The pointless search came to an end, and Cain headed back to the Vermilion territory with a pale face on his.
I switched back to being a man, too.
Oh, right—I never collected the reward for that job back when I was Alisa.
It was a pittance anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.
Now then, is there any decent job available…
I've been stuck at Iron rank forever, after all.
It's not like I have some weird hobby of getting looked down on.
Once I complete one more job, I can rank up to Bronze, so anything will do.
Oh, a collection request for "Star Grass."
Star Grass—that's the stuff that supposedly cures magic deficiency, right?
You'd think you could just go to the church and have them cast a healing spell instead of gathering it yourself, but sure enough, the reward for this one is on the low side.
Well, I might as well take the job and go see the requester.
◇◇◇
"Helloooo! Name's Alan—I'm here about the Star Grass collection request."
"Oh my, so there really is someone odd enough to take that kind of job. I'm Shari."
The person who came out was a girl who looked a little older than me.
"Ha, yeah. Someone's got magic deficiency, apparently. I was wondering why they'd put up a request with such a low reward instead of just asking the church."
"Well… here, have a seat at least. I'll get you something to drink. The one with the deficiency is my mother. We did have the church look at her, but they demanded a huge donation in exchange—and then they offered to take her in as compensation. I mean, I hate to say it myself, but my mother is quite the beauty."
"If you don't mind, could I take a look at your mother's condition?"
"Don't do anything weird."
"Of course not."
I was led to the back room and saw a woman lying in bed, breathing softly in her sleep.
By otherworldly standards she'd probably be considered a beauty, but she didn't look all that remarkable to me.
Using [God's Eye]to assess her condition, it read Magic Deficiency (moderate).
Something this mild should be curable with a simple [Light Magic]Antidote.
"How much of a donation did they ask for?"
"Two gold coins."
That was straight-up robbery.
One silver coin would've been more like it.
The Church, huh... scum exist everywhere, it seems.
I didn't like that one bit.
"Antidote."
Shari's mother was enveloped in a soft green light, which then quickly faded.
Using [God's Eye]again, the Magic Deficiency was gone. Her breathing, which had sounded strained before, had become calm and peaceful.
"Huh... you can use [Light Magic]?"
"Yeah. Now your mom won't get taken by the Church, right?"
"What if you're actually a Church agent? You heal her first on your own and then come back later to take her anyway..."
"I wouldn't do that! What kind of priest wears equipment made of black steel?"
"That's true, I guess. Also, if you go around casting recovery magic so carelessly, don't come crying to me when the Church comes to drag you away."
"Why the Church?"
"Apparently there were no injuries at all during the stampede, and they figured someone healed people on their own. The priest was saying the Church was supposed to heal the adventurers and charge them for it, so they took a huge loss. Now they're going to track the person down and make them pay the full cost."
What an absurd claim.
They should be glad they have less work, if anything.
But I guess that's not how it goes in another world.
They probably won't be able to track me down anyway.
And if they do find me and start running their mouths, they'll just get what's coming to them.
"Well then, sign here to confirm the quest is complete."
"Sure, that's fine. Sorry the reward is so small."
"It was just a whim. I wouldn't get your hopes up for next time."
And with the completion of this quest, I was promoted to Bronze.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God], [Gentleman Thief], [Dark Magic], [Rock-Iron Magic], [Holy Magic]
Rank: Bronze
Thank you for always reading!