Loughshinny stood anxiously by the bed, watching Zuojian's breathing grow weaker and weaker.
She wanted to help him, but she knew absolutely nothing about medicine.
Unless... unless...
She lowered her head and looked at her own hands. For a brief moment, it seemed as though a few warm amber flames bloomed in her palms.
The girl stood by the window in silence, as if waging some inner battle. But when she realized that Zuojian's condition had already worsened to the point where it could hardly get any worse, Loughshinny finally made her choice.
The temperature in the room began to rise slightly.
After taking a deep breath, she prepared to release the flame she had always kept suppressed inside herself.
Tiny sparks lit up at the tip of her tail, glowing with a warm amber light. But before that faint flame could fully ignite, a tremendous crash from behind interrupted her.
Bang!!
The sudden noise made Loughshinny jump, and the flame she had just kindled went out at once.
She spun around and saw that the old wooden door to her room—already creaking pitifully ever since Eblana had kicked it open the first time she dragged Zuojian inside—was now under attack again. Her sister had returned, dragging along another person, a middle-aged woman with a startled expression, and had just planted yet another kick into the door.
This time, the poor door was spared the indignity of any more tortured creaking, because Eblana's kick simply broke it free from the frame entirely, ending its long and tragic service once and for all.
And Eblana, apparently seeing nothing wrong with this act of vandalism, strode straight over the fallen door panel and led the unfamiliar woman right up to Zuojian's bedside.
"Doctor. It's him."
"Sister... she is...?"
"The one who can save him."
Eblana's answer was brutally concise. After saying it, she turned away again, clearly having no intention of explaining anything further to her younger sister.
Loughshinny could only shrink back a little and turn her attention to the "doctor" Eblana had brought back, waiting to see what she would do to save Zuojian.
The woman stepped forward, carefully unwrapped the crude bandages made of torn cloth from around Zuojian's shoulder, and frowned when she saw the wooden splinter still lodged inside him.
Then she turned to Eblana and said,
"To be honest, this is a little difficult."
"How difficult?"
Eblana's expression darkened instantly.
"Well... that depends on the treatment fee." The doctor spread her hands helplessly. "You understand what I mean, little one, don't you? On this land, practicing medicine is still a trade for earning a living. I don't like seeing people suffer either, but I have to eat too..."
Before she could finish, something flashing gold traced a graceful arc through the air and landed in front of her.
The moment she saw it, the doctor's eyes lit up with surprise and delight. Without hesitation, she snatched it up.
Feeling the cool, smooth weight in her palm, she opened her hand and saw a magnificent ring of gold and gemstones lying there.
"Th-this... this is..."
The doctor looked up, astonishment and excitement written all over her face.
Eblana only said flatly,
"Your fee. Save him, and it's yours. Otherwise..."
Though still just a child, the red dragon girl radiated the pressure of someone used to command—like a ruler issuing an absolute order to a subordinate.
The doctor, however, seemed not to notice the threat hidden beneath her tone at all. She merely tucked the ring carefully into her pocket and thumped her chest with confidence.
"Leave it to me. As long as the payment's right, I can snatch someone back even from Death himself!"
"Now then, I'm going to remove the wooden splinter. The two of you can wait outside for my good news!"
Faced with the doctor's overwhelming confidence, Eblana said nothing. She simply stepped aside, took Loughshinny by the hand, and led her toward the door. But before leaving, she still added one last line:
"You'd better save him. Otherwise..."
As she said it, terrifying violet flames flickered in Eblana's eyes, making the unspoken meaning painfully obvious.
The doctor could only nod rapidly and assure her there would be no problem.
Standing beside her sister, Loughshinny stared at Eblana with wide eyes, as though she couldn't believe her sister would willingly reveal her flames at a moment like this—just to threaten someone.
"Sister... you..."
"I know exactly what I'm doing, Loughshinny."
With that, Eblana pulled her away, and the two vanished down the corridor.
Back in the room, as the footsteps faded into the distance, the doctor's greedy, money-hungry expression vanished completely, replaced by a face as calm and flat as still water.
She drew the ring back out and gave it a little shake in front of Zuojian.
"This is the medical fee your adopted daughter paid. Technically, everything belonging to the system belongs to you, but considering you're injured and not exactly in any condition to go running around..."
With a flick of her hand, the golden ring transformed into a small stack of high-denomination Victorian banknotes.
She rolled the notes together neatly and dropped them into Zuojian's inventory.
"Still, though... I already knew your personality would lead to something like this, but for a first simulation, this really escalated far too quickly."
As she spoke, she reached into space and pulled out a strangely shaped device that resembled some kind of pneumatic gun—except the "magazine" looked more like a green medicinal cartridge.
"When it comes to feelings, your style is a little too heavy." She glanced at him. "Just like your previous ninety-nine failed confessions. Back then, I suspect you went too hard too fast, and that was why the other party couldn't bear it."
"But."
As she said that, she reached out and yanked the wooden splinter straight out of Zuojian's body in one brutally efficient motion. Before his face could go any paler, she pressed the muzzle of the green medical gun against the wound and pulled the trigger.
Psshht—
Driven by compressed gas, the fluid inside the weapon was injected directly into his body. Almost at once, the blood that had been steadily seeping from the wound began to slow, then stop.
"Back in your old world, that might have been one thing. But now, I'd advise you not to express your feelings in such a heavy-handed way."
"Because in this world, if you offer something weighty, there's a good chance something even heavier will come back in return..."
After that, being a rigorously professional "doctor," she stood back and waited several minutes. Only when she saw color slowly returning to the man's face did she let out a sigh and toss the medical gun back into the spatial opening.
"Anyway... this one's an exception. You were about to die practically right after the start, and since this is your very first simulation, ending it there would've made me look like a pretty awful system."
"And even if it's only a simulation, do try to value your body a little more, would you?"
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
Zuojian felt as though he had sunk into the bottom of an icy sea. Everything around him was cold, lightless, and the only thing he could sense was his body continuing to sink downward.
He had no idea how long he had been falling.
Then, little by little, the scene around him began to change.
It was still dark—but no longer cold.
And the sensation of endlessly sinking disappeared as well.
The deathly silence around him was gone, replaced by something else: a strange voice, faint and indistinct, repeating incomprehensible words in his ear. No matter how hard he listened, he couldn't make sense of them.
Zuojian struggled with all his might, forcing his brain to begin working again, trying desperately to decipher what those noises actually meant.
"...+##@#$ eye 9!#¥!*()..."
...
"Ultraman, open your eyes!"
In an instant, the giant face of some flaming-headed alien in a skin-tight suit filled Zuojian's field of vision!
"Holy crap, Zoffy!"
He shouted it out almost on reflex.
Then, in the next second, he jolted upright in bed.
Cold sweat had soaked the sheets beneath him, leaving his back chilled. Realizing belatedly that he had probably just had a nightmare, Zuojian froze for a second before slowly raising his head to look at the ceiling above.
"An unfamiliar ceiling..."
"No, wait, what do you mean unfamiliar ceiling... this is... Eblana and Loughshinny's room?!"
At last his brain finished sorting out his memories and laid them out in proper order. The confusion of just having woken up vanished almost at once, and he immediately realized what had happened before he passed out.
He remembered the tunnel beginning to collapse. He remembered throwing himself at Eblana. He remembered something stabbing clean through him...
After that, things were fuzzy.
Oh, and there was also that Zoffy-looking thing muttering incomprehensible nonsense in his ear...
Damn it, why was that the part he remembered most clearly?
Zuojian shook his head, deciding he probably still wasn't fully awake.
But just as he was about to get out of bed, the system panel popped open by itself.
[You have obtained a new item.]
A new item?
What item?
Curious, he tapped the little red notification dot on the system panel. There, beside his Rose Revolver, was a new stack of Victorian banknotes.
Where had this money come from?
He reached out and took the notes into his hand. They felt completely real.
At the same time, he noticed that the banknotes, now listed as an inventory item, had an absurdly long description attached to them.
He enlarged the item description and began reading it line by line.
A few minutes later—
[...Even if this is only a simulation, please do value your body a little more.]
"So the system actually used an item description as a letter..." Zuojian muttered with a helpless laugh. "Unbelievable."
Smiling bitterly, he tucked the money away carefully.
Then, all at once, something occurred to him.
He abruptly looked down and pulled open his clothes.
Only then did he discover that the wound through his shoulder had already formed a scab.
How long had he been unconscious?
And right then, he finally noticed a faint rustling sound coming from beside the bed.
Zuojian turned his head—
And his eyes widened.
A girl was asleep beside his bed, leaning against it with her head resting near his side. Her eyes were closed, and with each rise and fall of her breathing, she let out the faintest little snoring sound.
"Eblana?"
After a moment's thought, Zuojian called out tentatively.
It couldn't be helped. The sisters looked far too alike.
Especially with her eyes closed—without their usual expressions and the subtle differences in their gazes, it was almost impossible to tell whether she was the elder sister or the younger one.
And yet, for some reason, Zuojian felt certain that this was Eblana.
He could just tell.
But even after he called her name, she remained slumped there by the bed, as though she had fallen into an extremely deep sleep.
No matter how many times he spoke to her afterward, she showed absolutely no sign of waking.
...Something's wrong.
[Temporary Skill: Medicine (Lv. 2) activated!]
[You have detected that something is wrong with Eblana!]
Zuojian reached out and took hold of Eblana's hand. Then he placed his other hand against his own forehead for comparison.
"She's burning up."
The instant the back of his hand touched her forehead, he knew something was very wrong. Her body temperature was far above normal—already at a dangerously high level.
Without the slightest hesitation, Zuojian jumped out of bed. He didn't even take the time to change out of the thin clothes he was wearing. He simply scooped the limp, feverish Eblana into his arms and charged straight toward the wooden door, which had only recently been patched up into something barely door-like again.
Bang!
Zuojian lifted his leg and kicked.
This time, the recently repaired door finally gave up completely. It shattered into pieces, as though using its miserable end to accuse the world of the injustices it had suffered over the past few days.
Zuojian, however, had no time to care.
Holding Eblana tightly, he rushed over the splintered wood and out into the corridor.
At the turn in the hall, he almost ran headfirst into Loughshinny, who was standing there holding a pot filled with some black, sticky substance.
The moment she saw Zuojian, her face lit up in surprise—but then she noticed the unconscious Eblana in his arms.
"S-Sister?"
"Loughshinny, tell me what happened!"
Holding Eblana close, Zuojian asked urgently.
Loughshinny nodded at once and quickly explained everything that had happened.
"You mean... after she dragged me out of the cellar, she ran out into the freezing night in those torn-up clothes to find a doctor... and then after the doctor left, she sat by my bed for almost three days without sleeping?"
By the time she finished, even Loughshinny's own expression had changed.
The body of a red dragon far surpassed that of ordinary people, yes—but clearly it still wasn't something you could abuse like this, especially not when they were still children.
And yet throughout all this time, Eblana had never shown the slightest sign of discomfort, to the point that Loughshinny had instinctively assumed...
...that Eblana simply wasn't like her.
That Eblana was never afraid of such things.
Perhaps...
Perhaps her sister was actually just like her after all.
Only, she had never once allowed her own fragile side to show.
"Loughshinny, go get some rest. I'm taking your sister to be treated!"
With that, Zuojian dashed off, carrying Eblana straight toward the medicine workshop in the basement.
Loughshinny was left alone in the corridor—
Just like the other day, when Eblana had carried Zuojian into her room in a rush.
Well... not exactly the same.
She turned her head and looked at the door she had only managed to repair yesterday. Now it had finally collapsed for good, smashed all over the floor, utterly beyond saving.
So no.
Not exactly the same after all.
At this point... they probably needed to start thinking about getting an entirely new door.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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