God of Assassination, Become the Strongest Healer - chapter 3

A heavy chair hits the stone floor with a dull sound. Faygan’s father says, “Before we begin the lesson, I want to ask you something.  

” His father’s voice is deep and steady. “You are a healer. What do you think a healer is ?”

It’s the first day of lessons for a five-year-old boy named Faygan, who is being prepared to take over the family craft.

His father isn’t rushing him into difficult things yet; instead, he wants Faygan to understand the values of their family. 

“A healer saves lives,” he says, trying not to laugh. In a previous life, he had found purpose in taking lives, and now he’s talking about saving them.

 This thought almost makes him smile wryly.

“Good answer. A healer should find meaning in saving lives. From today, you’ll start learning what it means to be the heir of the Claudius family.” 

His father seems happy with Faygan’s answer and begins to set up the materials for today’s lesson with a sense of satisfaction.

A collection of many needles, carefully arranged in a piece of black silk. A pendant is hanging from the top of the needles.Hidden beneath his cloak, though invisible to others, I knew well that my father kept something just like that necklace close to his chest.

The names of this strikingly radiant pair of necklaces were “Ahura” and “Mazda.”

They were sacred relics symbolizing the authority of the “head” and “heir” of the Claudius family.

“Instead of just standing there, try putting Mazda around your neck. I’m curious to see how well it suits you.”

“Father, thank you, but… is it really okay for me to wear Mazda already?”

Despite his encouragement, I couldn’t easily bring myself to reach for Mazda.

The reason Mazda is considered a sacred relic of Claudius isn’t just because of its mesmerizing glow.

Like most ancient noble families, the Claudius family also has a mana cultivation method passed down through generations.

The unique training technique that established Claudius as the continent’s foremost medical house is called “Angelus.”

And because “Ahura” and “Mazda” greatly accelerate the wearer’s mastery of Angelus, family law dictated that they be divided and kept by the head of the family and the officially recognized heir, respectively.

So, there was no problem with Father, the current head of the Claudius family, carrying around Ahura.

But I hadn’t yet been officially recognized as the heir of the Claudius family, and right now, my mother was carrying a sister who would be born in about two months.

But the thought of making contact with Mazda before my siblings even had a chance to compete for the heirship felt a little unfair to me, and that’s what made me hesitate.

“Haha! What’s the matter? Feeling guilty toward a sibling who hasn’t even been born yet?”

Guessing my thoughts, my father laughed heartily again.

It might seem overly mature for a five-year-old kid to be concerned with a fair competition for the heirship, but in a distinguished family like  Claudius, it wasn’t so unheard of.

“But at least for now, I don’t think you need to worry about that. When the time comes, your siblings will have the same opportunities as you. I understand your desire to prove your worth through a fair process, but Mazda is a treasure with the purpose of training as many skilled healers as possible. Wo it be a shame to refuse Mazda’s blessing over a potential unfairness that doesn’t even exist yet?”

“But Father…”

“It’s okay. And anyway, it’s not for me to decide who will become your master—it’s up to Mazda. If your brother has the better qualities for it, Mazda will make sure to let you know in time.”

In the end, my father, seeing my hesitation, personally picked up Mazda and placed it around my neck

buzz

A moment later, Mazda started emitting a brighter green glow. Seeing this, my father smiled even more happily.

“Oh my! A green glow on the first day! Young master, congratulations!”

Maybe he was just so happy about Mazda’s green glow? The nanny, who had spent decades serving Claudius and gained much experience, even had tears welling up as she celebrated our first meeting. My father, with his rough but cheerful gestures, ruffled my hair.

“Heh, look at that! Mazda likes you! And don’t forget the needle inside. It’s your companion for at least the next 10 years, so take good care of it.”

“Got it, Father.”

In the end, I carefully stored the metal needle inside the silk pouch my father had prepared, still wearing Mazda around my neck.

Even through the thin fabric, I could clearly feel its cold touch. The first time I met this ‘sharp friend,’ which is very helpful in saving lives, turned out to be sharper than I thought.

Now that you know Mazda, we can begin your lessons in Angelus. Pagan, Angelus has different stages based on how much you’ve learned. Do you know how to figure out 

what stage you’re in? 

I think it depends on how many mana rings are around the heart.

Each family has its own unique mana training methods, but they all share the common idea that the number of ‘mana rings’ surrounding the heart increases as you progress in your training.

“That’s right. Since you’re still young and haven’t really started proper training yet, you probably haven’t completed even a single ring. But if you keep pursuing your learning, I believe that one day you’ll gain a companion who will walk alongside you in the future.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Haha, that’s the spirit. Look, Mazda is so happy to have met you, he’s glowing with joy. I believe something good will happen for you soon.”

Was it because Mazda had started glowing green since it was hung around my neck that it made my father so happy?

He laughed again while alternating between stroking my hair and Mazda.

“Alright, then let’s start with the basics of learning Angelus and the breathing techniques you need to memorize to master them.”

For the next two hours, my father taught me the basics of Angelus, and thanks to his patient guidance, I was able to grasp it without much difficulty.

Honestly, I wanted to surprise him by using all the abilities I had, but I decided to hold back for now.

Even though the person in front of me was my father, it didn’t seem wise to reveal everything I had at this point, especially since there was more for me to learn than just Angelus.

‘Arka. Even though I’ve learned this breathing technique once in my past life, I can’t take Arka’s training process lightly. Cladius’s Angelus is also an excellent breathing technique, but if we’re talking about its performance and effectiveness, the ancient kingdom’s legacy, Arka, is superior. I shouldn’t push myself too hard, especially if I need to save energy for Arka.’

I used less than half of my energy to learn Angelus, but my father seemed more than satisfied with that.

“Let’s stop here for today. You’re progressing much faster than I expected. If you keep up at this rate, you’ll make great progress in no time.”

My father reached out with his rock-like hands and carefully wiped the sweat off my forehead and face.

“Haah…”

“Young master! You’ve  worked hard. I’ve prepared a cool drink for you. Honestly, just watching your dignified figure from behind, I’m getting emotional…”

Taking the cold tea handed to her by the nanny, whose eyes were filled with tears, she took a deep breath and felt her whole body refreshed.

“For now, this is all I can teach you directly. The rest will be taught by the family members who handle each subject.”

“Understood, Father.”

“For now, getting used to Angelus should be your priority. I don’t want you to overwhelm yourself with too many subjects. It might be best to focus on just one for now and balance it with Angelus. Which subject would you like to start with? I will respect your decision as much as I can on this matter.”

The training for the heir of the Claudius family didn’t follow a standard teaching method.

 The family leader focused on teaching the important skill called Angelus directly to the heirs

. Other topics, like healing magic and how to use healing tools, were taught by other family members who specialized in those areas.

 The leader’s main job was to help improve the heirs’ Angelus skills, give them new viewpoints, and check on their progress.

“Opportunities for enlightenment can be provided by others, but in the end, only you can lead yourself to the path of enlightenment.”

“Father, then I would like to study this.”

“Human Anatomy…?”

According to the family’s laws, my father gave me a chance, and without hesitation, I chose the first subject I wanted to learn. When my father saw my choice, a strange light appeared in his eyes.

“I said I would respect your choice, so I don’t intend to raise any objections. But I have to admit, it’s a bit surprising. When you ask a student who’s just starting to study healing magic what they want to learn first, they usually say something like ‘healing spells’ or ‘how to cast a recovery charm,’ but you chose ‘human anatomy’…”

Human Anatomy.

Unlike other subjects focused on connecting with nature and following the mystical path of mana, this one is infamous for being a “hard memorization” subject with “endlessly tedious and repetitive practice” required—dull and difficult to learn.

It wasn’t surprising that my father was taken aback by my choice.

“Of course, human anatomy is an essential study for becoming a skilled healer. But there’s something you need to understand. In the process of learning human anatomy, there’s almost no use of mana. Are you sure you still want to choose anatomy?”

“Yes, Father.”

“Choosing anatomy as my first subject for parallel learning with Angelus… does that mean you won’t have the chance to test Angelus for a while?”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright. Then, do as you wish.”

My father kept his promise to respect my choice, and in the end, I decided that my first subject would be ‘Anatomy.’

“As soon as I get back, I’ll contact ‘Richard,’ the one in charge of anatomy, so he’ll find you tomorrow. Haha! But no matter how I think about it, I just can’t understand why you, being so young, chose anatomy out of all the subjects. Pagan, out of all the subjects, why did you choose anatomy? Can you tell your father the reason?”

Of course, there was a solid and clear reason behind why I chose anatomy as my first subject.

But just like how I hadn’t shown my father the full extent of my mana training, there was a similar reason why I couldn’t reveal the true reason right now.

Even so, I wasn’t bothered by my father’s question. I had already prepared a model answer just in case.

I met my father’s gaze and, with the clearest voice I could muster, said:

“The reason I chose anatomy as my first subject is because ‘the body is the vessel that holds the soul.'”