novelraw Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Ch.42 Yeah, Let’s Help Them Out
After rescuing Aria and the captured villagers…
“Huh? Master! That monocle guy disappeared!”
“Vallien? You mean him?”
In the original story, Vallien wasn’t a major character—just an extra who kidnapped the Hatchling and hunted dragons.
“Just leave him be.”
I didn’t feel the need to hunt down and kill such a minor extra.
Right now, something far more important demands my attention…
“Ugh! Priest!”
“Please look at my husband!”
“Daddy!”
I needed to tend to the injured first.
“Sigh… Such is my fate.”
Rubbing my sore shoulder, I went from patient to patient.
‘Tending’ wasn’t anything grand—just lightly rubbing the wounds with holy magic.
The magic healed them automatically, but I had to keep my arm raised the whole time, making my shoulder ache as if it might pop out.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore! Thank you!”
I gave a small smile to the elderly man clutching my hand in gratitude, then moved on to the next patient.
“Oh… The priest saved us!”
“Priest, please help my mother too!”
While I was busy healing the wounded who called out to me desperately…
Something grabbed my arm.
Aria had seized my arm—the one casting holy magic—with her front paw, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“What’s that? It’s so cool!”
Well, even for a dragon, divine power was unfamiliar—no wonder she found it fascinating.
“That’s holy magic. It uses divine power instead of magic. There—feeling better now?”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
As I turned away from the newly healed patient reuniting tearfully with their family, I prepared to move to the next one—
“Me too! Do that for me too!”
“What? You want me to cast holy magic on you?”
Worried she might be hurt, I quickly checked Aria over—but found no injuries.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
Aria shook her head, then tugged my sleeve with a bright, pleading smile.
“I’m not hurt… but do it anyway!”
First Pipi, now Aria—was holy magic really that fascinating?
“Can I do it later? There are still lots of hurt people over there.”
Indeed, a few families still awaited treatment.
Aria placed her front paw on Hans’s hand and pondered, her big, round eyes brimming with pure innocence.
“Uuu… So you’ll do it for me a little later, right?”
I nodded at Aria’s request.
“Yeah, I’ll do it later.”
Just as I tried to slip away to treat others…
“Master, I’ve cleaned up the area… but…”
Pip!
Leah and Pipi returned after collecting the bodies.
“Kyaaa! Master, this is the Hatchling?! She’s so adorable!”
Leah immediately scooped Aria into a tight hug.
Pip! Piiiiip!
But Pipi, apparently displeased, tugged at Leah’s clothes with its beak.
“Eeek! Let go!”
Leah, ignoring it, wrapped her arms around Aria’s long belly and rubbed her own head against Aria’s.
She stroked Aria’s head gently and cooed,
“Oh my! She even talks! Sweetie, what’s your name?”
Aria, clearly unhappy, wriggled furiously, trying desperately to escape Leah’s grasp…
“Hiiing… Let go!”
Unable to break free with just a hatchling’s strength, she turned to me with pitiful, pleading eyes.
Sorry… I’ve got too much to do.
While Leah fussed over the hatchling, I finished treating the remaining patients and returned to find…
“Aria, your paws are so cute!”
“Let go of me!”
Piip!
Leah’s eyes gleamed as she admired Aria’s paws, while Pipi—now utterly charmed—pecked affectionately at Aria’s scales.
Just then, someone called out to me softly.
“Um… Priest?”
I spotted the brown-haired woman who’d worried over Aria earlier, along with who seemed to be her family.
“Yes? What is it?”
“Thank you for saving us.”
Raela and the man I’d healed moments ago—likely her husband—bowed in gratitude.
His name… escaped me.
And the boy beside them, about ten years old, was probably their son.
I waved them off modestly.
“No, it was only right to help.”
(Though truthfully, if Aria hadn’t been involved, I doubt I’d have come all this way—but saying that outright felt awkward.)
“But… are you acquainted with Aria?”
“We’re not really acquainted with Aria… but we do know her mother.”
At my vague reply—
“Liar!”
Aria squirmed in Leah’s arms and shouted, filling Leah’s eyes with suspicion.
“You don’t smell like Mom, and Mom hates humans!”
It was true Aria’s mother despised humans…
But if I did smell like her mother, that would be far stranger. I kept that thought to myself.
“Lady Icira Frosthold—Aria’s mother—does dislike humans, but that doesn’t mean she has no ties to them.”
“Huh? How do you know our mom’s name?”
Aria stared at me in wonder when I named her mother.
“Waaaah! Aria’s so cuuute!”
In response, Leah hugged her even tighter—but Leah still seemed doubtful.
“Ah… you are really acquainted with her, right?”
I nodded brightly, doing my best impression of an honest man.
“Of course! Doesn’t Aria herself confirm her mother’s name? Aria’s just a sleepyhead who doesn’t know how many human friends her mother actually has.”
“I’m not a sleepyhead!”
Aria’s protest left me speechless.
“What? You sleep for five years straight every time you nap!”
“Hwaa!? How do you know that?!”
I just shook my head at her flustered reaction.
***
Meanwhile, the Hero Party tracked Hans and Leah.
Frustration simmered as the situation grew increasingly tangled; everyone’s mood had soured.
Initially, they’d acted on pure, spontaneous goodwill.
To them, slavery was utterly wrong—something that defied divine will.
Cecilia, the platinum-haired saint, felt deep revulsion toward the institution.
Mia, the elf, had suffered for years under human slave hunters.
To both, slavery was an unthinkable evil.
So, with naive optimism, they’d smashed a few pro-slavery cities, expecting everyone to be ‘enlightened’ (or so they thought).
But neighboring cities rebelled. They used force to ‘enlighten’ those too—yet…
“Why do more obstacles keep appearing?”
More cities only rose up in defiance.
Thus, the Hero Party grew discontent.
They hadn’t come to the New Continent to abolish slavery.
Neither Cecilia nor Scarlet could answer Mia’s pointed remark.
“Tsk tsk… Humans truly trample even their own kind for selfish desire.”
Mia glared at the approaching soldiers on the map, her disgust palpable.
Cecilia tried to soothe her.
“This probably happened because the Church didn’t send proper priests here.”
She blamed herself—as if slavery existed here solely because the Papacy hadn’t dispatched enough clergy.
Seeing Cecilia’s gloom, Mia snorted.
“Hmph!”
Sensing tension, Scarlet stepped in to mediate.
“What’s done is done—no use blaming yourself. Let’s wrap this up quickly… and go catch those two.”
A Slavery Alliance now targeted every city the Hero Party had freed.
They’d wanted to abandon those cities and leave—but feared being accused of sparking war while trying to guide them toward righteousness. So they couldn’t simply walk away.
Thus, Scarlet made a decision to break the stalemate.
“Looks like blasting a few bigwigs won’t end this.”
As she scanned the map with sharp eyes, Cecilia asked curiously,
“Then what do you plan to do?”
Scarlet’s gaze turned icy.
“They want war? Then we’ll give them war.”
Scarlet had avoided war for one reason only: to prevent unnecessary casualties on both sides.
Heroes who’d triumphed in the brutal Demon War weren’t afraid of battle.
They simply couldn’t fathom why anyone would wage such horrific war over something as vile as slavery—and wanted to spare lives.
“Finally, a decision.”
Mia welcomed Scarlet’s words, and Cecilia let out a small sigh.
“Sigh… If they force our hand, we have no choice. We’ll make them truly understand God’s teachings.”
And so, they issued conscription orders across every city they’d freed.
***
We returned to the village after the rescue… but…
“Aaah…”
“Our home…!”
“Huuuh!”
The villagers stood in despair before their charred, blackened houses.
“Master… what should we do?”
Leah’s question left me speechless.
This was worse than I’d expected.
When I first arrived, I’d felt nothing—but seeing their hollow, devastated faces weighed heavier on my heart than I’d thought.
At least the slave traders had left tents and supplies behind, so no one would freeze to death tonight. Still, rebuilding the village would take considerable time.
Timber seemed especially scarce.
“O-our home… Huhuh… What will we do now?”
Raela finally broke down in tears.
Watching her, Aria began crying too.
“Hiiing… Don’t cry, Raela.”
As Aria clung to Raela’s skirt and wept, Raela pulled her into an embrace.
“Mommy…”
Raela’s son started crying as well, and she gathered him close too.
“Master… can’t we help these people?”
Hmm… Aria was alive, so it shouldn’t matter. I nodded.
“Yeah. Let’s help them out.”
With Leah’s exceptional magical skill, she could offer them tremendous aid.
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