Rough Surgery
Screams echoed. For a moment, the amputated section was white, then gradually blood started flowing from it.
『Show me, Silver Face.』
「I"m not the one who"s gonna do it.」 Hikaru said. 「Go ahead.」
「O-O-O-Okay!」
Paula rushed to Grucel"s side. The others could only watch in blank amazement. Doriachi himself was frozen on the spot, his eyes wide open.
「O" G.o.d who art in heaven—」
As Paula chanted the spell, golden light flowed towards Grucel, and the wound frothed.
『Ooohhh…』
『Wh-What is this?!』
The people present were understandably shocked. Slowly, flesh began to form from Grucel"s severed arm. A few seconds later, his whole arm was back to normal. Even Grucel, who didn"t show much emotion, was astonished, staring at his arm in disbelief.
『How"s… your arm?』
『Ah, yes. Please wait a moment.』
Cautiously, Grucel closed his hand tight and opened it. He then grabbed his sword with his left arm and swung it around. The weapon hissed sharply as it cut through the air.
『It"s perfectly fine. This is…』
『I know. Everyone here shares the same thought. There is only one word to describe this: extraordinary.』 Doriachi breathed a long sigh and turned to face Hikaru. 『Silver Face. I will entrust my body to you.』
The surgery went well and didn"t take that long. Dream Maker had anesthetic that Hikaru used together with a magic item that induced deep sleep to create a pseudo general anesthesia.
They cleaned the room and sterilized the surgical instruments by boiling them in hot water. After that, they called an experienced surgeon who did the operation by following Hikaru"s instructions. It took no time at all to find the liver. There were spots on the organ, its surface undulating.
The surgeon cut off most of it, leaving only a little part. From there, Paula cast her spell, regenerating the liver and healing the incision in Doriachi"s belly in one go. The operation lasted for ten minutes.
Eight points on Healing magic can regenerate a missing part of a body, but it can"t revive dead cells. What about ten points? Will it work then? Or maybe a different incantation is needed.
Paula said she hadn"t heard of “reviving” magic.
It might be better if she can"t use it… Regenerating something lost is already incredible enough.
As long as one was still alive, all that had to be done was cut off the bad part and make it grow again. That"s what made this regenerative ability astounding. Conversely, it was not as effective in curing illnesses caused by viruses.
『Silver Face. His Majesty is awake.』
Grucel came to Hikaru who was resting in a separate room. Three hours had pa.s.sed since the operation. They were asked to stay as no one knew what would happen afterwards. The commander led them to the room where they first met the King.
『What a wonderful day this is, Your Majesty. You look great.』
『Now I can continue my research. And the city planning as well.』
『Now, now. His Majesty is tired. Don"t give him work yet. We must let him rest for a while to make absolutely sure he is all right.』
The clan leaders were gathered around the king"s bed and talking. Doriachi was sitting straight up, giving a strained laugh. Color had returned to his face. It was clear from a glance that the operation was a success.
『Silver Face! And…』
「This is Flower Face.」 Hikaru said, pointing at Paula.
The girls didn"t have names yet, so he used the designs on their masks as reference. Since Paula"s had flowers on her mask, she would be known as Flower Face. Lavia had stars on hers, so Star Face.
『I see. Flower Face. I thank you for your help. I never thought my health would improve so dramatically.』
Hikaru was impressed at how straightforward the man was. He wasn"t an arrogant king. While he had the same black hair as Hikaru, his eyes were purple, although his skin color was that of a j.a.panese person, which made him stand out from the rest of the people. His mixed feature was clearly the result of his grandfather marrying a native woman.
『My doctor says I should rest for a while, but I feel like I can get back to work right now. We will hold a banquet for you today.』
Like Doriachi said, they had a grand dinner later that evening in a huge hall located in a separate building. There were no hotels here. Which is why Hikaru"s party was given a flat in an apartment building.
Many people gathered in the hall which was as huge as a gymnasium. Not a lot of young influential people of Dream Maker were present. As for those who attended the banquet, about half of them were men, and half were women.
Round tables dotted the place. One particularly lavish table was placed at the deepest part of the hall where the King sat. People were surprised at how healthy he was, cheering in joy as they approached him.
「Looks like they really like him.」
「Yeah. He"s a great king.」
「Phew… I"m glad the spell worked.」
Paula had recovered from casting healing spells repeatedly and was now reaching for the food served on the table.
On a related note, they left Drake behind in their room with some food. He did complain about getting a boxed lunch when it was dinner time soon. They couldn"t bring him with them. Who knew what that glutton would do if he saw all this food?
Hikaru and the girls sat beside each other on a table good for ten people. The unoccupied seats were easily noticeable. With their masks and hoods, no one bothered talking to them, perhaps unsure how to approach the strangers.
For Hikaru, however, that was a good thing. He could have his dinner in peace.
「It"s sweet.」
「Yeah.」
「Indeed.」
Most of the foods were sweet; steaks with caramel sauce, noodles with sweet soup, among others. Perhaps they had this notion that sweet equaled luxury, or maybe they just harvested many fruits. In fact, at the center of the table was a huge plate full of them; red bananas, fist-sized yellow fruits, things Hikaru had never seen before.
Halfway through the banquet, salty foods (what Hikaru suspected as the cause of the King"s cirrhosis) were served. They were either salty or dried foods. The sudden j.a.panese-style cuisine caught Hikaru off-guard.
「So even when eating you"re not removing the mask.」 Luke arrived with an unpleasant look on his face.
「What"s the point of wearing a mask if I just removed it here anyway?」
「You shouldn"t have come if you don"t want your face seen.」
「I did tell them I didn"t want to attend the banquet.」
「Really…」 For some reason Luke looked surprised. 「When that happens, you should just say “I humbly accept your offer” so the other party doesn"t feel offended.」
「Make up your mind, man. Do you want me to come or not?」
「Anyway—」 Luke sat down across Hikaru.
「What kind of magic did you use to heal him?」 the knight asked in a whisper. 「He looks like a completely different person. Was it poison after all?」
That must be what he came here to talk about, Hikaru thought. Luke wore a curious expression. He wanted to know so badly how Paula managed to do what his Healer couldn"t.
「Not poison. An actual illness.」
「Illness? If that"s the case, he couldn"t have been healed that easily.」
「Well, there are different kinds of illnesses. It just so happened that I knew exactly what his was, so we were able to take some drastic measures.」
「That was more than just drastic…」 Paula muttered softly.
「I see. I understand why you want to keep it secret.」
Luke nodded to himself, seemingly reaching his own conclusion about things. Suddenly, his expression turned serious, and he stood up.
「Thank you.」 he said, bowing.
「Where"d that come from?」
「If the treatment didn"t go well, Vireocean would"ve lost face completely. Then a battle might break out again. To be honest I looked down on you and found you irritating. But you deserve all the credit for this success.」
「Not me. It was all thanks to Flower Face"s magic.」
「I-I only did what Lord Silver Face asked me to do.」
「I suppose. Indeed, you all deserve the credit. I cannot thank you enough. I"m sure the Supreme Leader will reward you handsomely.」
Luke raised his head. He looked refreshed. Hikaru thought he was a despicable man who had too much pride for coming from a family of soldiers. Contrary to expectations, however, he seemed like a good man.
Then the hall stirred.
『Thank you all for coming here.』
Doriachi stood up and raised his voice. Some were deeply moved after seeing him well, bursting into tears. Hikaru had his mind on something else. No megaphones or something, huh?
『My illness was cured by those people over there who came all the way from Primeval. They can use magic, something we do not possess.』
A resounding “Oohhh” came from the people. Hikaru asked the surgical procedure be kept secret. He didn"t care that it spread later, just not now. It was too early to be drawing attention. Hikaru wanted to wander around the city and buy and eat food.
『I want to make an announcement.』
The hall went silent, waiting for his next words.
『For the first time in five hundred years, I will reopen relations with the continent of Primeval. This will be made possible by the secrossing technology we have developed. I want to combine our science and their magic to create new technology.』
His words were met with great applause. Doriachi was gifted, still young, and loved by the people. Many of those present believed he could carry out what he just declared.
But Hikaru knew some of them were only pretending to clap, their eyes not smiling at all. He kept their faces in mind.