

The half-ruined fortress was filled to the brim with injured people, most of them knights who could wield mana.

Davey looked around, asking, “So is this the extreme region, then?”

“The entrance to the extreme region,” Aris answered. “We can't give you the exact location, in case of information leaks putting those here in danger. There are almost no monster attacks, but the wicked aura flowing out from this place comes from the imps that exist here.”

“Imps?”

The fairy slowly flew over and pointed to one side. “Them.”

There, a corpse laid on a stretcher. It was a bizarre-looking monster with stark black muscular skin.

“They weren't here one day, and then the next they appeared all at once. Their arrival turned this entire area into a land of death.”

They seemed to all ignorantly believe that the pure energy behind the mutations was inherently evil.

“We think the king of those imps has settled somewhere in this forest. That's why we need a hero like Aris.”’

The power she possessed didn't make her a superhuman, but her power proved fatal against mutated monsters. Since the knights couldn't defeat the monsters no matter how hard they fought, her assistance was deemed absolutely necessary.

Her party members were also talented prodigies in their own right, as well as being among the rare few who could draw out even greater strength under her power’s influence.

In other words, the only ones who could practically deal with the imps were Aris and the party members she reinforced with enchantments.

A man nearby spotted them and approached, shouting, “Ah! Hero, you've finally arrived.”

Aris was excited to see him, too. “Uncle Permude, guess what! I found someone who can cure the beruul curse!”

“Wha... What?! Is that true?! Is there someone else besides the Great Saintess who can help?!” His gaze wandered curiously before finally landing on Davey. “It must be you! This is a blessing to the continent! What a relief! Hero, did he really heal someone’s curse?!”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” she confirmed with a nod. “He cured three people on the spot.”

“Goodness gracious... Aaaah, that's such a relief.” He turned to Davey and guessed, “Are you a saint, by any chance?”

Coincidentally, he’d managed to hit the nail on the head.

“Davey, can we get started on them?”

As he nodded and moved to begin, someone’s shout interrupted, “Hero! The scouting team’s ready!”

Aris was shocked. “Already?!”

“Yes! As soon as you and your party members are ready, we’ll set off.”

“Yes! I’ll be right there!” She began to head in the scouting team’s direction, shouting behind her, “Davey, I’m going to step out for a bit! This is the extreme region, so feel free to investigate as you wish. But you’ll have to wait until a little later to actually go inside! That way, we can be there to protect you.”

After seeing her resolve, Davey pointed to the corpses being carried on stretchers and the ones being cremated, curiously asking her, “Aren't you scared?”

They had all suffered horrible deaths, with no corpse left intact.

“Hehe. I’m a hero, after all. More importantly, I’m sorry about the delay. I made the offer and brought you here, but now I’m unable to grant your request right away.”

“It doesn't matter,” Davey assured her, waving it off. “The patients here are more urgent right now. I can do the investigation separately later on.”

Despite her calm, he could still see madness in her smile. It was her obsession to save the people and become the beacon of hope for the entire continent.

It wasn't arrogance or false bravado. She firmly believed that she was the only one capable of doing so.

Reina had once shown a similar single-minded resolve. It was when she'd tried to deal with the First Lich, Nyx, all on her own.

Thinking about it, the situation Aris found herself in was similar to back then. The difference was that Reina was in her late twenties, and the hero standing in front of him was barely fourteen, barely even half her age.

Aris’s party joined the scouting team and left for the expedition.

Not very proficient at riding horses, Aris rode behind her party member, the priest Ballin.

“She’s young,” Permude muttered with a wry grin, “But that child is our only hope. Isn't it funny? The children we should protect are instead being pushed onto the battlefield.”

“What is she off to accomplish?”

“Deeper inside, the knights won't be able to endure enough to provide any support.” His expression darkened. “Only transcendent beings can barely hold their own there.”

Davey’s eyebrow raised, remarking, “Is it really okay to tell me something like that?”

“I don’t know much about you, but that child seems determined to accept you as a comrade. I trust her judgment.”

He admired the man’s resolve. “Even if I can't fight?”

“Even so. Our role is simply to provide all the support she needs to reach her destination. Her life’s the most important on this continent, and next are her party members, which now includes you. The rest of us are the ones who sacrifice our lives to clear the path.”

It was a level of devotion and fanaticism that bordered on foolishness.

“Even once we die, we’ll probably be doomed to punishment in the afterlife. What else could we expect, after pushing such children onto the battlefield?”

“I occasionally saw fourteen-year-olds among the mercenaries, too,” Davey added.

“This extreme region is far separated from the lives of mercenaries. It’s a living hell here. It's common for someone you shared a meal with yesterday to have their head blown off today.”

Davey gave a compassionate look, then approached a patient who was writhing in agony. Their skin had turned black.

He was about to begin the healing process, but a warm voice suddenly asked, “Permude, who is this person?”

The man turned to the voice and said with shock, “Ah, Great Saintess! He's a potential party member the hero brought with her.”

“Potential party member?”

“He is capable of lifting the beruul curse.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Nonetheless, Davey wasn’t interested in wasting time interacting with her. The extreme region’s border was a living hell. In fact, it was even worse than that. Continuing their conversation, Davey told him, “I’m sorry, but I can’t say I agree with that assessment.”

Davey sighed and snapped his fingers.

Fwoosh!!

[7th Class Holy Magic]

[Heavenly Reversal]

[Highness Heal]

As the high-level holy magic with its altered structure took effect, the Great Saintess's eyes widened in shock once again.

At the same time, the stigmata on Davey’s back resonated.

“General Permude,” he finally called out again.

“Uh. Um.” He stood there gaping, unable to say a word even after witnessing the healing firsthand.

Davey continued, “Three children, barely fourteen years old, were captured by kobolds, and two of them were tied down and eaten alive. They had to see their flesh get torn from their bodies, their arms and legs being slowly devoured bit by bit, right up until the moment they died.”

Permude didn't know what to say.

“So how can you be so sure about which side is hell?”

The man remained silent, as if he couldn't find the words.

About ten seconds passed as Davey proceeded to apply his healing magic to more injured. The dozens of patients completely recovered.

Davey used holy magic of the 7th Class, despite knowing that Perserque would be able to detect it. He couldn’t shake off the momentary nervousness, though he figured he might get lucky and not be caught.

“Good heavens! Those many patients in an instant... Just who are you?” The Great Saintess stared at Davey, but he simply went toward the medical tent’s exit.

Just before stepping out, he turned his head and commanded, “Make sure everyone gets plenty of rest. Feed them carrots and onions too, since there's a risk of recurrence.”

The news that he had saved those suffering from the beruul curse with a miracle-like cure spread in an instant. Many people called him a saint, overjoyed by the fact that he had come with a way to no longer suffer from the terrible curse.

He, however, had mixed feelings about it. He couldn't really decide what he should make of everything he'd seen, spending some time lost in thought.

During that time, Rinne wandered around the forest incognito, searching for clues about the mutated crystal.

After a few hours had passed, the sound of a horn announced the hero and accompanying party's return. While they wore beaming smiles, the exhaustion was clear on their faces.

Aris raised her sword high, her sapphire-blue bob fluttering in the wind.

One of the party members seemed to be missing. Davey didn't see the priest Ballin. The boy was around the same age as her, perhaps a little older, and nowhere to be seen.

Aris approached, still smiling. “Davey, I’m back.”

“What about the little priest boy?”

Mary turned her gaze away, her eyes reddening. Aris maintained her smile and said, “I’m sorry, but I couldn't protect him...”

As she turned her head, a boy on a knight's stretcher came into view.

“Hero, don't break down. The lives of our party members are devoted to helping you reach your final destination. Thanks to Ballin's sacrifice... we managed to kill one of their leaders,” said their orc companion Girul.

“Sob... Yes... It died by your sword, that monster bastard. And, Ballin... Ugh. Sob...”

The orc was ready to burst into tears. It wasn’t surprising for them all to break down considering the fate of the continent was constantly resting on their shoulders.

Permude’s expression darkened. “How could this be... Ballin!”

Ballin was young. He was weaker than the Great Saintess, but he could produce an effect greater than the Great Saintess when cooperating with Aris.

Such an impressive individual had died.

A stern voice rang out, “Are you done?”

As confusion deepened among the knights and soldiers, Permude's expression darkened. He shot Davey a reproachful look, as if to remind him there was a time and place to say certain things.

Aris raised her sword high. “We will not break down! My party...! I will protect all of you!”

When a pure white light burst forth accompanied by her bright smile, a slow sense of tranquility began to settle among the soldiers and knights. They felt relieved by the simple fact that she was still standing.

She probably just wanted to cry the same as then. She must’ve been close to breaking down.

For some reason, Davey saw her smile as a terrible scream. She was a poor child burdened with a terrible responsibility, forced to keep smiling even after losing a close companion.

The bubble world was reality, not some fake world like a virtual space.

Moved by their emotions, Davey even began to contemplate whether or not he should intervene, consequences be damned.

Then it happened.

The Goddess's oracle resonated through the stigmata on his back.

[The decision is yours, Davey, but don’t forget that you are an outsider here. The people of this world can stand up on their own, without your help. You wanted the dimensions to gain the strength to rise on their own, didn't you? Then you must simply stand by and watch them, even if it's painful.]

‘Right. Just like I demanded of Earth.’

It had been a while since he'd last received such a message from Goddess Freyja.

‘How many will die in that process? How many children like her must be sacrificed in that process?’

Davey had fed and clothed a large number of war orphans left behind by the war between Tionis and the demon race, but even that hadn't completely solved the problem.

A large-scale war inevitably brought endless bloodshed and sorrow. He hated the thought of such suffering lingering in the world where Willow had to live.

He had told Earth to solve their own problems. Yet, when he faced the deeply ingrained reality, he felt a contradiction in his thoughts.

That evening, as he silently pondered everything while healing more wounded, Aris approached him. She told him, “I’m sorry. I was actually planning to take you as a party member.”

He simply responded, “I know.”

She continued, “But Ballin died today.”

“Yes.”

“It was arrogant of me to even entertain such a thought. I didn't think about how much pressure you'd face if I took you in.”

“I’ll go in even if you don't help me,” he calmly informed her.

“You shouldn't!” She insisted, “It's dangerous there!”

“I have my reasons.”

Davey needed more than just a way to find something for Perserque and investigate the mutated crystals. He needed a way to sort through the thoughts weighing on his mind.

“I might not be able to protect you,” she grimly warned.

“Doesn't matter. Just as I told you before, I would’ve eventually gone in even without your escort.”

She was skeptical of his group’s capabilities, thinking him somewhat of an arrogant frog in a well. “With those kids?”

“Rinne is strong, even if she doesn't look like it.”

Recognizing that she wouldn't be able to change his mind, she told him, “I’ll get stronger. Strong enough to protect you...”

She was smiling, but tears kept streaming down her face as she continued, “Because I’m the sole hope of this continent. It’s because I’m a hero!”

“It's going to rain soon,” Davey suddenly told them. “Let’s head inside.”

He wasted no time pulling an umbrella from his Pocket Plane, finishing only moments before rain began pouring from the sky. He grabbed another and held it out to Aris.

Yet, she didn't take the umbrella he offered.

She simply stood there in the rain.