TCMED 20

Chapter 20

“Your respected Imperial Crown Prince, portals are a high-level technology that requires immense human and material resources from creation to maintenance and management. We would gladly offer our assistance to Your Highness’s wise policy of expanding our response range nationwide through portals, but our research institute’s resources are insufficient…”

The man with a gentle impression who trailed off at the end was Marquis Chiron Tassis, the director of the Imperial Magic Research Institute.

Yes, that’s right—the same Tassis family that Darlyn of the Philia Trading Company had broken ties with.

With his delicate brown hair like Darlyn’s, at first glance he was easy to mistake for a frail person.

But I had to stay sharp. His true nature was that of a mad scientist who had sold his soul to magic.

Just thinking about what Chiron had done to Ethan in the latter half of the novel made my stomach turn even now.

*Bang!*

At that moment, someone on the opposite side slammed their hand on the desk and stood up.

“We’ve already agreed to take 70% of the magic stones from the monsters, and now you’re asking us to put out more supplies for some safety measure?”

The muscular middle-aged woman pointing furiously at Marquis Tassis was Monia Bern, the commander of the Royal Knights.

“But Commander Bern, if the portals aren’t properly operated, wouldn’t that cause major disruptions to this operation?”

The Marquis tilted his head at the Commander. His words weren’t wrong, but they were incredibly infuriating.

‘…But isn’t fighting here a bit much?’

I spotted the aura rising from the Commander’s fingertips and looked at the Crown Prince in shock.

But the Crown Prince, as if this were nothing new, was leisurely sipping tea in the back. No wait—was he just leaving them be because if the Commander won, he’d get what he wanted without lifting a finger?

Meanwhile, Ion, sitting in front of me, was reading a scripture he’d somehow brought along.

The light was slowly draining from my eyes. This really is a mess.

I swallowed a sigh and continued writing the meeting minutes, packaging their loud arguments as professionally as possible.

Then Johan poked me from the side. He scribbled something on the corner of his notepad and showed it to me.

—

[You don’t need to record things like that.]

—

I looked at the truly chaotic meeting hall beyond the protective barrier cast by the imperial mages, then closed my minutes book.

I bowed my head in thanks for letting me know, and Johan smiled and wrote another sentence next to it.

—

[Today’s your volunteer day, right?]

—

I wrote my reply next to his.

—

[Yes. I’m planning to leave straight from here after the meeting.]

—

If divine power is a prerequisite for being a Mitev priest, then volunteer service is the condition for maintaining that status.

You could think of it as a system where priests directly visit people who need divine power but can’t easily come to the temple.

Ever since I confirmed that my divine power had no issues, I’d been making time to apply regularly.

Johan gave me a thumbs-up in approval, and I answered with a bright smile.

“Enough. Let’s settle on 80%.”

At that moment, I heard the Crown Prince’s voice from beyond the barrier, bringing the situation to order.

There were a few chips in the walls and floor here and there, but at least it seemed no blood had been shed.

I casually glanced toward the Commander’s side and spotted Ethan standing behind her, with his usual dead-fish eyes.

In the novel, that was Ethan’s default expression when dealing with the imperial court.

Having only ever seen him smiling at me for no reason, it was oddly nice to see him as described in the novel.

“……”

But had I stared too long?

As if sensing my gaze, Ethan turned his head toward me.

The moment our eyes met, life flickered back into Ethan’s blue eyes.

And then…?

“……?”

Why is he winking one eye?

As I stared back in bewilderment at the sudden flirtatious gesture, Ethan lifted the corners of his mouth as if he’d never had that dead-fish look in the first place.

‘…I really don’t know why he acts that way toward me.’

I casually turned my head away, refusing Ethan’s wink.

After all the twists and turns, the first committee meeting came to an end. I parted ways with the temple group and headed to the volunteer site I’d been assigned.

This time, I was sent to a temporary shelter where people who had lost their homes due to the rift crisis were gathered.

“Usually about three priests come, but this time you’re alone?”

“Ah, I have somewhat better efficiency with my abilities, so the temple assigned me this way. But don’t worry—I’ll make sure to see everyone one by one without any delays.”

One additional thing I’d learned while doing volunteer work was that my abilities were unexpectedly efficient. Especially against damage caused by monsters.

I’d added that fact because the administrator seemed worried, but somehow it felt like I was bragging, which was embarrassing.

When I smiled awkwardly, the administrator’s face showed guilt.

“Oh dear, I didn’t mean to blame you, Priest…”

“No, I know you said that out of concern for the people here.”

I soothed the administrator and entered the shelter together.

What I did from then on was simple.

I visited each person one by one, asked where they were feeling unwell, applied divine power there, recommended they see a doctor if there was no improvement, and listened to their private concerns.

Seeing people who had improved so much from when they first arrived, I truly felt that coming to the temple with Ion had been a great decision.

I may be a person who can’t bring myself to believe in gods, but I couldn’t help but respect this aspect of religion.

Even though the shelter wasn’t very large, by the time I’d gone through everyone one by one, the sunset was already glowing outside.

‘I definitely came right after lunch…’

After seeing the last person, I looked for the administrator to report that I’d finished my service.

“Ah, Priest. Looks like you’re done.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve worked so hard. I’ll sign the confirmation form for you right away.”

Since volunteer service was a condition for maintaining priesthood, it was mandatory to receive a volunteer confirmation form.

It felt oddly like the volunteer activities I’d done in middle and high school—and it probably wasn’t that different.

Sigh, back then I’d go to the library every vacation just to fill my hours. The ramen at the convenience store there was really good…

“Priest.”

While I was briefly reminiscing about my school days, the administrator, who had finished signing, handed me the confirmation form.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“I should be the one thanking you. Oh, by the way, Priest.”

“Yes?”

“Someone heard rumors that a priest had come, and asked from outside if they could see you too, insisting I ask. They should be outside now—if you’re alright with it, could you see them as well?”

“Of course.”

One more person, no problem.

I nodded readily, said goodbye to the administrator, and stepped outside the temporary shelter.

I looked around, but I didn’t see the person the administrator had mentioned.

“They said they were outside, but where are they…”

Just as I muttered to myself—

“Thetis!”

A voice I’d never expected to hear here suddenly jumped out from beside me.

Startled, I flinched and raised my head.

“Ethan?”

“Yes, Thetis.”

“You’re the one who said you wanted to see a priest?”

“That’s right.”

Ethan stood with the sunset at his back, flashing a refreshing smile. I was momentarily at a loss for words.

“…How are you here? Shouldn’t you be with the knight order right now?”

“I’m off duty this afternoon.”

“I see. Then how did you end up here, and why exactly did you say you needed a priest…?”

In response to my questions, Ethan stretched out two fingers in a V shape.

“I came by because there’s a skilled cobbler nearby and I needed to drop off some shoes, and then I heard that a priest was here doing volunteer work.”

With that, Ethan folded his middle finger.

“Coincidentally, I have a part that desperately needs healing, so I took the liberty of seeking you out. Due to circumstances, it’s hard for me to get proper treatment in the knight order…”

Ethan, who had folded his index finger as well, made a sulky face.

I understood—Ethan was treated poorly from start to finish in the knight order, so it made sense that he couldn’t get sufficient treatment there.

But…

‘You’re a recovery mage…’

In this world, every mage has at least one specialized skill.

Among them, Ethan was a mage specialized in monstrous self-recovery and physical enhancement.

His combat style itself was to heal every wound as he took them and fight with his bare body, so I don’t think I need to explain how remarkable that ability is.

“……”

My gaze looking up at him grew cold.

Ethan widened his eyes innocently, as if to ask what was wrong.

Of course, it was possible for him to get injured to the point where recovery was impossible, though extremely rare, but no matter how I looked at it, that didn’t seem to be the case now.

I gave a faint smile.

To think I’d live to see the protagonist of a pure fantasy novel pulling cheap tricks with my own eyes.

I hadn’t done anything—so where on earth did things go wrong…?