There's no one seriously ill in our territory anymore!
As the long week ended, I could declare that with certainty.
In fact, people stopped coming to me asking to heal their bodies.
"Our Young Master is a gift from the gods!"
“He must be an angel descended to earth.”
Instead, they came to praise me.
With all the territory residents praising me like this, no one was muttering about witches or demons anymore.
Thanks to that, I could finally rest properly for the first time in a while. I spent some time without any worries.
However...
"Ceres, the Emperor has invited you to a party."
One day, Ares brought this bolt-from-the-blue news.
Living quietly as an invalid in my room, I was dumbstruck by the sudden words.
I wondered if Ares was joking, but seeing her expression—like she'd just been handed poison—I knew it wasn't.
"The Emperor? You mean Empress Viol?"
“Is there any other emperor besides that woman?”
Why is that crazy tyrant bitch calling for me already?!
Empress Viol.
In the original novel, he was the third male lead to appear, and the second craziest psycho among them.
Alios and Hames were normal at first, but this guy wasn't.
From the start of the story, he was a violent emperor called a tyrant.
There's a part in the original novel where this guy summons Ceres to a party semi-forcibly, saying he wants to see her.
This was how they met, but the timing is too early!
According to the timeline, he was supposed to meet Alios, then Hames a few months later, and then Viol only after several more months. I thought I had some time based on that calculation.
Did this woman also hear the rumors about the saint and act faster than in the original?
I thought I had plenty of time and haven't prepared anything yet!
“Wait a minute. I can't even walk properly!”
Around the time the original Ceres was invited to the party, she became able to walk.
In fact, he summoned her because he heard she was well enough to attend.
"Why invite someone who can barely move to a party?"
“I said the same thing. But she heard the news that you healed the territory residents and figured you'd be well enough to attend the party."
“...What if I refuse?"
“She said she'd send soldiers to drag you there by force!”
Seems her rotten personality is the same even as a woman.
“When is this party?"
“Just one week from now.”
So unreasonable. I clenched my teeth. Telling me to attend a party when I can't even walk, and giving me only a week?
“Ceres, don't be too scared. I'll figure something out.”
Ares said anxiously.
She tried to reassure me, but I knew it was impossible.
The opponent is the Empress, an unreasonable person; there's no telling what she might do.
“...Mother, please summon the two people I mentioned to the mansion.”
I have no choice but to go. I need to recover enough to somehow walk.
“First, please summon Alios.”
“That girl comes by regularly even without being summoned."
“Then just summon High Priestess Hames.”
"Why High Priestess Hames?"
“I think I'll need the help of holy power.”
I really hate it, but I have no choice. I need very strong holy power, so I have to call Hames.
“She said last time to call her, so she'll definitely come.”
“Your body has already failed to heal with holy power several times. Still, maybe it will be different with a High Priestess?"
Ares, though skeptical, trusted my words and contacted Hames.
And then…
“It's been a while."
“Why did this person come?"
Hames, whom I had summoned, and Alios, who had come on her own, arrived.
“I was waiting, but you called sooner than expected,” Hames said bluntly.
“Is something wrong today? The atmosphere feels unsettled."
I explained the situation to the two of them.
Upon hearing my words, both their expressions distorted.
“Inviting an invalid who can't even walk alone to a party? What a novel way to be crazy.”
"That's absurd!"
Alios's reaction was the most intense.
“Doing something so ridiculous again... Don't worry, I'll figure something out!”
“It's impossible."
I cut her off sharply, making Alios face reality.
“Do you think the Empress will listen just because you're the heir to the Ducal house and the Hero?”
If she were sane enough to listen to you, she wouldn't have summoned me in the first place.
“Stop doing useless things and just help me.”
“What kind of help?"
“I need your holy power and mana."
When I said I needed it to heal my body enough to walk, both of them looked blank.
Finally, Hames spoke hesitantly.
“According to what I know, Countess Ares already tried that, but it failed.”
“The people Mother called to treat me weren't High Priests.”
“Can't you heal yourself?”
“I can't heal my own body with my power. I need your help. I'll give you whatever reward you want, so please help me."
“...I don't need a reward. However, I hope you won't resent me if there's no effect.”
Hames sounded skeptical, likely thinking it would fail.
Actually, she's right that it will fail. Holy power can't heal me no matter what.
The cause of the pain is divine power, which is superior to holy power, and it's not an injury or illness but pain from being unable to handle the power.
But that doesn't mean holy power is completely useless.
In the original novel, Hames, feeling guilty for his needless suspicion, attempts to heal Ceres. It doesn't work directly, but as he continuously uses holy power on her over time, something strange happens. She doesn't suddenly get better, but Ceres gradually becomes healthier.
At the time, they just thought, 'Wow, the High Priest is amazing,' but the real reason is revealed later.
Holy power is a lesser version of divine power but is more familiar to humans.
Continuously exposing the body to such holy power builds resistance to divine power.
Holy power acts as a sort of bridge, connecting the two properly.
If the exposed holy power is as strong as a High Priest's, this effect is amplified.
“Ceres, mana, unlike holy power, isn't unconditionally a healing force,” Alios said, looking troubled, but mana is also necessary.
“I'm not asking you to heal me, but to help me learn mana using your mana.”
“Learn mana? In a week?! That's difficult!"
“From what I know, if a practitioner with strong mana helps, one can learn mana much more easily.”
Inject mana into the other person's body. Move it around inside, letting them directly experience the sensation of handling mana and learn quickly.
Mana learned this way will play an important role for me.
If holy power builds divine power resistance, mana is used to physically withstand divine power.
'Ah, my Ceres. If you build resistance with holy power and then learn mana yourself to protect your body, you will be able to live an ordinary life.'
Both methods were discovered by the Great Mage male lead who appears later, so their effectiveness is certain. He specifically mentioned that using both simultaneously increases efficiency.
So, the Great Mage male lead personally handled the mana infusion, while Hames was called to supply the holy power. It took time, but they restored Ceres to the level of an ordinary person. Though after that, the suffering level increased, and her body broke down again.
Originally, I planned to use this method soon too.
However, I intended to call regular priests and mages to recover slowly.
But now I have to meet that crazy woman in just a week, so what choice do I have?
Even if I don't like it, let's call the strong ones to maximize efficiency.
“Both of you, quickly put yours into my body.”
The moment I urged them and took off my shirt...
"Kyaa!"
“What are you doing?!"
Alios and Hames were startled.
Alios let out a distinctly feminine scream for the first time, and Hames quickly put my shirt back on me.
“Why? Direct contact with bare skin is more effective."
“Is that why you just took off your clothes? It's not proper for a man to expose his bare skin. Don't you even know that?!”
Even though the positions of men and women are reversed in this world, a man's upper body wasn't considered particularly sexual. Why are they overreacting like this?
“Th-then what should I do? Injecting through clothes takes time."
In the original novel, because Ceres was a woman, they couldn't carelessly touch her bare skin, so they had no choice but to do it over her clothes. There's a part where they lament that it took longer because of that.
"Look, I'm fine with it, so just…”
"We are not fine with it!"
Alios shouted, blushing uncharacteristically.
"What if you suddenly take off your clothes without warning? Surely you don't do this in front of other people?!"
“I haven't."
It's not like I'd have any reason to strip in front of others anyway.
“Do you think I enjoy taking my clothes off? Honestly, I don't like stripping in front of you either. But it works faster if it touches bare skin.”
“Then what about doing it more modestly, like holding hands?"
“Hands have too small a surface area.”
It's meticulously mentioned in the original novel that it doesn't work.
I thought for a moment, then said,
“How about my back?"
“Your back?"
“I'll lie face down and expose only my back, so you can place your hands there and inject yours."
They wouldn't be shocked just seeing my back, right? I lay face down on the bed, exposing only my back.
For some reason, the two women said nothing.