Seeking treatment

The church of Aidas is considered the biggest building in this city, second only to the Lord's manor. Even then it is only slightly smaller in scale than the manor. Although as a church, it is comparatively more modest than some of the churches and cathedrals that Bythos had seen in pictures. It is expected since Aidas is only a small city on the southern frontier of the Melowigian Kingdom.

At the entrance of the church is a rather tall statue of an angel brandishing a sword and shield, with a slain demon under its right foot.

Inside the church, it is much brighter compared to the outside. Every corner of the church is lit by a soothing light without a known source, as far as Bythos can see. The church although not crowded, still has quite a few people gathered within. Some priests are tending to the wounds of the wounded, while others are engrossed in their prayers or attending mass.

"Don't this people ever sleep?" Bythos can't help but muttering, as it is still dark outside.

Someone overheard what Bythos said, and replied to him, "There's always the wounded that need caring for and lost souls that need guidance. As such, our doors are always open."

Bythos turned around and saw a woman dressed in priestly garbs addressing him.

"Greetings, I am the vicar of this church," she said, while glancing at Bythos, "Judging by your appearance, I'm assuming you're here to seek treatment. Unfortunately the priests are kind of busy right now, so you'll need to wait for while."

"Can't you help with that? You must know how right?" asked Bythos.

Hearing this, the vicar pointed her finger at her chin, tilting her head slightly and said, "Well I could, but my time is more precious, so I'll have to charge you a higher rate compared to the other priests."

Bythos looked at the pouch he received earlier and visually counted what's in it. It's filled with a bunch of copper coins.

I don't know how much money this is considered in this world. Maybe it's not even enough to pay her.

Bythos then looked at his arm, which is in a pretty bad shape. The areas below the wound have turned purple completely, and the wound smells...off.

I don't even want to know what the state of my other wounds are like. Guess I have no choice.

"All right, I don't mind the higher costs, just treat me right now. I don't want my injuries to deteriorate any further."

"Follow me then." replied the vicar. Afterwards, she led Bythos to one of the rooms at the side, which she calls healing rooms.

Once inside, she beckoned Bythos to sit down on the bed, while she grabbed her tools. Using a sharp knife, she cut Bythos' clothes apart, to expose his injuries, and to remove any bits of cloth that's lodged into his wounds.

Once that's done, she began examining the areas that needs treatment, prodding them with her fingers. This unexpected move almost caused Bythos to yelp with pain, and he made sure she knew his dissatisfaction by glaring at her angrily, to which she gave a hearty chuckle.

"Sorry about that, I guess I should have warned you before hand huh? Didn't expect you to react this way though, considering you didn't seem to be bothered by the pain of your injuries before." she replied while covering her smile with her mouth.

"Right...Just get on with it please."

The vicar then started casting her magic on the injured parts on Bythos' body. Muttering in some incomprehensible tongue, the injured areas on Bythos began to glow, being imbued with a sense of warmth. Very quickly, the purplish hue on his arm began to fade, returning a healthy colour to his arms. The wound rapidly closed up and in no time, it was healed.

Bythos looked over his shoulder at his other injuries and saw that they are all healed too.

So this is magic huh? Incredible. It would be convenient if I knew it too.

Immediately after being healed, a wave of tiredness rushed over him, causing him to collapse onto the bed, falling asleep immediately. The vicar simply silently looked at him drifting into sleep.

She has her own questions after healing Bythos that need answering. As far as she can tell, she has never seen him before in this city.

With his shoddy clothes, Bythos doesn't seem to be a trader, so the likelihood of him being from another city is very small, so it is probable that he is a hero. This is supported by how fast Bythos was healed by her magic.

Holy magic, despite being better at healing than other paths, still requires at the very least several minutes to take effect. Bythos was fully healed in less than a minute. Only someone with very strong aptitude for holy magic or otherworldly people like heroes would react so quickly to the magic.

However, she don't recall him being present when the other heroes dispatched to this city showed up. To confirm her doubts, she will need to examine him for the mark of the goddess which all heroes bear.

She slowly appproached the sleeping Bythos and began examining him.

....

Once Bythos had enough sleep, he woke up. The vicar is still sitting beside him all the while. Looking at his body, he noticed that the clothes on him are much newer than the ones he was wearing before.

"You're finally awake. I've taken the liberty of changing your bloodstained and tattered clothes into something better."

"Sorry for the trouble, I didn't expect to fall asleep. I'm guessing I have to pay for the clothes too right?" asked Bythos, with her reply being an affirmative smile.

"How much is it?" asked Bythos, while emptying his coin pounch to pay her.

To his surpise, she took all the contents and after counting them said, "You actually don't have enough to pay for it, but I'll settle for thirty copper coins. The clothes are not cheap."

Well there goes all of my quest reward.

Noticing that Bythos' mood had gone worse, the vicar gave him a thoughtful look and said, "Actually, there is a way for you to waive your payment."

With this, Bythos' ears perked up.

"If you become and acolyte in the church, I'll not only waive your payment, I'll also personally teach you holy magic. How does that sound?"

While the offer does sound tempting, Bythos has no intention of joining the church. Besides he's sure that the money lost will be made back in due time.

"It's alright, I prefer to go about on my own path. Besides, I'm not super interested in becoming a priest."

Hearing this, for some reason the vicar became flustered. "Don't you want to reconsider?" she said, "I noticed you're wearing an adventurer's tag."

"The skills of a priest is extremely useful to you. You can heal or buff any target you want. One of the famous adamantine adventurers the 'Purifying hammer' was an ex-archbishop, who uses his mace in conjunction with his priestly skills to exterminate monsters."

Hearing her saying all these is like hearing a sales pitch. Bythos don't know why she would be trying to sell the idea of joining to him, but he don't want to offend her by giving flat out refusal.

"I appreciate the fact that you feel I'm worth your time to recruit, but I don't think I'm a suitable candidate," choosing his words carefully, he continued, "but I'm not a religious person."

Sensing that Bythos' mind was set, she finally conceeded, saying, "Well...If you change your mind, you're always free to accept it again."

"I will."

With that, the vicar guided Bythos out of the church and wave him goodbye. After making sure that Bythos had left, the vicar went back into the church and headed into the basement.

Every chuch has a basement which only those of the rank of vicar and above can access. Held within is another hidden room in case anyone stumble into the basement by accident.

The vicar went into the hidden room and activated the relic within, contacting the bishop of the south of this kingdom. A hologram of him appeared before her and she gave a deep bow before reporting the facts.

"I've encountered an anomaly today. I found out after giving him treatment for his wounds."

"Are you sure he's not a hero that got delayed when he was summoned to this world?"

"Yes, I am sure. He does not bear the mark on him."

"Then watch over him and try to subtly influence him to our cause. I'll be coming over in a few days to ascertain if he is a threat."

Once the exchange is over, the hologram vanished, and the vicar went back up with her own duties.