System Class [Mender] level 2 → 3.
Noa sat in the front pew of the church after exhausting three aether stones to heal his elbow. Sitting beside him was Priest Olwen, who’d provided the aether stones in the first place, and for free no less. Apparently [Priest] was a class━so not confusing when Elorn’s clergies were called “priests”━one particularly good at communing with spirits, which meant that they were also extremely proficient at filling aether stones.
Olwen was busy explaining something about churches normally having at least one [Healer] in them, if not a [Grand Healer], but something about size, economics, or whatever the hell else came out of his mouth essentially meant that they didn’t have those.
As it turned out, Elvethor was the town’s healer, but rarely had a job to do, given that not a lot happened. Occasionally farmers falling off of ladders, or some crap.
Finally dipping into his own aether, Noa cast [Lesser Examination] for what felt like the millionth time. He’d already leveled it up to 18, as well as [Lesser Mend] to 22. Receiving the impression that the break was now “superficial”, Noa let out a sigh of relief━it would be healed with the next mending.
System [Lesser Examination] level 18 → 19.
After mending it, Noa flexed and stretched his arm a few times. It was incredibly stiff, and he guessed it could use a [Lesser Restoration] to restore any scars in his muscles or ligaments.
System [Lesser Restoration] level 3 → 4.
Immediately, it began to feel better, and with a final [Lesser Restoration], he felt back to normal.
System [Lesser Restoration] level 4 → 5.
“Done?” She-monstrosity asked, having sat on the other side of the bench, arms crossed, and the biggest frown on her face.
“No, not done yet,” Olwen said, and stared the woman down. “Waroc broke his arm. You understand that Elorn sees that as an offense?” he asked.
“What do you do with an indentured servant that runs, old fool?” She-monstrosity asked.
“So you’ve taken it upon yourselves to deal justice as you see fit? We have laws. We are not barbarians, Yana.”
Noa leaned back in his seat, simply watching the two go at it like his bickering parents.
“Justice was dealt. I own him until he pays off his debts!”
“Along with the multitude of other indentured servants you have under your wings? When’s the last time any of them paid off their debts?”
Raising his brow, Noa suddenly felt dumb for not mingling with any of the others. Actually, all of them were quiet, same as he was. That’s definitely a door I need to open up, he thought, hoping it’d give him clues to what was really going on around here.
“Bennigan did,” She-monstrosity sneered.
“And where is Bennigan now?” Olwen raised an eyebrow. “Looking for a job? A place to stay?”
“Left town.”
Olwen released a suffering sigh. “Elorn forbid you did something to that boy,” he said, the distrust apparent in his eyes. “If you want to maintain the good graces of the church, Yana, you will relieve a part of this boy’s debt for the amount that would have been paid to get an actual healing done, since he managed to do it himself, and your savage husband was the cause of it.”
“Waroc isn’t savage. It’s not his fault Noa has weak bones.”
“Go to hell, Yana,” Noa hissed. “You know I didn’t steal any of your damn apples. I even found the metal you said was an apple pit. But then your savage husband attacked me.” He huffed, and looked at Olwen. “There was no investigation into whether or not I stole apples. Is there anything you can do?”
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Olwen raised his brow. “Hmm...” he said. “I will send a letter to church headquarters, but it could take one to two months for someone with enough authority to come out and override the constable’s edict. My hands are tied.”
“Well, that’s more than what I currently have,” Noa said, then stood up and faced She-monstrosity. “I am not working more than dawn to dusk,” he pointed at her.
“He has his rights,” Olwen said, standing up. “He’s indentured, not a slave. If I hear otherwise, Yana, then Elorn’s Wrath be upon you when church headquarters finds out.”
“Very well,” Yana said, wearing her frown proudly, if that were possible. Didn’t her cheeks get tired from the downturn of her lips all the time?
She probably held it too long. Now it’s stuck, Noa said, and tried not to snicker. It was, on a stressful day, a relief to find something amusing.
He left the church building first, and wanted to scratch his eyes out when he saw how dark it was outside. Damn. And yet, Eliaz, standing at the bottom of the steps, was a sight for sore eyes.
“I heard what happened,” he said. “Are you okay?”
Noa stumbled a bit as She-monstrosity brushed by him, and watched her go for a moment. He motioned for Elvethor to walk another way with him, wary of the muscular woman hearing their conversation. “Priest Olwen is going to put in a letter for me to church headquarters about the whole apple thing,” he said, then paused as something occurred to him. “Eliaz? Why did you clothesline me that day we met?”
Elvethor raised an eyebrow, humming. “I’ve known for weeks about the apple thieving happening on Yana’s farm. I kind of thought, when I saw her chasing you, it had something to do with that?” he shrugged.
“Did you know she has more indentured servants?”
“What?” Elvethor leaned towards Noa. “Noa, I’ve only been here for a month. I came to this little town when I heard Lila was going to be staying here, and when I found out they had no healer, thought it would be a quick way to level, only...”
“There’s not enough to heal.”
“Occasionally accidents that... Oooh,” Elvethor facepalmed. “All of the severe injuries I’ve healed have come from Yana’s workers!” He dragged his hand through his better-than-Thor locks. “Way to make me feel stupid today.”
“Yeah, I’m sort of figuring it all out myself, and mostly out of desperation. I’ve never had to play detective before.”
“What does a card game have to do with━?”
“You have a card game called━Wait, nevermind.” Noa shook his head, doing his best to stay focused. “Look, I gotta figure out what’s going on, but first, I need to try freeing myself while I can. I found that metal━a lock piece━that I threw over my shoulder, except I couldn’t grab it before Waroc broke my arm.” Noa turned, starting up the street where he tried to escape the first day here.
“So you are innocent.”
Noa stopped walking, and deadpanned the elf. “You haven’t believed me this entire time, have you?”
“No, not really. I actually thought I was working with a thief, so I figured you’d be good at sneaking. You’re pretty bad at watching your back, and I don’t believe for a second that you could steal even one apple without getting caught. Now, at least. Well, kind of. I was really starting to catch on when we got caught at Lila’s.”
Blinking, Noa started to walk again, but asked, “Is that why we tried breaking into Lila’s manor? Then sneaking up on trolls?”
“Kind of. Mostly for my ulterior motives, though.”
“I still don’t fully understand why we couldn’t just knock on Blo━Lila’s front door.”
“It’s complicated. Anyways, are you taking me back to the farm?”
Noa nodded as they entered the grove. “I’m getting that lock piece. I need it to prove myself, and once I’m free... I think something else is going on here, and I don’t know what, but I’m going to figure it out.”
“You don’t want to just leave when you’re free?”
“Of course I do!” Noa announced. “Yana and Waroc freak the hell out of me! But... I want to know why she has so many indentured servants, and what she’s been doing to force them into free labor. I bet a lot of them did nothing wrong either.”
“I really hope you’re right, because if you’re not, this can end badly, politically speaking,” Elvethor warned. So Noa blew up a reputation he didn’t have, so what?
Nearing the place where he’d woken up, Noa found a distinct lack of spiritual presence. In fact, if there was any, it was too damn hard to read. He frowned, going to the grass that was still vaguely imprinted with his form, and began to pat through it.
“This is weird,” he said.
“What?”
“When I was here earlier, there was a heavy spiritual presence, but it’s totally gone now, unless...” Increasing his fervor in the search, and Elvethor kindly pulling out a dimly lit aether stone, he frantically looked for the lock. Were the spirits tied to it? Was it possible for them to be tied to an object? Why weren’t any tied to him?
One is, he reminded himself.
“Spirits don’t usually just up and leave unless they get bored, and... this spot is pretty boring. Likely just a passing experience. Groups of spirits traveling.”
“No, it was more than that,” Noa said. “I swear I could have pulled aether from midair and used it.”
“That... is a bit odd.”
“Here. It was here, I’m certain...” Noa came to a spot where the grass was completely shredded, a barren, earthy hole left in the darkness. Hell’s bells.