Chapter 1

It's early morning at five o'clock. My day begins even before the sun has risen.

I was chosen as a 'Holy Maiden Candidate' by the country and the church, but because I was born a commoner, I cannot live as elegantly as the noble-born Holy Maidens.

I usually live in the church, so I work with other children in similar circumstances, fetching water, cleaning, and preparing meals. This is fine. I don't mind working, and I have a debt of gratitude to the church. The children I work with are as dear as younger brothers and sisters, and we spend enjoyable times together.

What makes me gloomy is the 'monster hunting' journey.

This is the worst possible trip, and it involves working non-stop without a break for the entire duration.

The monster hunting journey is led by the First Prince, and the companions are a so-called 'hero' who is a pompous man with some delusions, a 'Holy Maiden' who is a capricious and haughty noble lady in name only, and a gloomy magician who has no redeeming qualities other than being able to use magic.

Of course, the First Prince is also a product of a sheltered upbringing, with no good qualities to speak of other than his appearance.

He has high combat skills, but everything else is disastrous.

They want fresh meat (the hero), fruits in the morning (the Holy Maiden), to sleep in a futon (the prince), and claim their skin condition will be bad if they don't sleep for eight hours (the magician). I don't care.

"Sonia, I can't sleep well. Can you make me some herbal tea? Oh, I brought the tea leaves from the palace. I had them specially ordered for Sonia."

First of all, don't ask me to make tea, just drink water.

"Here, use this. It's a seasoning to make the meat taste better. I bought a variety, so change the cooking method and flavor every time."

We can't afford such luxury in a camp, and you can't even cook meat yourself.

Don't add unnecessary baggage, who do you think will carry it?

Other complaints include swollen faces, unmanageable bed hair, and poor makeup application. I really don't care.

We are camping, so you should be concerned about other things.

Who is on night watch... and who is preparing the meals... I wish they would think about these things and help out.

If they can't help, they should just stay quiet.

I can't say it out loud, but in my heart, I am raging.

Since I started traveling with these people, my language has become very bad.

There are also knights, servants, and maids accompanying the journey, but these four are perfect on the outside and don't ask others for help.

No, you should ask. There are at least fifty knights, and for every ten knights, there are two or three servants and porters. Ask them.

Why do you make me do everything?

At first, I tried my best to meet their requests because they were noble.

The prince is handsome with golden hair and blue eyes, the Holy Maiden is a mysterious beauty with silver hair and purple eyes, the hero is a handsome man with red hair, and the magician is a beautiful young man with long black hair.

Living in a world of brown, dark brown, and occasionally chestnut, I was overwhelmed by their overwhelming appearance and couldn't refuse.

However, you get used to beautiful people after meeting them a few times.

Continuously missing the chance to refuse, I ended up being their caretaker.

My original job was to heal the knights. I was told that I should only treat lower nobles and commoners because the treatment of nobles should not be entrusted to a commoner.

If the people who need treatment don't think 'a commoner is fine' and don't request it, I don't have to treat them.

But now, even the captains come to me first. Since the captains come, the people under them naturally follow. Even the servants and porters come to me, saying, "Sonia is the easiest to ask."

I am responsible for the recovery and treatment of almost everyone in the hunting party, and I am also left to take care of the most noble people.

I have been participating since I was fifteen, and this is my third year.

A commoner can't refuse a request from the royal family, and the church only says, "Endure it."

There are individual differences in magic power, and people have strengths and weaknesses in magic.

If you don't have the physical strength to endure the expedition, the magic power to last long, and the magic skills to heal, detoxify, and counter paralysis, you will be fired soon after being hired.

Many young women who came with the enthusiasm of "I will work hard to be by the side of the sparkling prince" have been crushed.

The biggest problem is camping. The toilet is a grassy area, there is no bath, no futon, and sometimes no tent. Even if you dream of sharing a tent with the prince, the reality is that there are attendants and guards around, and it's hard to even be in his sight.

I want to be fired, but I have a lot of magic power for a commoner, and I can use almost all types of magic. I am convenient because I can handle "small things" on my own.

Unfortunately, my parents died of an epidemic when I was young, and I am from a small village in the countryside. I have nowhere to run and no acquaintances to help me.

If I get seriously injured, I might be removed from the team, but I don't want to get injured, and I definitely don't want to die.

If I have to die, I have no choice but to endure and work. If I resign myself to a life of being overworked...

During a battle with monsters, one person fell off a cliff.

If the cliff had been a sheer drop, they would have died for sure, but it was a steep slope with trees and weeds, and they slid down. I used wind magic to slow my descent and earth magic to create small bumps on the ground.

I had learned these magics to fulfill trivial requests like making the ground flat for tents or fanning them to sleep.

I really didn't want to use these magics for them, but now I was happy to use them.

I have confidence in my physical strength because I have been working from morning to night in the church and on the monster hunting journey. I desperately searched for a way to survive and reached the bottom of the valley, though not unscathed, I was still conscious. Or rather, I rolled down.

There was a sound that you wouldn't hear in a comedy, but I was fine.

I'm alive!

My bones weren't broken, and the bruises and scrapes weren't serious. This level of injury can be healed without magic.

My clothes... are made of material that can withstand monster attacks. Although some parts were worn out, they were still usable.

I couldn't see where I had fallen from, and there was no sign that anyone was chasing me. They should be in the middle of the battle.

I checked the surroundings and immediately moved.

It's dangerous to stay in one place without a knight to protect me.

I need to move to a safe place.

Fortunately, my bag was intact and contained monster repellent.

I sprinkled the repellent on my clothes and started walking towards the border.

This is definitely a chance to escape. Falling off the cliff was unexpected, but this way, I can leave naturally.

A commoner can cross the border freely unless it's during wartime or they are a criminal.

They probably won't search for me.

Falling from that height and into a forest full of monsters, it would be convenient for everyone if I were dead.

It was the high-and-mighty Holy Maiden's fault that I fell.

The moment a big spider appeared, she screamed and ran... and the place she ran to was a cliff. I instinctively reached out to grab her, but she pulled me with all her might.

We switched positions, and I couldn't hold on to the unstable ground and slid down the cliff.

The last thing I saw before falling was the Holy Maiden sitting on the ground, laughing and saying, "I was so scared."

She didn't even look at me.

If she realizes I fell, she will probably turn it into a heroic story, saying, "I tried to save her..." She's good at that kind of acting.

The problem now is the bag I'm carrying. It looks like a small backpack, but it contains tents, futons, cushions, living supplies, cooking utensils, food, and seasonings for four people.

There are also monster repellents and potions, but most of them are to fulfill the whims of the four.

The high-capacity magic bag is an expensive item given to me "specially" by the First Prince.

"Sonia, I'll lend you this so you won't have trouble."

But isn't it you who will have trouble?

It's true that the high capacity of the small bag is helpful, but it's expensive, and I feel uneasy carrying it. When I tried to refuse, I was told, "A tracking magic stone is embedded to prevent theft or loss."

If I am tracked, I should have about a week after returning to the capital. I want to get rid of the bag before it is traced by a specialist in magical items.

I need to find or make something to replace the bag and take the monster repellent and potions.

While thinking about this, I continued walking and came to a large lake.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was about to set.

It's dangerous to stay near the lake, so I decided to follow the shore and aim for the opposite bank.

The lake is beautiful from a distance, but...

It's Lake Irene, which is on the border between my home country, the Kingdom of Brodnitsana, and the neighboring Kingdom of Rozvart. It is surrounded by low mountains and is known as a treasure trove of materials.

There are many herb fields along the shore, and rare fruits and mushrooms can be found relatively easily. However, it's very difficult to get here.

Even though the mountains are low, they must be crossed. After climbing and descending several monster-infested mountains and pushing through the forest, you reach the lake.

It's not suitable for large groups, and it's difficult for small groups unless they are very skilled. The monsters range from numerous insects to wolves, bears, and reptiles.

It will be quite difficult for me to reach the opposite bank alone, but I should be able to make it if I don't engage in direct combat with the monsters.

I am using monster repellent and concealment magic, and I have camping equipment in my bag.

While walking, I searched for a place to sleep. Then I heard a monster's voice.

It sounded like a death rattle, but it could also be in the middle of a battle.

It was still a distance away, but it was scary to ignore it.

I added more monster repellent and headed in the direction of the sound.

There was a Red Rock Lizard lying there, a huge lizard that must have been about ten meters long. It was still twitching, but the smell of blood was strong, so it wouldn't last much longer.

A lizard this big would be difficult for even the bumbling prince and his group to hunt alone. I cautiously observed to see if there was an adventurer party or hunting party nearby.

There was a person lying next to the Rock Lizard.

Could it be a solo hunter!?

But it looked like a mutual kill.

I hurried over and checked the injuries.

The person's abdomen was torn open, and internal organs were exposed.

If I didn't act quickly, they would die from blood loss.

I focused on repairing the blood vessels... I can only use basic healing magic. In fact, I can only use basic magic for all attributes.

So, I had to heal it bit by bit.

After ten healings, the bleeding finally stopped. No, how bad is this injury... I might need fifty healings to finish.

It took twenty healings to repair the blood vessels, thirty to repair the damaged internal organs, and I used the potions I had to disinfect and close the skin. I couldn't completely close it, but I sewed it up with a needle and thread once the internal organs were back in place.

Fortunately, the only major injury was to the abdomen; the rest were cuts and bruises.

I could postpone treating the less serious injuries, but by then, I was starting to feel dizzy.

After falling from the cliff and walking, I had used hundreds of healing spells. I was definitely at my limit in terms of magic power and physical strength.

I had one potion left.

I gave the last potion to the injured person and took the prince's futon from the bag. I placed the injured person on it and dragged them to a safer location. It was good that I could use body strengthening and weight reduction magic.

I had to move away from the Rock Lizard's corpse in case something else came. I moved to the shadow of the bushes and placed magic stones at the four corners to create a barrier.

It wasn't a safe place, but there was no choice.

I was hungry, but I was so sleepy that I finally reached my limit.