I Secretly Healed the Illness of the Twin Princesses While Wearing a Mask, and Now the Entire Kingdom Is in an Uproar ~Please Stop Trying to Expose the Street Healer~ - Chapter 18

“Hyahahahahaha!! What’s wrong!? Are you done already!? If you can’t stand up, I’ll heal you!! Extra Heal!! Come on, get up!! I’ll use healing magic on you as many times as it takes until your brains start working right!!”

“Guh, ugh.”

I beat down the white-robed attackers one by one.

I focused mainly on hitting their heads.

Their attacks bounced off my enhanced body, so I didn’t even need to defend.

It was obvious who had the upper hand.

“You really are…”

“Hyahahahahaha!! Have you learned your lesson yet!?”

“H-hehehe. A lesson? If repenting would make this curse any better, I’d do it all day. But it won’t. That’s why we’re doing this.”

The white-robed only laughed fearlessly.

A curse again. Even for a bunch of middle-school syndrome weirdos, sticking to their setting after getting beaten this badly is kind of impressive.

But that’s that, and this is this.

If I kept hitting them, they might actually die…

I was about to continue anyway when.

“Please stop there, Faceless-san.”

A pure-white girl stood behind me.

Judging by her height, she looked about twelve or thirteen.

She wore a pure white robe, and a mirrored mask hid her face. She looked suspicious. No, mysterious.

Through the robe’s opening, I saw her soft pink hair, and behind the mirror mask, her blue eyes shone gently at me.

I was shocked.

When did she get behind me? I hadn’t sensed her at all.

“Nice to meet you, Faceless-san. I am Veltica, the Cardinal of ‘Wrath’ from the White Church. I’m the one leading this attack. Please remember my name.”

“Ah, thank you.”

She bowed gracefully, and I instinctively greeted her back.

“May we talk while we walk? Faceless-san.”

“Hyahahahahahaha!! Let me correct one thing, I’m the Mysterious Healer!!”

“Oh, that’s fine. I know. With the power you used to crush my followers in an instant, you’re definitely Faceless-san?”

“I’m not.”

“Hehe, then let’s pretend that’s true.”

This girl, she doesn’t listen at all.

“You don’t need to be tense. Please relax.”

“…Yeah. Then I’ll just talk normally.”

“Whoa, you suddenly sound much easier to talk to.”

The white-robed people I had beaten were unconscious, so I healed them and left them there before walking through the academy with Veltica.

She was the one who spoke first.

“First, I must apologize. Normally, in the Xylica Kingdom, the ‘Envy’ and ‘Greed’ factions handle things. My faction doesn’t usually act much… but after hearing about you from my followers, I really wanted to talk to you, so I got a little rough. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not sure how to feel about being apologized to. The ones who got troubled were the magic academy, after all… Wait, are you the middle-school syndrome too?”

“Middle-school syndrome…?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it.”

I’d heard that people with middle-school syndrome don’t realize they have it.

She’s clearly the type of middle-school syndrome who leads her followers to attack a magic academy. It’s better not to say anything that might trigger her.

“How much do you know about the ‘White God’?”

“The thing those white-robed people were talking about.”

“And what about its true identity?”

“I don’t know at all. I’m not really interested either.”

“Ahaha, what a coincidence. I don’t know either. Even the seven leaders of the White Church don’t know, including me.”

Whoa, they really don’t know.

“All we know is that the White God grants the wishes of followers who offer themselves as sacrifices.”

“Grants wishes?”

“Yes, it’s like a real god. Faceless-san, what would you wish for?”

Hmm.

She seems serious. I should answer seriously, too.

“I guess, a world where no one ever gets hurt or sick.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!!”

“Really?”

“But it’s also very arrogant!!”

“Oh, are you the type who can smile while hurting someone?”

“Yes!! I’ve done quite a lot already!!”

“You have done it?”

She’s a scary kid.

“You really do have what it takes, Faceless-san.”

“What do you mean?”

“To be a Cardinal of the White Church. So? How about joining us?”

“I’ll pass.”

“…May I ask why?”

I didn’t want her to think I had middle-school syndrome, too.

…But saying that directly to someone who clearly has middle-school syndrome seems wrong, so I just went along with the conversation.

“Maybe I don’t like that you have to offer sacrifices.”

“…That’s surprising. I thought you’d be the type who doesn’t care about the means, as long as you reach your goal.”

“That’s not true.”

“Are you really sure? Don’t you really not care about the people in this world?”

“That’s not true either.”

“No, you are that kind of person. At least, that’s the impression I got talking to you.”

She’s really jumping to conclusions.

Talking to her was starting to feel like a hassle… until her next words made me stop walking.

“Could it be that you want everyone to be healthy because it reminds you of some unpleasant memory of your own?”

Her words hit me in a way that felt.

I see.

Now that she says it, I can’t really deny it.

“That’s right. Maybe that’s it.”

“So, Faceless-san, will you join us?”

“…”

“If you joined us, it wouldn’t be impossible to create a world where no one gets hurt, no one suffers from illness, and no one even dies.”

A world where no one even dies?

If a world like that could really exist, ah, it would be very…

“Boring.”

“…Huh?”

“I think you might be misunderstanding. I don’t want people to be healthy just because I don’t want them to die. This is just how I see things, so don’t take it too seriously…”

I answered while looking at my own reflection in Veltica’s mirrored mask.

“Humans are humans even because we die.”

“Even because we die?”

“Yeah.”

Once you die, you understand something.

Humans, as long as they are alive, always think they don’t want to die.

I think that’s natural for living beings.

That’s why we fight to stay alive, and we try to completely get rid of anything that threatens our lives.

“But no matter how much you resist, humans will eventually die. No matter how healthy you are, no matter how much you enhance your body, death always comes. That’s how we’re made.”

If that’s the case, you should live so that when death finally comes, you have as few regrets as possible and accomplish as much as you can.

If you can’t fight death, then it makes sense to spend your remaining time happily, laughing, and enjoying life.

“That’s why I want people to stay healthy. So they can challenge themselves and do what they want, no matter their age. That’s my way of thinking.”

“…I see. You’re more thoughtful than I expected.”

“Compliments don’t get you anything. And just to be clear, that was my personal view. You don’t have to really understand it if you don’t want to.”

“No, thanks to you, I feel like I’ve learned something. I feel a little wiser now.”

When Veltica removed her mask, an incredible face appeared on the level of Christina or Victoria in beauty.

“Thank you for today. It was a very meaningful time. Let’s meet again sometime.”

“Oh, you’re leaving?”

“Yes. As I said, this area isn’t really under my control, and if I stay too long, ‘Greed’ and ‘Envy’ will complain. Oh, but one warning.”

“What is it?”

“By freeing dozens of sacrifices, you’ve made ‘Greed’ and ‘Envy’ very angry. Try not to walk around alone at night. Well then, goodbye.”

With a snap of her fingers, Veltica vanished.

The knights then stormed the magic academy, and the captured students were rescued.

Apparently, some students had an arm cut off, but my sister treated them, so it’s fine.

“More importantly… that Veltica girl… she didn’t actually think I’m middle-school syndrome, right?”

Her friendly attitude the whole time made me curious.

I need to quickly learn mind magic, memory magic, and healing techniques.

◇　◇　◇

Afterword

One-Point Story

Author: “I want a world where the author is spoiled by beautiful girls.”

A: “Whoa, honestly…”

If you thought, “It’s funny that you still think everyone is middle-school syndrome,” “I love the part where she’s revealed as a beautiful girl when she takes off her mask,” “Author, hide your desires,” please leave your thoughts, bookmarks, ★ ratings, or reviews.