They were currently standing in front of a church.

Rosalie had told them there was only one healer in this entire village and she lived in the small church in the outskirts of the village. But the apparently, she was closed for business for a couple days now.

That left Rey a little baffled.

He didn't know churches had a closing time?

He thought they were always open so they can help people at any time necessary?

So here Rey was, knocking at the door of the church, hoping the priestess will answer.

There was nothing, so he knocked louder.

Nothing.

So he kicked the doors down.

This church was feeble and uncared for, so the doors easily flew across the hall.

He walked in, dragging Leon behind him.

At the foot of a statue, there was a woman lying drunk and unkempt. The whole church smelled like alcohol. There were cracks on the walls and creaks from the floor. Leaves and weeds littered everywhere. The benches didn't even sit straight.

It was no wonder she was closed for business.

There was no business to begin with!

Rey sighed.

It didn't matter, she was still a healer.

She'll do her job.

"Hey," Rey called, "Get up,"

The woman groaned as she tiredly sat up. Her hair was an absolute mess, tangled with strands standing at every side. She smelt like dirt and alcohol. She was even dressed in rags.

She would have still slept if it wasn't for the cold, winter air that blew in.

"Huh?" she groggily sat up and looked towards Rey and Leon, "MY DOOR!"

She went to weep at the destruction of her doors, "My door!"

"I need you to heal my friend," Rey stated, uncaring for her distress.

She scowled at him with small tears in her eyes, "I'm closed for business!"

"I'll pay you,"

"No! Closed is closed!"

She straightened her raggedy clothes, "The church is closed this time every month, that's not changing anytime soon! Wait till tomorrow, it'll open again,"

She picked up the doors and began fixing them back on the hinges.

"My friend is injured, he needs healing," Rey stated once more.

"I said tomorrow! I'm sure your friend can last that long!"

Rey stared at her silently.

He wondered if he should threaten her or if he should torture her. Either one sounded great to him.

As he pondered about it, he took a look around the church. There was a large statue of a goddess. It must be some sort of healing goddess.

Rey was never interested in churches, so he didn't know who each god was. All he knew was that churches were holy places of healing and prayers. That priests and priestesses were able to channel the power of something greater than themselves to help others, usually for healing or protection. Sometimes guidance.

This woman was not doing her job.

As Rey observed the statue, he realized that it was slightly off.

It peaked his interest.

He slowly walked over.

The woman seemed to realize this and quickly began making her way to him, "Stop! Stop!"

Rey ignored her and moved the statue. Sure enough, behind the statue was a tunnel.

"AHHHH!" the unkempt woman yelled and tried pushing them away, "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GEEEET OUUUT!!!"

It finally hit Rey.

"The cargo," he murmured.

The woman froze.

"That's where the cargo is being kept,"

The woman's face turned blue, "Don't say anything, ok?"

Rey shoved her out of his way.

This was interesting. What kind of shady work are they doing here? He was now invested.

This was why Leon had said that the protagonist was always sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong. This protagonist was just nosy, it was his nature.

Just as Rey was entering the tunnel, the woman shouted from behind.

"I'LL HEAL YOUR FRIEND! I'LL HEAL HIM, SO STAY AWAY!"

Rey stopped walking.

He turned around with Leon in tow and sat him down on one of the benches. Rey sat next to him, not trusting whatever this so called priestess was.

"Get to it then," he demanded.

The woman moped her way over and stood in front Leon. She kneeled down, clasped her hands together, and began praying.

"O' Alia, Goddess of Health and Fertility, please help this unfortunate soul and bring him back to health,"

Just as she finished, she began glowing a soft gold.

This seemed to awaken something inside of Leon. His eyes filled with anger.

Rey immediately knew where this was coming from and held him tight.

"Do it now," Rey said in a low voice.

Confused and hesitant, the woman nodded and softly touched Leon's forehead.

From this act, Leon began yelling, shouting from the top of his lungs. He began kicking and struggling, trying to fight back but to no avail.

Rey glared at the woman, "get out,"

The woman immediately did as she was told and went to stand in the cold.

'Isn't this my house?' she thought, 'why am I the one outside?'

Inside, Rey held a bawling Leon.

He had completely forgotten that this was how priests and priestesses worked. That this glow meant they were being given powers from their god.

That this looked exactly like how Leon got cursed.

Today, Rey made a promise.

He had to do better.

He had to keep Leon away from harm, whether or not that was physical or mental.

Leon was too fragile.

The door creaked open, the woman peeking inside.

"Um-"

"Get. Out."

The door shut immediately.

He continued to hold Leon, caressing his head until he calmed down. When Leon did calm down, he had also fell asleep.

Rey checked if Leon's injuries were healed. His marred skin was only left with scars. It looks like this priest wasn't that strong, but it did the job nonetheless.

He pulled Leon onto his back and began making his way out.

Outside, the woman stood, sniffling and trembling from the cold.

Rey paid her no attention and walked right passed her.

"Hey!" she yelled, "Where's my payment?!"

Rey glared at her, making her flinch.

"R-right,"

She quickly ran back inside her church.

She couldn't believed what just happened in that short amount of time. She was forcefully awaken, threatened, and robbed by some unknown man. She hoped to never see him again.

When Rey made it back to the village, he took a look around.

It was a fairly normal village.

Food stalls, restaurants, and shops all on one road. People bustling and going about their day.

The only thing weird about the village was the lack of guards. This village was so close to the forest yet there were so few guards. It didn't seem like the villagers were scared of this fact despite knowing that the forest was dangerous.

It made Rey wonder what was going on in this village.

As Rey was deep in thought, he hadn't realize that he was getting stares from the civilians passing by. They weren't hostile, just curious and admiring a new face. It was mostly because Rey was effortlessly giving a piggyback ride to another full-grown man who didn't seem to be injured or handicapped. Rey was even going around shopping and helping others as if he wasn't even carrying Leon at all.

Eventually, Rey made it back to the inn. There, he was met with Rosalie and her father again.

"W-welcome b-b-back," Rosalie stuttered as he father waved.

Rey nodded in acknowledgment and went on his way.

In the past, Leon would have struck up a conversation, allowing the protagonist and the harem's newcomer to interact more. As a result, this would easily help gather more information as well as deepen the protagonist's relationship with the new added character. Unfortunately, Leon was out of action. And with the protagonist's current personality, there was no way he would go out of his way to start small talk with some random people.

Once Rey made it back to their room, he forced Leon to wake up using his powers. He previously realized that if Leon slept peacefully, he would choose not to wake up. As such, Rey could only force him awake. And vice versa, he would also have to force him to sleep, but that only happened very few times.

Rey hated the idea of doing this, but there were things to be done.

Rey walked to the bathroom to turn on a warm shower before heading back the room.

"It's time to wash up,"

It didn't surprise him that Leon was still dressed, just standing at the same spot and staring lifelessly at the ground.

Without a second thought, Rey went to undress him, taking everything off before throwing him into the shower. Shortly after, Rey followed behind.

The water was warm, but unfortunately the size of the shower was small. Rey didn't think too much about it. It was as expected seeing how they were in a small village with a small inn. Luckily, it had just enough space to fit the both of them.

Rey thoroughly washed Leon's hair and body, making sure to get the three days worth of dirt off him. After he was done working on Leon, he washed himself.

It wasn't long before they were done showering and went to change. Rey threw away their old clothes and dressed in a pair new ones that he just bought. It was better to blend in with the people around here than to walk around standing out, especially since their old clothes were dirty and worn down from the travel.

Rey looked outside.

It was almost sundown.

He knew tonight was going to be busy for him. So, he decided to rest early.

He laid on the bed with Leon beside him. Leon quickly fell back asleep as if it was the easiest thing ever. Rey, on the other hand, just stared out the window, watching the sky get darker.

There were many thoughts that went through his head, most of them about Leon. But others about his upcoming travels. And though it didn't show on his face, he was excited to start a new journey. This journey that'll be for him and his friend. He just hoped that his friend will find a reason to come back soon, whether or not that changed him into a new person.