LTTH C2

Chapter 2

“Please…!”

It was a man with one arm blown off. The remaining arm dangled, but at least both legs were intact—if anything could be called fortunate. Of course, regrettably, it was an injury beyond what could be treated with his heal.

“…I’m sorry, but that won’t—”

“Ah. No. Not me—please, this person first!”

With his dangling arm, the man dragged over a corpse. …No, correction. A person who looked almost like a corpse, someone on the verge of dying.

“…You’re asking me to save this person?”

“Hngh, please.”

However he interpreted the hesitation, the man once more pressed his forehead to the ground in a plea. Perhaps it would be better to clarify that it wasn’t unwillingness to treat, but inability.

“Um…”

“As expected, it can’t be done?”

The man’s hands, gripping the ground with his head bowed, turned red. As if reflecting the pain of his hanging arm, a wetness hovered in his low voice.

“…Heal.”

Unable to simply watch, Hansol unconsciously reached out a hand toward the man. The familiar pure white light shot toward him, and the designated target—the dangling arm—began slowly reattaching. It likely wouldn’t set properly. At best, it would only close the wound. Exactly 20 mana drained, and as always, no experience gained. Everything was the same.

“…?”

Wait a second.

No, it only looked that way. Hansol blinked at the status window before his eyes. The experience bar, which had definitely hovered near zero, was now half-filled with yellow.

Is this a hallucination?

A fairly plausible thought. Dimensional travel was an uncommon occurrence, and brief hallucinations or auditory distortions wouldn’t be unusual. If so, what he was seeing now must be the same. Hansol rubbed his eyes hard. Usually, hallucinations or auditory distortions vanish once recognized.

Feeling a sting, Hansol blinked again.

“…It went up?”

“Um… Healer-nim. Not me—please, this person…”

“J-just a moment.”

The man lifted his head in the meantime, pleading again with a face on the verge of tears, but that wasn’t the priority. The experience that had been frozen for five whole years had moved. No, was that really right? The skin around his eyes, reddened from rubbing, and his eyes themselves screamed for him to stop, but he forced himself to ignore it.

Is it really real?

If—if he could truly, truly level up. In that case. A light akin to madness flashed in his reddened eyes.

“Mister. Let me try once more.”

“Ah, mister…?”

Ignoring the man staring at him with wide eyes, Hansol reached out again.

“Heal!”

With a little more fervent wish behind it. Of course, that wouldn’t make the heal stronger, but Hansol fixed his gaze on one spot, praying that the experience bar he just saw wasn’t an illusion.

“…Ha.”

With the experience bar filled in yellow, the system voice echoed in his head. The words he had longed to hear. Words he had thought he would never hear. Only then did it vividly feel real. The number “2” next to level in the status window stood out clearly. It had risen. Truly.

Eternal level 1, heal slave, fake noble—the titles Hansol bore in present-day Korea, where hunters and gates ran rampant. He had thought those humiliating epithets would never change. It had been about five years since his awakening as a hunter, and in all that time, he had gained no experience.

Yet now, change had come as if those five years had been a lie. All the pent-up resentment exploded at once, and he felt on the verge of breaking down in tears. At the same time, a twinge of anxiety welled up.

What if this really is just a brief anomaly? What if it soon disappears? As worries chained one after another, moisture gleamed in Hansol’s eyes. This was no time to be overwhelmed with emotion.

“Mister, I’ll heal you!”

“No, not me—this person…”

No, that one can’t be saved. What am I supposed to accomplish with a mere heal?

The man was a faintly breathing dead weight, but no matter how much healing was poured in, the chances of revival approached zero. It was his lack of ability; it was time to give up. Hansol parted his lips to say so.

…No, wait.

He reviewed his skills along with the level that had just been only 1.

Really—can’t he be saved? More than half the experience had filled with a single heal. At this rate, couldn’t he learn Prayer of Healing? Then maybe he could keep the man alive long enough to get him to someone capable of saving him.

“…I’ll give it a try.”

“R-really?”

“Yes, but you first, mister.”

Not at this level. He needed eight more levels. The only way to learn that incantation was to grind experience like a dog.

“No, not me—this person first—”

“I’m telling you, if I’m to save that person, I have to start with you.”

“I…what is that supposed to…”

To the man, it might have sounded incomprehensible. “If you survive first, I’ll save that man too,” really? But there was no time to explain kindly. Even now, the half-dead man was becoming a full corpse. If he didn’t believe, then he would show him. Just as Hansol had always done.

“Could anyone with minor—or even moderate—injuries come over for a moment?”

“Ah.”

Seeing that the man before him had no intention of backing off, Hansol raised his voice to the injured who were hovering, stealing glances. Bones broken here and there, parts missing, bleeding—everything. They were clearly in need of treatment, but none approached lightly.

They glanced sidelong at the man in front—so he must be the one in charge. It felt like leveling up wouldn’t be smooth. At times like this, someone had to be singled out. Clicking his tongue lightly, Hansol pointed to the man who looked the least bad on the surface.

“You there, sir, please come over.”

“Cough—me?”

“Yes, you.”

At a glance, he seemed fine aside from limping. In the middle of a battlefield, that was decent.

“Um…”

The man pointed out hobbled over without meeting his eyes. Ah, now he understood the hesitation. It wasn’t a minor injury. This gentleman—

“…You’ve got a knife lodged in you.”

“Th… yes.”

“You’ve survived surprisingly well.”

He had seen many injured while running gates, but never someone walking around with a knife stuck in his back. And judging by the absence of a protruding tip, the blade seemed lodged inside.

And he had been walking like that? Whether to praise the man’s mental fortitude or pity the body suffering under a harsh master, he wasn’t sure—but he was the one who had singled him out.

“…I’ll check the leg first.”

“…All right.”

“Heal.”

As he invoked his will and spoke the skill, the pure white light naturally gathered at the man’s leg. Fortunately, the leg was a simple injury and recovered quickly. Of course, it was only a temporary fix.

“For now, please wait a bit on that one.”

“…!”

The man’s eyes widened. “Surely he’s not going to do more here?”—that was exactly the look. If treatment had begun, he had to see it through. Besides, Hansol was no longer that eternal level 1. He didn’t know how long this miracle would last, but he had to do his utmost while he still could.

Another dimension. Turning that phrase over once more, Hansol shook his head. No use agonizing here; no answers would come. There was only one thing to do at this moment: level up. Then save that half-dead man. That was all.

“Others who are injured, please come quickly. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can finish treating the rest.”

At that ironic statement, the people who had been hesitating and pacing halted, then approached Hansol. What followed was repetition. Treat those whose injuries could be healed, and ask the rest to wait a moment. Even as question marks hovered over their heads at the deliberate postponement, they obeyed without resistance.

…So this is why healers are called nobles.

At the sight, Hansol caught a small glimpse of a healer’s privileged life. At the same time, it left a bitter taste.

With several level-up notifications, he quickly hit level 5. In that time, his mana rose to 400, and the mana cost of Heal dropped to 12. It meant he could treat more people with a bit more leeway, but there was something more important. Level 5. A mere 5—but enough to learn a new skill. Hansol opened the skill window he had thought would remain forever unopened.

A single activated skill caught his eye. Area Heal. It was just heal, but a skill that could cover a wide range rather than one person at a time. With trembling fingers, Hansol used his level-up points to raise Healing Light.