30 — The Reason To Help

I returned to the mansion carrying the slave girl.

I had the summoned Shadows open the gate and front door, and laid the girl on the bed.

“First, food, then a bath. You usually just take a shower, so do we have enough hot Magic Crystals?”

“Sid, don’t give her a bath. Physically, if this little girl gets wet, she’ll just die.”

“What do you mean?”

Ekarraat emerged from the shadows and examined the still-dazed girl.

“Look closely at the girl. Limbs like dead branches, skin discolored to a yellow-brown, clouded eyes, and a large laceration on her left thigh. That wound has been left untreated for at least two weeks. Likely from being kept in a poor environment without proper treatment—the wound is festering and the surface is necrotic.”

“That damn slave trader…!”

“How can one leave a slave, who is merchandise, in this state? A decent slave-trader wouldn’t do that because the value would drop; they wouldn’t damage their precious goods like this… well, that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that this girl will die within a few days.”

“…Tch.”

“Well, to die quietly on a bed like this would be a blessing for the girl. You did a good thing. From my point of view, I must say it’s a waste of money, though.”

I made a fist and clenched my back teeth hard.

“Isn’t there something we can do?”

“An ordinary doctor or a user of healing magic can’t manage this.”

“You’re the Sagacious-Eyed Vampire Princess, right? Don’t you have something? Another way!”

“Let me ask the opposite. Why are you so invested in this girl? Because she’s of the Shikai Tribe? To stave off loneliness? To feel good by doing charity?”

“…That’s…”

The point Ekarraat raised.

All of those apply to at least some degree.

I helped because seeing the Shikai Tribe being oppressed made me angry, and I felt sorry for them.

But that doesn’t mean what I did deserves Ekarraat’s ridicule.

I’m already dead, but my feelings remain.

I live for revenge, but I’m not living solely on hatred; I still have compassion for others.

“If you helped because she’s of the Shikai Tribe, are you going to buy every Shikai Tribe slave you find from now on without exception? If it’s to ease your loneliness, should I use my Sagacious Eye to share the vision of bats and rats and help you find other healthy Shikai Tribe slaves? If you want to do good deeds, the best I can say is to guide her now and give her a peaceful death—or should I have her drink my blood and make this girl Undead?”

“……”

I was ashamed that I couldn’t retort to a single one of Ekarraat’s words.

“At least, I reject both executing her here and making her drink your blood. This child neither wants to die here nor an Undead body—and my feelings have nothing to do with whether this child must die. First, we save her. Then we’ll hear what she has to say.”

“……”

I look into Ekarraat’s eyes.

Ekarraat also gazes into my eyes.

“…I was a bit too mean. Sorry… I was jealous, thinking Sid might be taken.”

“Jealous…?”

“It seems I was the truly childish one. Looking into your eyes I realized I was wrong. Accusing you of hypocrisy and a guiltless girl about to lose her life right here are indeed unrelated matters.”

“So, is there any way to save her?”

Ekarraat spoke with distant eyes.

“There was an extraordinarily gifted healer called the ‘Saintess of Mercy’ Frances Cuticle. She was a cleric of the Holy Church and one of the ‘Knights of the Stigmata’.”

The ‘Knights of the Stigmata’—an elite special unit among Holy Knights specializing in monster hunting.

I heard that the saint Oswald Weidenreich, who killed the Undead Ekarraat and perished in mutual death, was also a member of the ‘Knights of the Stigmata’.

“She was the supreme wielder of healing magic, able to instantly cure any illness or wound. And she was also the Holy Knight who killed the most members of the Shikai Tribe.”

“The Shikai Tribe…?”

“When the Holy Church deemed the Shikai Tribe heretics and large-scale hunts were carried out, Frances stood on the battlefield against the Shikai Tribe as a commander of Holy Knights. Her ability to treat the wounded and return them to the front one after another was a feat that could be said to have increased the Holy Knight order’s force tenfold—therefore she is called the saint who killed the most of the Shikai Tribe.”

“So only the saint who massacred the Shikai Tribe can heal this Shikai Tribe child…?”

Would someone like that heal the body of a Shikai Tribe member…?

“No—the ‘Saintess of Mercy’ Frances Cuticle died in the war with the Shikai Tribe ten years ago. She annihilated three hamlets and was stabbed to death in the final battle. I’m sure of it because I saw it through my bats with this Sagacious Eye.”

She’s already dead!?

“You bastard! I said there’s no time—why are you talking about someone already dead!?”

“Hear me out—I have watched human society from within dungeons for a long time. Only someone like Frances could heal this wound, and since then no one has appeared who wields healing magic equal to Frances.”

“…So, in other words, she can’t be saved no matter what?”

“That’s how it is.”

“Damn it…!”

My clenched fist caused the nails to dig into my skin and blood flows.

“…Hah, fine. I’ll try to learn a bit of Sid’s rough-and-ready ways. Wait a moment—”

Ekarraat closed her eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gathering information using bats and rats and other animals I can command across the world—huh? Huh? No way—no way… such a convenient thing has happened…!?”

“You found something!?”

Ekarraat opened her crimson eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched into a slight smile.

“The B-Rank Dungeon Sid cleared the other day,【Black Neck Mound】—after it vanished a new dungeon was born, and after investigation the Adventurer’s Guild named it the A-Rank Dungeon【Blue Orchid Lake】.”

“Is there a way to save her there?”

“The Dungeon Boss’s name is Windine—a high-ranking Spirit-type monster said to have the power to heal any wound or illness. Normally, a monster healing human wounds would be impossible… but—”

“—If we command it with Shadow Necromance, Windine’s healing abilities can cure this child.”

“That’s the idea.”

“Well done, Ekarraat. I appreciate it.”

“The thanks will be roughly ten ice sweets.”

“I’ll buy the whole shop.”

I summoned from my Shadows Dullahan, a Goblin Lord, and five goblins.

“Goblins, look after this child. Dullahan and Goblin Lord, if this house is attacked, protect this child at all costs.”

“Grrr!”

The goblins answered vigorously, and Dullahan, without vocal cords, showed assent by dropping to one knee and kneeling.

“Vanargand—take us outside of the royal capital.”

Then my shadow warped and twisted, and Vanargand’s huge jaws swallowed Ekarraat and me whole, plunging us into an inky shadow as it went.