This experiment will be very interesting for me, but back to reality: don't get your hopes up, kid. I've never tried to use healing magic before because I've never had holy affinity before. Although I know the theory behind how it works, it's unlikely to be successful.

"What? Can you use healing magic? Did I hear you right? That is an incredibly rare type of magic!"

His eyes widen in surprise, and he looks at me full of hope. Now he looks like an abandoned puppy.

"Really! That would be wonderful; please, I beg of you. Try to help my friend! I will pay you whatever you ask!"

I see, so if I adopt you, you'll be a useful and loyal pet, right?

I approach the half-dead guy but immediately regret it. I frown and can barely avoid grimacing. He already smelled bad from afar, but now standing next to him, the smell of burnt and rotten flesh he gives off is simply disgusting.

Being a doctor is definitely not my passion, and I could never become a necromancer either. Dealing with an army of disgusting and smelly things like this is something I can't even imagine. Anyway, it's surprising that he hasn't died yet in such a bad state.

You have my very slight admiration for your intense desire to cling to life.

Controlling my disgust, I put my hands near him. I am very careful not to touch him. If I get dirty with all that pus and rot, it will take hours to get the smell off my hands.

I channel the holy energy out of my body and slowly project it into this guy's body. It enters his body immediately. I am surprised to see in person how holy energy is the only one that can pass through the mana barrier in living beings.

Although, from what I know, it can only pass through it when it is used for beneficial purposes for the target. That's why offensive holy magic is treated like other types of magic and blocked by mana. It's like there's something deciding when to let it in or not. What a strange phenomenon.

The principle behind healing magic is to accelerate regeneration and eliminate any toxins or infectious agents that the target may have. I have no idea if what I'm doing will work, but it's very helpful to find out how much I can control it and what I can do with it.

I concentrate all my will and evoke the image of his body being slowly regenerated. I even imagine his cells multiplying, eliminating the ones that are already dead, and expelling the toxins.

If you have cancer, then I'm sorry. This is the only method I could come up with. I wish you luck, my almost-zombie first patient.

Curiously, the experiment goes well. After a few minutes, the subject looks better than before, looking much less pale and breathing much more calmly. Although he is far from being completely recovered, I believe his life is no longer in danger.

Well, maybe, after all, I'm not a doctor.

In conclusion, this first experiment with holy affinity and healing magic was successful. Controlling this magic will make it much easier to hide my demonic nature. I smiled with happiness, and even though it is rare, I felt a little good after saving him, and the guilt diminished a little.

"It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! You must be a… No, I am sure you are a saint, a gift of the gods! Thank you, gods, for sending her!"

The other man's annoying words distract me from my momentary joy. My body begins to tremble, and anger slowly grows within my being. Gor seems very amused when he notices my reaction.

Did this wretched bastard just say that the gods sent me? That the gods gave me this power and that, thanks to those shitty bastards, I am now their saint?

You're fucking with me, right? Those bastards let a monster torture me continuously for six fucking years! Six damn years in which my body was continually torn apart and regenerated to the point where my mind was broken, until I was almost lost forever, and if it weren't for my captor's own incompetence, I would now be nothing more than a stupid puppet until the day I die.

I am very angry, very, very angry. I want to kill him. Attributing my merits to those divine wastes is unforgivable, unforgivable! It's a crime that even if he died, he couldn't even come close to paying for it!

I want to slaughter him slowly, starting by tearing off his fingers one by one and then continuing with his arms and legs. While using a firebolt, I will slowly melt his skin and boil his eyes until they explode inside his sockets.

My breathing quickens, I feel all my demonic energy trying to escape my core, and my chest hurts a lot. At this rate, I won't be able to contain it using space magic.

I must control myself. I repeat to myself, Calm down, Victoria. It's a good opportunity to find out how much self-control you have. If you live among these inferior beings, you will experience similar or even worse moments. I can't just kill them every time I get angry, or I'll end up living alone in a tomb-world.

But would that be such a bad thing? Yes, it would be bad. I don't want to end up like that, but my desires to kill him are so strong that it's too late to avoid it.

"I am so sorry, I apologize for my inconsiderate words. I only said them without thinking due to the emotion of the moment and the happiness of seeing my dear friend safe. I never wanted to be insensitive to our benefactress."

Our eyes meet, and he looks genuinely sorry, but it's too late; you're already dead to me.

"I know it must have been very difficult for you, I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been to obtain that power and how difficult it must be to live with it every day. But I want you to know that you are wonderful, and I will be eternally grateful to you!"

For a moment, my mind went blank, and I came to think that he somehow mysteriously really managed to know what really happened to me, but that doesn't make sense; he can't really know what I went through; it must all be just a coincidence... yes just a coincidence... or not?

Even so, my eyes fill with tears. I spent so many years suffering alone in those ruins, so many years where no one ever gave me comfort, so many years where only despair took over my heart, that despite knowing that those words were just a lucky misunderstanding, even so, hearing someone give me comfort for the first time, saying how hard it must have been to get all that, how hard it is for me to live now being like this, but that despite all that hell I went through, I am still wonderful, and involuntarily, they make me feel very happy.

I am a complete emotional mess. I have lost the desire to kill him... Even my emotions towards him are now very favorable.

His initial reaction was something normal in this world, where people really believe that those divine garbage helps us in something and end up attributing all the merits to them.

"It's okay... well... that... doesn't... matter anymore... thanks anyway."

The pain in my chest stopped, and my demonic energy seems much calmer now, but I'm so confused right now. Why do I feel so happy about something as stupid as this? I even ended up thanking him without realizing it when, a few seconds before, I was thinking about torturing him to death.

"You can't imagine how much I needed to hear that."

I whisper as I wipe the tears from my face. I walk over to the nearest tree and lean against it. I need to clear my mind. Eadric bows again and leaves, running to his friend.

Gor is angry; I can feel his murderous intent directed at Eadric, who, oblivious to everything, continues to attend to his friend.

[Leave him alone; that human is mine now, and if you break my things, I will make your life a living hell.]

Gor twists the tentacles inside my body, causing me intense pain, but I respond with a vortex of demonic energy inside my core.

[Do you want to fight me then? You know that I don't care enough about that human to decide to die for him, but you also know that I am willing to die rather than be controlled by you again.]

If he thinks about testing me, then he better think twice about it first. Since that day in the garden, I made the decision to never be manipulated or controlled by him again, which includes my belongings. If he wants to take them away from me, then I will fight to the end.

[Sigh… you are… cruel… to me.]

Gor stops in his tracks, and although he is still very angry, I think he finally realizes the consequences.

[Don't make me laugh; you were much more cruel to me. Anyway, let's leave that topic in the past, you won't win an argument about that.]

[But you surprise me; you are much more coherent now; it almost seems like you can talk; for the first time, I think you are trying to communicate with me.]

For a moment, Gor seemed happy with my compliment, though he quickly became angry again and tried to hide his emotions.

[Sigh…]

Our little argument was interrupted by Eadric's scream. I was so focused on fighting with Gor that I didn't notice that a monster had approached us, and since I didn't release my demonic energy or any other kind of magic, I must seem like easy prey to this thing. A delicious snack while sleeping next to a tree. I opened my eyes and saw the creature; it was an ugly snake. I have killed several of those things before, so I know they are almost harmless to me.

Gor also realized our mistake, and when he was about to turn the monster into jelly with one of his tentacles, I told him to stop.

[There's no need; I can kill it in an instant; I can't let you ruin my whole act for something as trivial as this.]

The thing jumped on me. I concentrated mana on the tip of my finger to conjure a fire bolt, but when I was about to eliminate it, Eadric got in the way. He jumped on the snake and, with his sword, clashed against it. A fraction of a second before casting my spell, I managed to divert my magic by shooting it into the sky, I was about to kill them both; that was very close.

The funny thing is that neither Eadric nor the monster realized how close they were to dying.

After the clash, the snake fell to the ground and rolled. Although for me this monster is insignificant, it is a fact that it must have quite a lot of strength and be very heavy. Despite all that, this little puppy was able to deflect it and push it back.

I am not a warrior, but at first glance, I can see that he has a lot of potential. If, even at such a young age, he could do something like that, he could be very useful to me in my plan to become an adventurer.

Besides, I like him... a little bit.

“My Lady, I'm so sorry for asking you this, but could you please go with my friend Matze and take him away from here? I will do my best to buy you time.”

I almost laughed for a moment. There's no need to run away from a bug like that, so it's necessary to buy some time, and although it looks like you washed it a little, I won't touch your dirty and smelly friend even with a stick.

To end this matter and not get into unnecessary debates, I simply fired a concentrated fire bolt at the snake. Of course, my spell hit it in the head, and it fell dead instantly.

Eadric looks very surprised, though he recovers, and a moment later, for some reason, he puts his fist on his chest and looks at me with his eyes full of emotion and determination.