* * *
“Be quiet, don’t move.”
Since Anakin’s internal blood reflux had stopped, Hilde—whose external wounds appeared more severe—was treated first.
“Wow. This must have hurt. How did you endure it?”
The man marveled at Hilde, impressed by his lack of outward pain.
“At this point, you’re practically undead. For starters, your ribs are shattered, your chest is torn to ribbons… severe full-body bruising, plus internal injuries.”
The man shook his head as he diagnosed Hilde’s condition.
“Vita Nova.”
He began to chant a spell, and a cold, blue light emanated from his fingertips.
As soon as that energy touched Hilde’s body, it seeps deep into him.
“Ugh…”
“It might feel a bit foreign, but bear with it.”
Just moments ago, they were in a life-or-death crisis; how did they end up here getting treated?
It was strange, but Anakin felt relieved that help was being provided.
To Anakin, the man’s bedside manner felt like that of a doctor from a previous life—a reliable physician who proposed solutions calmly, no matter how much pain the patient was in.
The blue light soon began to turn white.
Hilde’s bleeding stopped, and, like magic, new flesh sprouted to fill the gashes in his chest.
Even his broken ribs were shifted back into their original positions.
Anakin had never seen healing this instantaneous, even in Pasadian. Just who was this man?
Considering he was staying at the Elder’s house, he clearly wasn’t an ordinary person.
The man noticed Anakin staring blankly and spoke kindly.
“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? I’m almost done. Just wait a little longer.”
Anakin nodded silently.
The man smiled as if Anakin were cute and finished Hilde’s treatment.
He was drenched in sweat, having concentrated quite hard.
“Good. Next.”
Anakin sat down across from him.
The man looked at Anakin, who was still wrapped in a robe.
“Please take off the hood. I can’t have your energy being blocked.”
“Oh, yes.”
Anakin pulled back the hood.
As the beautiful face was revealed, the man froze.
He stopped everything, even his breathing.
Seeing the man’s reaction, Hilde let out a sigh and turned his head toward the window.
“Are you an angel?”
Anakin stared back with wide, blinking eyes. Only then did the man snap out of it and begin the treatment.
The cold blue light seeped into Anakin’s body, glowed white, and eventually turned warm.
Since Anakin had already attempted to receive energy from Mikhail, this sensation wasn’t particularly bothersome.
“May I ask your names?”
“I am Anakin Descartes.”
After Anakin’s introduction, the man looked toward Hilde. Hilde replied reluctantly.
“Hilde Asta.”
“So you really were nobles. And with… incredible backgrounds, too. No wonder you look so refined. Should I use formal speech?”
“No. It’s fine with me,” Anakin replied.
Relieved, the man introduced himself.
“That’s good. Formalities are uncomfortable for me, too. I’m Callis, a disciple of the Latus school. You’re probably wondering why I’m at my Master’s mansion… honestly, it’s nothing special. It’s just that among mages, I’m a rare healing-type.”
“…”
“I’m the best healer in our school. That’s why I’m freeloading here at the mansion.”
“I see…”
As the warm energy spread through Anakin’s body, a sense of lethargy set in.
With the pain receding, the exhaustion in Anakin’s body began to pull the strength from his limbs.
“Can I call you Anakin?”
“Yes.”
As Anakin spoke while blinking sleepily, Callis asked with a serious expression.
“Anakin, what on earth have you done to your body?”
At those words, Anakin looked up at Callis, suddenly wide awake.
“Pardon?”
“Your condition is terrible. Your insides are a tattered mess.”
“…Is it that bad?”
It felt as though the body that had been repaired was breaking down again because of the recent overexertion.
A large part of it was the physical weakness caused by the forced Omega manifestation at an early age, but it was also a chronic issue for Anakin, who had always been prone to illness.
“I don’t know what your story is, but a body weakened like this by hormones is difficult to fix even with magic or medical technology. Unless you’re a Saint blessed by God.”
“A Saint?”
Anakin’s ears perked up at the mention of a ‘Saint.’
“Someone with the power to resurrect the dead might know the answer to a problem like this, don’t you think? Though I can’t say for sure.”
A Saint.
The Count’s family had called in every famous doctor and healing mage, yet there had been no solution.
Would a Saint really know a way to treat it?
Anakin remembered the doctors and mages shaking their heads while looking at his huddled form on the edge of the bed.
Seeing the lack of expectation in Anakin’s eyes, Callis spoke up as if to offer hope.
“I’ve met him before. It’s on a completely different level from healing with magic like this. You know about the major monster invasion on the northern border three years ago? The incident where the dispatched knights and mages were dying off after the subjugation order was issued?”
“…Yes. I know.”
It was a very famous event that had appeared even in the original novel, back when Anakin had no interest in world affairs.
In the Empire, monster threats are classified into five ranks:
Vestige, Omen, Torrent, Calamity, and Ruin.
The danger increases as you go down the list.
Ruin is a level so dangerous that it literally brings about the end of the world.
The beast known as Valtana, which once turned the Empire upside down, was a legendary Great Beast of the Calamity rank.
Valtana and the lower monsters following it began massacring humans beyond the borders, leading to countless deaths.
The Emperor dispatched the most skilled knights, mages, and subjugation armies to slay the beast, but unfortunately, the casualties only continued to mount.
The person who appeared during that time of despair to save the people was the Saint.
Surprisingly, with his appearance, the tide of the battlefield turned as if by magic, and the number of casualties began to drop.
With divine power, the Saint let the brilliant protection of God echo through the battlefield and wrapped the people in warm light.
He healed the wounded and gave courage to those fighting on the front lines.
Recalling that time, Callis spoke.
“It was as if God’s grace was truly descending from the heavens.”
He wore an expression as if he had truly seen a deity.
Seeing Callis’s reaction, Anakin thought that he, too, would like to meet the Saint one day.
“Anyway, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to seek him out. What do you think?”
“…I would like to meet him once.”
“The Saint is in the Temple. Since he is the representative of God, the Temple’s security is very tight and he is shrouded in mystery. There are rumors he’s harder to meet than the Pope.”
Callis seemed to think for a moment before speaking.
“He delivers God’s prophecies once a year, and that is the only time he comes outside—unless it’s a wartime situation. If you time it right, you might be able to ask him then…”
Anakin smiled and nodded.
‘He’s a truly kind person,’ Anakin thought, seeing how much he cared about a stranger’s problems.
“By the way, what brings you here with such injuries? I didn’t even hear that Master had guests.”
“We’re not quite sure ourselves. We met someone named Katarina, and she interfered with our mission…”
“What… Katarina? Did you just say Katarina?”
“Yes. Do you know her?”
Callis pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
“Sigh. Of all people, you ran into Renatus.”
“Renatus…?”
Renatus.
The most notorious criminal organization in the Rania Empire.
Their scale was massive and widespread, making them difficult to track, and it was said they were all monsters without exception.
They were even heretics who served a different god than Soldinak, the Earth God designated by the Empire’s doctrine.
“The members of Renatus aren’t well known, but I’ve met her once. She was a truly formidable woman. Tenacious to a sickening degree.”
“…”
The children, whose trauma from the encounter was still fresh, fell silent.
If Oswald hadn’t come, would they have survived?
Or would they have escaped safely via teleportation?
Anakin bit his lip.
“Usually, those Renatus people just achieve their goal and leave, but she wasn’t like that. Once she catches her prey, she toys with them as if it’s a game.”
“…That’s right.”
She clearly could have finished them off quickly. The difference in skill was that vast.
The only reason they kept their lives was likely due to her amusement.
“Well, thanks to that, many people probably escape her too. I survived meeting her back when I was a student. Fortunately, while I was engaged in combat with my companions, she received a call from an executive and left, saying it was a shame.”
“That’s a relief…”
She must have been an object of terror not just to them, but to others as well.
“Katarina is dead.”
Hilde, who had been looking out the window, finally spoke. Callis’s face turned serious.
“Is that true? Well, since you are guests brought by my Master… she must be dead for sure. He absolutely loathes heretics and criminals.”
Callis used polite language with Hilde, who had not yet permitted informal speech.
Certainly, Anakin had felt the Master’s rage even just by looking at his back.
It was because Katarina was a member of Renatus.
“He’s a frightening person. He’s someone who draws very clear lines.”
* * *
