Chapter 43 - Familiar Faces Gather
The days had passed quickly since we began serious training for the apprentices.
Today, Siegrune and I had been out on patrol, and upon returning to the Headquarters, we were greeted by Valeria.
"Onee-sama, Siegrune, welcome back. Here."
Without even waiting for a proper greeting, she thrust forward a bundle that looked like letters.
Apparently, the long-awaited replies had arrived.
It made sense that all the responses came together instead of individually—given the delivery schedule, mail probably didn’t run every day. Or so I assumed.
We quickly ate dinner at the usual cafeteria before retreating to the Headquarters to read them. The office was already packed with members, clearly curious. Under their collective gaze, I began skimming for key points.
Hmm… I see, I see…
"How about Siegrune’s comrades?"
"It was difficult. Only one responded favorably. And Yukari-dono?"
As time passes, people settle into their lives. Moving to another town isn’t something you can do easily. This outcome was entirely predictable.
"One person is more than enough. If they’re a former Blue Knight, there’s nothing to complain about. But my replies… were a bit mixed."
"Mixed?"
"Onee-sama, what did the replies say?"
The others watched me with interest. Especially those from the former Camp—they knew these people well and naturally cared.
"Zenobia and Caroline seem busy with the Royal Capital’s reconstruction. But once they’ve made progress, they wrote they’d like to join us."
"Those two have deep ties in the capital. Right now, they probably can’t just abandon their contacts and leave."
"If they say they’ll come once things settle, we can reasonably hope for that. Though we don’t know when."
Zenobia, the mercenary, was a major asset in combat. And Caroline, once the head of a brothel, brought invaluable insight and management skill. I wanted both of them here immediately.
Knowing them, this wasn’t mere politeness. There was a real chance they’d join.
But if we don’t know when, then there’s nothing to do but wait. Without concrete plans, we’d have to put it on hold—for now. Well, I could at least look forward to that “someday.”
"Then there’s Ophelia. She wrote pages and pages about the monsters she’s defeated lately, how much stronger she’s gotten… but on the important point, she just said, 'Wait a little longer.' That’s all."
Ophelia, the adventurer, had always struck me as a free-spirited woman. Her letter was exactly in that tone.
"Yeah… that’s definitely ambiguous."
"It’s unclear."
"Is she planning to send another letter, or is she telling us to wait until she finishes whatever she’s doing? No way to tell."
Exactly. I had no idea how to interpret it.
"See? That’s why I said it was mixed. And finally, from Rosabel-san, the healer."
"Ah, that old woman."
"Didn’t she say she was analyzing Yukari’s recovery potion?"
"And?"
This one was truly unexpected.
"Rosabel-san said, 'Let me in.'"
"Huh? Why would a woman with such status and reputation want to join us?"
"She said something about us doing interesting things. And told me to prepare a room for Colette-san too."
There should’ve been two more from the healer group, but she didn’t mention them.
Still, if two top-tier healers were joining, it would drastically reduce my burden. That alone made it welcome.
"Colette—that’s the elven healer, right? Not a direct combat asset, but in her own way, incredible."
"No kidding. Rosabel and Colette? There’s nobody on the continent who hasn’t heard of them. This isn’t just about adding strength—it’s beyond that. But if this gets out, won’t the Healer Guild make a fuss?"
"We can just ignore them."
The mention of legendary healers seemed to unsettle some members. I’d explain it later to the Camp-born crew.
"Ah, Rosabel-san did write to keep it secret. Everyone, keep this under wraps."
"But they’re legends! We can’t possibly hide this forever. It’ll come out eventually."
"The moment Yukari’s spreading it around here, the secret’s already as good as gone. If another guild finds out, we’ll deal with it then."
I didn’t know why they wanted secrecy, but the letter didn’t feel serious about it. More like, don’t go boasting about it.
And we wouldn’t stay locked up in the Headquarters forever. Once they went outside, it’d be obvious. They were celebrities, after all.
Our preparations were fine. We’d give them private rooms, but all rooms already had beds and shelves. Nothing needed setting up. If they wanted anything extra, they could buy it themselves.
Siegrune’s former colleague would get the same treatment. I should ask for more details about that person later.
"Looks like it’ll get lively again. I’m looking forward to it."
It was already plenty lively, but if it meant more fun, that was fine by me.
Several days after receiving the letters.
The apprentices’ progress was becoming visibly clear. They were living fulfilling days. I sipped tea in the office while listening to today’s training report.
Enjoying the peaceful moment, someone arrived even after dinner.
"Um, we have visitors. They say they know the president."
A trainee near the entrance said this as they ushered the guests inside.
A pair of beastfolk, their species hard to identify. I didn’t recognize them at all. Who were they? Hm?
"May I ask who you are?"
Most of us remained seated on the parlor set, but Sophie stepped forward to handle the guests. Since I wasn’t moving, she must’ve taken over. Such a hard worker.
Hmm… wait a second. Something felt off.
The moment my eyes met one of the pair, they smirked.
Faintly nostalgic, yet deeply wrong.
This… was probably a disguise. I sensed a faint magical presence. Suspicious indeed!
"Sophie, get back!"
Thanks to training, Sophie instantly retreated at my command.
The others immediately shifted into combat readiness. No slackers among the Kikyo Society’s official members.
We surrounded the intruders, watching closely. At the slightest suspicious move, they’d learn their lesson.
This was the Kikyo Society Headquarters. We wouldn’t tolerate mockery.
"W-wait, hear us out first!"
"Ah, don’t rush it!"
Their confident demeanor collapsed the moment they were surrounded. These suspicious characters were panicking fast.
They couldn’t possibly be ordinary guests.
"You two are disguised with magic, aren’t you? Drop it. Then we’ll talk."
The magic was high-level—I couldn’t fully see through it. Likely, they’d altered not just their appearance but their voices too.
"...Impressive. That was a masterwork, crafted by a renowned magic item artisan."
Huh? That voice…
One pulled something from their robe and manipulated it. The magic dispelled instantly. So it was a magic item.
"Honestly, what were you thinking? If you’d shown even a hint of hostility, I’d have crushed your hands. Rosabel-san, Colette-san."
"Troublesome lot. Hmph. Still as lively as ever—or even more so."
"Long time no see~"
Revealed before us were the healers, Rosabel-san and Colette-san.
Both were elderly, yet far too playful. One misstep and I’d have beaten them senseless.
The tense atmosphere vanished, replaced by warmth throughout the Kikyo Society Headquarters.
We moved to the parlor set for a modest welcome. I served them my ever-evolving tea-flavored composite recovery potion, perfect for two elders weary from travel.
"Mm? What is this?"
"Huh. This is interesting."
They noticed it wasn’t ordinary tea right away. As expected.
"It’s the composite recovery potion I included with the wound-healing potion I sent. More complex and effective than the last one I sent you."
"You speak lightly, but this composite recovery potion is nothing short of revolutionary for healers."
"So cool~ Definitely made the right choice coming here, Rosabel."
We could talk about the potions later. For now, I’d keep the tablet-type recovery potion a secret—something I hadn’t told anyone yet.
There was plenty to discuss with fellow healers—the appraisal results of the potions I’d sent, and more.
"But seriously, why the disguise?"
"Well… truthfully, we escaped."
"Yeah, like a runaway trip?"
"Huh? What’s that?"
In short, they’d broken out of what sounded like house arrest.
Apparently, the incident of Rosabel-san and Colette-san being captured at the Camp had caused a huge scandal. As a result, the Healer Guild had banned them from traveling.
Worse, they’d been semi-imprisoned within the Guild, forced to use healing magic only on wealthy or influential clients. They’d finally snapped, fed up with the endless, stifling routine.
From the Guild’s perspective, one could argue it was protective—keeping valuable personnel from danger, ensuring they served only safe clients. But realistically, it was probably just pragmatic and self-serving.
Disliking their confined lives, Rosabel-san and Colette-san faked going out to eat, used secretly prepared illusion magic items to disguise themselves, and slipped out of the city. They’d apparently traveled here using a magic item resembling a motorcycle.
The Guild must be in chaos by now. What a nuisance.
But more importantly—motorcycles? I wanted one. I hadn’t expected such a thing to exist in this world.
When I had free time, I’d go buy one. Though now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen any during my town visits. Maybe they were rare. If they weren’t sold normally, commissioning a custom one was an option.
As for the other two healers who’d been with Rosabel-san during the Camp days, they’d been sent to another city and weren’t with them. The Guild likely preferred to spread high-level healers across locations rather than concentrate them.
"Shouldn’t you at least let them know where you are?"
"No. Once we disappear, they’ll be the first ones questioned. Contacting them might only cause them trouble."
That made sense. After long years together, those two would probably sense something was up anyway.
"By the way, why do you want to join us? Rosabel-san, you two could go anywhere."
"Oh, we heard you were gathering a group to stir up trouble."
"Sounded incredibly fun, so we decided to come see for ourselves. You’ve been causing quite a stir, haven’t you?"
What an outrageous thing to say.
"That sounds bad. We’re not doing anything strange. Right, everyone?"
I turned to my hardworking members, who delivered the perfect response.
"Yeah, today we just beat up a few lowlife thugs and pickpockets. Nothing bad."
"Same. I only took all the money from a corrupt merchant."
"I merely twisted a pervert’s hand until it broke. Nothing more."
One after another, the Kikyo Society members reported their recent deeds. All perfectly ordinary, everyday events.
"See?"
"You’re seriously saying that…"
"I don’t know what ‘see’ you’re talking about… but fine, it sounds fun enough."
They didn’t seem fully convinced, but I didn’t understand their hesitation.
"In any case, I welcome you both as official members of the Kikyo Society. Rosabel-san, Colette-san."
The office filled with spontaneous applause. A wonderful atmosphere.
As we continued talking, I learned the two healers would keep using disguise magic items when going out. Understandable—they’d escaped, after all, and wouldn’t want to be found easily.
But they didn’t seem afraid of being exposed. More like, it wouldn’t be fun if they were found too quickly.
After all, even if their location was revealed, no one could force them to do anything. They wouldn’t fight back, but if worst came to worst, being expelled from the Guild wouldn’t matter. They’d clearly given up on the Healer Guild entirely.
They’d keep using disguises for now—but honestly, it seemed they just enjoyed using the magic items.
The disguise items did look fun. I wanted to borrow them sometime. Oh, and I wanted to ride that motorcycle too.
With two masterful healers joining, the Kikyo Society’s healing potion situation leapt forward dramatically.
Even with just me, we’d had an excessive supply. Now, it was like we could drink recovery potions like water.
For us, producing low-grade recovery potions cost almost no mana. Mass production was trivial. With three of us doing it seriously, this outcome was inevitable.
And so, the apprentices’ training accelerated. Unlimited stamina, no fear of injury.
I’d been stingy with second-grade recovery potions before, but Rosabel-san and Colette-san were rare users of the second-grade wound-healing magic. Only that level of magic could fully restore lost body parts.
With such incredible magic freely available, even if an arm was blown off or a leg torn away during training, as long as they weren’t dead, magic could restore them instantly.
At first, it was overwhelming. But as they grew used to pain, nothing could be more reassuring. The ability to train without restraint was invaluable.
We hadn’t even reached the halfway point of basic training, yet it looked like we’d finish far earlier than planned. And so far, zero dropouts. Nothing short of amazing.
The only concern was that even apprentices who hadn’t wanted to join the Combat Unit were now throwing themselves into training like battle maniacs. Well, they were still in training, and Physical Enhancement Magic probably had them feeling invincible. Surely that was all it was.
The apprentices’ progress was exceeding expectations, and we even had financial breathing room. Truly, these were smooth-sailing days.
And then, another unexpected visitor arrived.