I’m Not a Saint, Not a Priest, Just a Healer.

“Hey Yona, where’s your husband off to today?”
“I told you to shut it, Kairoc.”
Seated at the Adventurer’s Guild, Yona bared her teeth with a low growl.
“Still as prickly as ever I see.”
Kairoc reached over and ruffled Yona’s hair with his massive hand.
“Don’t touch me, you mutt.”

Yona was already inwardly vexed by Alec’s tardiness, and Kairoc’s taunts only stoked her irritation further.
‘I’ve been stuck with that idiot for too long.’

Yona and Alec had registered at the guild on the exact same day and time. That coincidence sparked their partnership, further cemented by their roles – Yona the healer, Alec the vanguard, popular staples for any party composition.
Thanks to that dynamic, securing parties became quite easy if they paired up. So they ended up venturing together almost constantly by default.

‘Maybe it’s time I put some distance between us.’
With that thought, Yona abruptly stood from her seat. In for a copper, in for a silver – she may as well go all out.
‘Hmph.’
Letting out a brisk exhale, she strode over to Mary in a lofty manner.

“So, got any decent outings available?”
“Oh my, not going with Alec today?”
“Feeling like I need some space.”
Mary smiled at Yona’s aloof demeanor. While Alec’s baldness wasn’t the most attractive look, his overall rugged bearing wasn’t too bad. Amongst the often crassly unrefined adventurers, he came across as relatively mild-mannered.
And he did seem to handle Yona’s prickliness well. In a way, the two suited each other quite nicely –

“…Why are you giving me that look?”
“Oh, just thinking you two make a good pair, so I’m surprised you want to split up.”
“Mary…”

No sooner had Mary finished than Yona’s expression darkened menacingly. Yet Mary’s smile merely widened, entirely undaunted.
She knew Yona’s ferocity held no real bite towards her specifically.

“Just kidding. Anyways, let’s see…if you’re heading out now, then maybe…”
As a copper-ranked healer, there weren’t actually that many comparable peers currently registered at the guild.
While holy power had an innate component, it accumulated more through life experience and training over time.
The more practiced at channeling it efficiently, the more valuable a healer became with age.
Yet their numbers remained scant – forced to operate in close combat proximity meant excessively high attrition amongst healers compared to other roles like vanguards.

“That party led by Carlson might be a good fit.”
“Carlson?”
Following Mary’s pointing finger, Yona turned to see a man bearing a wooden shield and sheathed longsword wave in her direction.
Carlson qualified as an aggressive vanguard fighters.
Yona quickly weighed the prospects. More mobile than Alec, but that wasn’t an issue. Prone to more minor injuries, but again, not a problem.
The only potential drawback was his reckless fighting style that risked major wounds…but even that was manageable, she supposed. Just a matter of stability and reliability being lower compared to Alec.

Shaking her head to clear those stray thoughts, Yona realized the real issue was more like –

“Hey-y Yona, have you graced our party with your presence today?”
Miscott, leering at her from the table where he had propped up his twin hand-axes.
“What are you grinning about, you brat?”
“Aye, are smiles banned for proper gentlemen now? Makes one seem rather ill-tempered, no?”
“Tch…”
Running a hand through her bangs, Yona scowled. That one always had a knack for getting under her skin with his snide undertones.

“So what’s your party’s mission?”
Rather than ask Mary, Yona strode over and took an empty seat at Carlson and Miscott’s table with a wooden scrape, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

“Don’t you two ever clean or maintain your gear? This dust is appalling.”
In the streaming sunlight, the particulates hung clearly visible in the air. Yona waved a hand to disperse them from her face.

“Ah, Irin’s here too.”
“Hello Yona.”
“And me as well.”
“Viola says hi too.”
The fire mage Irin – better at area control than Prickery at least, but still human.
And the elven archer Viola, certainly more reliable than the likes of Emmerson.

“Just the four of you?”
“Yeah, but with you it’ll be a full party of five. We’re headed northwest, to the forest above the catacombs – you know the area?”

The northwestern forest, a familiar destination she had frequented often before.

“What’s the mission there?”
“We need to re-tie the protective wards around the central Holy Tree. Expected to take two nights, three days total. What do you say?”
“Hmm…”

Yona pondered Carlson’s explanation. Having regained her holy cloth, she could use this as an opportunity to re-acclimate. And the northwest forest centrally located, while distant, wasn’t an overly challenging journey.

“What’s the payout?”
“Total of 20 silver coins for the job. We split five ways at 3 coins base each, plus some extra based on overall contribution.”
A fair distribution as far as Yona was concerned, so she nodded in agreement.
“Alright, I’m in then.”

It didn’t seem too bad a proposition.

For a two-night three-day excursion, there wasn’t much preparation required beyond packing travel essentials.
After arranging to regroup at the western gate, Yona returned to the Moon and Star Inn.

“Bedroll, comb, habit robes…and…”
She skipped packing any bathing supplies this time. Such luxuries were unrealistic expectations for these outings.
At best, she could give her face a quick wipe-down before moving on – bringing toiletries would just be unnecessary baggage.

“Food can be purchased on the way.”
With nine copper coins stuffed into her habit’s pockets and her rucksack shouldered, her preparations were complete.

Jingle…
“I’m here.”
Waving to the shopkeeper Henson as she entered his sundries store, Yona noisily plopped the nine copper coins onto the counter in response to his inquiring look.
“Two nights, three days.”
“Got it, I’ll pack the standard rations then.”
“Sure.”

Without a word, Henson turned and rummaged through his shelves. He produced six small pouches, then one larger one to contain the six smaller ones.
Finally three water skins, ensuring sufficient food and hydration for the planned duration.

“Where are you headed?”
“The northwestern forest. To the Holy Tree.”
“With Alec?”
A flash of annoyance – why did everyone automatically assume she was attached to Alec’s hip? Not that it was unreasonable given their usual partnership, but still irksome.

“No, I’m going with Carlson’s group this time.”
“Is that so? I just figured you’d be with Alec as always.”
“Why do I always get lumped together with that idiot?”
“Well the rumors are you two are some adventurer power couple or whatever.”
“We are not!”

With an exasperated shout, Yona shoved the ration pouches into her pack. As she turned to leave the sundries shop, she shot Henson a stern look.
“Don’t say that kind of thing again. I’m seriously going to get angry.”

Henson merely shrugged wordlessly in response.

“You’re early.”
“Packing doesn’t take that long, I’ve done it often enough.”
At the predetermined western gate meeting point, only Carlson had arrived so far. Miscott, Irin and Viola must have been running late.

“The others are just slow then.”
“More like you’re too fast.”
Seated on a bench, Carlson was carefully maintaining his blade. Using a cloth thoroughly soaked in monster fat oil, he meticulously buffed the steel to a high polish.
Then taking a whetstone, he lightly honed the edge before re-oiling the surface, repeating the process several times over. Intermittently he would raise the sword to scrutinize the edgework in the sunlight before continuing his ministrations.

“…Does all that really make a difference?”
“What do you mean?”
“All that re-oiling and honing nonsense.”
“Of course it matters.”
Carlson flashed a yellowed, gap-toothed grin.
“Treating the blade this way ensures it slices cleanly through flesh. Otherwise, you risk getting stuck in bone and…”
He dragged a finger across his own throat with a harsh slicing motion.

“You could just get it professionally sharpened at the weapon shops.”
“Expensive for us Miss Healer. You just rely on your holy cloth, so you don’t know how costly gear upkeep gets.”
“You’re kidding me.”

Yona fell silent, realizing further debate was pointless regarding matters she lacked full context for.
By then, Miscott, Irin and Viola had all arrived.

“Alright, let’s head out then. We’ll be traveling by foot.”
The standard mode, given their means.
As Carlson signed them out in the gate logbook, Yona surveyed the bustling Evian plaza.
Peals of childish laughter rang out as kids with hair of every shade – raven, blonde, blue, pink – scampered about merrily. A charming scene, though she would not be returning for another two nights at least.
Committing that lively image to memory once more, Yona turned to follow the others.

“You’ve been to the Holy Tree before?”
“Often, it comes with the job you see.”
“I suppose it would.”

Their walking order was Carlson at the vanguard, Yona behind, then Miscott – a fixed positioning. Irin and Viola fluctuated between leading or trailing, though Viola typically took up the rear for watchguard duty.
It was quite a distance to even reach the forest’s edge, too far for hired carriages to be worth the expense. At those rates, they may as well have walked regardless.

“So the Holy Tree’s wardings came undone again?”
“Seems that way. You didn’t hear anything about it?”
Yona shrugged at Carlson’s query. How would she have? It’s not like she was on close enough terms with the cathedral clergy to discuss such matters.
The mention of the cathedral made her think of that damnable brat Bigrind again, prompting an irritated teeth grinding.

“Like those preachers would actually explain things? They just pay us to get it done, then expect results without any context.”
“Oh-ho, quite the cynical view of the esteemed clergy there.”
“Will you cut that out already Miscott? Always looking to get a rise…”
Yona shot him a stern glare, raising a threatening fist that made the roguish Miscott throw up his hands in mock terror.

“Miscott, stop antagonizing Yona already. She must be lonely after leaving Alec behind.”
“Irin—!”
Yona’s furious shout reverberated sharply through the air.