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nCh. 72: Worried After Waking

n“I think we should do something about ending up in the hospital every time Loren, don’t you think?”

nAs Lapis told him as she sat down next to a hospital bed, peeling a fruit with a knife, Loren let out a growl, complaining that is wasn’t like he wanted to be sent to the hospital, as he sat up.

nThey were in the hospital in Kauffa, and it was a place that he became familiar with ever since he became an adventurer.

nLoren wouldn’t have been surprised if had waken up in the hospital where the training school was at, but he was bewildered when he woke up to find out that he was at the hospital in Kauffa.

n“I left Klaus and Ange back at the school. They have to report what happened during the exam, after all.”

nThe transport gate on the floor where Volf’s legacy was stored was set to transport the user to a room within the school, but Lapis explained that she had messed with the settings to be able to transport people to other locations.

nTelling Klaus, Ange, and Parme that she had to take Loren, who was unconscious, to a hospital, she sent the three of them to the surface, while she took him and jumped to the city of Kauffa.

n“You were in very bad shape. You were covered in slime and unconscious, while your arms and legs were shaking, just like a newborn fawn.”

n“How did you explain to Klaus and the others about being able to mess with the transport gate settings?”

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n“I told them it was because I’m a priestess of the Knowledge G.o.d.”

nThinking that the expected quality of priests of the Knowledge G.o.d just got even higher, Loren decided not to think about it, and tried to imagine what he was like based on Lapis’ description, but immediately stopped.

nWhen he thought about it, it probably wasn’t the prettiest thing to imagine, and imagining a man covered in slime, even if it were himself, wasn’t the best thing to do.

n“So, how’s my condition?”

nLoren knew that he had been close to death every time he had been taken to the hospital.

nHe had a feeling that this time was no exception as he asked Lapis but c.o.c.ked her head with a frown.

n“Strangely, it wasn’t too bad this time.”

nLapis put the fruit she was peeling onto a plate that was on top of a stool next to her, wiped the juice from her hands with a cloth, and picked up a piece of paper that was spread on top of it.

n“Your injuries this time is a dislocated shoulder and damage on the tendons of every joint. On top of that, a few pulled muscles and internal bleeding here and there.”

nLoren was aware of the symptoms she listed.

nUsually after the sensation of something fitting into the corner of his mind, he would fall into a strengthless state, but this time it seemed that Shayna had compensated what he had spent by channeling the energy drained from the black slime using her energy drain.

nBut on the other hand, the energy was too much for Loren’s body to handle so as a result, it was damaged as if he had severely overworked it, especially around his arms.

n“It will take a few days for it to heal completely.”

n“Isn’t that a bit too fast?”

nFrom what he had heard, it wouldn’t have been surprising if it took twice as much as Lapis had said, but Lapis puffed out her chest and told him.

n“You have an excellent divine arts user right here, after all.”

n“Sorry about that. I’ll be in your care.”

n“But to put it the other way, it means that you’ve suffered injuries that’s going to take a few days to heal, even with a divine arts user like me. You understand that’s quite severe, right?”

nLoren honestly nodded at Lapis’ glare.

nHe did think that his injuries were a lot lighter than he had expected, but he understood that his injuries were still quite severe.

nOn top of the, he couldn’t move his body like he wanted to, so he had no way to tell her wrong.

n“So, how long was I out?”

n“About three whole days. Klaus and the girls finished the reports and are already back.”

nShe said that she went to ask them about how everything ended just a while ago, as she reached for a different piece of paper on the stool.

n“Al, who was the prime culprit, was sent back to his parents, and seems like he was sent straight to a monastery. He probably won’t be able to come out under the sun his whole life.”

nLapis explained that in aristocratic society, monasteries were used to send off those who couldn’t be shown in public.

nThere was no way for outside people to know if they were actually sent to monasteries or if they were sent to someplace darker, but apparently those who were never walked under the sun again.

n“On the books, Feim has dropped out of the school, but in fact she was expelled. I’m not sure where she is now. She isn’t a n.o.ble so she wouldn’t be sent to a convent, so she there’s a chance she actually became an adventurer.”

nThere was no need for a license to become an adventurer.

nWith her lightness, Loren thought it wouldn’t be surprising if she became one.

nBut what would happen after was beyond his imagination, and she wasn’t someone that Loren wanted to meet again.

n“Cloud…is treated as killed during the exam. His body…since it was swallowed by the slime, and because of what Loren did…what was left of it was gathered and buried. Ain is treated as retired from exam, and what to do now is up to him.”

nPutting Al aside, since Ain was very close to the other two, Loren wasn’t sure if he could deal with the fact that one of them betrayed for money and the other got swallowed by a slime and died.

nIt would be quite a shock and coming back from it was completely on his will, so all Loren could do was pray that he could find rest.

n“Parme failed the exam and will have to take it again. All I could say that it was unfortunate that her whole party was wiped out, and it can’t be helped.”

n“What happened to them?”

n“One of them died. We saw her. They probably won’t be able to retrieve her body. The other two are missing. The school has sent down search parties, but chances of their survival are very slim.”

nThree nameless students had died in the dungeon, but apparently it wasn’t that unusual to the school.

nIt was unfortunate that they got caught in the appearance of the slimes due to the revival of an evil G.o.d, but adventurers losing their lives due to unlucky circ.u.mstances wasn’t an unusual thing.

n“Klaus brought a message from Parme. It says, ‘I will make sure to repay you. If you ever travel close to my home, please come pay a visit’. You’re so lucky Loren. It’s an invitation from a pretty girl, you know?”

nLapis joked around, trying to lighten the mood, but Loren murmured under his breath.

n“Blonde rolls aren’t my type.”

n“Oh, that’s unfortunate for her. Then do black hair ponytails suit your tastes?”

nLoren frowned silently as Lapis asked him, pointing at her own hair.

nIf he said it did, it would be somewhat strange, and if he said no, it would get awkward.

nNo matter which he chose, it wouldn’t be the best answer in the situation, so he could only give her silence.

n“No response is a little bit sad too, though.”

nLapis didn’t really look sad at all, but Loren changed the subject.

n“What happened to the job?”

nTheir job was being exam proctors.

nHe knew that they didn’t fail, but if one were to ask if it was a success, Loren couldn’t really say so either.

nThe exam itself had become messed up, but they weren’t the ones who caused it.

nThey were unrelated and not responsible for the student named Al trying to seize Volf’s fortune, but Loren wasn’t sure if they did proper jobs as proctors.

n“The school considered the job a success. Klaus said that the princ.i.p.al promised they would.”

nLapis threw the paper back onto the stool, took the plate with the fruit on top of it, and cut the fruit into six pieces.

nAfter taking one and giving the rest to Loren, she threw it into her mouth and started chewing delightfully.

n“It would’ve been something to protest about if it was considered a failure. Most of the things that happened weren’t even because of us.”

nAs Lapis said after she swallowed, Loren asked her another thing, while looking at the plate of fruit in his hands.

n“What about the revived evil G.o.d?”

n“It’s already been reported to the princ.i.p.al and the adventurer’s guild. All the questioning tired me out.”

nThere were no doc.u.ments or legends about the evil G.o.d of sloth, and even the princ.i.p.al who was a descendant of Volf, didn’t hear anything from his predecessors.

nThe box that it was sealed was within the records of all the items in the floor, but it was recorded that it was an unknown object and was treated obscurely.

n“Thinking about him is a waste of time. No one knows where he went. He called himself an evil G.o.d, so there’s no way he left any tracks, either.”

n“Was he…demon kind?”

nThe eyes of the revived evil G.o.d were purple.

nIn this world, the only ones with purple eyes were demons.

n“I’m not sure.”

n“His features were indeed so, but he is a being that was sealed hundreds of years ago. It’s hard to tell if he’s a demon just by the color of his eyes. If I go home, maybe I could find some records about him…”

nKeeping in the urge to ask what kind of home she came from, Loren asked her another thing.

n“What about your arm?”

n“This?”

nLapis swung her left arm.

nIt didn’t look any different, but Lapis looked at it with a satisfied smile.

n“It’s finally flesh and bone. Only this arm, though.”

n“Congratulation, I guess?”

n“Thank you. I hope we can keep this up and get my whole body back.”

nAfter saying that, Lapis’ expression suddenly turned into a serious one, surprising Loren, and put her arms on the bed, putting his face closer to his.

n“So Loren, do you have anything to say to me?”

nHe couldn’t think straight as she looked right at him from such a close distance, and almost opened his mouth, but he willed himself to calm down and close it.

nIt wasn’t like he didn’t know what she wanted him to tell her.

nHe had let Shayna, who was inside him, use her powers as a No Life King to its fullest to survive the slime’s attack.

nThere was no way Lapis wouldn’t notice it, but Loren wanted more time before talking about it.

nBut her expression was too serious to not say anything, so after thinking as fast as he could, the one answer he arrived at reached his lips.

n“Sorry for making you carry me all the way to the hospital every time, Lapis. Thank you.”

nWhen Loren said that with a meek expression on his face, although her face reddened at his unexpected reply, Lapis still puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

n“Is that not what you were looking for?”

nLoren played dumb, knowing that it wasn’t the answer Lapis wanted, but after a long sigh, she pulled away from Loren, scratching her head.

n“It’s fine. I’ll be satisfied with that for now.”

nAs he knew she meant she will wait until he was ready to talk about it, Loren nodded back at her.

n“Thanks.”

nEven if she knew, she would play dumb until he told her.

nLoren slowly closed his eyes, grateful for Lapis’ kindness.

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nHe still needed a few days to recover completely and needed to recover his lost strength, and he started feeling tired and sleepy from talking too long.

n“Rest well for now. Let’s go find another job once you’re feeling well.”

nHe felt Lapis stand up.

nShe seemed to have guessed that Loren was falling asleep, as his eyes closed, and decided to leave the room.

n“Oh, I’ll take the hospital bills and payment for my divine arts from your rewards, okay?”

n“Doesn’t seem like there’ll be much left.”

nAs Loren sighed, guessing that her payment would be more expensive than the hospital bills, he felt Lapis let out a small giggle.

n“I hope we will succeed on our next job and make some money.”

nShe then said good night, and Loren felt her presence disappear from the room.

nAs his eyes continued to remain closed, Loren felt worried if such a job will ever come his way, but he yielded himself to his drowsiness and started falling into a deep sleep.

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