I’m Not a Saint, Not a Priest, Just a Healer

“I hope there’s a village tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’d like to sleep comfortably for once.”
The encounters were still strange.
Yona, who usually didn’t complain unless the situation was really bad, unconsciously voiced her dissatisfaction.
Everyone else felt the same way about it.
It was understandable, as it had already been over a week.
During that time, they had been camping, and even then, they couldn’t sleep properly.
As a result, everyone was steeped in fatigue.
It was a night when they longed endlessly for a mattress stuffed with well-dried straw.
The group was silent.
The four people huddled together with their backs to the bottom of a hill, staring blankly at the campfire lit in the center.
‘…I wish we could stop staring at the fire.’
In her original world, she had wanted to try staring at a fire.
She got to do it plenty while living as an adventurer, but this wasn’t what she had wanted.
Due to the rising campfire light, everyone’s faces looked flushed red.
Kairoc, James, Alec, and Yona were all so exhausted that they didn’t even have the energy to open their mouths now.
“I think they’re cooked, can we eat now?”
The fish caught from the river were skewered on wooden branches and stuck in a row by the campfire.
They had ground the rock salt Kairoc had and seasoned them with it, then grilled them slowly over low heat.
“I think we can eat now. I prepared them, so there shouldn’t be any bones. Feel free to eat.”
Kairoc picked up a fish skewer first and took a bite.
Although there was some soot on them, everyone was so hungry that it didn’t matter anyway.
Yona also grabbed a fish skewer and took a big bite.
The thought crossed her mind: ‘Is it okay since it’s freshwater fish? It must be full of parasites-‘ but considering that this wasn’t the first time she’d eaten grilled fish like this, and she wasn’t in a position to be picky, it didn’t matter anyway.
‘I’ll just think of it as extra protein…’
Comforting herself with that thought, Yona took a bite of the grilled fish.
“Oh, it’s tastier than I expected?”
Indeed it was.
Although there was soot on it, that actually enhanced the crispy taste, and the salt had permeated well, giving the flesh a savory flavor.
The innards had been cleanly removed, so there wasn’t any bitterness that might have been present, and the white flesh that melted with each chew was deliciously nutty yet mild.
Moreover, all the bones had been removed, so there was no risk of getting pricked in the mouth even when chewing carelessly.
“It’s really delicious.”
Yona quickly devoured one fish and picked up another.
They had caught enough fish for everyone to eat three or four each, so it was fine to eat as much as they wanted.
The next fish, which looked like a catfish, had a slightly earthy taste.
Alec was sitting blankly, staring into the campfire.
Around the campfire, those who had laid out their sleeping bags and lain down had long since fallen into deep sleep, and even Yona was snoring deeply.
Alec, who had won in the very fair and just method of rock-paper-scissors, was to take the first watch, followed by Yona, then James, and finally Kairoc.
Sitting blankly and staring into the wavering campfire light, it felt as if time itself had stopped.
As Alec stared blankly into the campfire, his gaze suddenly fell on Yona, who was sleeping with her mouth wide open across from him.
She was sleeping deeply wrapped in her sleeping bag, but Yona always slept with her face exposed, saying she couldn’t sleep properly if her face was covered.
A slightly mentally odd healer who insists she’s a man.
A mentally strange healer who insists she came from another world.
That’s what described Yona, but she had overcome such words with her skills.
Despite being in one of the professions with the highest mortality rate along with guards, she had survived well so far.
She had good reflexes in crises and excellent coping skills.
She excellently fulfilled the abilities a healer should have.
‘It was a bit strange though…’
But her behavior in James’ village this time had been a bit odd.
Yona chasing after that black, black bear.
Her face flushed red and breathing heavily.
Her flushed face making strange moaning sounds.
Although it had disappeared without a trace after encountering that bear, even now, that image of Yona was vividly recalled in Alec’s memory.
‘What could it have been…’
Alec adjusted his posture and looked back into the campfire.
He kept adjusting his strangely uncomfortable posture, alternating between staring into the campfire and looking around.
But even as he thought about it, there was nothing else he could figure out.
He couldn’t just outright ask Yona why she made such girlish moaning sounds.
And judging by Yona not saying anything about it, he thought maybe she didn’t know either.
Today was nicely quiet.
“Hey, Yona. Wake up, wake up.”
Alec stood up and nudged Yona with his toe.
The sand in the hourglass had long since run out, but Yona showed no signs of waking up.
“Hey, Yona. I said wake up.”
After Alec nudged her several more times, just as he was thinking about maybe kicking her once, Yona finally opened her eyes groggily.
“What is it…? Is it my turn already…?”
“Yeah. It’s your turn.”
“Ugh…”
As Yona crawled out of her sleeping bag and got up, there was a cracking sound, but Alec didn’t pay much attention to it.
Everyone would be the same anyway, so it wasn’t anything unusual, and even if he mentioned it, he’d only get a “So what?” in response.
Instead, Alec left her with a “Good luck” and crawled into his own sleeping bag.
After Alec fell asleep, Yona stared blankly into the campfire and then picked up a couple more pieces of wood to push into the fire.
From now on, it would gradually get colder.
Summer had just barely entered the border of autumn, so soon it would be autumn, and winter would come not long after.
She wanted to reach the community before winter came.
And there-
‘It would be best if I could return to my original world… but that’s unlikely. If I could return to being a man…’
Still, she would have to go to Infula.
The Infula Church territory wasn’t far from the community, so travel would be possible even in winter.
It would be a bit worrying to go with just Alec, without Kairoc and James, but it should be fine.
Yona organized her thoughts in her own way.
Considering various scenarios, thinking “In this case, do this. In that case, do that.”
She made plans while preparing for the future, revising and supplementing them repeatedly.
And in her plans, there was one unchanging premise.
That was that she would return to being a man.
“Uh, ugh…”
Kairoc, who had been on the last watch, woke up the sleeping party members in turn.
Before the sun rising in the far distance spread its light across the world.
Thanks to the nearby river, mist had risen up to here, making the whole world look hazy.
“Is everyone alright?”
“Uh… I think I’m okay.”
Yona and the other party members checked their bodies and did some simple exercises to check their condition.
Fortunately, there were no problems, and as they gradually woke up, they each tidied up where they had slept.
“At least there were no demonic beast attacks tonight.”
“Yeah, wonder what’s up with that.”
They hadn’t been able to sleep properly due to the nightly attacks by demonic beasts.
The accumulated fatigue had been tough, but getting one good night’s sleep had helped a bit.
“I still hope we can sleep in a village tonight…”
Everyone nodded in agreement to Yona’s mumbling, though they didn’t verbally respond.
They poured sand over the campfire site and scraped it with their boots to erase the traces.
The wooden branches used to grill the fish were snapped into pieces and thrown far away, and the flattened sleeping areas were scattered with their feet to erase the traces.
No one was likely to be tracking them specifically, but it was an unconscious habit.
“Alright, let’s get going now. We’ll go straight over that mountain over there.”
Everyone started walking according to James’ words.
The mountain visible ahead wasn’t very high, and at a glance, it didn’t look too rugged.
Their footsteps were heavy, and although they had slept well, camping was never truly comfortable sleep, so their fatigue wasn’t fully gone.
Yona blinked her eyes, trying to stay alert.
Since her stamina was bound to be low, Yona really hoped and prayed that just for today, they could rest properly, that they could enter a village and rest.
As soon as James, who was walking in the lead, gave a hand signal to stop, everyone halted in place.
“…Don’t you hear shouting from somewhere?”
James spoke in a voice as quiet as a whisper, but Alec and Yona just stared blankly at his face, confused.
“I can hear the sound of weapons clashing too.”
James, being an orc, and Kairoc, being a lizardman, naturally had better hearing than the humans Alec and Yona.
If they said so, it must be true.
“Let’s hurry and check it out. It’s human voices. And there are other voices too… these are the roars of demonic beasts.”
Kairoc urged the party members.
Even without Kairoc’s words, Alec had already strapped on his shield and drawn his hammer, and Yona too had placed her hand on Alec’s shoulder.
“Come on, let’s hurry!”
The party members started running.
The sand and gravel scattered on the mountain path were kicked up and fell away, and the footsteps of the four people echoed loudly.
Finally, as the uphill path ended and they started going downhill-
“Oh, my.”
There was a village.
The very village that Yona and the party members had been desperately hoping for.
However, that village was under attack.
It was trolls.