CH 6

“Hmm…”

The knight priest groans before she suddenly sits up and gets ready to unsheathe her sword.

“The enemy…?”

“If you mean the familiar that put the curse on you, it’s over there.”

I say while pointing to the black stain crushed by Hipopo.

She looks at it before slowly getting up while looking at me, never taking her hand off the sword.

“And you?”

“I’m from the asso… I’m just a traveling alchemist.”

I almost introduced myself as a member of the association even though I just quit. Habits can be scary sometimes. Still, being unemployed feels very new to me.

“Alchemist? Kuh…”

She mumbles while dropping to one knee.

“Sorry, I took the liberty of healing the external wound, but the poison is still in your body. Here.”

I say while showing what remained of the potion.

“…So you saved me, thank you. So how much will that potion cost?”

She says while visibly struggling.

Ah, I think she misunderstood. She probably thinks I started healing her and want compensation before finishing it. It’s not a big deal anyway, so I was doing it for free.

“You’d probably find it suspicious if I said it was free… Hmm, but I really have no ulterior motive. I just thought it was easier if you were conscious and drank the potion yourself, so I treated you.”

I try saying, and for some reason she starts giggling. That smile combined with her now more mellow expression has a lot of destructive power.

“I apologize for being suspicious. It looks like you really did it out of kindness. But that potion seems very expensive, I really can’t take it for free.”

She stubbornly says.

“Hm, then how about this? I’m Rust, a traveling alchemist heading to the borderland in the north to serve under Kalin, its lord. Let’s make a contract. If some sort of disaster ever happens to me, I want you to lend me the power of your sword. What is your name, miss knight?”

I straighten my posture, put out my right fist, and pound on my chest while introducing myself. I do this half-jokingly with a smile on my face and bow. It’s supposed to be like an old and corny way to make a deal with someone.

“…I am Taula, a knight of Araysla the goddess of vengeance and the third of three swords. I accept this debt to you. My blade will cut any disaster that befalls you. I swear it on my sword.”

Says Taula with a very serious expression.

I get the feeling that she took this a lot more seriously than I was expecting. Oh well, she puts out her hand, and I hand the potion to her.

She gulps it, and her body starts shining much brighter than it did before.

“It’s warm…”

She says while putting her hands on her face.

After the light dies down, she looks all better.

She lets out a sigh of relief, unsheathes her sword and holds it in front of her face.

The curse that looked like tattoos on her face is also completely gone.

“The curse is gone…! I tried different kinds of holy water but none of them worked!”

Says Taula as her eyes become moist and she starts crying out of happiness.

I feel kind of awkward. Getting rid of the curse was like a side effect of the potion.

The water I used was perfectly pure, nothing more than water itself. Like the original water created by the gods. Its effect is much greater than any holy water.

I’m sure she’s about to ask a lot of questions, and I don’t want to tell her it’s basically just a side effect when she’s been moved to tears.

I’m going to try to quickly get out of here.

I have to meet Kalin as soon as possible, and I don’t have anything else to do here either. Let’s ignore the fact that I was the one who decided to take a detour in the first place.

I get on top of Hipopo again and leave. I gently tap its skin to ask it to run at full speed, and say to Taula.

“I’ll be going now, I have business to take care of!”

“Ah, wait…”

Yells Taula while reaching forward.

“…He left. Is this golden potion the legendary elixir? It seems I am now indebted to someone incredible. Fufu, interesting. No matter what disasters this person faces, I will be eager to put my skills to use.”

Says Taula while lifting the still more than half-full bottle.

“He said he was going to the borderland in the north. I should finish my vengeance quickly and head north as well.”

Says Taula, although I am too far away to hear it.