Chapter 80
“Oh, Mom’s here!”
Ellen’s vehement reaction alone was enough to tell Max who the visitor was.
That pale woman with sharp eyes was, unbelievably, Ellen’s mother—and Bella Clements, head of the Clements family.
When Max tried to sit up in bed out of courtesy, Bella spoke.
“Don’t trouble yourself. I have no intention of being greeted by a patient, so stay as you are.”
“···Thank you.”
Bella vanished from the entrance for an instant, then appeared behind Ellen.
Bella’s palm slapped Ellen’s butt with a resounding SMACK! Electricity flashed from the impact!
“Eek!”
“Our daughter came back without even calling to say she’d arrived. Who could she have taken after to be so thoughtless?”
Ellen rubbed her stinging backside and pressed her back to the wall so she wouldn’t offer it up again.
Even then, she did not forget to complain. Her momentum was not dampened in the slightest.
“I heard everything from Domingo anyway!”
“Even so, isn’t it only natural to call your mother at least once after coming back?”
“···.”
“Why? Were you so distracted by that patient over there that you didn’t even think of your mother?”
Bella Clements put on a playful smile as if she understood everything, and Ellen flailed and protested, her face red.
“W-what are you talking about! You shameless old woman!”
“Old woman? Are you sure that’s wise? That boy’s type is probably married women like his mother.”
“I already told you that was a misunderstanding!”
“Hehe~ Well, was it really a misunderstanding?”
While the Clements mother and daughter shared the joy of their reunion in their own unique way,
Flora quietly sat in the chair beside Max. She seemed perfectly at peace, as though she had seen this scene before.
“Oppa. Do you need anything? Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m fine. Maybe it’s the medication, but I don’t feel hungry. Did you eat, Flora?”
“Yes. Genesis Bio provided it.”
After subsisting on Chili Oasis’s oily rice or the nomads’ brick-like bread, Flora must have found a proper meal exquisite.
That was a relief to Max, too.
“That’s good. I wonder when I can be discharged.”
“They said that after treatment with the latest medical equipment, you can be discharged once you regain consciousness. Still··· let’s rest and recuperate here for a while. Okay?”
“Hmm, but being away from the office for so long is a bit much. And then there’s the hospital bill.”
Before Flora could tell him that she and Ellen would take care of the bill, Bella—who had left a handprint on Ellen’s other butt cheek—strode over and joined the conversation.
“If I took money from the child who took a blade meant for my daughter, wouldn’t that make the head of a great mage family look petty and stingy? Just rest well and leave when you’re ready.”
Having decisively settled the matter, Bella prompted Ellen to add her own words as she clutched her stinging backside.
“Ah, tssss··· Oppa! You can just go. That woman and I forced you to be admitted, so don’t spend any money here.”
Max naturally did not refuse.
“···Thank you.”
The fact that there was not even a scar on his chest, and that his severed trapezius muscle and clavicle were perfectly fine, meant they had used not only cellular proliferation treatment but various other treatments as well.
He couldn’t imagine how much Genesis Bio’s treatment had cost, and that terrified him.
“Then let’s see how well you’ve healed.”
Bella Clements closed the distance to Max.
Flora, who had been sitting beside the bed, moved aside on her own.
“···.”
Only then was Max able to get a proper look at Bella.
Although their faces were not particularly alike, they shared the quality of being beautiful, and their styles were remarkably similar.
Light clothing like Ellen’s, elaborate nail art and pedicures, smartphone cases decorated with characters—all of it came to mind.
‘Had Ellen’s style actually been influenced by her mother?’
Above all, there was her overwhelming presence.
Her outfit alone made it hard to imagine her as the head of a great mage family, but, like Eisen Crimsonhowl, Max was certain she had broken through the limits of what a human being could achieve.
‘With my eyes, I can’t even guess her tier.’
Max’s observation hit a wall and ended before it could gain any depth.
But Bella Clements’s gaze bored into the depths of Max.
The corners of Bella’s eyes twitched.
‘This is··· Where could a mage like this have come from···?’
Simply facing him and observing him was enough to tell that his bizarrely rapid tier growth was genuine.
He truly stood on the threshold of the sixth tier.
That alone was astonishing enough to leave one speechless, but there was something else that shocked Bella.
‘You caught a glimpse of the world that makes you who you are.’
Those who have attained mastery often describe it as projecting an inner image. This is the foundation that lets those who reach the seventh tier overlay their own world onto space.
That foundation existed in the unconscious of Max Steiger, a fifth-tier mage.
“···.”
Even Bella Clements had never encountered a case like this, and the words did not come easily.
Her mouth remained closed while her thoughts raced.
‘Domingo’s report said you gambled using brain computation. Did you observe it at the boundary between life and death?’
It was a fearless method. And on top of that, he had reflexively saved Ellen.
Who would have thought such a bold fellow existed in a city where money ruled supreme?
‘He’s a talent anyone would covet.’
If a mage like this emerged, even a conservative, closed-off family would have to reinvent itself to accept him.
Even if that meant denying the legitimacy of the shooting magic they had stubbornly upheld.
But there was likely no one in the current Steiger family capable of recognizing Max Steiger’s worth.
‘That old man Eisen said he was going to seat this child as head of the Steiger family.’
He was wrong.
This wasn’t a matter of someone else placing him there; he would take the position of his own accord.
‘Hmm~ What should I do?’
Calling Max into Megacorp immediately would be premature: there were still many things Bella wanted him to take care of while remaining a mercenary.
Above all, the city’s survival was at stake, so that took priority.
Besides, bringing him into the corporation would reveal Max’s value.
The moment word spread, everyone around them would use every means at their disposal to snatch him away.
‘He still wasn’t strong enough to withstand their underhanded schemes.’
Max Steiger needed time to grow stronger while avoiding the eyes of those in power.
‘The best option was to leave him as a Bohemian mercenary under the exclusive purview of Crimsonhowl and Clements.’
Judging by Ellen’s reaction earlier, perhaps things would progress on their own if Bella kept him close.
Still, there was something unsettling about simply believing that and waiting.
Ellen, a scion of a great mage family, lacked nothing, but Bella had never seen her in a relationship, and she had never shown any interest in men to begin with.
‘I’m not exactly in a position to offer advice either···.’
For her daughter’s happiness, Bella decided to leave Max as a mercenary while sprinkling in a little seasoning to spice things up.
“You’ve worked hard, so I ought to give you a reward besides covering your hospital expenses.”
Bella held out her smartphone to Max.
Then she ordered in a serious voice devoid of playfulness.
“I’ll exchange numbers with you.”
“Pardon?”
At Bella Clements’s words, everyone but Bella and Max froze like stone statues, and silence fell over the hospital room.
Ellen was the first to react. Her horns flashed, a testament to her emotional turmoil.
“What!? Has this old woman gone crazy? Ignore her, Oppa!”
“You wouldn’t dare refuse a reward bestowed by the head of the Clements family, would you? If I’m in the mood, I might even take a look at your magic.”
“Ah, don’t! Mom, get out!”
“···.”
“Wouldn’t this be the perfect reward for a married-woman chaser?”
Judging by Bella’s actions in the hospital room, was this simply her way of teasing Ellen, or was she trying to scrutinize Ellen’s behavior more closely?
In truth, whatever Bella’s purpose, Max had only one option.
··
··
Ziiing──.
The door to Max’s hospital room opened.
As Bella emerged with her heels clicking, Domingo, who had been guarding the door, smoothly turned toward her.
“Domingo. We’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Mom, don’t come back!”
Bella chuckled at Ellen’s shrill cry and walked away from the hospital room.
As she walked through Genesis Bio’s corridors, she issued an order.
“Domingo. Take care of Max Steiger’s hospital bill and make sure he can be discharged whenever he wishes. Oh, and deposit his commission now.”
“I’ll take care of it immediately.”
With a smile that never left her lips and a spring in her step, Domingo couldn’t help asking,
“You seem pleased.”
“My daughter is so adorable I can hardly stand it. And I saw an interesting mage, too.”
“I’ll prepare dinner tonight to celebrate the young lady’s return.”
“There’s no need. At a glance, it looks like I’ll be staying here with Eisen’s granddaughter until she’s discharged. Just tell them to pay some attention to the food they provide.”
“I shall do so.”
Using his monocle, Domingo relayed the matters Bella Clements had mentioned.
Confirmations poured in, and the employees immediately sprang into action.
“Domingo.”
“Yes.”
“What about the footage of Max Steiger’s battle?”
Bella had watched only Ellen’s battle; she had no interest in anything else.
However, after meeting Max Steiger in person, she had grown interested.
“I’ll send it over. It doesn’t capture the entire battle, but all the important parts are there.”
“Good. Shall we go upstairs and watch it?”
Bella headed straight for the top floor of Genesis Bio.