After traveling the long road, we somehow finally made it to the village of Dagaz. Cecilia went over her preliminary report with us and, according to her, Dagaz was just a small village with a population of only a few hundred people.
To get a good grasp of the situation, we did a once over of the village, and it was in pretty bad shape. Homes were burnt to the ground and there were traces of battle and blood everywhere that needed to be cleaned up in order to makes the crop fields usable again.
The people passing by had lost the light in their eyes, their faces were pale, and too many of them were bound in bandages.
"It's worse than we thought. Let's go visit our client, the mayor, at his home first."
In the village was a remarkably large house and I assumed that was the place. So, guided by the villagers, we headed towards his home in order to meet the mayor.
"Oooh! Could it be, the comrade of the Hero who slayed the Demon Lord, Cecilia-sama, has come to save us? Thank you ever so much for coming."
The old man who came out to greet us was the mayor. His head was wrapped in bandages, and his foot dragged behind, seeming to be injured.
"First, let's begin by healing you, Mayor. If you could, I’d like you to to gather all the injured people in a central location in the village."
"Of course, Cecilia-sama. ...By the way, who are those people over there?"
The mayor was looking at me and Shiek. Cecilia was wearing cleric robes, but Shiek and I were both in our everyday civilian wear. We looked like your regular everyday villager and a kid.
"They are my friends, and both have accompanied me to help carry out your request. I can guarantee they are both quite capable, so please rest assured."
The mayor easily accepted Cecilia's assertion about us. Both Shiek and I lowered our heads and looked forward to working with Cecilia to help the village.
Cecilia was depending on me, and the mayor didn't seem like a bad guy. Shiek's expression when he bowed wasn't too bad either. Time to get my hands dirty!
"Leave it to us!"
"Roger that~"
Cecilia quickly cast her healing magic on the mayor, then he got to work gathering all the wounded at the central plaza of the village.
The plaza was filled with all manner of villagers, the men and the women, the young and the old. A large amount of the village's young men were among the wounded.
After healing about half the villagers, Cecilia was already sweating heavily. In contrast, Shiek with his herbal medicines and me with my cheat power were bearing the load far better.
"Cecilia, shouldn't you take a break for a little bit?"
If the healer ran out of magic, it would be like putting the cart before the horse. Worst case scenario, she'd pass out and not wake up until tomorrow.
"Haah...haaah... ...I'm fine, thank you."
She didn't look fine at all, though. Her face was already pale, and she was probably near her limit. I cast the elementary magic 《Holy Bell》 on Cecilia.
“What...wait a...minute…&r
dquo;
It was a spell that caused a magic-induced healing sleep on the target with a holy resonance. It was originally used to lull crying babies to sleep, but due to her fatigue, Cecilia couldn't put up any resistance and fell to the ground, fast asleep.
The villagers around her caused a fuss, but I didn't mind them.
I asked the mayor to prepare a place for Cecilia to stay so she could get some rest.
"I'm sorry. Cecilia is already at her limit for today and needs to rest. Could you arrange some lodging for us?"
The mayor was taken aback by my actions, but my words snapped him out of it.
"...I understand. However, the only inn we have in the village isn't in any shape to accommodate you after suffering some damage from the bandit attacks. But I have an open room in my home, so please take her there to rest."
We had seen the inn burned to the ground when we first took a look around the village, so I had already been meaning to ask where we'd stay the night.
But the mayor was letting us stay in his home. I carried the sleeping Cecilia there, princess style of course.
"Shiek, I'm leaving things to you for a bit."
"You can count on me, Captain~"
Once I left Shiek in charge of the villagers, I carried Cecilia all the way to the mayor's house.
Once I got there, I had the mayor's wife show me to the room, which turned out to be really dusty.
They probably didn't use this room very much. It was a simple room with a dresser and a chair next to the bed, and nothing else.
I laid Cecilia on the bed, then opened the window to air out the room a little.
"She'll probably wake up after she's had a bit of rest. When she does, please ask her to return to the plaza."
Although by the time she wakes up, all the villagers should already be healed. I asked the mayor's wife to relay that to Cecilia, then returned to the plaza to continue healing the villagers.
When almost all the villagers had been healed, Cecilia returned.
She looked incredibly angry.
"......Youki-san. I need to have a few words with you."
With that smile that didn't reach her eyes, I knew Cecilia was definitely her mother's daughter. Shiek was scared out of his mind and hid behind me.
But I could only think that her angry face was cute too...and was able to keep my composure.
Not only that, I didn't think I was in the wrong, doing what I did.
"...I will admit that I was wrong for suddenly casting sleep magic on you. But, if you had continued to heal people like that, you would have passed out. I didn't want that to happen to you, so I resorted to drastic measures."
Cecilia gave some thought to my words. Shiek couldn't handle the tension in the air between me and Cecilia, and began to cry. He looked so pitiful, I patted his head to reassure him.
"Is that so...you were just thinking of what was best for me and acted on it, Youki-san?"
"Uh, yeah, that sounds about right."
So Cecilia did understand my side of the story. The tension dissipated and the mood returned to normal, drawing Shiek out from behind my back.
"Is it over~?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
My words got through, and Shiek was also fine, so I declared this issue to be resolved.
"Youki-san."
“Y-yes?”
Cecilia suddenly muttered a single word and I could only respond hesitantly. I realized that I had let down my guard, and after just a moment, she closed the distance between us.
"Thank you so very much."
She told me with upturned eyes in a pleasant manner. Plus, she added on a beautiful smile. My face flushed bright red, and I unintentionally sank to the floor. A different sort of smile then appeared on Cecilia's face, as though everything went just as planned.
She probably meant it as revenge for putting her to sleep, but it was more like a reward for me. And so, with our little argument over, and all the villagers healed up, we went back to the mayor's home.
"Oh, while they're here, why don't we have them take a look at Tiel?"
"She wasn't caught up in the bandit ordeal. And Cecilia-sama must be quite tired, so she doesn’t need to."
"Is someone still hurt?"
"Ah, no, she's a girl who lives at the edge of town. She wasn't here when the bandits attacked, so she wasn't injured then. It's just that...she's been weak since she was born."
She could be suffering from some kind of disease then.
If I send Shiek, he might be able to alleviate some of her symptoms.
"If you could, please tell us where she lives."
"...Is it really all right? You have my thanks. Tiel lives to the east of the village in the forest."
So in order to see the girl called Tiel, we headed eastward to the forest. Although it was called a forest, it wasn't a large and dreary place like Othell Forest where I fought the cockatrice. Just calling it the 'woods' would be more appropriate.
About five minutes in, we came upon a little wooden cabin. So I guessed this was that Tiel girl's house then?
"We're coming in~"
Without even knocking, Shiek just entered with his weird little greeting. Hey, come on now, I thought to myself as I followed in after him.
The person that lived here must love books. There were numerous shelves absolutely packed with them. Seated on a bed farther back in the room and reading a book must be Tiel-chan. For having just let ourselves in, she didn't seem all that surprised.
"To whom do I owe the pleasure? You do not appear to be from the village?"
When she finished speaking she fell into a coughing fit.
"Forgive us for intruding so suddenly. We came at the mayor's request. I am Cecilia. These two here are my friends, Youki-san and Shiek-kun. We have come to cure you of your malady."
"Is that so?"
Cecilia introduced herself and the rest of us. I thought she'd be surprised, but she replied surprisingly composed.
"Shiek, please check her condition and give her some medicine."
Shiek rushed over to Tiel-chan and took a look at the girl. He pulled out some medicine from his pack and gave it to Tiel-chan.
"Hmm, this medicine looks good, let’s give it a go~"
Shiek, you little turd, think about your patient's anxiety when you talk! Tiel-chan stared at the medicine she was given. As I thought, she must be doubtful.
"Don't worry. Shiek talks like that, but when it comes to herbal medicine, he knows what he's doing."
"What do you mean, 'talks like that'~"
"Whatever, shut up!"
Shiek looked at me with a huffy expression. I was just being a good wingman, cut me some slack!
"Excuse me, but I already took it."
During our little comedic routine she had already taken the medicine.
"......And?"
"Let's see, my body does feel a bit more relaxed."
"All right~ Then keep taking these medicines for a while, mm'kay~"
Shiek gave her a plethora of medicines, and instructed her on when and how much to take. It just meant her illness wasn't something that could be cured with a single dose.
"But you sure were lucky~. Since you were away when the bandits attacked~"
It's true, no matter how far her home was from the village proper, it wouldn't have been odd for her to be attacked as well.
"I believe you're mistaken. It's not that I have good luck. The village's Guardian Diety-sama protected me."
Tiel-chan completely changed, her eyes shining and her voice strong. I had thought she was a composed intellectual, but maybe she was more of an eccentric girl?
"Guardian Deity?"
It sounded completely bogus to me. Did they actually have things like that in this world? And even if they did, in a tiny mountain village like this?
"I heard about it from my dearly departed grandmother. A long time ago, when the village was attacked by bandits, the Guardian Deity protected them. And just the other day, I was personally protected by Guardian Deity-sama!"
Tiel-chan looked absolutely enthralled as she regaled us with the tale. Talking like that, we were feeling pulled into her story.
The village had a Guardian Deity legend, and that Guardian Deity protected Tiel-chan......Nope, I really didn't get it after all.
"So what exactly happened when you were 'protected'?"
I had a feeling that something fishy was going on in that story, and it bothered me enough that I wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"I, too, am curious about that."
"Me too~"
"...I understand. I shall tell you."
And so, to summarize, what we were told was this:
After hearing the legend from her grandmother, every day, without fail, Tiel-chan would take offerings to the Guardian Deity.
In her grandmother's day it was a common practice, but nowadays Tiel-chan was the only one who continued to do so.
On the day the bandits came, she was taking offerings to the Guardian Deity, but on her way home a sudden wave of drowsiness took her. When she finally came to, she found that she was nestled against the Guardian Deity as she slept, and that was how she escaped the struggle with the bandits.
"Captain~ That sudden wave of drowsiness, could it have been a Dark type magic?"
There was such a spell, the Dark Magic 《Nightmare Sleep》. But that spell not only put the enemy to sleep, it was also supposed to induce nightmares to torment the target.
"...Youki-san. I feel a bit suspicious of this village's Guardian Deity."
"That's not true! Guardian Deity-sama is not suspicious at all!"
As Cecilia began to doubt the Guardian Deity, Tiel-chan retaliated. She seemed to be completely devoted to her Guardian Deity.
"So, where can we find your precious Guardian Deity-sama?"
The best thing to do now was see the real thing for ourselves. Then we might be able to figure out ‘Guardian Deity-sama's real intentions.
"Guardian Deity-sama's shrine is nearby. If you doubt him to that extent, I'll take you there myself. Please, follow me."
Maybe it was the work of the medicine she took earlier, but she set out at a brisk pace.
The three of us followed after Tiel-chan and eventually came upon a worn down shrine. The door was half-broken, and the roof was falling apart. Even so, there wasn't a speck of dust or trash to be found. My guess was that the frequent cleaning was Tiel-chan's handiwork.
"Guardian Deity-sama is inside the shrine."
I wondered if there was something like a God doll or statue inside. To make sure it was safe, I carefully opened the door so it wouldn't break further, and found...
"Huh?!"
"Eh?!"
"What the?!"
The object inside was a stone statue. But, no matter how you looked at it, I could only think it must be...
"A Demon Statue?"
I couldn't see anything else inside.
It had a demonic face and two horns growing out of its head. On its body were claws and fangs, and even wings.
There was no way this thing was the Guardian Deity.
The three of us stood there stunned, while Tiel-chan held up her hands in a prayer by the side of the statue.
"This is the Guardian Deity-sama that protected me."
"Actually, I'm getting the feeling this Guardian Deity isn’t..."
"I won't stand for any slander against Guardian Deity-sa...ahum, ahum"
Tiel-chan fell into a sudden coughing fit. Even though she took Shiek's medicine, her illness wasn't healed yet. In order to not aggravate her condition further, Cecilia took the girl under her care, and headed back to Tiel-chan's home.
On their way, Cecilia lent the girl her shoulder, and Tiel-chan glared at me. It was a glare that said she wouldn't forgive me if I did anything to the Guardian Deity.
It's not like I was gonna break him, so I wished she'd relax a bit more. I watched the girls until they were out of sight, then the two of us resumed investigating the statue.
"Hey Shiek, I’m not the only one who thinks this thing doesn’t really look like some kind of Guardian Deity, right?"
"Ahaha~ Isn't it obvious~? Rather than a God, it'd be more fitting to call it a Demon."
"It really does look like a demon."
"Doesn't it~? If they really made it for the villagers to give thanks to, you would think they would have taken its appearance into account~"
What Shiek said made sense. If you really thought about it, the legend itself sounded strange. If the villagers built this thing to give thanks to their protector, then...
"Could it be that something that looked like this really saved the village? I find that hard to believe."
I couldn't see it as anything but a monster. I had no idea what would cause a monster to protect a village. My case was a pretty unique one. Or maybe some human other than me was also reincarnated a long time ago?
"Captain~ Now that I think about it, I think I've seen a guy like this before~"
"What was that?!"
"There was a trap monster, a Gargoyle, in the Demon Castle that looked like this guy~"
"...Now that you mention it..."
I almost forgot about the days I was confined to the Demon Castle.
Gargoyles were monsters that imitated statues in order to attack. There were a lot of adventurers and bandits who fell victim to these guys in the old ruins they inhabited. So why on earth was something that looked like a Gargoyle revered as a God?
"...Is this thing really just a statue? Could it be, it's a real Gargoyle?"
As I thought that out loud, the statue looked even more suspicious. Shiek held his dagger at the ready, and I prepared to cast my spells. We were ready to enter battle.
We carefully drew closer, then suddenly its eyes flared to life, and the statue jumped out of the shrine.