Luckily, these deers are relatively close, to the Aren, so Dezen reached the forest with them quickly, and with no problems.
Finding them was easy too, because of disease, which made them too tired to walk.
Full of joy, thinking about payment, he crouched down, touched the first of them with his left hand and started healing.
After 10 seconds of healing, deer was still sick. Dezen didn't think much about it, because he doesn't know the real power of Fallen Disease, and he knows that this illness is serious.
He just placed right hand on him, and used Faster Regeneration with Healing Fire, to speed up this process and make deer fell better.
After around a minute, he finally cured him, but even with his help, the deer still couldn't stand.
Dezen knew it is not normal, so he checked next deer he was healing. It wasn't a medical examination, since he doesn't know how to make one and normal disease couldn't do it. Instead, Dezen checked if there is mana in his body.
As he expected, there was, what means that there are two possibilities.
The first, is that they found and ate something with plague mana. Possibility that they found such thing is small, and it becomes miniscule after adding the fact, that it would probably have terrible taste.
The second, and more possible, is that someone with plague magic attacked them, probably to test his new spell.
Even thinking about, Dezen felt despise towards that person. However, he couldn't be sure, so he had to check it.
He knew how to do this, because while he was accepting this assignment, he was told to check if some mage is responsible for it, and then they explained this process.
The method is quite simple, he has to find their excrement and sense if there is mana in them. If there is, it means they ate something with plague mana, if there isn't, or it's in small amounts, someone had to use a spell to infect them.
Luckily, now Dezen doesn't have to touch something to sense mana in it.
And as he expected, it was there.
He then returned to healing deer.
When he ended, he quickly came back to the city, and informed church about his discovery.
The man responsible for assigning quests, became angry after hearing it, excused himself to Dezen for a moment, and went to deliver this information to someone.
He then came back after a few minutes and told that the church will send people to examine this, and check the deer he healed. He also gave him proposition to join them.
Dezen didn't expect it, nor did he know why they gave him it, but he accepted this proposition.
They set out the next day at the sunrise.
It turned out, they needed him, to show them where exactly the deer were, to closely examine that area, and to join that group.
Deer trust him, because he healed them, so he could travel with them, getting to know the areas where they live.
This way, they'll get to know where to look for clues, possibly leading to that plague mage.
There is also possibility that Dezen will find some places, where deer are reluctant to go. If he does, it could be a place where they were infected by that mage, or something else worth attention.
That work wasn't hard, so he treated it as kind of holidays, with no training, to let his mind rest.
After 5 days, he has been to most of the places where the deer lives, so he rejoined church mages, and tried to help them look for traces of the plague mage.
He was also learning how to use telekinesis, as it was part of the payment for curing deer.
After 3 more days, they ended. During this time, he learned how to look for clues, and deduced, how to get rid of them.
Spending time with Church of Alen mages was great for Dezen. They talked a lot, made jokes, always tried to be kind, and so on. Dezen didn't know why they are doing it, but he had some suspicions.
He thought that this is a way how church is kept united, making a great environment for its members. The downside of this, is that people are probably somehow forced to act this way, but the longer they are in it, the less they complain about this rule.
He also took into account, that they want to recruit him in this way, showing how good is working for them, and Dezen has to admit, that if it's typical work environment of Church of Alen, he will consider joining them, instead of travelling the world, as he wanted since he was kid.
After coming back to the city, church continue investigation, but Dezen couldn't join it. However, they told him, that if he wants to be engaged in this case, they will inform him about the missions connected with it, that he can undertake.
Dezen accepted this proposition. He really wants to punish that mage, but the main reason is that he wants to build good relation with Church of Alen.
He thought about it deeply, and decided that he won't join the church, but will deeply co-operate with it, possibly being treated as one of them, in the far future. It will let him live as he please, without limiting obligations, but if working with this church is always so pleasurable, he will probably be closer to a real member than mercenary.
However, more than about benefits, he thinks about his safety. There are many strong criminals, and people with crab mentality, who will not let him live as he wants to, because they can't live that way too.
If he meets one of them, that person really wants Dezen's death, and he can't kill them, he can join Church of Alen, to protect himself.
The second assignment requires getting rid of a colony of nastecs. They are a pest, big insects with a rectangular shell on their back. They aren't magical creatures, so dealing with them is not so important.
Dezen wants to enslave them, and add to his Royal ants colony, since they're quite strong as for bugs.
Besides this, he wants to test something. Dezen noticed that magical being have strong bodies, much stronger than normal creatures. Because of it, he started wondering if it's a condition to have magical properties. What made him believe in it more, was that when he tried to add mana to normal ants, they died, both from his own and enslavement mana from Royal ants.
Travelling this time took him almost a whole day, but he will be compensated for going through such long distance.
Dezen asked villagers, where is that colony, went there, enslaving few nastecs on the way, used Fire Dog to destroy it and went back.
Dezen cannot take with him all of them, but it isn't the problem, since every female of that race can lay eggs, unlike ants.
It was so easy, because he did at night, when most of them came back to the colony, so he didn't have to look for the remaining ones.
He also didn't have to take any proof, because church there, can communicate with the main church in the Aren, via enchanted items.
Dezen's village doesn't have such possibility, because it's too far from any city.
After being rewarded, he chose to spend money to educate himself since his knowledge about magic is mostly common knowledge, or comes from his researches and tests.
Besides this, he will also learn how to write and read, and will get to know more magical beings.
During this time he won't be working, to focus on learning. Not that he would have time. Of course, he saved enough money for this, what was easy, since Church of Alen has special flats for its mercenaries, and if they pay extra food will be granted too.
Dezen didn't have much free time, but managed to explore the city a little. Inside, it is dived into many smaller areas, separated by walls and gates. There were also many strange buildings, which he assumed are part of the city's defence. He even encountered a few golems, working as guards.
These 2 weeks were long, but he even enjoyed them.
When he went to get the next assignment, he was informed that church found where that plague mage probably lives, and was offered to join the manhunt on him.
Dezen was happy hearing it, and without hesitation accepted this proposition. He then was given more details and told what his role will be.
Since it is probably some strong criminal, and there will be many mages involved, Dezen's role will be part of encirclement. He will have to prevent him from escaping, support chasing, and try to stop plagues from spreading, to save the environment. It won't be too hard for him, because the group will be big, qualified, and he won't be even taking part in the main fight, it will be done by 3 captsins of that manhunt.
He will just have to be careful, and don't look down on the enemy.