Chapter 8: What a Cheap Miracle
Kazuma had annihilated most of the Ibinom within the country.
However, this didn’t mean everything was over.
There were still things left to do.
In the Third Area, where the Jade Knight was stationed, Ibinom attacks had transformed it into a hell of shrieking pandemonium. Of course, thanks to the Jade Knight’s efforts, the Ibinom had now been wiped out, but the city lay in ruins, a hellish scene of collapsing buildings and flying screams.
“Someone, someone come quick! My friend’s dying! Please, anyone…!”
“Please! Help my daughter! She’s not breathing! Anyone at all…!”
“Aah, no…! My arm…! Uwaaah…!”
“Dad! Dad!!! Wake up!”
“No…! Ugh… uuu…!”
“This… How can this be!”
Here and there, people injured by the Ibinom were crying out for help.
The National Defense Force was desperately engaged in rescue efforts, but there was a limit to how many they could save.
Hospitals were still functional, but they had already exceeded their capacity to accept patients and were paralyzed.
Tents had been hastily set up outside hospitals to create makeshift wards, but they couldn’t cope with the sheer number of injured.
For many, all that remained was to wait for death.
“(I can’t just stand by and watch lives that can be saved be lost…)”
Kazuma, witnessing the scene through the Jade Knight’s eyes, activated a wide-area Recovery Magic.
A gentle, pale green light enveloped the patients, healing their injuries.
No one could tear their eyes away from this miraculous sight.
Of course, Japan had its share of healing-type Gifted. Their abilities varied, from enhancing natural healing to closing external wounds, but no one had ever seen recovery like what was happening before their eyes.
No, it was just that no one in Japan had seen it; such individuals existed overseas. Holy Maiden Charlotte, for instance. She could regenerate even severed limbs and heal any condition as long as the person wasn’t dead.
However, her Gift was extremely limited, targeting only one person at a time. She couldn’t heal every person within sight as was happening now.
Perhaps, if her Gift were to grow, it might become possible, but it was impossible at its current stage.
Therefore, what was happening before their eyes was truly a miracle.
Shedding tears of joy, people offered prayers to heaven. “It’s a miracle, a miracle!” they rejoiced, but they would likely never believe that it was caused by a single person.
“(Well, that’s more convenient for me anyway… It’d be a pain if they started worshipping me. It feels like a new religion could even spring up.)”
When people are truly cornered, they cling to God. And they also resent God. They offer thanks to the God who saved them and curses to the God who abandoned them. Humans are truly convenient creatures.
“(Now, has that settled things down?)”
Kazuma checked the situation in various locations through the Jade Knight’s eyes. He had annihilated the Ibinom within sight, and with the cooperation of the National Defense Force, the Ibinom hiding in buildings and underground had also been eliminated.
Then, he healed the injured, including those with minor and major wounds. However, even Kazuma couldn’t bring the dead back to life.
Resurrection Magic existed, but Kazuma couldn’t use it. It wasn’t that his training was insufficient; it was simply because it was a divine act.
Therefore, the only ones who could use Resurrection Magic, even in the other world, were the Holy Maiden and the Pope, who had received permission from the Goddess.
This Resurrection Magic had conditions: it had to be within twenty-four hours of death, and the body had to be intact. If these two conditions weren’t met, Resurrection Magic couldn’t be used.
Kazuma had been the recipient of this miracle many times.
He had been greatly indebted to it when he was poisoned to death by a Honey Trap.
Holy Maiden Marianne from the other world, who had been made to use a divine act for such a trivial matter, had been furious about this. Though usually gentle and rarely angered, she had resurrected Kazuma after he died from a Honey Trap, only to then beat him half to death with a mace.
◇◇◇◇
“Are we clear!? Don’t make me use a divine miracle for something so ridiculous!!”
“Y-yesh!”
Poisoned to death by a Honey Trap, the white sheets Kazuma lay on were soiled with his vomit, and now stained crimson with his blood.
“Resurrection Magic is incredibly exhausting! More than you can possibly imagine! My mana is pushed to the brink of depletion, and it takes a huge toll on my stamina, you know!”
“I’m sho shorry!”
The once-white sheets were rapidly turning crimson with Kazuma’s blood. Marianne continued her lecture, a mace stained with Kazuma’s fresh blood gripped in her hand. Kazuma, blood streaming from his head, listened to Marianne’s scolding through blurred vision.
“You’re a man, and I know from traveling with you that you get carried away easily. But what is the meaning of falling for a beautiful woman’s invitation and getting poisoned every single time! Do you have no learning capacity!?”
“N-no…”
“Then why do you keep getting caught like this?”
“……”
“Your silence means you admit your guilt, doesn’t it?”
Actually, Kazuma had briefly lost consciousness, but there was no way for Marianne to know.
Her lecture continued after that. It’s easy to imagine that by the time she finished, Kazuma was once again on the verge of being summoned to heaven.
◇◇◇◇
Since he couldn’t use Resurrection Magic, Kazuma used Teleportation to recall the scattered Jade Knights, stored them in his dimensional storage, and returned to Ivy with an innocent expression.
At Ivy, Kazuma’s family, including Honoka, his actual mother Kumiko, and his stepsister Nanami, were all gathered. There were many people.
However, there was a problem. It wasn’t just Ivy personnel; people living in the neighborhood were also flocking to Ivy.
What Kazuma had inscribed upon Ivy were wards to reject those with malicious intent, annihilate enemies, and prohibit the entry of hostile creatures. In other words, it couldn’t do anything about those who had genuinely come to evacuate.
What he meant to say was that among the evacuees, there were people hurling complaints and dissatisfaction at the people of Ivy.
“What is this! Trying to save only yourselves!”
“Yeah, yeah! We could have died out there!”
“Protecting only brats who don’t even pay taxes!”
“This place should be used by good citizens like us!”
“You people get out! This facility was built with our taxes, so we should have the right to it!”
Returning to this scene immediately soured Kazuma’s mood, and he felt a surge of murderous intent.
Why were humans so ugly? Why couldn’t they join hands and help each other?
Facing this incomprehensible group of people, Kazuma cracked his knuckles, about to unleash his emotions, when Honoka punched the nearest bald-headed man, sending him flying.
“Shut up. Say one more thing and I’ll send you flying.”
The bald-headed man, punched by Honoka who had said something outrageous, retorted.
“Y-you already punched me!”
“Hmph!!!”
Thwack! Honoka struck the bald-headed man down.
“I believe I said I’d send you flying if you said anything.”
The bald-headed man lay collapsed, completely unconscious, his eyes rolled back.
Seeing this, the previously noisy crowd fell silent. No matter how much they shouted, they couldn’t win against violence.
However, what Honoka had done was a clear crime, so she was naturally called out.
“Th-that’s a crime, a crime! What you did is—”
“Hey, old hag. If you open that stinking mouth any further, I’ll kill you.”
“Hiiiih…!?”
Kazuma teleported in front of the woman who was pointing at Honoka and shouting, glaring at her with murderous intent in his eyes.
Overcome with immense fear, the woman collapsed, trembling too much to speak.
“Before the Ibinom kill you, I’ll kill you all myself. ‘Brats who don’t pay taxes,’ you say…! You bastards, you’re all prepared to die, aren’t you? Let me tell you, I won’t let you escape. Even if you flee to the other side of the Earth, I’ll drag every last one of you to hell.”
“””””Hyaaaah…!!!”””””
Veins popping on his forehead, Kazuma cracked his knuckles like a demon of war. The complainers backed away.
“Stop it.”
“Aigh…”
As Kazuma advanced step by step, Honoka smacked him on the back of the head, and he obediently stopped.
“Now then… I have a request for all you wise people. Please keep what happened here a secret.”
Honoka brought a finger to her lips, shushing them as if teaching small children.
“If… you talk about what happened today, well then, let’s see~”
Honoka tilted her head charmingly, tapping her cheek with a finger.
After thinking for a moment, Honoka smiled brightly and made a certain proposal.
“Let’s make them experience something more terrifying than death. Kazuma.”
Honoka snapped her fingers, summoning Kazuma.
The summoned Kazuma teleported beside her like a ninja, kneeling on one knee.
“Hah!”
“You can do it, can’t you?”
“Of course.”
Kazuma instantly used earth magic to create a torture instrument known as an Iron Maiden, making sure it was visible to their intimidators.
“Very well. Everyone, I shall ask you once more. Please ensure this matter remains strictly confidential.”
Although she wore an exceedingly pleasant smile, the sheer terror it inspired prevented anyone from objecting; they could only nod their heads like broken toys.
In the end, the group that had been complaining to Ivy, feeling too agitated to remain, fled.