Indeed, at the healing institutes run by the Church of Salvation for training healers, it took at minimum five years to raise an independent healer. I heard that in the first year, one could barely manifest any healing miracles and it was an immense struggle.
In less than a year’s time, being able to use even a bit was quite substantial in my opinion. Though it seems this novice healer didn’t grasp the circumstances at the origin.
After I told her, “If you work hard, it will pay off someday,” she loudly agreed.
Come to think of it, I’ve been deceiving people a lot lately. But if it raises Mia’s skills, it would benefit those around her, so I should keep encouraging people.
Led inside the abbey, we came to the assembly hall used for rituals.
“The Abbott’s office is beside the hall.”
Guided by Mia, we arrived at the office adjoining the hall.
The office was more spacious than I imagined, but shelves covered the walls, making it feel cramped. While the confinement was fine, the various items filling the shelves were shocking.
“Um, though I thought to have you wait here, you wouldn’t want to, right?”
Seeing the objects arranged in the room, Mia asked me.
Placed on a shelf in the room was a large glass jar. It contained amber liquid and dead animal specimens. Enclosed in the jar were small creatures like mice and lizards, but their abdomens were cut open, internal organs exposed – hearts, lungs. Stomach and intestines clearly visible.
Likely the Abbott’s collection. Some may find it nauseating depending on the person.
Mia also seemed averse to it, but I didn’t mind.
“we could also have milady wait at the hall.”
Mia glanced toward the hall where she had first guided me, but waiting here was fine with me.
“No, I’ll wait here. The Abbott has wonderful taste.”
I looked over each item on the shelves.
“I-I see… Please wait a moment then.”
Unable to dissuade me, Mia ran off to call the Abbott.
I slowly viewed the specimens on the shelves. By the time I finished examining them all, I heard footsteps and an elderly man in shabby priest robes entered.
“Sorry for the wait. There was an emergency patient. I am Norte, in charge of this abbey.”
“Not at all, Abbott. I should apologize for the sudden visit. Pleased to meet you, I am Romelia.”
We briskly greeted each other and sat to talk.
“Well then, what business does the young miss of an count house have at an abbey like this?”
“First, thank you for treating the injuries and illnesses of the locals.”
I solemnly expressed gratitude for the Abbott’s activities.
“You flatter me. I merely follow God’s guidance and the teachings of the Healing Son to provide succor. Rather, I should thank you. I’ve heard the rumors of the count’s daughter leading soldiers, delivering villages from demon threats as she travels.”
“No, I’m just a woman scurrying around. I can neither fight like the soldiers nor wield the Healing miracles like the Abbott. The soldiers on the front line and those like you saving the populace are the ones who truly deserve praise. This is but a trifling gift.”
I placed a small pouch of coins on the table. While our income was also tight, so too was it here. No, compared to us who had other sources of revenue, it must be much more difficult.
The church provided next to nothing to local abbeys, and impoverished peasants couldn’t pay treatment costs either. The most that could be offered as compensation was crops harvested from fields. More funds could hardly be an issue.
Abbott Norte did not refuse my offered donation, gratefully accepting it.
“Abbott, I’ve long had doubts about the Church of Salvation’s medical system and the way healers exist. Let me speak frankly.”
I openly revealed my displeasure with the church.
The ubiquitous Church of Salvation in this country trained healers capable of miraculous Healing arts. Truly what could be called miracles, but to the modern church, the Healing miracles were nothing more than a means of profit.
“I’ve grown tired of the church demanding extravagant compensation and donations for treatment. I’ve only words of thanks for people like yourself, Abbott, who train healers and provide aid like this.”
“No, I don’t employ any Healing arts during treatment, nor have I taught the abbots. I merely apply medicine to injured friends’ wounds and wrap them in bandages.”
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The Abbott lied in response to my words. No, this was expedient falsehood.
The Church of Salvation limited training of healers solely to the healing institutes, prohibiting developing healers outside of them. It also barred providing treatment using Healing arts without permission. To obtain permission, exorbitant licensing fees had to be paid annually. This system inevitably led to high treatment costs.
If the church learned what the Abbott was doing here, he would undoubtedly face excommunication. Therefore, officially, there were no healers here and no treatment being performed. But aiding injured friends could be considered personal benevolence not warranting criticism. That was how it was.
“I see. Then I will take it as such.”
I decided to drop the matter there. I then shifted my gaze from the Abbott to the various curios sitting on the shelves.
“You certainly have quite the collection here.”
I didn’t immediately get to the point, instead first glancing around at the assorted specimens on the shelves.
“You flatter me. But wouldn’t a woman just find it disgusting?”
The Abbott casually remarked. You were the one who brought me to this room, expecting me to panic and flee in fright. Shameless.
“No, it’s fascinating. Though you don’t have any human specimens, do you?”
The Abbott’s eyebrows twitched when he heard my question.
“Surely not. The Church of Salvation considers dissection of humans wicked and has banned it.”
Just as the Abbott said, the church now prohibited dissecting humans.
“But it’s said that the Healing Son, blessed by God and who used Healing miracles to aid the wounded populace a thousand years ago, cut open the corpse of his disciple, and closely investigated his body, contributing to later treatment.”
I recited a passage of scripture. Surely the acts of the Church of Salvation’s founder couldn’t be deemed evil.
“That would be Chapter 13 Verse 15 of the Peper Chronicles, yes? It is indeed recorded as such in the ancient scriptures.”
The Abbott affirmed my claim.
“However, the Church of Salvation declares the Peper Chronicles apocryphal and denies it.”
“Yet Abbott, the same story is engraved on stone tablets at the Peper Shrine, and similar imagery and tales circulate everywhere. Wouldn’t it be forced to call it apocryphal?”
I refuted the Abbott’s rebuttal.
“Young miss is quite learned. But do you not think dissecting human bodies is wicked? Defiling the deceased, is that acceptable?”
“I do have an aversion towards dissection as well.”
I wouldn’t want to see someone’s innards either. But that was another matter.
“As the Abbott says, maliciously toying with corpses should be banned, but prohibiting even studying them academically – isn’t that going overboard?”
I understood thoughtless veneration should not be promoted, but this practice had also bred adverse effects.
“Though there’s little point telling you now, Abbott, five hundred years ago the Razbeck Empire ruled these lands, expanding its dominion throughout the continent, an undertaking so vast it was called the Golden Empire. The empire recognized multiple faiths, and the Church of Salvation was but one sect.”
The Church of Salvation, ubiquitously followed on the entire continent now, had been virtually unknown a thousand years prior.
“After the passing of the founding Healing Son, his disciples inherited his doctrine. Using the Healing miracles bestowed by the Healing Son, they treated the injured and ill throughout the empire.”
Consequently, the Church of Salvation gained broad following throughout the imperial territory. It could be called a sage’s grand achievement.
“It’s said they reattached severed arms and legs, even regenerating lost organs. But such saints are now all but extinct. Compared to the imperial era, the quality of healers has undoubtedly declined greatly.”
As I laid out the history and mentioned the degraded healer quality, the Abbott frowned.
“I admit our training is still lacking, unable to reach the level of the saints of the past.”
Though the Abbott apologized, I didn’t mean to blame him.
“I, powerless without any Healing abilities, am in no position to criticize the Abbott or healers. But the lacking thing is not your training but knowledge and understanding of the human body, isn’t it?”
The Abbott did not answer my question. Then let’s continue.
“As I mentioned earlier, it’s said the Healing Son dissected the corpse of his disciple Peper, tirelessly working to comprehend the structure of the human body. And I’ve also heard past saints obtained the corpses of patients or condemned prisoners to dissect. I believe the difference from the saints of the past lies in comprehension of the human body. However, at the fall of the Razbeck Empire, the church turned hostile against other faiths. In the process, to suppress other sects who regularly dissected humans and performed alchemy, the church deemed dissection and alchemy evil.”
It was then that the section about Peper was deleted from the scriptures. To accommodate themselves, they expunged the founder’s own deeds.
“As a result, healer quality declined precipitously with none of the saints of the past appearing again.”
While exceptions like Saint Elizabeth existed, those were exceptions among exceptions.
“And the church hindered medical development, not only prohibiting human dissection but also use of herbs and surgery.”
Their rationale was that God’s created human bodies must not be interfered with.
At a glance it seemed reasonable, but the crux was pressuring reliance on their Healing powers for injury and illness.
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