Chapter 52: Doctor Hestia is in the house!
After letting everything cool down, our group was being led into the middle of the camp. Besides the guards that heard us admitting that I was a dragonewt, the rest of the camp was more or less scared of us, actually, considering how intense they were shivering, maybe terror was a better word?
Isn't it a bit unreasonable for them to be this fearful despite how friendly we've been behaving since that whole situation in front of the camp's entrance was solved? I healed Caszcurs pierced hand and his other injuries with no complaints and I didnt even ask for any compensation; isnt that a clear indication that I wasnt looking for a fight anymore?
I only went as far as using a powerful spell, like [Scorching Sun] cause they were trying to attack me as a mad mob. Seeing a miniature sun nearly slamming onto you might be scary, but what about me? If I were a normal girl then seeing large humanoid lizards wanting to tear me into pieces would turn me into a screaming little girl.
Well, they didnt show the will to harm me anymore, so it was only mildly unpleasant. Even Caszcur turned meek, not even wanting to look me in the eyes.
Anyways, as we walked through the camp, I noticed that I was wrong when I thought everybody came to the front of the entrance. Although not all were set up, the few tents that were had lizardmen in them.
Once we were close enough, I took a glimpse through the opening. It was only for a moment, but it looked like it was filled with lizardmen, squirming on the ground, as a single female tried to take care of them.
It also couldn't be helped that all the moaning and groaning was audible from outside the tent, in addition to the fact that my nose was able to distinguish the reek of blood from the swamp's natural swampy smell.
[That is why I said, mostly everybody,] Saori, still carrying all the virigresses, told me as she walked beside me. ["The smell and the large number of individuals cramped in a single area made me curious, so I had to delay the extraction of the virigresses. You should have seen my face when I realized that it was a clinic."]
If that was the clinic then could the one the virigress mother have poisoned be in there?
[If you knew about this then why didnt you mention this?] I asked. [Why didnt you stop me? I actually was about to kill that giant group of lizardmen, and you said nothing? Why?]
[That is because if I had mentioned it then you would have immediately wanted to help them, am I not correct?] Saori responded.
I wasnt able to give an answer to her question, simply scratching my head and shrugging my shoulders to show my indecisiveness. It wasnt like I was a saint or anything, but even I would turn mild if I heard that a whole tent full of wounded people were waiting for that angry mob.
However, would I have gone to their side and healed them? I don't know. I felt bad for them but besides a moral obligation to help, I had no reason or motivation to do so.
[Hmmm, I see, fair enough. Sorry for assuming that,] Saori said while looking away and scratching her cheek, embarrassed. [A-Anyways, I would have stopped you if those lizardmen had not. When I arrived, I believed running away was the smarter choice, it was not our problem, after all. Would that angry mob have calmed down at that moment, even if you whole-heartedly asked them to stop?]
Thinking from that angle, Saori had a point. What would it have done to the situation if I tried to talk to them? Wasnt running away a better idea than towait a minute. If I had known about the clinic and offered them to heal everybody, then wouldnt everything have gone smoother?
If there were family members or friends in there, then I could gain some favor if I helped heal them. That would have been the best way to solve everything without killing literally everybody in the camp.
OMG, we are a bunch of Dummkpfe!
[Saori, you knownow that I think about it, if we had found the clinic during our initial reconnaissance, then we wouldnt have had to scare everybody,] I said meekly. [I could have offered my healing abilities in exchange for the cubs.]
[I am so sorry,] Saori shook her head, shocked at my words. [I-I thinkI believe that I was influenced by the whole mood. It seems that I should have listened to my own advice and cool myself down. It really is not my day, today]
Our own hot-bloodedness prevented us from seeing the whole picture, causing unnecessary conflict between our party and the lizardmens. What was driving us to be that reckless today?
[Uhm, I actually do not believe that would have worked exactly how you imagined it, Lady Hestia,] suddenly, Tasianna chimed in. [I thought about it, and I now know why the lizardmen are fearing us.]
[And that is?] I asked.
[It is because you used healing magic, or more specifically, holy elemental magic,] Tasiannas answer was so unsuspected that it caught me off-guard.
Saying huh, I bid her to continue, [Do you still remember the history between beastmen and humans? Well, as you might have heard, this lizardmen group are followers of Marsven, the God of Darkness. Holy elemental magic belongs to the Goddess of Light, Aurena, who is the patron goddess of humans. There might be a possibility that they do not have a good impression of it.]
Beastmen, due to their origin as monster and human hybrids, were badly treated by their relatives, the humans. Tasianna, being mostly a sheltered girl, had no knowledge of whether the humans and beastmen had reconciled with each other. All her knowledge came from books.
If their enemies, the humans, were being favored by Aurena then its no surprise that they didnt like seeing holy magic, even when its only healing spells.
[Is this not hindsight?] Saori stated. [We learned their religious following, only after we asked them about it. Working without more details, we should have tried reasoning with them using Hestias healing abilities. Whether they dislike it or not, they cannot possibly deny our help, especially when they have that many wounded.]
Urgh, all this thinking is making me even more annoyed at myself. If we had only thought of all of this beforehand, then we wouldnt have gotten ourselves in this sorta situation. We acted before asking any questions.
While reflecting on our actions, we finally arrived at the camps campfire. As we were about to sit down, the guards hurriedly stopped us as they wanted to bring us proper sitting accommodations. Scanning through the camp, I noticed that they lacked proper chairs and tables, instead, they improvised and used large rocks to sit on.
We told them that as Saori and I were wearing clothing made out of mana, we didnt have to worry about them being soiled by the mud. Sitting on the ground wasnt a foreign concept for us, seeing as it was normal to do so in a forest.
The guards insisted on it, telling us that they would shame themselves if we denied their hospitality. In the end, we were the only ones who werent sitting on the swampy mud, just like a bunch of VIPs, I guess.
Aksmias and the other guard truly wanted us to feel more comfortable. I had the feeling that if it werent for the tense situation, then they would probably prostrate themselves before us again.
Once everybody sat down, there was an obvious division between our two parties at the campfire. Rajah and his sibling were visibly showing their hostility, so we wanted to avoid further conflict, so we had to hide them behind one of us, preventing them from glaring the lizardmen to death.
His siblings werent very compliant at the beginning but after he talked with them, they started to warm up to us. As their mother was sleeping and Rajah was the oldest and currently the strongest among them, they were forced to listen to him due to the family hierarchy.
Coincidentally, just like Rajah, they didnt like Saori very much and were more comfortable hiding behind me. Saori, being the one who freed them, showed obvious annoyance which further deteriorated their relationship. Rajah tried his best to resolve it butunsuccessfully.
Now, we would like to re-introduce ourselves, Tasianna re-started the negotiations, once again translating everything. I am Tasianna Marina Silverpond and this wolfkin is Saori Segawa. We both are loyal attendants of Lady Hestia Atsuko.
Aksmiasuhhh, builder," the new de facto leader of the lizardmen group said. "I am the representative for this lizardfolk groupplease, we shall listen to your demands.
Thank you, Tasianna bowed. We demand the release of the virigress cubs that were captured by your party.
It was redundant to say it at this point seeing as we already rescued them, but she said it for formalitys sake.
I understand Aksmias clenched his teeth, wanting to say something but he was unable to, as this whole negotiation was practically a formality.
Plearsiz, itzanu, I said with a nod. (Please, speak,)
After thanking me, Aksmias spoke his wishes, Wewe need food. I-If it was possible, then could you spare
Well, that was obvious to anticipate. They hunted and captured Rajahs siblings cause they wanted to eat them, just like any hungry animal would. I sympathized with them, truly, but sparing food was out of the options for us.
We would like to apologize but due to winter, we arent able to part with anything that we have, Tasianna said.
I see Aksmias sighed dejectedly, frustration clear in his eyes. I expected too much. You do not seem to be carrying anythingIplease forget it.
Most of our belongings were stored in our [Storage Magic] so it does seem like we had nothing with us, even though we probably had more spices, water, and food than them.
[Tasianna, tell them that I am willing to heal their wounded. That is the least that we can do after everything that happened,] I told her.
[Lady Hestia, I would like to suggest against it as it might not be as simple as you wish it to be,] Tasianna worriedly said.
I knew what she meant with not simple, but being upfront with them would be better. I could just "accidentally" use [Sacred Field] to heal everybody as we say our goodbyes but that would be irresponsible.
They already had a bad image of my holy magic and I didnt want to worsen it by doing it against their wishes, even if its less of a hassle for me. Besides, if I can make them like holy elemental magic then I can brag to Aurena that I did something good for her in our eventual meeting.
Giving in to my insistence, Tasianna agreed to do it with a sigh, "We saw the wounded in the tent. Lady Hestia would like to offer to heal them with her magic as a sign of goodwill."
Once Tasianna said that the whole crowd of lizardmen behind Aksmias began talking to themselves, quickly becoming noisy. As Tasianna was correctly worried about, the lizardmen weren't very thrilled about hearing this. She told me that they were saying stuff like, "S-She can use holy magic. She has to be a priestess of Aurena!" and "First those ogres, then the monster in this forest, and now a headhunter of that tail polisher?! This is the end!".
Im beginning to believe that tail polisher might be a derogative term, whatever, its supposed to mean.
Aksmias was trying to calm everybody down but it seems the hysteria caused by our words was too much for this ragtag group of guards to handle. When the former leader was only a carpenter and the current one was a construction worker, then I have to wonder how they survived until now.
Everybody, QUIET! against my expectations, the one who calmed everybody down wasnt Aksmias, nor a guard, but Caszcur.
With his frightening large mouth, he shouted and calmed people down as if he was used to it, This girl is a dragonewt! Not some random lizardfolk who can use magic, you idiots. Why would our slavers try to hunt us down with somebody who can use holy magic, huh?!
Once they heard that, the noise started to quieten down but it didnt disappear. They might not think that I was here to harm them anymore, but it seems their suspicion wasnt completely gone.
As I was curious about it, I had Tasianna ask him what he meant with slavers after he was finished.
Huh, that isfor now, all you need to know is that we are former slaves and we escaped into this hellish forest three months ago, Caszcur said before turning to Aksmias. Aksmias, do you mind if take over now?
Aksmias then turned his eyes to me which prompted Caszcur to ask me for my permission, Of course, if that is alright with you, little lady.
Oooh, I upgraded from lass, to skink, then to tail polisher, and now Im a little lady? Meh, good enough.
I nodded.
Thank youuhm, Ill just say that Im sorry for losing my temper and treating you badly. You all arrived at a time when everybody in camp was tensed from recent events, Caszcur tucked his tail between his legs, sat on his knees, before bowing his head as an apology. You can have those cubs back. No complaints. However, if you are still willing to help our brethren then I will accept it on behalf of our group. Just saying, but we have nothing to pay you back
We have not asked for recompense, Tasianna agreed on our behalf, although a bit aggressively.
Thanking us for accepting, he shouted to the rest of the lizardmen to get back to work, you krill eaters!, before leading us towards the clinic.
Saori insisted that she would stay at the campfire, so she could take care of the sleeping virigress mother and the cubs. Although Rajah and his sibling wanted to follow me, I told them to stay with Saori to guard their mother.
As we walked, my attention was drawn to the fact that a few curious lizardmen were following us. While the majority obeyed Caszcur and returned to whatever task they were doing, these few tried their best to stalk us by being as nonchalant as possible.
As the light dispersed, my first patient started to bring his body up with my help. Once he was sitting, I began checking his body in the case that I missed anything, although, I was quite confident that my spell would have healed it up even without my awareness.
It was just important to make sure that I did a good job. Whether its Idol training or healing people with my spells, I should take it seriously and do my best now that I committed myself to it.
Do you feel any pain, or have we missed anything? Tasianna asked my patient for me.
The lizardman slowly looked through his body, moving his body to make sure that he could still feel and move them, "Nothe only aching that I can feel is from being sleeping on the groundI feel like I could go back to fishing. Thank youthank you very much for saving my life. I thought I was going to die.
Silently weeping, he clenched his massive hands around mine as he continued to thank me. Noticing that the other patients were looking at me, Tasianna asked him to release me as I still had a full tent of patients to deal with.
As I was about to walk to my next patient, Apsala stopped me, Waithowhow did you do that?
Uhm, Lady Hestia used her magic to heal them, as you could see, Tasianna explained o Apsala as I had no idea how to say it in Common tongue.
Well, I did more than just cast spells, but I guess the gist is that healed them with magic.
"I could see that, fairy. However, I wanted to hear it from the lass. Why did you not speak, young scale?" Apsala asked me as she continued glaring me with her large eyes.
As I panicked internally from being glared at by the giant lizard lady, I couldnt help but look at Tasianna, calling her to bail me out of the situation.
"I would like to apologize but there are someuhm, circumstances that Lady Hestia can't speak too much. Please excuse us, we still need to handle the rest of the people here," Tasianna explained, doing her best not to expose my inability to fully understand their language.
I see, Apsala looked into my eyes for a couple more seconds before releasing me. Ill trust you with my scale-kins, Lady Dragonewt. I'll clean and take care of the ones you healed, and afterward, we must speak.
As she said, she took my first patient off me and began testing his physical abilities, all while I began my inspection on the next wounded.
A note from AbyssRaven
Hey, we meet our first Kargryxmor follower...well, the first one that isn't trying to force Hestia to speak with Kargryxmor.
If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 10 advance chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!
If you guys enjoyed this chapter then, please follow the story. If you guys want the story to grow, then giving it a rating or a favorite will do wonders: Rawr!
There is also a discord, if you guys want to speak with about stuff : Rawr!
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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About the author
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Thursday, April 23, 2020 1:05:18 AM Germany [Member of Zard Skwad]
Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I'm just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.
I eventually found out that I've been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I've decided to just share it with others.
Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.
I'm also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn't mind you pointing it out though.
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