Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 151.2
The place was on the outskirts of town – the hut stood on a place that was almost entirely rocky.
“Camille!”
“Chaco, Noi’s okay.”
The one who came out of the shady hut was a cat-and-beast girl still in her mid-teens.
“Noi” must be the name of the Dark Elf boy, and the girl called Chaco did not look like a family member since she was a beastman, but when Camille explained to her that Noi had no injuries even though he was covered in blood, she seemed relieved, and it was clear that she felt as if he was family even though they were different races.
“Um…how about you?”
“…They are the ones who gave me the treatment.”
Even with Camille’s disgruntled and appropriate introduction, Chaco hurriedly bowed to us, her hood hiding her face in suspicion.
“Oh, thank you very much! But there’s something we can pay you for…”
“That’s okay, we’ll get that from this guy. But more importantly, do you know what’s wrong with this girl?”
Yes…yes.”
Chaco chatted with me.
They were vagrant children living in this town. Those who were abandoned by their parents because they could no longer make a living. Some were left behind because they got in the way when they had to flee the town. Their parents had been killed in a mafia war, and there were many other reasons for their abandonment in this town.
Those who were powerful took food and money from other weak children and used the corpses of the weak as stepping stones to become the ugly adults of the town. That was why weak children huddle together to survive and live on this rocky place next to death in order not to be robbed.
It was Ron and Camille who noticed the poor condition of Noi, a kindred spirit they met by chance, and helped him with food and other necessities.
Besides Chaco and Noi, there were two other children here. One was a canine-animal toddler, and the other, a little girl of slight build, was probably a dwarf.
Even with Camille’s assistance, they could not provide for all the children. There are plenty of such children around town to begin with.
To survive, Chaco, the oldest, takes fiber from the succulent plants around here to make cheap footwear, which she sells to earn a few coppers each day. Noi has taken a job caring for the larvae of the giant beetles being raised in the town.
Giant beetle larvae are highly nutritious and valuable food in this region. However, giant beetles were demons, and taking care of them, even the larvae, was dangerous. It was precisely because of the danger that even Noi, a vagrant child, was able to find work. However, Noi was bitten by a beetle larva and unfortunately developed an illness.
Noi found himself slowly weakening and falling ill; Chaco and the other children feared he was sick, but Noi lied to them and went to work to feed the little ones smaller than himself. That was two days ago.
From this point on, we could only speculate that when his employers realized that Noi was sick, they hurt him and dumped him in an alley. Perhaps they had factored in the fact that the vagrant children in their care would get sick, and every time a child got sick, they would kill him this way.
“… Lena. Fill the jar there with water; Chaco, get some cloths and clothes.”
“Yes.”
“Ye, yes.”
After hearing their replies, I pulled off Noi’s bloody clothes. Handing the bloody clothes to Camille, who saw Noi out of the clothes, I instructed Chaco to burn them and then bury them in the desert.
Even though the infection may be low, it was better to burn it if possible. I haven’t verified whether [Purify] can erase it or not. I sprayed Noi with the water that Elena had magically produced, washed the blood with the rags that Chaco had prepared, and told Camille, who had returned, to burn this as well, and sent him away.
What I was about to do was my first magic trick. If possible, it was best to eliminate as many factors as possible that would interfere with my concentration.
“…Are you okay?”
“I’ll start. …[Treatment]–“
Level 4 light magic [Treatment].
This spell neither restore strength nor heals wounds, but was a sorcery that cures disease.
Like [Treat], which could only cure poison if you understand the cause of the poison, it would not be effective if you did not understand the cause of the condition.
I remained at level 3 only for light magic. Level 4 light magic was [Treatment] and [Blessing], but if one’s magic power was high, it was difficult to get sick, and since I had no connection to illness itself due to my peach-colored hair, I did not feel threatened enough to need level 4 light magic, and even I, who exercises it by magic rather than witchcraft, could not use it until now.
However, I would need level 4 light magic in future battles.
To become a true [War Demon], which my master and I could not master as ideal, not to mention [Blessing] which increased magic resistance and defensive power.
I acquired the “power” here.
And then…
Did you succeed?
“No problem.”
I came out of the hut, and Camille gave me a subtle look.
As it turned out, [Treatment] went into effect and Noi’s illness was treated. Elena and the others let me out to rest, tired from too much concentration, and I left the rest to them.
Camille looked subtle, I think because of his frustration that I had forced him out of the hut to do chores, and because of his gratitude that I had cured Noi’s illness.
There must be only about a dozen or so High Priestess classes of the Holy Church who could use level 4 light magic, even in the Kingdom of Cleydale.
I was told that there was only one person in the Adventurers’ Guild of the Hogloss Trading Company in the town of Cutlass. If I were to ask such a person for a treatment, I would need at least ten large gold coins, a suitable introducer, and trust.
The amount I offered for the treatment was one large gold coin. A small gold coin would have been fine, but I decided to take it for their pride.
Seeing their bad attitude and skepticism, but their willingness to be polite in this way, I guessed that I am surprisingly well-bred.
“…I’m sorry. Thanks for the help.”
“I don’t mind.”
For once, Camille was honest enough to thank me, and I waved my hand lightly, telling her not to worry about it, and when I took off my hood in the shade to dry my sweaty hair, Camille rolled her slit eyes when she saw it.
…Come to think of it, I’m showing you for the first time.
“Peach…blonde hair?”
“Is that funny?”
“No…unusual, but not crazy.”
For some reason, Camille looks away from me and mumbles as if searching for the right words. Is there something wrong? If there’s something on your mind, I’ll tell you what I’ve been wondering, too.
“Right. Adventurers with magic swords and dark elves with light skin tones are both rare but not unheard of.”
“…”
Camille, who has fallen silent, stares into my eyes. After a few dozen seconds of silently receiving a strong gaze that would make even a wild beast run away, I let out a hefty sigh as he removed his gaze from me.
“How did you notice?”
“You’re not experienced enough.”
I won’t say what. It could mean many things. Camille, perhaps sensing something in my words, looked discontented again, and after a few moments of silence between us, he blurted out, “How old am I?
“How old do I look?”
“If you’re a dark elf, you’re around 30?”
He looked about the same as me, about the same age as a human adult. But I thought that an elf, a long-lived species, should be much older than that.
“I’m fifteen. I have human blood in me, just like you thought. Besides, the higher the magic power, the more the body grows, the same for both human race and dark elves.”
“I see…”
“I have human… Mercenian blood in me. My mother… she said that her own mother was a beautiful blonde with peach-colored hair.”
“…”
There were light red hair and hair colors that were almost peachy, but only the women in the Melrose family’s direct lineage could be described as peachy-haired. Could Grandmother have been a Melrose woman who married outside the family?
If so…maybe he was related to me.
“I heard that this demon sword was given to my father to protect my mother, who is a human race.”
Camille touched the hilt of the magic sword a little forlornly. …It was a special magic sword, after all.
“And your mother?”
“She was killed. By my father’s other wife.”
“I see…”
Camille’s voice sounded more angry than sad.
“And your parents?”
“My parents died protecting me.”
“…I see.”
I could hear a hint of anger in her voice. But the target of that anger was not the monster I had killed, but my “destiny” in the Otome Game.
What was Camille’s anger toward? Was there a reason why Camille was helping the drifter or antagonizing the Munza Group?
We sat on the ground in silence and did not move until Elena and Chaco came to get us.
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Also check out my other novels: Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and A Girl Who Was Told “You Have No Talent” Turned Out To Be A Talented Monster