NOVEL WEB Chapter 272: Happy Endings.
After I caught my breath I walked back over to the pool of blood the man was lying in and sat down just outside of it.
“Is he dead?” Isy asked.
“He’s breathing… Now at least…”
“So what do we do? Do we take him back to our room?”
I rested my chin in one of my hands, thinking for a moment. “Are there really no medical facilities around here? Like, where would you go if you broke an arm in a duel?” ‘It feels like this should be common knowledge…’
“Oh… Yeah, we could take him to the grand hall…”
I sighed. “Ok… Grab his legs. Let’s pick him up from the same side like this to try and stop his torso from compressing.”
She hesitantly agreed and helped me. It was slippery because of all the blood, but with an excessive amount of magic, it was manageable.
“Are you sure this is how we are supposed to carry him?”
“Do I look like a doctor?” I growled back.
It was a long walk… But eventually, we made it. We were directed to a medical wing that was surprisingly empty. And when we laid him down on an operating table the doctor started giving us orders… He didn’t remove the knife blade, instead having me and Isy help him make some kind of drug that shocked him awake.
When he woke up the doctor forced him to inhale as deeply as he could and hold his breath, only then did he pull the knife blade, quickly patching the hole, and almost immediately knocking him back out with a different herb. Although, I’m sure the pain helped.
“Good job you two, he should be just fine now. You can go. If he’s a friend I would check back in a couple hours.”
‘I’m starting to get really concerned about our casualty rates in battles… Although I guess he washed his hands, that’s a good sign, but do we really not have any dedicated doctors? He was wearing a teacher's uniform…’ “Oh uh, right. We will get going now…” ‘Although, this is probably better than medieval all things considered… Right?’
After I left the room I shuddered, feeling a sudden chill, this time able to easily enough suppress the urge to vomit. I was too worn out and desensitized. Although, it still twisted my stomach.
Isy suddenly gasped. “The clothes!” She shouted.
‘I guess we kind of just left them behind…’ “You think they’re still there?”
I saw her face sink as though all hope was lost, but I figured we should give it a try, and sure enough, the shop owner had seen us bolt right after leaving the store and watched over them for us. So there was a happy ending there too. Considering everything was just kind of working out, and I wasn’t the one who almost died for once, I felt a weird sense of accomplishment, like I was moving up in the world. There was really only one problem… Although, it was more so a good thing… I just didn’t want to deal with how awkward it would be, delivering Frostbite… Or I guess Mo, her clothes, after all that happened.
“You’re worried about her aren’t you…” Isy muttered.
‘I guess I’m an open book when I’m not trying to stay closed…’ I sighed. “Yeah. I should check on her, and now I have a good excuse… I just really don’t know how to deal with people when they’re crying…”
“How do you know she’s crying?”
I paused for a moment, looking down at my hands and making sure to take my boots off and leave them outside my door to not bloody my room. ‘Well… She had a full-out mental breakdown… Even if it only lasted a few seconds. She’s also probably freaking out that she thinks she killed another student. I imagine until now all her targets were chosen because they were “Bad people” They were also probably all grown-ups… And she still hated killing them.’ “Well… She might not be crying, but I bet she’s pretty sad right now… If I comfort her… And she joins my guild, isn’t it selfish of me to act like her friend? It feels stupid to ask that. But if I don’t help her aren’t I an even worse person?”
“I don’t get it…”
“Yeah… I don’t either, that’s kind of the problem…” I sighed. “I don’t even know why I feel guilty… Maybe I just don’t like her because she reminds me too much of… Someone else…”
“Well, why did you help me?”
I slowly walked inside and began changing. Regardless I would have to get the blood off before I went to see her, so as not to freak her out more. ‘Why did I help her? She wasn’t all the strong or talented, although…’ “I guess… It was because I thought I could turn you into something great, and… I also felt pretty bad for you… And you seemed like a nice person, although that’s a bit ironic… Oh…”
“What? What is it?”
“The reason it was so easy to help you, was because I could see clearly how much better I could make your life…”
“And you're saying you can’t do the same for her?”
‘Can’t I? I mean, freeing her from her abusive parents, would make her life a lot better right? Taking away her family… I don’t know… I never even got rid of my own… Not fully anyway…’
Isy sighed as she washed her arms off before drying them and starting to put away the clothes we bought. “Does it even really matter though? I mean. Right now, she doesn’t know that man is alive, and she’s sad. You would make her happy by telling her he is alive, right? So in other words, her life would be better in this moment with you in it. So… If it works out like that consistently, then why are you even worrying about being a good person or not? And I thought you wanted her to join the guild? How would her doing that make you a bad person?”
I turned the water on and finished taking off my armor, making sure to clean it first so it wouldn’t rust. ‘That’s a good question too… Why I’m so worried about manipulating her…’ I sighed again. “You’re right… I’ll… Go and check up on her… Tell her the guy survived… And bring her the clothes we bought…”