I am Gret, Backed by Powerful Friends, Nordmark
Roman Knight was extremely agitated.
Agitated and terrified.
Last night, after the City Guard teenager was invited inside by the necromancer, he discovered that his hand had a problem. His right thumb could neither straighten nor bend normally.
Not being able to straighten it was one thing, but not being able to bend it with force meant a devastating blow to him!
He could no longer grip a sword!
Roman Knight repeatedly clenched his right hand, then limply released it over and over again. He had still been holding onto a sliver of hope. After regaining his freedom this morning, Priest Donald had performed a healing for him at the very first moment—
It was useless.
Not a bit of use.
Holy Light fell down in pure white time and time again. Blood surged, and warm power flowed from his arm to his wrist. When his hand clenched shut, however, his right thumb still could not exert the slightest bit of strength.
At his most terrified moment, Roman Knight recalled the warning the teenager had blurted out before pouring out the Healing Potion:
"You can't treat this wound like this... Healing the outside alone won't work; you have to reconnect the inside first..."
Why did he say that? What did he know? Was he... perhaps... doing it on purpose?
It was all because of that lowlife!
It was all his fault!
Roman Knight roared in a low voice. He turned to the trainee knight standing at attention at the side, his eyes already red enough to drip blood:
"Have they dragged the person here yet?!"
"I-I don't know..."
"Go check, then!"
The trainee knight bolted and ran out.
Just which trip was this? From the moment the temple sent people out until now, how many times had he run this trip! Wasn't he just a soldier? When the temple arrested someone, could they seriously fail to bring him in! Sending him running out to check trip after trip, his legs were getting skinny from all the running—
The young trainee knight hugged the edge and crept over to the side door, poking his head out: no one. Halfway back, a familiar guard saw him running around drenched in sweat and grabbed him by the arm:
"Still asking about this? —People came through the main entrance!"
"Ah?"
The teenager was dumbfounded.
When the temple arrested people—especially when arresting commoners with no backing—there was never any reason to use the main entrance. —Dragged in through the side door, thrown into the dungeon, and when you'd ever see the light of day again depended entirely on how fast your family paid the ransom, or when the big shots remembered you.
Yet this time, Gret was accompanied by the captain of the City Guard and the bishop of the Temple of the God of War. To make these two walk through the side door?
The temple messenger indicated that he hadn't lived enough and didn't want to court that kind of death...
Besides, it wasn't his turn to call the shots. The bald bishop strode forward, walking at the front, and Knight Nolan followed without hesitation. Gret leisurely walked behind these two, feeling as though he were that fox borrowing the tiger's might.
Bah, he should be the resident physician doing rounds with the chief attending!
The Temple of the Spring Goddess was not large. Compared to the Temple of the God of War and the Church of the Lord of Radiance, which was already deserted and empty of people, it could only be considered a tiny one. It was early summer, and vines crawled all over the exterior walls of the temple, veiling the entire structure in a expanse of lush green, making it appear all the more exquisite and secluded.
Right at the main entrance of the temple, on a small plaza, stood a pure white stone sculpture: a graceful woman holding a stone vase in both hands, standing delicately amidst a pool of spring water, clear water gushing endlessly from the mouth of the vase. A pool of water was built around the stone sculpture with white stones, and commoners continuously came to pay homage to the statue, then scooped a bowl of water from the pool, carefully holding it as they headed back.
...Is this a man-made fountain?
What drove it—a water tower, a water pump, or a magic circle?
Surely it couldn't really be Divine Grace, could it?
Gret looked on with curiosity. Even if they really used a water tower and water pump, this was pretty good; at least it could achieve an unlimited water supply. He just didn't know if this water had undergone coagulation, filtration, sedimentation, and post-filtration disinfection... Tsk, they probably didn't have bleaching powder, but maybe shining Holy Light on it would work too?
After all, in this damn place, even the streets were a foot of dust on sunny days and a foot of mud on rainy days. There were no sewers at all, and the quality of daily drinking water was extremely suspicious. In the event that some cholera or something broke out...
People dying in large, massive waves was practically a matter of minutes.
—As a former emergency medicine doctor, just thinking about it made Gret ready to go crazy on behalf of his colleagues in emergency internal medicine.
His wild train of thought ended right here. Two lines of guards rushed out urgently from the temple entrance, splitting left and right to stand in formation. Immediately following them, the priests of the Spring Goddess filed out.
Gret's eyes lit up. The leader wore a silver crown and a light blue silk robe, with two narcissus flowers embroidered in silver thread on his belt, displaying his identity as a seventh-tier cleric. A pair of round-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, gleaming brightly under the firelight — Glasses! Glasses!
The craftsmanship of this era was already capable of making glasses!
With glasses came lenses, and with lenses came the foundation for medical observation!
Microscopes, here I come!
Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotics, here I come!
He was staring fixedly at the man, but nobody opposite was staring at him. That High Priest of the Spring Goddess hurried down the steps, took a quick couple of steps, and came to a calm halt. He raised both hands, striking a prayer gesture, and smiled at the God of War bishop ten steps away:
"May the Spring Goddess bless you."
Stepping out, descending the steps, halting, and bowing—the sequence of actions flowed like moving water, enthusiastic yet without losing elegance. This routine had clearly been honed through a hundred battles, with every detail flawless. In Gret's eyes, it was exactly the same as when their hospital president welcomed superior leaders for an inspection...
"May the God of War bless you."
The bald bishop smiled and returned the greeting.
Once the two clerics finished exchanging greetings, the priest's gaze shifted to Knight Nolan at the side. Gret clearly saw his gaze sweep past himself, and he also glanced at the temple messenger and two guards who had come to arrest him, yet the other party could act as if nothing were amiss, wearing a smile as he repeated the courtesy once more:
"May the Spring Goddess bless you."
"Thanks to the Goddess's mercy!"
The warriors in front, left, and behind answered in unison.
Gret imitated their appearance and lowered his head together with them. He clasped his hands and murmured a response. He pretended he was just an ordinary soldier, not eye-catching in the slightest.
Yet he failed. Half of the contingent consisted of God of War priests, every last one wearing long robes;
From Captain Nolan downward, although the knights were not wearing long robes, the exquisite degree of their clothing and armor was also not on the same order of magnitude as Gret's;
Even the guards of the Temple of the Spring Goddess, when heading out to make an arrest, at least wore decent uniforms to prop up their full facade outside...
Looking over at a single glance, only he was wearing a coarse linen vest and knee-length shorts, his style the most uniquely different of all.
Not only that, upon entering the temple, Captain Knight Nolan even hauled him over and pushed him before the High Priest:
"This kid is a newcomer to our City Guard. Recently, he awakened healing magic, and I think very highly of him too. Hearing that your esteemed temple summoned him to ask a few questions, I accompanied him over to listen in together. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
Gret: ...I am not a kid!
My ranking dropped to 25th on the light novel new book chart, yesterday's recommendation votes were only 98, falling below 100 for the first time...
Don't you all love me anymore, wuwuwu...
Seeking collections, seeking recommendations, seeking investments, seeking book reviews... The feedback has been getting fewer and fewer recently, it's practically like playing a single-player game...
Before you continue