Chương 120: Chapter 120 - Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Jessica eventually caved in when she realized that Gren wasn't going to open up about his problems and gave him the information on the request from the Church of Healing Light after the two were alone. Down in Valkland, a mysterious disease had started spreading. What started as a few sailors getting sick soon became hundreds of sailors and there's no simple solution. Healing magic was only treating the symptoms but the underlying disease would flare up and cause people to become sick again. To make matters worse, the healers began displaying symptoms as well and they were in a fragile state of constantly needing to be healed by one another. If they all managed to display the symptoms at the same time then the entire Church in Valkland would come crashing down.

It's no wonder that Jessica said that Gren would be able to deal with the situation. He was able to keep healing for a long time so him being there would be able to turn the situation around. The system would also be helpful in identifying the disease but Jessica didn't know how it worked so she probably didn't count on it like he did. The priestess that came to deliver the news said for him to make his way to the Cathedral where they were getting ready to go on an expedition south. When he finally reached the Cathedral's doors they were tightly closed and nobody seemed to be outside. After walking around the building, he confirmed that there really was nobody from the Church waiting outside for him. Although it was embarrassing, Gren knocked on the main door; hoping that someone was inside that would let him in.

After a minute of waiting and the sound of a wooden bar being moved, a small acolyte struggled to open the large door enough to pop her head out. "Are you here for healing?" The little girl nervously asked him, wondering why someone that didn't look injured was knocking on their door when they were so busy.

"No, I was asked to come here by a priestess. My name is Gren; the Church wants me to help with the problem in Valkland." After hearing Gren's words, the little girl looked left and right before pushing the door open widen enough to allow Gren to come in.

"They're all downstairs. Mom said to let you in if you came." The acolyte was struggling to close the door behind him so Gren pulled it shut and put the bar in place for her. "Thanks. The stairs are over here." Gren already knew where the stairs were but he followed her anyways.

"Do you know how they plan on traveling to Valkland?" While the two were making their way through the halls, Gren tried to make some small talk and get some information.

"I don't know." She was just a kid so perhaps it was stupid for Gren to expect her to a question like that. "Mom might know since she's going with them. She's one of the healers, after all." The little girl was proud of her mother and seemed to be bragging.

Gren didn't want to rain on the girl's parade by bragging about his own magical prowess and instead chose to praise her. "I'm sure that your mother is an impressive person. The Church's healers do a lot of good for the people in this city." They did it for a fee but that didn't change the fact that the city relied on the Church's healers.

Gren's comments only made the little girl act smug with her lifting her chin and pointing her nose upwards. "One day I'm going to be a healer just like she is." Gren felt that it was nice seeing a child aspiring to be a healer. He knew how to heal people but he didn't consider himself a healer; the only difference being that he only healed people on a whim while they took it up as a job. His own job--being a mercenary--was much less interesting than he thought it would be and he was beginning to realize that he wasn't very good at it.

The idea of changing his job had occurred to Gren already. He could still supply the guild while doing something else that was more fulfilling. "Maybe I'll become a healer one day." There were several paths that Gren could take but it was hard to decide what to do next.

"You're too old and mom says that boys don't get to learn magic." That seemed to come out of nowhere. "Mom says that the Goddess told the Church not to teach the boys magic." This was the first time that Gren had come across this. There was nothing in the healing spell book that said that men couldn't learn healing magic and he was proof that men could learn healing magic.

It didn't seem productive to talk with a kid about the dogma of the Church so Gren would have to wait until he could talk to Gabriella. He didn't want to chastise them since it was something that would need to be discussed with his mother but Gren was still curious whether or not that was an actual rule and why the rule was formed. "In that case I guess I'll need to come to you if I get hurt in the future."

The rest of the conversation on the way down to where the Church members were preparing for their trip was mostly about things the kid was interested in. Choir practice, tending flowers, and learning how to read seemed to be the main things that the kids did in the Church which was different from what Rodge said he experienced. From a young age, most boys and some of the girls were taught to pick up a sword and fight.

That didn't explain why the women in the Church were the best fighters but that might have something to do with them learning magic. Gren hadn't yet learned the spells from the Toughen Up spell book but after the owner of the bookstore mentioned it he decided to look at the descriptions of some of the spells. The spells were meant to increase his body's strength and speed at the cost of using magic energy. The tier one spells were large improvements in short bursts but the book had some tier two spells that had some long duration spells with weakened effects. There was also a warning that the spells could cause damage to the body with too much use in a short period of time.

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The Church members were loading dried food into sacks and rolling water barrels towards the back of wagons. Gren looked for Gabriella or Georgia so that he could talk to them about the expedition and quickly spoted Georgia in her shiny armor as she was directing her knights to help with gathering supplies. "Georgia!" Gren called out to her and quickly got her attention by waving in her direction but his blue jeans and white t-shirt made him stick out so she he was easy to spot even if he hadn't waved. Georgia excused herself from the knights and started walking towards Gren. "Sergeant Gren, reporting for duty." Gren's salute earned him a small whack on the head.

Georgia was already aware of why Gren was there. "So, you've decided to help us? I'm not going to lie to you, Gren, I'm glad that you're here." Everybody around her was busy so Georgia decided to get Gren up to speed as quick as possible. "We're going to be heading down to Valkland as soon as everything's ready to go but things don't look too good for us. We don't know how long they can last down there before the healers begin to fail and we don't have enough dragon horses to pull the wagons. At least with you here we can leave behind most of the wagons but most of the healers don't know how to ride horses and the rest aren't strong enough to handle the dragon horses." Unlike her usual tidy look, Georgia's hair was a mess. It wasn't just her, either; most of the people looked exhausted and they hadn't even left for the trip.

"Newton was about half of the way between Valkland and Adierton, right? If it took us more than a day with the dragon horses then we're looking at a trip that might take a week with those wagons." Gren was worried about the amount of time that it'd take. An epidemic needed to be handled as quickly as possible since the bodies would be piling up as they were wearing themselves out.

"Unfortunately, you're right about that. It will take us between four and six days to make it to Valkland which is why we're in a rush. Without you, it might even take up to eight days to get there." Four days would still be too long. Although Georgia seemed to accept the trip's length, Gren realized that there was a quicker way to get there.

"I think I've got an idea that will get us there even faster. Can you have everybody clear a large space for me? A space about two wagons wide and four wagons long will be enough." Gren had been planning on building an automobile for a while but couldn't find the time due to everything that had been going on. Although it would be difficult to control, Gren needed to introduce the large transportation vehicle into the world a bit earlier than the small jeep that he planned on using to learn how to drive. "Alright, everybody, try not to get in the way when it starts to appear!" Gren needed to make sure that everybody knew not to interrupt the summon. He still wasn't sure what would happen if someone interfered with it and wasn't going to try finding out now.

{Alright, summon that vehicle that I bookmarked. The transport one.}

The truck was suspended in the middle of the air as it was slowly built by the Advanced Arsenal. The front half was stock with its large fourteen liter straight six engine materializing in front of Gren's eyes. The back of the truck was modified to include the troop seats from the M813 and an added canvas top to protect them from the rain. Unlike the equipment that Gren had built with the Advanced Arsenal so far, the construction of the twenty foot long cargo truck took well over a minute until it was finished. When the construction was complete and the vehicle remained in midair, Gren tapped it from a distance with a spear from his pocket dimension so that it would fall, causing a large sound rubber rubbed against the stone and the suspension bounced.

The sounds startled the members of the Church but Gren was familiar with the noise from the stunt vehicles he had heard while working on set. "Alright! Everybody get in the back and we can get there much faster." Gren pulled himself up to open the door and grabbed the key that was laying on the driver's seat. The vehicle didn't need one to start until he customized it to require a key. He was close to turning it over to test the engine when he realized that nobody was in the back yet. "Don't worry about the supplies. I'll store them before we go. Just get in the back."

"Gren, what is this? It looks like a mix between a carriage and wagon but I've never seen one this size." Georgia was confused by the truck but that was to be expected when it was something that hadn't appeared on their planet until this moment.

"It's a truck. It's a lot like a wagon but you don't need any horse to pull it. Just trust me and get into the back." Gren turned the key and almost instantly heard the large engine roar to life along with a few small shrieks coming from the women around the vehicle. He had already studied the levers and switches when it was just a concept in the Advanced Arsenal but it felt strange sitting at the wheel of the large truck. Everything was in the right place but his point of view was different so it took Gren some time to adjust to it. After making sure the lights worked, Gren turned the engine off and took the key out of the ignition. "Alright, everything seems to work."

Hopping out of the truck let Gren see what was going on around the truck. Nobody got into the back and there were even a few people hiding behind the wagons nearby. "Gren! What was with that noise!?" Due to the truck being in a tunnel, the sound had appeared to be much louder with more of the sound waves echoing in the ears of the women nearby. Even the little girl that had guided Gren to the others was holding her ears. Gren's ears were partially shielded by the truck's doors and windows so he didn't get hit by the full brunt of the sound waves.

"It's a bit loud but this thing is our best bet if we want to make it to Valkland within a couple of days." Gren wanted to stress the point that the truck would speed up their travel times.

"Even if it can make us arrive sooner, it won't be any good if everybody's deaf by the time we make it there. You've got to find a way to make it quieter." Gren had no idea how to make the vehicle itself quieter but Georgia's words gave him a good idea.

"I can't make the truck quieter but I can give you some things to help protect your ears from the sound. Is that good enough?" Gren materialized a set of ear muffs that were designed to protect ears. He had used them at the gun range in the guild so they were already tested and were proven to work for regular ears. After passing a set to everybody, Gren turned over the truck once more to confirm that everybody was now able to put up with the sounds. With everybody having ear protection, things went much better the second time around and the women reluctantly got into the back of the truck. With seven healers, three water mages, and four knights; the back of the truck was pretty packed. They even had some travel rations and water so that they didn't have to stop as often on the way to Valkland. Gren stored the rest of the supplies away in his pocket dimension and got ready to leave when he noticed a problem. "Now, how do I get out of this tunnel?"