ushernet Chapter 300: Maela
Chapter 300: Maela
Three days passed. Trish and I continued our healing spree, and in that time, we saw over a hundred patients. Most of the problems we treated were on the smaller side. With a population of only 7,000, there weren’t exactly thousands of injuries a week. Of course, there were still emergencies that cropped up. We lived in the middle of a rainforest filled with venomous and disease-carrying insects, after all. There were still people who got sick or poisoned and needed help beyond what a potion could provide.
However, the ratio was lower than I had expected. The alchemists of this town were very used to whipping up antidotes for this area's venomous creatures. In addition, people didn't hesitate to remove poisoned limbs if the situation was desperate. In this world, it wasn’t hard for people to replace limbs if needed. That meant that people were more willing to cut off an arm or leg if a poison was too dangerous. Then, they would replace the limb with a prosthetic after returning to town.
For that reason, we had less patients to treat each day than I had first expected. It also meant that we needed less time and essence per patient. After all, many of the injuries we ended up treated were minor.
Even so, we maintained a grueling pace to make sure the villagers who needed treatment all saw us. After three days, we were exhausted - but the results were satisfying. Now, most of the villagers smiled when they saw Trish and I. I had even heard a few off-handed comments about how Markus was a lucky guy, having married such a kind and beautiful healer. A few other people sometimes mentioned that they had a few sons my age, if I wanted to meet them. They didn’t seem entirely serious when they said that - probably because there was still a divide between our group and the rest of the town. But after three days, the elders felt comfortable enough to joke around with me and tease me. Even though I had no particular interest in romance right now, I took that as a good sign. It wasn’t quite the deep sense of trust and community I hoped to build, but it was a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, the others in our group had also started to find ways to blend into the community. They didn’t have access to a healing ability, the way I did. That made it harder for them to build goodwill at the rapid pace Trish and I worked at. However, they still worked hard to build footholds of their own. Markus ended up connecting with an old lumberjack, who had served in the Damilius military during a previous continental war. A day later, Markus started working as a lumberjack.
Felix started a job of his own as a 'simple' alchemist. The industrial revolution hadn’t fully swept through this town yet, so potion production was actually on the lower side. The local alchemists thus focused on anti-poison and disease potions, because they didn't have enough time to make potions for more complicated problems. Felix immediately started working on filling in the gaps. With some help from Markus, Iselde’s family, and Vance’s family, we set up a larger potion-mixing vat. It still wasn’t quite the same size as the ones we had seen underneath the sewers of Verne, where the vat produced hundreds of gallons of potion per day. However, it was larger and more streamlined than the setups the local alchemists were using. Normally, that required special metals to set up, since the metal needed to conduct binding essence. Felix Felix could sidestep that requirement with his absurd affinity for Binding essence. With these advantages, Felix started mass-producing potions to cure weirder poisons and diseases.
Anise, meanwhile, ended up helping people move around heavy objects. Her 'force manipulation ability' was perfect for it. She didn’t seem thrilled about her job, but she was willing to do it while she
“Brother, you don't have to keep searching... fine, forget it. She can come in,” came a whispery voice from inside the room.
We entered, and I scanned the room. It didn't take me long to find the patient.
True to the details in the travelogue, Maela looked like there was a problem with her back. She flinched anytime she moved, and it looked like her spine was inflamed. Maela herself looked to be in her late teenage years, but she was laying in bed like an elderly patient. It looked unpleasant.
However, the travelogue had left a few rather important details out. Perhaps the author had never actually seen Maela, or perhaps they just hadn't cared enough to talk about her more. Either way, the problem was far from simple.
In addition to the inflammation in her back, there was something wrong with her legs.
They were far, far too thin. It almost looked like severe malnutrition… but it was only her legs that seemed as thin as skin and bones. There was almost no muscle on her calves and shins at all. I tried not to wince. It looked very painful.
“Can you heal her?” asked the elder’s son, as he gave me a hopeful glance.
"Let me check how my ability interacts with her condition," I said. "May I?" I asked Maela.
She nodded. I splashed a few drops of water on her leg, then sent a little bit of essence into her body. A moment later, I grinned.
A small part of the essence made its way towards her spine, healing away some of the inflammation. However, another part of the essence made its way towards her legs. A moment later, her expression brightened. She turned towards me, and I could see a mixture of shock and a faint, nearly undetectable trace of hope in her eyes.
“I felt something,” she said. “My back and my legs felt better. What did you do?”
“I used my healing ability,” I said. “I'm pretty sure I can heal you.” I smiled at her. “Let’s see if we can get your legs working again, okay?”
Maela eagerly nodded, almost like a chicken pecking at rice, and I smiled. Seeing patients happy always felt good. Then, I poured a full cup of water on her legs and got to work.