Previously: Charlotte’s Kimenshu surgery was successfully completed.
The day after successfully completing the treatment of Charlotte, the daughter of Lord Fennel, one of the Seven Great Nobles.
Zenos was walking alongside Umin in the hallway of the Royal Institute of Medicine’s research wing.
“I’m sorry for asking for your help, Zeno-san.”
“No, it’s fine. That’s quite a lot, though.”
Umin was staggering as she walked, carrying several boxes.
Seeing how precarious it looked, Zenos, who was passing by, offered to carry some of the boxes for her.
“What’s in them?”
“Becker-sensei’s prototypes. I’m taking them to the storage room now.”
“Oh, what kind of medicine is it?”
“I wonder… “
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t think Becker-sensei knows either, maybe.”
“Is that alright…?”
Umin lifted the boxes with a grunt.
“Well, he often says that repeated trial and error creates new possibilities. I wish he’d think about me, the one who has to figure out how to store them each time, though.”
Despite her complaints, Umin seemed slightly happy.
“I’m always sorry.”
“Ah, Becker-sensei.”
The master of the lab, with his bedhead, came up from behind.
“You don’t have to carry them all at once, Umin.”
“But I want to store them in good condition as soon as possible.”
“I appreciate it. This time, it’s a particularly important prototype, you see.”
“You always say that.”
“Do I?”
Becker feigned ignorance and turned his gaze to Zenos.
“Did the treatment for the noble go well?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“I guess I didn’t even need to ask. I bet this will put you in Professor Goldrun’s good graces.”
“Hmm…”
As they were having this conversation, someone came running from the end of the hallway.
“Anikiiiii!”
It was Cresson.
Cresson rushed over, breathing heavily, and said:
“I just heard from the Second Secretary. It seems like you and I have been invited to Professor Goldrun’s dinner party.”
“Oh.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, Zeno-san.”
“Congratulations, Zeno-kun.”
Umin and Becker offered their congratulations.
However, Umin looked puzzled at Cresson’s somewhat subdued expression.
“What’s wrong? Usually, you’d be acting all cocky and saying one or two sarcastic remarks. Aren’t you happy?”
“No, I’m happy… but…”
Cresson answered with a somewhat awkward expression.
He might be concerned about how Goldrun tried to push the responsibility onto him during the surgery.
Umin, trying to encourage her classmate, said:
“But being invited to the dinner party means you’re a candidate to be a leader in his future faction, right? It’s the path to advancement you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?”
“Well… yeah, but… yeah, you’re right. Is that so?”
Cresson crossed his arms and nodded several times.
“You’re right… that’s it! Heh heh, when I become important, I’ll be ordering you around.”
“You’re back to your usual unpleasant self. That’s the Cresson everyone dislikes.”
“Don’t call me ‘the disliked one’! I’m a little sensitive about that!”
Cresson, slightly teary-eyed, wiped his eyes and said to Zenos:
“Anyway, Big Brother, let’s go together. The dinner party is tonight, so let’s meet in the lobby at dusk.”
Cresson said this, waved, and left.
“He’s really become attached to you…”
“I’m not particularly happy about it, though…”
“Well, anyway, congratulations. It’s finally time to wrap up your work here.”
Becker spoke to Zenos, who was watching Cresson’s retreating figure.
“That’s right. Gathering information isn’t exactly my forte.”
“Just do what you can, and try to trace Alfred’s footsteps.”
The man named Alfred is said to have disappeared after Goldrun’s dinner party.
The last task at the Royal Institute of Medicine is to find a clue to his disappearance.
The days of his stay, which seemed both long and short, passed.
He had grown somewhat attached to his dormitory room and Becker’s lab, which he often visited, but he was starting to miss the dilapidated clinic in the ruined city.
All that was left was to finish the job without revealing his true identity, and leave with the remaining contract money and his master’s story as a reward.
Meanwhile.
In the dilapidated clinic in the ruined city, three demi-human women were sitting at a table, idly resting their cheeks on their hands.
“I wonder if Sensei will be back soon.”
“Ringa thinks it will be soon since he said the contract was for about a month.”
“I’m so tired of waiting that I feel like I’m going to turn to stone. Well, he did come back on the weekends, though.”
Zofia glared at the other two.
“By the way, why are you two here every day?”
“That’s Ringa’s line.”
“Yes, I am enough to watch the place.”
“Instead of slacking off here, why don’t you two go and take care of your subordinates?”
“Ringa knows that you’re saying that so you can stay here alone and secretly sniff Zenos’s pillow.”
“What? You were doing something so enviable, Zofia?”
“Don’t lump me in with you two!”
The three stood up at once and glared at each other.
The air vibrated with tension, but it soon softened.
“…Let’s stop. There’s no point in fighting when Sensei isn’t here.”
“Agreed. It’s just tiring.”
“If we get injured fighting, Zenos will be angry with us.”
The three sat back down in their chairs and sighed.
Immediately after, the clinic door opened noisily.
The three immediately looked over, but it was a lizardman standing there. One of Zofia’s subordinates.
“What, it’s not Sensei. What’s wrong?”
“Boss! Zonde is seriously injured!”
“…Zonde?”
Zofia frowned at the mention of her brother’s name.
“It wasn’t a fight, was it?”
“No, he’s been getting along well with the werewolves and orcs. It was an accident this time.”
Previously, when the golem rampaged through the slums, many buildings were destroyed. However, some of them were left half-standing, and while they were cleaning up the aftermath, a building collapsed and he was trapped underneath.
“What a clumsy thing to do… He’s not dead, is he?”
“We managed to get him out of the building, but a broken pillar pierced his abdomen… It seems like he’s broken a lot of bones too.”
“…”
Zofia was silent for a while, then gave instructions to her subordinate.
“Sensei will be back soon, so he just has to hold on until then. Go to the black market and look for any medicine that might work.”
But Ringa and Reve interjected.
“Zofia. Ringa thinks that won’t be enough.”
“I agree. We should take him to Zenos immediately.”
“No way. Sensei is undercover at the Royal Institute of Medicine. If I go, I’ll just get in the way.”
“Ringa understands how you feel. I don’t want to disturb Zenos-dono either. But this is an emergency.”
“Do you think Zenos would say it’s a disturbance, Zofia?”
“…”
Zofia closed her eyes for a moment, then clenched her fist and stood up.
“Damn that idiot brother… Prepare for departure. And prepare double the usual amount for the treatment fee.”