episode_0058

“If we’re going to spend the night here, we should start by cleaning ourselves up. I might end up with some skin disease if I don’t.”

After finishing her story, Amy grumbled, looking down at her body covered in dried blood, stating that she needed to wash up first.

“Especially you, Hilde, really need to clean up. You’ve got scars all over from fighting everywhere. If you leave them be, you could end up with an infectious disease.”

“That’s true, isn’t it…?”

An infectious disease. It was a valid point.

Undead blood was a mass of decaying pathogens. If it entered a wound, there was a high probability of causing infections like sepsis or necrotizing fasciitis.

Although Brünhilde’s body was designed to have strong resistance to infectious diseases, it was still possible to encounter such risks…

‘…Being cautious wouldn’t hurt, right?’

Having resistance rather than immunity meant there were exceptions and limitations.

There was no need to test those limits unnecessarily. If I ended up catching a disease, I would be the only one at a loss.

So, I also agreed with Amy’s suggestion to wash up first.

The problem was…

“Even if we wash up… is there anything resembling a water source in this forest?”

If it was just wetting a cloth and wiping the body, it could be somewhat managed with drinking water, but to properly wash up, we would need to find at least a decent-sized stream.

However, it was uncertain whether such a water source existed in this small forest.

I hadn’t seen one, and now wandering through the forest to find a stream before joining the paladins for rest until tomorrow morning seemed quite futile.

“Well, there’s nothing nearby….”

Freida interjected as she listened.

There was some snow piled up near the ruins, but around here, there was only a shallow and narrow trickle of a stream, making it difficult to even dip one’s toes in, let alone take a bath.

In other words, the idea of enjoying a bath was out of the question.

“Who said anything about bathing in a stream?”

However, Amy smirked with a face that seemed to worry about nothing, and she pulled out her wand, laying it flat on her left hand, then pushed the staff toward me.

“Hey, Amy?”

She looked as if she might cast a spell at me right this instant.

I reflexively stopped my right hand, which was about to grab the hilt of my sword, and asked her about her intention in pushing the staff towards me.

“I’ll clean you up, so stay still. If you make any sudden movements, it’ll come undone.”

Whether Amy knew she was in a situation where her life was at stake or not, she casually looked at me and replied.

“Purgo.”

In the next moment, the magic emanating from the wand enveloped me, transforming into a powerful swirling torrent of water.

Shooosh!

A rapid whirlwind of water, penetrating even inside the armor.

The blood and filth clinging to my body and clothes were swept away by the whirlpool of water as if being washed away.

It felt like being trapped and laundered inside a washing machine.

Amy’s wand, recorded in the “Adventurer’s Tome,” was one of the non-combat spells – the effect of a cleanliness spell.

When did I learn such a spell?

I couldn’t use it last time… Perhaps my skills have improved during that time, allowing me to acquire a slightly higher limit of magic.

Roughly a minute passed like that.

Thud!

After the cleansing, the contaminated whirlwind fell off my body, as if a water balloon, and burst in a corner of the cave.

“Phew….”

Feeling the satisfying freshness of my clean and crisp clothes, I let out a contented sigh.

It wasn’t a proper bath without soap-like detergent, but this much was enough.

Just the fact that the foul-smelling, sticky blood had disappeared made words of praise and admiration involuntarily spring to mind.

Oh, wizard, oh, wizard.

Not only was the cleaning perfect, but even the drying was flawless. The whirlwind, after cleansing, gathered the remaining moisture on my body and clothes and whisked it away.

“How is it?”

Amy asked for my impression with a self-satisfied smile.

“Uh… thanks. I never thought there would be such a method.”

I carefully examined the slightly withered and crumpled hem of my clothes, expressing my gratitude.

“Oh, and, while I appreciate it… could you give me a heads-up before doing this kind of thing next time? It really startled me at first.”

I added a piece of advice as well.

If you were going to use a cleanliness spell, you should have said something before pointing your wand. I almost got shredded, you know.

A wizard aiming their wand at you is nothing short of a declaration of intent to cast a spell on you.

I barely held back only because we had become somewhat friendly during that time. If it had been our first meeting, I would have drawn my sword immediately.

“Hey, didn’t you just zap me with lightning? Let’s call it even.”

Of course, Amy didn’t realize that her life was in danger, so she just giggled, saying it was a joke.

◆◆

After putting down her wand and finishing cleaning herself, Amy mentioned that she had run out of uses for the cleanliness spell and tried to put away her spellbook, all the while discreetly avoiding eye contact with the blood-soaked Freida, much like she did with us moments ago.

“…You’ve run out?”

“Um… yeah… maybe?”

Amy turned her head, deliberately trailing off at the end of her sentence.

It’s obvious. She’s joking about not being able to use it anymore, pretending that she can’t use it anymore after one more go.

“I-I’m fine, Miss Hilde. I mean, Amy has just started her adventures, so she’s inexperienced, right…?”

Freida chuckled and tilted her head sideways.

Narrowing her eyes and smiling, it seemed like she was trying to appeal to the maturity and consideration of someone two years older…

“It’s natural to be inadequate… I just need to be patient. As a senior.”

Perhaps due to her childish face, to me, she looked as adorable as a child boasting about her academic performance.

“No, you can do it, can’t you?!”

Amy, clearly bothered by the word “inadequate,” scowled and aimed her wand at Freida, but then, “Purgo!”

There you go, she could use it after all.

Leaning against the cave wall, I chuckled as I watched the water blast intently focused on Freida’s face.

Growling like a cat and a crow fighting, it was hard not to chuckle just watching.

◆◆

After cleansing ourselves with Amy’s magic, we filled the ship with supplies and took a six-hour rest to soothe our weary bodies.

Amy spent her time meditating with her eyes closed, leaning against one of the walls, while Pride stuck close to me, maintaining his greatsword and armor, engaging in various small talk.

“Hey, Hilde, do you have any favorite food? I, um, like roasted duck….”

“I don’t have any particular preferences… but if I had to choose, I’d lean towards meat rather than bread or fruit.”

People need to eat meat to gain strength. Strength equals muscles. Muscles equal meat. In my opinion, as a warrior living by the sword, one should tear into meat instead of bread.

“So, what will you do when we finish this mission and return to the city?”

“Well, maybe we’ll look for the next mission?”

It seemed like luck was on my side, so I figured we should look for a relatively safe mission next time to avoid the kind of hardship we faced on this mission.

Since I’ve achieved my primary goal of advancing as an Eastern Frontier adventurer, there shouldn’t be any problem living a more safety-oriented life from now on.

Actually, I thought this mission would be safer than usual because it involved the participation of paladins, but…

“Safety? Those paladins were utterly useless.”

I should think twice before taking another request from those church folks.

They left the base altogether as soon as they saw the bait of fake Abyssal priests, fearing they might be fanatics. They didn’t even show their faces until I single-handedly defeated the giant corpse after a fierce battle.

Looking back, it was actually lucky that they didn’t join us during the fight, but at the time, their support was desperately needed.

“I underestimated them.”

Taking a rest and thinking more clearly, I realized that if they had joined our party, things might have gone very differently, even if it meant trouble.

It seemed as though some might have recognized me by the way Gelda did, and perhaps among the holy knights, there were those who could discern my identity from my appearance in battle.

If that were to happen, they would all turn against me. I would have been captured and dragged back to the city by them.

What happened after that? It’s not hard to guess.

Would the organization serving the goddess simply leave a human who betrayed the warrior appointed by the goddess alone?

Without being exiled to the Laine Kingdom, I would have been confined in the underground prison within the organization and tortured until I transformed into something different from the Heilde I was.

So, I absolutely had to cover my face in front of those associated with the organization. If I couldn’t cover my entire face, then at least part of it.

Honestly, I’ve been a bit careless lately.

I wondered if just revealing my face would be enough for someone to recognize me. After all, a woman with yellow hair and blue eyes isn’t exactly rare.

But once I revealed my face, I experienced betrayal from my party members within a day, which made me fully alert.

Ah, those who can recognize me will recognize me.

Did Gelda’s weakened betrayal give a sense of tension to my relaxed mind?

Freida and Amy have already seen my face, but it seemed like I would have to thoroughly conceal my face in front of others in the future.

At least until several years pass and the name Brunhilde becomes half-forgotten in everyone’s minds.

◆◆

Anyway, after resting for about six hours, thanks to Kang Wan’s continuous activation and the efficacy of the paralysis poison antidote, some vitality returned to my exhausted body.

With the assurance that I could still move my body no matter what happened.

…I guess this is enough rest.

As the sun began to set, I stretched my body and started preparing for camping.

Laying out a cloak for a makeshift bed, cutting logs to set up a makeshift barricade at the cave entrance, things like that.

Since Amy’s warning magic would alert us if anyone approached, but you never know.

At the entrance, it seemed safer to have something set up for a more secure sleep, both psychologically and physically.

Afterward, we lay on our cloaks to rest.

To be precise, only Freida and Amy fell asleep. I remained awake for several hours past midnight.

Pretending to sleep, my intention was to check one last time what Amy might do.

I hadn’t completely shaken off my suspicion of her yet.

I had almost dispelled about eighty percent of it, but I needed to keep observing for a while longer to dispel the remaining twenty percent of my suspicion.

In the first place, the reason for spending a day inside the cave was because of that.

If I had moved as soon as I woke up, there would have been enough time to find the paladins and join them, but then wouldn’t I have been unprepared to deal with any unforeseen circumstances?

In the worst case scenario, as soon as I joined the paladins, Amy might exclaim, “That woman is from Brünnhilde!” and attack me. Therefore, it was necessary to fully recover my physical condition before joining them.

If my strength returned to its peak, I felt confident that I could at least escape even if the paladins turned against me.

Anyway, after resting for a day to fully recover my strength, I am now pretending to sleep and keeping an eye on Amy…

…

Surprisingly, nothing happened at all. It felt like it was already 3 in the morning.

…Was I overly worried?

If Amy had intended to harm me while I pretended to sleep, she would have done so by now. Seeing no reaction from her, I felt relieved for the time being.

Therefore, I also stopped monitoring and relaxed, letting my consciousness sink into the realm of dreams.

It was a peaceful night.

As if the battle that had raged from last night through dawn and into morning had been a lie.