When I woke up, it was probably in the late morning or early afternoon.

I felt somewhat cleaner somehow. When I looked at myself, I saw that my bandages were much cleaner than before, lacking the spots of red it had last time.

Someone changed my bandages while I was asleep, but that’s strange. I don’t remember feeling anything last night and I don’t recall ever being such a heavy sleeper that I wouldn’t feel someone touching my torso, specially considering how injured I am.

Speaking of which, I feel a lot better too. I hurt all over yesterday, but it’s more tolerable now. All the fatigue from yesterday’s events are also gone too. Was it Esme’s work? The recovery speed is a lot faster than I expected.

*grumble*

It’s only natural that I would be quite hungry though. A recovering body uses a lot of energy and nutrients to regenerate lost cells.

As if she heard my stomach’s cries, Amanda came through the door.

“Mornin’.” She cheerfully greeted me. “How ya feelin’?”

“A lot better. Thank you.” Good recovery isn’t just the result of programs though. The food and that medicinal drink probably helped quite a lot.

“Good, good! It’s because you actually drank that slop all the way. You can’t imagine how many people I’ve tended that stayed in bed for way longer than they should’ve been just because they didn’t like the taste. I can’t blame ‘em though.”

Amanda entered the room holding a tray just like yesterday. She put a bowl in front of me and put a spoon in.

“It’s breakfast. Sorry that it’s the same thing as yesterday. Doc says you can’t eat harder food until tomorrow. I made this with beef stock so it shouldn’t be too bad.” She said apologetically. I didn’t mind too much though, I was never a picky eater.

“It’s fine. It tastes very good.” I complimented.

“Hehe. You’re welcome. By the way, we’re gonna have to move you to Doc’s clinic. We couldn’t put you there last time because they were full but now Doc says you have to go there for a proper recovery. I also need to clean those sheets.”

Makes sense. A patient with critical injuries needs to be somewhere sanitary so that they don’t get infections. Not that I would get infections with Ez on the wheel.

“Thank you. I will make sure to compensate you generously.” My words came out somewhat… awkwardly? The connotation wouldn’t be caught when put in English since there’s no proper equivalent, but I sort of sounded prince-like. Her face changed ever so slightly hearing what I said. Ugh, I’m cringing at myself right now.

“Ah… there’s no need for formality. You also don’t need to do that. We can’t just leave a dying person out in the wilderness after all.”

“I can’t just take treatment without payment either. In my bag there should be… ah.” I just remembered. Where’s my bag? I hope it didn’t get disintegrated by the impact. I’ve got some pretty important stuff in there, like my ID’s, cards and credentials.

“Your bag…? Ah, it should be that blue thing right? I think Leslie might have it. He’s the head of the party that found you in the forest. You’ll meet him when we move you to Doc’s clinic.”

‘blue thingy’? I really hope that that’s just her lacking vocabulary and not because my bag has been obliterated to the point where its just a mess of silica and carbon mush…

“You can’t walk on those legs yet so we’re gonna have to bring you down on a stretcher. Are you fine with that?” She asked me.

“I’m fine with it.”

“Okay. Please be careful when you’re at the stairs, you might fall off.” She cautioned me.

“I’ll behave.” I assured her.

Amanda then nodded and went outside the room. I swiftly ate my food as I heard the sound of movements and creaking floorboards outside my room. About five minutes after I finished eating, Amanda came back in the room.

“You finished with that?” I nodded and she took the bowl from me and put it back on the tray. She then asked me if I was ready to go down, to which I agreed.

“It might hurt a bit. Alright boys, get in here!” she shouted. Two large and burly men then entered the room, each one held a long pole with a blue cloth spread in between.

My attention was immediately drawn to the two hulks. They looked quite massive, and they made the room look so much more cramped than it should’ve been. One had dark brown skin and he wore a green sleeveless shirt and long brown trousers. He had quite a fierce expression on his face. The other guy contrasted the former. His skin was considerably lighter, but not pale. It was instead a more tanned light brown. He had a long scar on his right eye and his face was just as grumpy as the other guy. Both of them were very, very muscular, and very, very bald.

Really intimidating, these two.

Amanda noticed my hesitation and laughed. “These two won’t hurt you. They might look rough, but they wouldn’t hurt a kitten. They’re volunteers of Doc’s clinic. They help whenever someone in town needs to be carried to the clinic.”

I hesitantly looked at the two of them and nodded. They nodded back in response.

“Alright, brace yourself.”

Carefully they lifted me up and put me on the stretcher. I could tell they were quite skilled at it since they made sure to keep me sufficiently stable while minimizing pain. I still flinched unavoidably because I do have injuries literally everywhere.

Both men lifted up the stretcher along with Amanda. Amanda and the lighter skinned guy held the two poles that went lower, while the darker skinned guy held both poles near my head. I lay still so that they wouldn’t have a hard time going down. They descended three floors down before they finally reached the bottom floor.

On the way down, some curious glances were sent my way. They were probably the other tenants in the Inn. When we reached the bottom floor, we entered a very large room. Wooden tables and chairs were organized in one half of the area, with men and women of various styles chattering and laughing loudly. There was a long countertop table further on that side with an older gentleman manning the table. The other half of the building looked more like a reception area or waiting room with benches and low tables. There were more people sitting on the benches or looking at a bulletin board in the corner, while some of them were lined up in front of counters talking to some receptionists behind them.

“Why does this feel familiar…”

As I was pondering, the chatter quieted down somewhat when the crowd saw us. One of the men sitting at the tables called out.

“Yo, Amanda! Is that the kid?” He asked. ‘kid’? I looked closer at him and rather than calling him ‘man’, ‘boy’ was more appropriate. I’m pretty sure I’m older than he is.

Amanda seemed to agree with me when she said “’Kid’? Why don’t you look at yourself for a bit.”

He shrugged as he said, “He doesn’t even have a beard yet. He doesn’t look a lick older than me with that pretty face of his.”

Suddenly one of the other patrons called out “His face hairs pro’lly got singed by the fire. What’s your excuse?”

“At least he’s got a pretty face!” Another person yelled.

Racuous laughter erupted in the dining area. The lively chatter revived and the boy blushed as he sat back down. The patrons moved the tables and chairs to make way for us. Amanda made small talk with the other diners as we navigated past them. I heard normal statements like asking her how her day was, and asking about me, up to asking for a date and drunken marriage proposals and even one asking her breast size.

Amanda coolly navigated past them, answering nicely and rebuffing nicely to the offers, while glaring menacingly at the drunken patron who asked for her size. It looked like the guy sobered up immediately and sweated profusely.

We went past the diners’ half and we entered the relatively more peaceful reception area. I couldn’t actually see very well since I was lying down. I could only see places we already passed where my feet were. I observed the guys waiting around. They really looked like medieval guests with a fashion collection of cloaks, robes, tunics and the like. I couldn’t hear what they were saying properly since they were quieter and the other area was much too noisy.

My sight wandered to the bulletin board when we passed it. Several papers were attached to it and my eyes were attracted to an image of a familiar flora. I couldn’t identify it clearly since someone was blocking it.

Soon enough, we reached the door. I could hear the door crack open with a creak and we left the building. We then entered the same bustling street I saw outside the window. Someone entered the building right before the door closed, but we turned before I could get a clear look.

I think I saw a man completely dressed in silver, but that was probably just the sun shining on my eyes.

The streets were quite charming. The stone pavement had a brick-like pattern to it. Pedestrians walked past and children played cheerfully on the streets. All of them had a pretty similar clothing style to the guys a while ago. The buildings were a mix of stone and wood with the same medieval styled architecture. Some stalls were set up on the sidewalk near buildings with vendors hawking their goods. I could see fresh produce like fruits and vegetables on sale.

Some of the children curiously looked our way. One of them made eye contact with me. I smiled and waved toward him and he waved back with a toothy grin.

We continued walking—or at least Amanda at the other two did—while I enjoyed the scenery. It was quite beautiful. Medieval towns were notorious for being smelly and full of filth and rats, but none of that was reflected here. Greenery was present and complimented the architecture. Beautiful beds of colorful flowers lined the porches and yards of houses. It looked really nice.

There were quaint signs above doorways with images of things like flowers and clothes painted on them. They’re probably more indoor businesses. There are signs with symbols that looked like letters on them, but I didn’t try to read them. Spoken language and written language are distinct with my translator, and it would probably give me an equally painful headache if my passive translator attempts to make sense of it.

After a while of admiring the views, we finally reached our destination. Most of the buildings were pretty similar with their mixed wood and stone architecture and were hard to distinguish from each other. The clinic however was distinct in that it was comprised mostly of stone material.

The building stood two stories tall, and it had a sign with the symbol of a snake coiled around a rod right above the doorway. Unlike the packed building rows of the neighborhood, the clinic has a yard around it with rich greenery and foliage. Those are probably locally grown herbs and produce for the clinic. The doorway itself is quite large. Its width is about three people wide and the height is enough to make the approximately 1.9-2 meter tall men look average in height.

We enter and I’m greeted with another reception room, but this time it’s more quiet and solemn than the last place. The lady at the counter sees us and greets us with a smile.

“Hello Amanda. Doctor Jayr is in room fourteen. You can bring the patient there.”

Amanda nods and continues through the hallway. We pass by several rooms and some other people. I didn’t see anyone wearing hospital gowns or doctor outfits. The patients I saw wore either simple shirts and pants or the same clothing the guys in the pub were wearing. Some of them looked pretty bad with limbs covered in bandages, some even missing limbs, but none of them were completely incapable of standing on their own, though I didn’t get to see in some of the closed rooms. We reached a room with a sign that had 14 written on it. Amanda knocked twice before opening the door and carrying me in.

“Ah, he’s here. Put him on that bed over there.”

I heard an unfamiliar man’s voice and I turned to look. He looked like a man in his early 30s. Not too old but the eyebags and the stubble made his impression a lot more tired and old. The most notable thing about him however, was his outfit.

He wore a brown and blue robe, sort of like what a priest or Bishop of medieval times would wear. Man. They’re really sticking to that medieval concept.

“Thank you Tanner, Boris. The Norl herbs in the garden should be ready for harvesting. Can you get three bundles for me? Thank you.” He ordered them and they nodded before leaving. They never even said a single word the entire time.

“Good morning. You must be Oliver. My name is Jayr.”

——————————

Hey guys it’s me again. Sorry for the late update literally right after me setting a schedule for myself. I was caught up in a multitude of things this week and couldn’t focus on writing. Rather than sticking to time, I’ll just do my best to post within the day(night).

As usual, feedback is appreciated.