Chapter 50 - Playing Doctor

The assault on the bandits ended soon after the release of the automaton. It was only broken once Susan stepped in and personally battled against it. With the destruction of the automaton and the soldiers' approaching the village as a sign, the Church's knights made their way to the village. Gren wanted to see what the automaton looked like up close but the Duke's army had already covered it up and carried it onto one of their supply carriages.

Gren could see Susan collapsed on the ground not far from where the automaton had been with his right arm mangled; most likely from the fight against the automaton. "What business does the Church have in this dreaded place?" One of the soldiers--likely one of the higher-ups--didn't seem to appreciate their presence.

"We're on a mission. I don't think we need to inform you what our business is here." Georgia couldn't just tell him that they were there to pick up the body of their goddess and didn't like lying. If she continued with that sort of attitude then there would likely be a fight and Gren didn't want that.

Gren knocked on the carriage's door and then opened it up. He was holding a book under his arm. "I think it's okay to tell them. The high priestess sent me here for training since she knew that there was going to be a battle." Georgia didn't know where Gren was going with this but decided to let him continue.

"Where there's a battle there will be a lot of patients. If you don't mind I can try healing some of your soldiers that got injured." Gren was hoping to kill two birds with one stone; get free access to the village and gain experience in healing magic.

The soldier seemed skeptical. "I thought all of you healers wore green."

Gren nodded. "I haven't earned mine yet. I'm still in training. See?" Gren held up the book, Church of Healing Light Volume 1. "I need to gain more experience with healing magic before I earn my green robes. This is like a test for me."

The soldier didn't really know if Gren was telling the truth but what he was saying made sense. It was odd that they had so many knights armed to the teeth but the soldier justified it in his own head so Gren didn't need to make up a lie; an apprentice magician and a spell book were valuable so the Church wouldn't want to lose them. "Alright. However, if you're expecting pay then it'll have to wait until after the soldiers return to Adierton."

"I'm not expecting any pay but the soldiers are free to donate to the Church upon their return. However, if you could gather the wounded in one area and get some clean water to help clean out the wounds I would be very grateful. Even the smallest wounds will be healed since it's for practice." Gren had been using the acolytes from the cathedral as a reference for his current role so he seemed a bit more feminine than usual.

The soldier went off to organize things for Gren so the knights now had a legitimate reason to search the village. "Knights! Remember your mission! Find and gather all dead and wounded people in the village. If you find any surviving villagers then we'll bring them back with us." The knights could tell that Gren was just acting when he was giving them orders because he's the one that told them what their mission was back in Adierton. If they were as clueless as the soldiers then they would definitely fall for his act.

Gren was lead to the place where the injured soldiers were gathered as the knights were looking for the goddess. Most of the injuries were light but at least a dozen of the men were unfortunate and had been hit with arrows. There were also a few serious injuries caused by the explosion. "I'll get started with healing the people that aren't as injured to warm up."

Gren opened up his book and started reading to refresh his memory of the basic healing spell. The spell could be used to heal surface injuries. It didn't seem so useful but it was a very important step towards using healing magic. There was a man there that had some small cuts on his face so Gren picked him to heal first. "Am I allowed to heal your injuries?"

The soldier seemed confused by the question. "It's not going to cost me, right?"

Gren nodded. "It's free but the book says that I can only heal willing patients." Gren wasn't sure if that was to protect him from getting in trouble or if it was necessary to learn how to heal others like how he couldn't heal himself in the carriage after getting injured. Either way, he was going to play it safe.

"If it's free then heal away." Few soldiers could afford to see a healer so they might as well see one now. Even if it was just to heal a few scrapes on their face it's not like it'd hurt to have it done.

Gren held his hand near the soldier's face and concentrated on the spell. His hand glowed with a faint green color and the man's injuries were disappearing. "Good, it worked this time." Gren sighed with relief when the man's injuries disappeared completely.

Gren healed the rest of the people with small wounds and turned back to the book. The next few spells were to cure minor illnesses, poisons, and venomous bites/stings so they weren't necessary right now. The next healing spell would allow Gren to heal small internal injuries, surface injuries, and even heal burns although it would require more time to heal the burns and it would leave scars.

Gren decided not to use it for burns just yet. He was only halfway through the book so there should be a better healing spell later on. The people hit by arrows would be good to practice this spell on since there would definitely be tissue damage when the arrows were pulled out. Even if it was just in movies, Gren could remember that most arrowheads were designed to be difficult to pull out. After trying to use the spell a few times it finally activated and Gren continued to activate it a few more times to be safe.

Gren walked up to one of the soldiers that he healed earlier since he seemed strong. "Excuse me. Can you help me with some of the other patients?" The soldier seemed surprised to see that the healer was talking to him.

"My help? What can I do to help?" The soldier didn't mind helping but he wasn't sure what the healer wanted from him. Gren explained that he just needed someone to pull arrows out of the patients so that he could heal the wound. The soldier agreed to help Gren, not realizing that he would soon come to regret this decision.