58-52 Luciel's Judgment

While the ground floor of the healing hospital was buzzing with activity, a patient was brought in from the upper floor. Botakouri is the director of this healing center.

The bodyguard mercenaries shouted and the healers also tried to help Botacouli, but recovery magic doesn't cure the disease, and the cure, which is antidote magic, was still ineffective.

That's when I was about to approach. Several people had barricaded themselves in and refused to enter the treatment room.

'I'm Luciel, a Grade S healer. I'll be taking care of you from today, so I'd like to treat Lord Botacouli first.

'That's not good. You are someone your master wants to keep away from. The mere act of getting close to you will make you even more offended.

There's a chance that Lord Botacouli could die if we don't treat him.

'Yes. We want to die and feel better already.

"Hey, what are you guys doing, an S-level healer can help your husband, right?

Yeah. We don't get paid, and we don't want you to die now.

Open the door, or I'll cut you open.

Yes, there. Please put away your swords first. And what are you people? If Lord Botacouli is dead, what would cause you guys to die?

'Master Luciel, perhaps they are slaves.

Slave? Huh? But no collar, right?

When the hell did you say that? For now, we can just shoot the magic crests into either the chest or back, where the body's heart is, and then the rest of the body will be in the neck, and that's it.

Wow, how does that work?

It varies in stages. Absolute control, physical control and simple control.

It's a bit tricky.

'Yes. Absolute domination is absolute obedience to orders so that it doesn't betray you and your emotions are gone. Physical domination is a command that also deprives the slave of his physical freedom and causes him intense pain if he tries to move. These two can be set up on command to determine what to do with your slave after you die.

Does that mean you'll be a road warrior or someone to take over or release?

'Yes. 'Simple domination is only painful, and they cannot attack their masters or commit suicide, but they are relatively free to act. However, if the master doesn't give the order and they are separated from their master by more than a kilometer, they will be in extreme pain. Also, when the master dies, the simple slave is freed.

'Are the terms of slavery illegal, debt, criminal or war slaves?'

'Yes, sir. Everything is decided by the slave trade. It's a good idea to make sure that you have a good idea of what you're doing. If the slavers decide on their own, they will be judged by God, and so they are.

Huh, you know a lot about this. I wonder how it came out so smoothly.

"So you're gonna die too?

'Yes. Life without liberation is not worth living anymore.

'I see. If you can free yourself from that slavery contract, why don't you kill Mr. Botacouli?

"...I'll never forgive you, but I'd like to live somewhere that isn't here.

Where is everyone else?

I'm stuttering because you don't say you're going to kill him out of the mouth.

'Can you pledge?'

Then they all nodded.

''I see. Well, Jord-san and Piazza-san, the Priestess Knight, please bring someone who can handle the paperwork, including Clara-san for a moment. You can mention my name if you want.''

"Yes.

I talk to the slave's barricade as I watch them leave.

'I won't do anything wrong, so let me through,'

I walk slowly and the barricade unravels as I walk slowly, is that a foil for being an S grade? With that in mind, I look at the still blue-faced and tormented Botacouli and say the words.

'Healer Botakouri, there must be a price to pay for helping you, and if you wish to live, constrain your goods and your obedience to the Healer's Guild as the price.'

...uuuuuch.

He constrained the price as he swore in a small voice.

Botacouli's complexion returned to normal as I in turn hung High Heels, Purification, Recovery, and Dispel on him in turn.

'Mercenaries and healers. You will bear witness to the healing now.

I looked at them and for some reason they nodded repeatedly.

Then Krull and the others came to me.

''Luciel-kun? What does this mean?

'Oh, that was just fine. When I came this morning, Botacouli-dono was brought here, and I just cast a recovery spell on him, so he's not in danger of dying. So I'm thinking of freeing the slaves here as well, but since I don't want criminal slaves as expected, I've paid the price for obeying the Healer's Guild and the goods, so I'm going to go to his private room and correct Botacouli-dono's black spots in white. So please divide up the private quarters now and investigate.

"...Luciel, you do quite a bit of demonic stuff, don't you?

... It's out of my mind. We've got some guidelines that we're working on now and some things that we need to get right for the bill, so we're going to make this a test case for that here.

It's good to have fewer problems, but not tyranny.

I don't intend to do that at all. I was planning to work normally for a few months, but as soon as I started, I was in this situation, so I was upset.

All right. So I can check it out. But I've never checked out the Healing Institute before.

''I heard there was a committee of inquiry when I joined the Healer's Guild, but that wasn't working either, so I'm sure there will be more things like this in the future to make it a healthy organization, but please.

''Okay, I'm asking for the S-class healer, Luciel-sama,''

I'll call you.

The mercenaries and healers who had heard the pledge could only watch. Thus, after a search of the house, it was discovered that the slaves had been forcibly enslaved, except for two.

''Well then, slaves, please gather round.''

I don't know why, but Purification didn't break the curse, so when I used Dispel, the magic crests disappeared.

Of course, I've already made the pledge. I had all the slaves called in, and indeed there were nearly twenty slaves, but I lifted the curse on all but two of them.

As promised, you will leave this place without harming Botakouri-dono. And I will give you ten silver coins each as preparation money. Now you can start your life over. There are people in the Adventurer's Guild that you can rely on.

Luciel, it's not looking good for you.

After I finished handing over the silver coins, Krull-san approached me and handed me a bundle of parchment.

''A list of slavers in the Illumasia Empire and where to sell... this is...''

'Yes. That's how many people this city's healers have sent as slaves.

...

I kept rolling up over a hundred sheets of parchment and made my way to Botacouli's.

Botacouli was already awake in the examination room.

'How could I be an S-class healer and have my life saved by this me?

I saved you because it's your life, not because it's yours. I have a more important question for you.

'If it's the word of an S-class healer, we'll have to listen to it, won't we?

'Why did you start selling the people you forced into slavery to the Imperial slavers? And for two or three pennies. Why would a good healer go down that road?

I... forgot all about it.

"...a pledge. As the headquarters of the Healers' Guild Church, I am ordering you to...

I'm doing this for my daughter. A healer can heal anything. That's what I thought. But not the disease. My wife had predeceased me and she was all I had left. So I made a deal with the Empire to save my daughter's life.

So that's a slave. Then where is your daughter?

'I haven't seen him in over ten years. I've heard that she lives as a slave in the Empire. So I needed a slave to get my daughter back.

...even if you send this many people for over a decade?

...

''I have sympathy for your daughter and I understand your feelings as a parent, but why did you leave your daughter with the Empire? If it was medicine, why didn't you call the church headquarters and ask the Medicine Guild for help?

''...If I could make an elixir, I would have too. But the Yakushi Guild spooned it. They said there was no way they could make such a thing. But when I heard that something close to it had been developed in the Empire, I jumped at it. What's wrong with that?

Botacouri... just as you have a family, these enslaved ones had a family. Think about that.

...

"As the headquarters of the Healers' Guild Church, I decree that... You are forbidden to take your own lives. You are also ordered to sell all of your wealth... or whatever is of value to you. And this sanctuary will be treated as an orphanage under the care of the church.

An orphanage?

'Yes. Spend the rest of your life making amends, leading many children to take the place of those you have enslaved, pledging to respond to any treatment for a single silver coin and to heal the children of the orphanage without charge. And for my daughter's sake.

Botacouli never took an oath in front of me.

Later on, all of the healing clinics that were under Botacouli's umbrella were also audited, and the healing clinics in the city of Meratni were caught up in a wave of reform one step faster. The prices of the healing centers were set at approximate levels, and I asked the adventurer's guild and the healer's guild to post a clear description of their fees.

All but the criminal slaves were freed to either work in the new orphanage or become adventurers. This is how I learned how to run a healing center other than just customer service through various audits. Before I knew it, the day of my departure was getting closer and closer by the minute.