I Became My Healer Elf Character - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Mysterious Curse
The young woman—Sordra—slowly opened her eyes and felt her cheeks and face with her hands. “Am I dead? A goddess?”

Hikari knelt down and offered a hand to the girl to help her up. “You’re not dead, and I am not a goddess.”

Of course, the people behind the elf gave her a wry smile, yet the woman looked around astonished. “How can this be? There were wolves! And the curse? No curse?”

“Can you tell us how you ended up like that?”

The girl jumped. “Right, I am sorry! No, I suppose, I should say thank you for saving me. I am Sordra, by the way.”

“Hikari.”

Sordra narrowed her brown eyes and finally looked at the other girls. “I am so glad you all made it in time, but I didn’t think it was possible to cure the curse.”

“Hmph, Master can cure any curse.”

Sordra widened her eyes and once again thanked Hikari profusely. “I didn’t know what my sister would do if they found me like this.”

“Your sister?”

“Yeah, she runs the hot springs down below. Have you been there?”

It was Hikari’s turn to be surprised. “Your sister is Eileen, right?”

“So, you do know her!”

“We stayed there on the way. More importantly…”

“Right, I’m sorry.”

At that, Sordra began to recall her story. “Our inn was inherited from our parents when we were little, and we always liked to keep flowers in the shop, especially those beautiful pink Amelias.”

“You even named the flowers after that goddess?”

“You didn’t know? I thought everyone in the kingdom knew.” The woman finally regarded Hikari’s ears. “Oh, that makes sense. Anyways, as I was saying. I was walking around the mountain looking for more of those flowers, even though my sister often tells me not to venture too far out. I managed to find what I was looking for, but soon after, a mist began to descend around my body. I’d heard rumors of the curse, but I never saw it myself.”

“What rumors?”

“There are a bunch of islands out west. A small strip of them are called ‘The Misty Isles’. Legend has it that a strong curse originated from there. Travelers have said people rarely go there, and the ones that do never live to tell the tale. I’m not particular on the details, but soon after the mist settled into my body, wolves began to chase after me. I did the only thing I can think of.”

“You ran to a holy symbol?”

“I wished for Amelia’s protection. I was surprised to find that the wolves quickly abandoned me at the monument. I thought I would never see my elder sister again. Thank you for that.”

Hikari shook her head and smiled tenderly at the girl who was 16, yet somehow she was still taller than the elf. “Don’t worry about it. Is there anything else you know about the curse? How did a curse originating at the Misty Isles find itself here?”

The girl looked down, forlorn. “I am sorry. That’s all I know. I also wish to know why that curse was brought here.” She placed a hand to her chin and whispered under her breath. “Even under Amelia’s protection.”

“What will you do now?”

Sordra looked longingly towards her town. “I would like to go back, but what about you all?”

Alfa walked forward and placed a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “How about you scale the mountain with us? We have plans to go back at the end anyway.”

Sordra looked towards Hikari, the nominated leader of the group. “Is that okay?”

“I don’t mind. You’re safest by my side anyway. The only problem is I’m sure your sister will be worried about you.”

“Hmm, oh, I know!” Sordra stepped back, channeled mana, and whistled. In a few seconds a pure white owl swooped down and landed on her shoulder. “Good girl. Do any of you have writing materials?”

Hikari produced parchment and a brush from her inventory and handed them to the girl. She watched Sordra scribble a small note for her sister before sending the owl away. Of course, Hikari wanted to ask about the origins of the owl, but she chose to remain silent out of respect for the young woman’s privacy.

“In any case, it will be bad to stay here like this,” Esalda said as she pointed up the mountain. “There’s a chance those wolves could come back, and it will still take us a while to reach the peak.”

Without any more deliberation, the squad began moving again—all while the fairy stuck to the shadows.

Hikari began to ponder the thought herself. A supposed holy land allowed a curse inside. Maybe the thick presence of mana is linked somehow?

With that thought in her mind, she closed her eyes as she walked. Healers didn’t only have regeneration spells in their arsenal, but in terms of skill, they were still behind sensory classes when finding traces, unless those traces were evil or malicious beings.

“[Malice Detection],” Hikari muttered under her breath. When the spell spread out, she was surprised by the effects. Even though her eyes were closed, she could feel the air and breaths of people around her. Moreover, she gained a new sense of vision. Her vision spread out over the surroundings, looking down on everything like a 3 dimensional map.

She could see the contours of the mountain. The green tops of trees were visible. Her allies were all covered in a continuous green blip on the forest trail. Though, lurking nearby, she could see tiny blinking red blips in the shape of wolves heads.

“Master.”

“Don’t use too much force.”

At the command, the dragon rushed towards a nearby treeline. Her foot slammed into the first tree she made contact with, and the tree was instantly uprooted. It flew and collided with a pack of wolves. Their whimpers echoed and signaled their deaths.

The young woman’s jaw dropped at the sight of the brutality. The poor wolves were crushed to death before they could even realize anything was wrong with their suspected prey.

“I thought I told you not too much force!”

“What do you mean, Master? I gave that tree a light kick. Had I kicked it harder, there would have been nothing left of it.”

Hikari sighed and looked at the trembling girl. “See, you scared her.”

But the girl’s reaction was much different. She jumped and ran over to the dragon. “Amazing! How did you do that!? I’ve never heard of adventurers who could fell entire trees with their foot!”

Kurayami looked smug at Sordra. “That was nothing. If I wanted to, I could kick down half of this mountain.”

“Wow!”

“Hey! Don’t go kicking down mountains!”

Kurayami stuck her tongue out at the poor elf. “That was a joke, Master. I would never dream of destroying someone’s sacred ground.”

“Oh yeah, and what about that dungeon?”

“If I recall correctly, that was you, Master.”

Hikari went silent and walked towards the front of the group, hiding her red cheeks.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Master. It was a brilliant display!”

Sorda could no longer control her laugh. “Pfft! Hahaha! You two are so funny!”

Esalda smiled at the girl and spoke exaggeratedly. “I know! I was surprised, too. They make a perfect pair! What I wouldn’t give to be young again.”

Alfa laughed and spoke in an old man voice. “Cute little sister. You will always be young to me.”

“Whatever! Whatever! If you all keep making those jokes, I will throw you off this mountain myself!”

When the group went silent, Hikari gave a triumphant humph. “That’s what I thought. Now…[Malice Detection].”

This time, Hikari’s eyes widened. In an area further up the mountain, there was a large section of the forest covered in an almost transparent red blip.

“Did you find something, Master?”

Hikari nodded as they walked towards the source.

“How terrible,” Esalda said as she eyed a bunch of dead trees strewn across the forest floor. Wilted flowers were in the center of an expansive clearing, and a bit further up, there was a small cave entrance.

However, Sordra’s reaction was not so small. She gasped and her body trembled in fear this time. “It’s gotta be the curse! It was just like this before!”

“Master, I smell blood in there.”

Hikari nodded and looked towards the hidden fairy. “You can show yourself now.”

At the signal, the fairy appeared next to Hikari’s head as if she had been there all along.

Sordra’s fear was momentarily forgotten as she yelped. “A fairy!?”

Hikari didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at the fairy and gave a command. “Lead the way inside. We’ll wait here for a bit, and when you find something give me a signal.”

“Yes, My Queen,” the fairy said, flying towards the entrance. She cloaked herself once more as she traversed past the rocky crevice.

“Is it really okay to send her by herself?”

“She can handle it. Besides, I want to scope this area out a bit.”