The Priest of Complete Dispel ~ Every Time I Save a Cursed Beautiful Girl with My Status Abnormal Cure Skill, For Some Reason Her Dependence on Me Maxes Out ~ - Chapter 42: The Priest's Job

Chapter 42: The Priest’s Job

“—This is the place. Medina, please.”

“Yes!”

After finishing sharing information with Shu, I joined up with Medina, who had been waiting outside.

I kept up <Mirage> and <Stealth> as I passed through a deserted nighttime street with few people and headed toward the target house.

It was an act unbecoming of a saint to break into someone’s home, but this was Shu’s wish.

In the midst of my tension, Medina unhesitatingly pulled a wire from her bosom and inserted it into the door’s keyhole.

“You’re really skilled at this.”

“No… it’s nothing like that.”

She shook her head slightly, but after the faint sound of metal scraping, the lock clicked open in less than ten seconds. It was inevitable that I let out words of admiration at her expert technique.

“Then, from here on, I’ll go alone.”

“…I’ll wait outside.”

I nodded back and gently pushed the door open.

It was a stone building— one room among many lined up on each floor.

I took the utmost care not to make any noise as I stepped into the room of the target person—Lady Seira Clover.

The living room was kept spotlessly clean, and the furnishings were of high quality, indicating that the resident possessed considerable wealth. Further in, I entered what appeared to be the bedroom, and there she was.

Moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, faintly illuminating the bed.

A woman with light blue long hair spread across the pillow and a dignified facial expression breathed quietly in her sleep.

Her appearance was serene, yet the numerous potion bottles lined up around her told of unusual circumstances.

—This is Lady Seira…?

And I noticed it right away.

A single longsword hanging on the wall.

And on the side chest by the pillow, a silver pendant engraved with a deer’s crest.

— A temple knight.

Those were the two pieces of evidence that she was a swordsman directly under the church.

Not a city guard who protected the streets, nor a knight order serving the kingdom.

An existence that hunted heretics and cut away the darkness at the church’s will—

Such a person was now bedridden with illness.

I approached the bed and took a deep breath.

Then, I quietly activated <Appraisal>.

“…………!”

My whole body froze at the result that appeared before my eyes.

Her condition was beyond imagination, to the point that I couldn’t even suppress my trembling.

—I need to report this to Shu quickly.

I immediately left the bedroom and rejoined Medina waiting outside.

We cut through the night wind and returned to the treatment center.

But by then, Shu had already fallen into a deep sleep.

I quietly went to the desk, wrote down what I had seen on a piece of paper, placed it by Shu’s pillow, and then quietly left the treatment center.

◇◇◇

The next morning.

I woke up at dawn, when the night air still lingered, for my recent routine of sword swings. As I sat up and was about to go outside, I noticed the paper placed by my pillow.

“Iris… she went and did it.”

It was a report from Iris, who had gone to Seira’s house and used <Appraisal> for me.

The opened paper detailed Seira’s condition in her characteristically meticulous handwriting.

“A curse that withers the bloodline of the target’s clan—Withering Blood Curse. That’s the true nature of the curse eating away at Lady Seira… So it really was a curse…”

I had vaguely sensed it was a curse, but now it was confirmed.

But as I read the text, I noticed something even more troublesome.

It targeted not Seira herself, but the entire clan, with the goal of wiping it out—a curse to sever the bloodline. Moreover, it seemed to activate when “the youngest branch exceeds twenty years old and remains an only child.” It might have been implanted decades, or even centuries, ago. It was the product of considerable obsession and resentment.

I couldn’t even imagine what Seira’s ancestors had done. But there was only one thing I needed to do. —Save her. That’s all.

With that resolve, I took my longsword and went out to the garden. In the chilled air, I stripped to the waist, intending to work up a sweat, and began my swings.

Each swing put strain on my arms and made my heart pound. But today, I combined it with magic art training as well.

The method Glen had told me for acquiring magic arts was to imagine enveloping magic power around the body and maintaining it, rather than releasing it like magic.

Magic manifested and released the magic power inside the body outward.

In contrast, magic arts enveloped magic power around the body or weapon. It did not release it.

For example, Glen’s <Void Blade> was a slashing strike that extended the sword with magic power, but that too was an extension of enveloping, not releasing. So if I enveloped my sword with magic power—

“…………Damn it! I don’t get it at all!”

My voice echoed emptily in the garden.

I had struggled plenty when the old man drilled magic into me. Magic arts apparently required an enormous amount of time to master as well.

It was possible I might never acquire them in my lifetime. Such anxiety brushed my chest.

“—You look spirited.”

“You’re up early.”

As I paused to catch my breath, Mariel appeared, already dressed in her habit.

She always had a cool demeanor, but I sensed that at her core lay a belief in helping people.

“Today is the visit to Seira Clover’s house.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you.”

“…………”

I thought the conversation was over, but Mariel stared fixedly at me.

Her gaze was sharp, piercing me through her glasses, and I couldn’t help but squirm.

“…What is it?”

“I’ve thought this from the start, but with the sword you possess and that well-honed physique… it makes me doubt whether you’re really a monk.”

“I explained to Seira’s old man that I’m a monk, but I’m a priest.”

“A priest… you, are you?”

Her eyes gleamed as if she couldn’t believe it.

“For holy jobs only— it starts from general believers like monks or sisters, then subdeacon, deacon, priest. Priest, bishop. Bishop, archbishop— and ascends to archbishop.”

“What the hell… there’s a system like that?”

Another piece of knowledge I hadn’t known.

Magicians and swordsmen might have similar ranks or advanced jobs. The old man had called himself a former sword saint, so he probably wasn’t just a plain swordsman.

“You didn’t know. As ranks rise, jobs grow forcibly. But promotion through training is possible beyond that. —However, in your case, no matter how I think about it, you’ve skipped the growth process entirely. If you’re truly a priest, that’s unprecedented.”

“Skipped the growth process…”

I could assert I was a priest because the goddess told me so at reincarnation. And the results of <Appraisal> from Iris and the old lady should have been the same.

“I see… So, what exactly is the difference in that job?”

“There are a few, but… one is the range of usable magic. For holy jobs, monks can train as much as they want but can only use low-level light magic. It becomes possible to handle mid-level light magic only after advancing to the next stage, deacon.”

“For real…”

That meant even if I trained like this, I could only handle magic on the level of <Heal>— or so it would seem. But Mariel had said “for holy jobs only.” So perhaps other jobs had no such restrictions.

Besides, the shrine maiden Erina handled mid-level light magic. She had probably become an adventurer after already attaining a high-rank job.

“Then, what about saints?”

“Lady Saint is different from birth; her aptitude is on another level. Depending on training, she can handle even the highest, special-grade magic.”

“Amazing…”

I didn’t know how far Iris could go, but there was no doubt she held terrifying potential.

I’d learned well in this one day. —Right now, I could acquire up to mid-level light magic.

Eventually, the time came, and I headed to Seira’s house with Mariel— .