Before they knew it, another dozen or so days had passed.
That night, Annie, who had abandoned the prisoner and wandered off to who-knew-where, finally returned to the home of the blacksmith Gaut and Elektra.
Of course, she had not come back for any other reason than that her magical tracking had detected that Guts had actually returned again. After wandering around until she grew bored, she naturally needed to come back and continue keeping an eye on the chess piece she was using to verify her theory.
Over the past two days, Annie had seen that strange uncle, who had been staying at Gaut's home with nothing to do and never going anywhere, seem to have become an entirely different person. Not only had he used Holy Light to treat Gaut after he contracted the plague, he had even kindly provided disease-cleansing services to some nearby villagers who had come seeking help after hearing the news.
There was no denying that Holy Light was extremely effective against a plague like that. Under Guts's efforts, the results were practically immediate.
As a result, he quickly gained a large number of devoted followers.
Yet he did not seem to care much. His mind was not on healing the sick and saving people. Instead, he was distracted and deeply worried, apparently pondering or fretting over something unknown. Every day, he wore a troubled expression as he stared blankly into the distance.
Presumably, if he had not still needed to patiently wait for the blacksmith Gaut to repair and reforge his armor and greatsword, he would have left again long ago.
But there was nothing he could do. No matter how anxious he was, he had to wait for Gaut to finish his work.
After all, he could not go out empty-handed or