Part 1
When I opened my eyes, I noticed I was in a white room. When I looked around, the old man from before appeared in my vision.
“Woah!”
A surprised voice ended up coming out.
“What?!”
The old man, surprised by me, ended up also letting out a strange voice. Wait, let me calm down and analyze the situation first.
Now I remember. While I was pretending to be unconscious, I ended up actually blacking out.
In just an instant, I experienced the whole hell that Kureha Clyret has lived through until now. The sacrifices necessary to become the strongest at such a young age were more than I could handle.
And I recognize this room. This is a medical treatment room. And the man in front of me is the chief of magic research in the kingdom.
He was probably treating me as a doctor, as well as checking to see if there was anything wrong with my magic circuits.
“Are you finally awake, Healing Hero? Are you feeling sick anywhere?”
Now, how should I answer? To be honest, there’s nothing wrong with my body. Unlike the first time, I was able to handle it fairly well, since I had an idea of what to expect.
But, if I want my revenge, I can’t say that I’m fine.
I’m perfectly fine. I could just say “bring on the next person to heal” and change history and probably live a happy life.
But I don’t want that. To get my revenge, I have to retrace history a little further.
“Hii- don’t come! I hate it! I don’t want to be hurt anymore! It’s scary!”
I act out of control, just like the first time.
From what I remember, I was really traumatized by my first time using Heal. I felt like I had to protect myself at all costs. I started picking up random things and throwing them. Let’s start with the pillow.
“Calm down! No one will force you to use Heal, so let’s just talk.”
“Really?”
I act like I went back to being a child. It may seem strange, but it would happen to anyone if they had to experience the Sword Saint’s life in a single instant. It’s simply too extreme.
“It’s true. So let’s talk for a bit.”
Now, while the chief of magic research is trying to calm me down, I have to act like I’m actually calming down little by little. It’s hard, since I’m actually perfectly calm on the inside.
“First of all, can you tell me why you suddenly collapsed?”
“The moment I used Heal on the Sword Saint, all her thoughts and experiences flowed into me. All her training, wounds and battles, everything. When I realized it I had fallen over.”
The chief of magic research looked at me with suspicious but curious eyes.
“I see, so it’s not the usual Healer’s Heal, which simply speeds up the body’s natural recovery. Normally, it’s not necessary for a Healer to understand the target of their Heal, but it’s needed for the Healing Hero so he can do a perfect recreation. Interesting.”
I’m surprised. He made a fairly accurate guess. He really is an excellent magician.
While he was talking, I saw an opportunity and used my Jade Eye, but his level and talents are just that of the ordinary magician.
He must be really smart, and also the kind to get absorbed into his research. Letting his curiosity take over, he asked me a number of detailed questions. While I was answering him, a new visitor appeared.
“I heard that Keyaru-san woke up, so I’ve come to see you. I was worried when you suddenly fell over. I couldn’t stay calm.”
It’s impressive that her thoughts and words can differ so much. Her expression and gestures are perfect, I can almost believe she’s actually concerned about me.
“Flare, thank you for worrying about me.”
“I’m glad you are well. The Healing Hero’s power is tremendous, you were able to restore the Sword Saint’s arm, something even the elixir couldn’t do. Father will be pleased to know this.”
Flare gave me a sweet smile along with those words.
“It was nothing.”
“It was something alright.”
She leans forward and grabs my hands.
“The Sword Saint’s power is greater than that of a thousand soldiers. The Sword Saint will continue fighting and defeating demons. The reason why she can fight again is because you healed her, in other words, her achievements from now on will also be your achievements. As expected of the Healing Hero!”
She praises me to a level that even makes me feel sick. Thinking about her calculative words, I can guess what she’s trying to get at.
“No, the one who will be fighting is the Sword Saint Kureha.”
You’re too humble…”
Flare shows me another smile. “Here it comes”, I say to myself as I await her next words.
“Actually… the Sword Saint is, unfortunately, not the only powerful fighter this country had who needed healing. Keyaru-san, could you please lend them your power? Those who you save will go on to save many others. I will call the Bow God immediately. Please use your healing power again.”
Yes, Flare was praising me just to say this. By appealing to my conscience as a human being, she was trying to block my escape route. Truly a Flare-like plan. But I won’t go along with her.
“Wait!”
I screamed.
“I don’t want to use Heal anymore. I’m scared, it hurts. If I keep using it, I’ll either break or I’ll stop being myself!”
With a pathetic voice, I let out a weak cry to Flare. She showed a surprised face.
“So your power has such a side-effect… but with it, the more people you heal and the harder they work, the more lives will be saved. Could you please try a bit harder?”
She said with the voice of a saint, what a gentle tone.
“No, Flare can only say that because you don’t know! I can’t do it! I’ll never use Heal again!”
I say with a loud voice. Flare keeps up her smile.
“I understand, I hadn’t realized it was that hard. It can’t be helped. You don’t have to use Heal anymore, so please just get some rest for now.”
After those words, we had a small chat and then she left. She said she would come to visit again later.
Part 2
The next day, after my lessons, the maids brought me refreshments. Snacks and a cup of tea to be more specific.
Flare didn’t say anything about Heal after that.
The first time, I really thought Flare was a kind person who cared about me. I decided that, even if I couldn’t do it then, I would eventually try to live up to her expectations. I was really stupid back then.
“It takes a lot of courage to drink this.”
I say to myself. I know what this tea is.
The reason why Flare hasn’t said anything about Heal is because she gave up on persuading me, but she hasn’t given up on her goals. She has simply chosen an easier method to get me to do what she wants.
This tea with sleeping drugs is the answer. I drink the tea with all my might.
Sudden drowsiness attacks me. This is where the hell begins.
Part 3
I wake up. My body is tied to a chair. I see stone walls, iron bars and candles providing light.
This place is the dungeon under the castle. The second most difficult place to escape from.
“What’s happening? Where am I?!”
I scream and shout. It’s a natural reaction.
I hear a metallic clink sound. In that direction, I see a man with a large build and the chief of magic research, who was wearing a robed hood that covers his entire face and body.
As soon as the large man walks into the prison, he punches me, who was restrained in a chair. I fall over, my cheek hurts like it’s burning.
“How dare you talk like that? Cheeky brat. Just shut up.”
Another punch. This situation is very simple.
Flare was having trouble persuading me, so she decided to lock me up in this dungeon and drug me. She didn’t have the grace to try a second time.
My pure thought of “even if I can’t help now, I’ll help someday” was disregarded as if it was worthless.
“It hurts, don’t hit me. What did I do?”
“What did you do? The problem is that you’re so worthless you can’t do anything!”
One more hit. Despite looking like this, this man is the captain of Flare’s royal guard. And he’s intoxicated with Flare, to the point that he can’t forgive me for giving trouble to his beautiful princess.
I’m getting beaten over and over, but I’m counting each blow. I don’t remember how many there were from the first time, so I’ll make sure to count this time. I’m determined to return it all back to him.
Part 4
The lynching ends. The chair was knocked over and my mouth is filled with the taste of blood.
The man pulls my bangs and forces me to look up at him.
“With this, maybe you felt one hundredth of the pain you gave princess Flare.”
“28.”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“28 hits. I’ll never forget it.”
I’m a little vengeful. I’ll make sure to repay him for those hits.
“You’re unpleasant. Oi, old man, do your magic or whatever. Get on with it.”
“Really, you’re so violent. What would you do if he broke? He’s a valuable research material.”
“As if I care.”
“Seriously, even though we can only break his mind, what do we do if you damaged his brain?”
I feel a little bit of relief. Flare doesn’t care as long as I heal her warriors and she’s probably thinking of discarding me after, but this old man is different. The chief of magic research cares about me as his material, so he can let my mind be broken, but nothing else. It’s thanks to his minimal consideration that I only got my mind broken the first time.
Thanks to him, I’ll be able to live through that same hell again.
The chief of magic research begins wavering some kind of magic tool before my eyes. It’s a tool that makes you fall into hypnosis.
If I wanted to, I could resist, but for now I’ll surrender myself to it. He then puts some liquid in my mouth. It’s the drug. My consciousness is fading away, or rather, the drug is filling it up.
Now, I have to say goodbye to my reasoning for a while. The drug is too powerful for me to resist currently. I will completely lose my ability to think and reason. All that will fill my mind is the drug.
But I will wake up eventually.
I’ve accumulated a lot of proficiency for the Drug Resistance skill, and even my soul will try to resist the drug.
Eventually, I’ll be able to get enough proficiency to get the Drug Resistance. Once that happens, I’ll recover my reasoning.
While I was thinking this, my consciousness was slowly engulfed in darkness.
~One month after Keyaru was put in the dungeon
“Dugs! Dugs! Give me drugsssss!!”
A boy was clinging to the bars and screaming. He did this not once or twice, but for a few hours since morning.
Those were his withdrawal symptoms. He was a severe drug addict.
His fingernails were peeling off, and some spots on his head were bald from pulling his own hair.
But his body remained clean. Every now and then, the guards would knock him out and clean him. At night, he’s made to give his sperm to the knights so that their level rises. That’s the only reason why they take care of him, they don’t want any nasty disease to spread.
“He’s truly like a stray dog. Drugs drugs, does he have no pride?”
A girl comes to the cell where the boy is confined. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Light pink hair and a body full of feminine charm. But, the face that usually has a compassionate expression is now full of disdain.
It was Flare, the Magic Hero and also the princess of this kingdom.
“That’s how someone who takes this drug ends up. I doubt he even remembers his own name anymore.”
The old man who was accompanying her, the chief of magic research, corrects Flare.
“Father really is terrible for telling me to take care of this… thing. It’s disgusting.”
“Don’t say those things now.”
Finally, Flare unlocks the cage and opens the door. At that moment, the boy inside the cage leaps at Flare, but the chain connected to the collar on his neck stretches to the limit, strangling him. He falls to the ground with agony on his face.
After he fell, Flare kicked him on the head as hard as she could.
“Disgusting! Repulsive!”
Even while saying that, she approaches the boy.
“It’s time to go to work. Here’s the drug you love so much. If you want it, you know what to do.”
“Haa, haa, chinchin, chinchin.”
The boy imitates a dog, desperately begging for the drug. Flare kicked him in the ground, making him trash about in pain.
“Kyan, kyan, kuuuun, kuuun.”
Even though the boy is completely broken by the drugs, he knows he won’t get the drugs he wants if he stops pretending to be a dog here. While clutching his groin, he continues his act.
“You’re smart for a dog. Here’s your drug.”
Flare purposefully drops the viscous drug on the ground, making him lick it off. He continues to lick the dirty floor even after the drug is all gone. Even so, Flare doesn’t have any pity for him.
He can’t go out in public without easing his withdrawal a little. By giving him a small dose of the drug now, he can be made to follow orders and obey properly.
“Hey, dog, pay attention. It’s the same as the usual, don’t say a word and only use Heal when I tell you to. If you don’t obey, I won’t give you any drugs when you come back.”
“Kyan! Kyan!”
While still on the ground, he raised his face happily. Flare stepped on his face.
“You really are disgusting!”
But the boy didn’t care, he only cared about the drugs. He was happy because he was going to get more drugs soon, that’s why he was still smiling. That was all he could think of.
Flare frees him from his iron chained collar. He should properly listen for a few tens of minutes, but Flare was a little scared. There was always the chance he’d go crazy at any moment.
Quickly make him use Heal and put him back. That was Flare’s plan.
“Follow me.”
As soon as she turned her back to him, Flare felt a terrifying chill. An extremely dense killing intent and the premonition of her death.
She turned around, but there he was. A piece of trash, no better than a dog. He was following her silently as instructed.
Flare convinced herself it was all on her mind and kept walking.
Part 5
Anger wells up inside me.
Yes, it’s anger. My head was foggy, but, little by little, my mind that could only think of drugs clears up and my thoughts come back.
“You really are disgusting!”
A girl looks at me like she’s looking at trash and then stomps on my face.
Who is this girl? My head, which had lost the ability to think, and my soul are raising a voice of resentment towards the girl. Even if my mind was dead, my soul kept screaming.
This is the woman who took everything from me. The source of the hell I had to go through.
Unforgivable. I swore I wouldn’t forget it.
Even if I lose my memory, even if I lose my mind, I swore I wouldn’t forget the pain etched in my soul.
That’s why the pain overflowing from my soul awoke my mind. It’s coming back to me.
With a burning rage, I light a fire on my mind and resist the drug. That drug is like a chain. But, the bigger the chain, the more proficiency I gain by resisting it.
And finally, the time came. The proficiency I accumulated from the poisoned mushrooms and plants in the forest added to my resistance now finally gave me the Drug Resistance skill.
Aah, I understand.
My name is Keyaru.
I am me.
Suddenly, my head cleared up. Thanks to the Drug Resistance skill, I am me again! I see my enemy, Flare, with her back towards me.
I felt a crazy desire to kill. Flare’s shoulders twitched and she turned towards me.
Oh no, I have to suppress my killing intent. I managed to keep my composure. Flare looked at me suspiciously and then turned around again. She must have thought that that murderous intent I leaked out was her imagination.
The memories of the time when I’d lost myself came back to me.
Once again, it seems they did as they pleased with me.
But thanks to that, I gained pain resistance and increased the number of skills I can use. My level has also gone up, so I must have been using Looting Heal.
This is what you call human persistence. I could say about 80% of my revenge preparations are completed. All that remains is to make a detailed plan and put it into action.
Now, Flare, I’m going to humiliate you more than you humiliated me. You might think you have me on a leash for now, but I’m completely free.
My heart was burning, but my mind was cold. I have to think of a way to escape with a kidnapped Flare after I break her.
The day I settle the score is drawing near.