Chapter 48
(Raiga’s Perspective)
Inserting a Bookmark
I lay down on the bed in the inn room and glared at the ceiling. Disgust made my nose wrinkle. According to Theodor, even though the gods were different, from the perspective of a fellow cleric like him, the way Leyla had been treated at Kiara’s temple was extremely strange. Normally, clerics learn healing magic alongside holy magic, but Leyla had only been taught prayers… only holy magic. On top of that, she didn’t even know that holy magic could cancel other magical effects—basically, the basics of her education were missing.
Even with prayers, Leyla had just been told “Pray” and did so, without any proper clerical training. In other words, Theodor suspected that the Great Temple of Kiara had only taken care of her to have her, a magically powerful Leyla, perform domestic prayers to ward off monsters.
Because it’s difficult to use magic that draws on spirit power without ears, perhaps they cut her originally long ears to prevent rebellion and force her to use her magic exclusively for holy spells—or maybe to make her appear more human. Either way, that was the speculation. When I asked whether her ears could be fixed with healing magic, the answer was that what’s gone can’t be restored. …I’ve seen adventurers with a missing arm too, and if healing magic could grow arms or legs back, nobody would be in trouble.
If Leyla had been an elf—if someone had cut an elf child’s ears and forced them to pray for the country—it would have been serious enough for Kiara to risk war with the elves. By elimination, Theodor and Natasha concluded that Leyla must be a demon—or a half-demon with demonic blood.
Where the Great Cathedral of Kiara got such a child—well, it was probably purchased from somewhere. “Buying and selling people like they’re objects…” I remembered my own childhood. I didn’t know my parents. Later, I learned that a werewolf like me—someone originally fully human but capable of transforming into a wolf—is born suddenly from human parents, unlike beastmen. Most parents either dispose of the child at birth or sell them to merchants who trade monsters. I had been sold to a monster trader named Levis.
—That said, my memories are hazy about being bought by Stephan’s father as a sort of souvenir and brought to their house. I do remember being left in a cage, and if I made a fuss, the old monster merchant would hit me. Then there was the food. I was thrown raw meat of some kind, its color unfamiliar, and had to eat it. I only remember that it was smelly and terrible, but I had to eat it to fill my stomach. I didn’t know that food could taste good until I ate delicious dishes made by the chef at Stephan’s house.
—I was just lucky. Stephan’s family were wealthy nobles from a country across the sea. His father was apparently an important figure in that country’s army and trained his children diligently in swordsmanship and magic. He was especially strict with his eldest son, Stephan, insisting that swords be practiced in real combat. Apparently, I was bought as a foreign “souvenir” to serve as a sparring partner for that training.
Anyway, just by being Stephan’s playmate and fighting with his younger siblings, I was given good food and a proper bed. After I became close to Stephan, he taught me to read, and I was made to study. Well, I never liked reading, but there’s a big difference between being able to read and not being able to. If I hadn’t gone to Stephan’s house, I don’t know where I’d be now—probably used as a thug’s muscle, never taking human form, and hunted by adventurers as a monster attacking people.
I reached my hand toward the ceiling and muttered.
