The next morning came just like any other; we ate some true food, packed up camp, and departed to the great unknown (for us, at least).

All as if nothing had happened...

Which just felt so… odd. I mean, after last night, I’d expected something to change, but nothing did! Everything is exactly the same, almost as if last night didn’t even happen.

I just, I don’t understand.

I mean, I get it; nothing really happened. For everyone else at least. And even for me, in a sense. It’s not like it was some truly life-changing event or anything. It’s just, how is everything so normal?

How can everyone act like nothing happened last night, like we didn’t get attacked, like monsters almost got into everyone’s tents as they slept, how I almost let everyone down…

Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad everyone’s not mad at me or anything, but why is everyone so indifferent about that? Someone could have died! It wasn’t particularly likely, admittedly, but it was possible!

It just, it feels wrong to just move on from that like it wasn’t remotely serious.

Haa. Who knows, maybe I am exaggerating the danger we were in. It’s just, the priests told us horror stories about those who failed to keep watch, so...

Whatever, moping around benefits no one; it's time to move on with the day.

“Hey, Eli, about last night...”

Of course, as soon as I decided to move on, I was asked about it!

“Yes? What about it?”

“I’m curious as to why you panicked so much.”

“I mean, it’s not like I’m a particularly experienced fighter.” I shrugged.

She just raised an eyebrow.

Okay, fair. “It’s true! Well, not without backup, anyway.” I corrected. “I’ve just always had support whenever a fight broke out.”

“How’d that happen?”

“At first, it was because I was too young; no one lets a little kid fight if they can help it. Then, a combination of reading being my main hobby and studying to become a healer reduced the chances of me getting into a fight drastically. In the end, though, I’m a healer, and people don’t attack healers. Outside of war and the like, anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, like, all healers have this sort of alliance/truce thing where we can be rivals and such, but we’ll never truly become enemies.”

“Why’s that?”

“So that those who oppose went against all healers, again, excluding war and the like.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I knew about how healers were off limits most of the time, but I didn’t expect that to apply to kids.”

“Of course it does; how else are you supposed to hide that you got into a fight or whatnot?”

“That’s why healers are off limits!?”

“Yeah?” I answered in confusion. “I mean, that’s not the only reason, of course, but it’s the one kids care about. It’s the main reason I’m so popular at my church; I was both easy to find and fairly willing to heal you without tattling. Yeah, I required bribes in the form of chores and the like, but so did everyone else, that’s just business.” I finished with a shrug.

“You took bribes for healing?” Greg questioned, shocked.

“Of course. I wasn’t going to hide that someone got injured for free.”

“What would possess you to hide that at all!?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I ask, confused.

“Am I alone in seeing this as a problem?” Greg asks everyone else.

“I also think hiding injuries is odd,” Rapunzel agreed.

“Indeed.” Hansen followed.

“I don’t see what the big deal is; injuries happen all the time; distracting people with reports of them is redundant.” Melly countered.

“You’re not supposed to hide injuries, Melly! That only results in you dying an easily preventable death!”

“Indeed, letting wounds fester is a common cause of death.”

“What? No! We don’t leave injuries unattended! We heal them! We just don’t report them.”

“Right, never leave people injured. Hurting, possibly, fatigued, almost certainly, but never injured.”

“Okay, Melly might make sense, but Eli?“

“What did I do!”

“Why wouldn't you tell anyone?”

“It’s just what we do; it's tradition.”

“Tradition to allow kids to be hurt?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Yes! We’re a bunch of troublemakers, you know? It’s what we do. Also, that only applies to more minor wounds, bruises, scrapes, cuts, and the like; anything more severe is reported no matter what is offered. If it’s something they can hide, they will hide it; it’s better to just heal them.”

“Oh, you report major injuries?”

“Of course I do! I’m not insane. Besides, when something like that happens, the kids will usually report it anyway to get revenge. That’s, like, one of the main benefits of being an orphan, after all: sending the church after your bullies.” Don’t mess with church orphans; if you go too far, we’ll show you why the church is so feared!

“Ah, well, okay. I still think you should report all of the injuries, though.”

“As I said, I only hide minor injuries that would have otherwise been hidden. Besides, most of those times, the lesson was already learned. If not, the healer likely will rant at or mock the recipient.” Even if some people enjoy being ‘justified’ in their insults a bit too much...

“That’s, not what I expected. Anyway, what do you think, Franklin?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, while Eli’s actions are fairly irresponsible as they promote reckless behavior, that tradition is hundreds of years old and spread throughout numerous different organizations, basically anywhere with multiple healers, so even if she had refused, it would have continued. It’s far better than the kids hiding their wounds, as well.”

“See!” I exclaimed. While it wasn’t a raving review or anything, it shows that my actions are common. Though, yeah, I already know that it breeds recklessness; I’m a clear example. I don’t know how to change that, though.

Before anyone could continue the argument, Melly interrupted. “We’ve gotten off topic; why don’t we get back to the original question?”

“Oh, why I panicked?” Nods. “Okay, so, I panicked because I expected the mud slug to take charge with me playing support, as we usually do. So when that didn’t happen, I tried to adjust by asking if they could handle it, but because they were unused to solo action, they also panicked. In the end, by the time I went to take command, it was too late. And, well, it’s hard not to panic when monsters catch you flat-footed, you know?”

“True, even someone much more experienced in combat could panic in such a situation.” Rapunzel agreed. “In the end, we are lucky that you had your aura; it could have gotten… messy, otherwise.”

Yeah, that’s why I don't get why everyone’s so indifferent about this!

"Eh, we would have been fine; it’s unlikely they could have really hurt us even if they’d broken into our tents, and Eli would have eventually fought them off if they focused on her instead.” Huh, really? Hmm, I guess I wasn’t in that much danger with my ability to buff and heal. And even if someone else got hurt, the weird nocturnal wolf wannabees weren’t powerful enough to kill someone before I could heal them. “Though we should go back to using Hansen’s other summons to supplement the watch, it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of them/ has much use for his nocturnal summons otherwise.”

“Ah, yeah, I’d forgotten about that. Why weren’t we using them already?” I asked.

“As we were already using some summons, it didn’t occur to us that we weren’t fully using all of the ones we had available.”

I guess? Not that I can say anything, I also forgot.

…Though I doubt the Hero forgot.

Did, did he set me up? He had to have, right? There’s no other way this would have happened, especially during my watch specifically. For anyone else, it would have been a footnote, a ‘by the way, I got attacked last night’ interesting event, mentioned during breakfast before being forgotten. No, it had to be intentional, the question is: why? Why have me wake everyone up with my aura?

Was it for my panic? Maybe… I did learn from it, and what better way to make a lesson stick than that? I will now be much more likely to prepare for upcoming situations, as well as more likely to take command during an emergency; the Hero did say I was talented at that previously.

Well, he said I was talented at controlling the field, but there has to be a fair amount of overlap, right? Right. Besides, he would correct me if I was wrong.

…I carefully made sure to not look at the hero at that, I know he’d just smirk at me regardless.

Still, even if that’s not the case, learning more about my trait is quite valuable. And while I’d rather he just told me, if my trait’s pride really is that important, then experiencing this defeat was likely worthwhile.

Haa, how many plots do you have, Hero? It feels like every day I find a new one. And that’s only the ones I notice! How many have I missed, in general, or even right in front of me? Way too many, probably...

Whatever, as I’ve said before, and will keep saying, at least he’s here to help, and man, is he going above and beyond everyone's even wildest ideas.

Anyway, a few more questions were asked before everyone was, not satisfied, appeased for now. And with those questions answered, we continued with our travels (not that we’d ever stopped), and with it came the continuation of my lessons.

Sadly, such peace only lasted for two days before we found something I’d been dreading since I was ‘recruited’ for this mission.

Bandits.

“Are you sure?” Melly asked Rapunzel, who was reporting on what Hansen’s summons discovered.

“Positive, I checked their camp myself; they are definitely bandits.”

“So, what are we going to do about them?” Melly asks.

“We’re going to destroy them, of course. We can’t risk the guards not being able to find them, after all.” He declares. “First things first, though, what’s their situation like?”

“Fairly standard overall. The only thing of concern is that they’ve constructed a fort.”

“Truly? Then we must report their presence to the country; we lack the tools to properly siege such an encampment while they lack the means of escaping.” Greg suggests.

“It’s not a true fort.” Rapunzel quickly corrects. “It’s little more than some barricades and carriages making a wall to ward off predators and the like. It’s enough to be wary of, but it’s not a true obstacle.”

“Ah, very well. My apologies for jumping to conclusions.”

“No, I should have been more specific.” She apologized. “Anyway, while I couldn’t find exact numbers, there should be around ten bandits, twenty at worst. The main thing we need to worry about is the fact they have horses.”

“They have calvary?” Melly asks, intrigued but a touch worried.

“Possibly. While it’s clear that they are primarily responsible for pulling the carriages, it’s always possible that some are trained warhorses.”

“That’s just another thing to look out for. Luckily, while this terrain favors calvary, it will also hide any small traps, something Gregory could easily create.” The Hero assigns.

“It will be done.”

“With that, it’s time for everyone to prepare; we have enemies to destroy.”

Okay, now's the time to remember what I studied about fighting bandits—well, humans, but same difference.

Human opponents are dangerous, not usually because of their power (strong people rarely end up as bandits; there are much more profitable avenues available to them, after all), but because of their cunning.

They don’t fight fair, they set traps, taunt you into behaving recklessly, or even use magic!

Bandits also use tools like orcs can, but more cleverly, while also potentially having consumables like potions.

Their fort, if you can call it that, adds even more complications, but we are luckily powerful enough to, mostly, counter the advantage it gives.

The main thing I need to watch out for is that I need to be aware of what’s going on and always ready for some emergency healing, just in case. So no patient’s analysis (not like I was likely to use it anyway) and no hyperfocusing on anything.

And, of course, there’s the fact that not only will they attack me, I might be their main priority.

Fun…

Regardless, once everyone was ready, the Hero gave one last warning. “Remember, these are humans, despite how they act; don’t underestimate them.”

And with that, we began our assault!