Chapter 39
Compared to Max’s and Bivol’s, Usagi’s injuries were light.
She spent a day receiving treatment in the Hospital Room provided by the Association. She was discharged after undergoing a nerve examination for her prosthetic arm and having the damaged parts restored.
Now, all that remained was to recuperate until her spent magic power replenished.
Since this could be done at home and the mental aspect was also important, Usagi discharged herself as quickly as possible and returned home.
She wanted to sleep in a place where she felt at ease.
“Mmm…”
Usagi, who had been sleeping in her Single Room rolled up in a blanket like a burrito, opened her eyes.
Checking the phone plugged into the charger, she saw that it was 6:00 AM, her usual wake-up time.
However, waking up today was not easy. The fatigue from the request lingered, making her body heavy.
“Hnnngh…!”
Despite the rabbit ears, she stretched in a cat-like posture on her bedding.
She headed to the bathroom while checking the condition of her repaired prosthetic arm.
Swaaaash!!!
She woke herself up by standing under the pouring cold water. Her sunken consciousness slowly surfaced from the chill biting into her skin.
Looking in the mirror, she thoroughly checked to see if there were any visible wounds.
“The Weapon Bonus the mage mentioned… would be nice if it came in soon…”
The Mercenary’s name is Usagi.
A 4th-tier Ninja belonging to the Bohemian Mercenary Association.
Her real name was Hoshikawa Yukina.
She was the Successor of Man-Sang Ryu Ninjutsu. Her Family relations were simple.
She had a younger brother, Hoshikawa Ryu-Ji, with a significant age gap between them.
Hoshikawa Ryu-Ji was continuing his Struggle with Illness at the Emmaus Medical Center in District 14.
Yukina planned to go to the Hospital where her Younger Sibling was today.
“Phew!”
She finished her cold shower and hurried to get ready.
While drying her hair, she opened the Refrigerator situated at a low height.
“For breakfast…”
There was no need to even ponder the menu. The only things welcoming her inside the Refrigerator were a few bottles of water and Energy Jelly with a dangerously close Expiration Date.
This was enough.
Of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t have things she wanted to eat.
However, the obsession that she had to save money strongly suppressed all her desires.
“I have to save more. Or I have to raise my tier.”
Fixed Expenses returned breathlessly fast, but high-paying requests didn’t come around often.
‘While I’m out, I should restock on consumables too.’
Yukina threw on clothes she couldn’t even remember buying and grabbed the hat hanging on the wall.
When heading to the Hospital, she covered her rabbit ears and wore a mask.
A Rabbit Beastman wasn’t particularly rare, but living as a Mercenary meant it wouldn’t be strange to incur grudges.
“…”
It didn’t matter if she was attacked, but her Younger Sibling was off-limits.
Even this might be a soft and complacent thought for someone living as a Mercenary, but she wanted her Younger Sibling to remain ignorant of this world.
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As soon as Yukina entered the Emmaus Medical Center in District 14, she headed to the Admissions Office.
She had something to do before going to see her Younger Sibling.
“I’m here to make a payment for Hoshikawa Ryu-Ji.”
A long-term inpatient at the Emmaus Medical Center was required to make monthly payments.
If it was delayed even once, treatment would be cut off immediately, and even if payments resumed later, the individual would be branded as a Person of Concern who had to settle their bills once a week.
“You remember there were seizures at dawn on the 3rd and the 17th, right? You came in Person back then.”
“…I remember.”
“Genepin 32 was administered as a Magic Power Suppressant, and the Narcotic Antitussive Desmethophan M, along with the Phenolic Intravenous Anesthetic Untropental, was used. Do you recall our notifying you before administration?”
“Yes.”
When Yukina affirmed with a stiff face, the Admissions Office Employee tapped away at a calculator without hesitation and continued the explanation.
“The daily hospitalization fee for the Special Nursing Room is 950,000 credits. The cost of the Highly Concentrated Neutralizer and Nerve Stabilizer administered every morning is──.”
The numbers on the calculator increased exponentially.
Yukina stared blankly at the calculator with her card in hand.
Confirming that the total was similar to the usual amount, she handed over her card.
“Please continue to take good care of him.”
Having finished the payment, Yukina headed to the Elevator.
While waiting, she checked the remaining balance in her account.
‘After restocking consumables and setting aside the amount to add to next month’s Hospital bills, I’ll still have a little left over.’
She felt truly grateful for this request.
If the Association hadn’t provided free treatment and Prosthetic Arm Repair, she would have suffocated.
Repairing a broken prosthetic arm would easily cost 10 million credits.
Ding!
She boarded the Elevator and went up.
Her Younger Sibling was hospitalized in a Special Room monitored by an AI 24 hours a day. It was an unavoidable choice, as it was dangerous if a seizure wasn’t caught quickly when it occurred.
“Ryu-Ji.”
“Older Sister!”
Ryu-Ji, who had been lying in bed, raised his upper body.
There was no trace of suffering in the expression looking her way, only gladness. Yukina’s mouth also curled up into a smile.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine! Today is especially good!”
“Did you eat a lot? You didn’t leave anything behind because you’re a picky eater, did you?”
Yukina sat in a chair and shared small talk with her Younger Sibling.
This moment was truly happy. It was an incredibly precious time.
However, the Negative Emotions nestled deep within Yukina’s heart would not easily calm down.
“If only Ryu-Ji could finish his Hospital Life quickly and live normally…”
The Emmaus Medical Center was a Hospital known as the pinnacle of Cardiology in the Districts in the 10-range.
It was also the ideal Hospital where Yukina could entrust the treatment of her Younger Sibling, Ryu-Ji.
But even that reputation was useless in the face of her Younger Sibling’s illness. They said that even if she bought a fresh heart with money or replaced it with a commercially available Artificial Organ, the illness would 100 percent relapse.
A High-End Artificial Heart that could perfectly block the problematic constitution was needed.
Because such an outstanding artificial heart was only possessed by Haze’s MegaCorp Genesis Bio or Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals, she was sentenced to the reality that a complete cure was impossible unless they made a move.
All the Emmaus Medical Center could do was Life-Sustaining Treatment to keep the symptoms from worsening.
It was a condition that would make an ordinary Person give up on treatment the moment they heard it.
However, Yukina did not give up.
In the end, there were two choices.
The first was to rise to a position where she could confidently contact a MegaCorp.
The second was to wait Indefinitely for the day the technology they monopolized reached the Emmaus Medical Center.
Yukina was aiming for the former.
“Ah! And Older Sister…”
“Yeah?”
Ryu-Ji mumbled, his lips moving in hesitation before getting out of bed.
Yukina froze in tension, wondering if something was wrong with her Younger Sibling.
“Older Sister told you not to accept things from people I don’t know…”
Ryu-Ji showed her a soccer ball he had tucked under the bed.
It was a relief for Yukina, who had been holding her Breath in case he was hurting somewhere.
“Who gifted it to you?”
“A passing Mage Brother… He even played with me!”
“A mage? Can you tell Older Sister about it in detail?”
After briefly hearing the situation, Yukina clenched her teeth.
It pained her heart that she had been so distracted by Hospital bills that she couldn’t even buy Ryu-Ji a new soccer ball to play with.
“Can Older Sister take a look for a second?”
“Yeah!”
Yukina thoroughly inspected the ball.
Fortunately, no issues were visible. It was an ordinary soccer ball.
“Still, you shouldn’t do too much Strenuous Exercise. You know that, right?”
Ryu-Ji’s one remaining ear drooped.
Yukina didn’t want to say such things to her Younger Sibling either. But it couldn’t be helped.
“Ryu-Ji. If there’s anything you want or need, tell Older Sister comfortably.”
“But still…”
No matter how young Ryu-Ji was, he guessed what level this Hospital was.
The very air was different from the district they lived in before his Struggle with Illness began.
“Ryu-Ji, you don’t need to worry about trivial things. Let’s just focus on your treatment, okay?”
“…”
“Older Sister makes a whole lot of money! The only flaw is that I’m too busy to see Ryu-Ji often.”
Yukina spoke exaggeratedly while painting a picture in her mind.
“He floated the ball in the air without using his hands?”
Going solely by Ryu-Ji’s explanation, there was a high probability that the mage who played with him was a Psychokinetic Type.
Her thoughts deepened.
The very existence of a mage was a Target of Caution in Haze, so she couldn’t just laugh it off.
“There is a possibility that he really gifted the soccer ball to Ryu-Ji without any ulterior motive, but…”
Humans with such a heart were rare in Haze.
“Ah, right.”
Speaking of a Psychokinetic, the Mercenary named Max who this time carried out the request with her was also a Psychokinetic-type mage.
“His skills were good.”
It was as if to prove the saying that all mages had an eccentric side to them.
He seemed like a normal Person, yet he was somewhat peculiar.
He had appeared to have a lot of curiosity about the organs inside the Container.
Of course, she and Bivol had also been shocked upon seeing the inside of the Container, but they shook it off as soon as the request ended.
However, the mage named Max seemed to be constantly lost in thought.
Even up to the moment he received treatment, his mind seemed noisy. He was simply tenacious.
‘Isn’t there a Community or something where mages of the same type contact each other?’
If she asked a Psychokinetic, would she be able to figure out the identity of the Psychokinetic that Ryu-Ji met?
Yukina fell into deep thought.
* * *
“Achoo!”
Max, who had been sleeping in his Hospital bed, sneezed and opened his eyes.
It was a ridiculous way to wake up.
“Ugh…”
His entire body throbbed just from sneezing once.
He checked his body just in case, but his wounds hadn’t opened.
“Is father cursing me out?”
Strangely, even his ears were itchy.
“Phew.”
Now wide awake, Max stepped out of the Hospital Room dragging his IV drip.
Meredith, an Association Employee, was working in the corridor on a chair on a laptop.
“Sir Max, is your body alright?”
“…Yes. Thanks to the Association’s support. But what brings you here?”
“I’d like to briefly hear from you regarding a matter related to the request.”
“I’m hungry, so can we do this while I eat?”
“Of course. I will guide you.”
Max dragged the IV stand along and followed Meredith.