I drop to my knees, watching as Darion is sent flying and ends up crashing into a tree. "It's over, in the end, I couldn't unleash my power as a priestess. The guild adventurers are right to call me the lightless priestess.' I let Darion down, I let down my grandfather, it's mostly that I let myself down.
"Come on assholes, Jusy, don't despair, I can do it. And I know you can do it too, believe in yourself, not in some god you don't even know exists." Darion's words reach my ears.
'You believe in me? Can the priest's skills be used without believing in gods?' I see Darion fighting with all his might against two tigrelos. 'Where does he find the determination to face this desperate situation? Where does he find the strength to fight these noterozos?' I want to have his same fortitude.
I hear footsteps approaching me, I turn my gaze towards the creature that is heading towards me. Step by step, with a slow walk he wants to scare me so that he can't react. "But it's no use, I wouldn't be able to react even if it did."
"Hey bitch, I'm here." I hear a familiar voice again, Darion comes between me and the tigrelos, starting a duel with the latter, but another tigrelos attacks him from behind.
'He is protecting me to allow me to unlock my power.' I look over Darion's back, who is fighting to the death against all those Tigrelos attacking him from all sides. 'I can't sit still while he sacrifices himself in vain for me.' I stay on my knees, grab the staff that I had dropped and squeeze it tightly between my hands. I channel my Astra through it and at the same time I start to believe in myself, but not only… I also start to believe in Darion. A golden light manifests from my hands and begins to swirl around the staff until it rises and reaches the crystal ball at the top. The orb begins to emit a brighter light, emanating my power, a light so powerful it blinds all tigrelos standing before Darion. "I knew it." I hear his voice saying it.
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The light blinds the tigrelos in front of me, allowing me to take advantage of their openings. I cut off two heads, going towards the third, but this other one doesn't let himself be hit and moves away, dodging my cut, followed by his companions and finally they flee inside the forest.
The light fades more and more, until it disappears completely. My blades do the same, I'm completely dry from my Astra and end up sinking to my knees on the ground. "Darion!" Jusy gets up and takes me by the shoulders. "Wait, I'll take care of you now." He places his hands on my wounds, a small yellow light comes out of them, small particles begin to accumulate on my open wounds healing them.
"See? In the end it wasn't that hard, you managed to use your healing." I smile at Jusy, the latter blushes.
"You almost died, I wouldn't say it was easy." She finishes treating me, she gets up. "But it was only thanks to you that I succeeded." A small smile appears on her face.
"Okay, we'll think about it later, now let's take the rat heads to the guild." I get up, feeling better with the care Jusy gave me.
"Certain." She nods and helps me pick up the missing head and then walks over to where we killed the previous ratdogs and she picks up their heads too.
After the collection we head towards the city of Maduville, thinking of one thing. 'Of course also carrying heads, when tails or teeth would have been enough, strange but that's what the mission requires so I have to carry it out as such.'
We pass the entrance to the city and head towards the guild hall. People are watching us carry these heads through the streets, and I can understand the scene being quite gruesome to see. 'I have to find something to hold the items I collect.'
Between our brisk steps and people's looks that fluctuate between disgust and fear, we arrive at the guild. We enter the doors and make our way to the counter.
"Good afternoon, we have brought the heads that the mission requires." I rest my head on the counter, to my amazement, the guild girl is not as shocked or disgusted as the citizens we glimpsed along the way, she is not only the girl but her colleagues as well. 'They've probably seen so many of these scenes, they've gotten used to it.'
Her colleagues help her carry the heads to the same room where they showed my ID. After a few minutes the girl leaves the room with a smile. "Everything has been checked and I congratulate you on completing the mission. This is your reward for completing the mission." He places exactly ten pieces of silver on the counter.
"Thank you very much, see you next mission." I take the coins and together with Jusy I leave the guild. "Jusy these are the coins that you-"
"Still with this story, Darion? I already said it was my gift, I don't want it back." Jusy pushes back my hand which she holds inside the coins.
"You are very stubborn, that's fine then I will gladly accept your gift." With this statement Jusy makes the cute pout she had on her face disappear. "Jusy can you tell me where I can find a map of the region?" I want to buy a map, so I can finally know my location more specifically.
"Sure, I know the perfect shop." Jusy is once again my city guide. "By the way Darion, I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, but isn't the noble family you served looking for you to see where their servant is?" I suspected that if he asked me this question, I might just be lying, but after spending time with this girl, I don't want to.
"Mhhh well in the end I'm a simple servant, I don't think such a thing is necessary, but Jusy, after I have to reveal something to you." I say with a serious look, she nods just as seriously, understanding my state of mind.
We reach the shop where the maps are, we go in, say hello to the seller and I tell him what I need, he immediately shows us the map I asked for and sells it to me for the price of two silver coins. Having bought the map, we go back to the inn and I can't wait to find out where I ended up.
We enter the inn, telling everything that happened to Gald, the latter listens very carefully to what we reveal.
"Jusy, you...I can't believe it, I...I'm sorry, my baby. I was going to put you down and I didn't even realize it, but I didn't mean to hurt you, I just wanted you to be able to live in peace." Gald is very upset by what he was doing to his granddaughter.
"Grandpa, you don't have to apologize, I know you were doing it for my own good." The grandfather and grandson couple embrace each other, with their smiles on their faces.
'Finally.' And so their situation is resolved.