“He was a hero to me too,” she answered with a warm smile when asked about her relationship with the hero. Maria Lauren was a priest who served as the recovery role in the hero’s party. She is currently a bishop and in charge of the operation of the church. She is called Saint Maria because she promoted reforms that allowed commoners to receive the miracles of the gods, mainly used only by the nobles, such as recovery magic.
“My relationship with him began when we were in the academy. One day, he approached me suddenly and asked me to teach him recovery magic. At first, I thought he was trying to pick me up. It was always like that whenever a man approached me,” Maria said with a mischievous smile. She has long black hair like silk, porcelain-white skin, and intelligent eyes. In the hero’s legend, her beauty was also praised, and it was still shining, becoming even more refined.
“But when I heard him out, I realized he was serious. He thought that the hero was a warrior who could use both attack magic and recovery magic.”
Originally, the hero was supposed to be a warrior who could use both attack and recovery magic, and it still is, but was it such a strange idea?
“It was strange indeed. Rather, having an innate talent for both attack and recovery magic was necessary. At that time, it was considered impossible to become a warrior who excelled in both, and even if one had both, becoming a successful warrior was impossible.”
But since he was the hero who defeated the demon king, isn’t he the one who makes the impossible possible?
“Well, that’s true,” she agreed. “But for more than 200 years had passed, no one like that had appeared. At the academy, they also tried to train warriors who could use both attack and recovery magic at first, but they quickly abandoned it because it was so inefficient. Attack and recovery magic are incompatible because the concept of magic is taking advantage of the world’s reason or mana, and we priests interpret the world’s reason as God’s grace and use its power as a proxy. Our fundamental ways of thinking are different, making it difficult to reconcile them.”
The difference in the way that attack magic used by wizards and recovery magic, which is the miracle of the gods, was still a topic of debate. While some could reconcile both, it had the disadvantage that both remained at a low level. “In addition, training as a warrior and training as a priest are different. At the academy, classes were divided by career goals to specialize and optimize efficiency.”
“So, did you teach Ares recovery magic?”
“I was interested. I wondered if someone without talent could receive God’s grace.”
Maria was a woman full of love, but her story was provocative. What exactly was the talent required to become a priest? “It’s about whether you can sense the existence of God, regardless of how devout you are,” she firmly denied the relationship between faith and talent.
“While feeling the presence of God can deepen one’s faith, it is not true that faith deepens one’s ability to sense God’s presence. I’ve seen many people who are more devout than I am, but they don’t feel God’s presence. That’s just talent.”
It is a well-known fact that innate talent – divine grace – is necessary for priests, but it is rare for a bishop to deny the connection between talent and faith.
“It’s not like it’s a taboo or anything. There are plenty of people who refuse to acknowledge it. Now then, let’s get back on track. He had neither talent nor faith and was someone who thought, ‘If God really exists, then why do demons exist?’ It’s a blunt statement, but there are many who think that way among those who actually fight demons like warriors.” The relationship between God and demons has often been the subject of debate, but the priests have consistently avoided a clear answer, saying “It is God’s deep plan.”
“Anyway, I was curious. Can someone without talent or faith learn recovery magic? So, that’s why I started teaching him recovery magic.” Can anyone learn recovery magic so easily? “No, it’s not easy, especially for someone without talent. It was quite difficult to teach someone who had never felt the presence of God to ‘perceive the existence of God.’ It’s like teaching a dog to speak.” But it was supposed to work out well. In the hero’s tale, the hero is said to be able to use God’s miracles. “Well, it worked out – or did it? He seemed to gradually feel the presence of God after I taught him. And after spending over two years on it, he finally learned the basics of recovery magic.”
In the end, he learned it, so isn’t that a success? “If you’re aiming to be a priest, you can learn it in as little as a month. In fact, if you have talent, you can do it unconsciously. However, in his case, there was no progress for two years. I couldn’t understand why he could continue to make an effort.” Even though there was no progress, couldn’t it be said that he became a hero because he aimed to learn recovery magic?
“Is that so? At first, I thought the same thing – ‘Ah, it’s true that people without talent can’t perform God’s miracles.’ But he continued to practice recovery magic without any sign of learning for two years. If it were an ordinary person, they would have given up if they didn’t see any results for three months. Perhaps with something like talent or faith as a foundation, they could have continued, but he had neither.”
Why couldn’t you understand why Ares was practicing recovery magic? “There is a legend that says that the ancient hero could use recovery magic, but we don’t know if that is true. Also, for over ten years until now, the roles of the party have been clearly defined. As long as the warrior role functions as the vanguard, there is no need to use recovery magic. It can be said to be common sense. Therefore, not only me but everyone at the academy felt strange that he was practicing recovery magic.”
Now that you mention it, it’s true that the vanguard warrior doesn’t necessarily need to use recovery magic. It would be convenient if they could, but if the party functions properly, there is little need for it. “That’s right. However, I only taught him about the existence of God and did not watch him practice closely. I gave him advice a few times, such as ‘you have no talent,’ but in the end, I couldn’t stop him.” However, did Ares manage to learn recovery magic?
“Even without talent or faith, it was proven that one could learn to use healing magic. However, I thought it was not very significant because he had only learned basic healing magic, which could only heal small wounds and bruises. Even among us priests, it was common sense that we didn’t need to heal the damage that wasn’t necessary during battle. If we took care of every small wound, there would be no end to it. However, he understood the importance of healing even small wounds.
Ignoring even small injuries can slow down movement. Moreover, any injury, big or small, can hinder movement. If you want to move with all your might, you need to heal all your wounds. I healed his major damage, but he healed his minor injuries himself. The tenacity of the hero’s fighting style is based on basic healing magic.”
The hero’s legend praises Ares’ perseverance in facing any adversity without succumbing. Was the secret to this in basic healing magic?
“Yes, that’s right. He knew the importance of building up such small things. Even if despairingly powerful demons appeared, he defeated them by accumulating small wounds, and even if impossible difficulties arose, he overcame them by accumulating diligent effort. It may sound simple, but it took a lot of time. We fought for three days and nights and defeated the enemy, but then we all collapsed and slept right there. If we were attacked then, we would have been wiped out.”
Maria smiled nostalgically as she remembered that time. But if they did nothing but that, the journey would become quite long. The hero’s journey shouldn’t have been that long.
“Well, if we had left everything to him, the journey would have taken an unbelievably long time, but Leon, Solon, and I were all excellent ,so we could solve most things in no time. That’s when we said to him, ‘If we leave it to you, the Demon King will die of old age.’ We were probably twisted people trying to look down on him like that. But he just laughed and scratched his head and said, ‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’ We were the ones who looked foolish.”
You seem to be having fun answering, but did you like Ares?
“I have answered that question many times before, and I always answer the same thing. I don’t like Ares, it’s true.”
There was no lie in her expression as she answered.
“It is intrusive to ask, but it is rumoured that you cannot forget Ares and have remained single.”
“I just missed my chance to get married. If I had a little more courage, I might have been married long ago. They call me a saint, but the real me is a very timid person.”
“Why did the hero die?”
“It’s sad, but it must have been God’s will. Ares’ role as a human was simply that.”
