Grendel fainted, after what seemed to be an endless suffering. I understand that I had no choice but to cut off his arm before too much venom seeped into his body, but it was too painful.

I look upon the unconscious Grendel, resting on a tree he felled when he was crawling around in pain. The tears still flow on my cheeks, and my nose is completely blocked, but somehow I am calm. Grendel is still suffering, some venom did manage to get into his body from the arm. I’ll do what I can. Slapping my cheeks, I must gather my resolve!

“[Healing]! [Healing]!” - I know Grendel is tough and his wounds will close fast, but since he gets more at ease if his HP is closer to full, I can’t help but heal him.

It doesn’t seem like he will lose to this venom, but I need to keep watch over him. Yes, I’m not the feeble girl of yesterday! Today I am a better me!

I wait for my mana to recover, and cast more healing spells. The forest is silent, and I don’t think I’d lose to any wolf right now. But the hunter that shot that poisoned arrow might be around. What should I do?

I wait for more mana to recover, and using earth magic, I bury Grendel’s body in the dirt. I leave the dirt around him soft, so he can just jump out like when he wants. Now I’ll move some bushes nearby to cover his head and shoulder stump. Unsure of my MP recovery rate, I check my status.

=====================================

Status Info

Name: Helen

Race: [Human]

Level: N/A

Age: 15 years

Job: [Magician]

Job Level: 4

Unspent Skill Points: 5

Skills:

[All Elemental Magic]: 2

[Healing Magic]: 3

[Barrier Magic]: 1

[Life Magic]: 1

[Increased MP pool]: 1

[MP restoration]: 2

Unique Skills (hidden):

[Plant Magic]: 3

Titles:

[Winter Child (hidden)], [Harvest Princess (hidden)], [Merciful], [Friend of Monsters]

[Options]

========================

It seems MP recovery went up and I got a new title…

[Friend of Monsters]

Those that do not hold prejudice toward monsters. Constantly decrease aggro of monsters as long as one is not aggressive towards them. Possible to tame some monsters.

I’ll set this title to hidden in the [Options] for now. It might be bad if someone misunderstands it. Oh, It seems I leveled up during the wolf fight. My level was 3 when I checked before meeting Grendel. Five skill points, how sweet. I’ll increase [Increased MP pool] and [MP Restoration]. Zero points now!

My dizziness from MP depletion gets better now that the MP recover rate is higher. I sit down in the middle of the bushes next to Grendel’s head. And I’ll deploy a [Concealment Ward] to hide us. This ward will constantly deplete my MP, but now I can recover just a little more than it costs, if I rest.

Time passes as I watch Grendel breathe. I use some scrap cloth to wipe his sweat.

“What do you mean with that ‘I am a monster’ attitude, you big silly monster? Anyone that really looks at you can see you are more humane than most humans out there. My best friends left me behind, did you see that?”

I don’t hold a grudge for leaving me behind. Against Grendel, even if there were ten of each of us, we would just become mincemeat before Grendel’s strength.

“Are you sure you are a monster? Aren’t you some person that got trapped into this monster body? You can’t hide anything from me, Grendel.”

After feeding my delusions, I check again on Grendel’s situation.

“[Diagnose]”

=======================================

Diagnose Results:

Status: poisoned (severe), burnt (-40% max HP), fainted.

HP: 30%

=======================================

Diagnose lasts for a few minutes, I must gather all the information I can. Poisoned went from (critical) to (severel). It is not the best case, but at least it improved. I then cast one healing spell on Grendel, his HP goes up to 33%. This doesn’t mean my spell heals 30% though. It just means that Grendel recovered 1% HP on his own. I then touch my staff to his burnt shoulder, and cast a localized healing spell. The burnt condition went down to 39%. I will need to cast a maximized healing spell over 80 times to completely heal Grendel. This is almost three days at the current rate.

I remember there was one fairy tale some old grandma used to tell us during winter, of a princess that wandered into a monster’s castle. She found the monster, fell in love with it, and in the end was served alive at the monster’s banquet. I never doubted before today that she had a bad ending.

Without anything else to do besides recover MP, I touch one of his horns. They are almost the length of my arm, and look like a goat’s. Slightly arched to the front and sides, but mostly straight.

Time passes in the silent forest, and when I realize, I dozed off. I am still in the bushes, and I slept holding Grendel’s horn. And he is still breathing. My ward is active too, but since its MP maintenance is just below my new MP recovery rate, I can’t cast many healing spells…

It seems only a couple hours have passed. It is in the afternoon now, and I don’t feel much hunger. Just a bit parched. Grendel must be in need of water too. I take my waterskin, tilt his head a bit back, and pour the water slowly in his mouth. He swallows by reflex after some of the water enters his mouth. I find myself caressing his hair with the other hand. It is coarse and stiff. But I am not disgusted by it.

After emptying more than half of it, I drink the remaining water. It tastes of blood. Your life as a monster will make you taste blood several times, will not you? I wish I could do something.

I used [Diagnose] again. The arm stump is the same. It doesn’t seem to be regrowing at all. Maybe I need to heal the burnt condition before it starts. That is about 39 castings. It would go faster if I abandon the safety of the [Concealment ward]. But I am not confident that I can protect Grendel on my own. And if the town decide to search for me, they will arrive soon.

My life would be over if it were not for Grendel. I can not falter here. I cancel the ward. The forest is still quiet, but here and there I can hear the animals returning to their homes. I cast [Healing] on the stump three times. Burnt went down to -35% and HP to 37%. I feel dizzy from MP depletion.

Being a merchant’s daughter, I have pride in my math skills. I am sure that if I were not a magician, I’d become a merchant’s wife next harvest festival. I feel relieved I don’t have to marry some greedy merchant’s son now. It is not as if there is one who is not greedy. Profits!

If I can buy 5% of his burnt condition with four [Healing] castings, then I need 28 more spells to heal it completely. I close my eyes, and count my heartbeats until I feel I can cast one more [Healing] spell. It is a lot. I lost count. Try again. Calm down. Stop thinking. Stop worrying. Heartbeat too fast. Grendel is breathing slowly. Maybe if I count that. Hold a feel of my MP pool size. Takes a while, but I feel reassured when I recover enough I can cast it twice without fainting.

My MP is recovering. I can feel the mana flowing into me. More. Faster. Can’t I draw more of it? Please, Grendel needs me to heal him. I don’t lose count of his breathing. I can feel his breath and the flow of mana. There is mana in the bush. Is it from the [Concealment Ward]? Did the bush absorb some of the ward’s mana? I feel like I can take some of this to myself. Please bush, give me some mana. Heed my plea.

Such a crybaby. Tears flow down my cheek again. I touch the bush, and like it listened to my request, mana flows from it to me. Gentle. Take no more than the bush can freely offer.

- Skill [Meditation] level 1 acquired.

- Skill [MP absorption (plants)] level 1 acquired.

My heart aches. I sob. Thank you, bush. I can feel more of them now. The tree that Grendel brought down. The grass. The forest reaches for me. Its gentle caress tickles my nose. The smell of herbs. Yes, thank you.

The herbs we gathered. Who cares for a silly guild request.

The forest guides me. I take some of the herbs, is it this one, forest? I know I need to knead the herbs to take out their juice. I put them in my mouth, and chew. Bitter. But it would be much more bitter if Grendel were to go away. I pour the mana I took from the bush into the herbs.

I circle around Grendel and place my mouth over the burnt stump. I spit the chewed herbs over the wound slowly, and smear it all over the wound. Make the magic of the herbs flow into Grendel. Heal this burn. The chant flow out of my mouth before I can realize what I am doing.

“Blessing of the forest, renewed again, breathe hope unto him, heed my plea, fulfill our covenant … [Regrowth]!!!”

The herbs glow a faint green. The burnt tissue turns red as blood flows to the surface. Grendel’s countenance relaxes. I can feel the forest cheering on us.

I use [Diagnosis] again. His burnt condition is decreasing, and it keeps going down. His health also improves.

- Title [Druid] acquired.

- Unique skill [Druidic Magic] level 3 unlocked.

- Skill [Herbalism] level 1 acquired.

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[Druid]

Those that revere nature, and are by nature loved. Many are the secrets nature can whisper to druids.