The Dian Cecht Familia Pharmacy in Orario.
Kael lay back-down on the couch, staring lifelessly at the ceiling.
Before him stood an elderly man with white hair and a beard, stroking his long sideburns. A mole sat between his eyebrows, and his mustache twitched up and down.
The man examined the kid thoroughly — this was the God of Healing, Dian Cecht.
"My, my, injuries this severe and you're still alive? How rare, how interesting!" His eyes gleaming with Valis symbols, he gave a merchant-like smirk while gently touching Kael's arm, "Hmm, the flesh is completely charred, unusable. To prevent infection, we should amputate. If you let me keep the severed limb, I'll give you a discount on a prosthetic — just V$89,350,000."
With all those random numbers, why even bother with a discount... Kael rolled his eyes.
Dian Cecht let out another "hmm" and continued, "This chest wound won't do either, it's cursed. Simple enough — a mere V$500,000 to remove it. And these penetrating wounds, tsk tsk, those are expensive. V$1,000,000 per hole, let me count how many there are..."
Would you like to pull out a calculator?
"Hmm... let's check under the pants. With burns this severe, that probably needs to go too, so we should..."
Cut... No, absolutely not!
"Hey!" Kael interrupted the creepy old man's hands, "You perverted old geezer, what are you trying to do to my precious?"
Dian Cecht's expression turned stern, "This is about your life! If we don't cut away the dead tissue, bacteria will breed and it'll be worse than just amputation! Ah, never mind explaining it to you. Just pay up!"
"Get lost! You quack! You fraud! Just remove the 'incurable' curse and clean up the carbonized dead muscle, nothing else!"
This perverted old man is the worst, trying to ruin my perfect plan to worship my sister-in-law!
"Hmph, ungrateful brat." Dian Cecht huffed, whipped out a scalpel, and slashed Kael's arm, instantly scraping off a large chunk of blackened flesh!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! You evil old man! Anesthetic! Where's the anesthetic?!"
"Shut up! You think anesthetic is free? Stop complaining and bite down!"
"Mmmmphhh—"
Just you wait, you've sealed your fate!
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While screams of agony echoed from the treatment room.
Outside, a 12-year-old girl with flowing silver hair stood in her blue and white nurse's uniform.
Her delicate eyebrows twitched as she maintained a stern expression, scolding the Astrea Familia members who had brought Kael for treatment.
"To transport a patient so carelessly! One would think you were moving evidence from a crime scene." Her doll-like face showed a rare look of severity, "With injuries like his, we usually recommend sending them straight to the cemetery."
"Don't say that, Airmid! That's too cruel — he could still walk here on his own." Alise said, scratching her head.
"That's exactly the problem!" Young Airmid Teasanare planted her hands on her hips, her normally placid doll-like face scrunching up as she tried to look serious, "You should have used a stretcher and given first aid to prevent secondary injuries."
Ryuu hung her head in shame before looking at Lyra, who leaned against the doorframe, "Lyra... did you really hit him that hard?"
The Pallum's face fell, "How should I know? At least those penetrating wounds and burns weren't my doing!"
Kaguya sat in the waiting room, leisurely sipping tea, "That was probably the Hyena's work. Rumor has it he eats corpses."
"Ugh... then he's pretty lucky to still be alive."
Lyra shrugged, startled by the information.
"I still think something's fishy about this." She said, touching her chin and raising a finger, "Like that bag he refused to let us see."
Kaguya cut in, "Iska's investigation cleared things up. The victims were all regular Adventurers from the Soma Familia, their bodies found in the Pantry. The fatal wounds were burns, too... And though it's hard to tell with his injuries, that boy definitely has the Soma Familia's Falna."
Alise clapped her hands together, "I see, I see! That explains everything!"
You understand now?
Lyra side-eyed her Captain, who was dressed like a detective with a pipe in her mouth.
"A squad's sole survivor, crossing the valley of death with indomitable will, enduring hardships to finally avenge his fallen comrades! This is an ode to determination — the beginning of a Hero's tale!
Hehe~ And we who saved the boy — especially myself, the perfect and flawless beauty! The righteous Familia shall be the guiding star for the boy's journey! The one and only heroine! Congratulations, congratulations!"
Alise proudly thrust out her chest and tilted up her nose.
This seems to have nothing to do with you...
Kaguya snickered, "Where did this fantasy come from? Lyra stabbed that kid over ten times! Some heroine — more like his nemesis! Besides, I doubt someone like him has what it takes to be a hero."
Lyra nodded vigorously, "Right, my thief's intuition tells me that kid's bad news. Very dangerous. He has the smell of home about him."
Remembering her hometown, the criminal city of Bergen, Lyra's eyes suddenly darkened.
If it weren't for Ryuu, would someone born there like herself ever don the banner of justice? She'd probably still be wallowing in the mire.
Yes, that boy's eyes reminded her of how she used to be. If she had to put that feeling into words, it would be, "I had no choice before, but now I want to be good".
Though that last part only described her — that kid only had the first part.
Lyra opened her mouth to say something.
Ryuu, looking righteous, interrupted everyone's criticism of Kael, "This is too much. Whatever the case, the fact is that Lyra injured — no, almost killed him by mistake. We should apologize!"
Her thoughts were more naive — imagine a boy who finally surpassed his Level and overcame despair, only to be burned by the very light of justice he had hoped for. How tragic that would be.
Ryuu believed he must have completely lost faith in justice.
The group looked at the clean-freak elf girl, who was red-faced from arguing, and smiled in understanding.
"Ah~ Lion. You really can't stand even a speck of dirt, can you?"
"Such innocence will only hurt you in the end."
"The people of Orario aren't as pure as you think. For all we know, that kid might be the one who killed his companions and stole their belongings! That bag he wouldn't show us could be the evidence."
Kaguya and Lyra took turns teasing her, as usual. The seniors wanted their youngest member to mature a bit, never missing a chance to teach her about dealing with people.
But for Ryuu, who was exceptionally fastidious even among elves, this was completely unacceptable.
Seeing the elf about to explode, Alise hugged her from behind, "There, there~ Lion. Kaguya and Lyra didn't mean it like that. As an apology, let's cover the boy's treatment costs together. How's that?"
"Uh, Alise!" Ryuu sniffled, forcefully broke free from her embrace, then nodded.
At that moment a voice came from behind the girl...
"Um, about that... could I get the treatment costs in cash instead?"