Chapter 75
*
The next day.
I put on my crow mask for the first time in a while and visited the merchant guild's dormitory alone.
The upper levels of Civitas Square.
It was a luxury dormitory that the Mercure Merchant Guild provided for its chief researcher and his family.
For now, it was being used as a temporary residence for the scholarship students.
I entered the four-story stone building.
High ceilings, wide windows, and a well-maintained interior.
Even if it wasn't on the same level as the mansion in Sanctum Hill, the environment was incomparable to the clinic in Limbus Pit.
‘Freya should be able to find this place, right?’
I told Freya to come separately that afternoon.
─ “Aren't you coming too, brother?”
─ “I'll come in the morning as Shun Isa first. Freya, you should come in the afternoon as Yulian's younger sister.”
─ “All right, brother.”
Shun Isa and Yulian Nihirit had to be different people.
So I had decided to avoid situations where the two of us moved around together whenever possible.
‘Now that I've decided to keep my identities separate, I can't afford to be careless.’
I walked down the hallway and arrived in front of the appropriate room.
I knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
“It's Shun Isa.”
I heard footsteps from inside.
They sounded too hurried to be Valeria's footsteps.
It was probably her mother.
‘Come to think of it, is this the first time I've met her mother in person?’
As I was thinking that, the door opened.
A woman in a neat black priestly robe stood there, though she looked tired in some indefinable way.
The moment my eyes met hers beneath the shadow of her hat, my body stiffened.
‘...It's her.’
She was the priestess who had assisted me on the day I treated Freya's Demon Disease.
I had forgotten about her after hearing that my father had taken measures to keep that day's events quiet.
I never dreamed our connection would continue in a way like this.
‘The world really is small.’
The priestess I'd met that day turned out to be the parent of one of my scholarship students.
I wasn't the only one who seemed surprised.
She was staring intently at my face, hidden beneath the shadow of my hat.
“D-Director. Welcome.”
“Excuse me, ma'am.”
Fear of me showed in her voice.
I understood.
Whatever other professions might be like, Shun Isa's standing among healers was by no means low.
Besides, I was the scholarship sponsor of both her daughters, so it was only natural for her to be this nervous.
“As I mentioned beforehand, I came to see how Valeria is doing. Would it be all right if I spoke with her now?”
“Yes, of course, Director.”
The stiff priestess looked at me and asked,
“H-have we met before?”
My heart sank for a moment.
But I pretended to be calm and answered naturally.
“What a coincidence. I've heard so much about you from Valeria and Ayla that you don't feel like a stranger to me either. Have the two girls talked about me a lot?”
“Hmm... is that so?”
‘As expected, perception-dulling can't do anything about déjà vu.’
Perception-dulling was a magic that prevented someone from clearly recognizing a target's features.
You could think of it as magic that interfered with connecting someone's voice, build, or manner of speaking to a specific person.
The magic only prevented her from reaching the certainty that ‘Yulian = Shun Isa’; it couldn't completely block a sense of déjà vu.
That belonged more to the realm of instinct than perception.
It was still something magic had difficulty dealing with.
‘Well, it shouldn't matter as long as I don't blatantly take off my hat in front of her.’
That sense of déjà vu would ultimately never become certainty.
Unless I revealed my identity in front of her or let her discover it through some definite clue.
So there was no need for me to grow anxious and strengthen her suspicions for no reason.
“Since it was right after such a major incident, I'm worried about Miss Valeria's condition. Before I meet her, may I ask how she is doing?”
“Th-thank you for your concern, D-Director.”
Fortunately, the priestess's suspicions didn't deepen.
Her concern for her daughter quickly overwhelmed her doubts.
“V-Valeria is fine. She's a little tired, but she doesn't seem particularly different from usual.”
“Does she ever sit alone, staring blankly into space, or have trouble sleeping?”
“No, she doesn't. If anything, she says she needs to study even harder while school is on break, and she won't put her books down even when I tell her to. I'm worried about her, so could you say something to her, Director?”
“Understood.”
Following the priestess's guidance, I entered Valeria's room.
Inside the half-curtained room, Valeria sat at the desk beside her bed with a textbook spread open.
She was studying, just as her mother had said.
When I entered, she closed the book and straightened her posture.
“Director. How do you do?”
“How are you feeling, Student Valeria?”
“I'm fine. I wasn't injured in particular, either.”
Valeria answered while neatly tying back her disheveled hair.
“I'd like to check your condition briefly. Would that be all right?”
“Yes, that's fine.”
I took Valeria's pulse and asked her various other questions.
Whether she was sleeping well, and whether memories of that day kept coming back to her.
After checking several things, Valeria didn't seem to have any particular problems.
“I've been a little tired since that day.”
“That's a normal reaction that appears right after coming out of a state of extreme tension. If you rest well here and get plenty of sleep, you'll recover soon.”
“Thank you, Director. For rescuing me that day, and for providing us with a place like this.”
“However.”
I pointed to the book Valeria had closed.
“May I ask why you're studying this hard?”
Valeria thought for a moment before opening her mouth again.
“Actually, that day... when you rescued me, Director, I realized something. Unless I succeed in life, I won't be able to protect myself, or Ayla and Mother.”
“So that's why you've been studying this.”
The book she had been reading was a first-year Hero Studies major textbook—Monster Studies.
As I remembered it, Valeria had planned to attend school only through the high school division and work as an accountant for our guild.
Was it because of the era's circumstances?
The accounting program was taught during the high school division, and students entered the workforce earlier than I had expected.
This incident had caused her to change course.
‘Hero Studies certainly is a convenient path to success.’
The other departments were largely geared toward inheriting a family business.
For an ordinary commoner with nothing to their name, the fastest way to rise into the nobility was to apply to become a hero and accumulate military achievements.
Many newly established noble houses were born that way as well.
Eri seemed to be aiming for the same path.
“Hero Studies? I never imagined you would do this, Student Valeria.”
“I'm sorry, Director. Of course, I haven't forgotten my promise to the guild. I'll naturally work as an accountant for the guild. But I'll attend school during the day and work for the guild at night....”
“There's no need for that.”
“Pardon?”
“I'll arrange that part, so please focus solely on your studies, Student Valeria.”
Otherwise, she'd end up doing neither properly.
When you study, you should focus completely on studying.
It had been the same when I was in medical school.
Medical school tuition was ridiculously expensive, after all.
Private university tuition was expensive enough to bend a family's foundations.
So some of my friends had to work part-time while studying hard to pay their tuition.
Whenever I saw those friends, I felt terribly sorry for them.
Because of that, one of the items on my bucket list had been to donate scholarships so friends like them could study without worrying.
Though I died of overwork before I could seriously start making money.
“I'd also like to see you shine as a hero, Student Valeria. Since you're good with calculations, I'm sure you could excel as a mage as well.”
Valeria stared blankly at me.
After a moment, Valeria finally opened her mouth cautiously.
“...Director, why are you being so kind to us?”
“It's an adult's responsibility.”
“Responsibility?”
“Once you've begun showing someone kindness, I don't think you should take lightly the responsibility that arises from that kindness.”
Giving them scholarships had been my choice.
At the time, I'd made it casually.
But because of that choice, the children had come under Shun Isa's name.
And as a result, they had been exposed to danger.
So I wanted to take responsibility.
Now that I knew the Inspection Bureau wouldn't even protect their secrets.
I wanted to help my students make their own way through this harsh world.
‘Backing out now and saying it has nothing to do with me... would be terribly uncool.’
If I was the protagonist, I had to be someone who could face anyone without shame.
That was a conviction I'd established after possessing the protagonist's body.
— “If they are so precious to you, then at the very least you need to raise them until they can protect themselves.”
That must have been what my Master meant when he said that.
“So don't worry, Student Valeria, and focus on your studies. However.”
“....”
“You need to take care of your health, too. You have to study when your mind is ready to absorb it. Right now, you should be resting.”
“...Thank you.”
“Then I'll speak with your mother about the rest, so you get some rest, Student Valeria.”
Valeria lowered her head deeply.
I nodded in satisfaction and stood up.
“Oh, I told Miss Freya about this place. She'll be coming this afternoon.”
“The head of the disciplinary committee? Were the two of you acquainted?”
“The Nihirit family invested in our guild even before I created quinine, so they're benefactors we've always been grateful to. They're still our major shareholder, and we continue to maintain that connection.”
“Ah... So that's why the head of the disciplinary committee spends so freely....”
“Then rest here until Miss Freya arrives.”
I left the room, leaving the now-convinced Valeria behind.
***
When I returned to the living room,
the priestess had prepared tea on the dining table.
Ayla was sitting beside the priestess.
Ayla smiled at me as brightly as a sunflower.
“Director! Did you read my letter?”
“I did, Student Ayla. Thanks for the sunflowers, as always.”
“Hehe. I'll grow an even prettier one and send it next time!”
The moment I saw her smile, I felt healed.
Was this how the men ensnared by the heroines of romance-fantasy novels felt?
Maybe it was because the world was so harsh.
Pure smiles like that had a uniquely powerful charm.
Of course, I meant charming in the spirit of human affection, not romantic interest.
I sat across from Ayla and the priestess.
I accepted a teacup, took a sip, and brought up the main subject of today's visit.
“Ma'am, I'd like to make a proposal.”
“...Yes. What proposal would that be, Director?”
“I heard that Student Ayla has awakened divine power.”
“....”
“So I'd like to take this girl on as my disciple.”
Today's visit wasn't only to see how Valeria was doing; it was also to take Ayla on as my disciple in earnest.
The priestess's eyes went wide.
Her pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
Then the priestess suddenly lowered her head deeply.
For a while, she stared silently at her teacup.
At last, she opened her mouth.
“To be honest... I want to refuse. My eldest daughter was already attacked simply because she was a scholarship student. If Ayla becomes your disciple... won't she be in even greater danger?”
I didn't argue.
This woman's fear was only natural.
Being targeted by a black mage was a heavy burden even for a noble.
All the more so for an ordinary citizen like this priestess.
“Director. I was just an ordinary mother who wanted my daughters to live quiet, safe lives. But major secrets keep appearing around us. To be honest, I don't want to deal with what might happen if I accept your proposal.”
The priestess tightened her hands around the teacup.
“But.”
The priestess steadied her breathing.
“I've seen how you've treated Valeria and Ayla until now, Director.”
The priestess looked at me.
“You want these children to be able to protect themselves, don't you?”
“Yes, that's right.”
“Then....”
The priestess looked at Ayla.
“I'll leave the choice to Ayla.”
“....”
“As her mother, I don't want to stand in the way of my child's dream.”
The priestess clasped her younger daughter's hand tightly.
“Ayla. What do you want to do?”
“Mother....”
“Don't think about Mother.”
The priestess smiled with difficulty.
“It's all right. I'm a respectable intermediate priestess now, too. I truly want you to do what you want, Ayla.”
Ayla lowered her head and thought for a moment.
It was a silence that lasted a while.
And when she raised her head, the little girl spoke in a resolute voice.
“Mother.”
“Yes.”
“I still want to become a healer like you and Director Shun.”
Her words carried several meanings.
She was seventeen.
The weight of words spoken by a girl who had begun to understand the world was by no means light.
“I want to become a truly excellent healer and personally heal my sister, my mother... and all the sick people.”
The priestess closed her eyes.
Perhaps, as a mother, she knew better than anyone that her daughter's talent could not be confined to the life of an ordinary citizen.
No.
As a priestess, she must have known the significance of the sunflower Ayla had made bloom as well.
She had merely kept that dream quiet, blocked by the practical barriers of tuition and finding a teacher, until she met me.
“...All right.”
The priestess opened her eyes and looked at her daughter.
Then she turned her gaze to me and said,
“Please take care of my youngest.”
“Yes. I will definitely make Student Ayla into a healer who surpasses me.”
The priestess gave a bitter smile at those words.
She clearly didn't believe me.
But I hadn't said it as an empty promise.
‘Someday, this child will surpass me.’
Professors were often like that.
Just as a martial sect's leader wants their disciple to surpass them and raise the sect's honor,
and noble families of distinguished lineage want their children to inherit their secret magic and bring glory to the house,
the ultimate goal of people like this was always for their disciples to stand on their shoulders.
I was no exception.
Just imagining a future in which my disciple inherited my teachings and advanced medicine made me feel excited.
“I promise you, Mother. Student Ayla will definitely surpass me.”
I don't have divine power.
Ayla does have divine power.
Modern medicine cannot regrow a severed arm.
Divine magic can sever an arm and repair it.
The potential of the latter was incomparably higher.
“So please believe in Ayla, too.”
At those words, the priestess nodded with a resolute expression.
*
After the parent meeting ended and Ayla returned to her sister's room,
only the priestess and I remained at the dining table.
The priestess replaced the cold tea with fresh tea and cautiously opened her mouth.
“Director. May I ask you one more thing?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“...May I ask why Young Master Yulian's secret has to be kept hidden?”
I was a little surprised.
I hadn't expected that question.
And even less had I expected her to ask it so directly.
Of course, it was a pleasant surprise.
I felt like I understood where Valeria and Ayla had learned their uprightness and honesty.
‘Now that we're all in the same boat, there shouldn't be any reason not to tell her.’
I thought knowing the reason might motivate her as well.
I chose my words for a moment, then opened my mouth.
“Young Master's treatment for Demon Disease is still incomplete. If it's revealed carelessly in its current state, the confusion will only grow.”
“Pardon?”
“The religious world and the nobles won't leave it alone, either. But personally, I'm worried that black mages might abuse it.”
The research itself could be announced publicly.
I could release it as Shun Isa rather than Yulian.
By now, Shun Isa could probably withstand that level of attention somehow.
But this research had considerable potential for misuse.
“If incomplete information begins circulating, people may use it to deceive others by claiming to treat Demon Disease. They could sell fake medicines, or gather people under the pretense of treating them and use them as sacrifices for black magic.”
That's why we had to keep it secret.
If we revealed it carelessly, it was easy to imagine all kinds of charlatans taking advantage of it.
Rather than creating countless tragedies with incomplete research, I thought it was better to make certain of everything before announcing it.
“It's partly for Young Master's safety, but we need to protect this carefully for my sake, your sake, and the sake of the world as well. Arrows of blame could end up pointed at us.”
The priestess's complexion visibly paled.
The surface of the tea in her cup trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Soon, she opened her mouth with difficulty.
“...Director.”
“Yes.”
“Actually, my stomach has been hurting a little more often lately....”
She added several more symptoms.
“...Could it be a serious illness?”
“Do you have a sour taste in your mouth?”
“Yes....”
“Does it get worse at night?”
“Yes.”
“It's stress-induced gastritis.”
Oh dear.
It seemed to have worsened because another secret had been piled on top of the existing one.
If the president of the United States suddenly sent me a DM explaining how to launch nuclear missiles, I probably would have reacted the same way.
“I'll send you some foods that are good for your stomach.”
“Thank you, Director.”
Somehow, I'm the protagonist of this whole misunderstanding story,
but it seemed the mother had taken all the ordinary-citizen-character traits for herself.
I felt I needed to take even better care of her out of guilt.
***
A few days later.
"I'll be back!"
The day of Ayla's appointment with Director Shun arrived.
With an excited heart, Ayla boarded the cable car bound from Civitas Square to Limbus Pit.
As she descended, unfamiliar scenery unfolded before her.
The very bottom of the city, surrounded by towering brass walls.
The place where magi-smog settled most thickly.
A place her mother and the other adults had repeatedly warned her never to go near.
But to a girl who looked at the world without prejudice, even this cesspit appeared strange and beautiful.
‘Wow....’
On the way down from Civitas Square to Limbus Pit,
one set of signs particularly caught her eye.
〈Civitas Sector 3 — Mercure Affiliated Clinic〉
〈Civitas Sector 7 — Mercure Affiliated Clinic〉
〈Limbus Pit Sector E — Mercure Affiliated Clinic〉
From Civitas all the way to Limbus Pit.
Clinics like these had sprung up all over the capital.
Every one of them was operated by the Mercure Merchant Guild.
The guild conducted clinical trials for its newly developed medicines here and provided them at a fraction of the price charged by ordinary treatment centers.
She had also heard that they sometimes distributed medicine free of charge to people without money.
‘So this was all Director Shun's doing.’
She couldn't believe one person's influence could reach this far.
Each clinic had been established under Shun Isa's name.
Vaccines, quinine, and Viagra—all the medicines he'd developed were stocked on the shelves of these clinics.
As Ayla walked, she thought of the faces of her seminary friends.
‘Serin and Rena said they wanted to work for the guild someday, too.’
Among the theology students who had awakened divine power early at seminary, becoming an exclusive healer for the Mercure Merchant Guild was a fairly popular career path.
A healing priest could only use a limited amount of divine power each day.
Whether Refresh or Heal, once they used all their allotted casts, they couldn't do anything else that day.
But things changed if they belonged to the guild.
They could treat people with divine power, then handle the guild's new medicines and continue treating them after their divine power ran out.
Naturally, their income couldn't compare to that of priests who used only divine power.
That was why becoming an exclusive healer for the guild was so popular among young healers who had just graduated from the Healing Department.
Of course, Ayla, whose view of the world was still purely idealistic, interpreted the reason for that popularity differently.
‘My friends want to help people like that, too. I should study hard under Director Shun so I don't fall behind.’
“Miss, that's the entrance to D Sector.”
At that moment, the man walking ahead interrupted her thoughts.
He was a hyena beastman with a fierce-looking face.
He had gray, shoulder-length hair slicked back, an angular face with stubble, and one ear that had been partially cut off.
At first glance, he looked like someone with a bounty on his head from an adventurer's guild.
But Ayla knew what a kind person he was.
From the moment they left home until now,
this beastman gentleman had answered all of Ayla's questions, always kindly and without exception.
─ “Mister, do all those Mercure clinics on the signs belong to Director Shun?”
─ “No, miss. The guild built them. Of course, they are our director's achievements.”
─ “Mister, you're a beastman, right? Where are you from?”
─ “I'm a native of D Sector, miss. Thanks to our director, my hometown has become such a pleasant place to live. I can never thank him enough.”
─ “Could you show me around D Sector sometime?”
─ “Of course. I know every corner of that place, so if you ever come to visit, I'll guide you safely anytime.”
At first, his fierce appearance had frightened her.
But from the way he spoke to the way he behaved,
he was a thoroughly friendly neighborhood gentleman.
‘He even said he's close with Miss Erica.’
Then he must definitely be a good person.
He probably had so many scars because of some unfortunate circumstances.
As expected.
There were only good people around Director Shun.
— “Shh. Hey, get lost. What protection fee are you talking about? Can't you see I'm guiding someone right now? Read the room.”
Judging by how shopkeepers spoke to him whenever he passed by, he was clearly a popular and kind person in this neighborhood as well.
Ayla was certain of it.
“This is D-1 Clinic, miss.”
The beastman gentleman stopped walking.
Ayla raised her head and looked up at the building.
<D-1 Clinic>
The windows of the two-story stone building gleamed like new.
The Mercure Merchant Guild's emblem was engraved above the entrance.
The beastman gentleman gazed up at the building with a deeply moved expression.
“This building used to be a shabby boarding house, too, but it was recently rebuilt into this gleaming place.”
Ayla's eyes lit up as she entered the building.
The inside was larger than it had appeared from outside.
She saw a waiting room, examination rooms, a dispensary, and a door at the end of the hallway marked Operating Room.
Several patients were sitting in the waiting room, while people who appeared to be healers affiliated with the clinic hurried back and forth.
‘So this is where Director Shun works.’
Her heart pounded.
Starting today, I'll be learning here, too.
That was when it happened.
A person wearing a crow mask strode out from the end of the hallway.
It was Director Shun.
Dressed in a white shirt, he was washing his hands with limewater at the entrance.
Ayla noticed him and was just about to wave happily when
Director Shun spoke first.
“Student Ayla. You're here. I'm sorry I couldn't show you around. An emergency case came in first thing this morning.”
“No, it's all right, Director!”
“Oh, do you know how to cast Lesser Heal?”
It was a completely unexpected question.
Ayla blinked.
“N-no. I only awakened divine power yesterday... I can only use Refresh so far.”
Director Shun nodded.
“That will be enough.”
“Pardon?”
“I was just about to perform a craniotomy (*a surgery that opens the top of the skull) on a fall-injury patient. With Refresh, I think you might be able to help stop the bleeding.”
Director Shun pointed toward the operating room entrance with his beak and said,
“If you'd like to observe—”
As if cutting him off, a voice came from inside the operating room.
— “Doctor Shun! Cocaine anesthesia is complete!”
“I'm coming.”
Director Shun raised his arms, still wet with limewater, up to his chest and said,
“If you'd like to observe, come inside.”
Director Shun's back disappeared into the operating room.
Ayla stood at the entrance, hesitating.
Craniotomy
She was still a theology student with no knowledge of healing at all, so she didn't know exactly what kind of operation it was.
But thanks to the Ancient Imperial language she had learned at seminary, she could roughly infer the word's etymology.
Cranio—
A word meaning head in the Ancient Imperial language.
‘An operation performed on the head?’
In divine magic, which treated Excision and Heal as the fundamentals of surgery, the head was a part no one dared touch easily.
If the head was severed, the person would go straight to the Lord's side before it could ever regenerate.
Director Shun had said he would operate on such a part.
Suddenly, she remembered what her sister had told her.
─ “They say Director Shun put his hand directly into Cal's chest and treated his lung. Without using divine magic.”
Once that thought occurred to her, a single thought dominated Ayla's mind.
'...I want to see it.’
She felt terribly sorry for the patient, truly.
But to Ayla, this felt like an opportunity sent down from heaven.
“Yes! I'll observe!”
Ayla ran toward the operating room entrance.
The guard waiting at the entrance—Otto—stopped Ayla.
“Wait, wait. Wash your hands before you go in, student.”
“Pardon?”
“Director's orders. Scrub carefully, all the way beneath your nails.”
“Yes!”
Following Otto's instructions, Ayla scurried over to the entrance and washed her hands in limewater.
Watching her from behind, the hyena beastman—Wangcho—shook his head repeatedly.
“Good grief... Why are healers so fearless?”
Wangcho turned around.
“They say there aren't any ordinary people among those who study magic. Even if they paid me, I couldn't do that.”
After muttering that, the hyena beastman disappeared from the clinic.