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EP.102 By the Words of the Saintess (4)

A few days later, I called Fran aside.

“I heard from Suhan that I should get treatment from you.”

I spoke without making eye contact, feeling awkward.

This was the first time I’d had a private conversation with Fran since the day we met at Suhan’s house.

If we were meeting as teacher and student, I wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable, but at this moment, it was awkward to look at her face.

‘It keeps reminding me of that incident, making me feel guilty.’

The shameful act I did after Fran left, while I was still at his house.

‘I don’t regret it, but…’

Wasn’t it something that happened knowing Fran was thinking about him 10 years in the future?

‘If she wasn’t a minor, she might have done that kind of thing with him before me.’

I knew he had many women, but I didn’t think there was anyone who could be a serious threat. Now the situation had changed.

‘I shouldn’t have let my guard down.’

A brief kiss wouldn’t be enough.

What was needed to keep that man in check was a more definitive ‘seal’.

So I pounced on him.

I was worried about what if he didn’t accept me, but surprisingly, Suhan did.

‘How could someone who looks so docile have such a bold idea?’

When I saw Fran volunteering to be his second wife, I felt a dull shock as if I’d been hit on the back of the head with a stone.

This child was offering to be a concubine to be chosen by Suhan, and I wondered what made me think I was so great to be acting so bold.

If I were to make an excuse.

‘My enlistment might not end in 6 years. Even if it took 10 or 20 years, if I couldn’t achieve my goal, I had no intention of coming back.’

My purpose was to rebuild the desert kingdom.

Furthermore, to purify the desert lands and regain freedom.

I don’t think I can achieve that in just 6 years.

That’s why I couldn’t approach him.

‘He acts all prickly but he’s actually really kind. I wish he’d only be that way with me, but that’s just my wishful thinking.’

It seems his reputation as a good man has already spread.

Knowing he was a kind person, I didn’t want to make things harder for him, but when I realized that if I just stayed still, he might be snatched away by some other woman, I lost it.

I unleashed the feelings I had been suppressing for Suhan’s sake.

‘How can I endure it? How can I watch him being taken by another woman?’

Just as Fran said she would become the second wife, I shamelessly wedged myself between them.

Me, who could die at any time, with a visibly short life span.

Still, I don’t regret that choice.

As Suhan said, I decided not to hold back on what I wanted to do right now because of the future.

“Yes, I’ll do it for you.”

“Are you sure it’s okay? I agreed when you said to come for treatment, but I feel a bit uneasy.”

“If my abilities can make you comfortable, teacher, that’s enough for me.”

“Hmm, I see.”

The child is so kind that it makes me feel even more uneasy.

“I can’t do anything unfair, but if you need anything while at the academy, just let me know anytime.”

I said this, but I didn’t think Fran would come asking for help.

Since Fran was in the healing field, there wasn’t much Rebecca could do to help.

Fran, with a beautiful smile that tugged at one’s heartstrings, said,

“You want treatment for your eye, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I haven’t tried treatment before. Everyone said it was too late, and when I injured my eye at the time, the wound was too severe to be fixed.”

“Is the eyeball on this side completely gone?”

“There’s no reason to keep something that doesn’t function, but I didn’t like the idea of removing it. So I’m just maintaining it. I’ve been managing it to prevent decay.”

I stubbornly preserved the real eyeball, thinking that if I put something else in my eye, it would truly be irreversible.

Maybe, as Suhan said, a part of me never gave up on my eye until the end.

That obsession and lingering attachment made me go through the trouble of maintaining my eye instead of choosing the easier path of an artificial eye.

“That’s fortunate. Creating a new eyeball from scratch would be difficult even for me.”

A brilliant and warm light burst forth from Fran’s hands.

Fwooosh—!

So that was…

It happened in an instant.

“Huh?”

The light burst with a flash, but I couldn’t immediately grasp what had happened.

I just found it strange that my eyes weren’t dazzled despite the intense light bursting right in front of me.

I think I felt my eye tingling afterwards.

Yeah.

And that was it.

“Would you like to remove the eye patch and check?”

“???”

Fran looked at me with a calm expression, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Her voice was kind, but there was also a hint of confidence in it.

“Is it already over?”

And Fran was a child who deserved that confidence.

“Yes. Please take off your eye patch.”

I couldn’t bring myself to remove the eye patch to check.

The grueling rehabilitation training I had gone through flashed before my eyes like a flip book.

Had my eye really been healed?

“I’ll treat your whole body as well.”

My eye wasn’t the only part with permanent disabilities from the aftermath of the battlefield, and Fran, as if already knowing this, cast a white, sacred light over my body.

‘How should I describe this?’

It felt like receiving a blessing from a deity.

My body, which I hadn’t realized was heavy, became light.

It was similar to the feeling when my body was enhanced through Suhan’s beads.

But that feeling wasn’t exactly the same, and what I felt was a bit different.

‘Should I call it elation?’

To put it simply, it felt like my body was at 100% condition?

It had been a really long time since my body felt this good.

Now I really couldn’t postpone checking any longer.

I took off the eye patch and opened my eyes.

“Ah.”

And I saw a world that had become much clearer.

I was seeing the real, proper world.

When I closed the eye I had solely relied on, I could confirm more certainly that it had been healed.

It was much brighter, wider, and cleaner.

I thought I had fully adapted to using one eye, but that wasn’t actually the case.

The world seen with both eyes was incomparably more enchanting than when seen with just one.

“You’re insane, you know that?”

“Huh? Oh… I hear that a lot.”

“What are you talking about?!”

I grabbed Fran by both shoulders.

Then I told her to look at my eyes.

“Can’t you see these eyes? You fixed them! You fixed my eyes! My body feels like it could fly! I can see everything so clearly and brightly!!”

After getting the equipment from Suhan, the side effects from rehabilitation training had been minimized.

But there was bound to be a clear difference between a body that had never been injured and one that had recovered from injury.

I hadn’t confirmed it yet, but this body felt similar to when I was young.

“Congratulations on your recovery.”

Fran calmly congratulated me as I made a fuss.

Does she not realize what she’s done?

“You fixed something that other healers concluded was impossible to recover. Do you have any idea how amazing that is?”

“Is it that strange?”

“It’s not strange, I’m saying you’re incredible!”

I felt the urge to take her with me.

But Fran had already been conscripted into the military before, so there would be people keeping an eye on her.

I need to take her before those bastards snatch her away.

“When I enlist, won’t you join the same unit as me?”

“Me, in your unit, Teacher?”

“Yes. If a child like you enlists without any connections, you’ll surely be shuffled to the back and made to do touring performances for old noble geezers. Such an amazing ability should obviously be used for the sake of humanity.”

“Surely they wouldn’t do that. The situation at the front lines is bad, isn’t it?”

The greed of those old noble bastards knows no bounds.

“With your ability, they’d ignore all that and try to take you away.”

With this level of ability, it wouldn’t be strange for the old nobles to think of it as an elixir of youth.

“That’s why you need to be assertive. Come to my unit so those noble bastards can’t say a word.”

Although I didn’t have a definite unit yet, with my current skills, it would be enough justification to bring her along.

Moreover, where I’m planning to go will be the most dangerous place even among the front lines.

How could they refuse if I specifically requested to dispatch one newly enlisted healing soldier to such a unit?

‘Timing is crucial.’

And before that, Fran’s willingness was important too.

“Following me will be dangerous. So if you don’t want to, just tell me honestly.”

“If I go to your unit, Teacher, what kind of work would I be doing?”

It seemed Fran definitely didn’t like the idea of doing touring performances for old nobles either.

This level of interest is promising!

“Well… I’d prefer if you didn’t go to the field as much as possible, but I’m planning to visit the most dangerous places at the front lines, so it’ll be tough.”

Starting with bad news left a bitter taste in my mouth.

But I felt that if I didn’t speak honestly now, it might cause problems later, so I conveyed my thoughts without omission.

“Why do you want to go to dangerous places?”

“Because I’m not interested in maintaining 40% of the contaminated areas.”

“!!!”

“I’m going to reclaim the land humanity has lost.”

And so, I will reclaim the lost homeland, the desert lands.

Fran’s eyes wavered upon hearing my goal.

“I need time to think. If I were alone, I would have accepted your offer right away, but I have the Church to consider. It’s not a decision I can make on my own.”

“That’s fine! I didn’t expect an immediate answer anyway. There’s still plenty of time, so think it over carefully and make your decision.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Ah! And thank you for healing me. I thought losing one eye wasn’t such a big deal, that I could just use the other eye, but now I see that wasn’t the case. Opening my eyes again, the world looks different.”

I’ll probably be able to achieve better records in training with these eyes.

I’m glad I decided to get treatment from Fran after hearing Suhan’s advice.

‘That kid, when I see her later… tsk!’

I’ll shower her with affection as much as she deserves for being so admirable.

‘Having such an amazing healer in the unit could completely change the situation. Not just stopping monster waves, but even beyond that…’

My heart beat pleasantly.

The current final year at the academy is rumored to be full of talented individuals.

Even from my perspective, there were many students overflowing with talent.

I had already checked those who seemed to be the cream of the crop among the gems, and if they grow well, I might be able to create the best team.

‘Suhan said that, didn’t he? That the goal is to completely purify the contamination and reclaim all the land.’

These days, saying such things would invite ridicule.

When did this trend become the norm?

It was very wrong for the nobles’ goal to become merely protecting the final 40% safe zone.