The Lost Doctor's Soul - Chapter 33 - Licking ones wounds
We survived.
After that harrowing raid, we somehow succeeded in recovering the stupid sword without losing anyone, but Kanako and Vildost were greatly injured and Starlight was out of commission. Arashi was battered but in fighting condition and Nisha was perfectly fine.
We had a plan to use Starlight’s illusion magic to hide from the temple’s forces till the storm ended, but that wasn’t possible anymore. So we had to play everything by ear as we desperately looked for some kind of shelter. Arashi was looking after Vildost and Kanako in the waiting room, while Nisha carried me on his back and ran through the oppressive rain and slightly flooded streets, each rapid step splashing water like a stone dropped into a well.
This was a critical moment where every second counted, so we ignored our original shelter and looked for an empty house we could break into and hide in. As desperately as I wanted it, I couldn’t enter the hospital while being so violently carried in the frigid rain, which left Arashi and Vildost to handle basic first aid.
Running down the empty town streets, Nisha haphazardly turned one way then the other, reaching out with a single hand and effortlessly broke down a boarded up door, exposing the house to the storm. Without even waiting for a second, he started running again, leaving the door behind as he turned one corner than another. That was the third door he broke down, an effort to throw off our pursuers… as bad as it felt to damage people’s houses like that, I had to admit it was a very smart idea for our survival. I haven’t been giving Nisha enough credit for his survival instincts. And these efforts weren’t in vain either, since I could still hear pieces of the commands shouted out by our pursuers through the howling winds every so often. It was unsettling and mysterious how good my hearing worked.
It was the fourth house that we actually entered. Without bothering to close the door, Nisha hurriedly rushed in while carrying me and looked around. It was so dark that I couldn’t see anything, but it seemed he could see perfectly well as he navigated past the furniture and found stairs leading to a second floor, where we had some more protection from the howling wind and rain that poured in through the broken front door.
“Safe, now go to hospital quickly! I guard.” he stated with urgency clear in his voice as he stood sternly facing the stairs. Still dripping wet and freezing, I looked around but couldn’t make out any furniture in the dark, so I stripped of my raincoat and tossed it onto the hard wood floor for some kind of comfort before lying down on it. It wasn’t comfortable, but I was desperate to open the hospital as I called upon every ounce of training I had as a soldier and a doctor to slip out of consciousness. With my thumping heart and building dread, it took a few minutes as I desperately wished I had the ‘Remote operation’ so I could help them faster.
-
I didn’t know how long it took exactly, but when I next opened my eyes, I was in my office, with something flashing on my computer screen. It could wait, so I ignored it for now and quickly left the office, crossing the brief distance to the reception desk in an instant. Opening the door to the waiting room, I saw Kanako laying on the floor, with Arashi kneeling over her and Vildost standing to the side, drinking from his flask as he stared down at the other two. The warrior from the east had removed her armour and tossed it to a corner of the room as she pressed a towel over Kanako’s wound, helping to stem the bleeding to an extent. All three were dripping wet and there were marks on the floor from their muddy shoes dragging dirt all across it.
There were un sanitary conditions given her wounds, the patients needed to be moved as quickly as possible. “Good work. We need to carry her to the room.” I nodded to Arashi, before looking at Vildost. He was clearly injured, yet I wasn’t sure what the extent of his injuries was. He acted like he was fine, but it was likely he was just acting. I reached an arm out and stopped him when he was about to approach Kanako, shaking my head. “Your injuries might get worse from exerting yourself.” I stated, before helping Arashi carry Kanako into the hospital as fast as we safely could. I made a note to buy a gurney if I added more rooms.
Laying Kanako face down on the bed in the empty hospital room, I quickly pulled off her wet hood, revealing her bluish green skin, long green hair, and her horns. Her face was contorted in pain, so I noted to give her anaesthetic as quickly as possible. Next, I pulled out a pair of scissors from the medical kit and cut away at her shirt, exposing her back and the large bleeding serration. It was a miracle that it didn’t damage her spine and paralyze her.
“Arashi, wear these gloves and use that towel. Compress the wound as before, I’ll bring the supplies to heal her further. Vildost, take a seat for now, I’ll examine you as soon as Kanako is stable.” I gave out simple commands before rushing back to the office. Having nursing staff would have made this case less hectic, but that was a goal for a possible later date.
Sitting at my computer, I noted that there were three notifications. Every second counted so I ignored it for now and opened the supplier tab. The current hospital funds was at 109🜍, which was far more than the 28🜍 it was previously at, but I decided to think about it later as I quickly selected the most urgent supplies I needed to treat Kanako. I bought a variety of things including sterile gauze pads, hemostatic dressings, medical tape, sterile saline solutions, splash guards, suture kits, wound closure devices, antibiotics, and non adherent dressing pads. And most importantly, I looked into the types of blood bags I could purchase and was shocked at the wide variety. There were options for every blood type and several races, with wildly varying prices. Kanako was half human and half oni, so I made the decision to buy human O- blood, since I understood human blood at the very least.
All of these supplies cost a total of 18🜍, which was nearly the cost of a new room, but it was well worth it since there was likely enough to treat several patients. Reaching the room again within a few steps, I looked over the freshly arrived supplies before preparing to treat the young half infernal.
I’ll summarise the procedure from here. To start, I confirmed Kanako’s state of consciousness. As she was drifting in and out of consciousness, and groaning from the pain, my first course of action would be to inject a general anaesthetic into a vein. However, I couldn’t identify her veins, given her blue green skin colour and any possible differences in physiology. While less effective, I had to apply local anaesthetic directly to the wound.
Over the course of the next several minutes, I pressed down the hemostatic dressing and gauze pads over her wound to stem the bleeding. She screamed out in pain and tensed up, but had enough presence to not fight me. With Arashi’s aid, she was restrained while I adjusted the bed to elevate her torso to minimise blood loss even further. Kanako eventually went quiet, and after ensuring she was still breathing properly I checked her bleeding and noted that it reduced significantly.
With the most urgent situation dealt with, I applied a cold pack to her wound while injecting a combination of lidocaine and bupivacaine as local anesthetics. The first would rapidly take effect while the second would have prolonged effects… I wasn’t certain they would work the same on her as they would on humans, but she wouldn’t be able to bear the next steps without proper painkillers.
Once I believed the anesthetic took effect without any noticeable rejection, I proceeded to clean her wounds with the sterile saline solution, before pulling out tufts of clothing and threads that had gotten into the wound with forceps. This took several long minutes and caused the patient to deliriously groan out in pain even through the numbness. From visual inspection, her external anatomy was similar to a human’s, but my knowledge was far too shallow… ||Starlight, do you have medical notes on half-oni?|| I mentally asked the seeker of knowledge. I was at the point where I finally had a bit of breathing room to plan my next steps.
[No. They’re too rare.] She replied with a brief answer, her words stained in bitterness. I didn’t care why she was upset now, so I simply returned to the procedure. The final step, closing the wound, was something I was very experienced in. With the anaesthetics I used, the pain would be mild, however there seemed to be something wrong as Kanako was starting to cry out louder and louder with each suture, going from groans to screaming in pain. The anesthetic was losing effectiveness far too quickly.
I had to decide if I should take the risk of closing the wound even after the anesthetic faded, or if I should use more anaesthetic and risk an overdose. Stopping the procedure at this point was not an option. With her small size and how quickly her system was working through the drugs, I decided that it was less risky to continue without. I proceeded to suture her wound as efficiently as possible, using ice packs to reduce the pain as I minimised the amount of stitches to the bare minimum.
With Arashi and even Vildost to help hold Kanako down, the procedure finished successfully and I wrapped her back in a sterile gauze before letting Kanako rest. Sitting down for a moment, I took off my mask and gloves before letting out a long breath. The last step would be to set up a drip with the blood, however I couldn’t do that without knowing her circulatory system, so it seemed that the slower natural method was all I could rely on.
Looking down at my hands, I took a moment to wonder what emotion I might have felt at this moment. Perhaps I’d be proud of myself, and that I could still use my skills in this world? Perhaps I might feel despair that I’ve incorporated myself into this world, to whatever small extent I have? Not being able to feel my emotions made me imagine myself as a stranger I didn’t even know, especially now that I was fully aware that those ‘faint emotions’ I had been feeling till recently were just memories of my emotions and how I imagined I would feel. This moment was simply too unique for me to even imagine those false emotions for.
Standing up, I focused on Vildost next. His main injuries were a broken arm and two broken ribs. This was a mundane injury, and once I realigned his bones and applied a brace, it was only a matter of time before it healed. A healing or magic would likely speed up the healing, but I didn’t have such means. I wonder if healing magic could have done the same treatments I performed but instantaneously, or if healing magic worked slower in this world.
||Starlight. Can you use healing magic?|| I asked the devil as I cleared away the used medical implements. [No.] she snapped in response. I could hear a lot of anger and resentment in her response, and I could assume that she was still in pain from whatever happened to her. If something happens to her, I’ll be affected. Making sure the two patients were properly treated, I asked Arashi to stay and watch over them before stepping to the door to the Auroral library. It was already open, so I let myself in to find my personal devil sitting in a chair with a book in her hand, glaring at me with one eye covered by a gauze, and wearing scrubs like a nurse.
“What happened to you?” I asked, not sure what she was doing, before noticing that there was a new addition to the entrance of the library… a computer, matching the one at the reception desk. “I see you’ve been upgrading the technology here.” I joked, wondering where she even got that from. “I don’t owe you an explanation.” she replied, scowling. “Do you need me to treat your eye?” I offered, ignoring her previous words, but she shook her head at that, wincing at the pain caused by that simple motion.
“Well, I’m sure you’re happy to know that we got your sword.” I simply said, before approaching and sitting down on the chair opposite to her. “Some of us nearly died, too, so I believe you owe us a good deal for this ordeal.” I stated, staring her down myself. “And we’re still in danger. With these temple forces pursuing us, they could find us at any moment. You were our primary escape plan, as well, so I find that we’re in quite the predicament.” I added, leaning back in the chair and waiting for her answer.
“Oh sure~ What would you like as a reward then? A magical cart you can use to just fly away?” She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she crossed one leg over the other. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I can’t really do much in the material plane right now.” she shrugged, before crossing one leg over the other. “If you want to negotiate a reward, then maybe you should hand that sword over first? You’re smart enough to find a way to give it to me, aren’t you?” she asked back, trying to sound ‘reasonable’, though it was clear she was still in pain. I don’t have a reason to care about that, though. I could strike a good deal if she’s not in the right state of mind. A part of me considered that unethical, but I need to survive to go back home.
“Not a chance. We’ve not even negotiated a price yet, I won’t let you low ball me at this point.” I replied, shaking my head. “To start, as compensation for the danger of the mission so far: I want healing potions for Vildost and Kanako to recover.” I said, holding up a finger. Healing potions simply speed up healing, and that was exactly what we needed after I’ve already treated them. “And I want souls to power the hospital.” I added, holding up a second finger. I didn’t have a proper name for what the 🜍 symbol represents, but she understood.
After glaring at me for a few moments, she let out a sigh. “Mana does work the same in your hospital, so you wouldn’t be able to use the potions. And the official term is Anima. It is the fundamental matter that all sentient souls are made of.” she retorted with a glare. Hearing that, the next expansion for the hospital was decided. I currently have 91.5🜍, so I could immediately buy the Storeroom for 80🜍.
“Then hand over some Anima and the potions. I’ll have a way to bring items out of the hospital soon. As for your sword… I believe money would be the best, wouldn’t it?” For my own goal of going back home, knowledge about that teleportation research she held over my head would be the best, but I had to think about my travel companions as well. Starlight glared at me with her single visible eye, before reaching to the side and waving her hand. A bottle and two cups floated over from some table I didn’t notice before. “I need some alcohol. You’re not going to say some bullshit like you don’t drink, are you?” She asked, as the bottle poured out into the two cups. She didn’t even wait for me to say anything before she grabbed her cup and downed it in one shot. This left me confused as to how our ‘souls’ could drink alcohol.
“The others came in with their real bodies, so I understand drugs and alcohol working on them. But you and I are only souls here, aren’t we?” I asked, taking the cup as she glared at me while refilling hers. “Within a soul space, our bodies fully exist. Especially so in well defined spaces like yours and mine. The Auroral library is the greatest collection of knowledge of this world, and your hospital was created with extensive knowledge of humanoid anatomy.” She still explained, as angry as she was. Curious, I took a sip from my cup and tasted something similar to scotch whiskey, but stronger and with a fruitier taste? Even Anne didn’t drink like that.
“One hundred Anima.” Starlight finally said, after slamming back her second cup of alcohol. “I’ll give you a hundred Anima as your reward. As for money… 5,000 marks. That’s what I’m willing to give you if you hand over the sword.” she said, snorting dismissively. Without a doubt, that was a massive scam. I might not know the prices of magic items, but that was only ten days of a rich noble’s living expenses for an artifact. Split that five ways and it’s really not much.
“500,000 marks.” I said, putting down my cup and crossing my arms. “That’s absolutely insane!” She retorted, standing up and throwing her cup to the floor. “You think this is some kind of game? That I’m just some pushover who you can screw like that?” She reached out and grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled me up. As I stared into her eye, I saw it boiling over in rage. Maybe it was because I didn’t have my emotions, but I probably bit off a lot more than I could chew. At some point during all of our interactions, I had forgotten the simple fact that she was a devil, and she still had far more power than me. Her bark might be worse than her bite, but she was still strong enough to kill me with that bite, and I needed her knowledge to get home.
I chose to stay quiet for a little longer as she stared me down. “15,000 marks. That’s my final offer for your reward. Or, I can make the rest of your life a miserable hell.” she spoke slowly, enunciating each word like a threat, the smell of alcohol in her breath and hellfire in her uncovered eye. “Can I get that in writing?” I asked, after a long pause. “Of course.” she replied, before shoving me back into the chair. With a flick of her wrist, a book appeared in one hand and a pen in another. In nearly an instant she wrote something down before holding it out for me. It was only a single simple sentence.
“Armin Fischer agrees to give the object known as the ‘sword of Truth’ to Starlight Von Aurora in exchange for 15,000 marks. If this exchange is not completed within a month, the life of the obstructing party is forfeit.” It was as simple as that, no extra terms and no ‘catch’. Under her glowering stare, I took the pen and signed my name at the bottom of the page. Like that, the contract was fulfilled.
Taking the two potions and the coin purse from the devil, I decided to take my leave to heal the two before trouble hit us. I stopped at the door between our spaces, however, and looked at the computer and her nurse scrubs once more. “Do you want to explain what you’re doing with those?” I asked, only to get another silent glare in return. With no answer coming, I stepped into my hospital, where I was surprised to find Vildost waiting for me on the other side.
“You done there?” he asked, gesturing to the door to the library. “I am, why?” I didn’t think he could even see the door only a day ago, yet he fully acknowledged it now? “Oh, I got a few questions. She didn’t want to say anything in the shelter, so I wanna see what she has to say now.” he laxly answered. “Okay, but we’re on a time crunch, we need to leave the hospital so you two can use healing potions.” I replied. While it was suspicious, it was probably safer for me if more of the party had exposure to Starlight.
I checked up on Kanako and Arashi, before heading to my office. Arashi seemed more dour than normal, but there would be time to talk to her later. I still had to learn about her past to complete Starlight’s request.
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