Level Up Saintess

I hate to say it.

I really hate to say it.

But finding those orphanages was definitely profitable!

 

The other two weren’t nearly as awful as the first one, and there were only maybe around 10 [Cure]s to be had from the around 40ish kids that I got to see, but the fact that they were kids and were prone to small scrapes and cuts and injuries means I had plenty of [Heal]s to cast. And of course you know I cleaned every one of them, although sadly I wasn’t confident enough to pull off that crazy cleaning stunt that I did in the first orphanage. Opportunity wasted, I know, but it’s better to be smart about things and not have to wrestle with crippling disappointment later, right? I have to keep telling myself that, or I’d totally go back and try to do it. Please, anyone, stop me!

 

So yeah, I managed to net myself a good 380 exp from all of that!

 

I’m now 1005/1300, which is so close to level 14 that it’s driving me bonkers. Like, why can’t there be more orphanages in this town?! I don’t mean it, obviously, but at the very least I would like it if there were more places for me to wring exp out of. Maybe I really should come back tomorrow and clean both of those orphanages...? But whatever odd modicum of pride I’ve built up so far as a Saintess and a member of the church is really trying to guilt trip me over even considering it. Damn.

 

Oh and for the record, I tried asking the kids about anyone they knew that needed healing, but apparently the only real ‘friends’ they had were each other, or the random other orphans from the other places I’d already been to. Damn again.

 

Yup, guess it’s looking like the only option is to go to the slums.

 

~~~

 

It was a stupid plan, and I knew it was a stupid plan. But sometimes desperate times called for desperate measures, and man was I desperate to level up right now.

 

Maybe I wasn't going to die soon like I was yesterday, but being so close to level 14 that I could almost taste it was just about as agonizing for my impatient mind.

 

My journey to the slums started off innocently enough. Unlike last time, the people only ignored me in their houses at first, until one of the church-goers actually recognized me through their window and decided to come out and shout to their neighbors. People dragged me all over the place, left right and center, to the people they knew who needed my help. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people in the slums who were missing a limb, or some part of themselves, and would have never been able to make it to the church without someone else’s help. Or maybe they were just too stubborn to leave their houses, and I had to come to them to heal them, whether they wanted it or not.

 

With all the running around, healing, and people thanking me, I honestly had the thought that Chella had hyped up this place over nothing. I guess I was downplaying the memory of what happened last time in my mind... That is, until about 2 hours in, when someone started leading me down a long back alley to treat their ‘beloved’, and led me right into a trap. Yeah, this place was dangerous, how could I forget? I should have had my guard up a bit better. I never would have let this kind of thing happen to me in my last life.

 

The good news is that I made sure I had my [Benediction] running on me this whole time, because I knew that Chella had stressed the danger of this place to me many many times. It definitely helped to protect me against the thick log that my attackers tried to swing against the back of my head, although it knocked me down onto my hands and knees easily enough from the force anyways. I didn’t take any damage, and that was the most important thing, but damn did I not like that it let me get tossed around like this.

 

My mind started reeling, thinking about what I needed to do. Could I use [Lullaby]? No, it would take too long, and I could only use it on 1 of the 5 people who were surrounding me. [Judgment] would be quicker, but it still also only hits one person. It’s possible they would be surprised by whatever random attack it does, and then I might be able to escape, but I doubt they would be stunned long enough to not immediately chase after me, and I barely escaped getting chased last time only because I was lucky. I doubt I’ll be able to keep peeking back while I ran away well enough to keep picking them off with [Judgment], so maybe I should just hold on to that as a last resort. Then maybe [Soothing Bell]? That one… might be worth a try, right?

 

I arched my back a little and cupped my hands as I stayed down on the ground, hoping they wouldn’t notice what I was doing.

 

“[Sooth-”

 

“Nope!”

 

The log came crashing down against me again, slamming my head into the ground with its force. If I wasn’t still protected, it’s possible that I would have been killed by that, for sure; It’s completely no surprise that I wasn’t able to finish casting my skill. He even stepped on my back, pinning my hands under my body. He must have seen what I was doing with them just now.

 

“Seems she’s tougher than we expected.”

 

“Well, she’s supposed to be a Saintess, so it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

 

“Cut the crap and knock her out already. She’s probably dangerous!”

 

“Yeah, do it already! Just make sure you don’t accidentally kill the merchandise, man.”

 

“No one’s gonna pay for a dead Saintess, after all…”

 

The man who just talked, the one stepping on me and holding the log, suddenly let it drop next to me with a thud. He leaned down over me, making his foot that was pinning me press down harder on my back.

 

“[Strike]!”

 

From the corner of my eye I could see his fist coming down to hit my head, and I reflexively flinched and shut my eyes, even though I was sure I wouldn’t take any damage from the hit. He was hitting me with his hand instead of that thick, stick-like log after all, so there was no way it would do as much-

 

I’m an idiot. Didn’t Chella warn me? It’s not just me who can use skills, no matter how ‘special’ I am.

 

For the first time ever, I could see cracks forming in my vision, showing me that my [Benediction] was about to break.

 

“Ah- [Benediction]!”

 

I closed my eyes and shouted the skill with all my speed and might, afraid what would happen if my one protection went away. I managed to get it off before the man could hit me with another skill, and the shield on me immediately refreshed to full, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t slammed with yet another hit just milliseconds later, causing big fissures in the new shield’s glow. It’s amazing that such a basic sounding skill like [Strike] could burn through my shield like this, when even a frantic person possessed by blood-beasts could only barely make a crack in it during an intense fight.

 

At least Chella didn’t lie to me; Those slimes truly were the easiest of the easy monsters if this was any indicator.

 

“Hey, shut her up already! What are you doing?!”

 

As the man standing over me started defensively stuttering out excuses, I saw another one of the five reach over and grab ahold of my face. I fought against him desperately, but my neck is only so strong, not to mention my tongue, and it didn’t take him long before he successfully stuffed a cloth into my mouth and began tying up my hands behind my back. I tried to look at him and cast [Judgment], but the skill wouldn’t go off because my words weren’t clear enough. And now that it was obvious that I wouldn’t be able to cast any skills against them, the gang of kidnappers easily picked me up and carried me away over one of their shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

 

I’m… such an idiot. Chella told me it would end up this way, and I was just too big of an overconfident idiot to realize how correct she was. Skills really are no joke. To be able to do more damage with your bare fist than with a thick log… I put too much stock in my own broken seeming skills, and didn’t put any into anyone else’s. Or maybe I thought I, with my little to no experience using skills in a fight against another person, would just be somehow too cheaty to ever possibly lose. I should have known better... I had too inflated of an ego from all the cool stuff that I could do, and didn’t realize that most of the time, experience will beat the crap out of being ‘gifted’.

 

I got greedy and overconfident; It’s plain as day. Two things I was never once like in my past life, and now that it’s happening to me, it’s immediately costing me... And here I was starting to think that this new life of mine now that I’d re-found Kale might just turn out better for the both of us. I see now that this hope was just a stupid lie. I’m powerless, just like I was in my last life. Always have been. I don’t know why I thought this punishment run would have been any different. I'd been so silly, forgetting my place and daring to hope.

 

Goddess… Was this your plan, or did I just bring this on all by myself with my impatience?

 

My falling tears left a small hopeless trail behind us as we walked.

 

~~~

 

I’d been carried for a few minutes now before I felt that we’d finally stopped, and I could see that one of the men was fumbling with a key at a door, seemingly having forgotten which one he needed to use out of the many he had attached to his keyring. The others were getting agitated by how slow he was moving, and soon they started slapping his shoulders and back in annoyance.

 

“Hurry up! We’ve got to make it inside already, before-”

 

“-Before someone comes looking for her?”

 

The men all jerked their heads in the direction of the voice, as did I. I knew who that voice being to-!

 

From on top of the nearby shabbily roofed homes, Ferr stood looking down at all of us. Somehow she looked even more big and intimidating than all the other times I had seen her. Her tail thrashed around, showing her anger, but all she did was cross her arms and smile at us.

 

“I’ll give you guys 5 seconds to figure out that this isn’t gonna work out for you and run away. Make sure you leave the girl with me before you go though, okay?”