The Final Protectors

Chapter 5: Half a Healer

Roy couldn’t ask all of his questions. He could only rashly leave a few words, “Take good care of him”, at Amy before leaving with Jel.

The State of Salla was next to the mountains and by the sea. Although it was already well into autumn, the weather wasn’t that cold. There were only the distant engine responses and the faraway sounds of the wind that made the gloomy sky seem a little cool.

The sleeping pills were still effective. John’s mental state after being forcibly awakened by the drum was still numb. Not a while later, he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He once again sunk into the soft blankets until he was startled awake by the voices and footsteps from downstairs in the middle of the night.

The door of the room next to his was knocked urgently a few times. John heard Jel’s voice. “Found Kelson. He’s downstairs, and he has very serious injuries. Quick!”

John climbed off the bed excruciatingly, and put on the nightgown that Amy put at his bedside—the clothes here were all so bizarre. He had to study it for ages before he finally managed to match every button to the buttonholes. His fingers unintentionally rub slightly against the plastic buttons, believing they were just like gemstones that turned light and thin after some processing.

He lay down for too long a time. Due to his movements, the wound in between his chest and abdomen was pulled a little. John grimaced and supported himself on the bedside table as he got up. Dragging his steps, he walked out.

The living room downstairs was already brightly lit. Looking down from the second floor, the gigantic… Mn, perhaps it was a certain type of chair? It looked soft and fluffy—alright, whatever it was, someone who looked half-dead was lying there.

Amy, who was dragged out from the bed in the middle of the night, donned a very serious face and ordered Jel and Roy around into running about.

Another set of footsteps come from behind him. John turned his head and found that it was a teenager he had never seen before. He gave him a bashful smile before glancing down while leaning on the railings. Evidently, the spreading blood was truly too much of a blow to his eyes. His young man only had the time to give a cat-like shriek before his two eyes rolled back and his face directed downwards. With a “thump”, he collapsed.

John, “…”

The sound of a heavy object hitting the floor alarmed Jel and Roy. Roy pulled out a tissue as he wiped his bloodied hands hard, irritatedly commenting, “The rookie that you’re in-charge-of even is even hemophobic. The Temple is truly seeking novelty increasingly.”

Jel sighed. He still had some kindness at least, running up to help his graceless little disciple to the sofa—this guy wasn’t light at all. It was hard to imagine how such a fragile bravery and a simple, mini brain could support such a muscular build at all.

“Roy, help me press down on his wound! Quick!” Amy said, “It’s too late to send him to the hospital. What kind of damned thing scratched him?”

The man on the sofa had a ghastly pale face. He looked like he would be given a one-way ticket to Heaven by an angel waving a handkerchief very soon. The ups and downs of his chest from his breathing practically cannot be seen. There was a giant scar from being scratched by something, and there were six lines of very neat bloody scars lined up just like the teeth of a comb. The gap between every wound was extremely small. If it was any deeper, this man’s chest would have been cut open.

“Jel! I need purification water! Now!”

Jel ran up the stairs to fetch a bottle before coming down. Amy only gave it a single glance when he took it before he continued, “Not enough. Get two more—Roy, press down on his wound and don’t move!”

Roy’s face didn’t look very good either. Those wounds were truly too close together, with practically nowhere to do it. He had the feeling as if his own fingers were digging into Kelson’s flesh.

“What happened to your friend?” John asked.

“This evening, Kelson’s emblem suddenly dimmed, and the location indicated was the State of Salla. After receiving the emergency command, Roy and I followed the trails of the emblem in search of him and found him near the Mid-mountains area. But looking at the situation, it probably wasn’t the same place the incident happened. I think Kelson might have teleported himself in time after getting hurt. He knew that I was already home and probably wanted to ask help from me but didn’t manage to hold on until my place.” Jel described the happenings at a rapid speed. “None of us saw the Decay that attacked him.”

“Alright, Roy. You can let go now.” Amy cautiously splashed purification water on the man’s wounds. As it flowed onto the sofa along with the bloody water, a thick black smoke rose from the wound area, nearly exposing the man’s bones.

Evan who was put down at the side finally rose awake. Seeing this terrifically brutal sight in such close proximity gave him no time to express his thoughts before he fainted a second time.

“No, I can’t clean it! Is the purification water insufficient? My God, I’ve never seen such a wound before.” Once Amy extended his hand, Jel immediately put the other bottle of purification water on his hand. “After the emergency treatment, we need to send him to the hospital immediately. I think he’s about to die of blood loss.”

At this time, Amy’s wrist is gripped. Startled, he looked back and happened to meet that pair of dark green eyes belonging to their mysterious guest.

John said, “Ruhr Pellet—Abyss Dholes.”

Amy was stunned. “What?”

John knelt down beside him on a single knee. This movement required a little strength from his abdomen and nearly took his life. When his knee touched the floor, there was already a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “The scratch wounds from Abyss Dholes are very unique. It’s very difficult to clean them with purification water. The volume of purification water you poured just now is already enough to clean the wound. If you continue cleaning, you’ll expose his ribs.”

Amy startled. “But… what are Abyss Dholes?”

Jel looked back at Roy and Roy paused. “They are a certain type of ancient Decays. Since Barrier was formed, it has never appeared again.”

“Then what should I do now?” Amy looks completely at a loss.

“Say, are you really a healer?” John looked at this so-called “Best Healer” with a headache. This guy wasn’t even as good as a disciple who hadn’t left the Temple. A hunter who practiced medicine before and was trying to save himself in the wild would even do better than him. “Olive Leaves Collection, Chapter 13, six–”

“Ah!” Amy yelped. “Right, there’s still the purification array!”

How very difficult. He finally remembered.

Amy swiftly dipped his fingers in purification water and drew a complicated array symbol on the chest of the man emitting black smoke. John watched at the side and blinked—he didn’t expect that the array drawn by this healer whom he saw as a little stupid would actually be extremely precise. Even he himself could feel the warm power of the purification water.

A very pure healing energy. How surprising.

In a moment, the black smoke was already suppressed. Amy began to chant in a language no one could understand. His voice was deeper than a woman’s, gentler than a man’s, with a actually soothing, calming effect. The array drawn on the wounded man’s chest began to emit a milky white light. The black air on the wound finally dissipated in a visible speed. The blood also temporarily stopped.

John relaxed his body and just knelt on the floor with the side of his body leaning on that soft “chair”. He turned around to glance at Amy and suddenly found this person, neither man nor woman, a lot more pleasing to his eye.

A talented healer, he thought, was definitely someone with a soft and strong heart.

The remaining work was the typical treatment. Stitching the wound, putting on the medicine and bandaging.

Throughout half the night, the life of this injured man was finally maintained. Jel and the others contacted the Temple’s hospital. Before sunrise, an ambulance arrived and lifted the still-unconscious man into it before driving away.

“Oh! Quickly look! That white bread can run by itself!” John stood by the window and watched the ambulance speed away, eyes bulging.

Amy yawned, patting his shoulder. “Honey, we normally call it an ambulance car.”

　　”Car [1]?” John looked at him blankly. “Why would you make a car look like bread—what exactly is pulling the car along? An invisible being?”

Jel wiped his face and casually answered, “The engine.”

After seeing John’s even more bewildered expression, he could only explain with gestures. “Just… anyway it’s a type of machine. Through a certain way, it provided the energy that allows the car to run.”

“Wowie…” This mysterious cleric knight that only God knew came from which century attempted to stretch his head out of the window. Unfortunately, blocked by the transparent glass, he only slammed his entire handsome face on the window. Like an unintelligent child, he said yearningly, “It sure runs fast—and what’s this? An invisible wall? It looks like there’s nothing at all! Too amazing!”

“No! Don’t—Mr. Smith, it isn’t as strong as you imagine, you cannot use your fist to hit it!” Jel hurriedly threw himself over, pulling the man attempting to smash his house’s window into a stop.

Alright. Just like what Amy said, this… Mr. Cleric Knight’s curiosity did seem to be a little over the top.

And this situation was even more obvious during breakfast. Mr. Cleric Knight obviously could not make sense of the logic behind a refrigerator. He watched Amy take a huge container of milk from inside and was astonished by the icy cold air emitting from its interior. After taking two steps back in alarm, very quickly, he once again leaped closer like a large, curious cat.

“Mr. Smith, that is just a storage cabinet for food that are easy to go bad, and it’s also called the fridge. No… There are no magic arrays inside. And you don’t have to stretch your head in either!”

“And that is the microwave, to warm up food. Within a few seconds, it will scald you, don’t put your hand in! No… And don’t turn it around, you won’t be able to find that small flame! Ah! Amy, quick, stop him! Eggs will explode if you microwave it!”

After a period of twists and turns, John finally sat down at the dining table obediently. Due to his injuries, his movements still didn’t look too natural, but this didn’t stop his passion to explore and study. Even if he was pressed onto the chair by Jel, he still seemed like a child with ADHD and couldn’t sit still.

“You’re saying that all the people here stay in such interesting houses?”

It was clear that, in front of novelty, the staggering shock and unease as he held the newspaper yesterday had all but vanished—exactly which bizarre century could have produced such a simple-minded Cleric Knight?

“Is this… porcelain?” Scandalized, Mr. Cleric looked at the plate containing fried eggs and bread. “I thought that you can only use such a precious utensil from the Old East in an official setting.”

“No.” A sausage was stuffed in Amy’s mouth as he said, muffled, “I’m afraid it was produced locally. And it isn’t precious either. We eat with it everyday—didn’t you notice it yesterday? The toilet bowl is porcelain too.”

John widened his eyes. Jel hurriedly shoved a set of utensils in his hands to prevent this Mr. Cleric Knight from sprouting appetite-losing words like “You actually use extravagant items as a toilet bowl for your pampered buttocks”.

The good thing was that after taking the fork and knife, John completely turned silent. His table etiquette was very perfect—other than being at a loss for a while over the butter in a small plastic container.

“Mr. Smith, before being a Cleric Knight, were you a healer?” Roy asked.

“John.” John slowly chewed and swallowed down an abnormally soft bread. He cannot figure out what was put in the bread, but the flavor was really very delicious. “No, I’m a hunter.”

“But you know The Olive Leaves Collection,” Roy said, “There are very few people who could master it. And normally, only the top class healers will learn it.”

Amy’s expression was dreamy. “Lord Roy said I’m a top class healer… My God, I must be dreaming. Jel, quick, pinch yourself, and tell me this is real!”

Jel turned a deaf ear and dragged the chair to the side a little, indicating a line separating him and the idiot.

“I did learn a little.” John shrugged. “But it was a pity. You need a certain amount of talent to become a healer, and you can’t just rely on studying. I’ve once attempted to become a healer, and was even a trainee at the Temple Hospital for a day after finishing the basic classes.”

Roy, “A day?”

“…Yes. A small incident happened in the end. After a day, I became a wounded party from a trainee medical practitioner. After I healed, I was chased out.”

Translator Note:

[1]:  In Chinese, the word for ‘car’ is the same as ‘vehicle’ (车), also used for carriages and most forms of vehicles, so it does not seem as strange that he knows what a ‘car’ means.