“Zenos, I’m bored…”
Lily said, resting her chin on her hands at the reception counter.
Several days had passed since they opened, but due to their location in the ruined district, there was no foot traffic, and thus, no customers.
“It’s fine. Thanks to that, I was able to get a lot of cleaning done.”
Zenos said, looking around the clean interior with satisfaction.
It felt like he finally had a place of his own, which made him feel strangely emotional.
Well, he was still technically a lodger under Wraith’s roof.
Lily, perched on a chair, muttered anxiously.
“I know, but… Should Lily go outside and advertise?”
“If we advertise too much, we’ll quickly draw the attention of the authorities.”
In this country, the Royal Healing Institute managed the local clinics with absolute power. It would be troublesome to attract their attention before they even started working.
“But at this rate, we won’t get any customers!”
“Don’t worry. I think someone will be here soon.”
“Really?”
Just as Lily looked up, the front door slowly opened.
“Is this the clinic of Zenos, the Dark Healer?”
A man peered inside, and Lily hurried over.
“Wow, someone really came! Welcome… Huh? I think I’ve seen this person before.”
It was the man from the diner who had suffered severe burns, the one who was a mixed-blood with a Lizardman.
Zenos, who was in the back, called out to the man.
“You came after all.”
“You knew I would come?”
“You were burned by high-level fire magic. Someone like that isn’t an ordinary person. And people who aren’t on the up-and-up have various reasons why they can’t go to a normal clinic.”
He had learned that while living in the slums.
There were those who couldn’t afford to go to a clinic.
And there were those who couldn’t show their faces in public, even if they had money.
That’s where the Dark Healer’s role came in. The man introduced himself as Zonde.
“It took some time, but I’ve been looking for you. I’m glad I searched the ruined district. Could you take a look at my sister today?”
When Zonde called out, a young woman appeared from behind him. She had black hair down to her waist and striking, powerful eyes. Like Zonde, she was a mixed-blood with a Lizardman, and part of her forehead was covered in scales.
“I heard from my brother that you’re a skilled healer. Will you examine me?”
“I don’t know about skilled, but of course, I’ll take a look.”
“She was shot in the arm with a gun. It hasn’t been right since.”
The woman sat down, bared her right arm, and presented it. From her shoulder to her fingertips, it was discolored in a web-like pattern of bluish-purple.
“Ah, this is a magic gun. It’s imbued with a special poison effect, and the bullet remaining inside is rotting the surrounding area.”
“You can tell just by looking?”
“I was almost used as a test subject once.”
The culprit was Aston. He said it was research for new weapons and training for my healing magic, but looking back now, it was definitely just him killing time.
“There are some terrible people out there.”
“Absolutely. I just now decided to get back at him someday.”
“So, can you heal it?”
“If it had been within an hour of being shot, removing the bullet would have allowed it to heal naturally.”
“It’s been ten days already.”
“Then that arm is mostly dead. It’s better to cut it off before the poison spreads.”
“I see… I guess there’s no choice. How much will it cost?”
As the woman sighed in resignation, Zenos said,
“One million Wen.”
“What?!”
Zonde, who was sitting next to his sister, stood up with a shout.
“A million Wen just to cut off an arm? What are you thinking?”
“Now, wait a minute, Zonde. But that’s quite a markup, Doctor. Can you say the same thing even knowing that I’m Zofia the Swift?”
The woman restrained her brother and crossed her long legs.
Zofia the Swift.
She was one of the leading figures in the slums, leading a band of Lizardman thieves.
She was also a hero of the slums, stealing money from corrupt merchants and redistributing some of it to the poor. Zenos, who was also from the slums, had naturally heard of her.
This was quite the big shot to show up so suddenly.
“Tell me a reason that will convince me to pay a million Wen just to cut off an arm. Otherwise—”
“Hey, who said it was just cutting off the arm? I have to regenerate it afterward, or it’s pointless. Regeneration is pretty tiring, and I’m done with free labor. No matter who it is, I’ll get paid what my effort is worth.”
“…Huh?”
Zofia’s mouth hung open.
“Wh-What are you saying? Regenerate an arm? I’ve never heard of a healer who can do that.”
“Eh? Other healers can’t do it? Are you kidding?”
Since he hadn’t received formal education, he didn’t know what was considered common sense.
When he was in Aston’s party, they didn’t get injured in the first place, so he rarely had to use it.
Zenos placed his hand on Zofia’s shoulder, who still had a look of disbelief. He applied auto-recovery magic to the area, relieving the pain, and then removed the rotten arm. Next, he suppressed the bleeding with protective magic and used multiple activations of regeneration magic to accelerate the wound’s regeneration by ten thousand times.
“Okay, all done. Ah, I’m tired.”
If a rough job was acceptable, it could be done quickly, but replicating it exactly as it was before required a considerable amount of mental energy.
“…I’m truly amazed. I’ve never seen a healer like you before.”
Zofia’s eyes widened as she looked at her completely healed arm.
Her brother Zonde also had a look of astonishment, but he suddenly looked up and said,
“H-Hey, what’s that?”
His fingertip pointed to the ceiling.
From there, Wraith Camilla was peering down with a translucent face.
“That? That’s my housemate, Wraith.”
“Wraith?! Your housemate is a Wraith?”
Zonde exclaimed in astonishment, and Wraith Camilla clicked her tongue and disappeared to the second floor.
“Tch, she should have failed and died… Ah, I want life.”
“Hey, hey, that’s pretty ominous.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’s a good person at heart.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Seeing the exchange between Zenos and Zonde, Zofia burst out laughing.
“Hahaha, Doctor, you’re amazing and funny. Our people will be in your care from now on. Of course, we’ll pay you properly.”
Zofia said this and left in high spirits.
The name of the healer Zenos, who had been unknown to anyone, was thus gradually spreading in the underworld.