Chapter 49
How much time had passed?
“Wow… Kael, you’re amazing.”
Hearing the voice nearby, I looked up to see Lucy Hiller standing in front of my desk with a surprised expression.
“Oh, senpai! Am I doing well?”
“Yes… perfect. It’s really impressive. Have you been working as a healer for a long time?”
There’s no need to be that impressed, but she really looked happy.
“I worked as an intermediate healer in Zeronia for two years.”
“Then you must have treated people!”
“Of course I did…?”
A healer treats people, doesn’t she?
I stared at Lucy Hiller, dumbfounded at her question. She blinked, startled, and hesitated before continuing.
“I-I’m sorry. There are rare cases where healers come here without the proper qualifications. Usually, the head personally favors them, so I thought you might be one of those.”
Ah, so she thought I was a high-level parachute hire.
Seeing her shoulders shrink, a bitter taste rose in my mouth.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just a new advanced healer in training, yet I took a better position than you, so I can see why you’d think that. Do you want to swap desks with me in that sense?”
She quickly shook her head.
“No, I don’t want to hear any complaints from the head later. I’ll pass. Please use it comfortably.”
“Then at least lower your tone. Being treated so politely makes me uneasy.”
Lucy Hiller hesitated, then carefully said:
“O-okay… Kael.”
I smiled and greeted her again.
“Nice to work with you, senpai.”
“Ahaha, nice to work with you too. I’ll show you around the headquarters.”
Following her bright smile, we stepped outside. Lucy Hiller started explaining in detail the locations of key facilities and their duties as we walked through the large headquarters.
“At the headquarters, work hours are set: six hours of treatment, two hours of paperwork. Sometimes there’s overtime or temporary assignments, but it’s pretty relaxed. Similar to Zeronia, I think?”
“Ahahaha. There, we had 24-hour shifts every week. Sixteen-hour alternate day shifts too.”
No wonder everyone wanted to work in the capital. An eight-hour workday was a dream.
“Wow, you really had it rough.”
She looked at me with a sympathetic face.
“Well, sometimes weird people come by… but you should be fine, Kael.”
“Weird people?”
“Ah… well…”
Just then, a man came running from the end of the hallway, calling:
“Lucy! Lucy!”
He stopped in front of us, panting heavily.
“Lucy, the new trainee has a VIP request… please take them to the VIP room immediately.”
The man, apparently Lucy Hiller’s colleague, also used formal language toward me.
“VIP…?”
“Oh, high-ranking people get special treatments elsewhere. Do you know any nobles in the capital with high status?”
Lucy glanced at me as she asked.
High-ranking nobles in the capital… That would be the twins from Helderios who made a mess at my workplace.
I sighed deeply.
“Ahahaha, I think I know who it is.”
She nodded.
“Then I’ll guide you to the VIP room.”
Following Lucy Hiller through the portal, we arrived at a place lavishly decorated with expensive furnishings.
“Kael!”
The head of the headquarters saw me and ran over.
“Kael, you’re here! Hahaha, I’ve been waiting.”
He forced a smile and kept bowing, which made Lucy Hiller smile awkwardly.
“You can enter the first room over there.”
He pointed to a large, fancy door.
Hah, those twins! Doing all this! I took a deep breath to calm my rising anger and marched toward the door.
Creeeak.
“Lloyd, Davien! What on earth have you done?”
Calling out their names, I entered the room…
“Ah, Kael!”
The Helderios twins weren’t there.
“Nice to meet again.”
Bang! The door closed loudly. Only Uthias, lounging lazily on a luxurious sofa, waved at me.
I need to get out. Now.
“Ah, wrong room. I’ll just leave…”
I hurried to turn the doorknob, but…
Click, click.
“Huh…?”
Even though there was a locking mechanism inside, the door wouldn’t budge. Then I heard Uthias’s eerie laughter from behind.
“You could come in freely, but not leave so easily.”
Don’t panic. Don’t panic!
‘Uthias goes even crazier when he sees someone weak. Stay calm and strong.’
Remembering Davien’s warning, I steadied myself and stared directly at Uthias, still lying on the sofa and giggling, speaking firmly.
“I need to work. Open the door!”
“Hahaha.”
He just laughed insanely on the sofa at my firm words.
‘Crazy…’
How can anyone face this guy calmly? I respected Davien’s mental strength.
After a long laugh, Uthias sighed and sat up.
“Ah, healer. You should do your work here. You came for a headache treatment, right? To turn away a patient is too much.”
Uthias rubbed his head and frowned. What a ridiculous guy.
“For headaches, it’s cheaper and more effective to buy a potion from a nearby pharmacy.”
I glared at him coldly.
“I have plenty of money and time, so even if it’s expensive and less effective, it doesn’t matter.”
Uthias smirked at me.
“Also, Kael, just sitting here is worth over a hundred gold per hour. I can’t let my precious money go to waste. Please, start treatment.”
A hundred gold an hour… If I had money, I might have thrown a pile of coins at him and left. But I had nothing, and unlike the heroine, I couldn’t break down the door. I sighed and approached Uthias.
“You’ll open the door after treatment?”
He leaned back on the sofa.
“As long as I don’t have a headache.”
I sighed and focused on my wand. The magic I could use to treat headaches only temporarily blocked pain. Any mage in the tower could do the same.
Why even come here for this?
I quietly approached Uthias, who sat calmly. His pale, baby-like face and bright lavender hair made him look undeniably cute.
But what’s the point? He’s crazy inside.
Muttering to myself, I softly chanted the pain-blocking spell. A bright light appeared from the wand, and the magic was cast on Uthias’s head.
The treatment was done.
Then I lifted his bangs. There was a deep dent in his forehead from when I had swung the healer’s manual at him in my dream. It was still left untreated, with scabs and pus.
This will rot if I leave it.
“Why didn’t you treat this before?”
Uthias slightly opened one eye and smiled.
“Ah, I’d be embarrassed if people knew the tower master got hit. What would my subordinates think?”
I thought: well, your subordinates probably wouldn’t care.
I checked that the forehead was clean after my magic and let the bangs fall back.
“Why did you fix this?”
Uthias tilted his head.
“I fixed it to prevent you from coming back using this as an excuse.”
His eyes widened.
“Wow, how did you know? You’re smart.”
“Of course.”
“Then that’s it!”
I bowed slightly and ran to the door.
Click, click.
The door still didn’t open. Cold sweat ran down my back.
“What’s this? You promised.”
Uthias slowly got up.
“Oh, I just couldn’t let you leave so easily.”
Suddenly, my legs started moving on their own like in the tower.
“Uh… uh…”
Watching me stumble, Uthias laughed loudly.
My legs finally stopped on the sofa, and he plopped me down with a thud. Even though the sofa was soft, my rear hurt.
He looked at me with a big smile.
“There’s plenty of time. Let’s have some tea.”
He opened a pocket dimension and pulled out a white tea set and a plate full of cookies.
“These are cookies from a popular bakery in the capital.”
He offered me a cute rabbit-shaped cookie with red jam on top.
“You really think I’ll take this?”
“Yes, of course.”
He smiled, and my arm moved against my will to accept the cookie.
“See? Hahaha.”
Damn Uthias!
